Latest / Small Ball with Kenny Beecham / POST-GAME DEBRIEF: This Is The Weirdest Superstar Series Ever

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POST-GAME DEBRIEF: This Is The Weirdest Superstar Series Ever · Small Ball with Kenny Beecham

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm disappointed in myself.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Usually I'm one take Kenny.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: I come out here with the notes.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Boom, boom, boom.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what I saw.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what's interesting around basketball.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Did we get it out?
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm on like take eight.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Are you serious?
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Let's not give it.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um the OKC Thunder won a clutch game against the Denver Nuggets.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Didn't even know it was possible to beat the Denver Nuggets in the clutch.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: OKC just did it.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Shout out to them, ties up the series.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: They needed this game desperately.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: You don't want to have to try to win three games in a row against the best in the world.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's probably not gonna happen.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: But instead, they tie up the series, and we gotta talk about that.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then the Pacers won a game by like 60 points, I think.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know the final box score.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'm lying.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: I can see the final box score.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: But it felt like a 60-point win in my eyes.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: They just just you know the Cavalanchy is the Pacers need the the yes, sirs, yes, sirs.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: They need something about when they get that foot on the gas.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, we're gonna talk about both, but the Pacers are one game away from being in the conference finals and going into this postseason, everybody was like, well, they might as well just simulate to the conference finals.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: We know it's gonna be Cavs versus Celtics, and the Cavs are one game away from going home, and the Celtics just got their first win of their series yesterday.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: So the playoffs have been amazing.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: The playoffs have been unpredictable.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: So unpredictable that it made me rethink my philosophies now.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Take a step back and say, Kenny, you tripping.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Kenny, you really are tripping.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Before today's game, again, before today's games tipped off, I was talking to myself in here, not like ain't nothing wrong with talking to yourself aloud, but I was in here just thinking throws, looking through some notes and stuff.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I was asking myself, how much does depth matter?
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: Because so far it hasn't mattered too much.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't mean having a good sixth man or seventh man, I mean the depths of the depth.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Those teams, like the the respective one seats, were really good because, of course, they have good starting units, but also because they had so much depth, right?
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: You think about the Cavs having Ty Jerome, DeAndre Hunter at the deadline, um, them them having Isaacoro, Dean Wade.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: We can they just got bodies on bodies on bodies.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: The OKC Thunder, Joe, Wiggins, um, uh Wallace.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'm adding Cameron Williams because he's still a captain on this damn team.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: They and Jay and uh Jay Will.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I was just looking at it again before today's games tipped off, and like, has that even mattered to this point?
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: The different Nuggets are up to one as I'm having this conversation with myself.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, the reason they're up to one is because they just have a bunch of continuity and they have a five-man unit that you really trust.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, Brody has been great in the series, not so much tonight, but for the most part, depth has not mattered to them.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: We all look at that roster and say, like, nah, they ain't really got Zeke Najee gonna play?
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Probably not.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Dario Sar say signed, he ain't even touched the floor, but they've been able to stay afloat when last series and be up 2-1 in this series without them having depth.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: And this is a conversation I'm having myself, and then tonight happen.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, yeah, actually, I'm tripping.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: Because a game like tonight, where OKC holds the different nuggets to 87, that depth really showed his head.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Because Lou Dorp was bad today, full stop.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: So having a guy like um Kasen Wallace come in and be able to play some big minutes, having Alice Caruso, who's been phenomenal for this entire series, and come in and do something like this, is important.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: And then the late game, I get reaffirmed to my original philosophies because Obi Toppin has an amazing game.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, if anything mattering gets the crowd lit over some stupid stuff, just like just don't basically what I'm saying to you, don't be overthinking your philosophies based on one series or one postseason round.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's stupid.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: But uh, one thing that has not changed as we talk about the OKC Thunder is that this defense is legendary.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: I made the tweet, you know, in the in the uh Memphis Grizzy series.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like when they were dominating the Grizzies, I was like, nobody's gonna care right now because the first round series, one in eight seed, and this eight seed don't really look that good.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: But like people will realize how ridiculous this defense is once they get to the next round.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: And again, this series is tied to two, but they just held the Denver Nuggets to 87 points.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: There's one stat that we've mentioned a couple months ago.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if it was on the podcast or on here, but I'll mention it again, and it's relative defensive rating.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's like how good are you compared to your peers, right?
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: Historically.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: This OKC team is the best relative defensive team ever.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: Ever.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: And you see it tonight.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: The best in the world, Nicole Jokic basically gave us two back-to-back stinkers.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: Now, he gave us a couple moments in this one, the second half.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: I think he was better than the first half.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: But we've never seen Nicole Jokic struggle as much as he's struggling right now.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: I've never watched the game of Nicole Jokic and thought that that he was getting to his own head mentally.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: He's there right now.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: That is the best defense.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: And when you have Lou Dort, who is going to make all defensive, I don't have all defensive teams been released yet?
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think they have.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: Lou Dor is gonna make an all-defensive team.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: He'll probably be like an all-defensive first team candidate.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: You would think, like, man, we can't have him on the floor right now because his offense is so trash, how do we make that up?
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Alice Caruso and Casey and Wallace exist.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Not only do they exist, they do something that Lou Dort does this as well, I guess, because Lou Dorr can draw some fouls, offensive like fouls by him running over a screen but falling.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: He does that quite a bit.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: But Caseen Wallace and Alice Caruso are in the same category of playmaking defensive players.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I know tonight Alice Caruso didn't have any stocks, but like these guys can come in, wreck havoc, force turnovers, and so on and so forth.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I felt like we get we got that.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: This has been a game about great coaching.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: This is not even a series about great coaching.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: I felt like throughout the first couple games of the series, when you think about Mark Dayton making the decision in game number one to foul up three for whatever, and then in the last game that they lost, it went to overtime.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: I thought it was weird to not have Chet Omgren start the overtime.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: Overthinking.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: This is one of them games.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, Mark Daytona won this coaching battle tonight.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's easy to go with the guys that you know.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's easy to go with the guys that you're used to closing with, but no, this game is too important.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: So if so-and-so ain't got it going, sit your ass in that bench and we're gonna let Caruso and Caseon Wallace rock.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: The one thing I really respect about Alex Caruso, and I I love this man so much.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like, like I'm so happy that he ended up playing in Chicago.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'm also pissed for him that he played in Chicago, if you know what I'm saying.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: He deserves to be on championship quality teams.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's how impactful he is.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: But it doesn't matter what he is shooting from the field or what he's shooting from three.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: The Denver Nuggets are a team that's basically saying, we want to see if you got shooters, and Caruso is never gonna pass up the opportunity.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: Even if he's one for five on the day, he's going to shoot through because he knows the only way we break this zone is for somebody to make some shots tonight.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: And nobody made shots in this game.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody did.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: It was really again a defensive-oriented uh game.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: But Caruso and Kayson coming in and being player number two or number three in this game is important.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: This is a really good Isaiah Hardenstein game as well.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we talk about the defense.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: Isaiah Hartenstein is playing some of the best defense I've ever seen on Nikola Jokic.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: Again, this is a team thing, but it's such a weird series because if I told you we're gonna have the MVP and the MVP runner-up go into a series and neither of them are gonna look phenomenal, you would have think it was crazy.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: I think both teams are playing phenomenal defense and scheming so perfectly against the other MVP caliber, MVP caliber players' strong suits.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: They're Shay is seeing so many bodies.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought that at the end of last game, in the last 10 minutes or so, he showcased one of the biggest glaring holes in this game, and that's the lack of trust or the lack of playmaking when he is seeing two to three bodies, right?
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: They've done they've done a good job exposing, if you will, one of the things in Shay's game that's not developed as much as some of the other superstars in basketball.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: This game, he had a game, he gave us a couple quarters.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: So it was like that is the MVP caliber player that we know.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: But that's kind of been it.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: I was so excited about this, seeing it.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: Shea versus Yoke, but really is defense versus defense, and the different nuggets are not historically a great defense, right?
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: I think they were like 22nd to 23rd on the regular season, but they've been able to lock in.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I gotta give credit to Yoke on that side of the ball because you like you would think that the anchor of a defense, he he deserves some type of credit there, and them being able to play this zone and early in this game force a ton of turnovers.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: Where this game was really won and loss was the first quarter.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: Eight points.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: That is defense, right?
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: And it ended up being a five-point game.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I never counted out the Denver Nuggets, I'll be crazy because I've seen what they did in game and won.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: I've seen what they've been able to do, but I truly do believe that the shots generated from OKC in this game were better than the shots generated from the Denver Nuggets.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I don't know.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there's a stat.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: Shot quality, I don't I don't have the damn statistic, but I'm sure somebody will have it later today.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: And it will hopefully tell you what my eye test said.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: It was like OKC generated good looks, they just didn't happen to fall.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if the Denver Nuggets generated the looks that they wanted to generate.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I felt like this was one of the few games of this postseason where I was like, that's too much Russell Westbrook.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: I thought it was just one of the few games in the regular um in this postseason run where I'm like, that's too much Christian Brown.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: He had a good game, don't get me wrong.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: He got to the line a ton.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: He was really aggressive.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: But him doing that is exactly what OKC would prefer instead of it being the other guys.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a really great game for OKC defensively.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: Defensively.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: They shot 35% from the field.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: But defensively, this is like shows you that they can go, that they can compete.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: And there was times in the series where I'm like, I don't know if they really can't.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: And this is the 60 plus, almost 71 team here, right?
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: So um anything can happen.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's a 2-2 series, and um, the best in the world is still over there.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm still I'm just waiting for it, right?
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: He had the phenomenal game, number one.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: I just can't imagine that Jokic has a third stinker in a row.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: And if he does, my goodness.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: That goes to credit to OKC.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then we can add a conversation about Jokic after it, but like if they can somehow force this man to have another bad Nikola Jokic game, because I'm only comparing him to himself, y'all.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: I know what the stat line is, but I'm only comparing them to him being the best player in the world.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: And and and so far in the series, other than game number one, he has not been the best, he has not looked like the best player in the world.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: So um, I feel like there was some other stuff that I want to get to on this one.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, not a good dub game.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: Thank God they were able to pull it out because yeah, not a good dub game, not a good check game, not a good dork game.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: And they won.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: Give me some scary stuff.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I like that Isaiah Joe came into this game shooting because he played like three total minutes last game.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I just thought, I don't know if he's gonna be able to play.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, he didn't shoot, he didn't hit any shots.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: But a team that desperately needs three-point shooting to get somebody out of a zone, I enjoyed the fact that he came in and one of the shots he took was crazy.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm like, yeah, do that.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: All right, switching gears to the Pacers, being up 3-1 on the Cleveland Cavaliers.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: And Donovan Mitchu left this game.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even know the significance of his injury.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm praying that it's nothing heavy because I enjoy watching Donovan Mitchell.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: But the Pacers, man, I I don't I want to see what the stats were before they pulled the starters.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: But I remember at halftime they were shooting 54% from three.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: And in game, was that game one where they did they did the same thing.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: They shot 53% from three.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: This team, when they got it going, bro, they're just pure gas.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's nothing you can really do.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: And last game, I was a little worried for them because the Cavaliers threw that zone out there, Evan Mobley at the top.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: They forced a lot of turnovers, they forced 11 straight three-point misses.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: It got real scary for the Pacers because this was the first game where the Cavs were healthy, if you will.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, okay, now we have ourselves a real series, and then they come out of here and they say, We dare you to run that zone because our shooter's gonna shoot today.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: We dare you to do what you want to do because we're gonna force you to turn that pill over.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: Man, this we saw some turnovers here where it's like we made a basket and you couldn't even inbound the ball.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: We got like three steals off that today.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: That's insane stuff.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: And the crowd was electric, and it just is just so showcasing how unpredictable this league can really be at times.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: And we're in the middle of the parody era of basketball, and I I enjoy more than any other era that I've been alive for because this type of series historically didn't happen like this.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't see the 4C, 5C go out there and beat a one seed often.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: And it's one game away from happening again.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: Miles Turner, Obi Toppin, Pascal Ciaga, we didn't even need Tyrese Hallenberg to score tonight.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: Some scary stuff.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: And now they got three shots for one win.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: It got so bad.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: Where's my notebook?
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, my notebook is probably downstairs still.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um it got so bad.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm done writing stuff down.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: There's nothing else to be said.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: What can I possibly say about this game that the box score doesn't tell you?
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, there's gonna have to be um, because we don't know what's gonna go in the bottom half of this bracket, right?
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: Will the Boston Celtics come back to the series and win?
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: Will the the Knicks close it out?
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yada yada yada.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: The Pacers, man.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: You think about all the teams in the in the postseason right now.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: They have, in this postseason right now, have looked like the best team.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not even close.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: Now, could that be competition based?
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: It could be, absolutely, it could be, right?
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: It could be, but I'm just giving the the things that we have today in front of us.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: The Pacers have looked like the best team.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not saying that means I'm picking them for the finals, damn it, but I'm just saying, this is just weird to me.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: OKC dominates the regular season.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: No, they struggle in the second, second uh series.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: The Cavs dominate the regular season, they struggle in the second series.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: The Boston Celtics dominate the regular season, they're struggling in the second series.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: The Pacers have looked like the best team in this postseason.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: I just I don't know, man.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I think there's there's gonna be some type of video that I make where I talk about it big and broader on the podcast.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: But it's good for hoops when the small markets are able to be like the calves are small markets too compared to like the LA's of the world and everything, but like when a small market team that can't get free agents or historically haven't been able to really get free agents, they do it the right way.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: And like this this team did it from the middle, basically.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: You don't remember the Pacers tanking, they've always been decent, and decent.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: And if you ask Pacer fans at some points of their life, being decent is not worth it, right?
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: Because yeah, okay, we're gonna be the 7C, then we're gonna lose to LeBron.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna be the 8th seed, we're gonna lose to this team.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that ain't really worth anything.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: But they've been able to build it differently than some of these other teams.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: Some of these other teams tanked like the the the OKC Thunder.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: They made a superstar trade, right?
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: To get Shakeside, but the rest they tanked their way to Dub.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: They tanked their way to Chet with some lottery help and so on and so forth.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: So, or I guess dub was a late, or was a Clippers pick, too.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: But like the the other guys on their team would do tanking, or the Cavs, you know, get Evan Mobley through tanking and then make some big trades to get Donovan Mitchell.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: So the Pacers, like, nah, we just don't like missing the playoffs.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna finesse a few general managers across basketball.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna trade DeMontis Abonas for an all-NBA point guard.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna we're gonna trade um um Malcolm Brogdon for a guy that ain't been good in his first two years of his NBA career, but he's gonna start here in year three and eventually be one of the best defensive players on our team.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna draft a guy at the end of the first round or early second round.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even remember where the hell Nimhar was drafted.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's just, again, there's gotta be more said about the way Pritchard has been able to build this team.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even know how it could be replicated, right?
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's a scary ass idea to not have ping pong odds, but they've been able to do it.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: And again, they're one game away from the conference finals.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: Speaking of ping pong odds, I'll see y'all tomorrow.