April 29, 2024 • 40 mins
Draymond Green discusses the Minnesota Timberwolves sweeping the Phoenix Suns, Jusuf Nurkic having a tough series, the future for Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal, and how Anthony Edwards is helping Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns reach another level. Dray also discusses Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks taking a 3-1 lead over Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers, Paul George and the Los Angeles Clippers tying the series against Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks, whether LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers have a chance to come back against Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets, and much more.
0:00 Start
3:00 Suns Swept
24:00 Knicks-76ers
36:00 Lakers-Nuggets
Produced by: Jackson Safon
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
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Speaker 2 (01:40):
What's up, everybody, Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show.
A lot of good basketball over the weekend. We'll get
into that back with another episode on Bleacher Report at Live.
So shout out to all y'all out there checking it out.
If you are checking it out, make sure you drop
some questions in chat. We'll get to those at the
(02:00):
end of the show. And then also please go subscribe
to our YouTube channel YouTube dot com slash at the
at symbol Draymond Green Show. Check that out, lock in
keep bringing you content. Let's get into these topics though.
Number one on the list is the Sun's losing game
(02:21):
four one sixteen to the Timberwools U in the suite
and if I'm honest. The Suns is always is a
touchy one for me, m because I'm a little conflicted.
I like to see I want to see the sounds
due well. Matt ishby a Spartan dog, uh got you know,
(02:43):
became the owner of the Phoenix Suns franchise about a
year ago. So I'm always rooting for Ish. Book Man,
I'm always rooting for Book. You know. I've talked to
you all a million times about, you know, my love
for Book and wanting to see him succeed. And Book
got that seriousness to him that you need from your
(03:04):
star players in order to win in these big moments,
and I really want to see that happen for him.
I think Book is in year eight now, if I'm
not mistaken your seven or eight, you know. And the
thing about Book is Book Book windows started a while ago,
and he's been so good for you know, since coming
into the league. He's you know, when his rookie year started,
(03:28):
wasn't playing a ton and you can quickly see he
was the best player on the team and before you
know what, the ball was in his hands, and you
know it's been in his hands since and so you know,
I don't want to see book get to that point
where people start writing him off as if he's not
one of the guys, because he is one of them guys.
And so uh there, I man, I got nothing but
(03:50):
love for Brad. Uh. You know, I wanted to see
just seeing Brad compete. Uh. Yesday he filed out trying
to guard Anthony Evers. And I talked to y'all before
about what I think needed to happen in that series.
And Brad went down swinging, and everybody will say, oh, man,
he had nine points and blah blah blah, like no
brother was guarding Anthony Edwards. And so if you go
(04:12):
back to what I said about what Kevin Durant needed
to do, Kevin Durant needed to go take on that
challenge and the reasons I said that. One of the
things that I did say when I gave the reason
is was Kevin should not focus on offense. Kevin should
lock in on Anthony Edwards on the defensive end, play
a role on the offensive end, get what comes to
(04:33):
him on the offensive end because he's still Kevin Durant.
So the defense going to overreact, but lock in on
the defensive side of the ball and you know, whether
that's spotting up, whether that's you know, getting your spot
every now and then on the offensive end. But your
main focus shouldn't be on the offensive end, because I
don't think that's what the team would need at that point.
With Grayson Allen being out, a lot of that changes
(04:54):
because they're missing about fifteen to twenty points from Grace
and Allen. They're missing some floor spacing that Grayson Allen provides.
They're missing, you know, graceon Allen's presence, and so I
do understand it a little more from that standpoint, But
essentially what I'm getting at is that's essentially what happened
to brad Bill. Brad Bill is so focused on trying
(05:15):
to take anything thatwards out the game. Legs gone, came,
hit a shot, it starts spiraling f fast, foul, trouble.
Buddy went down swinging, and I gotta respect that. And
unfortunately that is all, folks, That is all. Uh. I'm
not sure which which tweet age worse. Shout out to
(05:37):
my man Coos. I love COO's got nothing. You know,
known cous for many many moons, but there's no Cou's.
KOs is a truth teller who's Who's is a real
and there's no secret that KU's is tweet about not
being the team did not age well this year. It
just didn't age well. Washington struggled a bit this year,
(06:00):
finished with almost identical records to the Detroit Pistons after
Koos's tweet and so the tweet, the tweets spoiled fast
for cools though, like it's spoiled fast, and ironically the
tweet may have spoiled even faster from from the big
(06:20):
softy uh big softy one, the tweet after we lost.
You know on post pictures that that tweet is spoiled
so fast, like that is spoiled milk. And yeah that
is all folks. So you know, you got to be
really careful when you're not that's successful, and you try
(06:43):
to take jobs at people because you really don't when
you really don't have control of your own success, you know,
when you don't, when you don't play a large enough
role in your team success, when you can't really affect
the outcome of the game, like you can go, you
can go have twenty rebounds and lose a game, you know,
like when you really don't affect the outcome of the game,
(07:06):
it's really tough to take jobs at people because you
got a job and then like you can't affect you
know what your what your air result is, you know.
And so yeah, the big softy bowed out. Uh, you know,
Rudy Gobert played great. Hey, by the way, Rudy Gobert,
(07:31):
Carl Anthony Towns. It's been in the league maybe eight years,
eight to ten years for both of them, give or take.
And what Anthony Edwards has taken those guys and done
is absolutely amazing. Like Rudy, Rudy, Rudy actually not trash anymore.
Like and I think I think it's like a lot
(07:53):
of people agree that he just wasn't like he defends
now and ironically, you know he got all the defensive
where but I mean, like when you see him on
the switches, he's up at the level. He not just
sitting back in the drop no more. When he gets
switched on to the guy, it's like his antennas pop on,
like oh I gotta sit down and like they're about
(08:14):
to go at me and I'm guarding. And I think
it's been interesting to watch because he is actually impact
and winning and he's actually doing that on the defensive end,
where as opposed to other series, he's gotten played off
the floor. Although Phoenix went small at times to try
(08:35):
to get back in the game, there were times that
they still played Rudy on Royce O'Neill. Before, if you
win five guards, there was no chance Rudy Gobert can play,
like zero percent chance. Even if you win a big
that can stretch the floor, big that can move it,
there was zero percent chance that he could play. And
(08:57):
those things have changed, And if I'm honest, I don't
think at this point that was a change in ability.
That is a change in what's required of you. And
quite frankly, like even if you listen to ask press
conference last night, he's talking about Kat filing too much. Like,
quite frankly, I think that that's the leader required more
(09:21):
of both of those guys. Like I saw some things
during the game last night, especially when Kat was at
the five and Rudy was out, that I'm like, Kat,
you can still cover that, Like you know, maybe like dude,
you guarden Royce O'Neil. He had the free throw line
drop one extra step, you could take that lay up
away deep book just got and things like that. However,
(09:42):
Kat is not a defensive minded player. So to try
to nitpick at all of those little things, it's pointless
to do, you know, And then saying that, I think
what Anthony Edwards has required from those guys has allowed
them to take the next step in their careers. A
(10:03):
young twenty two year old basketball player, superstar fee nine,
whatever you want to call him, I personally can tell
when something is being required from a leadership perspective. And
the way Kat is attempting to defend, like Kat was
chasing Kevin Durant around, nas Reed was chasing Kevin Durant around,
(10:26):
it is guys ain't do that before. And yes, I
do give Chris Finch his credit as a coach. I
do think, you know, he's a good coach. But man
in the NBA, at the point of their careers that
those guys are at, ain't no coach making you slide
your feet like Rudy Gobert sliding his feet. Now Kat
(10:49):
attempting to defend, that's a guy who you out there
with saying, yo, this is what I need and you
don't want to continue to hear from that guy, and
definitely gives me that demeanor. And I think what he's
feeding to those guys. Like, yes, his play with stellar,
but I think what he's feeding to those guys is
(11:09):
even more important because his play could be as stellar
as it want if he ain't got those guys playing
the way they're playing. It's the same old Timberwolves. What's
changing is his demeanor and changing all of those guys.
And now you look at that team, and that was
a far more complete team than the Phoenix Suns, if
(11:32):
I'm honest, that's a far more complete team than the
Denver Nuggets. We'll get into the Denver Nuggets a little
later in this show, but that team that we just watched,
that are the Minnesota Timberwolves, is a complete team. Now,
Anthony Edwards has had the luxury of bringing in over
(11:55):
the last year and a half of veteran point guard
like Mike Connley, and I know, and it's pulling things
from him and and that's huge. But we've seen Mike
Conley with star big man before not be able to
get it done. So I got to get that credit
credit to Anthony Edwards man now not taking nothing from
Mike Conley. Uh, Mike Conley is has been a mainstay
(12:16):
in this league for a long time we've had battles
with team that's Mike Conley's been on. I got nothing
but love and respect for Mike Conley and this has
This is not a hit at all to Mike Conley,
but more so the praise of Anthony Edwards. That kid
is special and what he's doing it's no surprise, you
(12:39):
know why, because he said all alone, this is what
he believes, and this is what he was going to do,
and he's just going to do it now. And so
I think, I think, man, that was beautiful to watch.
Anthony Edwards is the start that I've believed he could
be since day one, and that I'm sure a lot
of people did believe he could be still remember trying
(13:02):
to figure out how to trade up from two to
one and getting that man. But you know, special, special talent.
So the question that comes next is what happens to
the Phoenix Suns. What does this mean for the Sons
Big three? Blah blah blah. Nothing. They'll come back in
(13:27):
next year with that same big three and hopefully they'll
try to retool around that big three. Now, we knew
coming into the year that not having a point guard's
going to be a problem. That that was going to
be an issue no matter what, and everybody said, no,
Devin Booker can play the point, Brad Bial can play
(13:50):
the point. And don't get me wrong, they can get
you an offense, they can win you games, but they're
not point guards. And being a point guard and trying
to think, oh, man, Kevin hasn't had a shot, Oh man,
deep Book hasn't had a shot, or Brad you know,
deep Book thinking, oh Brad haven't had a That's a
totally different game you gotta play. Then come down, all right,
(14:12):
get to my spot, get us some good get us,
get us a good shot. That's a totally different game
you gotta play. And quite frankly, it doesn't best suit
those guys to play that game. Can they play that
in spurts, of course, but to play that game an
entire season that it's a tall task that quite frankly
(14:39):
showed to be proved to be one that they couldn't
overcome because all year long, you know, you see them
and they start to make a run, and those guys
are playing well and then it just like fall off.
And I think that is because you know, the consistency
in the style of play due to not having an
initiator that you know, all right, this game every night,
(15:02):
this guy is getting us into X, Y and Z,
and I think that that made all the difference. And
so if you're the Phoenix Signs, the highest trade value
you're gonna have is Devin Booker. Do you want to
move off your franchise player Devin Booker. I highly doubt
(15:22):
that Matt Ishbia taken over as a new owner. I
highly doubt he's going to come in and within a
year move on from Devin Booker. The book is also
one of those special players that you just don't just
move on from. But he will have the highest trade
value of the three for a couple of reasons. His age, obviously,
(15:50):
his play contract situation. You know he's like got a
couple of years left, could sign an extension, all these things,
but he's twenty seven, and so he'll have the highest
value of all of them. Brad's contract is big with
the injury history, and you know some people are looking say, oh,
(16:13):
he only had nine points in this last game, we
can't trade him, so his value would be less than
book Kd's in here eighteen. So his value will be
less than the books. So with no draft picks, and
(16:33):
the next they got a draft pick. I think the
Suns had a twenty second draft pick this year, but
outside of that, doesn't have another draft pick through twenty thirty,
So you don't have picks to move, and you don't
really have many players to move outside of those three
and two of those, well, one Brad value on a
trade market probably wouldn't be as high with the salary
(16:56):
that Brad has and then the new second Apron and
all those things coming into effect. That makes it tough there.
Like I said, Katie, and you're eighteen, you know, with
a team not knowing where if he's even gonna want
to come there or blah blah blah. And so your
biggest asset is Devin Booker? Do you move on from
(17:18):
Devin Booker? Now, interestingly enough, we talked about Rudy Gobert.
The Rudy Gobert trade completely killed the trade market because
they took five first round picks, and then no one
wants to ever do that again. So you've even seen
guys like Dame I think it moved for two or
three first round picks. So with book what's the most
you can get and what's worth it? I don't think
(17:39):
anything's worth it, but you have to assess everything when
you're in a position that the Suns are in now. However,
they've played together for one year. The books are what
they are anyway, So my opinion, you got to come
back with those guys, you got to try to retool
around them, and you got to give it another go.
(18:00):
The reality is, none of these things really work in
the first year. Unless you're to go to State Warriors,
then they work in the first year. But none of
these things really ever work in the first year. So
I'm awesome, I'm not on the hype train. Oh it's
over and they need to figure out and blah blah blah,
and like no, but you definitely have to go back
to the drawing board, you know. I saw the whole
Frank Vogel would be fire thing. Quite frankly, I think
(18:23):
that that was a decision that we all questioned as
soon as it happened. I don't think any of us
thought that Frank Vogel would be Moni's replacement until Frank
Vogel's name came up, and you're like, whoa, And so
just in thinking back to that, I don't you know,
you know Kevin saying I didn't know my role in offense,
and I don't know if Kevin said that or not.
(18:44):
That was a quote that's been put out there from sources.
You can never be so sure those sources, oftentimes are correct.
Frank Vogel is not an offensive coach. So Frank Vogel
I personally don't think was ever going to be the
one to put all of those pieces into place. From
(19:04):
a standpoint that, A, we don't have a point guard,
how can we make this work moving all of these
different guys around and being creative. That's not what Frank
Bogo does And so I never expected that and yet
to see that come out, that's no surprise, yuse. Kevin's
(19:24):
not someone that's just going to bring the ball up
alah book allah, brad beial and get his own That's
not what Kevin's going to do. So that does not
shock me one bit one bit. You didn't see Kevin
coming off any pin downs to the elbow area, getting
to his bag. That's when Kevin is most dangerous. When
you get Kevin in those spots where okay, I can't
(19:47):
just raise up on you because you're too small, wonder
will pull up I can completely get rid of, like
you gotta know the spots to get Kevin in. And
to Kevin's credit, if that statement is true that Kevin
said that, I agree, he did stand in the corner. Now,
I do know that Kevin will sometimes get upset and
just go to the corner. But all year he was
just in the corner. And like I said, you watched
(20:08):
their offense, and none of those players was getting Kevin
to the spots that he likes to get to. I know,
the spots that he wants to get to the score.
None of the says that they were running were really
getting him into those spots. And as great of a
scorer as he is, he still needs the ball in
the spots in order to be as efficient and productive
(20:30):
as as he can be. Get him to his spots
in this rat who's going to stop him? And so
I ain't never seen any of that, And like I said,
I'm not very surprised by it, because I didn't when
the hire happened to Frank Vogel, I didn't view that as, oh,
their offense is about to be crazy. No, the first
(20:53):
thought would be there going to be a good defensive
team and quite frankly their offense. They struggled a lot
of fourth quarters, and that usually tells you don't have
a point guard to get you into the things that
you need to get into. So in turn, it turns
in the light book getting off or Brad trying to
get to it. But how sustainable is that to do
(21:13):
that for entire quarters. All of a sudden, you miss
a couple and you go down, and that team's been
playing team basketball. So nonetheless, I don't think it's over
for the Sun's Big three. Yes, every hell out of
the water they go next, or is it over like?
I don't think so. I think you got to try
to retool around those guys. You bring Grayson Allen back,
(21:37):
But you bring Grayson Allen back, if I'm honest, he
got to come off the bench because you need a
point guard. Now. You signed Isad Thomas for the rest
of the season. I thought that he'd at least get
a shot to try to see if he could take
on some of the responsibility. We didn't see that. So
(22:03):
that's the Suns timber Wolves moving on. I'm excited for
the next series with the timber Wolves. We all think
that it'll be the Denver Nuggets. Denver Nuggets also has
their share of issues. Their bench is not it. They
do not have a very good bench at all, and
(22:24):
you need a bench to win championships, and I just
don't know if their bench is going to get it done.
Should be enough to get it done in this series.
I think for sure it'll be enough to get it
done in this series. But as you go deeper into
the playoffs, the flaws that you have get more and
more exposed. And if it's going to get exposed, it
(22:44):
has to be this next round. It has to be
by Anthony Edwards in the Minnesota Timberwolves. Now, all of
the praise that I just gave to the Timberwolves and
they're Bigs and Rudy Gobert and Kat and what they've done,
but Anthony Erwars has done for them. And next next year,
if they go on to face the Denver Nuggets, that
(23:06):
will be put to the test with the big fella
Joker and we will see. But right now, timber Woods
are looking like cut and dry, the best, second best
team in the West, arguably the first best team in
the West. Like I said, just with their depth on
you know, with their depth that puts them ahead of Denver.
(23:31):
What brings them right back to Denver is Joker gonna
be like, I don't need no help. I mean, you
know you need help. What he tell Rudy go brother,
I got I got forty seven. You need a double team.
So it's gonna come down to Ken Rudy Gobert not
stopp him, because you're not stopping Joker. But can he
(23:51):
affect the game the way he was affecting the game
in last series, that'll be a big thing. Ain't gonna
do what he do? It was good to see Cap
back out there and have a good series coming off
that long layoff, still food defenix Suns and telling them
that he was the most important player in the series.
It wasn't. That was a lie at is and will
(24:12):
be the most important player in the series. That's that.
And moving on, The Knicks beat the seventy six ers
ninety seven to ninety two to take a three to
one lead in the series. And the first question is
do I personally need to apologize to jaylen Brunson for
saying he shouldn't dominate the ball? My answers no, Here's why.
(24:37):
Number one, some things that work in the first round. Cool.
They work in the first round, they won't work moving forward.
It's funny because I had a conversation with a friend
of mine last week, Benny Fowler, and I was talking
to him actually about Jaylen Brunston, and I was watching
(24:59):
the Knicks and I was like, man, I called him
and I said, YO, tell me if I'm tripping, like
Jayleen Brunton is really good, and I feel like I
have to believe how good he is. And I thought,
I've always believe how good he is. Playing at the
level that he'd be playing at is a different level
than I always thought. I think most people thought. I mean,
(25:23):
even when he signed for one hundred million with the Knicks,
everybody said that was a crazy deal and he was overpaid.
So we're not going to act like it's just me. However,
I called my boy and I'm like, man, I don't
really know if I'm supposed to believe like Jaylen Brunson,
like because I know better beings like I know better,
Like I know that this gets to a certain level
(25:44):
and it stops, like he can only do this up
to a certain point being your number one option. But
you look at him competing, he's smarter and he gonna
get smaller card. And like I kind of was in
this role of like arguing for him, arguing against them,
arguing for them, arguing against and that's how I feel
about it. But and so I'll say this, he does
have my respect. He's always had my respect. That's not
(26:07):
up for debate. What is up for debate is can
he carry a team to the Promised Land. By the way,
the Conference finals to me is not the promise Land.
We saw Trey Young go to the conference finals against
these very New York Knicks, well dealing with the New
York Knicks along the way and to get to the
(26:29):
conference final and hasn't been back since. And so the
conference finals is not the holy Grail to me. So
although that's a huge step for him to take him
to the conference finals, I will take my hat, tip
my hat to him respect, But that's not like the
promised Land to me. But I'll give him that. And
so I went through this whole thing with my point,
(26:50):
I'm like, I don't know, like forty seven points, ten assists,
one turnover, eighteen to thirty from from the field. The
one thing that was glaringly noticeable to me when I
was watching the game was that Philly plays with Joel
and the drop, and so what they did was just
kept putting Joel in the pick and roll and Jalen
(27:11):
Brunson got whatever he wanted because he was in the drop.
At some point, you gotta move up the floor, building
the help and make those other guys beat you. Now
they've shown that they could beat you. But are you
gonna let Jaylen Brunce get forty seven ten assists and
only one turnover. The only reason the reason he only
(27:31):
got one turnover is because that drop, there's no pressure
on him. He coming off and Jaylen Brunton when he
come off the screen and there's nobody there, he's not
even now looking at the guy in the drop no more.
He now starts back paying attention to his guy, which is,
let me lock him in back here so he can't
get back to the front square the ball up. Now
(27:53):
he's locked in behind the play and he gets whatever
you want float or MIDI. That's where he lived, not
even after three. He lives in those ranges, and so
of course he gonna go off of there. But what
happens if you bring the guy up to the level
of the screen, They gotta do something else though, like Philly,
(28:17):
you can't just stay in the drop just because it's Joel.
How do you win like that? You gotta do something
else like and then also you got Joel and b
Tyrese Maxi. You gotta score more than ninety two points
because if you hold a team to ninety seven. See
(28:39):
here's the thing, the game plan in theory actually works.
You let Jayleen Brounson get his forty seven ten assists,
they scored ninety seven points. So number one, you have
to score more points ninety two points they scored ninety seven,
you should win that game. In the NBA, So in theory,
Jalen dominating the ball actually doesn't work because they only
(29:04):
score ninety seven points doing it. But you gotta give
him his credit because it worked to get a win.
But if a team scored ninety seven, you got the
MVP of the NBA on your team at home, where
role players should be shooting better and making hustle play,
(29:26):
you only get ninety two points. That's why you lose.
So the conuntrum, that the conundrum that I've been kind
of calleding and dealing with on Jaylen bruston jury still
out and again I got nothing but love and respect
for Jaylen Bruston and love his game and respect his game.
(29:47):
But I'm talking about to go to the Promised Land.
Can he be your best player to go to the
Promised Land? I don't know, but damn is he balling?
He doing it? Give them his credit. And when you
look at the series, I personally think the series can
(30:08):
still be turned around because I think Joe Ellenbid is
that good. But Joe ellenb got to go be that good,
like when you got the best player in the series.
And right now, Jaylen Bruston is looking like the best
player in the series. But I'm not doing that. Joe
ellenb is the best player in the series. When you
got the best player in the series, you always have
a chance. And so I still think they have a
(30:30):
chance because Joel can do that. But it's looking like
it's over and they're ready to quit. We'll see Nicks
going back home. You see the way they invaded Wells
Fargo yesterday. Oh they going back home. Shut the streets
of New York City down that they win this game five,
because it's a rap. We shall see Clippers versus the
(30:52):
Mavericks was a very interesting one great game, down thirty points,
come back, still don't win. No, why remember what I
told you all about them taking Kawhi up to the
brink and they're like, ah, he's out. You're playing a
different team. No surprise to me. The Mavericks got down
by thirty points. You know why because when you go
into that game and you don't know if Kawhi Leondard
(31:14):
is playing Kawhi Leonards that good, you have to prepare
for Kawhi Lennard. Well, guess what you're prepared for a
team that you're not playing against, because they're totally different
team when Kawhi Lender doesn't play. So they get down
thirty points, nonetheless come roaring back. Why because you got
two of the best scorers in our game, Kyrie Hervan Luka.
Doncons they come roaring back ends up not being enough.
(31:40):
James Harden looked like James Harden. Didn't even look like
Houston James Harden. James Harden looked like ok C James Harden.
You know why he didn't look like Houston James Harden
because Houston James Harden didn't shoot real floaters. For real
Houston James Harden did not shoot me rain shots Houston.
James Harden shot layups in threes that looked like the
(32:01):
Oka cee James Hard and I thought it was very
interesting because Dallas is going to have to figure out
who's guarding James Harden move for moving forward, and why
they're going to need to figure that out is because
I personally don't think PJ. Washington is the answer. PJ
(32:21):
has shown to be a good defender, a guy that's
willing to take on that role for this team, and
I respect it, but he can't guard James Harden. Every
time James Harden made one move, he looked like Ricky Rubio.
Y'all remember that time Ricky Rubio is Garden James Harden.
If this is the real Ricky Rubio is Guarden j
Harden forcing him to the like crazy stuff crazy when
(32:45):
I saw Ricky Rubio doing that. However, one move and
that's how PJ. Tucker looked. PJ was behind James every
time he crossed over, like way behind him and out
the play, and he's he's banking on getting to what's
shot contest, getting the block, coming from behind James Harden
and getting the block. However, James doesn't shoot his floater
(33:09):
like a normal floater. James kind of shoots his floater
out like this and push it, and so there's no
way you can get back to getting the block without
following him, which we saw a couple d ones on
the floater. But I was also a little disappointed in
Dallas's defense from the standpoint, like Terris's man is on
the floor, somebody shrinked the floor and make terrace Man
(33:32):
be you James hard can't just keep getting to the
middle of the paint when no one else started shooting
the floor. At some point, somebody who's guarding Terriss Man
just come and stand there. I know where he going go.
Stand there, all right, Gret, you're gonna throw the ball
tenns Man as terns Man beats us. Great, we're supposed
(33:52):
to go home. But to keep letting James get by
PJ and just going to the floater and get whatever
he wanted. Nah, that can't work. PG hit some big shots.
Big shots from PG wanted all the smoke. And I
also loved the type of time that PG was on.
(34:12):
You know, PJ. Washington had this whole thing, and I
respect that too, But PG ain't forget and see It's
always funny watching these young fellas have they moment and
start talking, because you start barking up the tree of
the guys that have been doing this for a long time.
And PG been doing that to guys for a long time.
And PG got the last live the three he hit
(34:36):
over Dereck Jones in the corner. Insane, by the way.
But let's move backwards a little bit, so PJ. Washington,
I personally don't think it's the match up for James
Harden and I think if they're going to have a
chance of stopping James hard, if James come out with
that same mentality again, James is in your what sixteen fifteen.
(34:57):
It's hard to do that every night, you know, but
it is the playoffs. You get days in between. But
if James is playing that same style of basketball, ay,
go help off. Terrence Man. Come on now, Jared Dully.
Jared Dully always talk about how he got the game plans.
Come on now, Dudds. Let's see it going up against
(35:17):
old T lou over there, you know t Loui mastermind.
Let's see it does we got we got excuse me,
we gotta see these defensive game plans because James can't
just get there and beat you like that. So if
James is going to stay that aggressive, though, who's going
to end up being the key in this series who
can actually stay in front of James take the hit
(35:42):
the shoulder that James delivers. It's Josh Green. Josh Green
has not played much just series. He's playing here and there,
but he is the one guy who can actually stay
in front and take the bump. PJ. Washington can take
the bump, but he didn't do a good job of
staying in front. Now you know, he may take on
the challenge and say I'm sitting down, but that was
(36:03):
that didn't look good last night. And personally, I think
Dallas should still take this series, especially without that with
the uncertainty of Kawhi, I think the Clippers are better
off now playing Kawhi the rest of the series. You
gotta see what you got. You gotta also be certain
with your guys, because you don't want guys like, oh,
he's playing this game on the same the regular season.
(36:26):
This is the playoffs. Coming in and out of the
lineup is tough, can be tough to adjust in one game.
One play change is a series. So if I'm them.
They need to just be certain with what they got.
You still got James, you still got PG, and you
still got Russell Westbrook. You still got two MVPs. In
a perennial MVP candidate should still be able to go
(36:47):
out there and compete possibly win the series. Uh, but
I wouldn't keep mixing Kawhi in and out and then
also wishing Kawhi well. We never want to see that.
And last, but not least, on this episode of The
Draymond Green Show, is the Lakers beat the Nuggets to
extend this, to extend the series, they will play again
(37:10):
tonight in Denver Game five. Do they have a chance
to come back? Yes, they have a chance to come back.
And I'll tell you why. I don't think they're coming back,
but I they do think they have a chance. Number One,
Dangelo Russell played well. Dangelo Russell played well, Lakers can win.
Lakers went at a high level when Dangelo Russell played well.
(37:31):
So d Loo just got to take that on the
chin and go play well. Can't have a game here,
game there, This is the playoffs. Go play well again
to night d Low. The reason I think the Lakers
have a chance is because again, their bench is not
good Denvers. Denver's bench is not good, so that is
(37:52):
something they've been able to play at this whole series.
They've been leading the whole series, they just ain't won,
got to win. So I think they can come back.
I don't think it's likely that they're going to come back,
but I definitely think so, because all of a sudden,
Jamal Murray cash strained questionable. If Jamal Murray doesn't go
(38:17):
tonight or if he is one hundred percent and Lakers
take the series back to LA three to two, probably
winning Game six, so Nan it's a game seven, it's
a coin flip. So I think the Lakers can do it.
I see everybody talking to Bron does this, He's to go?
(38:38):
I'm not sure. I hate when people try to make
one incident. Oh if you do this, then you to go.
But if not, then what is he like? Then? What? Yeah?
So like these people be crazy with all this stuff.
But I definitely think it's possible. Denver's bench is a
huge concern. However, as possible as it is, I got
(39:02):
a joker coming out tonight, sending them boys home, finishing
their breakfast, moving on. But if anybody can do it.
Take her from me. Brian can pull it off. So
we shall see. But I got that one ending tonight. However,
(39:24):
shout out to d ham Man getting the guys to
respond a way responded. Everybody trying to throw DM under
the bus. I hate it. That's whack to me. But
he got the guys that respond and they got another chance,
so we shall see what happens. I got that one
ending tonight in five and that is a wrap from
this episode of The Draymond Green Show. Excuse me, that's all, folks. Peace,
The volume.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
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Speaker 2 (01:40):
What's up, everybody, Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show.
A lot of good basketball over the weekend. We'll get
into that back with another episode on Bleacher Report at Live.
So shout out to all y'all out there checking it out.
If you are checking it out, make sure you drop
some questions in chat. We'll get to those at the
(02:00):
end of the show. And then also please go subscribe
to our YouTube channel YouTube dot com slash at the
at symbol Draymond Green Show. Check that out, lock in
keep bringing you content. Let's get into these topics though.
Number one on the list is the Sun's losing game
(02:21):
four one sixteen to the Timberwools U in the suite
and if I'm honest. The Suns is always is a
touchy one for me, m because I'm a little conflicted.
I like to see I want to see the sounds
due well. Matt ishby a Spartan dog, uh got you know,
(02:43):
became the owner of the Phoenix Suns franchise about a
year ago. So I'm always rooting for Ish. Book Man,
I'm always rooting for Book. You know. I've talked to
you all a million times about, you know, my love
for Book and wanting to see him succeed. And Book
got that seriousness to him that you need from your
(03:04):
star players in order to win in these big moments,
and I really want to see that happen for him.
I think Book is in year eight now, if I'm
not mistaken your seven or eight, you know. And the
thing about Book is Book Book windows started a while ago,
and he's been so good for you know, since coming
into the league. He's you know, when his rookie year started,
(03:28):
wasn't playing a ton and you can quickly see he
was the best player on the team and before you
know what, the ball was in his hands, and you
know it's been in his hands since and so you know,
I don't want to see book get to that point
where people start writing him off as if he's not
one of the guys, because he is one of them guys.
And so uh there, I man, I got nothing but
(03:50):
love for Brad. Uh. You know, I wanted to see
just seeing Brad compete. Uh. Yesday he filed out trying
to guard Anthony Evers. And I talked to y'all before
about what I think needed to happen in that series.
And Brad went down swinging, and everybody will say, oh, man,
he had nine points and blah blah blah, like no
brother was guarding Anthony Edwards. And so if you go
(04:12):
back to what I said about what Kevin Durant needed
to do, Kevin Durant needed to go take on that
challenge and the reasons I said that. One of the
things that I did say when I gave the reason
is was Kevin should not focus on offense. Kevin should
lock in on Anthony Edwards on the defensive end, play
a role on the offensive end, get what comes to
(04:33):
him on the offensive end because he's still Kevin Durant.
So the defense going to overreact, but lock in on
the defensive side of the ball and you know, whether
that's spotting up, whether that's you know, getting your spot
every now and then on the offensive end. But your
main focus shouldn't be on the offensive end, because I
don't think that's what the team would need at that point.
With Grayson Allen being out, a lot of that changes
(04:54):
because they're missing about fifteen to twenty points from Grace
and Allen. They're missing some floor spacing that Grayson Allen provides.
They're missing, you know, graceon Allen's presence, and so I
do understand it a little more from that standpoint, But
essentially what I'm getting at is that's essentially what happened
to brad Bill. Brad Bill is so focused on trying
(05:15):
to take anything thatwards out the game. Legs gone, came,
hit a shot, it starts spiraling f fast, foul, trouble.
Buddy went down swinging, and I gotta respect that. And
unfortunately that is all, folks, That is all. Uh. I'm
not sure which which tweet age worse. Shout out to
(05:37):
my man Coos. I love COO's got nothing. You know,
known cous for many many moons, but there's no Cou's.
KOs is a truth teller who's Who's is a real
and there's no secret that KU's is tweet about not
being the team did not age well this year. It
just didn't age well. Washington struggled a bit this year,
(06:00):
finished with almost identical records to the Detroit Pistons after
Koos's tweet and so the tweet, the tweets spoiled fast
for cools though, like it's spoiled fast, and ironically the
tweet may have spoiled even faster from from the big
(06:20):
softy uh big softy one, the tweet after we lost.
You know on post pictures that that tweet is spoiled
so fast, like that is spoiled milk. And yeah that
is all folks. So you know, you got to be
really careful when you're not that's successful, and you try
(06:43):
to take jobs at people because you really don't when
you really don't have control of your own success, you know,
when you don't, when you don't play a large enough
role in your team success, when you can't really affect
the outcome of the game, like you can go, you
can go have twenty rebounds and lose a game, you know,
like when you really don't affect the outcome of the game,
(07:06):
it's really tough to take jobs at people because you
got a job and then like you can't affect you
know what your what your air result is, you know.
And so yeah, the big softy bowed out. Uh, you know,
Rudy Gobert played great. Hey, by the way, Rudy Gobert,
(07:31):
Carl Anthony Towns. It's been in the league maybe eight years,
eight to ten years for both of them, give or take.
And what Anthony Edwards has taken those guys and done
is absolutely amazing. Like Rudy, Rudy, Rudy actually not trash anymore.
Like and I think I think it's like a lot
(07:53):
of people agree that he just wasn't like he defends
now and ironically, you know he got all the defensive
where but I mean, like when you see him on
the switches, he's up at the level. He not just
sitting back in the drop no more. When he gets
switched on to the guy, it's like his antennas pop on,
like oh I gotta sit down and like they're about
(08:14):
to go at me and I'm guarding. And I think
it's been interesting to watch because he is actually impact
and winning and he's actually doing that on the defensive end,
where as opposed to other series, he's gotten played off
the floor. Although Phoenix went small at times to try
(08:35):
to get back in the game, there were times that
they still played Rudy on Royce O'Neill. Before, if you
win five guards, there was no chance Rudy Gobert can play,
like zero percent chance. Even if you win a big
that can stretch the floor, big that can move it,
there was zero percent chance that he could play. And
(08:57):
those things have changed, And if I'm honest, I don't
think at this point that was a change in ability.
That is a change in what's required of you. And
quite frankly, like even if you listen to ask press
conference last night, he's talking about Kat filing too much. Like,
quite frankly, I think that that's the leader required more
(09:21):
of both of those guys. Like I saw some things
during the game last night, especially when Kat was at
the five and Rudy was out, that I'm like, Kat,
you can still cover that, Like you know, maybe like dude,
you guarden Royce O'Neil. He had the free throw line
drop one extra step, you could take that lay up
away deep book just got and things like that. However,
(09:42):
Kat is not a defensive minded player. So to try
to nitpick at all of those little things, it's pointless
to do, you know, And then saying that, I think
what Anthony Edwards has required from those guys has allowed
them to take the next step in their careers. A
(10:03):
young twenty two year old basketball player, superstar fee nine,
whatever you want to call him, I personally can tell
when something is being required from a leadership perspective. And
the way Kat is attempting to defend, like Kat was
chasing Kevin Durant around, nas Reed was chasing Kevin Durant around,
(10:26):
it is guys ain't do that before. And yes, I
do give Chris Finch his credit as a coach. I
do think, you know, he's a good coach. But man
in the NBA, at the point of their careers that
those guys are at, ain't no coach making you slide
your feet like Rudy Gobert sliding his feet. Now Kat
(10:49):
attempting to defend, that's a guy who you out there
with saying, yo, this is what I need and you
don't want to continue to hear from that guy, and
definitely gives me that demeanor. And I think what he's
feeding to those guys. Like, yes, his play with stellar,
but I think what he's feeding to those guys is
(11:09):
even more important because his play could be as stellar
as it want if he ain't got those guys playing
the way they're playing. It's the same old Timberwolves. What's
changing is his demeanor and changing all of those guys.
And now you look at that team, and that was
a far more complete team than the Phoenix Suns, if
(11:32):
I'm honest, that's a far more complete team than the
Denver Nuggets. We'll get into the Denver Nuggets a little
later in this show, but that team that we just watched,
that are the Minnesota Timberwolves, is a complete team. Now,
Anthony Edwards has had the luxury of bringing in over
(11:55):
the last year and a half of veteran point guard
like Mike Connley, and I know, and it's pulling things
from him and and that's huge. But we've seen Mike
Conley with star big man before not be able to
get it done. So I got to get that credit
credit to Anthony Edwards man now not taking nothing from
Mike Conley. Uh, Mike Conley is has been a mainstay
(12:16):
in this league for a long time we've had battles
with team that's Mike Conley's been on. I got nothing
but love and respect for Mike Conley and this has
This is not a hit at all to Mike Conley,
but more so the praise of Anthony Edwards. That kid
is special and what he's doing it's no surprise, you
(12:39):
know why, because he said all alone, this is what
he believes, and this is what he was going to do,
and he's just going to do it now. And so
I think, I think, man, that was beautiful to watch.
Anthony Edwards is the start that I've believed he could
be since day one, and that I'm sure a lot
of people did believe he could be still remember trying
(13:02):
to figure out how to trade up from two to
one and getting that man. But you know, special, special talent.
So the question that comes next is what happens to
the Phoenix Suns. What does this mean for the Sons
Big three? Blah blah blah. Nothing. They'll come back in
(13:27):
next year with that same big three and hopefully they'll
try to retool around that big three. Now, we knew
coming into the year that not having a point guard's
going to be a problem. That that was going to
be an issue no matter what, and everybody said, no,
Devin Booker can play the point, Brad Bial can play
(13:50):
the point. And don't get me wrong, they can get
you an offense, they can win you games, but they're
not point guards. And being a point guard and trying
to think, oh, man, Kevin hasn't had a shot, Oh man,
deep Book hasn't had a shot, or Brad you know,
deep Book thinking, oh Brad haven't had a That's a
totally different game you gotta play. Then come down, all right,
(14:12):
get to my spot, get us some good get us,
get us a good shot. That's a totally different game
you gotta play. And quite frankly, it doesn't best suit
those guys to play that game. Can they play that
in spurts, of course, but to play that game an
entire season that it's a tall task that quite frankly
(14:39):
showed to be proved to be one that they couldn't
overcome because all year long, you know, you see them
and they start to make a run, and those guys
are playing well and then it just like fall off.
And I think that is because you know, the consistency
in the style of play due to not having an
initiator that you know, all right, this game every night,
(15:02):
this guy is getting us into X, Y and Z,
and I think that that made all the difference. And
so if you're the Phoenix Signs, the highest trade value
you're gonna have is Devin Booker. Do you want to
move off your franchise player Devin Booker. I highly doubt
(15:22):
that Matt Ishbia taken over as a new owner. I
highly doubt he's going to come in and within a
year move on from Devin Booker. The book is also
one of those special players that you just don't just
move on from. But he will have the highest trade
value of the three for a couple of reasons. His age, obviously,
(15:50):
his play contract situation. You know he's like got a
couple of years left, could sign an extension, all these things,
but he's twenty seven, and so he'll have the highest
value of all of them. Brad's contract is big with
the injury history, and you know some people are looking say, oh,
(16:13):
he only had nine points in this last game, we
can't trade him, so his value would be less than
book Kd's in here eighteen. So his value will be
less than the books. So with no draft picks, and
(16:33):
the next they got a draft pick. I think the
Suns had a twenty second draft pick this year, but
outside of that, doesn't have another draft pick through twenty thirty,
So you don't have picks to move, and you don't
really have many players to move outside of those three
and two of those, well, one Brad value on a
trade market probably wouldn't be as high with the salary
(16:56):
that Brad has and then the new second Apron and
all those things coming into effect. That makes it tough there.
Like I said, Katie, and you're eighteen, you know, with
a team not knowing where if he's even gonna want
to come there or blah blah blah. And so your
biggest asset is Devin Booker? Do you move on from
(17:18):
Devin Booker? Now, interestingly enough, we talked about Rudy Gobert.
The Rudy Gobert trade completely killed the trade market because
they took five first round picks, and then no one
wants to ever do that again. So you've even seen
guys like Dame I think it moved for two or
three first round picks. So with book what's the most
you can get and what's worth it? I don't think
(17:39):
anything's worth it, but you have to assess everything when
you're in a position that the Suns are in now. However,
they've played together for one year. The books are what
they are anyway, So my opinion, you got to come
back with those guys, you got to try to retool
around them, and you got to give it another go.
(18:00):
The reality is, none of these things really work in
the first year. Unless you're to go to State Warriors,
then they work in the first year. But none of
these things really ever work in the first year. So
I'm awesome, I'm not on the hype train. Oh it's
over and they need to figure out and blah blah blah,
and like no, but you definitely have to go back
to the drawing board, you know. I saw the whole
Frank Vogel would be fire thing. Quite frankly, I think
(18:23):
that that was a decision that we all questioned as
soon as it happened. I don't think any of us
thought that Frank Vogel would be Moni's replacement until Frank
Vogel's name came up, and you're like, whoa, And so
just in thinking back to that, I don't you know,
you know Kevin saying I didn't know my role in offense,
and I don't know if Kevin said that or not.
(18:44):
That was a quote that's been put out there from sources.
You can never be so sure those sources, oftentimes are correct.
Frank Vogel is not an offensive coach. So Frank Vogel
I personally don't think was ever going to be the
one to put all of those pieces into place. From
(19:04):
a standpoint that, A, we don't have a point guard,
how can we make this work moving all of these
different guys around and being creative. That's not what Frank
Bogo does And so I never expected that and yet
to see that come out, that's no surprise, yuse. Kevin's
(19:24):
not someone that's just going to bring the ball up
alah book allah, brad beial and get his own That's
not what Kevin's going to do. So that does not
shock me one bit one bit. You didn't see Kevin
coming off any pin downs to the elbow area, getting
to his bag. That's when Kevin is most dangerous. When
you get Kevin in those spots where okay, I can't
(19:47):
just raise up on you because you're too small, wonder
will pull up I can completely get rid of, like
you gotta know the spots to get Kevin in. And
to Kevin's credit, if that statement is true that Kevin
said that, I agree, he did stand in the corner. Now,
I do know that Kevin will sometimes get upset and
just go to the corner. But all year he was
just in the corner. And like I said, you watched
(20:08):
their offense, and none of those players was getting Kevin
to the spots that he likes to get to. I know,
the spots that he wants to get to the score.
None of the says that they were running were really
getting him into those spots. And as great of a
scorer as he is, he still needs the ball in
the spots in order to be as efficient and productive
(20:30):
as as he can be. Get him to his spots
in this rat who's going to stop him? And so
I ain't never seen any of that, And like I said,
I'm not very surprised by it, because I didn't when
the hire happened to Frank Vogel, I didn't view that as, oh,
their offense is about to be crazy. No, the first
(20:53):
thought would be there going to be a good defensive
team and quite frankly their offense. They struggled a lot
of fourth quarters, and that usually tells you don't have
a point guard to get you into the things that
you need to get into. So in turn, it turns
in the light book getting off or Brad trying to
get to it. But how sustainable is that to do
(21:13):
that for entire quarters. All of a sudden, you miss
a couple and you go down, and that team's been
playing team basketball. So nonetheless, I don't think it's over
for the Sun's Big three. Yes, every hell out of
the water they go next, or is it over like?
I don't think so. I think you got to try
to retool around those guys. You bring Grayson Allen back,
(21:37):
But you bring Grayson Allen back, if I'm honest, he
got to come off the bench because you need a
point guard. Now. You signed Isad Thomas for the rest
of the season. I thought that he'd at least get
a shot to try to see if he could take
on some of the responsibility. We didn't see that. So
(22:03):
that's the Suns timber Wolves moving on. I'm excited for
the next series with the timber Wolves. We all think
that it'll be the Denver Nuggets. Denver Nuggets also has
their share of issues. Their bench is not it. They
do not have a very good bench at all, and
(22:24):
you need a bench to win championships, and I just
don't know if their bench is going to get it done.
Should be enough to get it done in this series.
I think for sure it'll be enough to get it
done in this series. But as you go deeper into
the playoffs, the flaws that you have get more and
more exposed. And if it's going to get exposed, it
(22:44):
has to be this next round. It has to be
by Anthony Edwards in the Minnesota Timberwolves. Now, all of
the praise that I just gave to the Timberwolves and
they're Bigs and Rudy Gobert and Kat and what they've done,
but Anthony Erwars has done for them. And next next year,
if they go on to face the Denver Nuggets, that
(23:06):
will be put to the test with the big fella
Joker and we will see. But right now, timber Woods
are looking like cut and dry, the best, second best
team in the West, arguably the first best team in
the West. Like I said, just with their depth on
you know, with their depth that puts them ahead of Denver.
(23:31):
What brings them right back to Denver is Joker gonna
be like, I don't need no help. I mean, you
know you need help. What he tell Rudy go brother,
I got I got forty seven. You need a double team.
So it's gonna come down to Ken Rudy Gobert not
stopp him, because you're not stopping Joker. But can he
(23:51):
affect the game the way he was affecting the game
in last series, that'll be a big thing. Ain't gonna
do what he do? It was good to see Cap
back out there and have a good series coming off
that long layoff, still food defenix Suns and telling them
that he was the most important player in the series.
It wasn't. That was a lie at is and will
(24:12):
be the most important player in the series. That's that.
And moving on, The Knicks beat the seventy six ers
ninety seven to ninety two to take a three to
one lead in the series. And the first question is
do I personally need to apologize to jaylen Brunson for
saying he shouldn't dominate the ball? My answers no, Here's why.
(24:37):
Number one, some things that work in the first round. Cool.
They work in the first round, they won't work moving forward.
It's funny because I had a conversation with a friend
of mine last week, Benny Fowler, and I was talking
to him actually about Jaylen Brunston, and I was watching
(24:59):
the Knicks and I was like, man, I called him
and I said, YO, tell me if I'm tripping, like
Jayleen Brunton is really good, and I feel like I
have to believe how good he is. And I thought,
I've always believe how good he is. Playing at the
level that he'd be playing at is a different level
than I always thought. I think most people thought. I mean,
(25:23):
even when he signed for one hundred million with the Knicks,
everybody said that was a crazy deal and he was overpaid.
So we're not going to act like it's just me. However,
I called my boy and I'm like, man, I don't
really know if I'm supposed to believe like Jaylen Brunson,
like because I know better beings like I know better,
Like I know that this gets to a certain level
(25:44):
and it stops, like he can only do this up
to a certain point being your number one option. But
you look at him competing, he's smarter and he gonna
get smaller card. And like I kind of was in
this role of like arguing for him, arguing against them,
arguing for them, arguing against and that's how I feel
about it. But and so I'll say this, he does
have my respect. He's always had my respect. That's not
(26:07):
up for debate. What is up for debate is can
he carry a team to the Promised Land. By the way,
the Conference finals to me is not the promise Land.
We saw Trey Young go to the conference finals against
these very New York Knicks, well dealing with the New
York Knicks along the way and to get to the
(26:29):
conference final and hasn't been back since. And so the
conference finals is not the holy Grail to me. So
although that's a huge step for him to take him
to the conference finals, I will take my hat, tip
my hat to him respect, But that's not like the
promised Land to me. But I'll give him that. And
so I went through this whole thing with my point,
(26:50):
I'm like, I don't know, like forty seven points, ten assists,
one turnover, eighteen to thirty from from the field. The
one thing that was glaringly noticeable to me when I
was watching the game was that Philly plays with Joel
and the drop, and so what they did was just
kept putting Joel in the pick and roll and Jalen
(27:11):
Brunson got whatever he wanted because he was in the drop.
At some point, you gotta move up the floor, building
the help and make those other guys beat you. Now
they've shown that they could beat you. But are you
gonna let Jaylen Brunce get forty seven ten assists and
only one turnover. The only reason the reason he only
(27:31):
got one turnover is because that drop, there's no pressure
on him. He coming off and Jaylen Brunton when he
come off the screen and there's nobody there, he's not
even now looking at the guy in the drop no more.
He now starts back paying attention to his guy, which is,
let me lock him in back here so he can't
get back to the front square the ball up. Now
(27:53):
he's locked in behind the play and he gets whatever
you want float or MIDI. That's where he lived, not
even after three. He lives in those ranges, and so
of course he gonna go off of there. But what
happens if you bring the guy up to the level
of the screen, They gotta do something else though, like Philly,
(28:17):
you can't just stay in the drop just because it's Joel.
How do you win like that? You gotta do something
else like and then also you got Joel and b
Tyrese Maxi. You gotta score more than ninety two points
because if you hold a team to ninety seven. See
(28:39):
here's the thing, the game plan in theory actually works.
You let Jayleen Brounson get his forty seven ten assists,
they scored ninety seven points. So number one, you have
to score more points ninety two points they scored ninety seven,
you should win that game. In the NBA, So in theory,
Jalen dominating the ball actually doesn't work because they only
(29:04):
score ninety seven points doing it. But you gotta give
him his credit because it worked to get a win.
But if a team scored ninety seven, you got the
MVP of the NBA on your team at home, where
role players should be shooting better and making hustle play,
(29:26):
you only get ninety two points. That's why you lose.
So the conuntrum, that the conundrum that I've been kind
of calleding and dealing with on Jaylen bruston jury still
out and again I got nothing but love and respect
for Jaylen Bruston and love his game and respect his game.
(29:47):
But I'm talking about to go to the Promised Land.
Can he be your best player to go to the
Promised Land? I don't know, but damn is he balling?
He doing it? Give them his credit. And when you
look at the series, I personally think the series can
(30:08):
still be turned around because I think Joe Ellenbid is
that good. But Joe ellenb got to go be that good,
like when you got the best player in the series.
And right now, Jaylen Bruston is looking like the best
player in the series. But I'm not doing that. Joe
ellenb is the best player in the series. When you
got the best player in the series, you always have
a chance. And so I still think they have a
(30:30):
chance because Joel can do that. But it's looking like
it's over and they're ready to quit. We'll see Nicks
going back home. You see the way they invaded Wells
Fargo yesterday. Oh they going back home. Shut the streets
of New York City down that they win this game five,
because it's a rap. We shall see Clippers versus the
(30:52):
Mavericks was a very interesting one great game, down thirty points,
come back, still don't win. No, why remember what I
told you all about them taking Kawhi up to the
brink and they're like, ah, he's out. You're playing a
different team. No surprise to me. The Mavericks got down
by thirty points. You know why because when you go
into that game and you don't know if Kawhi Leondard
(31:14):
is playing Kawhi Leonards that good, you have to prepare
for Kawhi Lennard. Well, guess what you're prepared for a
team that you're not playing against, because they're totally different
team when Kawhi Lender doesn't play. So they get down
thirty points, nonetheless come roaring back. Why because you got
two of the best scorers in our game, Kyrie Hervan Luka.
Doncons they come roaring back ends up not being enough.
(31:40):
James Harden looked like James Harden. Didn't even look like
Houston James Harden. James Harden looked like ok C James Harden.
You know why he didn't look like Houston James Harden
because Houston James Harden didn't shoot real floaters. For real
Houston James Harden did not shoot me rain shots Houston.
James Harden shot layups in threes that looked like the
(32:01):
Oka cee James Hard and I thought it was very
interesting because Dallas is going to have to figure out
who's guarding James Harden move for moving forward, and why
they're going to need to figure that out is because
I personally don't think PJ. Washington is the answer. PJ
(32:21):
has shown to be a good defender, a guy that's
willing to take on that role for this team, and
I respect it, but he can't guard James Harden. Every
time James Harden made one move, he looked like Ricky Rubio.
Y'all remember that time Ricky Rubio is Garden James Harden.
If this is the real Ricky Rubio is Guarden j
Harden forcing him to the like crazy stuff crazy when
(32:45):
I saw Ricky Rubio doing that. However, one move and
that's how PJ. Tucker looked. PJ was behind James every
time he crossed over, like way behind him and out
the play, and he's he's banking on getting to what's
shot contest, getting the block, coming from behind James Harden
and getting the block. However, James doesn't shoot his floater
(33:09):
like a normal floater. James kind of shoots his floater
out like this and push it, and so there's no
way you can get back to getting the block without
following him, which we saw a couple d ones on
the floater. But I was also a little disappointed in
Dallas's defense from the standpoint, like Terris's man is on
the floor, somebody shrinked the floor and make terrace Man
(33:32):
be you James hard can't just keep getting to the
middle of the paint when no one else started shooting
the floor. At some point, somebody who's guarding Terriss Man
just come and stand there. I know where he going go.
Stand there, all right, Gret, you're gonna throw the ball
tenns Man as terns Man beats us. Great, we're supposed
(33:52):
to go home. But to keep letting James get by
PJ and just going to the floater and get whatever
he wanted. Nah, that can't work. PG hit some big shots.
Big shots from PG wanted all the smoke. And I
also loved the type of time that PG was on.
(34:12):
You know, PJ. Washington had this whole thing, and I
respect that too, But PG ain't forget and see It's
always funny watching these young fellas have they moment and
start talking, because you start barking up the tree of
the guys that have been doing this for a long time.
And PG been doing that to guys for a long time.
And PG got the last live the three he hit
(34:36):
over Dereck Jones in the corner. Insane, by the way.
But let's move backwards a little bit, so PJ. Washington,
I personally don't think it's the match up for James
Harden and I think if they're going to have a
chance of stopping James hard, if James come out with
that same mentality again, James is in your what sixteen fifteen.
(34:57):
It's hard to do that every night, you know, but
it is the playoffs. You get days in between. But
if James is playing that same style of basketball, ay,
go help off. Terrence Man. Come on now, Jared Dully.
Jared Dully always talk about how he got the game plans.
Come on now, Dudds. Let's see it going up against
(35:17):
old T lou over there, you know t Loui mastermind.
Let's see it does we got we got excuse me,
we gotta see these defensive game plans because James can't
just get there and beat you like that. So if
James is going to stay that aggressive, though, who's going
to end up being the key in this series who
can actually stay in front of James take the hit
(35:42):
the shoulder that James delivers. It's Josh Green. Josh Green
has not played much just series. He's playing here and there,
but he is the one guy who can actually stay
in front and take the bump. PJ. Washington can take
the bump, but he didn't do a good job of
staying in front. Now you know, he may take on
the challenge and say I'm sitting down, but that was
(36:03):
that didn't look good last night. And personally, I think
Dallas should still take this series, especially without that with
the uncertainty of Kawhi, I think the Clippers are better
off now playing Kawhi the rest of the series. You
gotta see what you got. You gotta also be certain
with your guys, because you don't want guys like, oh,
he's playing this game on the same the regular season.
(36:26):
This is the playoffs. Coming in and out of the
lineup is tough, can be tough to adjust in one game.
One play change is a series. So if I'm them.
They need to just be certain with what they got.
You still got James, you still got PG, and you
still got Russell Westbrook. You still got two MVPs. In
a perennial MVP candidate should still be able to go
(36:47):
out there and compete possibly win the series. Uh, but
I wouldn't keep mixing Kawhi in and out and then
also wishing Kawhi well. We never want to see that.
And last, but not least, on this episode of The
Draymond Green Show, is the Lakers beat the Nuggets to
extend this, to extend the series, they will play again
(37:10):
tonight in Denver Game five. Do they have a chance
to come back? Yes, they have a chance to come back.
And I'll tell you why. I don't think they're coming back,
but I they do think they have a chance. Number One,
Dangelo Russell played well. Dangelo Russell played well, Lakers can win.
Lakers went at a high level when Dangelo Russell played well.
(37:31):
So d Loo just got to take that on the
chin and go play well. Can't have a game here,
game there, This is the playoffs. Go play well again
to night d Low. The reason I think the Lakers
have a chance is because again, their bench is not
good Denvers. Denver's bench is not good, so that is
(37:52):
something they've been able to play at this whole series.
They've been leading the whole series, they just ain't won,
got to win. So I think they can come back.
I don't think it's likely that they're going to come back,
but I definitely think so, because all of a sudden,
Jamal Murray cash strained questionable. If Jamal Murray doesn't go
(38:17):
tonight or if he is one hundred percent and Lakers
take the series back to LA three to two, probably
winning Game six, so Nan it's a game seven, it's
a coin flip. So I think the Lakers can do it.
I see everybody talking to Bron does this, He's to go?
(38:38):
I'm not sure. I hate when people try to make
one incident. Oh if you do this, then you to go.
But if not, then what is he like? Then? What? Yeah?
So like these people be crazy with all this stuff.
But I definitely think it's possible. Denver's bench is a
huge concern. However, as possible as it is, I got
(39:02):
a joker coming out tonight, sending them boys home, finishing
their breakfast, moving on. But if anybody can do it.
Take her from me. Brian can pull it off. So
we shall see. But I got that one ending tonight. However,
(39:24):
shout out to d ham Man getting the guys to
respond a way responded. Everybody trying to throw DM under
the bus. I hate it. That's whack to me. But
he got the guys that respond and they got another chance,
so we shall see what happens. I got that one
ending tonight in five and that is a wrap from
this episode of The Draymond Green Show. Excuse me, that's all, folks. Peace,
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