Latest / Small Ball with Kenny Beecham / Ranking The Favorites in EVERY NBA Playoff Series

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Ranking The Favorites in EVERY NBA Playoff Series · Small Ball with Kenny Beecham

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: You know how ridiculous this game was?
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: Rudy Gobert threw two flashy passes in the switch.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: Two of them.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: One of them was a cross-court pass to the corner.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_01: Rudy Gobert.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: One of them was a behind the back to the corner.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Rudy Gobert! Y'all gonna let him clown yo?
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Y'all gonna Y'all gonna let that man climb yo?
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome, welcome, welcome back to the Kenny Beach and podcast.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: Today, I am ranking every NBA playoff series about how done it is.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: Some of these series, even though we just got two games in, I feel pretty confident that it is over.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna talk about that.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: I need you to leave a like, subscribe to the channel.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: We were just talking about about 45% of y'all watching these videos are not subscribed to the channel, which I don't know what you're doing.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: You know what?
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna be honest with you.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: There are some YouTubers out there that I didn't realize I wasn't subscribed to until I heard somebody say it.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: They just pop up and recommend it so much.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I've watched videos for a long time.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't realize I wasn't subscribed.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: Check to see if you're one of those people.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: Hell, hit the bell.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: Hit the bell.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: So if you if you are subscribed, you still know exactly when the videos are dropping.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: We're dropping twice a week for the playoffs, we're dropping shorts, we're doing a lot of different content on this channel.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: Hit the bell, subscribe.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: Audio platforms give us five stars, goes a very, very long way.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: I do want to say, because we are only just two games into all of these series, yeah, we might be uh overreacting a little bit, but that is what it is, baby.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: We we live in the moment.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: And some of sometimes in the moment, some teams look done for.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: All right, let's get into the very first series.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I want to start off with the one that I guess has caused the most controversy so far in the playoffs, and that is the two C New York Knicks going against a 17C Philadelphia 76ers.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: And what a game that we have in game number two.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: A game that felt like it was done up by five or 40 seconds ago.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: We see a big time shot by Jalen Brunson.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: And in that shot, it hit like three parts of the rim and it drops in after Jalen Brunson have been struggling through the first uh what, seven and a half, seven and three fourth quarters.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna talk about that in a sec.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: And then they get the steal.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: Dante DiVinci misses the first shot.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Isaiah Hartenstein, who's been all hard and hustle, gets the rebound, kicks the OG, and OG had the right mind to get that ball up to Dante again.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: And Dante don't miss two in a row very often.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: Boom.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: Just like that, the New York Knicks end up winning this game.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of controversy because, well, on that inbound play, there was uh some fouling, some not.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: And um, well, we well, actually, we do know because the last two-minute report um came out, and here's what it says Brunson pulls Maxie's jersey away from his body, which affects Maxie's ability to secure the pass with 27 seconds left.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: That is the one that most 76er fans will tell you.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there's a really good screen grab that went viral on Twitter of literally his jersey being off of his body.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: And then also there is another one that said Josh Hart steps for on forward into Maxie's space and initiates lower body contact that causes Maxie to lose his balance and fall into the floor with 24.9 seconds left.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: And um, those are two crucial missed calls.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: Let's be real with each other.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: That those are two crucial missed calls.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: And in this time, when you're up by two points trying to get the ball in, you call this foul.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: Tyres Maxie's a very great free throw shooter shout out to him on his most improved player.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: He's probably knocking down one or two of these, and then the game is completely different.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: But that call does not they don't win, they don't blow the whistle.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: They don't blow the call.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: And it makes me question the last two-minute report and the value of it.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: You know, this is a playoff game.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: A game, a series that, you know, a lot of people are kind of split on, at least going into it.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: I had Knicks in six or Nixon seven.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but some people with the 76ers because well, Joel Embiid is the best player in the series if he's healthy and Tyrese Maxie is a stud in himself.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: But in this, this game where you're 40 seconds away from tying the series and taking home court advantage, you don't get the whistle in the two-minute report and say, hey, that's on us.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: What's the what's the value in it?
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: Because it doesn't really give uh comfort to 76er fans because yeah, they can say, look, they missed a call, but guess what?
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: They're still down 2-0.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: I know they're fouling the grievance, but the grievance doesn't mean anything.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: We ain't had a grievance matter in basketball since like 2006.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: And Lord knows they're not gonna give them the benefit of the doubt in the NBA playoffs.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: So the last two-minute report is this confirmation of some missed calls, but it hasn't, it doesn't mean anything because the Knicks are still up 2-0.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: And one thing I really like about Tyrese Maxon is his um willingness to embrace a lot of this stuff.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_01: Like even afterwards, so many people talk about the misfoul.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, Jordan Bede was very candid about it in his post-game interview.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: The interview they refused to look up.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if his eyes have been hurting him because I don't know if y'all saw the clips when he first got injured in that first game when he threw the self-lop to himself and he had the camera this close to his face, only one of his eyes was blinking.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: And there was another shot in game number two where one of his eyes were blinking.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if he's got something optically going on, but even in this post-game interview, his head is down the entire way.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, he will mention to you how crucial of a miss that was.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: Nick Nurse will mention to you how crucial of a miss that was.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: And Tarry's Maxi was like, well, I gotta be stronger with the ball.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: I love that about him, man.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: He's so so optimistic and um so willing to say that a basketball game is not lost in the last 45 seconds in a lot of cases.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of different things that you do differently to lose a game.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and one of the ones is one that Tarys Maxi talked about, that there was a crucial turnover late in this game that led to a New York Knicks bucket to cut the lead.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, you don't lose because of this moment, but man, if that whistle was called, then this series is probably 1-1.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: But getting back to it, um, I went on first take.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, in between the commercials, or we were filming some other stuff, I was talking to Stephen A.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: Smith about it.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I was just telling him that, like, even though you guys are up 2-0, this series is very far from over.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: There are some series that we're gonna talk about where it's a 2-0 lead one way, and I feel very damn confident that there's nothing your opposing team can do to come back to win that series.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: I do not feel that same way about this one.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: I have it as a 70-30 split, 70 going the Knicks way.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: Like, obviously, when you're up 2-0, you're gonna have the benefit of the doubt because you have to, you know, is it is it really likely that you see the 76ers win four games of the last five?
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's really, really tough to see, but it's possible.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: Because I thought that in these games, that the 76ers played basically the the brand of basketball that they want, specifically on the defensive side of the ball.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: Our guy Jalen Brunson, widely renowned as the best point guard in the Eastern Conference this regular season, has struggled so much.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: He's shooting like 29% from the field, and again, luckily he hit that big shot that mattered the most in that corner.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: But they've thrown him so many big bodies and really made it difficult for him.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: Where the game plan for the 76ers is let Josh Hart shoot.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: And damn, Josh Hart has been great at it in the first two games.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: But how likely is it that you get two more Josh Hart games where he had four threes?
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: He hadn't had four threes in a game since January, and he's just had back to back of those in the first two games of the playoffs.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I think that Nick Nurse, and I mentioned this on the last episode, Nick Nurse and Tom Thibodeau have been coaching so phenomenally in their in their uh to to really get what they want.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that this series is still alive.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: I really do think this series is still alive.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: Now you can say, Kitty, hey, the Knicks are up 2-0, and Jalen Bronson ain't had a game just yet.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like, if you if you're playing Devil's Afcat, I I feel that, but I also think there are so many different factors that say that the 76ers can make this a series.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, statistically speaking, they have a 6% chance to win the series, so it's not very high.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and maybe it's even lower because Jolan B doesn't look amazing.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: And it's so weird that he can drop 35 and whatever and still look unhealthy.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but again, the Knicks, I got it at a set at about a 70-30 in the Knicks' favor.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: Shout out to Isaiah Hardenstein, shout out to Josh Hart, Dante DiVincenzo, Miles McBride.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: They just have a lot of people stepping up.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: And even their second most important player, if you will, OJon and Obi hasn't had an amazing series so far.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: So maybe I'm convincing myself to lower that number for the 76ers.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: Either way, that's what I have it in my notes, and that is where we're going to keep it.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: The next series out east that I want to talk about is the Bucks series versus the Pacers, where it's now tied 1-1.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: And this was a very interesting game.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: One thing I will say, I love the beef.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: This is something we saw in the regular season in that five-game series they played.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: These teams hate each other, the fan bases hate each other.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: Hell, I made one tweet about Pascal Siakam being great through the first two games, and then I got Bucks fans mad, and then that got the Pacers fans mad, and now I'm tagged in a million tweets of fan bases going back to back with each other.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: I love a good old-fashioned beef specifically because these two teams are in the same division, so they will play against each other a lot.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: I thought in game one that the Bucs play to their strengths.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: There's one place, I guess a couple places you don't want to want to be in a fight with the Indiana Pacers.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: You do not want to be on a run and gun, and you don't want to match, try to match the athleticism, especially the Bucs.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: The Bucs are one of the oldest teams of basketball, if not the oldest team of basketball, and they just don't have these high-flying, super athletic dudes in their roster.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: The Indiana Pacers have that.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: And in game number one, I thought they did an amazing job playing their brand of basketball.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: They were very meticulous in every possession.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: And this is one of those teams in Indiana Pacers where you have to do that because one wrong step can lead to a fast break.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: One wrong step can lead to a mismatch for the up for them on the offensive side of the ball.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: And one thing that they did so great there, I thought they lost that in game number two, specifically when we got down to that fourth quarter, when it was relatively close.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: And then the Pacers went on a 23-4 run.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of that was like we took an ill-advised shot or a shot that wasn't the best look, and now we're out of the play, and there go the Pacers, really out there.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: They play right into the Pacers' hands.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: And uh obviously, I I this goes without saying, but they desperately miss Giannis.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, he's one of the three best players in all the basketball, top two player in basketball, if you ask me.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: So of course, of course, they miss Giannis um offensively, but I'm looking at that defensive side of the ball because Pascal Siakam has been everything you could have imagined if you're an Indiana Pacer fan, where when he's guarded by Brooke Lopez, Brooke is just too slow.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: Brooke is gonna play six feet off of him, and Pascal is a willing shooter and he has hit the three-point shot in the series.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: When they put Jay Crowder on him, he's just too small.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_01: Giannis is the perfect combination of height, length, speed, all of that.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: And without him, it's like free food for Pascal.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: And the problem with all of this is that we just don't know if Giannis is coming back in the series.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like I saw that he went through some shoot around and stuff, but he's not running just yet.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: And to think that this series is going to continue in just a few days seems very unlikely that he's playing game number three.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: And if he can't really run right now, is doesn't it feel unlikely that he'll be able to run in six days from now?
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: So that's where things get really, really difficult.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: I thought in game number two, Tyrese Halliburton was um very good at not giving the ball up early.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: That was something else that the Milwaukee Bucks did in game number one, where they brought a ton of pressure to Tyrese and say, get the ball out of his hands and make his teammates make plays, make his teammates make shots.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I thought in game number two, he was very poised because they threw two bodies at him a lot of the times, right when he got cross half court and he took his time and found his teammates, and ultimately they opened the game up for him.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: He had that big offensive rebound that he brought back for a three, and that was like a momentum shifting shot for them.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: And they took home court advantage in this one.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I think ultimately, I still have it that the Bucs are a slight favorite in this one just because I don't know what's going on with Giannis.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: I got it at 53 to 47.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: Shout to Capital Steves, if you know, you know.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: But it's so very close.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I can't wait to see what brand of basketball we get collectively in game number three.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: Will it be a Pacers game?
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: Will it be a Bucs game?
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: Because depending on the pace of the play or depending on the shots that the team gets, that'll really determine who wins this game.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, maybe that goes without saying.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: If you play Bucks brand of basketball, you're probably gonna get a Bucks win.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: If you pay Pacers brand of basketball, you're probably gonna get a Pacers win.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: So game number three is crucial.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um are they front runners?
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: Are the Indiana Pacers front runners?
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: I couldn't tell you, but that's what Bobby Porter said.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: And then Tyrese Halliburton uh talked about some situations with his brother Marcel, um, which is just, if true, and I don't think he has a reason to lie about these type of things.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: If true, it's just uncalls for in the NBA community or just in the community in general, if you don't know what I'm talking about.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um Halley comes to the podium and says that his brother was called the N-word.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, which again, no matter the circumstances, is not okay.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um I know I I don't I never want to put a blanket over a franchise.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: That's not the Bucks fandom.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: It was that one particular fan, but we just got to cut that type of stuff out.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: It don't matter if this dude is the star player of the opposition, the mother of the opposition.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's just let fans be fans.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: Let Marcel root for his brother and his brother's team without it getting too crazy, okay?
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: A little fan-based beat fan base beef shouldn't go that far.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: And uh yeah, you you just don't want that.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: So uh yeah, I got a 53-49.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: Let's go to uh the Celtics losing game number two.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: They lost game number two, and again, shout out to the Heat.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: There's a team that for the second year in a row I have had zero faith in making it a series.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but here they are setting records um of 23 of 20, uh 23 of 43 from the three-point line.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: And that's just so interesting because in the postseason so far, 43% of their shots have been from the three-point line.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: In the regular season season, there's about 35.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: And in this series alone, because the the postseason counts, the playing games to them as well, but in this series against the Celtics, 48% of their shots have become behind the arc.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: And it seems as though Eric Spoker's like, hell, we don't really have anything to lose.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: So, and the only way we're gonna beat this Boston Celtics team is if we beat them at their own game.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: This is one of the highest volume, highest percentage three-point shooter teams in basketball.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: So let's just go out there and try to match that.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: And then this game, boy, did they match that?
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: Caleb Martin just hates the Boston Celtics.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: Last year in the conference finance, we averaged, what, 19 on 60, 50, 90 shooting or something crazy like that?
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: And in game number one, he had four points.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: Tonight he hit like five threes.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: This is the best Tyler Hero game of the postseason by far.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: We talked about um last episode how the how the Boston Celtics have these physical defenders that can knock him off the spot and make it so difficult for him to create for himself or for others.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: And I thought he was so damn patient in this one.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: That was the thing that stood out to me watching Tyler Hero in game number two.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: How patient he was in finding his teammates and how much that opened the game up for him.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, a lot of the shots that the Knicks took or the heat took in this one felt really open.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I know Joe Mazzula went to the podium after the game and said that they got good contests on majority of those shots.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: I, again, my eye test said that they didn't.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_01: The tracking date is probably out by the time you're watching this episode, but it felt as though a lot of the shots that they took in this one were completely open.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just cool to see Eric's posture again just showcase why he is one of the best coaches in basketball.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_01: He is the best coach of basketball, if you ask me, with his ragtag group of players with no Jimmy Butler can go into the most dominant regular season team, one of the most dominant regular season teams ever, and say, hey, the TD Garden is ours.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: Like this team for uh a part of the season, there were conversations like, are the Celtics gonna be the first team to go 41 and oh at home?
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: I know we had the Spurs team go 40 and one or something like that from a few years back, but like, is this team gonna be that good, like that good at home?
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: And then he said, nah, I mean maybe in the regular season, but postseason comes around, we're gonna do our thing.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: And they they did that.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: So that that felt like a huge, huge win.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: And last year when they played against the um the Celtics, only 31% of their their shots came from behind the arc.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: And part of that is like Jimmy Butler was a huge part of the run in the conference finals last year.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: And obviously, with no Jimmy Butler here, then you take more threes, you make more threes.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: But it's just even with that said, I got it at 94 to 6 as the percentages.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: He fans, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um I I I admire the will, the effort, the passion that y'all play with on a night-to-night basis, but I still feel like the Boston Celtics are the um the just the better team collectively, and it uh they just gotta, I guess, close out a little bit more.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know what the hell they was doing.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: Jalen Brown said that the people that they wanted to take shots were taking shots, and they just so happened to make them today.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I and I feel that, and I I see basically that's what Nick Nurse is kind of saying.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we want Josh Hart to take shots, and he's just making it.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: But eventually you gotta get a hand up, man.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_01: When the brother hit the fourth three, you gotta do something.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it started off very early with Nikola Jovich hitting what the first two threes of the game, like, oh, this might be a Jovich game, and it was a little bit of everybody.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_01: So last episode, we talked about on FanDuel Sportsbook after the 1-0 series lead, the Celtics were minus 50,000 to win that series.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: Now it's 1-1, and the Celtics are now down to minus 2,500, which is still really, really high.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_01: It is still really, really high.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: But the odds have shifted dramatically with that one loss.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_01: And that says something.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: The Celtics, I'm gonna be honest with you, I know with the game of basketball, you can lose on any single night.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: This team is so dominant in the regular season.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: Losing this early on in the playoffs is not a good sign.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: Historic shooting night for the Miami Heat.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: I ain't taking nothing away from them.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: But losing this early on is not a good sign.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: Hell, they I was thinking there's a possibility.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: You know, next round they'd go against who?
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: Next round they either go against the scavs of the magic.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: That could have been a sweep.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: Conference finals, of course, Bucks, Pacers, Knicks, 76ers.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: I couldn't say sweep, but that should have been a five, six game series.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: You lose early on to the Miami Heat.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_01: Come on, man.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: You got yeah, yeah, just gots to be better.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: And Jimmy Butler's going on to Instagram and trolling, uh trolling Jalen Brown out of all people.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: So it's just I got I still have it at 94 to 6, though.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: Shout out to the Miami Heat.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the next game or the next series in the Eastern Conference is Cavs versus Magic.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_01: This is one of those series that I feel like I haven't got as many eyes on or many uh minutes watched of compared to the others.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like I I feel okay about my takes about it, but not as comfortable as I feel about the Pacers game or the Knicks game or the Western Conference games.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because first they got the first national TV game of the opening playoffs, and the first half of that game, I'm I'm driving home from the podcast studio from numbers on the board.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: And then the next time they played against other, they did get the NBA TV game while the other game was going on was the Knicks 76s had started right after them.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like I want to kind of prioritize the Knicks versus 76s over there.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: So but this is what I have it at.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: It is it's far from over for the my for the Orlando Magic.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: These you want to hear how crazy these stats are for the Orlando Magic.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: Dude, the first two games of the series, uh, remember that there are six, there are 16 teams in the playoffs right now, sixteen.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: They are 14th in rim percentage or shots made at the rim percentage-wise.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, like not how often again to the rim, but when they're there, how many of them are they making?
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: They're 14th.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: They're very last in mid-range percentage, and they're very last at two point or three point percentage at 24%.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, it's gonna be hard to win basketball games.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: You can't score.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I still believe that there's I feel like there's no way that they shoot this bad for the entire series.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I know the track record of the Orlando matches, they're not a good shooting team, but 24% is crazy.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of that is them missing open looks.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it is kind of crazy to see the Cavs using the same strategy that hurt them last year.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like, like the the thing that Tom Thibodeau did against them, they're doing that now against JB Bickerstaff and company, or against um Jamal Mosley and company.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: Was like, we're going to shrink the floor, let them shoot.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: We don't trust a single person on their roster except for their star player.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: So make it extremely difficult for their star player and Paolo Banquero and let the others shoot.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: And that's exactly what the Knicks did in the first series against them, the Cavs last year, was like, we only care about Donovan Mitchell.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: Nobody else matters to us.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: Shrink the floor, kill the glass, and dominate that way.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: And now they're doing that through the to the magic through the first two games of this series.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: Again, I don't think it's very realistic that they're going to shoot 24% for the entirety of the series.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: But even with that said, I got an 85 to 15 for the Cavaliers.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: I just think that even though the Cavs are, the Cavs, let's be honest with each other, the Cavs haven't put together a good offensive game yet either.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: Part of that is the Orlando Magic has been a very good defensive team as well.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: But the Cavs ain't had a good offensive game yet.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: Diamond Mitchell's been great.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_01: The Max Struce, uh, Jordan Yang ain't done a damn thing.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: The two biggest acquisitions for their team ain't done nothing yet.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: But I still got an 85-15.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Magic, I hope they make it a series.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: I think my initial prediction was Cavs and six.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, so I need the I need the Magic to win a couple games so I can look like a genius to cover up from the bad ones I had.
• 20:11
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• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: I pick the Suns and 7.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_01: We are two games in.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_01: And part of me subscribes to the idea that the series doesn't start until a road team wins.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: But sometimes the games are so dominant that I don't even care.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's kind of this.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: Right now I have it at 80 to 20.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: So I did give them a 20% chance of coming back just because I respect Kevin and Devin so much.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: But it ain't been pretty.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: One of the main problems with the Phoenix Suns, as far as the on-paper stuff, we could talk about the off-paper or the uh off-court stuff, but in the games that they've played so far under the Kevin Durant, Devin Booker era, they have needed those two players to not be good, not just be great.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: They've needed those two players in their wins in the postseason to be the best versions of themselves.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: You don't believe me?
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: Versus the Clippers last year in game number two, those two players combined for 63 points.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_01: That is more than what they averaged in the regular season.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_01: That's that seems kind of tame, I guess.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: Game three that they won against the Clippers, they combined for 73 points.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_01: Game after that, game four, 61.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: Game five to close the series.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_01: They they dropped 72 points collectively between those two guys.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_01: Those two guys.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_01: And then it gets to the game against the series against the Nuggets, game number three, the game that they won first, they combine for 86 points against the Nuggets in that game.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's a game that Jokic has uh 56 in himself, and they still lost.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_01: And then in game number four, the only the only other game that they won in the series, they combine for 72 again.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_01: So there is no wins in their playoff history together.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_01: Again, we're talking about uh basically two series and a half of a series right now.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: There have been no games that they've won without their two best players being undoubtedly the two best players on the court.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_01: It hasn't happened.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: And that is some scary, scary stuff.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: The perfect example in the game number two versus the Cavs, Anthony Edwards didn't have no great game.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: Offensively, he ain't had no great game.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Jaden McDaniels had 25.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_01: Cardinal Towns had a good game after a bunch of fouls.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: Rudy Gobert is phenomenal.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: Mike Conley was phenomenal.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: He Anthony Edwards, their best player, had the supporting cast to support these dudes or to support him.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: He didn't need to be the best player on the court.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: Devin and Kevin need to be the best player on the court for them to win playoff games.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: And that is not a recipe for a championship team.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: You telling me that one of my best players can't have an off game?
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_01: Not just one of them, because for game number one, remember Kevin Ray had 35 plus, or he had 35 points.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_01: And they still lost by a lot because Devin and Brad combined for 30.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_01: Last year, when they were doing this, I believed it a little bit more.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_01: Or like, yeah, if Devin don't have a good game, but at least we still got Chris Paul.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_01: At least we still have DeAndre Aiden.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: Like they had a better supporting cast.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: Nowadays, it's really Kevin, Devin, and Brad.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_01: And because you don't trust anybody else in their court to give you a great game.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: And now Grayson Allen tweaked his ankle.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: You had a Jock Landell game, even though in the fourth quarter he took way too many shots.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_01: Why is he taking post hooks twice in the fourth quarter or back-to-back possessions?
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know the answer to that.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_01: They need their two best players to be top 10 in basketball all the time.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_01: And that's just hard to do in a playoff setting.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_01: Specifically, when one of them is going to get hounded by Jaden McDaniels for the entire game.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: That man, Jaden McDaniels.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_01: I could have never expected he was going to be as good as he is right now.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: Never.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: And in this game, he was walking his way to the basket.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: There was a time in this one, you know, you know how ridiculous this game was?
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_01: Rudy Gobert threw two flashy passes in this one.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: Two of them.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_01: One of them was a cross-court pass to the corner.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_00: Rudy Gobert.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: One of them was a behind the back to the corner.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: Rudy Gobert.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: Y'all gonna let him clown, yo?
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: Y'all gonna let that man clown, yo?
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_01: Carlton Towns was an unsung hero in this one.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: He had three fouls in the first quarter.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I thought after that he played a phenomenal game.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_01: But like the box score's not gonna say that.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: He didn't shoot the ball very well.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_01: But I there was a few possessions in a row where I dialed in on Carnotany Towns and he played perfect defense.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect defense.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: Carltony Towns.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: What?
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect defense?
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_01: Man, the reason they traded for Rudy Gobert is because we couldn't get one possession of Carlton Towns of playing perfect defense.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: And here he is having multiple in the row.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uncle Mike Conley looks phenomenal.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_01: I I said this on a video earlier today, or I guess yesterday, as you're watching this.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: That Mike Conley at best is like the 18th best point guard in basketball.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: At best, you can make an argument of some people to be above him.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_01: So maybe it's 20, maybe it's 22.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_01: I don't really know.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_01: But because he is a table setter and because he controls the tempo and controls the energy of the game, he's a valuable, valuable piece to the Minnesota Tim Wolves.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: The Suns don't have that.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_01: Devin Booker, plus playmaker.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_01: Kevin Durant, plus playmaker.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_01: Bradley Beale plus playmaker.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: They don't have the Mike Conley control the game type of guy.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: And that goes such a long way.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_01: Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal dribbling off their own legs, errant passes going all over the place.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_01: And they just don't defend great enough to warrant them having bad offensive games.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_01: Rudy Gobers had a masterclass in this one.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: Again, I still said that it is 80-20, but that 20% is strictly on the fact that Kevin Durant is great.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_01: But hell, Kevin, if we have another flame out early in the playoffs, and y'all know this is not even my, this is not even my personality when I watch these these sports.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_01: We have another early flame out in the playoffs.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_01: We gotta have some conversations.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_01: Some of y'all have already had these conversations.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: I never want to buy into him, but hell, they he he might be making me do it.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_01: And it's not necessarily him.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: But again, number two, there are too many times where where you forget that Kevin Durant exists.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_01: In a playoff game, Kevin, he's he sometimes I feel like Kevin Durant is trying too hard to be the team player.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_01: When he is a killer, capital K killer.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: And he can dog anybody on the court at any time.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes I want Kevin to do what I saw Shea Gilgis Alexander do early or in the third quarter of this game against the Pelicans.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_01: Or I guess it was late second quarter, too.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_01: Where it's like, this guy guarding me ain't on nothing.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm gonna drop 12 straight points.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_01: 12 straight.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_01: Give me the ball and clear out.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_01: I am Kevin Durant.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_01: Give me the ball and clear out.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: I am Shea Gildis Alexander.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_01: Kevin don't be doing that no more like that.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_01: Or he hasn't done it through the first two games.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, he had 35 the other night.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_01: But I mean, like, really take control of the game as being one of the greatest scorers to ever pick up a basketball.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_01: I want more of that.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_01: And Devin has been disappointed, but nobody's been more disappointed than Bradley Beale.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, Lloyd, Lord knows that contract right now is looking worse and worse by the day.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_01: Guaranteed$100 more million dollars with a no-trade clause?
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody be talking about Zach Levine money.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_01: And trust me, Zach Levine's contract ain't good either.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_01: But that man is guaranteed$50 million annually for a few more seasons.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_01: And he gets to tell you, no, I don't want to get traded there.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's crazy.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_01: And if they flame out in the playoffs again, I don't know what you do to make this team better.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's so bad that people on Twitter are building Devin Booker trades.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_01: They shouldn't, we should not be there.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_01: Devin Booker should be a one-time team guy, a one-team guy.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: But because there's no way to get out of this situation if you lose, it's like, man, if people on Twitter like, hell, the Orlando Magic can use some offense.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_01: Could they buy in on Franz Wagner?
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's that's rat right now.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_01: Should we be there?
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_01: It may be a little bit too early, but that's what's happening actively on Twitter.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_01: Let's quickly go through this next series.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the Nuggets versus Lakers, it is a 99-1.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm only giving that 1% because it's LeBron.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's Anthony Davis.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_01: But if you didn't win that game number two, where you're up by 20 points, I don't know how many, how many games you can win.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_01: This team has beat you 10 straight times.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_01: You've had double-digit leads in three of the last seven, and you lose them.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_01: You lose them.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yoke's the best player in basketball.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_01: He took Anthony Davis to the paint every single time on that run.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_01: Jamal Murray was awful through the first three quarters, and then boom, here he is hitting the clutch a shot of the game and a couple big shots before that.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, if you don't win that one, you don't win many.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_01: You don't win any, maybe.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_01: I do want to give them benefit of the doubt, so they might take one at home because we are going back to Cali with it.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_01: But you gotta win in Denver.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_01: You have to.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_01: To beat the Denver Nuggets, you're gonna have to win a game in Denver, minimum, minimum.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_01: And the Lakers don't feel like they have an opportunity or a chance to do that.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_01: I I the one thing you could definitely tell is that there's a a um a conditioning difference, and part of that just might be with the Mowhaf City, man.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_01: We're in Denver, we play here 41 times a year.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_01: We're used to this altitude and stuff.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: But Anthony Davis was phenomenal through three quarters in the fourth quarter.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_01: I think he took one shot.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_01: He was off the ball so much.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if he touched the ball more than three times in the fourth quarter.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_01: He was gassed, he was out of it.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_01: And then LeBron tried to do everything in his power to wield him to he hit two back-to-back threes, got a steal, led to a dunk.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I saw people critical of the last shot that he took.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, I don't, I don't think you can really be mad at that.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_01: In that fourth quarter, LeBron hit two or three threes exactly like that.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_01: And this one was way more open than the other ones.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_01: Just happened to miss it.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_01: And it opened up the door for Jamal Murray to hit a tough shot over the one of the league's best defenders in Anthony Davis.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_01: So I can't do nothing but tip my hat.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_01: The big shot that Michael Porter Jr.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_01: took and hit was phenomenal.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_01: I can't do nothing but tip my hat to them and say, uh, yeah, I'm I'm expecting them to make it to the next round.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_01: 99 to 1.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm not gonna spend too much time on that one.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_01: The next series is the Thunder versus the Pelicans.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_01: I have it at 90 to 10.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_01: I just don't think the Pelicans have enough firepower.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_01: And and me and the guys were talking in Discord as we were watching the first half of this game, because I'm gonna be honest with you, once the fourth quarter came around, I hit up Greg, our producer, and said, let's film now.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_01: Because the Pacers, the Pelicans are not coming back in this game at all.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but we were talking about it.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_01: And Valve started off this game hot.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_01: I think he scored the first 11 points for the Pelicans.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_01: And the guys were like, uh, Derek, my boy Derek from Numbers on the Board, he was saying, like, man, I can't wait to see the OKC Thunder acquire a big man, like a bruising big man to add to their team to play alongside Chad.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I I don't I don't like that idea.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_01: And the main reason I don't like the idea is basically what I mentioned earlier when we were talking about Kevin Durant and Shea Gius Alexander.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_01: When Shea went on his run of 12 straight points in this one, um, a lot of that is him one-on-one with a lot of space.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_01: And the guy, the guy that um Derek was throwing around, and this is not, he was just saying a big body, right?
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_01: He was saying Drummond.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_01: Drummond is the example.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_01: A guy like Drummond on the court right here clogs the paint up so much for Shea that that 12 straight points that he scored may not end up at 12 because now the help defender from the big is there in the paint to deter him from getting to the basket.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_01: And the luxury that the Pelicans have is that five-man spacing, and they are willing to lose the offensive rebound battle.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_01: They're willing to lose a one-on-one bruising battle against Jonas Valenciunas because their offense is so damn elite with the five-out spacing that they're okay with Valenciunas dominating the first quarter of a game because they know that that's not sustainable for Val, and that's not sustainable for the Pelicans.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_01: Where even in game number one, where Val dominated the first half or whatever, whatever, he couldn't close because he was too slow-footed.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_01: They had to throw Larry Nance in that one.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_01: And and the only team that you really can't say that to be in all honesty, but like in this playoff series alone, in this playoff uh year alone, the different nuggets.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_01: You the only, the only real big man you're caring about is Jokic.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_01: They're the opposite side of the bracket.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_01: We don't have to see them to the conference finals if both of us get there.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_01: Next round, if they win the series, which again, I got I got it so high, I'm pretty sure they win in the series, is against the the Mavericks, who have some good bigs.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_01: None of them is like no crazy bruiser.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_01: Those are lob threats, vertical threats, yada, yada, yada.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_01: And then you got the the Clippers who could win their series too.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_01: They got Zoo Al Sender out there and set up to Zubots, but Zubots is not winning you a game.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_01: Or he might win you a game.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_01: He's not winning you a series.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_01: So we feel confident in Chet's ability to maybe take a pounding from Jonas Valentinous for a seven-game series.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's not gonna be a seven-game series because we're gonna dominate them on the offensive side of the ball.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_01: So that's where my head is at with it.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there might be a center that kind of balances all of that.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_01: I just don't know who that center is.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_01: I like the idea of the space they have with Chet and everything.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_01: And and um, even on the defensive side of the ball, they did the same old thing that everybody does against the Thunder.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, hey, our big man is gonna be guarding Josh Giddy.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_01: Josh hit it, Giddy hit a couple threes in this one.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, what are you supposed to do?
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_01: I think the NBA is better when OKC is in the playoffs.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_01: That crowd is electric.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_01: I need to get to an OKC playoff game because from as long as I can remember, basically, um the OKC fans, when they are when they have a game in the playoffs, they're gonna show out.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_01: And one thing I like about their ownership, they're not afraid to print 20,000 shirts to put on the seats.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_01: The Clippers didn't do that this year, or at least so far, the first two games of the playoffs.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like there's a whiteout in OKC.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I heard that they bully you to put those shirts on.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_01: They bully you.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you if you don't, if you know the shirts that sit on the thing, it's like OKC playoff, whatever, it's all white out.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_01: If you don't put the shirt on, they show you on the jumbotron and they boo you until you put the goddamn shirt on.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_01: What?
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_01: And uh yeah, like the Clippers didn't do that.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_01: They don't have like this T this unity for the fans to wear the same outfit.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_01: OKC does that.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_01: It's great.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_01: Now they're up 2-0.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, is this our last series?
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, it is.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's Clippers versus Mavs, where the Mavericks took game number two.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_01: And it is, it is only a small amount of things that are more special to me than watching a star player in the zone and watching them do something great, a big shot, a big block, a good stop, and them showing all of the emotion.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_01: And when Luca hit that step back on James Harden to ice the game with a minute and some change left, and he looked at the crowd and he yelled at them, and I ain't gonna repeat the words that he said because it was some beep bleep bleeps, but boy, was that special.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_01: You know what also was special?
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_01: Luca Dodged's defense.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_01: I thought in game number one, his defense wasn't anything to talk about on the positive side.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_01: And in game number two, they played with a level of desperation that I expected the Suns to play with with game number two.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like, yeah, yeah, you're the role tape.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_01: So being down 2-0 is not unprecedented that we can come back.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_01: But the Mavericks went into game number two, and it felt like they were saying if we don't win this game, we don't win this series.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_01: There's no chance.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_01: And they took that game away with Kawhi Leonard playing who didn't look great through the first two and a half quarters, but then eventually it started to look a little bit better.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_01: Luca down the stretch, this is per ESPM.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_01: Luca was the nearest defender on the clip on the Clippers, they shot two of 17.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_01: And Kawhi, Paul George, and James Harden did not score any of those two shots.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_01: And down the stretch, they were they were hunting Luca.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_01: And there's a report that said that Luca Don just told them, do not help.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_01: I'm fine.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_01: And he did that.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_01: And then hit the biggest shot of the game.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's a special talent, man.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's a special, special talent, man.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and and the reason why I think the Luca defense is cool because I mean, he's not gonna be faster than a lot of the people he might get switched on to, right?
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_01: Especially some of these guards, or even like a Paul George.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_01: Like he's not gonna, he's not gonna be able to physically keep up with Paul George as far as lateral quickness and stuff.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_01: But he is a huge body.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like people forget that this man is 6'7, 6'8, and and a big guy.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_01: But he's also one of the best minds we have in basketball.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_01: So he's smart with it.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_01: He knows when to put his hand in the cookie jot and when not to because he uses the same tactics against you.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I thought he was ridiculous down the stretch.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Zubach got in foul trouble early in this game, and that changed the entire way that the Clippers wanted to play.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_01: And game number one, Zubac was the greatest of all time, it felt like.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_01: Which is some insane numbers.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_01: But when Zual Cinder was out there, they were obviously a lot more efficient.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the conversations about Luca in that one clip that went semi-viral where he throws the pass to Maxi Kleber in the first game, and he does this little temper tantrum jumping thing.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_01: There are a lot of people coming out like, man, this is like the worst kind of player to play with, so on and so on.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_01: Bro, have we not watched LeBron James play basketball?
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_01: Talk to me.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_01: Because I've seen I've I've seen LeBron James throw passes for 21 years, and his teammates ain't got the hands of catching, and he has done very similar stuff.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_01: But guess what?
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody would have loved to play with LeBron.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_01: That's just the reality of it.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_01: He has an expectation for his teammates.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_01: Catch the goddamn ball, and we'll be in a good spot.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_01: And in game number two, Gusman Mexican Cleveland did got a huge offensive rebound and it led to a bucket.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_01: And what did Luka Donces do?
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_01: Embraced him with high fives and hugs.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like that is that is how you do it.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's okay that he let his emotion get the better of him for that three second in game number one where they were getting their ass dog.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_01: But he also showed like hell, you do the right thing.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_01: We feel great.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_01: And Maxi Kleber was great in game number two.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like, yeah, would you prefer that your star player don't jump up and down after a turnover for sure?
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_01: But not wanting to play alongside him is kind of crazy.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_01: To me personally.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_01: To me personally, it's kind of crazy.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_01: Ultimately, I still got this series very, very, very, very close.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I have it 55-45 in the favor of the Mavericks just because they just took home court advantage.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it could actually go either way, obviously.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_01: Kawhi Leonard's back, and like I mentioned, he didn't look great to start off with, but he did start to put together some possessions.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_01: He even got that one steal on Derrick Jones Jr.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_01: trying to give it back to Luka Doncic and then went down for an easy bucket.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_01: So um anybody serious, anybody serious right now, but having stealing their home court advantage gives them a little bit more of a nod for me, um, because they have the best player in the series for me.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and that is, of course, Luka Doncic.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_01: So let me know what you think.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_01: Are my ratings good?
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_01: Are they bad?
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's always a fluid conversation.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_01: I do want to say that I appreciate all the support throughout the playoffs so far.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_01: We've dropped our last couple episodes, and y'all have really destroyed it.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, if you're a YouTube hair, you know a one out of 10 means that it was the best performing video of the last 10 in the last two episodes.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_01: We've been able to break our own record.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_01: So that's all because of y'all showed out and um enjoyed it.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_01: And that's not even accounting for the audio platform, the listeners out there.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_01: Just know that we appreciate all the support.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_01: And as long as y'all here and y'all listening, y'all watching, I'm gonna be here uh creating and giving my uh bad NBA takes.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh appreciate y'all, and I'll see y'all in a couple days.