Latest / Small Ball with Kenny Beecham / Is the Celtics' Finals run “legendary”?

Transcript

Is the Celtics' Finals run “legendary”? · Small Ball with Kenny Beecham

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it's okay to recognize that this run has been dominant without also saying that they have been as dominant as the 2017 Warriors.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's okay.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's not taking away anything from them at all.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: Because regardless of who's in front of you, it is hard to win a championship.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: There have been teams that have had the luxury of having easy paths and still didn't win the goddamn ring.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome, welcome, welcome back to the Kenny Beach and podcast on maybe the eve of the end.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'm filming this the day before the Celtics could potentially complete the sweep in the NBA Finals.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: Up 3-0.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: Tomorrow could be the end of the season.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: That's crazy, bro.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: I honestly feel like it wasn't too long ago where Zach Levine dropped 50 against the Detroit Pistons and we lost.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I made a video saying, oh, the Pistons look kind of nice this season.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: That feels like yesterday.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: And the season is about to be over.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: It might not happen tomorrow.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: You know, Dallas might give it a game or two or three, but history says they won't give it four.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: So congratulations to the Boston Celtics on being the 2023-2024 NBA champions, y'all.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: It is official.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: Feels like a long time coming, but at the end of the day, it's well, okay, it's not official.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's as official as it can be without it being official.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: You feel me?
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: But a potential 16-2 finals run.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: 16-2 will put them in an elite group of teams.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: But at the same time, it doesn't feel like they deserve to be in that group of teams.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to talk about that.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: That's just me teasing some things for a little bit later.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: I need you to leave a like on the episode, subscribe to the channel, tell a friend to tell a friend that, well, the season might be over, but you might still want your basketball fix.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: We're about to start talking about the NBA draft is that's like 10-ish days away or something like that.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: And then we'll have free agency.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: And then we'll have summer league.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: And then we'll have the Olympics.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: So basketball, men's basketball is going to continue to go for a while.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: You still got the with the W.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: Shout out to the W to hold us down.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: Big three starting up very soon, holding it down.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: So we will have hoops.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: Don't get me wrong, we will have hoops.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: But something about this league just keeps me like that.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: So it is bittersweet that uh we are coming to a potential end.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: Let's get to this dominant run for the Boston Celtics because um I fell victim to this as well.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: Where after game number three, I published my video on Kenny for Real.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: I always want my Kenny for Real video in the Kenny Beach and podcast to be complimentary and not feel like it's overlap.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: And again, I understand that sometimes there is overlap, and I apologize for that, but it is what it is.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but in my game three recap, after I published the video and re-watched it, I was like, I really didn't mention the Celtics too much, did I?
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: Instead of us talking about how good the Boston Celtics have been this entire run, or the fact that they've held the Boston Celtics to under 100 points, three games in this final so far, all three games in this final so far.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: My conversation, the conversations that were on TV, on other podcasts, and so on and so forth, has been more geared to the fact that Luka Doncic fell out in the first game of the season for him.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: I think third time of his entire career.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's about the officiating a little bit.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's about a lot of different things outside of the Boston Celtics.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: Again, I am guilty of that as well.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: So let me give the flowers to the Boston Celtics because, again, they are one game away from what, banner 18?
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: Is that the right number?
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: Or is it 19 at this point?
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: They got so many banners I lost track.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: Some of us, I'm lucky to have six, even though only three of those six happened in my lifetime.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: Either way, um, they are on the road to another championship.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: And it it kind of feels like that has been the case for the Boston Celtics this entire year.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: And at this point, I'm just talking about myself.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: I can't talk about any other shows.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: I'm only talking about myself.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: Where the Boston Celtics have been so very consistently great and consistently dominant that there is nothing really to talk about outside of saying, this team is really, really good.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: This league thrives on drama, it thrives on player movement, it thrives on a lot of different things.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: And consistently being good is not necessarily one of those things.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: So again, it's been a team that I've said since the moment they acquired Drew Holiday, that was a team I was picking to win the finals from that very moment on.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: And here we are one game away from it being the fact, they're a team that I've consistently believed in.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like I haven't wavered whatsoever, but I felt more inclined to kind of talk about some other stuff, to talk about some other teams.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: They've just been doing it.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: And part of it might be because we've seen them, ah, have we seen them be this?
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: We've never, we have not, even though they have six conference finals appearances in eight years, we've never seen them be this good or this dominant.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: But in my mind, because we have seen this thing make to the conference finals, we did see them make a championship run in 2022 and end up losing and stuff.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: Them being regular season good was really solid.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: But it was like, okay, can we get the championship now?
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: Because in the Brown and Tatum era, and again, these guys are 26 and 27 years old.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: They are they, you you could argue they ain't even hit their primes just yet.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: But we are just so consistently like normalized to them being great, a great duo with them being in the playoffs every single season.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like Jason Tatum is on pace to have the second most playoff points in the history of basketball.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: He's on pace for that.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: Now, will he get that?
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I've been seeing how he's been shooting this series.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: But he's on pace for that.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: That's how much he's been in the playoffs, and that's how good his teams have been throughout the course of his career.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: So them being a team that could potentially be what, 80 and 20?
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: If they win tomorrow, they'd be 80 and 20 this season.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: They win four out of every five games this year.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: That's an incredible, incredible streak.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: And based on the numbers as of right now, they have the 11th best point differential in playoff history.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: But at the same time, I look at those teams around them.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's 2016 Cavs, it's 2017 Golden State Warriors, it's 2013 Spurs, it's 2001 LA Lakers, these teams that were so very dominant and eventually ended up really competing to a game seven and maybe losing or getting to a championship and dominating.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's hard for me to put that Celtics team in the same light as those other teams.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: And what I would say to that is that is completely, completely okay.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: Everything doesn't have to be black and white.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: We can recognize that this has been a dominant run, but I'm still saying, you know, they be playing against nobody too too crazy, but that that's not taking away from what they've done.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: They were down about 20 points in game number three in the third quarter versus the Indiana Pacers.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: And what did they do?
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: They won that game.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: The Miami Heat hit a legendary amount of threes, 23 threes, the most they've ever seen in a playoff game in their franchise history.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: What did they do?
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: They fought back and beat them by like 100 over the next two games.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it's okay to recognize that this run has been dominant without also saying that they have been as dominant as the 2017 Warriors.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's okay.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's not taking away anything from them at all.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: Because regardless of who's in front of you, it is hard to win a championship.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: There have been teams that have had the luxury of having easy paths and still didn't win the goddamn ring.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a testament to them being completely locked in.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: Again, the 11th best point differential is hard to do throughout history.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: It is so very easy to get complacent.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: And you could argue that in their fourth quarter, that six-minute stretch was a 20 to 2 run that they got complacent.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: There were a lot of ugly shots.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: There were a lot of, oh my God, what has happened in moments.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it's easy when you are a team like them that have had success to almost the highest degree, multiple, multiple years, for them to go into a regular season and end up as the three seed, to go into the postseason and see Jimmy Butler's not playing and fall two games, to see Don Vamitz was out fall two games, to see no Tyrese Halliburton and lose a game.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: They have not done that.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: And with the with Luca being beat up and the the Mavericks just not having the support and cast, they've taken full, full advantage of things.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: And that is pretty dope.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: That is pretty dope.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: And before the series started, Jason Tatum was asked about having the experience, having the experience of being here before, and how much, and he he responded about how much that first run in 2022, right?
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: That was right here in 2022 is really gonna impact the way he he has impacted the way he's thought about basketball and prepared for basketball since then.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: And you can see it in the moment.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: Now, right now, Jalen Brown, if you go to FanDuel Sportsbook, Jalen Brown is the favorite to win finals and Pete.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that makes sense.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: Jalen Brown has been the better player in this playoffs.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and in a game three, was it 30 points, eight assists, and like seven rebounds?
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: That's a ridiculous game for Jalen Brown, especially when things were sputtering and the Mavericks were on that run.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: Jalen Brown had two possessions where he settled some things down.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: One of them was a jump shot over Tim Hardaway Jr.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like he did at this point in time, he deserves the final to be the favorite to win the finals MVP.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I still don't just look at the counting stats or the shooting numbers and say that Tatum has had a bad series.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: These two dudes work in tandem.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like in game number three, that was one of my favorite collective games between these two guys.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: I thought that they both played off each other so very well.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: I thought that when Jalen Brown got that super monster dunk, I know there were some conversations on ESPN about Jason Tatum is happy for the man.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: They cut to Jason Tatum, he was ecstatic.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: When um there was one drive and kick where Kyrie Irvin got lost in the right corner and Jason Tatum kicked it out to Jalen Brown and Jalen Brown hit the three.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: Jason Tatum celebrated.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: I don't, does Jason Tatum do this or this?
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like this is the dirt thing.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: But other people do this too.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: Either way, when he hit the three, he celebrated as if he hit the three.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like, it's it's always been a thing in the media to try to break these two guys apart.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think that's the reality of their situation.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I honestly, of course, Jason Tatum wants to win finals MVP.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: That's a legacy-defining thing to be known as the best player in a finals.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: But in this one specifically, it has been Jalen Brown by about if about 10% or so, maybe 15% or so.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: Because I think a lot of it has to do with we know Jalen Brown could get buckets.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: We know he's aggressive if he sees the Mitch match.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: We know he can get to the basket at will, specifically if he has a guy in front of him that he don't really, he don't really believe in.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: But the playmaking we've seen from him over the last two games, and granted in game number two, he did end up with like seven assists, six turnovers, if I remember the number correctly.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: But I thought that his playmaking has hit in this series another level.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: And part of that is they're starting to defend him a little bit differently than in game number one, where he wasn't looked to pass because there was no reason to.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: It was single coverage and everything.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: So the fact that Jalen Brown has had this playmaking bump and his defense has still been incredible.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: As of right now, before game number four, he is my finals MVP.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's not set in stone.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: If Tatum goes out there and draw 50 of them things, if he dropped 50 of them things, I think it could be a conversation.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: But either way, I think that whether it's Brown or Tatum winning that finals MVP, the other guy is gonna be ecstatic because that championship changes the way you're perceived.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: At least it should.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: I I mean, I can't speak for the people on Twitter.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, at this point, I've grown out of NBA, NBA Twitter.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know, I'm 28.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: I'll go on 28 this year.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: I I enjoy memes.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good meme.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: I enjoy a good, good joke geared towards a player when you recognize that it's a joke, but some of the conversation is just a little bit too wild.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um and these guys have been winners their entire career, right?
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: I I I truly, truly believe that you can be a winner without a ring.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: Because winning a championship and no matter the sport is the hardest thing possible to do.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so there are players throughout history with zero championships that I can firmly say that that guy has been a winner throughout his career.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: And these two guys have been winners throughout their entire career so far.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: And now they're one game away from getting the thing that cements that.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: One championship, there's no conversation of whether or not you're a winner or not.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: Especially this early in it.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, again, we're at 26 and 27, which is for at least Jalen Brown, that's relatively early for that finals run.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: That would be one of the one of the youngest finals MVPs without me looking at the list.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: I know some guys at the top of mind that have done it, but one of the youngest finals MVPs at 26 years old.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and these two guys have just been working very well together.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_01: There's a period of time in their careers where there's like real legitimate, and this is by our reports and some articles that I've read throughout the years, that there is a real chance that they were gonna try to split these guys up.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: Not going into the season, but like years ago, when um this team had just more talent on the roster, and it was like, oh, these young dudes, they're they're 22 and 23 years old.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: They're both wings that can get buckets, but they have overlapping skill sets.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: Will we be able to cash in on Jalen Brown in order to trade for Kevin Durant, which was just like that was like two years ago.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: Will we will be able to cash in on Jalen Brown to acquire, um, to acquire uh Kawhi Leonard after his thing with the Spurs when he was readily available?
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like there were real conversations on whether or not they would keep this duo together.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: And they stuck to it and said, hey, these guys are so young, we don't know who they can be as players.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: And reality is who they can be as players is Tatum can be a top 10 player in basketball, and Jalen Brown could be top 15, top 20, depending on who you ask.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: And Jalen Brown could be a guy that can play as if he's top 10 depending on the circumstances.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: The overlapping skill set thing might have been the case when they were younger players, but at this form, this portion of their career, they're complementary.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: To have two wings who can switch everything at this point.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: The way I'm watching Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown guard the potential lob opportunities or the way they rebound makes me feel pretty solid about them being able to switch pretty much to everything.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: For them to both be players that can create their own shot, for Tatum to to evolve as a playmaker as he has, these guys feel like a duo that should be together for a very, very long time.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: Considering now Jalen Brown is a game away from being a finals MVP and has one of the biggest contracts in NBA history.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: There's no question about his own um I what's what's the word for for his own validation.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: Because at this point, what's what much more can I do?
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: I was all NBA player last year, all NBA second team, if I remember correctly.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_01: I helped lead a team to the finals and then I won finals MVP.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: I've already been paid.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: There, there, there's no like sometimes you see a player, specifically when you talk about two younger players, um, they grow apart because one of them wants to see what they could do if they weren't under the other or if they weren't sharing the duties.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think that's really a question anymore.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't fear that in a year from now, Jalen Brown will request a trade because he wants his own team, because this is his team.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's simultaneously Jason Tatum's team too, but this is like a weird, a weird combination that we very rarely see in this sport where you see a number two be able to feel like a number one for a 15 to 16 game stretch.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: And the guy that was normally known as the number one is completely okay with it.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: That's dope.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: I do believe that Jay Satan is still a better player.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_01: I do believe that Jay Satan is still the number one considering the the responsibilities he has as a playmaker as a facilitator and all these type of things.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: But there's no thought in my mind that I think that this is could be broken up anytime soon.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: But I mean, I've been wrong on things like this before.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: But it's just so cool to see these dudes get to this point.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um the next thing I'm gonna talk about is Derek White.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, because I remember two years ago, um, or was that last year?
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: Last year in the playoffs, they got against the Miami.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: So that was last year conference finals.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: They go down 03, yada, yada, yada.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: I remember watching that series, and there were a few, few of those games where it felt like, and I've I vividly remember um on the broadcast, he he was open in a corner.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, we were in um, this is Miami, so this is no, no, no, this is home.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: So this is game number one or game number two of that series.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: And he gets a pass in the corner and he hesitates to take a shot.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember them saying, that's a shot Derek White normally would take.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: And it felt as though in somewhere throughout that finals run that he had, or or um throughout that playoff run, that he had completely lost his offensive identity in a way teams weren't respecting him as a shooter because again, think about who else was on that roster.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: There are a lot of players that you respect.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: And this is just the way basketball, you pick and choose your battles, and the other teams would decide.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: And hey, Derek White being able to shoot that three-point shot, we're okay with him being able to do that.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: In this game, Derek White hit that one bank shot three straight ahead.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I was just thinking to myself, the progression of Derek White throughout the course of his career has been so very ridiculous and one to be talked about.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_01: And then I woke up this morning because these a lot of these things are notes that I had for this episode.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: And then I woke up this morning and I saw a report that's um his trainer said the secret sauce to Derek White becoming a player that he's become is that in 16 years of training, he has missed one workout.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: In 16 years of training, he has missed one singular workout.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: Persistence, consistency, all of these type of things.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: So for him to be able to A be one of the best perimeter defenders in basketball, even though I thought in game number three, Luca felt real comfortable with like trying to get that switch because he's just bigger than than uh than Derrick White, but I think he held his own a few different times.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_01: He even got the big block that led to the Jason Tatum dunk.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that probably was a foul.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_01: Not probably, it definitely was a foul.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um but there was a guy that they got for what Romeo Langford, another first-round pick that turned into what Malachi Brandon, if I'm not mistaken.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: Just a guy that we we knew was solid with the Spurs.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think many of us expected for him to be a media darling, because I remember at the all-star break.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_01: Specifically, my guy, JJ Radick, was like, that guy's an all-star.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: That guy's an all-star.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: Him to become one of the media darling of advanced stats darlings.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe not media darling.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_01: That's a stretch.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: Advanced stats darlings.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: So he's become an advanced stats darling.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_01: He was already a good defender, but he's become one of the better defenders, one of the best perimeter defenders in basketball, and has hit some really, really big shots.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: Some really, really now, he also hit a game winner in that Miami Heast Series 2 from a year ago.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't want to act like he was completely a non-fact or anything.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but still, he has just been phenomenal.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: And he is up for a contract extension, if not if I'm not mistaken.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: I don't see a world where he's not on the Boston Celtics.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: All of the money that they're going to be paying is just worth it at the end of the day, even if they just get one, you know.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: So shout out, shout out to D.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: White for really um never wavering and just really being consistent, and he's gonna get a big payday.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: Drew Holiday.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: Drew Holiday, it's gonna go to the question that Jordan Bede asked later late last night on Twitter, where the exact tweet, I don't remember it verbatim, but it was something along the lines that did Milwaukee gift the ring to the Boston Celtics, of course, referring to the fact that the Milwaukee Bucks traded Drew Holliday to the Portland Trailblazers in a package revolving around Damian Lillard, and then the Portland Trailblazers in in a couple days' time traded him to the Boston Celtics for Malcolm Broad, then Robert Williams, and if I'm not mistaken, two first-round picks.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: One of the picks that they got back from the Porta Zingus trade.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: Remember, they got two first-round picks in the Porzingis trade.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: So Joel Lambi is asking that Milwaukee just give them the championship.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's a valid question.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um obviously Milwaukee could not have controlled what the Blazers decided to do with Drew Holiday, but I would assume that they didn't expect him to end up on one of their rivals.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: Now, it would probably hurt a little bit more if those two teams saw each other in the playoffs, if um Giannis was healthy and they lost or something like that.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think they think about it too much in this time.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think Giannis is looking at his front office like, what did you do?
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's not one of those situations.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: Because at the end of the day, the idea for the Milwaukee Bucks was Giannis has been on two different podcasts where he said he just wants to win no matter where it's at.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: We need to do something to make him happy.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: He has not signed that contract extension we put in front of him a couple weeks ago.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: Uh-oh.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: What can we do?
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_01: And what they did was traded one of the guys.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, Drew Holiday has said that he wanted to retire a Milwaukee Buck, right?
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that was like two weeks before he got traded.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: They traded one of the dudes that was beloved in the locker room, beloved.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: And the fan base, I want to say, even though I think they kind of turned on him after he was traded, it was like, oh, look at the look at these stats.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: When we were in the playoffs, he was significantly worse.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: But when he was in the finals, he got the steal and threw that live to Giannis, and we loved him then, and then we hate not hated him, but we didn't love him as much.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: Either way, um, and they and they in turn got Giannis to sign his extension, right?
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: If you would have, if you would have said, let's go back in history.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: Let's go back in history.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: If you would have told John Horse, who I think is still in charge over there, you're gonna trade for Damian Lillard, but when you trade for him, Drew Holley is gonna end up on the Boston Celtics.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: How do you feel about that?
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: He probably doesn't like the idea, he's probably double thinking whether or not he wants to do this trade.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: Because at this point in time, they already have Porzingis.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: So this is like the final piece, other than Xavier Tillman.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: Shout out to Xavier Tillman.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um he probably thinks about it a few different times, right?
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: He probably is tossing and turning in his sleep for nights leading up to the final decision.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_01: But if you also told him that this is the way you get Giannis to sign that extension, I think that is the moment of time where he says, fuck it, we ball.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: And they do the trade.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_01: Because at the end of the day, if when you're a small market team like the Milwaukee Bucks and you have a player that could potentially end up top 20 of all time, top 15 of all time.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, he's got potential to go higher.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: He's still, I don't even think he's hit 30 just yet.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_01: Giannis is still a baby in NBA terms.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_01: When you have a guy like that in a smaller market, who was in conversations for the best player in the league for multiple years, you do everything in your power to keep that guy.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: In your city.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: Even if that means that one of the years after you make a big trade, your division or your conference rival wins a championship.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: You get him to sign an extension.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: It's kind of all that matters.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_01: Because whether or not Damian Lillard looked great in this first season, or whether or not Chris Middleton was regressing, or whether or not Brick Lopez was regressing, it's not that important to us at the moment in time.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: The thing that's number one on our priority list is to keep Giannis.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, if Brick Lopez is regressing, we'll figure out what to do with that.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: If Chris Middleton is regressing, even though he's great in the playoffs, we'll figure out what to do with that.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: The one guy, that guy up top, is Giannis.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: And the fact that they were able, they felt okay with trading Drew Holiday lets me know in mind there is no stone that they will leave unturned if that means that we feel comfortable with our team around Giannis.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, on paper, Giannis and Damian Lillarding makes a lot of sense.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, they went through a lot of coats and stuff, a lot of things.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_01: So the original question did Milwaukee gift them the ring.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: They played a huge part in it, don't get me wrong.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: Did they gift it to him?
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_01: Probably.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_01: So okay, so the idea.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, so the question is what's the alternative, right?
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um there were other teams that were interested in Drew Holiday from all reports back then.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: And the Trailblazers opted to go with the first round pick and then two players that they feel like they can trade again for more first-round picks, as yet to be seen.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: Michael Brog still on the roster, Robert Williams got injured like 12, two games or two a season, and boom, boom, boom.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_01: Now, who knows?
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: Both of those guys dealt with injuries this season.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: Will they be able to get first-round picks for these guys or will they continue to try to build with Robert Woods, which I think is what they said to the public?
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_01: We don't know if that's the truth.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, if that trade doesn't go down and Drew Holiday is trade, let's just say to some team out west to keep the Eastern Comps Eastern Conference, do the Celtics still win the championship?
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: That's a question for y'all.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: That's a question for y'all.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_01: Because it goes into seedings, right?
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_01: Where do they end up seeing?
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_01: Do they still end up being the most dominant team in the Eastern Comms?
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_01: I think they won the Eastern Comms by 14 games.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_01: Is that 14 games all Drew Holiday?
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_01: So they might still end up as the one C without Drew Holiday on the roster.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but then they traded away Marcus Smart in the Porzinkus trade.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: So who is starting there?
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_01: Is that Peyton Pritchard and Derek White?
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's it's the butterfly effect.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: I don't that they gift them the ring.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: They played a significant part in it because Drew Holiday um had decent odds to win the finals MVP after game number two, because he was that good.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: 26 points, 11 rebounds, so on and so on.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_01: You saw the game.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_01: You saw the goddamn game.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: And his defense, again, just been ridiculous.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, even though Kyrie Irvin still ended up with 30 plus in this one, his defense has been great the entire time.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: Also, want to give the flowers to Brad Stevens as we're talking about these these trades.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um because when he I remember when he opted to step away from coaching and step into the front office job.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it is it is a maneuver that we see quite a bit in basketball, but not necessarily to like one of the top men in power.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_01: So, for example, Wes Unsale Jr.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_01: was canned or stepped away from the head coaching job of the Washington Wizards to step into a front office job.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: He's not the guy making the total decision, but somehow he has some type of play.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_01: We see this quite a bit.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: There are other examples across basketball that I can't think about over the last couple of years, but a coach is fired or let go, but he stays within the front office and within the organization.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_01: Brad Stevens steps away and he says, I'm gonna hire a guy that I think could do just as good as me or better.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I want to take this next challenge on.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_01: And of course, it ends up being Ime Udoka, who in the first season under Imei Yudoka, they made a finals run.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like Ime was phenomenal for a guy that was widely renowned as one of the top assistants in basketball.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_01: He immediately stepped in and he said, a culture, the defense was great.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: He was doing this, he was doing that, and he immediately made the finals.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_01: And in my mind, he was going to be the um the coach for a very long time in Boston.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, some off-the-court stuff derailed that.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_01: And Joe Mazzo is a 35-year-old guy who's been an assistant coach for some time.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_01: He's put into that seat as the head coach.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember after um, before Joe Mazzo got his contract extension, there were some conversations on whether or not he would just be an interim and they were gonna find the real coach, or will they trust this young guy, this young kid in the terms of the way NBA coaching is?
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_01: Will they allow him to grow with the team?
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_01: And it felt like a risky move to have the young guy grow with the team because you have such a win now roster.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_01: Can we afford for Joe Mazzula to continue to learn as a head coach?
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: Or should we go out and get a veteran guy that has been here and done that?
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_01: And they stuck to their guns.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: They said, Joe is our guy and he's Rain Man, he is crazy, but he one thing he cares about more than anything is I guess it's his faith and his basketball.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_01: That's what he cares about more than anything.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it's paid off.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_01: Because one of the main reasons, this is this is again the Joe Missoula way, is the numbers game across this series.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: All of the stats, a lot of these stats have been relatively flat.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_01: Turnovers per game, they're within a couple.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_01: Rebounds per game, they're within a couple.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_01: Free throws per game, uh, after game number three, I have not checked, but I for last time I before game number three, they were within a couple.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_01: Everything else is relatively flat, other than that three-point thing.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_01: And that three-point thing it helped the Mavericks go on a 20-2 run last night, but also it helped the boss of Celtics get out of being down in a two to 20 run.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: When you start up last game, they outshot the Mavericks by eight three-pointers.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: So they started out the game based on the numbers down by 24.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_01: That's the Missoula way.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_01: So Brad Stevens to A have the confidence in a 35-year-old coach, or I guess 34-year-old coach when he first got the gig, to feel like this is winner go home, to acquire a guy like Chris Dasperzingis, who, again, they got draft picks back for Chris Das because of his health.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_01: And here we go in game number three.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_01: He was not able to suit up because of that health.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_01: But to acquire a guy like Chris Dasperzingis, who is an all-star caliber player, to acquire Drew Holiday and like in a week span, right?
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: Was that that's how quick all of this all happened where they reformulated this team?
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's just incredible stuff.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_01: And we look at the six conference finals in eight years, I feel like we kind of forget how many different versions of this team we've really seen.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, Tatum and Brown have been the one consistent, but we saw Kyrie Era, Gordon Hayward, we saw Kimball Walker.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like you Tristian Thompson was on the team once upon a time starting.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_01: This team was 500 at one point.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_01: Like they got swept in the playoffs by Kyrie Irvin and them when he was a Brooklyn Nat.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_01: This team has gone through so many different versions.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_01: The only two consistent things have been Tatum and Brown and I guess Marcus Smart until this season.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and Brad Stevens said, hey man, making the comments finals is cool.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: But we are also a team, uh franchise about winning.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's Boston Sports, man.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_01: We're here to win championships.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_01: There's there's no, oh, we almost did it.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_01: And he made some really big moves in order to make it a reality.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_01: The Xavier Tillman trade.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_01: For nothing, and listen, Xavier Tillman, let's not act like Xavier Tillman turned into Charles Barkley or something.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_01: But he was so damn good in the minutes.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_01: And my question going to game number three, would it be Cornet?
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: When Cornette plays drop coverage by like a million feet, like he is so, so far into the drop, which feels dangerous against Luka Doncic, or will it be Xavier Tillman?
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_01: And they opted to go Xavier Tillman, and he actually hit a three-pointer in this game where the crowd went wild.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_01: He was great defensively, causing a lot of miss specifically on Luka Doncic at the paint.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean, he was just as good as you can be for a guy that was going into this series cold as hell to have his number be called.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm sure he knew before the game started that he was gonna play, but still, shout out Xavier Tillman and shout out to the acquisition, I guess, because that was just one of the ones like, oh, okay.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_01: Every other team is trying to gear up for something bigger, and they just brought in Xavier Tillman, and we'll see what that does.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_01: It was the right move.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's the right move.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so Brad Stevens, maybe he's the real fine SVP.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_01: I think I made that joke last episode.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, they're they're still one game away.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's not official, official, as you know.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_01: But shout out to the Boston Celtics for getting it done.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_01: The question is after this, going into next season, I guess we don't know what Philadelphia is gonna look like.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we don't know if the Marky Bucks are gonna make any changes.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_01: The New York Knicks are they gonna keep Ojan and Obi?
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_01: Are they gonna trade this?
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_01: That I would assume that going into next season that the Boston Celtics will still be the favorite to come out east.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_01: That's for sure.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but only time or tell.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_01: We've had crazy offseasons.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_01: Again, nobody could have expected Porzingis and Drew Holiday were gonna end up on the Celtics.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_01: Could another team go out and buy a bunch of stuff?
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: There are a lot of teams out here with draft capital, young players, so on and so forth.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_01: I don't really know.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_01: Let's flip it to talk about the Dallas Mavericks, um, who again are down 0-3.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_01: I already talked about it in my Kenny Frill video about the Luka Donch's performance.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_01: So I recommend if you want to hear me talk about that, go to that channel.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I would just briefly say I didn't enjoy the Luka Doncic game.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it was a tough one.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_01: I think he missed six to seven straight shots at one point in his game, some of those being bunnies right at the rim.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: He was extremely frustrated.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_01: One of the more frustrating games we've seen from Luka in some time, where he is yelling at the refs.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, he's yelling at the this coaching staff on the bench.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's a lot of different stuff.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_01: And um it's a it's a huge burden to have to be the guy on the championship team, specifically this young.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_01: Again, so that's Tatum and Brown.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_01: They were just in the finals of 2022 when they were about 25 years old.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_01: I understand that.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um But there's a there's a huge burden on his shoulders, and there's a huge contusion on his chest, there's a huge thing on his knee, and another on his ankle.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_01: He is fighting through a lot of injuries right now.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_01: But I thought that the the begging for the calls or being frustrated with the refs are one of the reasons why they end up losing this game.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_01: Again, another one is that they were down 24 points based on three-pointers alone.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_01: But there were a few times in this game when Luka Donchis opted to not get back on defense, but instead talk to referees, and one of them led to a Sam Houser dunk, or it's not Duncan, Sam Houser three.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_01: And um I think it's gonna be a learning experience.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_01: You know, majority of people that end up in the finals at this age don't win, and they do get another chance eventually.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_01: And because Luka Donciz is that nice of a talent, I do believe that he'll get another chance eventually.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_01: But I I feel kind of sad about it in the sense that the Western Conference will only get harder and harder to get through.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_01: And granted, they went through 350-win teams.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_01: If they would have ended up winning a series, we'd be looking at it as one of the most improbable and one of the coolest finals rings of all time.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I think you can all you can say that, but also say this was one of the cooler conference runs in recent history to go against the Clebers Team.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_01: That it was, I think it was like 50-50 odds, uh, because nobody knew what uh Kawhi Lennon was gonna do, and then boom, um, they win that one.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_01: They went against the young OKC Thunder.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I picked the OKC Thunder in that series, they beat that team.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody's riding the high of Minnesota, beating the Denver Nuggets.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_01: Majority of people picked the Minnesota Timbows, they beat that.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_01: Like, it is a very good run.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm not taking that away from them because, again, there are so many teams that don't even get to this point where they can even compete for that championship.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_01: So I just I want to give them the flowers on this run collectively.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, ultimately, I think those injuries really caught up to Luke and and um the other team is taking advantage of it.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, when I talk about turnstyle defense for Luca Dontis, that's what it has been this entire series.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_01: And in game number three, it might have been worse than game number two.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and the fouls.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_01: He fouled out.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I only read the quote in the podium.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't know that the the inflection in his voice when talking about it being the finals and him having six fouls.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_01: It didn't read very well, but again, I don't want to form an opinion about it because I haven't heard it.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it was basically about the whistle, and he doesn't want to say this, or he doesn't get fine, whatever.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_01: Whatever.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_01: Here's the reality of the situation as a guy that watched this game now twice.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um of his fouls were calls that could have gone either way.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_01: It could have been a no-call or it could have been a foul in Luka Doncic.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_01: Fair.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_01: But three of those fouls were objectively avoidable.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_01: He went into the fourth quarter with only two fouls and left with six.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_01: His first foul of the game, he's on the baseline with Jason Tatum, gets stuck, boom, that's a foul.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, that that was one of the ones that were 50-50.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um uh foul, foul number two, 100% a foul.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_01: Even he looked at the referee, he said, that's one on me.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_01: That's the second foul.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_01: No big deal.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_01: You had two fouls.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_01: You're going to the fourth quarter.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_01: You feel good.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_01: If you have two fouls going into the fourth quarter, no, no place in your mind do you think that this player is going to foul out.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_01: But instead he did.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um we we have the one play on Peyton Pritchard.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_01: He's on top of the key, he's on top of the key, guarding Peyton Pritcher, nobody around him.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_01: And Peyton Pritchard gets a step in front of him, so he tries to reach around and pick the ball loose.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's another foul objectively.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_01: The one that could have gone either way is when him and I'm pretty sure it was Jalen Brown, got mixed up on the baseline.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_01: That could, that could have been another 50-50 call.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_01: And then the last foul, the one that he fouled out on, that was the right call.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_01: I think I think that the two minute report is going to say that in a few hours when it comes out.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_01: That was the right call.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_01: The reality is when you make that much contact from a player, it can't be a no-call if the other player falls.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_01: Jalen Brown is the ball handler on this fast break.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_01: He gets his contact and he falls.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_01: A whistle has to be blown.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_01: They're not just gonna let him say, play on.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_01: And in that case, because he wasn't set, and because he opted to try to, instead of playing normal defense, to try to draw a foul or try to use his hips to get in front.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_01: I don't really know what the plan was.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_01: That that was more indicative of the whole game than anything, the fact that he attempted to play defense this way.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I qu I'm I'm curious of what happens next for the Dallas Mavericks, right?
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_01: At the deadline, they acquire PJ Tucker.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, PJ, PJ Washington, they acquired Daniel Gafford, and well, PJ has not hit a shot since OKC.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_01: Sazing.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_01: OKC, he was the greatest shooter of all time.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_01: He just was.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, next series, struggled again, but don't worry, everybody got your bag.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_01: Luka Don said a step back, three-pointer, Derek Jones Jr.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_01: hit a couple games, but he had multiple threes, so on and so forth.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_01: And in this series, he still can't hit.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_01: Now, in the end of that game, they were on their 20 to 2 run, he hit a couple baskets, which I was like, okay, there it is.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_01: And they were on their route.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_01: I thought they might have been on their route route to uh get rid of that 20-point lead and everything.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_01: But 21% from three this series.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_01: I think it was 21% from three last series.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um his whole time in Dallas, he's been struggling to shoot the three outside of the OKC series for the most part.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_01: So the question is, what's next?
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying that PJ can't be on the team or say thing with some of these other dudes, but teams are gonna get better around you.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um I just don't know exactly what they do.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_01: And part of what they do could be nothing, right?
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_01: Remember, this team is basically put together in February.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if they should be panicking because they got to the finals and lost, you know?
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but I also think there's this healthy balance of recognizing what we did was dope as shit, but also recognizing that there are some teams behind us that are getting that are getting better that we need to gear ourselves um for.
• 37:12
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• 37:16
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• 37:30
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• 37:34
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• 37:40
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• 37:43
  SPEAKER_01: Before I get out of here, I want to look at these tweets.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_01: I did tweet hashtag ask KB to see if y'all have some questions.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but let me let me check.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_01: So I got three questions from the community.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_01: Shout out to everybody that submitted.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_01: The first one comes from Pacers Goat.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_01: Is this draft really that bad, or are we just used to stack draft classes?
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it it's beyond my knowledge to really tell you.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm usually a guy, and I've said this on many, many um topics and things like that.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_01: I usually defer to people that know, right?
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_01: It would be crazy for me to come out here and say, this is the weakest draft class of all time, when I personally have not done the research on it.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_01: What I do recognize is that this is one of the most fluid draft classes of all time in a sense that I've seen the first overall pick switch like four different times on different mocks.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_01: I've seen like seven different players mock to the Bulls at number 11.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_01: So that's kind of cool for me.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_01: But what I am doing right now, since the draft is around a corner and if the Boston Celtics end up winning tomorrow, the next big thing in the NBA is the draft.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_01: I am working on having a guest on this show where we can talk draft and I can learn a little bit more.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_01: I can ask questions about certain prospects.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_01: So we could collectively kind of get an idea from someone that I would deem to be very knowledgeable about this year's draft or just drafts in general.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_01: But I do have draft classes in my lifetime that were considered weak draft classes that produced Hall of Fame players, all Sakaba players.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_01: The number is no draft since 1956 has produced less than three all-stars.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_01: So if that stays the case, at least three of the people that are drafted this season, at least three, um, will eventually have an all-star appearance in their career.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I would just go to history on this one.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_01: 2013 was widely known as a really bad draft class.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_01: It produced Giannis at the uh after the lottery.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it's missing that star talent.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's not Zion, it's not Palo, it's not um Victor Wib and Yama, or these guys that are highly, highly talented that we really think about when you're tanking, you're tanking for Zion, you're tanking for Victor Wib and Yama.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_01: This season, many people weren't tanking for Alex Sarr or Zachary Richesar, you know?
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_01: But those guys could end up being great.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_01: Or the guy that's drafted 13th or 17th or 22nd could end up being the best player in the draft class.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I kind of like that idea that it's really dependent on your scouting team.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_01: And it's kind of scary as a as a fan of a team that don't scout very well.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_01: But it could be one of those things where you just you you really make your decision, not based on the mocks, because um I've read I've read articles.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_01: It was one on the athletic from maybe two years ago, of a draft expert basically saying there are some times where general managers are so afraid to go against a mock that they will pick a player that they personally don't feel amazing with.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_01: Because they are afraid to go against a mock and reach for a guy and have to explain it to the guy that owns the team.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_01: We had this player mocked at three, and you drafted a guy that wasn't mocked until number 10.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_01: What is this about?
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_01: Even if they felt like the guy number 10 was the guy for them.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_01: And with a draft class like this, you can kind of just go with where you want with it.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if there would be considered any reaches unless it's a guy that's projected to go 42nd that goes in a lottery.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_01: There won't be many reaches in this draft because it's really based on what you like and what you need.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_01: Gaddy is the name says, how do you feel about the impact that social media has had on the NBA?
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_01: The crazy expectations players uh people have on players nowadays, the random hate, for example, Clay Thompson went over 10 in the relation game memes all over Instagram.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_01: Is there more negative than positive?
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_01: Is there more negative than positive?
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I just think that's just how people get interactions um on Twitter and things like that.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um there are some companies slash group of people that are trying to change that and have people be more geared towards the enjoyment factor that is sports.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um I don't let me see what the original question was again.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um social media pack has on the NBA.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_01: I think the best thing about social media when it comes to the NBA is that we are able to hear the voices of people that we wouldn't be able to hear the voices of before social media, right?
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_01: Before social media, you turn on ESPN, you turn on whatever channel has sports, and whatever was there, that is what you listen to, whether it was your cup of tea or not.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_01: And nowadays, you can find a creator, you can find a writer, you can find somebody that is almost specifically geared to the type of content that you like.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_01: If you like of a quick-witted, funny guy talking about hoops, you can find that.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_01: If you like more analytical aspect, you can find that.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_01: So the best thing about social media is that it provided um variety amongst the sports, all of the sports, but it also provided variety amongst all of the sports, and that could be a bad thing as well.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it also gave us an opportunity to know and learn these players more than we ever really would.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if that's a good thing to some people, but I personally enjoy listening to players give their first hand accounts on what it's like to be an NBA player, tell stories and stuff like that.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_01: And that was something that did not happen in the previous era because social media was a thing.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, being a podcaster wasn't really a thing outside of like a few that existed.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_01: So has its pros, has its cons.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_01: Hell, without social media, you don't know who I am.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_01: If you enjoy these content, that's a shout out to social media.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I can't be too hard on it because my whole job has been built in this realm of social media.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_01: But I I do believe it is a lot more negative than positive.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe the only reason I say that is because I only see the negative because that's what gets the likes and that's what gets the retweets, and that's what gets people talking, right?
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, if you're a guy that's like overly positive about everything, I don't know if you get the same traction that you would get as if you were critical more critical than not.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_01: So um it's it's it's it's a tough thing to talk about as a guy whose whole life has been in this social media game.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_01: The last one comes from J Bird that says, How would you improve the NBA finals coverage?
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_01: I think there are a lot of different things we can do differently.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um the the first one, and I don't know if this is an ESPN thing or an NBA thing, give me the damn Larry O'Brien on the court, please.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_01: Optically, it just makes it all look better.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_01: The fake CGI finals that's not actually on the court.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_01: Does not move me.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_01: Having the patch on the back of the jersey does not move me.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_01: Now I understand.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_01: They got their brand set, like they sold their ads on the top.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know where you even put it, other than the back of the neck.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_01: But I just don't, the jerseys don't feel like a finals jersey because you got to wait for somebody's head to be down for you to even see the patch.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_01: I think that ESPN just hasn't done a good enough job at it.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_01: Part of it is that it doesn't feel like a show.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean I compare it to their um competition in like Turner.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_01: Turner obviously has not had the finals.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_01: But when halftime comes around, you feel like you should stay in your seat and stay locked into the thing because of the halftime show provides you with something.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_01: It provides you with some laughs, it provides you with some memes.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_01: Even if the the individual coverages before between the four guys is never too crazy, it is something that you have fun with.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_01: Nowadays, man, the NBA finals is like, oh my, okay, the fine, I think the end of the first half was 51 to 50, right?
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_01: 51 to 50.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_01: Paul George's on set with four other people.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and P PG, what do you what are you seeing out there?
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Carrie Irvin is being more aggressive.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_01: Well, he's got to continue that in the second half.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_01: And it's back to commercials where the halftime show is really like a minute or two, and it's not really a show.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_01: It's not giving you highlights or key moments of the game, really.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_01: It might give you a play here or there.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_01: And ultimately, it feels just like a cash grab.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_01: And again, as a guy that makes money doing stuff, ads and stuff.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_01: I understand.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_01: I understand it.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_01: But when you're at this level where your whole idea is to get people to enjoy the game, fall in love with the sport if they haven't already, to stay locked in.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's important that you put out a product during halftime that feels like people that really are able to either digest the game or make it fun.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_01: It has to be some type of identity, right?
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_01: The identity of the inside the NBA thing is like we have three former NBA players, two of them being former goddamn MVPs, that are hilarious on the microphone and can give you something witty.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_01: We also got two guys that can break down some footage if necessary, and Kenny and Ernie, and we got an anchor and Ernie that keep everything like it, it has its identity, whether you like it or not.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_01: And the halftime show for these finals doesn't have an identity, other than everybody recognizing that it doesn't really exist.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_01: You have Josh Hart on the first bit, and Josh Hart may have said seven different words in his his games that he he covered.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_01: And then Paul George is there looking spiffy.
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_01: We didn't really get to experience what Paul George would be like on the microphone because he wasn't able to do anything.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_01: So I think bringing back the visual cues that make you feel like the finals, bring back the shows, the cutaways to the to the people that are breaking down footage and so on and so forth.
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_01: I think the broadcasting team, I don't want to be too harsh on it because this is their first year collectively working together.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know a broadcast team that can be put together on the fly and it'd be beautiful.
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's not bad, don't get me wrong, it's just not what we've been accustomed to for the finals and everything.
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_01: So there's so many different things that I would do differently, but I'm not in a position of power to do that.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I'm not even saying me being there, I'm just saying, like behind the scenes.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_01: If you ask me to be a consultant, I feel like we could do some cool stuff.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um but it has not been the case.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, I I think that's where we wrap up today's episode.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_01: If you enjoyed it, leave it a like, subscribe.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I'll see y'all