May 27, 2025 • 37 mins
Jason reacts live after the Oklahoma City Thunder get a big Game 4 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves to take a 3-1 lead. He discusses Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams having big games to beat Anthony Edwards, Julius Randle, and Rudy Gobert.
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welcome to tonight. You're at the volume heavy Monday. Everybody.
Hope all you guys are having a great start to
your week well as expected. Game four ended up being
the long awaited, very close game in this series between
these two teams. This series has been pretty rough to
watch at times, as the teams have just beat the
shit out of each other in different ways, but we
finally kind of settled down into the appropriate game plans
(02:24):
for both teams. And obviously both of these teams are
very familiar with each other and the way they want
to play, and tonight they both threw their best punches,
and I thought Oklahoma City just looked like a better
basketball team as they demonstrated a kind of not a
wired to wire win, but a game that they felt
pretty much in control of throughout as they responded to
every single Minnesota Timberwolves run and never let them overtake
(02:47):
them with that momentum, and now they're headed back to
Oklahoma City up three to one and very likely going
to send this thing to the NBA Finals on Wednesday night.
Very interesting game. We're gonna get into it from a
bunch of different angles, and then we wrap up here
tonight we're gonna be heading over to playback again that's
Playback dot TV slash Hoops tonight, or we're gonna be
taking callers and it's more informal. We just kind of
(03:09):
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(03:30):
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the chat, and then we'll be taking questions with Jackson.
All right, let's talk some basketball. So obviously, there were
(03:52):
a couple of things we knew Oklahoma City was going
to do better tonight, no matter what, like, regardless of
any other factors, involving some their young role players and
conquering the specific demons that this team has dealt with
over the years. Which we'll talk about in a little bit,
But there are a couple of things we knew they
would do better. No matter what we knew, they would
up their defensive intensity. This is an elite defensive team,
(04:13):
and defense is one of the most reliably reliable traits
in a basketball team in these environments, you want to
know why it's kind of unusual to see some of
the offensive success we've seen in recent NBA seasons, teams
like Denver winning a title, or teams like Indiana New
York making it to the conference finals when they were
mediocre defenses all year. Indie played better defense towards towards
(04:36):
the tail end of the year, but the Knicks played
shitty defense the majority of the season, and then they
somehow played the best defense of their life against the
Celtics and got them out of there. Right, It's unusual
to see that sort of thing. There's a reason why,
when you go back through decade after decade after decade,
it's the defensive teams that end up making deep playoff runs.
(04:58):
It's because it's the reliable trait. We all knew that
Oklahoma City would bring a great defensive punch tonight. They
kept aunt relatively in check as a score, because again
that's their game plan by constantly swarming him and getting
good closeouts on shooters. Obviously, their scheme concedes a bunch
of corner threes. We've talked about that a ton in
this series, and Minnesota hit a ton of those corner
(05:19):
threes tonight, but they generally made things difficult and then
they basically got Julius Randall to quit in this game,
and so that that's another thing that we'll get to later.
But we also knew that they would take much better
care of the basketball. Right, those are the two things
that we knew that they would bring, and they had
that weird stretch in the first half of Game three.
(05:40):
If you guys remember where they just gifted Minnesota a
bunch of easy opportunities in transition, and they cleaned that up. Right,
They took better pit care of the basketball tonight, and
they came out and you know, were tough in their
game plan. Again, their game plan concedes shots at that
Minnesota hit tonight at a very high clip. But they
came out and did a better job because if you remember,
in Game three, it was everyone was going, including ant
(06:03):
and Julius, and in this game, you had a little
bit of a burst from Aunt in the second half,
but they kept Ant and Julius under control, right. But
we also knew that Minnesota changed their game plan right,
less ball pressure on Shay, more shrinking the floor, more
loading up the plane the paint, and so that was
obviously going to put a heavy emphasis on different things
(06:24):
for Oklahoma City than we saw in the beginning of
the series. In the beginning of the series, there's a
lot of just like Kinche and Jadab go one on
one downhill and get to the rim. Very different in
this setting where all of a sudden they're packing the
paint the rim opportunities are fewer and further between all
of a sudden, It's going to be about Shay's processing
in his ability to make the right types of aggressive
(06:45):
moves on the floor, a lot of over the top
shot making right, a lot of processing out of double
teams right. For Jadub, it was going to be a
test of his secondary scoring and his ability to obviously
be an off ball threat to score right spot up
shooting across the board. For the entire Thunder roster, that's
been one of the demons they've dealt with from time
to time throughout this entire season and throughout last year
(07:07):
as well, right, But those were those were the things
that were gonna come to the surface. And then you
can always give yourself a better chance to win a
game if you can win the possession battle. Tonight, they
forced the Timberwolves into twenty three turnovers and they grabbed
nineteen offensive rebounds. That's forty two extra possessions. Guys, they
(07:29):
attempted eleven more shots than Minnesota tonight in a game
they won by two. And that's what it comes down to.
We talked about this at the beginning of after after
Indiana went up two to zero against the Knicks. This
concept of like grabbing the low hanging fruit in basketball.
These are things that they can do consistently by pursuing
(07:51):
the ball when it comes off of the rim, by
picking up full court, by digging into passing lanes, by
trusting their game plan, by doing those those things, they
can just increase their margin for air by generating forty
two extra possessions. That obviously gave them all that margin
(08:12):
for air. But again, the test needed to be solved,
and I was just really impressed down the roster with
Oklahoma City tonight, it felt like they were in a
lot of ways, like leveling up from some of the
mistakes that we've seen them make in series past. Within
this postseason in Years Past, right, we saw Shay, a
guy that I've seen many times in his career, just
(08:36):
fly into the lane when teams are really selling out
on him and just force up bad shots. He was
super methodical, picking on specific mismatches that he liked, really
liked Rudy Gobert right, really liked nas Reed, really like
Dante DiVincenzo when he'd get the switch cycling out guys
from that top of the key spot, like if he
(08:57):
wanted to ISO in the top of the key, he
didn't want a shooter super close to him. He was
trying to cycle him down and have them work along
the baseline because he wanted to have space around the
elbows to work. He knew he wasn't going to be
able to drive, but he knew he'd be able to
get to his right shoulder fade, his left shoulder fade,
his right shoulder step back, his left shoulder step back,
(09:17):
and so he wanted to create space around the elbows
for him to work. And he just repeatedly over and
over again, got to his spots and hit those shots,
hit threes against soft ball pressure, which again was part
of Minnesota's game plan. It changed Shay's job from get
downhill and score at the rim to become a surgical
(09:39):
processor and over the top shot maker, and he knocked
it out of the park. In addition to that making
the kickout reads that he needed to make that big
three that Jade up hit on the left wing hard
nail help. I think it was Jaden because of a
switch came over at the elbow and it's like, yeah,
you can try to force it, or you can just
(10:00):
throw the ball to j Dub and see if you
can make a shot. You can throw the ball to
Chet as he's slipping out of a pick and pop
or as he's spacing on the wing and trust him
to knock the shot down. Ten more assists tonight for
Shay Gildas Alexander You's surgical tonight. I think the job
has been very different for Ant, and I think that
(10:21):
Ant has actually shown a lot of growth in this
series in terms of his relentless making those corner kickout reads.
As the game plan has been geared towards stopping him.
But even with the growth from Ann, I think there's
a lot of encouraging stuff from Ant in this series.
Jay's been better than it. Shay's been better than it.
Now will Ant in the long run, as he gets
older and he gets more experiencedab will he'll be able
(10:42):
to close that gap. We'll see. But in this series
through four games, there's a very similar game plan tonight
that Shay faced to what Ant's face. It a lot
of a lot of bodies waiting for him at the basket.
The difference is Shay has built out an ultra reliable
shot making game in the mid range. Shay wasn't getting
(11:05):
the grift calls in that second half. He got a
nasty one against Gobert in the first half, kind of
a textbook example of the kind of thing that I
think needs to be taken out of the league. But
in the second half he tried it twice. He tried
the classic bump shot along the left lane line he
actually made it, and then he tried another grift one
on to kill Alexander Walker on the right elbow, which
he actually made as well. But he wasn't getting the
(11:26):
calls and so he adjusted his approach and he stopped
trying to grift in that fourth quarter and he just
went straight up, I'm going to get separation and I'm
gonna knock down shots. And he just did it again
and again and again and made the necessary reads when
they were there, huge one late when he kind of
lost control, and then Jaden McDaniels throws a double team
(11:48):
off of JDub and he throws that beautiful pass just
right through Jada mcdaniels's legs to JDub on the perimeter.
It's like, if there's a lesson for Aunt to learn,
because there's I was kind of getting frustrated as I
was listening to Richard Jefferson talk about how Ant just
needs to find ways to just force his way through
(12:10):
all that traffic, or Steven A. Smith and the Halftime
Show saying similar stuff Ant needs to The answer wasn't
to force his way through and try to shoot through
four people every single time. The lesson for Ant to
learn from the series is that having a back to
the basket or kind of like comfortable dribble iso game
(12:33):
around the elbows is a very reliable thing that you
can go back to when teams pack the paint. This
is what Kobe Bryant made a living out of. Like
when you have the ability this is what Michael Jordan
made a living out of. When you have inevitably a
defensive scheme that keeps you away from the rim, it
(12:55):
will either make you a deep pull up three point
shooter or a passer, or if you can build out
that high post. Back to the basket game, you can
have another card that you can go to that's impervious
to the packing the paint method. And in this series,
facing a very similar game plan tonight, Shay was able
(13:18):
to get to his spots and repeatedly score without having
to overpenetrate. They took a few bad ones tonight, but
it wasn't like what we saw it sometimes in the
Denver series, and that's the lesson that it needs to learn.
There's a version of his game that could have a
(13:38):
punch for this type of game. We talk all the
time about how different series present different issues. Shae's the
best driver of the basketball in the league. The first
two games, with the way Minnesota was guarding, they needed
him to drive. He used that skill. Let's say in
Game five or Minnesota just starts hard double teaming. Then
(14:01):
it's going to be about handling pressure and making quick decisions.
Tonight sagging packing the paint all of a sudden, It's
about being deliberate with your spacing and over the top
shot making. You've got to have a punch for every
single setting, and it had a punch for the game
plan tonight. It was his corner kicks and I thought
(14:22):
he was great with them, but if he could have
put a few more buckets up, it could have been
the difference in this game. And he was able to
get to his pull up three plenty, But that's a
much higher variance shot. It's twenty seven feet instead of
fifteen feet. At fifteen feet, he might be able to
(14:45):
hit it forty eight fifty two percent of the time
a contested pull up twenty eight foot or twenty seven
footer on his best day as a thirty to thirty
three ish percent shot. That that's where he needs to
bring in that part of his game that's reliable. What
has made Luca a reliable offensive player round a round
(15:06):
short range shot making, what is made Jokic a reliable
player round to round short range shot making. That is
the thing that he's got to add and I just
thought Shay was super, super impressive tonight with that Jadub Obviously,
with this game plan, it was going to put a
heavy emphasis on JDub needing to be able to score
(15:28):
the basketball and his ability to space the floor. How
many times tonight did Minnesota get a stop and then
someone would get an offensive rebound and the ball would
get sprayed out to JDub and he did a backbreaking
three or mail help off to to try to deal
with shake yel Desallexander swing pass, backbreaker three. Those were
(15:50):
so important in this game. And then in his on
ball reps, perpetually getting into the lane, getting that dribble penetration,
bringing in multiple defenders, and even when we're talking about
the offensive rebounding piece, there's a lot of it that's
super frustrating with Minnesota where it's like Rudy Gobert is.
I find Rudy Gobert to just be an incredibly frustrating
(16:10):
player to watch, and I just do not understand his
stands and all of the belief in his talent level
because like to me, he's a defensive player that gets
himself out of position in no man's land constantly. He's
a defensive rebounder that will legitimately just get his butt
kicked by mediocre kind of like replacement level starting centers
(16:32):
in this league. I don't see it. But there are
also offensive rebounds that were happening tonight by a product
of the rotations, by a product of the fact that
there are people stepping over in the lane. There was
an offensive rebound that gave up because he came over
to strong side zone agains shake Gilgess, Alexander on an
iso in case on Wallace just ended up crashing in behind.
There's a lot of stuff that comes from the way
(16:54):
that defense is getting broken down by shape, by getting
broken down by Jay Dubb. But I thought Jay Dubb
that's arguably the best game of his career tonight goes
for thirty four points on twenty four shots, five assists,
just two turnovers. He had three steals in this game
as well. Unbelievable game. Spot up shooting down the board. Again.
(17:15):
We've talked about this time and time again. How are
the thunder going to be able to win in the postseason.
They need their young guys to confidently step into tough
contested catch and shoot threes and knock them down Chet
two more threes tonight, a huge one off of a
pick and pop where Aunt came peeling off of his
man and got a great contest and he just confidently
(17:37):
stepped in there, ripped the cord. We talked about Jay
Dub hitting catch and shoot threes. Lou Dort hits one,
Ken rig Williams hits one, Alex Cruso hits two, Isaiah
Joe hits one, case On Wallace hits one. They hit
the shots they needed to hit. Forty three percent from
three tonight, sixteen for thirty seven. Chet Holmgren like that
(17:59):
defensive play, that spin move from Jad McDaniel, swatting it
off the glass, his aggressive iso attacks against nasried Or
he's spinning off of him and dunking the spot up shooting,
like we talked about Kesan Wallace, he had three or
four tough contested mid range pull up jump shots tonight.
Those are found money in the playoffs. Alex Crusoe obviously
(18:19):
the destructive defender that we know he can be, but
all those sneaky cuts along the baseline, just finding those
openings and when his defender turns his head. He was
amazing at that. Back in his days with the Lakers.
They're just this looks like a team that has learned
from previous failures and that has turned into a championship
level basketball team. One of my things that I love
(18:42):
about the game of basketball is it forces you to
overcome adversity. It forces you to overcome checkpoints and tests
to get to where you want to go. They had
to be pushed by Denver tonight, even pushed by Minnesota,
their weaknesses emphasized. I didn't like the game plan at
the beginning of the series, thought Minnesota was accentuating their
(19:04):
strengths here in Minnesota. They played the game plan that
accentuated Okaysee's weaknesses and they got out of here with
the split. Series isn't over, obviously, but I feel pretty
strongly that Oklahoma City is going to close the deal.
I think they've demonstrated themselves to be the better team
in the series. I think their star is a better
processor and a better more versatile score than Anthony Edwards is.
(19:27):
I thought Jalen Williams one hard to do tonight with
the low bar that Julius Randalls set, but I thought
he was far and away the best secondary star tonight.
Chet Holmgren out played any Minnesota role player except for
Nakhil Alexander Walker, just to down the roster. Out classing
in this series by the Oklahoma City Thunder against the
(19:48):
Minnesota Timberwolves. And I think they're gonna go to the
finals and I think they're gonna win. I think they
match up extremely well with Indiana. I think they match
up extremely well with New York, and we could be
heading into our We could be heading into our first
situation where we have a roster young enough and cheap
enough because of the situation with all their young talent,
to where we could have some sustained success in the NBA.
(20:10):
This was the chance I had Oklahoma City as my
second leading championship contender coming into tonight or coming into
this playoff run. But I viewed them as vulnerable. I
viewed them as vulnerable this season. But with each passing year,
the talent increase for Chet as he continues to develop,
(20:31):
the talent increase for Jalen, the talent increase for every
one of these young guys off the bench, like keyes
On Wallace, They're going to get better and better every
year from here in a way that's going to be
probably more impactful than whatever mid level exception you can
sign or mediocre trade you can make on the margins.
This was the year to get Oklahoma City, and I
(20:54):
think tonight was the last chance that anybody had, and
I think Minnesota blew it. So with that being the case,
this is the year that's supposed to be too early,
and it looks like to me that Oklahoma City is
going to get it done. Super super exciting for Timberwolves fans,
or excuse me, for thunder fans, I am. I have
to talk about Julius Randall for a second, because Julius Randall.
(21:17):
Let me just tell a little story of the last
three games. Julius Randall has a nightmaragely bad game two,
like embarrassingly bad bad games happen in the postseason. He
comes out in Game three and things go his way.
It's hitting shots, the crowd is in it. It's up
and down, fast ray type of game. Oklahoma City, let's
(21:39):
go with the rope a little bit. They're up by forty.
Julius is making plays and at one point he looks
in the camera and he goes like, we're home now,
We're home now. My bad game was because we were
on the road, we're at home now. And then he
comes out tonight and a couple of things don't go
his way in the opening minutes, and then he floats
(22:00):
through the rest of the game, stands around the three
point line. Every time the ball makes its way to him,
he's just rifling it down the line in the next
skip pass or swing pass, just taking these mediocre to
bad catch and shoot threes, not in impacting the game
in any substantial way as a rebounder or as a defender.
Just he was like, game's not going my way. I'm done.
(22:24):
I like, I don't care who you are as a
basketball player, if you're in a situation where you have
the talent level that Julius Randall has a game like tonight,
five points with five turnovers completely unacceptable, like completely unacceptable.
He let his team down. Yeah, you're getting swarmed. You
(22:45):
know who else was getting swarmed? Anthony Edwards. And I
saw Anthony Edwards try like hell to solve that puzzle tonight,
like legitimately in that second half, just pouring his heart
and soul into the game to try to fucking get
a win. And the dude who's partner in crime is
(23:08):
pouting and floating around and not doing his job. You
lost by two. You could have gone back to Oklahoma
City in a two to two series. I talk about
this all the time. I don't care what kind of
game you're having. I don't care if you come out
and you have four nasty turnovers and two or three
(23:29):
bad shots and a couple of defensive mistakes, and your
coach is chewing your ass whatever it is, you have
time to make a play, and one play could be
the difference. One play where you get a defensive rebound
and you see an opportunity to just hit the jets
in transition and just force the issue because you're one
(23:49):
of the biggest, most powerful athletes on the floor, and
an opportunity to go draw a fout, bulldoze your way
to the rim for an offensive rebound, put back, do something, fight,
show some fight. Julius succumbs to his bad games. Ah
fuck it. I just don't have it tonight. And it's
(24:10):
just so frustrating to watch because, like again, like one
play could have been the difference. One play. Minnesota had
possession down three in the final minute of this game,
One more play could have been the difference. That's why
you have to stay engaged. That's why you have to fight.
(24:31):
You fight because you might have another chance. You just
might have an opportunity fall into your lap to turn
a bad night into a good night if you just
stay engaged and you just fight. And I just was,
I was just so disappointed. I can only imagine how
Anthony Edwards is feeling tonight as he's looking at the
(24:55):
box score and feeling like his teammate like straight up
was like, now my night, you guys got this. I
just I was so annoyed by that. Anyway, let's get
Jackson up here. Any other angles that you guys want
to get to in this series, Just pop those questions
in the chat. We're gonna take about ten fifteen minutes
worth of questions here.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Let's do it most of the questions. We're getting our
Timberwolves questions. Let's start with the first one. It feels
like Anthony Edwards has shrunk in some big moments. He
didn't he didn't always, he didn't have a big score
night tonight, and he you know, they lost in five
last year in the Western Conference Finals. Not trying to hate,
but what does he have to do to take the
next step in.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
His game again? So like we talked about it earlier.
I think again, there's there's multiple ways to attack a coverage,
right and like the right way to attack the specific
coverage that Ain't was seeing tonight and that that scene
in this entire series is to drive the ball into
the paint and make a corner kick. And he just
(25:50):
did it over and over again tonight. I thought he
did his job in terms of attacking the coverage. Here's
the thing, though, there is a certain element of score
that is impervious to coverage that Shay has that Aunt
doesn't have. Right now. It has it in the form
of the pull up three or the you know, four
or five drives a game where he'll just knife through
(26:12):
like three dudes and like eurostep and somehow find his
way at the front of the rim. But again, you're
going to be limited to being a sixteen point a
game playmaker in a slow down half court game where
the team is loading up on you unless you build
some sort of reliable, over the top game. And for
(26:33):
the record, guys like you want to know why James
Harden never had success as like a sustainable, reliable offensive
threat in the postseason, it was because his half court
I need a bucket shot when teams would load up
the paint and help on him and do all that
stuff was step back three. And look, the step back
three is a useful shot to have in your bag.
(26:54):
I don't want to sit here and denigrate the step
back three, but if it's all you got, then you
are at absolutely handcuffing yourself. And I think there's a
certain reliability to having that. Okay, you've got three dudes
waiting for me in the paint. I've got a defender
in front of me that I know I can shoot over.
But I need to get to a spot where I
(27:15):
can make half of these and that is around the elbows,
that is in the short corner. And Shae has that
in his game and like we talked about it throughout
this postseason run and took like more than twice as
many mid range jump shots just last year in the postseason,
and he just needs to build that part out of
his game. And if anything, getting into the offseason and
(27:36):
watching the tape from this series, he just needs to
look at not the fouls that Shay has drawn, but
look at the shots that Shay has made in this series,
and look at where they've come from. Because they're He's
getting his opportunities right there at the elbows, regardless of
what the coverage is.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
Yeah. Absolutely, another question about Ant. We talk a lot
about conditioning for some stars, most often ones that are
a little bit less athletic. But if it seems it
seems like Ant has been might have been gassed at
the end of the game tonight, it seems like he's
been gassed at the end of games before. Do you
feel like he needs to work in his conditioning.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
I think that there is a certain downhill verve that
An't plays with that would exhaust any player in terms
of like this, like, let me just put it this way.
This is this is another reason why he needs to
have that slow down game. Like what does Shay look
like when he's walking down a team. He looks like
(28:29):
almost too relaxed, but like he just kind of has
like this kind of slouchy look and he just has
slinky arms as he's dribbling the ball around. His ability
to work with his back to the basket around the
elbows is a way to conserve energy throughout a game.
And like, right now, you know what, you know what
I would argue the two toughest shots you can take
(28:50):
as a basketball player is a contested rim attempt and
a contested step back three in terms of like difficulty
on the body, beating one defender, to swallom through a
second defender, to elevate over a third defender is exhausting.
And to get separation from an elite on ball defender
to then lift from twenty seven feet from the basket
and get enough lift for you to be able to
(29:11):
flip the wrists and get the ball there, that's gonna
take a lot of energy. And so I think that's
part of it. The conditioning. Like I didn't see a
moment tonight where it felt like Aunt was too tired
to score. I just thought he took threes and wasn't
making him because those are high variance shots and he
was consistently getting into the paint making the kickouts. He
just he doesn't have the indomitable scoring trait that Shay
(29:32):
has yet, and he can. He's got all the tools
for it. He's just got to build it out.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Yeah, I think Richard Jefferson is kind of up and
down as a commentator, But I did like at the
very end of the game when he was like, look
at Shay He's literally walking. He's literally walking to get
to his spot. Right now, It's like that is such
a crazy thing to say about an NBA basketball player
in crunch time. He's actually walking to his spot.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
And it works for him, Like that's that's just his
he doesn't let the game speed him up. Right.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Okay, another Timberwolves question, and then we'll do a thunder question.
What assuming the Timberwolves don't come back from three to one,
what do you think the Timberwolves things to do this
offseason to sort of get to the net, get to
the place beyond where they've gotten the last two seasons.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
I mean, there's like nitpicky stuff like I don't know
if I was if I was a Timberwolves fan, I
would be so sick to my stomach after watching that
Julius Randall performance, and I would be really really concerned
about the realities that come in line with the thing
(30:35):
with what Julius did tonight that drives me especially crazy
is adversity is just like a non negotiable in the postseason,
Like it's it's just a non negotiable, like you're just
unless you're on the twenty seventeen Warriors, which is the
most talented roster ever assembled, like or you're like like
that Celtics team last year in the East, Like there
are a handful of examples where a team can ride
(30:57):
a supreme talent advantage all the way through to the
finish line, but it's exceptionally rare and generally speaking, you're
gonna face adversity. Like j Dubb was so bad in
the Denver Series, Like so bad in the Denver Series
last last round, but like he didn't quit on his team.
He went one for fifteen or whatever the hell it
was that he wentered four for seventeen, and then like
(31:17):
he kept trying to make something happen and he conquered
those demons and has been fantastic in this series. In
I would be terrified with the Julius Randall thing if
I like signed up long term for that that he's
gonna just in a big spot bow out on his
team because things didn't go his way as far as
(31:37):
the rest of the roster. Like I'm over the Rudy
Gobert experience. I think if you're paying thirty plus million
dollars to a player that can't get a defensive rebound,
that that is his defensive value is substantially lower than
his pedigree would lead you to believe, and who legitimately
can't catch and finish anything in traffic, Like you want
to know why we all freaked out on that dunket Hartenstein.
We're like, oh shit, I can't believe he did that,
(31:58):
because it's just so unusual for him to like make
a play in traffic in a situation like that. And
so I think there's certain conversations you need to have
about resource allocation. Like I love nasried love to Alexander Walker.
I think Dante DiVincenzo is a playoff player. Mike Conley
battles you know, Ant is the foundational piece of your franchise,
(32:19):
But I'd be looking strongly at the Randall Gobert pairing
and just be looking in the big picture what gives
me the best chance. But don't let that take away
from the fact that I do think that if Ant
was better, they could have won this series. Ant's twenty
three years old. He in the next two to three
seasons needs to build out a reliable part of his game.
(32:39):
I'm looking at Synergy right now, shag gilges Alexander is
shooting fifty four percent on jump shots inside of seventeen.
That is so reliable to be able to go to
a shot that he can make more than half the time.
That's the like I think if Ant builds that out,
that is what will get him to the point where
(33:00):
he can elevate some of these rosters too far above
what they're capable of.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
Yeah, I think the go bear offensive struggles are one
thing because he's not an offensive player, but it's kind
of crazy to see him let up so many offensive rebounds.
It's like, this is your second most important thing behind
being you know, a room protector, and Cason Wallace is
just out rebounding it, Like, what what is happening?
Speaker 2 (33:24):
The kase on Wallace one was like I I was.
I was floored watching it. I literally, I was, you
competing so hard to get a stop against this hard
and and he stood there, He stood there and watch
Like rebounding is about going and getting the fucking basketball.
(33:45):
There is definitely a ground battle part of it, especially
when you're dealing with really big bodies that you need
to keep ground bound, but it is a roster wide,
five man pursuit of the basketball. In Oklahoma City was
faster to the ball tonight.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
Yeah, and it's like, it's one thing I know, I've
seen a lot of the NBA players talk about this,
how when you do have to play that ground game,
we have to box out, Like in the Warriors against
the Rockets. When you're Draymond being your boxing at Steven Adams,
you're not going to get the basketball, but everyone else
he's going to get the basketball. Rudy Gobert is not
boxing at anybody, and he's any Like, I'm like, what
are you doing?
Speaker 2 (34:15):
Man?
Speaker 1 (34:16):
Crazy crazy performance? Fro Rudy gober One more question and
then we'll go over to playback. Is the amount of
threes that Okac is giving up to the Timberwolves, you know,
as you talked extensively about as part of their scheme.
Is that a potential problem against teams that are better
at generating threes and or have better converting players three
point shooters like the Pacers are really good at generating threes,
(34:37):
and the Knicks have a you know, quite a few shooters.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
I thought Minnesota made him pay for it over and
over again. Tonight. The Minnesota got two. This is crazy,
two point zero eight points per catch and shoot per
unguarded catch and shoot. Three they generated thirteen of them,
and I'll look up the makes Layer because I don't
want to inundate the show right here, but like they've
made them pay for it. But like there's here's the thing.
(35:01):
Like Chris Finch, I thought went with his base defensive
scheme to start the series, and I thought that was
a mistake. I think that Mark Dagnault going with his
base defensive scheme against Indiana would be a mistake. I do, okay,
So I think Indiana is in the same way that
(35:22):
like for Aunt, making him a playmaker forces him to
confront his weaknesses, and by the way, he's making some
signs of growth, but there's still a lot of potential there.
To me, the weakness for Tyres Haliburton is like let's see,
let's see you go get a bucket against Chet over
and over again. Let's see you go get a bucket
against Hartenstein over and over again. Or you're on ball
(35:44):
defender a guard that you like against the switch. So
I I think if you just let Tyris Aliburton, because
here's the thing, Tyres Aliburton never turns the ball over.
That's like his superpower. So if you let him dribble
the ball at the floor and you load up the
strong side and you let him just pitch it to
Siakam in the weekside or a Nie Smith in the
weekside corner all series long. Then you're gonna make what
should be an unwinnable series into a winnable series for Indiana.
(36:07):
So let's keep an eye on the game plan. Here's
my thing. In this series, Oklahoma City's base game plan
happened to line up with what is the most appropriate
way to guard the Timberwolves. It doesn't in the next series,
so they need to make that adjustment accordingly. And I
think we'll see. And by the way, if he doesn't
won game sure, whatever, But like if by game two
(36:28):
they're still doing it and the games are more competitive
than they should be, that'd be something that I would
look at. All right, guys, that's all we have for
the YouTube stream tonight. As always, we appreciate you guys
for supporting us and supporting the show. We're heading over
to playback again. That's playback dot tv slash Oops tonight.
We're gonna hanging out, taking callers and just shooting the shit
and having fun talking hoops for a little while. We'll
see you guys over there in just a few minutes. What' so, guys,
(36:49):
As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting
OOPS tonight. They would actually be really helpful for us
if you guys would take a second and leave a
rating and a review. As always, I appreciate you guys
supporting us. If you could take a minute to do that,
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
The volume
The volume.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
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(02:02):
welcome to tonight. You're at the volume heavy Monday. Everybody.
Hope all you guys are having a great start to
your week well as expected. Game four ended up being
the long awaited, very close game in this series between
these two teams. This series has been pretty rough to
watch at times, as the teams have just beat the
shit out of each other in different ways, but we
finally kind of settled down into the appropriate game plans
(02:24):
for both teams. And obviously both of these teams are
very familiar with each other and the way they want
to play, and tonight they both threw their best punches,
and I thought Oklahoma City just looked like a better
basketball team as they demonstrated a kind of not a
wired to wire win, but a game that they felt
pretty much in control of throughout as they responded to
every single Minnesota Timberwolves run and never let them overtake
(02:47):
them with that momentum, and now they're headed back to
Oklahoma City up three to one and very likely going
to send this thing to the NBA Finals on Wednesday night.
Very interesting game. We're gonna get into it from a
bunch of different angles, and then we wrap up here
tonight we're gonna be heading over to playback again that's
Playback dot TV slash Hoops tonight, or we're gonna be
taking callers and it's more informal. We just kind of
(03:09):
shoot the shit, talk hoops and have fun for an
extra hour after the show. So make sure you guys
come over there and hang out with dust. You guys
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(03:30):
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is subscribe to the channel, drop your questions questions into
the chat, and then we'll be taking questions with Jackson.
All right, let's talk some basketball. So obviously, there were
(03:52):
a couple of things we knew Oklahoma City was going
to do better tonight, no matter what, like, regardless of
any other factors, involving some their young role players and
conquering the specific demons that this team has dealt with
over the years. Which we'll talk about in a little bit,
But there are a couple of things we knew they
would do better. No matter what we knew, they would
up their defensive intensity. This is an elite defensive team,
(04:13):
and defense is one of the most reliably reliable traits
in a basketball team in these environments, you want to
know why it's kind of unusual to see some of
the offensive success we've seen in recent NBA seasons, teams
like Denver winning a title, or teams like Indiana New
York making it to the conference finals when they were
mediocre defenses all year. Indie played better defense towards towards
(04:36):
the tail end of the year, but the Knicks played
shitty defense the majority of the season, and then they
somehow played the best defense of their life against the
Celtics and got them out of there. Right, It's unusual
to see that sort of thing. There's a reason why,
when you go back through decade after decade after decade,
it's the defensive teams that end up making deep playoff runs.
(04:58):
It's because it's the reliable trait. We all knew that
Oklahoma City would bring a great defensive punch tonight. They
kept aunt relatively in check as a score, because again
that's their game plan by constantly swarming him and getting
good closeouts on shooters. Obviously, their scheme concedes a bunch
of corner threes. We've talked about that a ton in
this series, and Minnesota hit a ton of those corner
(05:19):
threes tonight, but they generally made things difficult and then
they basically got Julius Randall to quit in this game,
and so that that's another thing that we'll get to later.
But we also knew that they would take much better
care of the basketball. Right, those are the two things
that we knew that they would bring, and they had
that weird stretch in the first half of Game three.
(05:40):
If you guys remember where they just gifted Minnesota a
bunch of easy opportunities in transition, and they cleaned that up. Right,
They took better pit care of the basketball tonight, and
they came out and you know, were tough in their
game plan. Again, their game plan concedes shots at that
Minnesota hit tonight at a very high clip. But they
came out and did a better job because if you remember,
in Game three, it was everyone was going, including ant
(06:03):
and Julius, and in this game, you had a little
bit of a burst from Aunt in the second half,
but they kept Ant and Julius under control, right. But
we also knew that Minnesota changed their game plan right,
less ball pressure on Shay, more shrinking the floor, more
loading up the plane the paint, and so that was
obviously going to put a heavy emphasis on different things
(06:24):
for Oklahoma City than we saw in the beginning of
the series. In the beginning of the series, there's a
lot of just like Kinche and Jadab go one on
one downhill and get to the rim. Very different in
this setting where all of a sudden they're packing the
paint the rim opportunities are fewer and further between all
of a sudden, It's going to be about Shay's processing
in his ability to make the right types of aggressive
(06:45):
moves on the floor, a lot of over the top
shot making right, a lot of processing out of double
teams right. For Jadub, it was going to be a
test of his secondary scoring and his ability to obviously
be an off ball threat to score right spot up
shooting across the board. For the entire Thunder roster, that's
been one of the demons they've dealt with from time
to time throughout this entire season and throughout last year
(07:07):
as well, right, But those were those were the things
that were gonna come to the surface. And then you
can always give yourself a better chance to win a
game if you can win the possession battle. Tonight, they
forced the Timberwolves into twenty three turnovers and they grabbed
nineteen offensive rebounds. That's forty two extra possessions. Guys, they
(07:29):
attempted eleven more shots than Minnesota tonight in a game
they won by two. And that's what it comes down to.
We talked about this at the beginning of after after
Indiana went up two to zero against the Knicks. This
concept of like grabbing the low hanging fruit in basketball.
These are things that they can do consistently by pursuing
(07:51):
the ball when it comes off of the rim, by
picking up full court, by digging into passing lanes, by
trusting their game plan, by doing those those things, they
can just increase their margin for air by generating forty
two extra possessions. That obviously gave them all that margin
(08:12):
for air. But again, the test needed to be solved,
and I was just really impressed down the roster with
Oklahoma City tonight, it felt like they were in a
lot of ways, like leveling up from some of the
mistakes that we've seen them make in series past. Within
this postseason in Years Past, right, we saw Shay, a
guy that I've seen many times in his career, just
(08:36):
fly into the lane when teams are really selling out
on him and just force up bad shots. He was
super methodical, picking on specific mismatches that he liked, really
liked Rudy Gobert right, really liked nas Reed, really like
Dante DiVincenzo when he'd get the switch cycling out guys
from that top of the key spot, like if he
(08:57):
wanted to ISO in the top of the key, he
didn't want a shooter super close to him. He was
trying to cycle him down and have them work along
the baseline because he wanted to have space around the
elbows to work. He knew he wasn't going to be
able to drive, but he knew he'd be able to
get to his right shoulder fade, his left shoulder fade,
his right shoulder step back, his left shoulder step back,
(09:17):
and so he wanted to create space around the elbows
for him to work. And he just repeatedly over and
over again, got to his spots and hit those shots,
hit threes against soft ball pressure, which again was part
of Minnesota's game plan. It changed Shay's job from get
downhill and score at the rim to become a surgical
(09:39):
processor and over the top shot maker, and he knocked
it out of the park. In addition to that making
the kickout reads that he needed to make that big
three that Jade up hit on the left wing hard
nail help. I think it was Jaden because of a
switch came over at the elbow and it's like, yeah,
you can try to force it, or you can just
(10:00):
throw the ball to j Dub and see if you
can make a shot. You can throw the ball to
Chet as he's slipping out of a pick and pop
or as he's spacing on the wing and trust him
to knock the shot down. Ten more assists tonight for
Shay Gildas Alexander You's surgical tonight. I think the job
has been very different for Ant, and I think that
(10:21):
Ant has actually shown a lot of growth in this
series in terms of his relentless making those corner kickout reads.
As the game plan has been geared towards stopping him.
But even with the growth from Ann, I think there's
a lot of encouraging stuff from Ant in this series.
Jay's been better than it. Shay's been better than it.
Now will Ant in the long run, as he gets
older and he gets more experiencedab will he'll be able
(10:42):
to close that gap. We'll see. But in this series
through four games, there's a very similar game plan tonight
that Shay faced to what Ant's face. It a lot
of a lot of bodies waiting for him at the basket.
The difference is Shay has built out an ultra reliable
shot making game in the mid range. Shay wasn't getting
(11:05):
the grift calls in that second half. He got a
nasty one against Gobert in the first half, kind of
a textbook example of the kind of thing that I
think needs to be taken out of the league. But
in the second half he tried it twice. He tried
the classic bump shot along the left lane line he
actually made it, and then he tried another grift one
on to kill Alexander Walker on the right elbow, which
he actually made as well. But he wasn't getting the
(11:26):
calls and so he adjusted his approach and he stopped
trying to grift in that fourth quarter and he just
went straight up, I'm going to get separation and I'm
gonna knock down shots. And he just did it again
and again and again and made the necessary reads when
they were there, huge one late when he kind of
lost control, and then Jaden McDaniels throws a double team
(11:48):
off of JDub and he throws that beautiful pass just
right through Jada mcdaniels's legs to JDub on the perimeter.
It's like, if there's a lesson for Aunt to learn,
because there's I was kind of getting frustrated as I
was listening to Richard Jefferson talk about how Ant just
needs to find ways to just force his way through
(12:10):
all that traffic, or Steven A. Smith and the Halftime
Show saying similar stuff Ant needs to The answer wasn't
to force his way through and try to shoot through
four people every single time. The lesson for Ant to
learn from the series is that having a back to
the basket or kind of like comfortable dribble iso game
(12:33):
around the elbows is a very reliable thing that you
can go back to when teams pack the paint. This
is what Kobe Bryant made a living out of. Like
when you have the ability this is what Michael Jordan
made a living out of. When you have inevitably a
defensive scheme that keeps you away from the rim, it
(12:55):
will either make you a deep pull up three point
shooter or a passer, or if you can build out
that high post. Back to the basket game, you can
have another card that you can go to that's impervious
to the packing the paint method. And in this series,
facing a very similar game plan tonight, Shay was able
(13:18):
to get to his spots and repeatedly score without having
to overpenetrate. They took a few bad ones tonight, but
it wasn't like what we saw it sometimes in the
Denver series, and that's the lesson that it needs to learn.
There's a version of his game that could have a
(13:38):
punch for this type of game. We talk all the
time about how different series present different issues. Shae's the
best driver of the basketball in the league. The first
two games, with the way Minnesota was guarding, they needed
him to drive. He used that skill. Let's say in
Game five or Minnesota just starts hard double teaming. Then
(14:01):
it's going to be about handling pressure and making quick decisions.
Tonight sagging packing the paint all of a sudden, It's
about being deliberate with your spacing and over the top
shot making. You've got to have a punch for every
single setting, and it had a punch for the game
plan tonight. It was his corner kicks and I thought
(14:22):
he was great with them, but if he could have
put a few more buckets up, it could have been
the difference in this game. And he was able to
get to his pull up three plenty, But that's a
much higher variance shot. It's twenty seven feet instead of
fifteen feet. At fifteen feet, he might be able to
(14:45):
hit it forty eight fifty two percent of the time
a contested pull up twenty eight foot or twenty seven
footer on his best day as a thirty to thirty
three ish percent shot. That that's where he needs to
bring in that part of his game that's reliable. What
has made Luca a reliable offensive player round a round
(15:06):
short range shot making, what is made Jokic a reliable
player round to round short range shot making. That is
the thing that he's got to add and I just
thought Shay was super, super impressive tonight with that Jadub Obviously,
with this game plan, it was going to put a
heavy emphasis on JDub needing to be able to score
(15:28):
the basketball and his ability to space the floor. How
many times tonight did Minnesota get a stop and then
someone would get an offensive rebound and the ball would
get sprayed out to JDub and he did a backbreaking
three or mail help off to to try to deal
with shake yel Desallexander swing pass, backbreaker three. Those were
(15:50):
so important in this game. And then in his on
ball reps, perpetually getting into the lane, getting that dribble penetration,
bringing in multiple defenders, and even when we're talking about
the offensive rebounding piece, there's a lot of it that's
super frustrating with Minnesota where it's like Rudy Gobert is.
I find Rudy Gobert to just be an incredibly frustrating
(16:10):
player to watch, and I just do not understand his
stands and all of the belief in his talent level
because like to me, he's a defensive player that gets
himself out of position in no man's land constantly. He's
a defensive rebounder that will legitimately just get his butt
kicked by mediocre kind of like replacement level starting centers
(16:32):
in this league. I don't see it. But there are
also offensive rebounds that were happening tonight by a product
of the rotations, by a product of the fact that
there are people stepping over in the lane. There was
an offensive rebound that gave up because he came over
to strong side zone agains shake Gilgess, Alexander on an
iso in case on Wallace just ended up crashing in behind.
There's a lot of stuff that comes from the way
(16:54):
that defense is getting broken down by shape, by getting
broken down by Jay Dubb. But I thought Jay Dubb
that's arguably the best game of his career tonight goes
for thirty four points on twenty four shots, five assists,
just two turnovers. He had three steals in this game
as well. Unbelievable game. Spot up shooting down the board. Again.
(17:15):
We've talked about this time and time again. How are
the thunder going to be able to win in the postseason.
They need their young guys to confidently step into tough
contested catch and shoot threes and knock them down Chet
two more threes tonight, a huge one off of a
pick and pop where Aunt came peeling off of his
man and got a great contest and he just confidently
(17:37):
stepped in there, ripped the cord. We talked about Jay
Dub hitting catch and shoot threes. Lou Dort hits one,
Ken rig Williams hits one, Alex Cruso hits two, Isaiah
Joe hits one, case On Wallace hits one. They hit
the shots they needed to hit. Forty three percent from
three tonight, sixteen for thirty seven. Chet Holmgren like that
(17:59):
defensive play, that spin move from Jad McDaniel, swatting it
off the glass, his aggressive iso attacks against nasried Or
he's spinning off of him and dunking the spot up shooting,
like we talked about Kesan Wallace, he had three or
four tough contested mid range pull up jump shots tonight.
Those are found money in the playoffs. Alex Crusoe obviously
(18:19):
the destructive defender that we know he can be, but
all those sneaky cuts along the baseline, just finding those
openings and when his defender turns his head. He was
amazing at that. Back in his days with the Lakers.
They're just this looks like a team that has learned
from previous failures and that has turned into a championship
level basketball team. One of my things that I love
(18:42):
about the game of basketball is it forces you to
overcome adversity. It forces you to overcome checkpoints and tests
to get to where you want to go. They had
to be pushed by Denver tonight, even pushed by Minnesota,
their weaknesses emphasized. I didn't like the game plan at
the beginning of the series, thought Minnesota was accentuating their
(19:04):
strengths here in Minnesota. They played the game plan that
accentuated Okaysee's weaknesses and they got out of here with
the split. Series isn't over, obviously, but I feel pretty
strongly that Oklahoma City is going to close the deal.
I think they've demonstrated themselves to be the better team
in the series. I think their star is a better
processor and a better more versatile score than Anthony Edwards is.
(19:27):
I thought Jalen Williams one hard to do tonight with
the low bar that Julius Randalls set, but I thought
he was far and away the best secondary star tonight.
Chet Holmgren out played any Minnesota role player except for
Nakhil Alexander Walker, just to down the roster. Out classing
in this series by the Oklahoma City Thunder against the
(19:48):
Minnesota Timberwolves. And I think they're gonna go to the
finals and I think they're gonna win. I think they
match up extremely well with Indiana. I think they match
up extremely well with New York, and we could be
heading into our We could be heading into our first
situation where we have a roster young enough and cheap
enough because of the situation with all their young talent,
to where we could have some sustained success in the NBA.
(20:10):
This was the chance I had Oklahoma City as my
second leading championship contender coming into tonight or coming into
this playoff run. But I viewed them as vulnerable. I
viewed them as vulnerable this season. But with each passing year,
the talent increase for Chet as he continues to develop,
(20:31):
the talent increase for Jalen, the talent increase for every
one of these young guys off the bench, like keyes
On Wallace, They're going to get better and better every
year from here in a way that's going to be
probably more impactful than whatever mid level exception you can
sign or mediocre trade you can make on the margins.
This was the year to get Oklahoma City, and I
(20:54):
think tonight was the last chance that anybody had, and
I think Minnesota blew it. So with that being the case,
this is the year that's supposed to be too early,
and it looks like to me that Oklahoma City is
going to get it done. Super super exciting for Timberwolves fans,
or excuse me, for thunder fans, I am. I have
to talk about Julius Randall for a second, because Julius Randall.
(21:17):
Let me just tell a little story of the last
three games. Julius Randall has a nightmaragely bad game two,
like embarrassingly bad bad games happen in the postseason. He
comes out in Game three and things go his way.
It's hitting shots, the crowd is in it. It's up
and down, fast ray type of game. Oklahoma City, let's
(21:39):
go with the rope a little bit. They're up by forty.
Julius is making plays and at one point he looks
in the camera and he goes like, we're home now,
We're home now. My bad game was because we were
on the road, we're at home now. And then he
comes out tonight and a couple of things don't go
his way in the opening minutes, and then he floats
(22:00):
through the rest of the game, stands around the three
point line. Every time the ball makes its way to him,
he's just rifling it down the line in the next
skip pass or swing pass, just taking these mediocre to
bad catch and shoot threes, not in impacting the game
in any substantial way as a rebounder or as a defender.
Just he was like, game's not going my way. I'm done.
(22:24):
I like, I don't care who you are as a
basketball player, if you're in a situation where you have
the talent level that Julius Randall has a game like tonight,
five points with five turnovers completely unacceptable, like completely unacceptable.
He let his team down. Yeah, you're getting swarmed. You
(22:45):
know who else was getting swarmed? Anthony Edwards. And I
saw Anthony Edwards try like hell to solve that puzzle tonight,
like legitimately in that second half, just pouring his heart
and soul into the game to try to fucking get
a win. And the dude who's partner in crime is
(23:08):
pouting and floating around and not doing his job. You
lost by two. You could have gone back to Oklahoma
City in a two to two series. I talk about
this all the time. I don't care what kind of
game you're having. I don't care if you come out
and you have four nasty turnovers and two or three
(23:29):
bad shots and a couple of defensive mistakes, and your
coach is chewing your ass whatever it is, you have
time to make a play, and one play could be
the difference. One play where you get a defensive rebound
and you see an opportunity to just hit the jets
in transition and just force the issue because you're one
(23:49):
of the biggest, most powerful athletes on the floor, and
an opportunity to go draw a fout, bulldoze your way
to the rim for an offensive rebound, put back, do something, fight,
show some fight. Julius succumbs to his bad games. Ah
fuck it. I just don't have it tonight. And it's
(24:10):
just so frustrating to watch because, like again, like one
play could have been the difference. One play. Minnesota had
possession down three in the final minute of this game,
One more play could have been the difference. That's why
you have to stay engaged. That's why you have to fight.
(24:31):
You fight because you might have another chance. You just
might have an opportunity fall into your lap to turn
a bad night into a good night if you just
stay engaged and you just fight. And I just was,
I was just so disappointed. I can only imagine how
Anthony Edwards is feeling tonight as he's looking at the
(24:55):
box score and feeling like his teammate like straight up
was like, now my night, you guys got this. I
just I was so annoyed by that. Anyway, let's get
Jackson up here. Any other angles that you guys want
to get to in this series, Just pop those questions
in the chat. We're gonna take about ten fifteen minutes
worth of questions here.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Let's do it most of the questions. We're getting our
Timberwolves questions. Let's start with the first one. It feels
like Anthony Edwards has shrunk in some big moments. He
didn't he didn't always, he didn't have a big score
night tonight, and he you know, they lost in five
last year in the Western Conference Finals. Not trying to hate,
but what does he have to do to take the
next step in.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
His game again? So like we talked about it earlier.
I think again, there's there's multiple ways to attack a coverage,
right and like the right way to attack the specific
coverage that Ain't was seeing tonight and that that scene
in this entire series is to drive the ball into
the paint and make a corner kick. And he just
(25:50):
did it over and over again tonight. I thought he
did his job in terms of attacking the coverage. Here's
the thing, though, there is a certain element of score
that is impervious to coverage that Shay has that Aunt
doesn't have. Right now. It has it in the form
of the pull up three or the you know, four
or five drives a game where he'll just knife through
(26:12):
like three dudes and like eurostep and somehow find his
way at the front of the rim. But again, you're
going to be limited to being a sixteen point a
game playmaker in a slow down half court game where
the team is loading up on you unless you build
some sort of reliable, over the top game. And for
(26:33):
the record, guys like you want to know why James
Harden never had success as like a sustainable, reliable offensive
threat in the postseason, it was because his half court
I need a bucket shot when teams would load up
the paint and help on him and do all that
stuff was step back three. And look, the step back
three is a useful shot to have in your bag.
(26:54):
I don't want to sit here and denigrate the step
back three, but if it's all you got, then you
are at absolutely handcuffing yourself. And I think there's a
certain reliability to having that. Okay, you've got three dudes
waiting for me in the paint. I've got a defender
in front of me that I know I can shoot over.
But I need to get to a spot where I
(27:15):
can make half of these and that is around the elbows,
that is in the short corner. And Shae has that
in his game and like we talked about it throughout
this postseason run and took like more than twice as
many mid range jump shots just last year in the postseason,
and he just needs to build that part out of
his game. And if anything, getting into the offseason and
(27:36):
watching the tape from this series, he just needs to
look at not the fouls that Shay has drawn, but
look at the shots that Shay has made in this series,
and look at where they've come from. Because they're He's
getting his opportunities right there at the elbows, regardless of
what the coverage is.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
Yeah. Absolutely, another question about Ant. We talk a lot
about conditioning for some stars, most often ones that are
a little bit less athletic. But if it seems it
seems like Ant has been might have been gassed at
the end of the game tonight, it seems like he's
been gassed at the end of games before. Do you
feel like he needs to work in his conditioning.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
I think that there is a certain downhill verve that
An't plays with that would exhaust any player in terms
of like this, like, let me just put it this way.
This is this is another reason why he needs to
have that slow down game. Like what does Shay look
like when he's walking down a team. He looks like
(28:29):
almost too relaxed, but like he just kind of has
like this kind of slouchy look and he just has
slinky arms as he's dribbling the ball around. His ability
to work with his back to the basket around the
elbows is a way to conserve energy throughout a game.
And like, right now, you know what, you know what
I would argue the two toughest shots you can take
(28:50):
as a basketball player is a contested rim attempt and
a contested step back three in terms of like difficulty
on the body, beating one defender, to swallom through a
second defender, to elevate over a third defender is exhausting.
And to get separation from an elite on ball defender
to then lift from twenty seven feet from the basket
and get enough lift for you to be able to
(29:11):
flip the wrists and get the ball there, that's gonna
take a lot of energy. And so I think that's
part of it. The conditioning. Like I didn't see a
moment tonight where it felt like Aunt was too tired
to score. I just thought he took threes and wasn't
making him because those are high variance shots and he
was consistently getting into the paint making the kickouts. He
just he doesn't have the indomitable scoring trait that Shay
(29:32):
has yet, and he can. He's got all the tools
for it. He's just got to build it out.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Yeah, I think Richard Jefferson is kind of up and
down as a commentator, But I did like at the
very end of the game when he was like, look
at Shay He's literally walking. He's literally walking to get
to his spot. Right now, It's like that is such
a crazy thing to say about an NBA basketball player
in crunch time. He's actually walking to his spot.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
And it works for him, Like that's that's just his
he doesn't let the game speed him up. Right.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Okay, another Timberwolves question, and then we'll do a thunder question.
What assuming the Timberwolves don't come back from three to one,
what do you think the Timberwolves things to do this
offseason to sort of get to the net, get to
the place beyond where they've gotten the last two seasons.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
I mean, there's like nitpicky stuff like I don't know
if I was if I was a Timberwolves fan, I
would be so sick to my stomach after watching that
Julius Randall performance, and I would be really really concerned
about the realities that come in line with the thing
(30:35):
with what Julius did tonight that drives me especially crazy
is adversity is just like a non negotiable in the postseason,
Like it's it's just a non negotiable, like you're just
unless you're on the twenty seventeen Warriors, which is the
most talented roster ever assembled, like or you're like like
that Celtics team last year in the East, Like there
are a handful of examples where a team can ride
(30:57):
a supreme talent advantage all the way through to the
finish line, but it's exceptionally rare and generally speaking, you're
gonna face adversity. Like j Dubb was so bad in
the Denver Series, Like so bad in the Denver Series
last last round, but like he didn't quit on his team.
He went one for fifteen or whatever the hell it
was that he wentered four for seventeen, and then like
(31:17):
he kept trying to make something happen and he conquered
those demons and has been fantastic in this series. In
I would be terrified with the Julius Randall thing if
I like signed up long term for that that he's
gonna just in a big spot bow out on his
team because things didn't go his way as far as
(31:37):
the rest of the roster. Like I'm over the Rudy
Gobert experience. I think if you're paying thirty plus million
dollars to a player that can't get a defensive rebound,
that that is his defensive value is substantially lower than
his pedigree would lead you to believe, and who legitimately
can't catch and finish anything in traffic, Like you want
to know why we all freaked out on that dunket Hartenstein.
We're like, oh shit, I can't believe he did that,
(31:58):
because it's just so unusual for him to like make
a play in traffic in a situation like that. And
so I think there's certain conversations you need to have
about resource allocation. Like I love nasried love to Alexander Walker.
I think Dante DiVincenzo is a playoff player. Mike Conley
battles you know, Ant is the foundational piece of your franchise,
(32:19):
But I'd be looking strongly at the Randall Gobert pairing
and just be looking in the big picture what gives
me the best chance. But don't let that take away
from the fact that I do think that if Ant
was better, they could have won this series. Ant's twenty
three years old. He in the next two to three
seasons needs to build out a reliable part of his game.
(32:39):
I'm looking at Synergy right now, shag gilges Alexander is
shooting fifty four percent on jump shots inside of seventeen.
That is so reliable to be able to go to
a shot that he can make more than half the time.
That's the like I think if Ant builds that out,
that is what will get him to the point where
(33:00):
he can elevate some of these rosters too far above
what they're capable of.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
Yeah, I think the go bear offensive struggles are one
thing because he's not an offensive player, but it's kind
of crazy to see him let up so many offensive rebounds.
It's like, this is your second most important thing behind
being you know, a room protector, and Cason Wallace is
just out rebounding it, Like, what what is happening?
Speaker 2 (33:24):
The kase on Wallace one was like I I was.
I was floored watching it. I literally, I was, you
competing so hard to get a stop against this hard
and and he stood there, He stood there and watch
Like rebounding is about going and getting the fucking basketball.
(33:45):
There is definitely a ground battle part of it, especially
when you're dealing with really big bodies that you need
to keep ground bound, but it is a roster wide,
five man pursuit of the basketball. In Oklahoma City was
faster to the ball tonight.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
Yeah, and it's like, it's one thing I know, I've
seen a lot of the NBA players talk about this,
how when you do have to play that ground game,
we have to box out, Like in the Warriors against
the Rockets. When you're Draymond being your boxing at Steven Adams,
you're not going to get the basketball, but everyone else
he's going to get the basketball. Rudy Gobert is not
boxing at anybody, and he's any Like, I'm like, what
are you doing?
Speaker 2 (34:15):
Man?
Speaker 1 (34:16):
Crazy crazy performance? Fro Rudy gober One more question and
then we'll go over to playback. Is the amount of
threes that Okac is giving up to the Timberwolves, you know,
as you talked extensively about as part of their scheme.
Is that a potential problem against teams that are better
at generating threes and or have better converting players three
point shooters like the Pacers are really good at generating threes,
(34:37):
and the Knicks have a you know, quite a few shooters.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
I thought Minnesota made him pay for it over and
over again. Tonight. The Minnesota got two. This is crazy,
two point zero eight points per catch and shoot per
unguarded catch and shoot. Three they generated thirteen of them,
and I'll look up the makes Layer because I don't
want to inundate the show right here, but like they've
made them pay for it. But like there's here's the thing.
(35:01):
Like Chris Finch, I thought went with his base defensive
scheme to start the series, and I thought that was
a mistake. I think that Mark Dagnault going with his
base defensive scheme against Indiana would be a mistake. I do, okay,
So I think Indiana is in the same way that
(35:22):
like for Aunt, making him a playmaker forces him to
confront his weaknesses, and by the way, he's making some
signs of growth, but there's still a lot of potential there.
To me, the weakness for Tyres Haliburton is like let's see,
let's see you go get a bucket against Chet over
and over again. Let's see you go get a bucket
against Hartenstein over and over again. Or you're on ball
(35:44):
defender a guard that you like against the switch. So
I I think if you just let Tyris Aliburton, because
here's the thing, Tyres Aliburton never turns the ball over.
That's like his superpower. So if you let him dribble
the ball at the floor and you load up the
strong side and you let him just pitch it to
Siakam in the weekside or a Nie Smith in the
weekside corner all series long. Then you're gonna make what
should be an unwinnable series into a winnable series for Indiana.
(36:07):
So let's keep an eye on the game plan. Here's
my thing. In this series, Oklahoma City's base game plan
happened to line up with what is the most appropriate
way to guard the Timberwolves. It doesn't in the next series,
so they need to make that adjustment accordingly. And I
think we'll see. And by the way, if he doesn't
won game sure, whatever, But like if by game two
(36:28):
they're still doing it and the games are more competitive
than they should be, that'd be something that I would
look at. All right, guys, that's all we have for
the YouTube stream tonight. As always, we appreciate you guys
for supporting us and supporting the show. We're heading over
to playback again. That's playback dot tv slash Oops tonight.
We're gonna hanging out, taking callers and just shooting the shit
and having fun talking hoops for a little while. We'll
see you guys over there in just a few minutes. What' so, guys,
(36:49):
As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting
OOPS tonight. They would actually be really helpful for us
if you guys would take a second and leave a
rating and a review. As always, I appreciate you guys
supporting us. If you could take a minute to do that,
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
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