Latest / Small Ball with Kenny Beecham / Grading every NBA Playoff Series so far

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Grading every NBA Playoff Series so far · Small Ball with Kenny Beecham

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome back to another episode of Small Ball with Kenny Beach, and we are in the midst of the first round of the playoffs.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_02: And today, I want to kind of rank every single series, or I guess grade every single series, A plus through F based on how much I've been enjoying watching it.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_02: This has been a ridiculous week in the association.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_02: We have some really good series.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_02: We had Adam Silver on the other podcast, a big day for the Enjoy Basketball brand for sure.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_02: But it's been an amazing couple series.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_02: There are a couple series that are absolutely dreadful.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_02: But I feel like I find the spark in every series.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I'm saying?
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_02: You know, like you look at OKC versus the Grizzlies, where OKC has won by a combined 70 plus points, you would think that I would give that an F, right?
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_02: Because it hasn't been competitive at all.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_02: But I'm an optimist.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_02: Enjoy basketball.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_02: That's the brand, baby.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_02: I still find a way to enjoy these games.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_02: I was tweeting about this game, and people are like, Kenny, why are you watching this?
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, because I enjoy basketball, baby.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_02: Also did not go to my family's Easter get together in order to watch the playoff games.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_02: And every single one of those games in a day were trash.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but I had to do my job.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_02: I had to do my job.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we do these nightly recaps over on the Kenny for Real channel.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_02: And I I did an episode or I did a video after that, and one of the people that was at the family event was like, you just went 12 minutes talking about one game, the late night game, but basically did no minutes on the games that you watched instead of going to the get together.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_02: I can't control or predict the outcome of a basketball game.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_02: And it was and it was game one, right?
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_02: It's game one of the series.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_02: Who would have thought that OKC would have won by 56?
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_02: Not me.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_02: I knew they were gonna win, but I didn't think it was gonna be that crazy.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_02: So today I do want to grade every single series again, A through F.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um, go over to the numbers on the board YouTube channel.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_02: Go check out the episode we just filmed with Adam Silver, a monumental moment for the brand, for the show.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we've done some ridiculous interviews.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_02: I've done some ridiculous interviews in my life that I'm 100% grateful for.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_02: Like we did a Steph Curry interview a few years back while we were in Studio J.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_02: We got all suited up.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_02: Some of y'all may have seen that episode.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_02: I personally got to interview the inside the NBA guys, everybody but Ernie.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_02: And Ernie's my favorite one, which is unfortunate he wasn't able to be there.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_02: And then we get this one, um, which is insane.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I always have a troubling time with realizing how ridiculous an accomplishment is.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_02: And then I talked to my wife about it, and she pretty, pretty much gets it all on the same plan for to say, hey man, when we first started dating, you ain't have a job, you ain't have a car, you were doing some ridiculous reselling stuff around the house to pay for food for your for your pets.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_02: And now you sat down in the studio that you pay for to interview the commissioner of DNBA.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: And I damn near broke into tears.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_02: Because you don't think about the journey like that.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_02: You feel me?
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_02: So again, I'm 100% grateful for everybody.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_02: We wouldn't get that interview if you guys didn't care about the show.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_02: We wouldn't get that if it wasn't for our partners.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_02: So thank you to everybody.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_02: All right, are y'all done with that?
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_02: You I'm done with that.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_02: So hopefully you are too.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_02: Let's talk about the postseason.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna start off with the the series that the only series, the only series to get an absolute A plus one, the perfect series, and I'm sure you probably are assuming it is Clippers versus Nuggets.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_02: Game one is an overtime game, and then game number two goes down to the wire as well.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_02: This series has been incredible.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_02: Now, I'm recording this episode at one o'clock Central Time, Thursday, April 24th.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_02: So I don't want to go too much in depth on this series because as you're watching or listening to this, game number three has been played and we know who the winner is.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_02: So I don't want to talk about game number one and game number two because you're fresh off game number three.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm just gonna look at it from a broad perspective.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_02: And I want to talk about Kawhi Leonard.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like everybody is.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_02: I've seen so many clips of people talking about Kawhi this week because it's hard not to when you think about the journey that he's been on in this NBA career coming in very early on, as like, you know, the Pacers drafted and traded him away for George Hill.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: Like it wasn't, this wasn't a guy that was highly touted.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_02: This wasn't um Kay Cunningham, it wasn't Luka Doncic, it wasn't like even the Luka Doncic's um draft day trade.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_02: People were like, what the hell is going on here?
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_02: No, Kawhi Leonard was like a guy who couldn't shoot coming out of college that we knew defensively he was gonna be good, but maybe people didn't think he was gonna be DPOY level of good.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_02: He's gone through so many ups and downs in his career, and we've been mostly on the downs spend over the last what, five years, right?
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_02: Five, yeah, the bubble.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_02: The bubble.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_02: The bubble was the last time where Kawhi Leonard finished the playoff series, wasn't it?
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_02: No, I'm I guess in 2021 he finished the series versus Dallas, but the next series he got injured.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_02: So it's just I'm just saying that it has been a very, very long time since we've got like peak Kawhi Leonard, like we just did in game number two, where he was all over the place offensively and defensively.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_02: He gets the big steal to close out the game, he has the big shot to close out the game.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_02: He was absolutely perfect.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_02: And now you got people uh writing up these think pieces like what if Kawhi didn't deal with these injuries?
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_02: Could he have already a third championship?
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_02: Could he finish being top 20 of all time?
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_02: And the answer is yeah, maybe, because at his peak, at the absolute peak of Kawhi Leonard, there's not many people in the world that are better than him, that were better than him.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_02: And I think I'll always do this, and maybe this is unfair to Kawhi Leonard.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_02: I'll always think about him as a defensive first guy, and I think this probably has to do with the DPO wise.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_02: But from the perimeter, the wing perspective, in my lifetime, there's never been a person that I've watched that was better defensively than Kawhi Leonard.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_02: Where there are times where you used to watch prime Kawhi, and I'm thinking about the Spurs series, uh, Spurs runs, where he will legitimately just take the ball out of other amazing basketball players' hands.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_02: Other professional basketball players couldn't dribble around Kawhi Leonard.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, we're kind of away from that, but he still gives you moments of brilliance, like we mentioned, like I mentioned earlier, the game sealing steel when Jokic tried to kick it out.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_02: That is Kawhi Leonard.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_02: And it's not a surprise that they were able to have one of the best defensive teams in basketball.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_02: Zubots has been amazing.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_02: He was on my all-defensive team.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_02: And then even though we only got 30 games, 30-ish games at Kawhi Leonard, he still has some of that.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_02: You don't look at Kawhi Leonard to be the primary defender on the primary ball handler like we did in 2014 or whatever, but boy, is he still amazing.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_02: And we saw that.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_02: The series is an A plus, mostly because both of these games could have swung either direction.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_02: Like I'm sure the Nuggets are really pissed off at themselves because this could be a 2-0 series in their favor.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm sure after game number one, the Clippers were pretty pissed off about themselves because this could have been a 2-0 series in their favor.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_02: And I've been talking about it from the guys, and this is maybe not the best way to think about playoff basketball, but I've been trying to break it down from quarter to quarter, minute by minute, in these series that are 1-1, and we would talk about like Detroit versus New York.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_02: Who has been the best team in that series?
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_02: Like, of course, the numbers say this is one-one.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_02: Is anybody serious?
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_02: But as I watch those two games and game number two, I just rewatched um yesterday, the Clippers have been the better team throughout the majority of this series.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_02: And it's hard for me to think, again, you're watching this after game number three, and I could be completely wrong here.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_02: It's hard for me to think that they go into LA and don't at least split again.
• 7:18
  unknown: Right?
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_02: If they actually, if they split again, it's it's a favor of Denver now that I think about it.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_02: But I have a really good, I have a good amount of confidence on the Clippers.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_02: I picked them to win this series, and after a 1-1 split, I still feel pretty comfortable and confident in that pick because I think that in game number two specifically, they did an amazing job playing uh Jokic straight up and basically playing in crowding lanes for cutters and passers.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_02: Like Jokic is one of the guys that's towards the top of the league when it comes to taking care of the ball when it matters.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_02: I know you can think of some guys that maybe have a better assist to turnover ratio, the Jokic, but I'm thinking about the games that matter, the moments that matter.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_02: He's one of the best in the league in that.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_02: And I thought that in game number two, they did an amazing job making him feel uncomfortable.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_02: And Jokic is the best player in the world.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't think that was even close to the case in game number two.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_02: I know what the counting stats say, whatever he is his overall finishing stat line was.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_02: It wasn't even close to the type of game that the Nuggets need to win this series.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that goes to A, the Nuggets not having enough depth, because nobody should have to play every single second of every single minute in any half of basketball.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_02: Let's be real.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_02: Tom Thibodeau, we get on his ass all the time about the way he runs his guys.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_02: Even he's not doing that right now in the postseason.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_02: Jokic had to play every single minute in that second half and still ended up losing.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm giving, you know, their lack of depth that, but I also got to give a lot of love to the Clippers for the way they've been guarding him.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_02: And again, you're never gonna stop him.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_02: You're never gonna stop him.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_02: But Zubach has been amazing.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_02: They've been crowding up these lanes, forcing him to make tough, tough decisions.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_02: And some of the passes that we normally see Jokic get rid of and get get through these smart, tight holes, he has been able to do that this time around.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_02: Kawhi's been amazing.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, they still have a couple wild cards too, where like Norman Powell hit a couple shots in game number two, actually hit one of the bigger shots of the game, but he hasn't had a good series so far.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_02: Bogdanovich might be the worst offensive player of the playoffs so far, right?
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think he scored a single bucket just yet.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_02: You'd think that when they go back to LA, that would change back at home, if you will.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_02: There are times where I watch and I'm like, yeah, Chris Dunn, nobody trusts him offensively, but y'all know how much I love me some KD defensively.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_02: And he's been chasing Jamal Murray time and time again.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_02: So A plus series.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_02: I'm still leaning towards Clippers, but I would be naive and a jackass to say that the Nuggets don't have a chance because they still have the best player in the world or one of the best two-man games in all of basketball.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_02: A plus series from the Clippers and the Nuggets.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_02: My next highest series is gonna be Knicks versus Pistons.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_02: One that you let's be real.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_02: I I didn't, I wouldn't say I neglected this series, right?
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_02: But I looked at, I mentioned this before, it's really tough for me to differentiate what's important from regular season matchups versus what's gonna happen in the postseason.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_02: In the regular season, the Pistons played the Knicks so very well.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_02: But even with that said, I was like, the Knicks are just the better team, full stop.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_02: They have the better offensive weapons, they don't have the better defensive, but the better offensive weapons, and in theory, maybe the best player in the series in Jalen Bronson.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_02: K.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_02: Cunningham would definitely like to have a conversation about that.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_02: But even if you're saying that Kay Cunningham is the best player in the series, then who has the best second player and the best third player in the series and the best fourth player in the series?
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_02: Hell and the best fifth player in the series.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_02: So in my mind, it was Knicks, Knicks, Knicks.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_02: I think I said Nixon six, and again, that's still um up for grabs.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_02: But the Pistons have been the better team in the series.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_02: They just have.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_02: I know that they went the 21-0 run kills everything that the Pistons did in game number one.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_02: Hell, even I neglected to talk about game number one after it was done because that 21-0 series, that 21-0 run means that everything that happened in the first two and a half quarters don't matter because you had this one run of a stinker.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_02: And they also almost did the same thing at game number two, but the Knicks didn't have enough firepower to put it away.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_02: Shout out to Dennis Schroeder for the big shot.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_02: But the Pistons have been the better team so far in the series.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm giving it overall, I'm sorry, I'm giving it a minus series so far.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think that the slow pace that is being played in this series and a lot of the series across basketball right now is very good for the New York Knicks.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_02: I think it matters so much for the Knicks to get out and run a little bit more because when they're playing this set offense, it hasn't been good.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_02: You're playing right into Detroit Pistons' hands if you're walking the ball up the court and you get into your actions pretty late.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_02: You're playing right into the Detroit Pistons' hands if you're only playing a certain weight.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_02: Here's some crazy stats that I saw.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_02: In a regular season, Jalen Brunson averaged about 82 touches per game, which is pretty damn high.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_02: Let's be real.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_02: So far in the two games, that number is over 100.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_02: It is 102 point something.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_02: Hello?
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_02: The Knicks have talented offensive players, but it feels like it's only boiled down to what can Jalen Brunson do for us.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_02: And that's not good.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like you're playing rugging right into the pistons' hands.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_02: Because yes, Jalen Brunson is good enough to win you in any single game if we keep these this the way.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_02: But like I just think it sways the series a lot more if the guys that you traded future draft capital, you traded some some big pillars in the organization for don't get touches.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_02: Carnthony Towns, second half, zero points is inexcusable.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_02: It just is.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm blaming Kat for that.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_02: I'm blaming Tom Thibodeau for that.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_02: I'm blaming everything.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_02: Everybody deserves blame for that.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_02: There's no world one of the best offensive weapons from the big position doesn't score in a second half.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_02: And it's not like he shot 0 for nine.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_02: He just didn't even get opportunities.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_02: He didn't get looks.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_02: Like he, I think he has to call his own number.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, he's Carnth Annie Towns.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_02: And Tom Thibodeau has to put him in a better position to create for himself or get shots created for him.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_02: I also want to give credit to that to Tobias Harris, who has been an average defensive player, if that, for the majority of his career in this series.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_02: Toby's clean thing up.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_02: Who saw that coming?
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_02: That if I was doing an all-defensive team for the postseason so far with the two games in for a lot of these series, Toby has to be on one of the two teams, bro.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_02: Toby has to be on one of these two teams.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_02: Some of these possessions, he's straight up just guarding Carnthane Towns.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_02: No help, no nothing.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_02: Just him on an Island versus Kat and he's holding his own.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_02: Now, at the times, of course, he gets the help because Carnegie Towns is well respected across the association.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_02: But Toby has been ridiculous.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_02: I talked about how that slower pace has been better for the Pistons versus for the Knicks.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_02: And that is just surprising to me thinking about who the Knicks are as a team in the experience level.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_02: Usually we're going to have these grinded out, slow-paced games.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_02: That is advantage to the team that has multiple players that have been on big playoff runs.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_02: We have, oh, Janet Nobi didn't play in the postseason when they won a championship, but he got a goddamn ring, I bet.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_02: Mikhail Bridges was in the finals that one year versus the Bucs.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_02: Carantine Towns is just in the conference finals.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_02: You know?
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_02: Jalen Brunson, conference finals, right?
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_02: His last year in Dallas, I think they made the conference finals that year.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_02: So this team has a super a crazy amount of um experience compared to the other team.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_02: And they went into New York and gained number two and called a win in a game when Malik Beasley and Tim Hardaway Jr.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_02: didn't score well.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_02: Advantage right now, Knicks.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_02: I love celebrity role.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not one that cares too much about celebrities, but I love to see like who's coming out to watch the Knicks.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_02: You know you're gonna get your Staples and Um Morgan and Lee and Chalamet and Stiller.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_02: But everyone, you're like, wait, is that is that Shaq West?
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_02: I ain't heard from Shaq West in seven years.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_02: He's courtside right now.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't even know his bread was up.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_02: No, let me let me chill.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_02: Also, Shaq West wasn't at that game.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_02: Shaq West was at a game that I was at six years ago.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_02: So I don't know what Shaq West is up to.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_02: A minus Knicks versus Pistons.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_02: My next highest one is Lakers Wolves.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_02: Now, for what it's worth, the final scores of these games have not been great, right?
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_02: We get a blowout win for Minnesota in game number one.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_02: We get basically a blowout win, even though Minnesota tried to make an interest in a game number two, but Lakers had the lead very early on, where it was what, 34-15 in the first quarter, and they just held on.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_02: They just they just held on.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_02: This series, I'm giving a B plus, right?
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_02: And and maybe it is a star power that is Luka Doncic and a star power that is Braun and the star power that is Anthony Edwards.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_02: That even though we have two games that were relative blowouts, I'm really enjoying the series a ton.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_02: Game number twos have been my favorite series of games in every single series because you get to see these adjustments.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_02: And I thought that JJ Redick, I thought that the Lakers in general did an amazing job adjusting to what happened in game number one.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_02: I think that in order for the Wolves to continue to put up a fight and potentially win the series, they gotta get that pace up again.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_02: I thought in game number two that the Lakers did an amazing job of preventing the Timberwolves from getting out on the break.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_02: And if you go back and rewatch game number one, a lot of the shots that they generated, talking about the Wolves, so it's open three-point looks or just in transition.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_02: And I thought in game number two, the Lakers did an amazing job, A, not giving them any opportunities to get in transition, whether it be just scoring more or preventing their turnovers or just getting back, not crashing offensive glass from the corners.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_02: They did an amazing job preventing the wolves from doing that.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um, Anthony Edwards gave the Lakers a lot of credit because they made him think more in game number two versus game number one.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_02: Who would have thought that that was the way we should be doing things?
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_02: Because let's be real, Anthony Edwards has had so many great strides in his career, but on the game-by-game basis, I don't know who he is as a pick and roll ball handler.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_02: And I thought in game number two, he wasn't great.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_02: And in game number one, he was pretty damn good.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_02: So there's some variance there.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_02: There's also shooting variants in the series where in game number one, we saw the Timberwolves hit 20 plus three, shoot 50% from three, whatever the hell the number was.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_02: And in game number two, they couldn't hit the side of a barn with a rock.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_02: Is that how the saying goes?
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_02: However the saying goes, they struggled with shooting the ball.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_02: I think a lot of it has to do with Nas Reed getting in foul trouble, Dante DiVincenzo getting into foul trouble.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_02: But I've been really, really enjoying the series.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um Luka Doncic has set the tone in both first quarters.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_02: The one thing about it though, what has been the case about this series so far, is Team A goes on a run.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_02: And right now in this series, one really good run has been enough for you to win a game.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_02: Because it becomes this grinded out defensive duel where nobody can really score.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_02: And when you're scoring, I'm scoring.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_02: When you talk about that 24, 34, 15 start to the first quarter for the Lakers, that was the end of the game.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_02: For the rest of this, it's like a one-point quarter win for the Lakers, a two-point quarter win for the Wolves, and a three-point quarter win for the Wolves as well.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_02: So that one run, that one really good hot streak was enough for them to win this game.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm struggling trying to figure out how much that matters.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_02: Is that just an anomaly, right?
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_02: Should we be thinking about that for game number three or game number four?
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not completely sure.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_02: But I thought it was just pretty interesting because I thought that the Wolves cranked up the defensive intensity after they were already down by 20.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_02: Julius Randle had a good game.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_02: But this is the the bad thing about Julius Randle, that even though he had a really good game, him being on the court and Rudy Gobert being on the court makes it so much more difficult for Anthony Edwards.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_02: This is not a surprise.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, we talked about this from the very first moment they pulled off the trade to bring in Julius Randle.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_02: Julius Randle was as good as he's ever been in the postseason in game, number two.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_02: But it just made it tough for Anthony Edwards.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_02: Anthony Edwards did get a couple tasks.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_02: He got a couple big, he got the big poster, and then he had a couple really good finishes, but he's not able to make it to that lane because he does have these two players that are just not going to be guarded unless they're within the 10 feet.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_02: Rudy Gobert, I thought that defensively, you know, um, I think it was, was it the guys from No Dunks that talked about it being like a WrestleMania pop anytime Luka Doncic got Rudy Gobert on a switch?
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_02: And we're talking about from the crowd, right?
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_02: The crowd was so electric at that every time they got the switch and it was Musty TV.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_02: But for what it was worth, I thought Rudy Gobert did a pretty, pretty damn good job guarding Luca.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_02: Luka Doncic is Luka Doncic, right?
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_02: You're not gonna stop him, you're not gonna make him shoot 6% from the field.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_02: He's gonna get you, and damn it, he got him with the little pat the little fake, and then up, he got him a few different times, right?
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_02: But for what it was worth, I thought that he defended well there.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_02: The problem with Rudy Gobert is the opposite side of the ball.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_02: Where he's got bad hands, he can't catch, he can't rebound right now.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_02: He can't offensively rebound in a series where he is the tallest man on the court by five inches, right?
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_02: Because Jackson Ace can't play, he stinks, he can't play in the series.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_02: So it's really him being guarded by Rui Hachimura.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_02: You can't get more than eight offensive board.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_02: It is so weird.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that once Rudy Gobert's career is done, we're gonna have like some real conversations.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, hell, people are making those having those real conversations right now.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_02: That for him to be as impactful of a defensive player as he is, because whether you think he looks weird doing it or whatever, the every number proves the fact that his teams are objectively better with him on the court.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_02: He's really good in isolation over the last couple years.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_02: He's really good as a rim deterrent and he's really good at protecting the rim.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_02: Whatever you think about Rudigo Bear, that's that is the case.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_02: But him being in year whatever and still not being able to catch the goddamn ball, or him being in a year, whatever, and still having found that I'm the biggest dude on the court.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_02: I should take advantage of this mismatch.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_02: We talked about this when Terrence Mann hit all of those shots.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_02: Defensively, I have no problem with Rudy Gobert did in that game.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_02: I know everybody thinks that whatever happened was Rudy Gobert's fault.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_02: It wasn't, it was a schematic thing.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_02: The problem was the opposite side.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_02: Where Terrence Mann is guarding you.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_02: How let me see, how tall is Terrence Mann listed?
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna say if I had to take a guess, five.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_02: Terrence Mann is listed at oh my god, there's another Terrence Man, actor, singer from Kentucky.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_02: Shout out to him.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_02: Terrence Man is this at 6'5210.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_02: So Terrence Man is a fool, seven inches short, seven, eight inches short, nine inches shorter than you.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_02: Seven inches shorter than you.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_02: And you didn't make him pay one time.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_02: And I feel that's the case here.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_02: Where eventually, when it was two minutes left in this game versus the Lakers, coming back to current time, it was about two minutes left against the Lakers.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_02: He got his ass set down.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_02: And it had nothing to do with him getting played off the court defensively.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_02: He got played off the court because they were down by 11, and Nas Reed is just a better offensive option.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_02: So I wonder what Chris Finch does here because when they have had the Nas Reed and Julius Randle lineups, those teams, those lineups have been able to score, but they haven't been able to defend at the highest level.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, historically.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_02: In this series, we're talking about two-game samples.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_02: So it's like it's hard for me to say that what the numbers say in this series matters too much in this aspect.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_02: But like historically, they have been able to defend very well.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_02: But damn it, they're a really good offensive team.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_02: So you have to try to find that balance.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_02: And game number two, he didn't really have a choice because Nas Reed got into foul trouble.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_02: So we had to play Rudy Gobert on both sides of the floor as much as he did.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_02: So it's gonna it's gonna be a weird he's a Hall of Famer, Jack.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: Effectively, but it's like damn.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_02: And you know when we did our previews, I was explaining to you that Rudy Gobert was playing so much better offensively.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_02: And it may be that maybe the teams that he went against just weren't.
• 22:14
  unknown: Fuck.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_02: Kenny, you should have looked at these teams.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_02: You should have looked at these teams.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_02: You should have looked at these teams.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_02: Here's Rudy Gobert's final stats of the games that I was talking about, him being better offensively and who they were against.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_02: They had the double overtime game win, and y'all remember that when that was when Russell Westbrook did the layup thing.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_02: He ended up with 19 and 12.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_02: Really good game, but also he played 40 minutes.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it was a double overtime game.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_02: The game after that, he had 21 or 90% shooting, 18 rebounds.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_02: It was Brooklyn.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_02: Game after that, he had 23 points, 19 rebounds, 90% from the field.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_02: It was Philly.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_02: Game after that, he played against the Bucs 34 minutes, six points.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_02: Huh.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_02: Then he played against the Memphis Grizzlies.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_02: 100% from the field.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_02: 13 points.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_02: Here at this point, 13 points would be a phenomenal game for him right now.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_02: Because he's had two points and then six points.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_02: Six rebounds and then six rebounds.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_02: That part is inexcusable.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_02: Forget about whether I can score.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_02: Go get the boards that you normally get.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_02: The last two games of the season, he almost tied his career high.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe it was a career high night for him.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_02: When he played against Brooklyn again, he had 35 points, 11 rebounds.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_02: He shot 13 from 17 from the field.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_02: And then in the season ending game when Anthony Everett went out and took that three-point shooting title from Malik Beasley, he had 19 points, 18 rebounds.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_02: I can't do this now.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_02: I wonder what his stats look like versus top end, like top 10 defensive teams versus bottom 10 defensive teams.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_02: Because I'm looking at it here.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_02: It don't look good.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_02: 12 points versus the Cavaliers.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_02: It's too much Rudy Gobert talk.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_02: You've been watching the series, you understand a lot of this Rudy Gobert stuff.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_02: But overall, serious has been pretty cool.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_02: It was good to see LeBron James have a bounce back game, which is crazy to say about Bra Bra.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_02: But it's not, it wasn't just offensively.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_02: I thought in this game, everybody understood JJ Reddick and everybody in the Lakers understood this is a must-win game because you don't go down 0-2 when you have home court advantage.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_02: If you do that, the series is over uh 95% of the time historically.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I thought LeBron was phenomenal defensively.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_02: He ended up with 21 points on 19 shots, 11 rebounds, seven assists.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_02: I thought he played his best on the defensive side of the ball.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_02: And that's like, damn.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes some plays he made, I'm like, damn, he's 40.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_02: Damn, he's 40.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, Luca, of course, did his thing.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_02: We still haven't seen Austin Reeves have his offensive game.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_02: And maybe that's a little bit scary if you're a Timberwolves fan because he hasn't been able to hit his shots just yet.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, based on who Austin Reeves has been in his career so far, that he's good for a couple really good, great shooting games.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_02: So this can go either way still.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_02: I truly, truly do believe that.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_02: But game number two was a dogfight, 94-85.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_02: Love it.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_02: Love it.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_02: The Lakers scored 13 points in that fourth quarter.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_02: Didn't realize it was that bad.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, like I said earlier.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_02: All right, the next series is Rockets versus Warriors.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_02: I get I'm giving it a B right now.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_02: Game number one, Magnificent.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_02: Loved every single second of it.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_02: Game number two, a little bit less of that.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_02: But here's where I stand.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_02: It's been a real conversation over on the interwebs.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and y'all know me.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_02: I am an objective bystander in every single one of these series.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_02: My team has not done anything in the postseason in a very, very long time.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_02: Jimmy Butler goes down with a century.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_02: Well, freak accident, if you ask me.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_02: He goes down.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_02: And as I mentioned, I'm recording this at 1 o'clock Central Time.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_02: So we don't know just yet how the MRI went.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um, unless this notification I have, nope.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um we don't know how the MRI went.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_02: I am fingers crossed praying that at the most he missed the misses A game.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_02: I guess when um Steph Curry had the booty injury as well, he only missed one game in the regular season, and Kaminga also had a booty injury earlier this year where he missed like four.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um I'm hoping, I'm hoping that Jimmy Butler is a soldier and he that tries to play through it or he only misses one game, regardless.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_02: From my objective eyes, as someone that has seen every single angle of that play, slow mode, fast mode, three times speed, 0.25 speed, I've seen it all, damn it.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_02: It was an accident.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_02: I understand that you are at war with this opposing team.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_02: Hell, these teams have been rivals for a gazillion years, even though the Warriors have won every single series.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_02: They hate each other.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_02: They hate each other.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_02: You should, you should hate each other.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_02: But I have I feel like you gotta take off the glasses and be like, you know what?
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_02: This kid was fighting for an offensive rebound with four other NBA players.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_02: If you just look, just look, and if you feel some type of way, I'm this is what I'm gonna point out to you.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_02: Re-watch that play at 0.5, 0.25 speed.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_02: Look at the feet.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_02: You literally like you know when you trip, when your feet, your feet are normally like this, right?
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_02: When your feet do like this and you fall, look at his feet.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_02: I know you everybody wants somebody to blame.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_02: Even the Rockets fans are blaming Draymond.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think it was Draymond either.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_02: I know you want somebody to blame for this horrific injury, and goddamn, it's gonna maybe turn the series.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_02: But it was accidental.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_02: Producer Greg is a Warriors fan.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_02: He says in this chair, death an accident, but reckless play, and the refs not really having to control this game is why I've been led to play.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_02: I can agree with the ref part.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_02: The reckless part of it is something I've seen as well.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_02: This is what I will say to the reckless part.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe it was reckless, but Amin Thompson got six offensive boards last game.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_02: And the only way that they were able to even stay in that game in game number one was their rebounding.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_02: So him crashing the glass and maybe in a reckless manner is just the way Rockets basketball is.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_02: Was it reckless?
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_02: Was the refs at blame here?
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_02: This has been the chippiest of all the series.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_02: Where I feel like this morning I woke up to a hundred different videos of Draymond doing this to Dylan Brooks and then Amin doing this to Spencer, and then this guy doing that.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_02: It has been kind of crazy.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like, I bet the league off is trying to figure out what do we do here, right?
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_02: You want it to, I want it to be, you want it to be a physical series.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_02: You just want it to be.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_02: These are two of the best defensive teams in basketball.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_02: This is um two teams that have had his history.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_02: You want it to be chippy, but maybe tone it down just a little bit.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_02: What do you think of Steph's off ball holding and grabbing?
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_02: I think that the refs should be calling it more, but I can't blame Ime and the Rockets for doing it because right now it has gone unnoticed or unpatrolled.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_02: Like there was a call on the game yesterday where Steph Curry hit a three, and I forget who's on the call.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_02: Was it Brian Anders?
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_02: I think he was on a call where he said, foul for Curry.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_02: He was like, nope, not a foul.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_02: Not a foul.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_02: Like he got fouled in that play.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_02: I think it was Van Gundy that said no, no, he definitely got fouled.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_02: But they, Zach Zarba, I think it was on the refereeing team, is like he just decided not to call it.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_02: So there are times where missed calls are made.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like the refs should maybe get a hold of this, right?
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_02: Again, I don't want the chippiness to go away because as an outsider, I love part of it.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_02: But some some fouls, some more fouls should be called, both sides for sure.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but if you're coaching and you're Ime Yudoko or you're the Rockets, this guy, this light-skinned brother, the babyface of Sassa has tormented this franchise for the last, I don't know, when the first time they seen each other in the playoffs.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like I should know that off the top of my head, but I don't.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_02: Hold on, hold on, hold on.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um, Stephan Curry.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um, he's been tormenting us for a very long time, regardless of when the actual first series ended up being.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_02: I don't want it to happen again.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_02: The first time they played against Houston in the postseason was 2015, and they won uh 4-1.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_02: So Steph Curry has been tormenting us for a decade now, right?
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_02: A decade.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_02: And damn it, we were the one team that was really close to taking them down.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_02: We were up 3-2, and then Chris Paul hurt his hamstring and he didn't play for the rest of the series.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna do everything in my power to prevent him from getting off.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_02: So if that means we grab him, his jersey, or like some of the plays, they're legitimately holding on to his wrists.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_02: They're just holding on to his wrist.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_02: I I gotta do what I gotta do until it's enforced.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_02: When it becomes enforced, we're gonna see what happens, but I just don't know if they ever will.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_02: The tippiness of it all has made this series really good, even if the the final score in game number two wasn't really like that.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I'm praying, y'all know Jimmy Ball is one of my favorite of all time.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_02: I'm praying that he's able to play because you saw what he can do in a game, in the playing game, and then the game number one of the series.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_02: He is a series changer.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_02: And if you don't have him, I don't know what you do because Brandon Pozinski is not out because he tried to play through it, but he got the BGs, got the shits, and there was one part where he was just off the bench for like four minutes stretch, and I'm just assuming he was out there having a hard time with a toilet, fighting and losing.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_02: You need you need um Jimmy Butler.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_02: Some of the lineups they had to play last night because of no pods or because of no Jimmy.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, bro, are we watching December Golden State Warriors again?
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_02: Pat Spencer, Santos, Pat Spencer, Santos, and Post on the court together.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_02: The no Steph Curry minutes.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my goodness.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_02: So you need Jimmy.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_02: You need you need Jimmy.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_02: That's not breaking any any news.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_02: So you need Jimmy Butler in this one.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and like I mentioned, you know, Steph Curry missed a game.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_02: Kaminga missed a few.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_02: I'm hoping that Jimmy Butler, even if he's there as a decoy, him as a decoy is better than whatever the hell Jonathan Kaminga did last night.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_02: I was rooted for Jonathan Kaminga.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_02: For somebody that led, I think he was third in scoring total or points per game for the Wars, for him to be knocked out of the rotation over the last three weeks.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_02: Sucked.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_02: It just sucks.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, this is a young kid that's going into a contracty or a restrictive free agency.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_02: He had an opportunity to do something.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_02: And I thought he was awful.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_02: I know he had some shots.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_02: I know he had some shots, but I thought he was awful last night.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like, damn, that might have been, maybe have been his only chance.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_02: Now, if Jimmy Butler comes back, that might have been his only chance.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_02: If Jimmy Butler's not there, you just need somebody that has the potential to do something.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_02: He was bad.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't, I didn't look at what only thing I saw from Warriors Twitter and Warrior fandom was about the Amin Thompson Jimmy Butler play.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't get to see them talk, but me and Greg have talked about it before how the Warriors fans have been pretty upset about the commingo of lack of minutes.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_02: But like, if you watched last night, I don't know how you could be upset about him not playing in some of these previous games because it was ugly.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_02: And maybe it was ugly because he's playing in lineups without Steph Curry.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe it was ugly because of this, but it was pretty ugly.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um, gotta give a lot of love to Jalen Green, the best bounce back.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_02: There are a few players that I'm like, there's no place they can go but but up.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_02: One of them was the guy in Milwaukee who ended up with zero points in 22 minutes, zero rebounds, 22 minutes, zero assists in 22 minutes.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_02: That guy, he played a better game, too, don't get me wrong.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_02: But Jalen Green was another one of those dudes.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, man, he played so bad offensively in game number one that there's no place he can go from but up.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_02: But I mean, this was even more than I anticipated, man.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_02: He ended up being the best player on the court in a game where Steph Curry existed.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_02: That's hard to do.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_02: That is really, really hard to do.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, the the man hit so many shots.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_02: And when the Warriors were going in that little run, because you had the you had a little chance where the Warriors were trying to pick away at it and they were talking about on the broadcast, six minutes left.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_02: Should Steve Kurz sit these guys and just play prepare for game number three?
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_02: Because you went into Houston, you got one, you split the series, you took home court advantage, so maybe you should just sit these guys and then the Warriors start to chip away just a little bit, and then boom, another Jalen Green shot.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_02: He attempted 18 threes.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_02: 18 threes, but he shot 44%.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_02: So what are you supposed to do?
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um, he was amazing.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_02: I thought he played his playmaker was up there.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and he was so good that Shingoon's 17, 16, 7 assist game went under the radar in a way.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_02: He was phenomenal.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_02: And in order for them to continue to like win games in the series or win the series completely, I'm not saying you need 38 points from Jalen Green on a nightly basis, but you need closer to this version of him versus game number one version of him.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um Tari Eason was phenomenal off the bench.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_02: He got his T because he wanted to throw that goddamn towel.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but but he was phenomenal off the bench.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so maybe not the most beautiful game of basketball, but the series at whole has been pretty good.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um I think a lot of it has to do with the chippiness.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_02: Because you just want teams to hate each other.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_02: Now, this is this is like a baked-in rivalry, if you will.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_02: Because these young dudes, they haven't played against Steph Curry in the playoffs.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_02: They say James Hart and them, but it's a baked-in rivalry because Houston fans hate Steph Curry and them so much that they have to they have to embody that energy.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_02: And they they truly, truly do.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 34:47
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• 34:49
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• 34:52
  SPEAKER_02: And I put together a little something for Saturday night game.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I'm saying?
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_02: One of the series you're gonna get to very, very soon is Cavs versus Heat.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_02: A series that, you know what, has been better than I anticipated, don't get me wrong.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_02: And I got a little same game parlay.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_02: You could tell me, you could create your own, do what you got to do.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_02: Darius Garland been talking pretty good.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_02: Big stuff.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_02: I think he might go off with 20, which sounds crazy because of course he can go off to 20.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe go off to 20 in game number three.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_02: Tyler Hero has been picked on time and time again.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_02: Tyler Hero can still score with the best of them.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_02: I got him for three plus threes.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_02: Evan Mobley, eight plus rebounds.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_02: And Davion Mitchell, who has been a revelation for the Miami Heat.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_02: I got him for just one three.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_02: Just one plus three.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like it's very he's very capable of hitting that three-point shot.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_02: So that is my same game parlay for game three of Cavs versus Heat.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_02: All you got to do is tap into fanDuel.com slash Kenny.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_02: You can tell me or you can build your own.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 35:41
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• 35:51
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• 35:57
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• 35:59
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• 36:01
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• 36:06
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• 36:12
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• 36:20
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• 36:23
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• 36:23
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• 36:25
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• 36:27
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• 36:33
  SPEAKER_02: Hope is here.
• 36:34
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• 36:38
  SPEAKER_02: Or call 1877-8 Hope NY or text Hope and Y in New York.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_02: Moving on to the next series here.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_02: I got Pacers versus Bucks at a B minus.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_02: Did I say what I had for the Rockets?
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_02: It was a B.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_02: I got paces versus Bucks at a B minus.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_02: The most overrated player in basketball, Tarry Talliburton, has been controlling this game every single second he's been on the court.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_02: Controlling the pace, controlling the shots they're attempted.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_02: And I mean, this is basketball, right?
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_02: You're going to get the Bucs playing multiple good possessions in a game.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_02: But I drew, I truly watch, have been watching a series thinking that just putting a number on it, 90% of the time, the Pacers are generating a look that they deem to be a good look.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_02: And that's not good.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_02: In uh playoffs where the pace is down a lot, like that the playoffs usually are, and the playoffs where defensive ratings are up and offensive ratings are down.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_02: This is one of the series where that's not necessarily the case.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_02: Well, the Pacers are playing regular season level basketball in this postseason, and that has to do with the Pacers being, again, one of the better teams since January 1st.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_02: But also, the Bucs don't just don't got it.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna tip my cap to Damian Lillard because he did something I would never have the confidence to do.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_02: And he played in game two, three weeks after being um diagnosed with a blood clot.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_02: He played and it wasn't great.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_02: He had a couple cool shots.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_02: You know, they were peel switching him every single possession.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_02: It wasn't amazing.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_02: They were trying to go after him.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_02: He was trying his best to fight.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_02: It wasn't beautiful, but damn it, you you know he cares.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_02: You know he cares.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_02: And I know the doctors are are saying that he's good to play.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_02: Damn it, there are things that I still wouldn't chance, and that would have been one of them, though.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_02: Hey man, let's be real.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_02: We weren't gonna win the championship anyway.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_02: So uh I'm gonna I'm just gonna set out the next couple games just to make sure.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_02: No, he's suited up and he gave them a better chance to win, and he will give them a better chance to win through the rest of the series than no Damian lives.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_02: So again, shout out to him.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um Brick Lopez.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, he's called him, brother.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_02: Brick Lopez is called.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_02: It's like you gotta give Brick Lopez an amazing amount of respect.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_02: He is 37 years old.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_02: He has been in the league since 2008.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_02: 2008 NBA draft class.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_02: For him to be in the league for 16 years and still be a productive NBA player is a something that we should talk about a little bit more.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_02: He's not a Hall of Famer, obviously, but he he's gonna be in the hall of very good as a one-time all-star making, you know, all defensive teams.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_02: And then also, he was second in DPOY in 2013.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know why I don't remember that off the top of my head.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_02: Either way, he's done an amazing job of transforming his career from a low post guy to splash mountain to a guy that wasn't good defensively to again finishing runner-up to DPOY.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_02: He can't really play in this series so far.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_02: He can't really play in this series so far.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm really looking forward to see um what happens in this series when it comes to Doc Rivers as a coach.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_02: Now he got a couple days before game number three, but the lineup that they've been running, their starting five unit, can't stop a goddamn soul.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_02: They are hunting multiple.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_02: This is it's so insane to have multiple people in your lineup that can be hunting.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, yeah, all right, we're gonna we're gonna go after Dame.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, they're not giving us Dame.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_02: All right, let's get Brooke Lopez in this action.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_02: Tyrese Halliburne, for as good as he is, and I made the joke of him being a most overrated player because that's what 90 NBA, no, that's 13 NBA players said that, whatever.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I make the joke about him being overrated.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_02: But one thing that Tyrese Halliburton, I ain't got no numbers to prove this, but as a as a viewer of Tyrese for the last couple years and him being one of my friends, one of my major criticisms is that in isolation, again, not knowing the points per possession, he just doesn't break down his man good enough.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_02: If you compare him to other elite level guards in basketball, him getting around that corner, him getting past the first defender, it's just a little bit tougher, specifically this year versus let's say last year, two years ago.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_02: When it's Brooke Lopez, he's getting around every single time.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_02: He just is.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_02: Brooke just can't hold on.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like, damn.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, Brooke Brooke provides some defensive, uh, some defensive power, and that's as a rim protector.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_02: But that's kind of it.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_02: So it's like, okay, Doc, do we sacrifice whatever Brooke Lopez has provided us historically defensively for just a better offensive option?
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_02: Should we try to outgun the pacers who are the pacers or the yesers?
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_02: What did that shirt say?
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_02: It says yesers, right?
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_02: But I feel like I'm mispronouncing it.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_02: Either way, should we try to outgun, outrun the Pacers by letting Bobby Portis be our starting center right now?
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_02: I've hated every single second I've watched of Kal Kuzma in this series.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_02: I've hated every single second I've watched of Kyle Kuzma.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_02: You can't bench Kyuzma because what is your alternative?
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_02: But I feel like if this team just had one extra body that you trusted, Kal Kuzma would be unplayable.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_02: Nobody, the Pacers have made it very apparent that they're they don't give a damn about Kuzma as a shooter, as a driver.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_02: They don't care.
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_02: And when you stick him on the court alongside Giannis, damn it.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_02: Giannis is already seeing the wall, but now it's an extra defender on him.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_02: He's basically unplayable or has been throughout the series.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_02: Now, I would hope for his sake he can have a game where he can hit at least a couple three-pointers to make him have some type of offensive value, but that hasn't been the case.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_02: And I remember when we did our trade deadline episode, I graded this trade very poorly because even though Chris Middleton has jumped a shark and he's he's on that latter part of his career where we don't even know if he'll be able to stay healthy for a full season.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_02: I understood why they made the trade because of that alone.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_02: Chris is probably not healthy enough to play.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_02: And even he was very candid about that.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_02: Cal Kuzman just doesn't fit.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_02: And people are like, oh, you remember in 2020, he was the perfect role player for the Lakers, brother.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_02: 2020?
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_02: 2020?
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_02: Five seasons ago?
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sorry.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_02: I can't look at a sample size from five seasons ago and say that certain, certain player will be able to turn back the clocks and turn back to that type of dude.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_02: Imagine if we did that on the opposite side.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, five seasons ago.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um, uh who's who is a player that was really good five years ago, but is now an average NBA player?
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_02: Five seasons ago, Russell Westbrook was able to lead his team to so-and-so.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_02: So now in 2025, if he could just turn back the clocks, we never do that that way.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_02: So why would we ever think we could do it the opposite way?
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_02: A guy that spent the last couple years in Washington playing unorganized basketball, why would we think that he'd be able to go under to a different umbrella and go back to a person he was when he was 22 years old?
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_02: Why?
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_02: It doesn't happen like that in basketball like that.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, Russell Westbrook in 2020 made an All NBA team.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_02: So that's a perfect example.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_02: Imagine we were talking about the Houston or the Detroit, no, the Denver Nuggets.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, man.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_02: If only Russell Westbrook could turn back the clocks of what he was in 2020.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_02: If you said that on a national podcast or platform, you'd get laughed out the building.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_02: But people were saying it about Cools McGuinia.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_02: I just, I couldn't see it, bro.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_02: I couldn't see it.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_02: And and I'm not taking no victory lap.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_02: I don't want to see anybody be bad.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_02: Damn it, him being good makes the series good.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_02: But he's been bad.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna give a lot of credit to Pascal Siakam.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_02: He's the only guy on the team that even has a chance to guard Giannis, and it's a small chance.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but he's been good, as good as you can be against one of the best players of all time.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_02: And on the opposite side of things, is I gave Tyres Halliburton a lot of credit for controlling the pace and generating shots that they want.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_02: Pascal has been the best player in this in this series for the pacer side.
• 43:59
  SPEAKER_02: So far.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_02: Through two games.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_02: It's very similar to last year, if you think about it.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but he's been credible on both sides of the floor.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_02: He's he's again the only guy that has a chance.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_02: And like Aaron E.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_02: Smith is getting some opportunities.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm gonna give Aaron E.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_02: Smith some some shine because he's been um able to hit some big time shots down a stretch or whatever.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_02: But Pascal has been incredible.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um the series is a B minus, though, for what it's worth.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_02: It's probably already over.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_02: I know the Pacers only just maintain home court advantage, but like the numbers say it's over.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_02: And I just feel like the vibes are not high enough to think that they can win four of the next six.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's tough for them.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_02: Then you start to think about what the hell is next for them.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I they just um extended John Horse, and boy, was Bucks fans mad about that.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um I do say though, that after you win a championship as a gender manager, you at least get five more years after that.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_02: And they won in what, 2021?
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_02: You know, not even at that five-year mark.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_02: You got an extension.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know what the hell is next if they end up losing, but um, I've never been a guy for Giannis Conversations, but we might have to do that later in the podcast.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we talk about weeks and months down the line.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_02: All right, so we only got a few more series left.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_02: Cavs versus heat is a C minus.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um the Cavs, I mean, the Heat won a nice little run last night.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_02: So try to make it interesting.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_02: And the Donovan Mitchell just went up and like in a minute scored 10 straight points.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_02: Like, bye bye, this game is over.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Darius Garland has been talking pretty, pretty insanely.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_02: And not insane in like a bad way, but like people are usually more poised when asked certain questions.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, what is your game plan and your scheme going into these games?
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_02: Usually it's like, you know, we just want to uh keep our head up, make the extra pass, very generic answers.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_02: He's like, no, if Tyler Hero's on the court, we're going to his throat.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_02: We want to kill Tyler Hero.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_02: He is the worst defensive player of all of these teams.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_02: And as long as he's on the court, we're going to take advantage of it.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_02: That's not verbatim, but damn it, that was the vibes that he gave us when he said Tyler Hero.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_02: And the numbers support it.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_02: The numbers support it, the eye test supports it.
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_02: When they're attacking Tyler Hero, when he is put into the action as a screener, when he's put into the action as the primary ball handler, they've scored.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like, I like Tyler Hero a lot, man.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_02: And game number two, you know, his offense was better than game number one.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_02: So it's like, okay, cool.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_02: But they are picking on him.
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_02: And it's gotta have some type of mental toll.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_02: And these players are way better mentally than I am.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_02: I would have been like, Coach, come on.
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_02: Give me the hell out of here, man.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_02: We're not winning this series anyway.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_02: You're gonna let me get embarrassed on NBA TV.
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_02: Because they got the NBA TV games, which they should because this series, I almost said stinks.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_02: I gave it a C minus.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_02: It don't stink.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but it's it hasn't been amazing.
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_02: Donovan Mitchell, great playoff performer.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_02: We've known that.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_02: I know the last couple years.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_02: He's had some wishy-washy games here or there, but he still can turn it on when necessary.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_02: I really have a lot to say about this series necessarily.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_02: I think that we're gonna do like a um, what is that?
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_02: I gotta Google this because I want to make sure I'm using this right.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um, post-mortem.
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_02: An examination of a dead body to determine the cause of death.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_02: I think we're gonna have a post-mortem conversation about um the heat once it's all said and done.
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_02: How do we get to this place and what can be done next?
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_02: But that's that's all I got for this series.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um do we only have one more series?
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, two more series left.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_02: Dare I say OKC versus Grizzlies has been better than Celtics versus Magic?
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_02: Is that crazy?
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_02: I will say that though.
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_02: OKC versus Grizzlies is getting a D plus.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_02: See?
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_02: See?
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_02: I'm a generous grader.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_02: Earlier, I was talking about most of y'all probably would have had an SNF.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_02: Nope, I got it as a D plus.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um OKC's good.
• 47:27
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, very good.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_02: I think it is very interesting.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_02: Not overreacting or not saying anything in this matters, but Shay of the 10 worst games of Shay's season so far.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_02: This is from um Owen Phillips, who I feel like we shout out every single episode because he's doing some amazing stuff at the F5 substack.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_02: Of the 10 worst games of Shay's season so far, two of them were game one and game two of this series.
• 47:47
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like all he needs to do is have an amazing game three and game four and get this sweep, and then nobody really cares about game one and game two, but it's like something people are thinking about.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_02: Next series is either Clippers or Denver.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_02: And they hmm, they probably want to see Denver, don't they?
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_02: They probably want to see Denver.
• 48:05
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I'm sure they don't care, but if they had to pick and choose, they probably want to see Denver.
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um, another conversation that we're gonna have, what happens next with the Grizzlies in their big three, if you want to call them that?
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, because they got a lot of money attached these guys.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_02: Jaron Jackson Jr.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_02: is probably gonna make an all-NBA appearance, right?
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_02: I've been tracking the all-NBA ballots and stuff, and he's very high, like he's gonna make a second or third team.
• 48:27
  SPEAKER_02: So if he gets eligible for this extra, extra money, they have so much money tied to these top three dudes.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_02: And they're a young core, but they've been here, like they've been in the postseason.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_02: What, this is their third time in the postseason?
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_02: So I just don't know if you can look at yourself and convince yourself that with this current three as your three best players, you can ever win a championship.
• 48:47
  SPEAKER_02: So it's like, what do we do next?
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_02: Is that a John Morant trade?
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_02: Is that a Desmond Bain trade?
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_02: Is that a Jaron Jackson Jr.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_02: trade?
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know, but I'm sure those conversations are definitely being talked about right now.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_02: And um, I think we'll talk about it more once the series is over.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_02: All right, so we're down to our very last series.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_02: The most boring of the series.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know what this mic picks up, but stuff is going on out there.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um I gave I I I gave Celtics versus Magic a D.
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_02: You know, um, the Magic had it made it interesting.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_02: They busted poor Ziggus's head.
• 49:22
  SPEAKER_02: K KCP.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_02: According to Al Horfer, KCP's been playing dirty.
• 49:27
  SPEAKER_02: And Al Horfer's is a stoic, never talk to the media type of guy.
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_02: At least that's what it seems like.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_02: So for Al Horford to say this, and then the game number two, their legs like crossed and they fail, and then Jalen Brown come over.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_02: Either way, um, has been an amazing series.
• 49:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it's going exactly as everybody anticipated.
• 49:43
  SPEAKER_02: Celtics, good team, magic, not so good team, good team wins.
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_02: It's been that simple.
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_02: Jason Tatum out with a bone bruise.
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_02: Don't matter.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_02: Jalen Brown was just the finest MVP last season.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_02: He couldn't take care of business, and he did.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I don't know any doctors.
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_02: None of my friends in my friend group ended up going to medical school.
• 50:02
  SPEAKER_02: So I don't know how significant a bone bruise could be, right?
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_02: Like, is this something that's going to be nagging Jason Tatum for the next three playoff rounds?
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
• 50:10
  SPEAKER_02: But they're still such a really good team, and the Magic just don't have anybody to score outside of Paulo and Franz, which is as it has been a great showcase for these two dudes.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_02: Franz still can't shoot, but like other than that, his finishing ability is some of the best in the league.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_02: Paolo is hitting tough shot after tough shot, and they're looking around and saying, who's gonna score double digits?
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_02: Last night ended up being Wendell Carter.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_02: Good game.
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_02: And I think one other person had double digits, but it again, it wasn't like nobody else can score.
• 50:37
  SPEAKER_02: And I think they go into this offseason trying to address those type of things.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know how you can, and I know the magic historically have not made a lot of trades under this current regime.
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_02: They have to, bro.
• 50:47
  SPEAKER_02: They have, they have to.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_02: They have.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_02: They can't look at last year's seven-game series versus Cleveland and say, hey, we were just in the series versus the team that eventually went on to win the one seed.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_02: Please don't do that.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_02: Go make some adjustments.
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_02: Go get some players, a player, two players that can just score.
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_02: It ain't it ain't gotta be Kevin Durant, but it ain't gotta be Kevin Durant, but please just go get a Kobe White, an Ephreen Simons, just somebody that can self-create and alleviate the pressure.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_02: Some of the guys that they bought in to alleviate the pressure, the KCP's can't hit a shot.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_02: He was 0 for something until 0 for eight until he hit his first shot.
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_02: And then he hit like a with 20 seconds left on the shot clock.
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_02: He brought the ball up and with 20 seconds left, he shot a mid-range and it hit all backboard and it went in.
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, what the what the hell was that?
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_02: But it went in.
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_02: So it's like you can't complain.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_02: I do feel like in every single series we've had times where it's been Looney Tunes basketball, where it's like, um, you know, the sound effects in those old-timey TV shows of people just running back and forth, three stooges-ass soundtracks, where it's like both of these teams look awful, but these are the best teams in basketball right now.
• 51:51
  SPEAKER_02: All right, that's me grading every single, every single series so far.
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_02: Let me know what you agree or disagree with.
• 51:57
  SPEAKER_02: Again, this is after a two-game sample size.
• 51:59
  SPEAKER_02: I think there are some series that can definitely get higher, and some series that can uh definitely get worse.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_02: Let's get to um ask AB.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_02: All you gotta do is hit us up on Twitter, on Instagram, ask some questions, baby.
• 52:17
  SPEAKER_02: We're doing a very good job um on the back end of picking some great questions.
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_02: This first one comes from Nutter.
• 52:23
  SPEAKER_02: And and now that I didn't realize it's from Nutter.
• 52:26
  SPEAKER_02: If this is Jay Nutter, who's how many times am I gonna say that?
• 52:29
  SPEAKER_02: Uh he being my boy Mike's Twitch streams, he's a he seems like a great uh contributor to the community.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_02: So shout out to you, Nutter.
• 52:35
  SPEAKER_02: I don't even know if this is you, but if this is you, how many people are named Nutter?
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_02: Right?
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_02: Who will be the next superstar to have relatively as long of a careerslash prime as LeBron James?
• 52:47
  SPEAKER_02: Now, again, we're talking about the longevity of it, not the peak, right?
• 52:50
  SPEAKER_02: Remember that.
• 52:51
  SPEAKER_02: Because the player I'm about to say will not have the peak of LeBron James, but the longevity, it has to be Jason Tatum, right?
• 52:55
  SPEAKER_02: It has to be Jason Tatum.
• 52:57
  SPEAKER_02: They said on the broadcast, Jason Tatum's made the playoffs.
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_02: We knew this already.
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_02: Jason Tatum has made the playoffs every single year of his career.
• 53:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yesterday was the first time he didn't play.
• 53:05
  SPEAKER_02: The first time he didn't play.
• 53:07
  SPEAKER_02: He is so much of an Iron Man when he actually did get injured.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_02: His own coach screamed at him to get the hell up.
• 53:13
  SPEAKER_02: Because he has been as durable as any player.
• 53:17
  SPEAKER_02: Like, he's not going to get you to 80 games, but I'm going to read you his total games play.
• 53:21
  SPEAKER_02: Rookie season 80, sophomore year 79.
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um, third year, his first all-star year, he played 66.
• 53:27
  SPEAKER_02: That's 66, the lowest he's had.
• 53:29
  SPEAKER_02: Because the year after this, this is um the shortened season because of the NBA um COVID stuff.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_02: 64.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_02: Then we got 76, 74, 74, 72.
• 53:40
  SPEAKER_02: This man has been an Ironman through the first eight years of his career.
• 53:44
  SPEAKER_02: And it took a bone bruise to have him sit a game.
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_02: He's already had four All NBA appearances, six-time All-Stars.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_02: I think he'll be able to play into his mid-30s and still be an elite level player.
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know if that means he's gonna be making all-based first teams at 34, 35, but there's nothing about Jason Tatum's game that makes me think that he'll fall off.
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_02: So it has to be Tatum, man.
• 54:07
  SPEAKER_02: It has to be Tatum.
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_02: Again, I don't think he's never gonna have the peak of Brahmar, but the longevity, I mean, I talked to him at All-Star Week in Indiana, and I know a lot of players are, but he is so very particular about what he eats and when he eats and like his regime to get ready for games and postseason stuff and off-season stuff.
• 54:27
  SPEAKER_02: It has to be him.
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, hell, he's he's made the playoffs every single year of his career.
• 54:31
  SPEAKER_02: He's gone into deep playoff runs so far in his career.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_02: I just messed up all of my tabs, by the way.
• 54:36
  SPEAKER_02: In his career so far, how many total playoff games he's played?
• 54:39
  SPEAKER_02: He's played 114 playoff games.
• 54:43
  SPEAKER_02: He's played an additional season of a career plus some so far in this, like insane.
• 54:48
  SPEAKER_02: Insane durability from Jason Tatum.
• 54:50
  SPEAKER_02: He was 114 for 115, like after today.
• 54:55
  SPEAKER_02: Insane.
• 54:56
  SPEAKER_02: So uh it's gotta be Tatum.
• 54:57
  SPEAKER_02: It's gotta be Tatum.
• 54:58
  SPEAKER_02: All right, next question comes from Tomer Steele.
• 55:01
  SPEAKER_02: My apologies if I mispronounced that.
• 55:03
  SPEAKER_02: If the Timberwolves get knocked out of the first round, will they blow it up?
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_02: Now, blow it up has a couple different um meanings.
• 55:09
  SPEAKER_02: I think like a lot of people are are you know when they say blow it up, they mean like everybody on the team is gone.
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_02: So that means Anthony Edwards, Rudy Gobert, or let's say the top guys, Julius Rand are all off the team.
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think that's the case.
• 55:20
  SPEAKER_02: I think that if they do get eliminated in this first round, they're gonna make their push to try to get Kevin Durant.
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um, the reason why they made the Car Anthony Towns trade, if you ask them, was to have this longevity and this flexibility to build better rosters.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_02: So I do believe that if they lose in the first round, it'll be a disappointing season at whole because of where they were last year, but not disappointed enough to think that we got to move on from Ant-Man.
• 55:41
  SPEAKER_02: They already extended Rudy Gobert, so I feel like that's not gonna happen.
• 55:44
  SPEAKER_02: So it's like if Julius Randle opts into his contract, can we flip him to a different team?
• 55:49
  SPEAKER_02: Can we renegotiate Julius Randle's contract and do a sign and trade?
• 55:51
  SPEAKER_02: It's something along those lines.
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_02: But they do want to resign Nas Reed, whether or not he wants to stay or and and um and come off the bench or find another team.
• 55:59
  SPEAKER_02: They do want to bring back McKeal, Alexander Walker, because that was part of the flexibility aspect of them trading catch.
• 56:04
  SPEAKER_02: So I don't think they blow it up.
• 56:05
  SPEAKER_02: Nope.
• 56:06
  SPEAKER_02: But we've seen crazier things.
• 56:08
  SPEAKER_02: We've seen crazier things.
• 56:09
  SPEAKER_02: All right, let's get into some of these audio ones.
• 56:11
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, Kenny, big fan of your show and all of your work.
• 56:14
  SPEAKER_00: My playoff hot take is that if the Bucs lose, that this will be Giannis's last hurrah with the team.
• 56:19
  SPEAKER_00: Let me know what you think.
• 56:21
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think the side of the rim possibility.
• 56:23
  SPEAKER_02: I I kind of talked about it a little bit earlier.
• 56:26
  SPEAKER_02: I love a one-team guy, right?
• 56:28
  SPEAKER_02: And Giannis, given where he comes from and the loyalty Milwaukee has had for him, I wouldn't want him to stay in Milwaukee, but I would understand it.
• 56:38
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think anybody, like hypothetically, they lose in this first round.
• 56:40
  SPEAKER_02: Let's see they get swept.
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_02: Let's see they lose, let's say they lose in five, right?
• 56:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um if it got a report, if we got a report that said Giannis is requested a trade, I don't think anybody looks at Giannis differently, right?
• 56:50
  SPEAKER_02: He's been so true to Milwaukee.
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_02: They've done a poor job of maximizing his current ceiling.
• 56:57
  SPEAKER_02: They did an amazing job of building the initial team.
• 56:59
  SPEAKER_02: But I think that one thing certain teams do well is recognizing when the writing is on the wall.
• 57:05
  SPEAKER_02: And listen, it's it's so hard to do.
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not even saying that two years ago they should have traded Chris Middleton or Drew Holiday or whatever it may be.
• 57:12
  SPEAKER_02: But, you know, you think about the age of the players around Giannis, you probably should have been like, damn, these guys just probably won't age at the same rate as Giannis.
• 57:23
  SPEAKER_02: Like he's a superman.
• 57:26
  SPEAKER_02: So it would shake up the league quite a bit to see a top two, top three player get moved.
• 57:31
  SPEAKER_02: It's not at a rare impossibility, but I would keep my fingers crossed that the newly extended John Horse puts together a roster around him.
• 57:38
  SPEAKER_02: The problem is they don't really have any assets to do it.
• 57:41
  SPEAKER_02: So like maybe Giannis and his family, his representation looks at this roster, look at the future assets, and say, they're gonna try.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_02: They're probably just not gonna be successful.
• 57:50
  SPEAKER_02: What type of moves can we do to compete with the Celtics?
• 57:53
  SPEAKER_02: What type of moves can we do to compete with okay, see if we do beat the Celtics?
• 57:58
  SPEAKER_02: It's a little tough.
• 57:59
  SPEAKER_02: So maybe it is his last of Rah, man.
• 58:02
  SPEAKER_02: It will be weird.
• 58:02
  SPEAKER_02: It will be weird, but we'll see.
• 58:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yo, what's up, Kenny?
• 58:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh big fan here.
• 58:07
  SPEAKER_01: I just want to start off by saying you're a big reason why I fell in love with the game of basketball.
• 58:11
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, my question today is what would a Clippers championship and Kawhi Leonard finals MVP do towards his legacy for you?
• 58:19
  SPEAKER_01: Because for me, that would put him top 10 to 15 all time.
• 58:23
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, then we we kind of talked about this a little bit.
• 58:25
  SPEAKER_02: Look at my guys, we got locked.
• 58:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah, man, I think that a championship and a finals MVP, first of all, changes everything about the Clippers, one of the most cursed fan bases and franchises in NBA history.
• 58:38
  SPEAKER_02: Steve Bomber has done nothing but throw money at this franchise, and for him to get one would be pretty electric for him and then the wall and everything.
• 58:44
  SPEAKER_02: And to do it the first year of the Intuit Dome, great timing.
• 58:47
  SPEAKER_02: So what was it, what would it have him ranked all-time?
• 58:52
  SPEAKER_02: I think that one of the things that the guys that are ranked top 10, top 15 have is that longevity piece of it all, right?
• 58:59
  SPEAKER_02: Guys that, you know, um played for fully 10 plus seasons, Kawhi Leonard doesn't have that, right?
• 59:05
  SPEAKER_02: I think he's a six-time all-star, like if I remember correctly, six-time all-star.
• 59:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but the peaks are so damn good that we might have to, yeah, we probably have to end up having them top 15, top 10 if they if they get another championship.
• 59:23
  SPEAKER_02: For him to have multiple finals MVPs on multiple teams and multiple DPO wise and multiple top three finishes in MVP and six-time All-Star and six-time All NBA, like the accolade list is would be insane, even if he doesn't have the same amount of games played as some of the other people that will be around him.
• 59:43
  SPEAKER_02: 733 games is his total right now, regular season-wise.
• 59:46
  SPEAKER_02: And then, like, if you're talking top 10, top 15, let me do.
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um this is not my official list.
• 59:52
  SPEAKER_02: Top NBA players of all time.
• 59:53
  SPEAKER_02: I just I just want to see where other people have, because I don't do these type of rankings ever.
• 59:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so this is from Hoop's hype.
• 1:00:00
  SPEAKER_02: Is that a reliable source?
• 1:00:02
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
• 1:00:02
  SPEAKER_02: We're just gonna get to like top 10ish.
• 1:00:04
  SPEAKER_02: Who do they have at top 10?
• 1:00:05
  SPEAKER_02: They have Tim Duncan at 10, Hakeem Elijah Wan at 11, KD at 12, Steph Curry at 13, fuck.
• 1:00:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um, Oscar Robinson at 14, Carl Malone.
• 1:00:15
  SPEAKER_02: I think he surpasses Carl Malone again, assuming he gets a championship.
• 1:00:19
  SPEAKER_02: So I think he passes Oscar Robinson again, assuming he gets the championship.
• 1:00:23
  SPEAKER_02: Steph Curry.
• 1:00:25
  SPEAKER_02: Personally, I got Steph Curry hired at 13, just off the top of my mind.
• 1:00:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um man, this is gonna sound crazy.
• 1:00:34
  SPEAKER_02: Even though he won't have the longevity, the total accolades and the total scoring is Kevin Durant.
• 1:00:40
  SPEAKER_02: If he gets another again, we're just assuming in this hypothetical world he gets another finals MVP.
• 1:00:45
  SPEAKER_02: I think he surpasses Kevin Durant.
• 1:00:48
  SPEAKER_02: He probably surpasses Hakeem Elijah Wan.
• 1:00:50
  SPEAKER_02: And I think Hakeem is my my damn dude.
• 1:00:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um yeah, it's a real conversation.
• 1:00:58
  SPEAKER_02: But hey, hey, hey, let's not cross that.
• 1:01:00
  SPEAKER_02: Let's let's get them out of this first round, out of the second round, out of the third round, and then to the championship.
• 1:01:04
  SPEAKER_02: Then we can talk.
• 1:01:05
  SPEAKER_02: But that is an amazing thought experiment for sure.
• 1:01:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I think that's all we have today.
• 1:01:10
  SPEAKER_02: Let me know what you think about today's episode.
• 1:01:12
  SPEAKER_02: What do you agree with, what you disagree with?
• 1:01:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I appreciate y'all.
• 1:01:16
  SPEAKER_02: I love y'all, and I will see y'all next week.
• 1:01:19
  SPEAKER_02: Peace.