Latest / Small Ball with Kenny Beecham / What’s Next For The “Eliminated” NBA Playoff Teams?

Transcript

What’s Next For The “Eliminated” NBA Playoff Teams? · Small Ball with Kenny Beecham

0:00
SPEAKER_01: He's been the invisible man.
0:02
SPEAKER_01: He's been Nightcrawler.
0:04
SPEAKER_01: I don't know who what to call him, but it's been terrible.
0:06
SPEAKER_01: And to think that Jordan Bede needs to drop 50 for y'all to win right now is sad.
0:13
SPEAKER_01: Because this team should be a lover.
0:16
SPEAKER_01: But they're not.
0:23
SPEAKER_01: Welcome, welcome, welcome back to the Kenny Beach and podcast.
0:26
SPEAKER_01: I am filming this episode minutes.
0:28
SPEAKER_01: I mean minutes after the Phoenix Suns were eliminated from the playoffs.
0:31
SPEAKER_01: And boy, do I have a lot to say about that.
0:34
SPEAKER_01: Um, but the only bad side is I I don't have the press conference from Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, or Bradley Beal, and that's kind of important to me.
0:41
SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna have to go upstairs and watch that after I film this episode.
0:44
SPEAKER_01: But I couldn't wait.
0:45
SPEAKER_01: I could I couldn't wait for them to get out the shower, then film the episode.
0:48
SPEAKER_01: I have to get all of these thoughts and opinions out because this is an all-time failure of a season.
0:52
SPEAKER_01: Before we get into that, I want to remind you to leave a like on the episode, subscribe to the channel.
0:56
SPEAKER_01: It goes a very, very long way.
0:57
SPEAKER_01: I've been looking at the analytics and we've grown this channel a bunch over the last week or so or two weeks since the playoff has started.
1:02
SPEAKER_01: So shout out to y'all.
1:03
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if y'all are telling a friend and tell and telling a friend or uh the YouTube algorithm is finally showing us some love, but the numbers have been amazing since the playoffs started.
1:12
SPEAKER_01: Every single episode we've dropped in the playoffs has been better than the last as far as statistically, and I couldn't do that without y'all.
1:17
SPEAKER_01: One last thing I want to promote is this Tuesday, the Enjoy basketball brand, the brand that I own, um, has their we have our spring drop.
1:24
SPEAKER_01: And if you ask me, it is our best drop yet.
1:26
SPEAKER_01: And I say that after every drop, which is a good thing because that just means we're getting better with time.
1:30
SPEAKER_01: Every single drop should be your best drop.
1:32
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
1:33
SPEAKER_01: Um, this one is including this hat that I've got so many compliments on compliments on a t-shirt and a hoodie.
1:38
SPEAKER_01: And I when I tell you the hoodie is hot, I've worn it in a few videos.
1:41
SPEAKER_01: You may have seen it.
1:42
SPEAKER_01: The hoodie is hot, but you gotta go to enjoyball.com to cop that on Tuesday.
1:46
SPEAKER_01: Follow us on social so you know exactly the time because we usually do it very limited.
1:51
SPEAKER_01: We want it to be at a premium.
1:53
SPEAKER_01: This is one of the ones you don't want to miss out on.
1:54
SPEAKER_01: Are we ready?
1:55
SPEAKER_01: Are we ready to go win?
1:56
SPEAKER_01: Because as I'm watching this video, I mean, this this game, the the Suns versus the Minnesota Timbers, I will be honest with you.
2:03
SPEAKER_01: Even though the Suns had it extremely competitive for the majority of this game, I for not a single second believe that they're gonna win this game.
2:10
SPEAKER_01: And that is crazy.
2:11
SPEAKER_01: Because I've just watched them the last three games and them compete for two quarters, and the third quarter comes around, everything shifts.
2:15
SPEAKER_01: And what happened today?
2:16
SPEAKER_01: They were like a minus eight, minus nine in the third quarter again.
2:20
SPEAKER_01: And then boy, did that fourth quarter come around.
2:21
SPEAKER_01: And guess who turned it up?
2:23
SPEAKER_01: Anthony Edwards.
2:24
SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's nothing I can really say that you don't know about Anthony Edwards.
2:27
SPEAKER_01: He was electric this entire time.
2:29
SPEAKER_01: The man ended up rolling both of his ankles in different spots and still ended up putting 40 and like uh the most enthusiastic game clinching, series clinching dunk I can remember off the top of my head.
2:39
SPEAKER_01: And it was tough bucket after tough bucket.
2:42
SPEAKER_01: I think at one point he went on an 11-0 run by him.
2:44
SPEAKER_01: Well, he scored 11 straight points for his team.
2:46
SPEAKER_01: The Suns were replacing it.
2:47
SPEAKER_01: So it wasn't 11-0, but he showed what a superstar player is.
2:52
SPEAKER_01: And this is amazing for him.
2:53
SPEAKER_01: This is amazing for Minnesota.
2:55
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we talk about how Devin Booker has been the best shooting guard and shooting guard in the league over the last couple seasons.
2:59
SPEAKER_01: Is he a point guard now?
3:00
SPEAKER_01: Is he a shooting guard?
3:01
SPEAKER_01: It's not super relevant because even though Devin Booker had a very good game tonight, this cemented for me that Anthony Everett is the best shooting guard in basketball.
3:09
SPEAKER_01: Yes, not this singular game, but the entirety of this series cemented it to me.
3:13
SPEAKER_01: And this was just a masterclass by him.
3:15
SPEAKER_01: Again, Rudigo Bear had a great game.
3:17
SPEAKER_01: Carl Anthony Towns, maybe back against the wall, Carl Anthony Towns, because Kat has had this thing thrown on his name.
3:24
SPEAKER_01: And this is what happens to players when they don't perform in the playoffs.
3:27
SPEAKER_01: So I'm not saying it was invalid through the first couple of times he's been there.
3:31
SPEAKER_01: But there are some people that are playoff risers and there are other people that are not.
3:34
SPEAKER_01: And Carl Anthony Towns has had the reputation of not being a playoff riser.
3:38
SPEAKER_01: And though this man continues to get in some crazy foul trouble every single game, this tonight he was 28.
3:43
SPEAKER_01: And I think in the first half, Anthony Everett had nine points.
3:46
SPEAKER_01: I can't check the official box score as far as like Divian up for four quarter, second quarter, third quarter.
3:50
SPEAKER_01: I think he had nine points.
3:51
SPEAKER_01: And they still were in this game because you saw Carl Anthony Towns having such a ridiculous game.
3:57
SPEAKER_01: And what a series did he have guarding.
4:00
SPEAKER_01: I just, I can't, I can't praise him enough.
4:02
SPEAKER_01: Like I love when a player can change the narrative about them.
4:05
SPEAKER_01: You cannot say Carl Anthony Towns is not a playoff riser anymore because he's done it now.
4:09
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
4:11
SPEAKER_01: He's had two repu two seasons or playoff appearances where it wasn't great.
4:15
SPEAKER_01: This one was phenomenal.
4:17
SPEAKER_01: Um Uncle Mike didn't have a great shooting game at all, but he had a couple really uh clutch plays down the stretch, a clutch offensive rebound down the stretch that they really, really needed.
4:26
SPEAKER_01: But ultimately, this was the Anthony Eckwards game, and it was magnificent.
4:30
SPEAKER_01: In this one, Devin Booker had 49 points.
4:32
SPEAKER_01: 49 points.
4:33
SPEAKER_01: He got to the free throw line a ton.
4:35
SPEAKER_01: And which is cool to see.
4:37
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I guess it was all for not because they ended up losing this game.
4:39
SPEAKER_01: But one of the big things about the Phoenix Suns, not just this series, but the entirety of the regular season, slash, whatever, uh, is that they don't have a lot of rim pressure.
4:47
SPEAKER_01: And in this one, you saw that Devin Booker made it a priority to get to the foul line.
4:52
SPEAKER_01: And in the last time we talked on the Kenny Beach and podcast, I was talking how in order for them to win playoff games, you need Kevin Durant and Devin Booker to be the best two players on the court.
5:02
SPEAKER_01: And Devin Booker had 49, and Kevin Durant had 33 on 70% shooting.
5:07
SPEAKER_01: But the rest didn't show.
5:09
SPEAKER_01: And that's Brad.
5:11
SPEAKER_01: Bradley Beal.
5:12
SPEAKER_01: After losing game three, and no, no, no, no.
5:15
SPEAKER_01: Let's take a step back.
5:15
SPEAKER_01: In the middle of game three, there is a moment where they are down.
5:19
SPEAKER_01: It's just uh fourth quarter, and you know, when the timeout happens, they still show you some cameras that are players talking in the huddle, whatever, whatever.
5:27
SPEAKER_01: They are down.
5:27
SPEAKER_01: Remember, they are down, and if they lose this game, they're down 3-0, and no team in history has ever come back from down 3-0.
5:33
SPEAKER_01: They cut to Bradley Beal, who was talking to Isaiah Thomas, his teammate, and he is laughing.
5:40
SPEAKER_01: And if I'm not a Suns fan, not a Suns fan.
5:44
SPEAKER_01: But boy, did that make that made my skin crawl.
5:46
SPEAKER_01: It made my blood boil because this is a win or go home game, essentially.
5:52
SPEAKER_01: Not in the literal sense, but history.
5:55
SPEAKER_01: And you're laughing?
5:56
SPEAKER_01: The boys are down, and guess what, Brad?
5:58
SPEAKER_01: You're not having a great game.
5:59
SPEAKER_01: Now he did eventually hit a couple big shots in the fourth quarter, but all of that didn't matter because in the third quarter they got dominated.
6:05
SPEAKER_01: And then he goes to the podium, he says, I've never been swept in my life.
6:08
SPEAKER_01: It's a weird thing to say.
6:09
SPEAKER_01: I mean, technically, sure, but is it that means now you're gonna turn it on?
6:14
SPEAKER_01: The answer was no.
6:15
SPEAKER_01: Nine points.
6:16
SPEAKER_01: And four of 13 does not even come close to telling the story of this game for him.
6:20
SPEAKER_01: This was one of the worst, and I am not exaggerating, maybe I'm being hyperbolic because I'm living in the moment.
6:27
SPEAKER_01: This is one of the worst individual performances I have seen from a max player in a high-leverage moment.
6:35
SPEAKER_01: Nine points, four of 13 from the field, six fouls, and six turnovers.
6:42
SPEAKER_00: And two of those turnovers came late in the fourth quarter where his team is trying to storm back-to-back possessions of him just losing his wits.
6:51
SPEAKER_00: And in his last foul, it felt like a I want to get off the court foul.
6:56
SPEAKER_01: And he did.
6:58
SPEAKER_01: I mean, wow.
6:59
SPEAKER_01: And I want to remind you, this team traded all the necessary surrounding pieces in order to bring Brad.
7:07
SPEAKER_01: Again, it was Chris, it was Chris Paul and stuff.
7:09
SPEAKER_01: I'm just I'm I'm counting all of their offseason trades in totality, okay?
7:13
SPEAKER_01: What a season.
7:15
SPEAKER_01: All-time failure of a season.
7:16
SPEAKER_01: And I'm watching this game, and again, I did not believe that they had a real chance of winning this.
7:20
SPEAKER_01: And even if they did win this game, history is history.
7:22
SPEAKER_01: They were not when they were they were not going to Minnesota and winning game five, right?
7:26
SPEAKER_01: So I'll put down a list of some of the worst individual playoff series slash all-time failures uh for an entire season that I could think of.
7:38
SPEAKER_01: And this is strictly off the top of my mind, and I'm sure there are a lot of other ones that you could even talk about.
7:43
SPEAKER_01: In 2022, this was just a few years back.
7:46
SPEAKER_01: Um, and this one maybe shouldn't be on this list, but hell, I'm I'm feeling it right now.
7:51
SPEAKER_01: I'm feeling it right now.
7:52
SPEAKER_01: The Phoenix Suns are going against the Dallas Mavericks.
7:55
SPEAKER_01: And in this series, they are down.
7:58
SPEAKER_01: They're up 2-0.
8:00
SPEAKER_01: They're up 2-0.
8:01
SPEAKER_01: And that don't mean much.
8:02
SPEAKER_01: That don't mean much.
8:02
SPEAKER_01: We see teams go up 2-0 and lose pretty occasionally, right?
8:06
SPEAKER_01: They end up losing this, and they they lose by a million points in game seven.
8:10
SPEAKER_01: That's where you get the famous um uh Luka Dante's looking at Devin Booker meme.
8:14
SPEAKER_01: Now, that what was that a failure of a season?
8:17
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we're talking about with the second round in the playoffs, and that was that was Kevin, I mean, that was uh Devin Booker, that was Chris Paul, there was DeAndre Aiden, yada, yada, yada.
8:25
SPEAKER_01: And that was the year after making an NBA finals appearance.
8:28
SPEAKER_01: So was it a failure of a season?
8:29
SPEAKER_01: I guess so, because you got to the finals the year before, and then you lost by 60,000 points on your home on your home court, by the way, in that one.
8:36
SPEAKER_01: Um, in 2018, you we all remember when the Rockets missed 27 straight threes in game seven.
8:41
SPEAKER_01: Was that a failure of a season?
8:42
SPEAKER_01: Maybe, maybe that was just an individual game because that was such a crazy thing.
8:46
SPEAKER_01: And I think there was a whole video about the the um statistical unlikelihood of that happening and it ended up happening.
8:54
SPEAKER_01: 2020, this is bubble.
8:56
SPEAKER_01: The Clippers are up 3-1 and uh in the bubble and they to the Denver Nuggets, and in that they had three games game five, game six, and game seven, where they had a 15-point lead or more, and they lost that series.
9:09
SPEAKER_01: And this was like, I mean, the last time we really got to see Paul George and Kawhi Leonard be healthy together.
9:15
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna talk about the Clips.
9:16
SPEAKER_01: They had a huge win today, even though it didn't end up being pretty.
9:19
SPEAKER_01: But that that's one as well.
9:20
SPEAKER_01: Um, the other one on my list is 2022.
9:25
SPEAKER_01: This is the Nets getting swept by the Boston Celtics.
9:31
SPEAKER_01: This is Kevin Durant, this is Kyrie Irvin, no James Harden.
9:34
SPEAKER_01: This is Kevin Durant, this is Kyrie Irving.
9:36
SPEAKER_01: And in this one, we know that in this 2022 season, the Boston Celtics went on to go to the NBA Finals.
9:41
SPEAKER_01: So I guess getting swept by the official eventual conference final team is not that bad.
9:48
SPEAKER_01: But but again, this team, I want to remind you, let me just I want to quickly double check this.
9:53
SPEAKER_01: Again, I'm all of this is happening in my head as I'm watching this game.
9:57
SPEAKER_01: Um, this team came in, oh, favored to win the championship, by the way.
10:01
SPEAKER_01: They were favored to win the championship and they got swept.
10:04
SPEAKER_01: And what what is the the thing that that ties those two teams together?
10:08
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna say it.
10:09
SPEAKER_01: You you do it yourself.
10:11
SPEAKER_01: What an all-time failure of a season.
10:13
SPEAKER_01: Before the season starts, Devin Booker comes to the podium and says, I don't know how you guard us.
10:18
SPEAKER_01: The Minnesota Timbulls did it amazingly for four straight games.
10:22
SPEAKER_01: For four straight games.
10:24
SPEAKER_01: And I don't know where they go from here.
10:27
SPEAKER_01: What do you do?
10:28
SPEAKER_01: What do you do?
10:29
SPEAKER_01: Bradley Beal, who just had an all-time stinker, he's guaranteed over a hundred plus million dollars over the next couple seasons, and he's got a player option in the last year, and that's that's$57 million because he's not turning down$57 million.
10:42
SPEAKER_01: That's an untradeable contract.
10:44
SPEAKER_01: He has an old trade clause.
10:45
SPEAKER_01: So even if you wanted to dump him off to a team, Charlotte.
10:48
SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry, Charlotte, I'm not putting that on you, but just a team, just a team.
10:51
SPEAKER_01: He'd be like, no, I don't want to go to Charlotte.
10:53
SPEAKER_01: And that's that.
10:55
SPEAKER_01: In the moment of time, when Bradley Beale got traded to Washington Wizards, I guess I was just naive.
10:59
SPEAKER_01: I would I wasn't the smartest NBA fan because I remember seeing their report and I was like, that's all they got.
11:04
SPEAKER_01: And part of that was because I was comparing it to the fact that that the Timberwolves offered the first overall pick for Bradley Beal.
11:11
SPEAKER_01: Reportedly, not confirmed, reportedly, offered the first overall pick that wasn't anything else.
11:16
SPEAKER_01: So you compare that.
11:18
SPEAKER_01: You compare the fact that the 76ers tried to get Bradley Beal a few seasons before that, and you say, man, we we opted for some swaps, some seconds, and Chris Paul, who we eventually traded for Jordan Poole, whatever, whatever.
11:27
SPEAKER_01: That don't sound like a lot.
11:29
SPEAKER_01: Little did we know the Wizards just pulled off a masterclass.
11:33
SPEAKER_01: And it's not in what they got in return.
11:34
SPEAKER_01: It's the fact that they got off that contract.
11:37
SPEAKER_01: Because I have seen in my lifetime a lot of untradable contracts.
11:41
SPEAKER_01: Gerald Wallace, I guess, like current Ben, current Ben Simmons.
11:45
SPEAKER_01: Likely Ben Simmons going to the last year of his deal, if I'm not mistaken.
11:48
SPEAKER_01: I have seen a lot of untradable contracts.
11:52
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if there's one worse than this one.
11:54
SPEAKER_01: Because 50 plus a million dollars is taking up a huge part of your cap.
11:58
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes in tradable contracts, like, man, this guy is not very good and he's making a lot of money.
12:03
SPEAKER_01: Bradley Beal is not just making a lot of money.
12:06
SPEAKER_01: He's making one of the top salaries in all of basketball.
12:09
SPEAKER_01: And Brad is a good player.
12:11
SPEAKER_01: Don't get me wrong, he's a good player.
12:14
SPEAKER_01: He ain't that good now.
12:17
SPEAKER_01: He ain't that good.
12:18
SPEAKER_01: He was not what the Phoenix Suns needed in that time.
12:22
SPEAKER_01: And he was not what they needed today.
12:24
SPEAKER_01: Well, maybe no, no, I'll take that back.
12:25
SPEAKER_01: He is what they needed.
12:26
SPEAKER_01: He just didn't do a damn thing.
12:28
SPEAKER_01: So what do you do now?
12:29
SPEAKER_01: Because Grayson Allen, who signed the extension, get real soon.
12:32
SPEAKER_01: Grayson Allen, I know he twiged his ankle when he didn't play the last couple games of the series, but I'll be real with you.
12:35
SPEAKER_01: Grayson Allen's not going to determine who won this series.
12:38
SPEAKER_01: Grayson Allen's just signed this extension.
12:40
SPEAKER_01: He can't be traded for the next couple months either way.
12:42
SPEAKER_01: But this is what I think.
12:44
SPEAKER_01: If you're trading Grayson Allen away, and some teams would be interested in Grayson.
12:47
SPEAKER_01: He's a he's a good NBA player.
12:49
SPEAKER_01: He's a good NBA player.
12:50
SPEAKER_01: He's the best three-point shooter in the league this season uh uh when it comes to percentage.
12:53
SPEAKER_01: But if you're trading away, if you're trading him away and you're the Suns, you're not trading him away for draft capital.
12:59
SPEAKER_01: You want to get something in return unless you're deciding to hit the reset button.
13:02
SPEAKER_01: And Matt Ishpear just bought the team.
13:04
SPEAKER_01: I don't think that Matt Ishpear's like, oh, my fault.
13:06
SPEAKER_01: I traded for Kevin.
13:07
SPEAKER_01: I traded for Brad.
13:08
SPEAKER_01: Now let me hit the reset button.
13:10
SPEAKER_01: That's not what he wants to do.
13:11
SPEAKER_01: He wants to do the exact opposite.
13:12
SPEAKER_01: Hell, James Jones is on record.
13:15
SPEAKER_01: Do you hear?
13:16
SPEAKER_01: Listen to me.
13:17
SPEAKER_01: He is on record a few seasons back saying he don't give a damn about draft picks.
13:22
SPEAKER_01: And now they have zero of them, zero of their own picks from now to 2030.
13:27
SPEAKER_01: And I know they might have some swaps and some extra 2030.
13:31
SPEAKER_00: They have no second round picks until 2030.
13:37
SPEAKER_00: That's this is the team you built.
13:39
SPEAKER_01: We talked about a few episodes back, teams with the most amount of pressure.
13:44
SPEAKER_01: The Suns were second on my list, and nothing could have could have prepared me from not losing in the first round because the Minnesota Timbors are a very good team.
13:52
SPEAKER_01: I'm not surprised that they lost in the first round.
13:55
SPEAKER_01: I'm surprised they got dominated because that's exactly what happened.
14:00
SPEAKER_01: I just don't know.
14:01
SPEAKER_01: I just don't know what you do.
14:02
SPEAKER_01: I just don't know what you do.
14:03
SPEAKER_01: And a few seasons back, when they made it to the NBA finals, that was a fun team.
14:09
SPEAKER_01: Had a lot of fun there.
14:10
SPEAKER_01: Partially because my favorite player of all time, Chris Paul, was running the point guard position.
14:14
SPEAKER_01: I was I was excited to see him get to the finals.
14:16
SPEAKER_01: He was addicted to an aim it back.
14:17
SPEAKER_01: That team was fun.
14:18
SPEAKER_01: Mikhail Bridges was fun, hitting his little celebration, fun.
14:21
SPEAKER_01: DeAndre Aiden, oh, it was a rough watch sometime, but hell, even he looked like he was having fun out there.
14:26
SPEAKER_01: This team, the only time I seen him smile, it pissed me off, and that was when Bradley Beal that I mentioned a couple minutes ago.
14:32
SPEAKER_01: It's bad, bro.
14:33
SPEAKER_01: It's bad.
14:33
SPEAKER_01: And it got a lot of people talking like, oh, it's the is this the end of the big three era of teams trying to acquire the third star.
14:39
SPEAKER_01: I mean, maybe, maybe, but history continues to repeat itself because I thought we were past this way anyway.
14:45
SPEAKER_01: And the sound's like, nah, we just we're just gonna accumulate three top-end talents and say the rest is the rest.
14:50
SPEAKER_01: I mean, in a series where the opposing team was playing big the entire time, Yusuf Nurkic was unplayable for the whole series.
14:59
SPEAKER_01: So if he can't play against big lineups, where the hell can he play?
15:03
SPEAKER_01: Like regular season wide, Yusuf Nurkic is cool.
15:06
SPEAKER_01: You'll you'll take it.
15:07
SPEAKER_01: Make some good passes, rebound the ball, bruiser.
15:09
SPEAKER_01: He had a 2020 game against the OKC Thunder.
15:11
SPEAKER_01: Ooh, that's kind of scary.
15:13
SPEAKER_01: But in the playoff series, he can't play against bigs, and this is the biggest front line in the whole association, when will we ever really be able to play in the playoff series?
15:21
SPEAKER_01: The answer is probably never.
15:23
SPEAKER_01: So our starting center can't play in the playoff series.
15:26
SPEAKER_01: Our$50 million player is giving us almost more turnovers than points.
15:32
SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't know, man.
15:34
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what you do.
15:36
SPEAKER_01: And and and I like Kevin.
15:38
SPEAKER_01: I like Devin.
15:38
SPEAKER_01: I like both of them a lot.
15:40
SPEAKER_01: Do not get me wrong.
15:41
SPEAKER_01: And and I was talking to producer Greg about this at the end of last episode, because sometimes me and him chop it up after we get done filming.
15:47
SPEAKER_01: And I was saying in that that Devin Booker does not get enough credit for accepting added talent to his team.
15:53
SPEAKER_01: It's a different level of this, but but stick with me.
15:56
SPEAKER_01: Do you remember when um the when Steph Curry ended up uh oh damn finch feared to have a torn Patel attendant after oh man, that sucks.
16:06
SPEAKER_01: Get real soon, Fitchy.
16:08
SPEAKER_01: Man, that sucks.
16:09
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what that looks like for a coach that has to anyway.
16:13
SPEAKER_01: When when Steph Curry accepted Kevin Duran on his team, and in the time I didn't think much about it.
16:20
SPEAKER_01: Of course he wants Kevin to run on his team.
16:21
SPEAKER_01: Kevin Red is one of the best players in basketball.
16:23
SPEAKER_01: At this point, Kevin Red's the top three player in the in the league, basically.
16:26
SPEAKER_01: But then you listen to other NBA players, former NBA players, and say, he better than me.
16:31
SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't have let a player better than me be on my team.
16:34
SPEAKER_01: And Steph Curry said, I am here to win.
16:37
SPEAKER_01: And Steph Curry was okay with him coming in and winning two finals MVPs because he was just there for the vibes.
16:43
SPEAKER_01: He was there to win and he he did that, right?
16:45
SPEAKER_01: A lot of other stars in the association might not have been willing to do that.
16:49
SPEAKER_01: Devin Booker has been on a similar level.
16:52
SPEAKER_01: Devin Booker is widely renowned as the best shooting guard in basketball.
16:55
SPEAKER_01: Not more, not anymore because Anthony Everett says that now.
16:57
SPEAKER_01: But he'll widely be renowned as the best guard in basketball.
16:59
SPEAKER_01: And time and time again, he's completely okay with his front office bringing in talent.
17:03
SPEAKER_01: And part of that's because he he lost for so long in the first couple years of his career.
17:07
SPEAKER_01: He just wants to win basketball games.
17:09
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, Kevin Oran could come onto the team and be the best player on the team, potentially.
17:13
SPEAKER_01: I'm okay with that if that means we can win.
17:15
SPEAKER_01: Unfortunately, it didn't mean he can win.
17:17
SPEAKER_01: And eventually, listen, I'm not trying to be saying that Devin Booker is his savior because though he had 59 today, there were many games in the series where he gave us stinkers to his standard.
17:26
SPEAKER_01: You know, I mean if he was doing that same thing, if he was Royce O'Neal, you'll take it.
17:29
SPEAKER_01: But he's Devin Goddamn Devin Omarty Booker.
17:32
SPEAKER_01: We have some stinkers.
17:33
SPEAKER_01: So I'm not trying to act like he's been this perfect player, but eventually you got to be like, hell, y'all ain't been able to do it.
17:39
SPEAKER_01: And again, game seven versus the Dallas Mavericks a few years back.
17:43
SPEAKER_01: That's everybody.
17:44
SPEAKER_01: He don't get no pass.
17:46
SPEAKER_01: He's the best player on the team, and they lost by a million.
17:48
SPEAKER_01: But I again I don't know what you do.
17:51
SPEAKER_01: I have no, I have no idea what you do with this team.
17:55
SPEAKER_01: Um, but it's a failure.
17:57
SPEAKER_01: I will tell you that much.
17:58
SPEAKER_01: Um, I wouldn't be surprised if they if we get a report that says Frank Vogel's on the on the hot seat, even though he just got there.
18:06
SPEAKER_01: Because I think he got out coached.
18:08
SPEAKER_01: He just did.
18:09
SPEAKER_01: Now, again, like I feel like a lot of this series, the Suns came into it thinking that they were gonna out talent the Minnesota Timbulls.
18:17
SPEAKER_01: And talent is not gonna get the job done all the time.
18:21
SPEAKER_01: Minnesota Timbulls had the game plan.
18:23
SPEAKER_01: They had a star, a superstar player to close out games.
18:26
SPEAKER_01: They had the game plan, they had the heart, they had the hustle, they had everything out other than Kevin Durant and Evan Booker, and they won this series.
18:34
SPEAKER_01: So, shout out to the Minnesota Timbels.
18:36
SPEAKER_01: Then versus the Dever Nuggs is gonna be a great series.
18:38
SPEAKER_01: Uh, based on right now, I'd probably take Nuggets and six, but I wanna I want to go back and think that through because I mean the Nuggets ain't officially won that series, but let's be real.
18:47
SPEAKER_01: Um, all right, let's transition to a few of the other games from tonight.
18:51
SPEAKER_01: The New York Knicks go up 3-1 on the uh Philadelphia 76s.
18:57
SPEAKER_01: And I'll be honest with you, it's probably a wrap.
18:58
SPEAKER_01: And I feel like so in NBA history, there's been 13 series to come back 3-1.
19:04
SPEAKER_01: And that feels like a little number.
19:05
SPEAKER_01: It feels like a little number.
19:06
SPEAKER_01: But if you've been watching basketball for the last decade, you've basically seen half of them because since 2016, that's when a lot of them happened.
19:12
SPEAKER_01: In 2016, you know the big one.
19:13
SPEAKER_01: Um, partially that's because the first round of the playoffs hasn't always been seven games, right?
19:17
SPEAKER_01: It's been five for the majority of the uh time this league has been around.
19:21
SPEAKER_01: But we've seen a good amount of 3-1 comes back.
19:23
SPEAKER_01: But the number, the numbers say 95% of the time, that's the end of the series.
19:28
SPEAKER_01: Um, and the New York Knicks did that behind Jalen Brunson, giving them 47 and 10.
19:34
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I can again, I I say this all the time.
19:37
SPEAKER_01: We are extremely, extremely blessed right now in 2024 because even though our aging superstars have not been really successful over the last couple seasons as far as winning the championship.
19:46
SPEAKER_01: Well, Steph Curry's just more recently, didn't he?
19:48
SPEAKER_01: And then LeBron was just in the conference finals last year.
19:50
SPEAKER_01: But Steph Curry missed the playoffs.
19:51
SPEAKER_01: LeBron is out in the first round.
19:52
SPEAKER_01: Kevin O'Retton's out in the first round, and and some of our older stars are still great, um, but they're not getting to the highest level.
20:01
SPEAKER_01: This transition period has been phenomenal.
20:04
SPEAKER_01: Between Anthony Edwards, Shea Gius Alexander, Jalen Brunson was kind of newer to the scene over the last two years.
20:09
SPEAKER_01: We are just extremely spoiled to have the people that we grew up with and then ushering in some new stars.
20:14
SPEAKER_01: It's perfect.
20:15
SPEAKER_01: Jalen Brunson was everything you could imagine.
20:18
SPEAKER_01: And when I was on first take, um, we did a YouTube exclusive.
20:22
SPEAKER_01: And in that, one of the questions was how, this was after game two, by the way, how uh concerned are we with Jalen Brunson and the fact that through the first two games he was shooting at 29% from the field, he had really, really struggled.
20:34
SPEAKER_01: And I think I put it at a five or a six.
20:37
SPEAKER_01: And even that, I'm looking back on me from one week ago and saying, brother, you are really tripping.
20:42
SPEAKER_01: And part of the reason I put it at a five or a six is because I thought that the Philadelphia 76ers had done a damn good job of guarding him.
20:50
SPEAKER_01: And a lot of that was him seeing big bodies.
20:52
SPEAKER_01: It was Kelly Oubre, it was Nicholas Batum, it was Tobias Harris, and Lord Do Not Get Me Started on Tobias Harris because I got I got some bars for him.
20:58
SPEAKER_01: Um, but through game number three, they shifted it.
21:01
SPEAKER_01: Now, I don't know, I don't know if y'all really noticed this.
21:03
SPEAKER_01: And game number in game number three, they shifted it.
21:06
SPEAKER_01: And and Josh Hart still gave them a game.
21:08
SPEAKER_01: But Nick Nurse had said that they were, they were, I don't know, I don't want to misquote him.
21:14
SPEAKER_01: So I'm I'm gonna give you the the Spark notes version of it.
21:17
SPEAKER_01: But he's basically saying that they were guarding Jalen Brunson too too much and then opened up the game for Josh Hart to have his legendary three games where he hit four threes in each one of these games.
21:28
SPEAKER_01: And then now they uh alleviate some of the pressure off Jalen Brunson in order to guard some of these perimeter shooters and Dante DiVincenzo, who hit the game winner, and Josh Hart, who hit three game uh three three pointers in the fourth quarter a few nights ago.
21:41
SPEAKER_01: And with them doing that over the last two games, Jalen Brunson has been really been able to get into his groove.
21:46
SPEAKER_01: And this series and this side of the bracket is really gearing up for the New York Knicks to potentially be in that conference finals.
21:53
SPEAKER_01: Um, them versus the the Pacers, who will get to that series in a second.
21:57
SPEAKER_01: I'm definitely taking the Knicks in that series, and how many?
21:59
SPEAKER_01: I don't really know.
22:00
SPEAKER_01: No, but this just again, shout out to Tom Thibodeau for not uh trying to play with the basketball gods and losing a game to the Bulls in the last day of the season that would have got them to be away from the Miami Heats slash the Philadelphia 76.
22:13
SPEAKER_01: Or some teams shied away from having one of the top seeds because they were afraid of those teams, not Tom Thibodeau and not these boys.
22:19
SPEAKER_01: And now they're one game away from the second round, and anything could happen.
22:22
SPEAKER_01: It's the game of basketball.
22:24
SPEAKER_01: The Pacers are playing a good series right now, don't get me wrong.
22:26
SPEAKER_01: But I think the Knicks are probably the better team in that series.
22:29
SPEAKER_01: So they could be in the conference finals relatively soon.
22:33
SPEAKER_01: There's so many times in this game where I'm watching, and I met Jalen Brunson once, and this was an all-star this season.
22:39
SPEAKER_01: And I am 5'7, 5'8, if we being generous.
22:42
SPEAKER_01: And me and Jalen Brunson were, I felt like I was his height.
22:46
SPEAKER_01: And I know he is probably legitimately six foot tall.
22:50
SPEAKER_01: So I'm watching him be guarded by Tobias Harris, be guarded by Kelly Ubre, and the footwork is immaculate.
22:56
SPEAKER_01: This is not new to you.
22:57
SPEAKER_01: You've been watching Jalen Brunson all season long, but to put up 47 points in a game like this where you want to uh go back home with a 3-1 lead is really impressive.
23:07
SPEAKER_01: And I can't say that enough.
23:09
SPEAKER_01: I thought Miles McBride in this game is impressive.
23:11
SPEAKER_01: But outside of Jalen Brunson, the real star of today's game was OG Ananobi.
23:16
SPEAKER_01: And the reason is not because he put up 16 uh points and got 14 rebounds, but it's because in the fourth quarter, when we saw Isaiah Hardenstein tally up a million fouls in the third, the the game plan shifted for Tom Thibodeau and he said, Hey, OG, you're guarding Joel Embiid.
23:31
SPEAKER_01: And in the fourth quarter, Joel Embiid scored, I think, one singular point from the free throw line.
23:36
SPEAKER_01: OG Ananobi deserves so much credit.
23:39
SPEAKER_01: Now, Joel was seeing a lot of bodies in that fourth quarter, but most of that was OG really getting it going.
23:44
SPEAKER_01: And I don't think this is a game plan that you go to full time in game number five, because I do believe that Isaiah Hardstatt has been playing them well.
23:50
SPEAKER_01: It's Joel Embiid.
23:50
SPEAKER_01: You're not gonna stop JoJo, but I think he's been playing them well for the great uh greater part of the series.
23:55
SPEAKER_01: But you know, you got that in your back pocket that man, if we in a we in a uh a pinch right now, O John and Obi guarded him extremely, extremely well.
24:03
SPEAKER_01: I want to talk about the 76ers though, because um Daryl Daryl Moore being a liar, according to James Harden, is the reason why we're here right now.
24:13
SPEAKER_01: I watched James Harden in his game against the Dallas Mavericks tonight in the game in game number one, where he was also phenomenal.
24:19
SPEAKER_01: And even in game three, where he wasn't perfect, but he had a really solid game.
24:23
SPEAKER_01: And I look at the 76ers, and we got to the fourth quarter.
24:26
SPEAKER_01: Well, Jordan B did not get a break.
24:28
SPEAKER_01: Like this is this was new, where they knew that this was a somewhat must-win game.
24:32
SPEAKER_01: So they said, Jojo, you gotta play every single minute in this one.
24:34
SPEAKER_01: And him coming off his injury and him already being a guy that's notoriously gassed, he needed that break, and he he he didn't get that.
24:43
SPEAKER_01: And that's when you need a guy like James, a guy that can come in and make something out of nothing.
24:51
SPEAKER_01: They don't have that.
24:52
SPEAKER_01: Um Tyrese Maxie's great.
24:54
SPEAKER_01: He's great today in the fourth quarter.
24:56
SPEAKER_01: He scored five points, two of eight.
24:58
SPEAKER_01: It's not much he can really do by himself.
25:00
SPEAKER_01: Jordan B was 0 for 5.
25:01
SPEAKER_01: 0 for 5, and one of the shots blew my mind.
25:04
SPEAKER_01: It was the one at the end of the game where he gets to gets the ball around the baseline.
25:08
SPEAKER_01: Instead of taking the mid-range jump shot, he drove in to try to draw a foul.
25:11
SPEAKER_01: It's I I am not one of those people, and my opinion about this has shifted quite a bit.
25:15
SPEAKER_01: It's sometimes I hate it, sometimes I don't.
25:17
SPEAKER_01: I am currently in a spot where I don't hate Jordan B drawing his fouls.
25:21
SPEAKER_01: It's a science.
25:23
SPEAKER_01: It's him playing the odds and him knowing his defenders and so on and so forth.
25:28
SPEAKER_01: I don't mind it too much.
25:29
SPEAKER_01: I mind it when you look, you pass up a great look in order to do it.
25:33
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
25:34
SPEAKER_01: If if Isaiah Hardenstein put his hands on your side, you feel that, and you're able to get some extra free throws out of it, I'm fine with that.
25:41
SPEAKER_01: But when your team needs a basket and you're wide the fuck open, and instead of taking a shot, you decide to drive into a defender with and throw up a boo-boo shot because you think he's gonna foul you.
25:50
SPEAKER_01: That's why I draw the line.
25:52
SPEAKER_01: And I am okay with Jordan B being a heel.
25:56
SPEAKER_01: I love when the NBA has a villain.
26:00
SPEAKER_01: But I don't love when that villain is trying to hurt people.
26:03
SPEAKER_01: The Mitchell Robinson play from a few nights ago, I'm past that.
26:06
SPEAKER_01: I thought tonight there were three different times where Jordan B did something that was inexcusable to me.
26:11
SPEAKER_01: And I don't want to see no comments about, oh, Kenny, 90s bad.
26:15
SPEAKER_01: That's that stuff is irrelevant to me.
26:18
SPEAKER_01: The the play that they say he inadvertently stepped on Josh Hart, brother, that didn't look inadvertent to me.
26:24
SPEAKER_01: The play where he hit uh Jalen Brunson with a little bit of a shoulder in his face.
26:29
SPEAKER_01: I'm not here for that type of stuff, man.
26:31
SPEAKER_01: I'm just not.
26:31
SPEAKER_01: I personally, it's just that's just not because Joel Embiid is so talented of a player that that stuff.
26:39
SPEAKER_00: That stuff is just dumb.
26:42
SPEAKER_00: It's just dumb.
26:44
SPEAKER_00: Especially JoJo, you just had Jonathan Kaminga fall on you four months ago.
26:51
SPEAKER_00: You're a guy that haven't been able to stay healthy in the playoffs.
26:54
SPEAKER_00: Some of that is because it's just unluckiness, and some of that is because things have happened to you from other players.
27:01
SPEAKER_00: And for you to try to go out there and do that, it it boils, it boils my blood.
27:08
SPEAKER_00: I like a heel.
27:10
SPEAKER_00: I like somebody that'll give the DX chop to the to the opposing crowd.
27:14
SPEAKER_01: I like when you go on Twitter, even though you ain't done it in like five years, go on to Twitter and talk trash.
27:19
SPEAKER_01: I don't like somebody that's gonna stuff on the chest like a Draymond when he gets when it's that or kick somebody in the balls, which uh Jordan B did like twice, I want to say, twice in game number three.
27:30
SPEAKER_01: I don't like that type of stuff.
27:31
SPEAKER_01: But back to the original thought.
27:34
SPEAKER_01: This team, I thought, I think if James is there, has a real chance in the series.
27:40
SPEAKER_00: Hell, they'll probably be winning this series.
27:42
SPEAKER_00: They would.
27:43
SPEAKER_00: But instead, they had to trade James away from peace for pieces.
27:46
SPEAKER_00: Nicholas Platoon played four minutes tonight.
27:49
SPEAKER_00: Other pieces don't play.
27:50
SPEAKER_01: Robert Compton's inactive.
27:51
SPEAKER_01: Okay, whatever.
27:51
SPEAKER_01: But the other pieces don't play.
27:53
SPEAKER_01: And you do that, okay.
27:54
SPEAKER_01: We got we got some money in free agency, whatever, whatever.
27:57
SPEAKER_01: I feel as though Paul George is probably gonna re-sign with the Clippers.
28:00
SPEAKER_01: So what you're gonna spend the the money that you have on Klay Thompson?
28:05
SPEAKER_01: Sure, Klay Thompson had a good year eventually, but is that is that shifting the the trajectory of your your team?
28:12
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna spend that money on DeMarta Rose, and DeMarta Rose has been good for the last four years.
28:16
SPEAKER_01: Is that changing much?
28:18
SPEAKER_01: James Singham's the piece, man.
28:20
SPEAKER_01: And it looked pretty damn good when everything was flowing.
28:24
SPEAKER_01: Tobias Harris, though.
28:27
SPEAKER_01: Awful.
28:27
SPEAKER_01: Just didn't awful.
28:29
SPEAKER_01: And when you have your best player in Jordan Beach struggling in the fourth quarter specifically, or just in general.
28:37
SPEAKER_01: The third, the third guy is so important.
28:39
SPEAKER_01: We got on Bradley Beal's ass for what he did in game number four.
28:43
SPEAKER_01: I have to do the same thing for Tobias Harris.
28:46
SPEAKER_01: Because Tobias has been a complete no-show in this series.
28:50
SPEAKER_01: The only thing I could give Tobias Harris a little bit of credit on is that he's been crashing the glass.
28:56
SPEAKER_01: But you're 6'8.
28:58
SPEAKER_01: That should be a bit like that's the bare minimum we can do.
29:02
SPEAKER_01: I know he is out the door.
29:04
SPEAKER_01: It's not even a question.
29:05
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if that's contributing to the to him not contributing on the court.
29:09
SPEAKER_01: I know I'm gone.
29:10
SPEAKER_01: They have rumors of one and another max play.
29:12
SPEAKER_01: I know it's not me.
29:13
SPEAKER_01: Whatever, whatever.
29:13
SPEAKER_01: I already saw a tweet that he's linked to uh to go back to Detroit already.
29:18
SPEAKER_01: He's already halfway there.
29:20
SPEAKER_01: This game is awful, man.
29:22
SPEAKER_01: And I'm watching, and Nick Nurse has no choice but to play him 33 minutes because the alternative doesn't exist.
29:28
SPEAKER_01: It was cool to see D'Anthony Melton back on the floor, but he had back problems.
29:32
SPEAKER_01: He ain't played in whatever, what felt like years.
29:35
SPEAKER_01: Uh Nicholas Batum uh played 21 minutes tonight.
29:39
SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry, I was looking at his fourth quarter.
29:40
SPEAKER_01: He played four minutes in the fourth quarter.
29:41
SPEAKER_01: 21 minutes, missed every shot.
29:43
SPEAKER_01: There were a few times in this game.
29:44
SPEAKER_01: Nick Little Patoon won more than to nobody.
29:46
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, Nick, you scored 20 in the playing game, and all of that was you shooting.
29:51
SPEAKER_01: Shoot the damn ball, Nick.
29:52
SPEAKER_01: Shoot the ball.
29:53
SPEAKER_01: But Tobias Harris has been just dreadful.
29:56
SPEAKER_01: And I don't know if even if I'm the Detroit Pistons, I don't know how I could be watching this man play over the last two months and say, hey, that's the guy I want to sign on my team.
30:03
SPEAKER_01: That's the guy I want to give some money to.
30:04
SPEAKER_01: Because Tobias Harris has been right place, right time for the majority of his career.
30:08
SPEAKER_01: He just, it just feels like he ends up getting the bag because it might be the salary increase the year he's a free agent or he's a part of the worst free agency class.
30:16
SPEAKER_01: So if we the Pistons and we got 100 mil, we got 64 million dollars to spend.
30:20
SPEAKER_01: He done one of the best guys.
30:20
SPEAKER_01: Just bring him in.
30:21
SPEAKER_01: He's in right place, right time.
30:23
SPEAKER_01: But on the court, this man has been a no-show.
30:25
SPEAKER_01: He's been he's he's been the invisible man.
30:29
SPEAKER_01: He's been nightcrawler.
30:30
SPEAKER_01: I don't know who what to call him, but it's been terrible.
30:33
SPEAKER_01: And to think that Jordan Bede needs to drop 50 for y'all to win right now is sad.
30:40
SPEAKER_01: Because this team should be a lot better.
30:43
SPEAKER_01: But they're not.
30:44
SPEAKER_01: The next series I want to get to is uh the unfortunate series, a series that I thought has so much potential, and it's now a 3-1 lead.
30:50
SPEAKER_01: And I want to say, Pacers fans, please, please, please, please do not misunderstand me.
30:54
SPEAKER_01: You should be celebrating everything that you do because you have not won a playoff series.
30:58
SPEAKER_01: Oof.
30:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's been that long.
31:00
SPEAKER_01: And the only thing you can do if you're the Pacers is play the team in front of you.
31:03
SPEAKER_01: And the team in front of you is missing Giannis and Damian Lillard after tonight.
31:07
SPEAKER_01: You know how how disinterested I was in this game, particularly.
31:12
SPEAKER_01: I can't even explain it.
31:14
SPEAKER_01: I think about how much basketball I've watched since the playoffs started.
31:17
SPEAKER_01: I just needed a game to not really be tuned into.
31:20
SPEAKER_01: And that was this one.
31:21
SPEAKER_01: This is not a bad thing about the Pacers, you know what I'm saying?
31:24
SPEAKER_01: But when you miss Damian Lillard and Giannis, I kind of know how that game is going.
31:28
SPEAKER_01: And I do want to give the Milwaukee Bucks some credit because they fought, they fought, they fought.
31:31
SPEAKER_01: And then when Bobby Port is throwing them haymakers at Andrew Nimhard, they were without Bobby Portis as well.
31:35
SPEAKER_01: So I do want to give them their credit because they came out and played hard and made it a game, at least into the last quarter or so.
31:42
SPEAKER_01: It's only so much you could do.
31:43
SPEAKER_01: They were out-talented it.
31:44
SPEAKER_01: And uh it's cool to see Tyrese have his 24 points and Miles Turner have the poster thrunk and then seven threes or whatever.
31:51
SPEAKER_01: But it's it's you can only play the team in front of you, and that's exactly what they did.
31:55
SPEAKER_01: What do the Bucs do next?
31:56
SPEAKER_01: I don't really know because uh this is year number one of them being together.
32:01
SPEAKER_01: Dame is in the contract for a long time, right?
32:03
SPEAKER_01: I think he just signed his extension the year before he got traded here.
32:05
SPEAKER_01: Giannis signed an extension in the offseason.
32:07
SPEAKER_01: I think that if they lose the series, which again feels not feels like an inevitability, um, then they just somewhat run it back.
32:14
SPEAKER_01: Like I can see them trying to make moves around the margins.
32:16
SPEAKER_01: I would love for them to go get some type of because I don't know what happens with Malik Beasley because uh he had been one of the better shooters in basketball for the majority of this year of this year.
32:25
SPEAKER_01: He bet on himself going to Milwaukee and taking the less amount of money.
32:28
SPEAKER_01: I'm sure he's thinking about getting paid because there are a lot of teams with cap space and it's a bad free agency class.
32:33
SPEAKER_01: So you probably moves to losing Malik Beasley, but I don't know what you do after that.
32:38
SPEAKER_01: I mean, Chris Middleton in the series has looked really good.
32:40
SPEAKER_01: He's moved really good, so that's a silver line.
32:42
SPEAKER_01: And you can say, hey, if we run it back, we know that Chris, if he can stay healthy, can be a good number three.
32:48
SPEAKER_01: And then after that, I don't know.
32:50
SPEAKER_01: After that, I don't know.
32:51
SPEAKER_01: Shout out to the Pacers, though.
32:52
SPEAKER_01: I can't wait to see that series.
32:54
SPEAKER_01: If that's I don't want to count nobody out.
32:56
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to count nobody out, but I'm just going based on statistics, okay?
32:59
SPEAKER_01: Um, let's talk about Clippers versus the Dallas Mavericks.
33:02
SPEAKER_01: The most confused, the most confusing series so far, man, because Kawhi Leonard doesn't play game number one.
33:08
SPEAKER_01: The Clippers come out and put the smack down on the Dallas Mavericks.
33:11
SPEAKER_01: He plays games two and games three and they lose.
33:13
SPEAKER_01: And then he doesn't play a game four and they win.
33:16
SPEAKER_01: Now, this was almost an all-time blunder because they were up by, I think, 31 was their largest lead.
33:20
SPEAKER_01: And then at one point, the Dallas Mavericks were up by a few points.
33:23
SPEAKER_01: And you know what made this so fun for me?
33:26
SPEAKER_01: I'm watching this game and it felt like I was a freshman in college again.
33:29
SPEAKER_01: Because in this game, I saw James Harden have a masterclass, I had saw Paul George have a masterclass, and I saw Carrie Irvin have a masterclass.
33:37
SPEAKER_01: Those are those are three players that when I was in college, which would have been 2017-ish, 2016, 2017-ish, those players were some of the best players in basketball.
33:46
SPEAKER_01: I mean, they're still some of the best players in basketball, but like I think that's MVP G13 season.
33:50
SPEAKER_01: So like we got to see that.
33:51
SPEAKER_01: And the shot that Paul George hit in that corner, boy, if they win this series, and it's a if because it's 2-2 right now, and I don't know who I would pick after watching four games.
34:01
SPEAKER_01: If they win that series, that is the that is the shot that did it.
34:05
SPEAKER_01: Because there was all the momentum in the world for the Dallas Mavericks, and it was a tough shot.
34:09
SPEAKER_01: I don't know how much better you can play that if you're if you're Derek Jones Jr., who I'm pretty sure is the one guarding him on that shot.
34:15
SPEAKER_01: They needed that shot so desperately to stop the bleeding and hit it.
34:18
SPEAKER_01: And it was James Harden in uh in the isolation with PJ Washington time and time again.
34:23
SPEAKER_01: I have to go back and re-watch it.
34:25
SPEAKER_01: I saw a lot of conversation about Maxi Kleber, who ended up playing the last quarter or so, and him being basically standing under the basket for the majority of this.
34:34
SPEAKER_01: I have to figure out exactly why.
34:35
SPEAKER_01: Because I know part of it was like Zubac is on the court, and James Harden is such a threat to throw the lob that you kind of want to sink in a little bit and neglect the lob, but it was just floater after floater after floater after floater after floater after floater for James Harden, which was again for me, it was special.
34:50
SPEAKER_01: I ain't got no dogness fights.
34:51
SPEAKER_01: I just wanted to see good hoops, and we got that.
34:53
SPEAKER_01: I mean, Carrie Irvin, is this another one of those games?
34:55
SPEAKER_01: Carrie Irvin in the first half had 16 points, but in the first quarter, he ended up having zero.
35:01
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, yeah, yeah.
35:02
SPEAKER_01: Okay, another game.
35:03
SPEAKER_01: Why is Carrie Irvin keep doing this?
35:05
SPEAKER_01: Be stinky first quarters.
35:06
SPEAKER_01: I want to see his splits in the first quarters of this series so far, and then just turn it on.
35:11
SPEAKER_01: In the second half, he had 24 points.
35:13
SPEAKER_01: He is nine of 17.
35:15
SPEAKER_01: He had the one finish that was just uh like acrobatic between three defenders and so on and so forth.
35:22
SPEAKER_01: And then after this game, we saw Luka Doncic uh go to the podium and just say that that he needs to be better.
35:28
SPEAKER_01: Um, and in this one, I feel that when you're the superstar player, 29 and 10 is cool, but 29, 10 and 10, a triple-double is cool.
35:36
SPEAKER_01: But I understand what he is saying.
35:37
SPEAKER_01: I but you know, he he was one and nine for three.
35:41
SPEAKER_01: They just need to the the two games that they've lost so far, it's been a one-quarter thing that they lose and then they're trying to play catch up.
35:49
SPEAKER_01: And quarter number one, it was 39 to 16.
35:52
SPEAKER_01: And then in the one game they lost a game number one, they scored eight points in the second quarter.
35:56
SPEAKER_01: So if they can they can eliminate these all-time slow quarters, then they should feel relatively good about this.
36:02
SPEAKER_01: But the way the Clippers are kind of gelling without Kawhi Leonard, I don't know if I can really say that to be completely true.
36:07
SPEAKER_01: They desperately needed a big Paul George game, and you got that.
36:10
SPEAKER_01: In this first half, Paul George was just sitting shot after shot after shot.
36:13
SPEAKER_01: And I think in the third quarter, he didn't score.
36:16
SPEAKER_01: He scored two points in the third quarter, and then in the fourth quarter, he only scored five, but it was that one shot and then some free throws, and then it was all James.
36:25
SPEAKER_01: James 15 points in the fourth.
36:28
SPEAKER_01: I mean, uh I don't want to say Vincent's James because it's the playoffs or whatever, but it was just cool to see James cook because when when Kawhi is around a lot of the times, you don't play cook you don't play Paul Jordan, or you don't play uh James Harden basketball.
36:41
SPEAKER_01: That fourth quarter was James Harden basketball.
36:42
SPEAKER_01: It was like we're gonna play spread, we're gonna have our dunker or our uh our screen setter, and we're just gonna let him cook.
36:49
SPEAKER_01: And he did.
36:49
SPEAKER_01: And it was cool to see.
36:50
SPEAKER_01: It was cool to watch.
36:52
SPEAKER_01: Um, the only other series I really care to talk about today, because OKC's up 3-0.
36:57
SPEAKER_01: What do the the Pelicans do?
36:59
SPEAKER_01: Oh, let's talk about that because I do want to talk about again the the offseasons of some teams that are down.
37:03
SPEAKER_01: The Pelicans are down 3-0.
37:04
SPEAKER_01: Series is over, right?
37:06
SPEAKER_01: I agree with Professor Zach Low when he says that Trey Murphy III and Herb Jones need to be your wings next season, starting wings next season.
37:14
SPEAKER_01: I hate the fact that we still have not seen a single minute of playoff Zion.
37:18
SPEAKER_01: We got postseason Zion in that play-in game, but no playoff Zion.
37:21
SPEAKER_01: And I thought that this playoff series would have been a way for them to determine, the front office to determine what is the real idea behind uh Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson.
37:32
SPEAKER_01: And because we have not got it yet, I don't think you can just sit around and hope that one day you do get it.
37:37
SPEAKER_01: So instead, you gotta make the decision.
37:40
SPEAKER_01: And it got me like thinking, what could a Brandon Ingram trade look like?
37:43
SPEAKER_01: I think the one I keep seeing on Twitter is like if Donovan Mitchell is committed to Cleveland, which we don't know if he will be, if Donovan Mitchell was committed to Cleveland, then you have to break up that backcourt of him and Darius Garland.
37:55
SPEAKER_01: So it's like a Brandon Ingram, Darius Garland swap to some extent because Darius Garland decided an extension, so he's got years left, and I think Brandon Ingram would have one year left.
38:03
SPEAKER_01: So it's a risky, risky move.
38:04
SPEAKER_01: But I'm I'm not here to make the actual trades, but like a Brandon Ingram trade is it's interesting.
38:10
SPEAKER_01: Um, but even like a Darius Garland and a CJ McCullum backcourt don't feel great either.
38:14
SPEAKER_01: But I'm just trying to figure out exactly what that trade could be for Brandon Ingram.
38:17
SPEAKER_01: I saw some people say that the Warriors should give them a call to bring Brandon Ingram to San Francisco, which could be interesting.
38:23
SPEAKER_01: But I do believe that that they they're gonna have to make the decision now.
38:27
SPEAKER_01: They have to.
38:27
SPEAKER_01: Because though Trey Murphy has been up and down in this series, I think a lot of us are pretty high on him.
38:32
SPEAKER_01: I've already expressed to y'all how high I am on him.
38:35
SPEAKER_01: And Herb Jones, an all-defensive caliber player, you can't have one of them dudes coming off the bench.
38:40
SPEAKER_01: You just can't.
38:40
SPEAKER_01: And I think Brandon is probably the odd man out, but uh that's offseason, that's real offseason talk.
38:46
SPEAKER_01: The the Cavs decided to go to Orlando and just not show up.
38:50
SPEAKER_01: First game, they set a record for what?
38:51
SPEAKER_01: The biggest loss in franchise history in the playoffs.
38:54
SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm sorry, I'm trying to get to my notes because I had some stuff about the series as I was watching it.
38:58
SPEAKER_01: Um sometimes, not all the times, sometimes, majority of the times, I would say in the playoffs.
39:04
SPEAKER_01: If your star player is struggling, so will you.
39:06
SPEAKER_01: And when they were in Orlando, Donovan Mitchell was off for his own standard.
39:10
SPEAKER_01: Like Donovan Mitchell was a guy that we saw in the bubble can give you 50-point games.
39:14
SPEAKER_01: The year after that, we could see him average 38 points.
39:17
SPEAKER_01: Hell, even last year against this in the series versus the Knicks, he had a decent season.
39:22
SPEAKER_01: He couldn't hit a shot, a three-point shot.
39:24
SPEAKER_01: Even now, he can't hit a three-point shot again.
39:26
SPEAKER_01: But we've known him for the most part of his career to be a playoff riser.
39:29
SPEAKER_01: So far in those two games, I guess the entirety of this series, we haven't seen the Donovan Mitchell that we know.
39:34
SPEAKER_01: I think game number one, he came out and he was hot, and that was like, ooh, that offense looks good.
39:37
SPEAKER_01: But in these two games, he's really struggled.
39:40
SPEAKER_01: And if he's struggling, the team will probably struggle too because your Orlando Magic defense is that damn good that they can just eliminate some things about your offense that you feel good about.
39:48
SPEAKER_01: After game number one, offensively, Evan Mobley hasn't showed up at all.
39:51
SPEAKER_01: He hit the two threes of game number one and made me super excited.
39:54
SPEAKER_01: I was up here raving about the Evan Mobley jump.
39:57
SPEAKER_01: It's not there.
39:58
SPEAKER_01: And the most interesting part about all of this is that in two separate post-game interviews, DeRisgarla and JB Bickerstaff both said something along the lines of when we are down in these moments, we need to come together.
40:11
SPEAKER_01: Which makes me think that there's something going on that they weren't coming together when they were down.
40:15
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
40:16
SPEAKER_01: If two different people uh from two different press conferences are saying the exact same thing, then there has to be something there.
40:22
SPEAKER_01: What is happening to game number three when when there's a huge run by the Orlando Magic or game number four?
40:27
SPEAKER_01: That third, what is it, 37 to 10 run or something like that?
40:31
SPEAKER_01: Elite stuff.
40:32
SPEAKER_01: Mo Wagner, Franz Wagner is back, I guess, hopefully.
40:35
SPEAKER_01: Um it's just some interesting stuff because if they lose this round, I've already expressed to y'all how nasty it is that they decided to lose the last game on the season so they can get this matchup.
40:47
SPEAKER_01: So if they end up losing this matchup, the one that they won and JB Bickerstaff is out the door, and I think you have to make that trade about that backcourt.
40:55
SPEAKER_01: Because I always wonder like how long, how long is a good enough sample size for you to know, right?
41:01
SPEAKER_01: The Atlanta Hawks, we know uh that that backcourt can't exist.
41:05
SPEAKER_01: I believe that we know that Darius Garland and Don Vimitsu can't coexist to reach the ultimate goal.
41:11
SPEAKER_01: Now, that backcourt has been good enough to be the four seed, one of the top seeds in basketball for back-to-back seasons.
41:16
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to make it seem like it's a complete failure because this is a team that the entirety of my lifetime, if it if LeBron James wasn't on the team, they weren't making the playoffs at all.
41:25
SPEAKER_01: So it's cool to say that you have two playoff appearances under your belt without LeBron.
41:29
SPEAKER_01: You don't need LeBron to get it done.
41:31
SPEAKER_01: But but lose it in the first round to this younger team would just be bad.
41:39
SPEAKER_01: Jared Allen's been the best player.
41:40
SPEAKER_01: He said, Hey, y'all not gonna make fun of me because the light's being too bright, because I'm I am him.
41:44
SPEAKER_01: Uh, so I still don't know what to think about the series.
41:46
SPEAKER_01: The home team has won every single game, so I can't really give an opinion too much about it because hey, oh, we could go back to Cleveland and Cleveland win again.
41:53
SPEAKER_01: And then I'm like, oh, it doesn't really matter.
41:54
SPEAKER_01: The home team's just gonna win every single game and it's gonna go seven and Cleveland wins.
41:57
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
41:58
SPEAKER_01: But these other series, I mean, the Celtics dominated the Heat in that game, a good bounce back, and then the Lakers uh stayed alive in their their game or in their series um behind LeBron James.
42:09
SPEAKER_01: Turning back the clock, which I guess I can't say because he notoriously is just good.
42:13
SPEAKER_01: You know, it's not really turning back the clock if you're still great normally.
42:16
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but I think that's where I end it.
42:17
SPEAKER_01: I think that's where I end it, man.
42:19
SPEAKER_01: Uh can't wait to talk to y'all again.
42:20
SPEAKER_01: Um, the sum of these series might be over.
42:22
SPEAKER_01: The Pelican series is probably over.
42:24
SPEAKER_01: The Lakers might lose because they're going back to the Malhass City, and it's hard to win in that arena.
42:28
SPEAKER_01: Ball arena is really like that.
42:30
SPEAKER_01: Thank y'all so much for watching.
42:31
SPEAKER_01: Leave a like, subscribe, and I'll see y'all soon.