May 20, 2024 • 35 mins
Chris and Rob debate whether Minnesota coming back from 20-points down in the second half to win Game 7 says more about the Timberwolves or more about the Denver Nuggets and explain why they expect heads will roll in Boston if the Celtics don’t end up winning the NBA championship. Plus, NBA champion and FOX Sports Radio NBA analyst Antonio Daniels swings by to discuss what went wrong for the Nuggets in their series loss to the Timberwolves, why he’s such a big fan of the newfound parity in the NBA, why he refuses to use injuries as an excuse for the Knicks, his picks for the Eastern and Western Conference Finals and much more!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of the Odd Couple podcasts.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday from seven
pm to ten pm Eastern four to seven Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for The Odd
Couple at Foxsports Radio dot com, or stream us live
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Speaker 2 (00:22):
You're listening to the best of the Odd Couple with
Chris Bruson and Ron Harker.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
One of the things that made my weekend so good
was the Minnesota Timberwolves doing exactly what I said they
would do, which is beating the Denver Nuggets in seven games.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
Now, it's just fun to be right, you know. You
know that ride. We throw out our predictions and you
love we drive for it. Are you kidding?
Speaker 1 (00:54):
In the first half, Chris, I had baby oil going. Okay,
I just want you to know that.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
You ain't no baby oil going.
Speaker 5 (01:01):
Now that's for Dodge. I'm just telling you because after
the Knicks lost in seven. You remember I had the
Pacers baby oil. I was feeling good. I was feeling good,
and that did not come to fruition.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
Well, here's why it didn't come to version. Here was what.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Rob Parker after Game five, when the Nuggets took a
three to two lead, a microwave take.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Here we go, time to rehitch an old hot take
that's gone color.
Speaker 6 (01:31):
It's just the metal.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
It's microwave take with the Ondcup.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
I'm feeling the same way about Denver, and I think
that this is a six game series as well, and
Minnesota doesn't win again.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
Wow, Well, what you didn't hear is.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Chris bruceide you up prisoner of the moment.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
You're always wrong. You get just better than Shack.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
All of that madness I had to listen to, knowing
I would be vindicated, but I have just take it.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
And now Rob Parker must eat his words.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
And Rob, here's what I want to ask you. I'm
not gonna be labor this. Do you think that what
we saw because Denver was up fifteen and half and
twenty Rob in the in the early in the third quarter,
right like about ten and a half minutes left in
the third quarter.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
That's a twenty eight point turnaround Chris twenty. It was
by eight. No, but I'm saying to lose by right,
and at one point they were down ten, right, you
know what I'm saying?
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Yeah, So do you think this was a collapse I'm
sorry by Denver? Or was this a great comeback by Minnesota?
And we know there's a mix of both, but what
do you think is more predominant.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
I call it a chow and I call it a
choke job on Denver's part, Chris, not just.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
It's twofold.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Obviously, twenty points in the third quarter at home, you
don't even have to pour it on. All you gonna
do is kind of match baskets, you know what I mean.
They're gonna have a run. You just gotta not let
it string into you know, giving up a scoring fourteen
points in the third quarter, having a dud quarter like
that when they pick up eleven points. I mean, that's
(03:30):
the ballgame. And the other part, and why I say
it's a choke is they lost three games at home.
You can't be defending champs and feel like you have
a chance to maybe repeat Chris and lose three games
at home in a series that you lost four games
to three. You didn't lose three games at home and
lose four games to one and where you were never
(03:52):
in it or whatever. You lost a seven game series
where you lost three at home, including Game seven, where
you were up by twenty. It's an ultimate choke job,
especially by a defending child.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
See, I would disagree, and I would say that it
was a fantastic comeback by Minnesota. And I say that
because I feel like you choke when you're the better team,
and I think Minnesota proved it was the better team.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
Now close, I mean seven game series.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Obviously, I'm not saying they're head and shoulders above the Nuggets,
but I felt rob they they outplayed Denver decisively, as
decisively as you could in a close seven game series,
like when the lost in a row.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
They won.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Yeah, I'm about to explain that they won three out
of four, as you mentioned in Denver very hard to do.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
They won a game by.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Forty five points, led by fifty.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
I mean that. If that isn't supremacy, I don't know
what is.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
And then in game seven they are down twenty, and
I'm sure saying in themselves, hold up, we've beaten this
team twice on this floor.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
We've beaten them by or or led them by fifty.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
We can definitely outscored them by twenty now, and they
did it, and in fact outscored in by thirty at
one point in the span of you know, a little
over like about a quarter and a half and rob
throughout the series.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
The seven games checked this out.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
The Timberwolves were superior to the Nuggets in every single way.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
They scored more points over the seven games.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
They shot better from the field, they made more free throws,
they had more rebounds, more assists, more steals, more blocks,
and fewer turnovers. They beat them in every way. Now close,
but they beat them. What Denver had was the best
player in the world. But as far as the team,
(06:01):
Minnesota is better ron their best player. If Yo Kic
go seven six for twenty four like Anthony Edwards did,
is there any way Denver's winning.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
No, Well, but that answered that answers my question.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
I mean that that builds my case on why it
was such a choke job by Denver Chris just because
of that reason, Anthony Edwards has has a horrendous six
for twenty.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
Four shooting game.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Yeah, that's what I'm talking about, shooting and you lose
that game at home when you're up by twenty.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
It's a it's a choke. Other players stepped up, but
that's a that's a choke. McDaniels Carl. You can't count
on that. I'm not when your game count on him
every night. No, no, no, But they know I get it.
But that's why I say it's a choke. Yeah, I
I I don't think like I said, I think that
it was a great comeback. But Denver or Minnesota's depth
(06:56):
and their defense, that's what they had. We know Denver
didn't have the depth that it had last year, and
ultimately that came back to bite them.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
Rob.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Denver had four players in the series average double figure points.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
Minnesota has six.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Minnesota played a game without Rudy Gobert and then another
game without Mike Connelly, like.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
They played two games without a starter.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
I mean, so they just proved to me, they proved
that they were the better team.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
Simple as that.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
I got Minnesota going all the way. Rob, I give
you know, Dallas obviously a chance. I got Minnesota in six.
But I think you know Dallas is a good team.
So who is your at this point? Who do you
Because I think you had picked Denver.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Taken down, you got Dallas and now people will still
be mad because the European player will still wind up
being in the mix. I know we've seen some American
basketball is back now.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
Because the jobs from Nick Young. That doesn't make sense. No,
I don't you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
I mean, Anthony Edwards is wonderful and we all you know,
lik him, but he at this point, rob a, he's
not better than Yokid.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
I mean that's what That's what I thought, Like, Okay,
they won the series, but let's not get let's not
get crazy.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Yeah, I mean, sometimes rob people because when you have
a debate about players and who's better, whether it's gold,
whether it's just two players, who's better, And because rings
are a part of the discussion, rob or wins are
a part of the discussion, some people take go overboard
(08:40):
and to the extreme and feel like just because you
won your team one means you, as an individual player
are better.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
It doesn't mean that. I just talked about Rob the.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Depth how that's what you know, saved Minnesota and enabled
them to prevail. So yeah, but it's a good win
and isn't rob We are talking. We talked about this
a week or two ago. This is the era of parody.
This will be the sixth new champion in or six
(09:14):
different champions in the last six years. Brust winner has
never gotten past the second round in it.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
The following year after they won it is and it
feels good.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
I mean, Rob, we know the seventies the league was
was really messed up.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
A lot of drugs.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
There was a lot of stuff going on, right and
for the first half of the decade, half of the
best players in the world were in the ABA, not
the NBA. So it was a lot a lot that
the league had going on that it had to correct.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
But now all of that it was. It was not good.
Now if the.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Parody to me is good because you out all these
great young players, Jo Kic, Anthony Edwards, Luka, Jason Tatum.
Let's see what John Moran looks like when he comes back.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
He's almost on the back burner, isn't he.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
I said, well, he is right now, But obviously I'm
just I would imagine he can still play.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
He's been out of the league for a year and
I'm just saying it's just on foot.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
I haven't forgotten about him because I expect him to
come back and be I mean, people talking about Anthony Edwards.
Jah wasn't just as good. He wasn't the defender Edwards,
but he was fantastic so you've got a lot of
these great young players, Rob kind of fighting to see
which one can maybe take over this era. Yeah, I
(10:36):
ain't even mentioned Giannis and Embiid and guys like that.
So it's very exciting.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Odd Couple
with Chris Brussard and Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm
Eastern four pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the
iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 6 (10:52):
Palie Fusco with Tony Fusco, you know, as the host
of the number one rated Paully and Tony Fusco Show,
we get tons and tons.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Of fan mail, read piles of it.
Speaker 6 (11:01):
In fact, Tony, why don't you open up one of
those letters right now and read what's inside?
Speaker 7 (11:04):
Hey, listen to this. Dear Paulie and Tony, your sports
takes the dumbest and most terrible.
Speaker 4 (11:10):
Wait, why open this other one?
Speaker 7 (11:12):
Dear Paulie and TONI you suck more than anyone. Wait,
Dear Paulie and Tony, you guys are the absolute best.
There you go coming up with the stupidest take.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Get Just listen to the ton Fusco Show on the
iHeart Radio app, Apple.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Yea.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Our next guest is an NBA champion, Serious XM, NBA
Radio New Orleans Pelicans color analysts, and of course Fox
Sports Radio NBA analysts our man, Antonio Dan. You now, Antonio,
I was looking for I was looking forward to this
because I was like, Antonio, jump on me, come on
(11:56):
here and gloat with me, because I've been giving it
to Rob for saying that the Timberwolves wouldn't win another
game and that the series was over and.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
That I had jumped the gun.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Well that so, yeah, he reminded me that you you
jumped off the Timberwolves. You did, and and picked the
Nuggets after it was three to two.
Speaker 6 (12:18):
What the thing is, I picked the Nuggets from the beginning.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
Oh you picked the nugget. Okay, So you didn't pick
the t Wolves. Oh okay, okay, okay. I thought you
picked it in the beginning. I think I did. I
really thought you picked the t Wolves.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
But but you from the beginning, how surprised from the jump.
Speaker 6 (12:36):
I was wrong on both of these series. I was
wrong on this series and I was also wrong on
the Nitt Pacer series.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
Yeah, we want to hear both of your takes.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Uh, how surprised are you at what we saw in
the Denver Minnesota.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
That's a big turnaround.
Speaker 6 (12:50):
I say the thing, I'm not as surprised as I
am impressed, if that makes sense. I'm not a surprise
with the way it turned out. I'm more impressed with
the fact that Minnesota the way that did it. Like
all of us whose job it is to speak on
these games and talk about these games, will be completely lying.
If we knew that Minnesota would win by forty five.
Speaker 4 (13:11):
In Game six, that was crazy, no box, that's for me.
Speaker 6 (13:16):
The fact that that is a close out game for
the Denver Nuggets and they beat the Nuggets by forty five.
Forty five, But okay, that's cool. Now if you're the
Nuggets to get it all right, we get a Game
seven at home, so maybe we fall back a little bit.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
Yep.
Speaker 6 (13:32):
One fact that they were down what they were down
in Denver and fought back, with Anthony Edwards struggling the
way that he struggling. I am so impressed with the
way that the Minnesota Timberwills play. I'd run out of
adjuda to describe him, honestly.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
But that's why I called it a choke job by
by uh no, No, I'm gonna tell you why, because
just what you talked about. First of all, you're at home.
First of all, you've lost three home games in the series. Okay,
you Anthony Edwards six for twenty four, one of their
best players, their best player, doesn't even put turning of
(14:07):
that kind of performance that you would have in a
game seven, and you go from a twenty point lead
to an eight point loss.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
That's a twenty eight point turner run.
Speaker 6 (14:16):
I did it. But here's the thing, I tell you,
the one thing I was right about with the Denver Nuggets.
I have been saying from day one that the lack
of death and Denver would be a problem. And on
our show, I don't know how many Denver Nuggets fans
calling in and let me have it. Oh, you don't
watch the Denver Nuggets the way we do. Christian Brown
and Peyton Watson and all these guys are just as
(14:38):
good as Bruce Brown and Jeff Green and all those guys,
And then reared his ugly head. What the fact of
the matter is the Denver Nuggets, when those five don't
play well, they're in trouble because they have nowhere else
to go when they don't have defensive versatility, they don't
have experience, they don't have anything whatsoever coming up the bench.
So it was those five against the world.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
Okay, let's go check ahead.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
I thought, well, I thought Antonio Minnesota was the better team.
I think, as you said, they're they're deeper, they're more versatile. Uh,
And they out played Denver over the course of the
seven games, and in every factor the stats, every statistical category,
(15:22):
they were better in. So I think they were the
better team. And we're really in an interesting era Antonio
of parody. Right, this will be the sixth straight new
champion or different champion in the last six years. And
I think the best players, the Jokich's, the Lucas, the
(15:44):
eventually win Benyama, the Anthony Edwards, the Yannis Is they're
kind of battling to see, Okay, who's going to emerge
as kind.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
Of the top player of this new era.
Speaker 6 (15:57):
You with me on that, Yeah, I mean what we
see and it's awesome when you get a chance to
kind of see it up close and personal, is we're
watching the torch being passed, and we saw this because
some of the best players in this league of past
or yester year we're eliminated. Kevin Duran was at home,
(16:17):
Lebron James was at home. Steph Curry was at home.
You know that you can go through some of the
older players that we've been accustomed to seeing this time
of year. Every year, year after year after year, we've
seen the tors pass. You know, Now you have young
stars Sga, Jaylen Brunton, you know, Jarif Haliburton, Luca go
(16:38):
down the list, Anthony Edwards, go down the list of
different guys right now that are younger and that have
now pushed their team to this particular point. It's I
love it. I love it. I love the fact, like
I don't have a dog in the fight, obviously, but
I love the fact that there is going to be
a different champion. I love the fact there's going to
(16:58):
be a different champion, you know, and right Jason Tatum,
Daylon Brown, all these young guys that are up and coming,
It's going to be a battle, and for me that
makes it more exciting.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Let me ask you about the Knicks, and I know
they were banged up and injuries and whatnot, but that game,
I still felt like they won the first two games
they had to lose four out of five. How do
you register or reconcile that that they lost in Game
seven in a way that it went Do you just
attributed to injuries or because that game was over even
(17:31):
before Brunton got a broken hand?
Speaker 4 (17:34):
How do you get get that?
Speaker 6 (17:36):
I don't attribute it to injury. I mean, obviously that's
a factor. But you can say that every year for
every team. There's been no team that's ever moved on
to an NBA Championship where something has to go on
their way, right. You can remember when Golden State won
years back, and everybody that they met on the way
was without their starting right card. Yeah, the year Toronto won,
there was no Kevin Durant and no play time. Like,
(17:59):
you can say that every year. The thing is you
got to give credit what credits due. Indiana ended up
being the tougher team, which is hard to do because
you have two blue collar teams going head to head,
Indiana being the more blue collar team, being the deeper
team that made it like, we didn't expect TJ McConnell
and Obi top End and Jackson and those guys that
(18:22):
have the impact on the series that they had none
of us did. I didn't even know, because what I
saw in this series was a team that kind of
changed identities. I was worried about whether or not Indiana's
identity in the regular season of being a showtime Lakers
team up and down path and trying to outscore you,
if that can translate to the postseason. But you know
(18:42):
what they did. They defended. They actually picked up ninety
four feet quite often, which is very rare to see
in today's NBA. They were the tougher of the two
blue collar teams when it mattered most.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
It was strange, Antonio, that they were able, because usually
you can't just turn it on in the playoffs and say,
you know what, let's defend. Now, you know what, I'm right,
But they did, which I know, we know Rick carl
as a good defensive coach. But for their players to
do that, and you're right, become good defenders in the playoffs,
and you just don't see.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
That very often.
Speaker 6 (19:16):
You never see that. I don't believe. I don't believe
in the proverbial switch. I've heard Jimmy Butler talk about that,
like you know, when the playoff comes, I hit the switch.
And I don't believe in that, like I feel like
it's something that's been there all year, but it's something
they didn't lean into and to the playoffs to they
actually realized they had to being down two and then realizing,
you know what, man, we got to beat the Knicks
(19:38):
four out of five times. And this is why if
you have an opportunity to close out in game six,
this is why Denver surprised me in approaching game six
the way that they did, because anything can happen in
game seven. And by anything meaning a team can go
out and not miss a shot for the entire first half.
Speaker 4 (19:55):
I mean they missed nine shots. That was incredible.
Speaker 6 (20:00):
And this is why you don't want to go to
a game seven because you hear the cliche statement all
the time, Well, anything can happen in a game seven. Yeah,
a team can go out and not miss a shot
in the first half. And then a team in your
best player can fracture at hand in a game seven, right, Like,
so many things can happen in a game seven. This
is why when you have the opportunity to close out
(20:20):
a team, you have to close them out and don't
play with your food.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
What kind of chance do you give Indiana against Boston?
Speaker 6 (20:28):
I give them a chance. I give them. It's because
I have my I have my worries with Boston, but
with Indiana, I mean, it's one of those things where
everybody they've played has not been healthy. And I don't
blame them. I don't blame them one bit. Your job
is to play who's in front of you. So now
they play the underman Milwaukee team with no Giannis, they
play the underman New York Knicks team. Now they're playing
(20:50):
an under man Boston Subjics team when no Christos worth
Ini is three for the first two games. My issue
with Boston again, one is depth, and two is I
don't know how much I trust Boston in the last
five minutes of a game as far as offensive execution
is concerned. Really good team, only team in the league
where everybody on the floor is a legitimate three point shooter.
(21:13):
But I'll tell you what, when it gets close and
it's five minutes, I see a lot of one on onman.
I see a lot of Jayson Tatum going one on one.
Speaker 4 (21:21):
I see.
Speaker 6 (21:25):
I need when it works. When it works, it's fantastic.
When it works, it's great. But what happens when those
one leg fadeaways that Jason Tatum is shooting goes aren't falling,
or you know, all of a sudden, you have a
team that's cuted in and then zoned in on Jaln
Brown and they're taking away what he does best. How
does the Boston So because the thing about Boston, they
(21:47):
haven't been tested yet. Everybody else that's playing right now
has been tested somewhat to some degree, and Boston hasn't
been tested yet. So I definitely do give Indiana a
shot here. I don't think they're going to win that series,
but I do give them a chance.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
In thirty seconds before you go, who you like in
the West MAVs or the t Wolves.
Speaker 6 (22:07):
Oh man, this is it. Like, it's hard for me
to picture anybody beatn Minnesota. It's hard. You're gonna have
Anthony Edwards on Kyrie Irving, you're gonna hunt Jada McDaniels
on Luca. But on the other side, man, they can
hunt matchups. Yes, with Rudy Gobert. I'm interested to see
how involved Rudy go Gibert can be as a defensive
(22:29):
Player of the Year and if Luca and Kyrie are
going to hunt that matchup. With all that being said,
I'm gonna take Minnesota. I'm gonna take Minnesota in seven.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
I'm seven.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
Wow, I got Minnesota in six. Obviously, can see it
going seven. I agree, I think Antonio, if Gobert is
a problem, Like for the Timberwolves, will they go small?
We know they can go small, but I actually thought
there were times they could have, or at least I
thought they should have gone small without go bet even
(23:02):
Game seven, and to their credit, they didn't, you know
what I mean, they kept him in there.
Speaker 4 (23:08):
Well, I hear you. They're still big.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
But I'm just saying, you got towns and read and knives,
you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (23:15):
And Rudy's on the bench. That's all I'm saying. But
will they do that?
Speaker 6 (23:19):
I don't know, right because that goes away from what
they've done throughout the course of the season. Right, That's
hard to do this time of year, right, I hear you?
Speaker 4 (23:27):
Yeah? All right, that's our man, Antonio Daniels.
Speaker 6 (23:30):
Great stuff, for sure. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
So Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup
in the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsportsradio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to listen. Live.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
We brought up the Celtics in the last segment about Luca.
This is my statement about the Celtics. They need to
win the championship. Nothing else will suffice. Getting to the
finals is not enough. Now that den't go this Yep.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
If they're not at full strength, did somebody gets to
get to the finals?
Speaker 4 (24:13):
But not right now? That's what I'm asking. That's that's
what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
So, I mean that always does, but change something like
if Jason Tatum or Jalen Brown gets hurt, that changes something.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
I'm just saying from the standpoint of like what they
are right now. I'm just saying them not having a
big guy like that against a team like that.
Speaker 4 (24:34):
Well, he Pa.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
Zinga should be back by the time they get to
the final finals. Okay, they said not because they're saying
he might miss the first two games.
Speaker 4 (24:42):
Okay, I got you. So I'm assuming he's going to
be healthy.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
But if they lose to Indiana, Rob Joe Missoula needs
to be fired. I mean, what what what what in
the world could justify you keeping him if they lose
to the freaking Indiana Pacers. All Right, they were a
(25:09):
team when he took over that had just reached the
finals with em Udoka, and now you were disappointed in
the playoffs last year, and you would be disappointing again
this year.
Speaker 4 (25:24):
And Rob, that won't be enough.
Speaker 6 (25:27):
Now.
Speaker 4 (25:27):
If they get to the finals, Joe Missoula's job will
be safe, and that's fine.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
But I'm saying, Rob, if they get to the finals
and they are healthy, they are intact, then if they
don't win it, they need to shake something up. Trade
Jalen Brown, what you need a shakeup? Because Rob, this
(25:54):
is the sixth time in the last eight years they've.
Speaker 4 (25:58):
Been to the Eastern Conference finals.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
If you check throughout the history of the league, any
team that has been to the conference finals six times
in eight years has won at least won championship, if
not multiple.
Speaker 4 (26:12):
You gotta at least get one.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
I'm with you on that, and Rob, if they had
gotten to the finals and lost to Denver, I think
people as disappointed in Boston as they would have been.
You would have been like, hey, we ran into a
better team. There's no shame in losing to the best
player in the world and the defending champions. We're disappointed,
(26:39):
but it is what it is. We'll get them next year.
Now that Denver's gone, rap Yo, you shouldn't lose to
the And I'm not saying I'm not picking them. I
said last series that I think the Western Conference winner
I got Minnesota winning at all. But Boston, which as
(27:01):
I said, has been to the conference finals six times
in the last eight years, has been to the finals once.
If they they're the most experienced team left.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
Dallas is young.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
Luka Donca Drob, believe it or not, is younger than
Jason Tatum. We don't think of it because Luca has
been a superstar essentially since he stepped into the league.
But he's younger, and then of course Anthony Edwards just
twenty two years old.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
So my point is this, Rob, it was you would
to lose to.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Golden State, a proven champion, that was, hey, you gotta
beat the champs and they couldn't.
Speaker 4 (27:48):
That was forgivable to lose to Denver. Same thing. Can
we get it to lose to a.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
Younger team than you that all these years you've been
going to the conference finals has been nowhere to be found.
Now you will have been surpassed by a younger star
and team. No that that can't happen. If you're the Celtics.
(28:16):
It's so they gotta.
Speaker 4 (28:17):
Win it all. To me, I understand. I don't think
that that's so outrageous.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Like, at some point you can't keep doing the same things,
and there's a path that's there for them, Chris, and
if they don't take advantage of it or get to
the point where they can finally win a championship, you
gotta wonder if they're ever going to get there, right.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
Yeah, I mean, Rob, I would start thinking, Okay, they're
this generation Sacramento Kings right with Chris Webber, and they're
going to get the Oklahoma City Thunder with Durant and Westbrook,
the Phoenix Suns with Steve Nash and Amar Stodermaring, those guys,
like all those great teams that could never get over the.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
Hump, and it can happen. You think that you keep going.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
On and it'll change or you know what I mean, Chris,
or or you'll get there eventually and before you know it,
it doesn't happen. So at this point, I'm with you.
They've been together long enough, they've had a lot of runs.
If they can't get there, you have to look at
it and go we gotta shake this up. We gotta
we gotta split them up. We need to bring somebody
(29:30):
else in that maybe will compliment, uh, you know, Tatum,
you know, or do something different than Tatum or whatever
it is. But I do agree with you and and Mossola.
He got the job by default. Let's just be honest.
And to his credit, Chris, I'm not poo pooing him.
(29:50):
He wasn't even a first bench assistant. He was sitting
in the second bed job. Okay, like they like, They
just they picked him. And to his credit, they've continued
to win. They got talent. Maybe not where you want
to go, Chris, it's hard to argue at the record.
Speaker 4 (30:07):
Can we say that?
Speaker 6 (30:08):
Right?
Speaker 3 (30:09):
The record was great, by far, the best record in
the league. But Rob, if they were in the West,
they wouldn't have that record.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
No, I get it, but they're not in the West.
Speaker 4 (30:17):
I No, I'm not holding it against them. But I'm
saying I'm not fool. Now maybe I'll be proving wrong.
I'm not fool.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
I don't think they're the best team in the league.
The record would say so. Well, they were the best
record in the league by a nice margin. But and
they haven't been tested yet. Miami was injured, Cleveland was injured.
Now you get in Indiana team that's young and completely inexperienced,
(30:51):
and when they get to the finals, it's going to
be a culture shot as far as the competition. But Rob,
here's why I'm saying this needs to be the year
because Dallas, Rob, next year they gonna be better. Minnesota
next year they gonna be better. Okayc gonna be better.
(31:16):
Philadelphia if they're healthy, will be better. Milwaukee you would
think would be better. I mean, teams are going to
get better. This is the year for Boston to snatched
that championship. And like I'm saying, if they can't do
(31:38):
it this year, Rob Winter or they gonna do it,
I think Denver's gonna be back and better. They're gonna
make some moves, so they gotta go get it done.
And look, they did some shake ups last year. Remember
they got rid of Marcus Smart, they brought in Drew Holiday.
But the thing I see with them, Rob, is I
(32:00):
feel like under email Doka, they were a tough, hard
nosed team. Now some of that is that Marcus Smart
was there. Robert Williams the third was also there. You
gotta admit you don't have those guys anymore. They've chosen
to go the finesse route. They got the all five
(32:23):
of their starters can can drop threes. They spread that
floor like their Finesse team. And that's fine if it works.
But I'm skeptical, and I like, I want you know,
I want finesse. I want shooting ability obviously, but I
also want some some toughness.
Speaker 4 (32:46):
And uh, we'll see Rob.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
But I'm just saying, if I am a Celtics fan, player, employee, whatever,
there is no excuse.
Speaker 4 (32:57):
We have got to get it done. This is our
you here.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
And I think for Zingas will be back for the finals,
but condor Rob even if he isn't. Now, I mean,
obviously Minnesota is a big team, but Dallas, I mean
Lucas playing, but he's playing banged up, So I think
they gotta get it done.
Speaker 4 (33:19):
The problem is.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
People don't have confidence in them, and no matter who
comes out of the West, you probably won't feel good
about the Celtics having a chance to win, would you.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
Well I won't, but there are people that will been
telling the house is gonna pick them.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
I mean, I mean, I'm just saying, and there and
they pay him we get it, Chris. I mean, let's not.
Speaker 4 (33:49):
Analytics does well.
Speaker 3 (33:51):
He will tell you he's objected, or I think, okay,
the analytics crew likes Boston.
Speaker 4 (33:58):
Their analytics are are hot. But here here's the thing.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
We've also seen with the analytics. And when you miss
those threes and you go seven for thirty five or whatever,
right like, those nights happen.
Speaker 4 (34:09):
Oh and that's why they have some bizarre nights Boston.
But rob the analytics. And this is also true in baseball.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
Analytics even out over eighty two games or in Baseball
one hundred and.
Speaker 4 (34:22):
Sixty two yep. But we're talking about a short a
seven game series. We're talking about seven games.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
And also, Chris, analytics they can't factor in the stress level,
the pressure of the postseason.
Speaker 4 (34:36):
I don't care. There are guys who you might.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
Say, oh yeah, his analytics, or you put this guy
up not in the bottom of the ninth Chris, of
a postseason game, right seriously.
Speaker 4 (34:46):
It does.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
Analytics don't tell you who's cold blooded, yep, who's got
ice in their veins? Who panics? Who the moment right now?
It tells you none of them.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
Sometimes that's a feel where you're like this dude can
get a I know he can't, or he can make
a three.
Speaker 4 (35:02):
We need a three here, yep, I agree, I agree,
so we will see.
Speaker 3 (35:07):
But to me, Rob, of all the teams, Dallas, it
will be their first time Luca in the finals. Look,
I know they wouldn't be happy again. I said for them,
this is an opportunity for them. But you know, if
they lost, you'd be like, Okay, next year, they're coming
back better than ever. Right, if Minnesota loses, you'll be like,
(35:28):
man An, it's twenty two.
Speaker 4 (35:29):
Our future is bright.
Speaker 3 (35:32):
And in the end, of course, Rob, you know this
is a good building block for them already.
Speaker 4 (35:39):
No, no Boston on the entire field. Boston must win
the championship.
Thanks for listening to the best of the Odd Couple podcasts.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday from seven
pm to ten pm Eastern four to seven Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for The Odd
Couple at Foxsports Radio dot com, or stream us live
every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
You're listening to the best of the Odd Couple with
Chris Bruson and Ron Harker.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
One of the things that made my weekend so good
was the Minnesota Timberwolves doing exactly what I said they
would do, which is beating the Denver Nuggets in seven games.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
Now, it's just fun to be right, you know. You
know that ride. We throw out our predictions and you
love we drive for it. Are you kidding?
Speaker 1 (00:54):
In the first half, Chris, I had baby oil going. Okay,
I just want you to know that.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
You ain't no baby oil going.
Speaker 5 (01:01):
Now that's for Dodge. I'm just telling you because after
the Knicks lost in seven. You remember I had the
Pacers baby oil. I was feeling good. I was feeling good,
and that did not come to fruition.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
Well, here's why it didn't come to version. Here was what.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Rob Parker after Game five, when the Nuggets took a
three to two lead, a microwave take.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Here we go, time to rehitch an old hot take
that's gone color.
Speaker 6 (01:31):
It's just the metal.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
It's microwave take with the Ondcup.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
I'm feeling the same way about Denver, and I think
that this is a six game series as well, and
Minnesota doesn't win again.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
Wow, Well, what you didn't hear is.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Chris bruceide you up prisoner of the moment.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
You're always wrong. You get just better than Shack.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
All of that madness I had to listen to, knowing
I would be vindicated, but I have just take it.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
And now Rob Parker must eat his words.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
And Rob, here's what I want to ask you. I'm
not gonna be labor this. Do you think that what
we saw because Denver was up fifteen and half and
twenty Rob in the in the early in the third quarter,
right like about ten and a half minutes left in
the third quarter.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
That's a twenty eight point turnaround Chris twenty. It was
by eight. No, but I'm saying to lose by right,
and at one point they were down ten, right, you
know what I'm saying?
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Yeah, So do you think this was a collapse I'm
sorry by Denver? Or was this a great comeback by Minnesota?
And we know there's a mix of both, but what
do you think is more predominant.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
I call it a chow and I call it a
choke job on Denver's part, Chris, not just.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
It's twofold.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Obviously, twenty points in the third quarter at home, you
don't even have to pour it on. All you gonna
do is kind of match baskets, you know what I mean.
They're gonna have a run. You just gotta not let
it string into you know, giving up a scoring fourteen
points in the third quarter, having a dud quarter like
that when they pick up eleven points. I mean, that's
(03:30):
the ballgame. And the other part, and why I say
it's a choke is they lost three games at home.
You can't be defending champs and feel like you have
a chance to maybe repeat Chris and lose three games
at home in a series that you lost four games
to three. You didn't lose three games at home and
lose four games to one and where you were never
(03:52):
in it or whatever. You lost a seven game series
where you lost three at home, including Game seven, where
you were up by twenty. It's an ultimate choke job,
especially by a defending child.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
See, I would disagree, and I would say that it
was a fantastic comeback by Minnesota. And I say that
because I feel like you choke when you're the better team,
and I think Minnesota proved it was the better team.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
Now close, I mean seven game series.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Obviously, I'm not saying they're head and shoulders above the Nuggets,
but I felt rob they they outplayed Denver decisively, as
decisively as you could in a close seven game series,
like when the lost in a row.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
They won.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Yeah, I'm about to explain that they won three out
of four, as you mentioned in Denver very hard to do.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
They won a game by.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Forty five points, led by fifty.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
I mean that. If that isn't supremacy, I don't know
what is.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
And then in game seven they are down twenty, and
I'm sure saying in themselves, hold up, we've beaten this
team twice on this floor.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
We've beaten them by or or led them by fifty.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
We can definitely outscored them by twenty now, and they
did it, and in fact outscored in by thirty at
one point in the span of you know, a little
over like about a quarter and a half and rob
throughout the series.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
The seven games checked this out.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
The Timberwolves were superior to the Nuggets in every single way.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
They scored more points over the seven games.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
They shot better from the field, they made more free throws,
they had more rebounds, more assists, more steals, more blocks,
and fewer turnovers. They beat them in every way. Now close,
but they beat them. What Denver had was the best
player in the world. But as far as the team,
(06:01):
Minnesota is better ron their best player. If Yo Kic
go seven six for twenty four like Anthony Edwards did,
is there any way Denver's winning.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
No, Well, but that answered that answers my question.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
I mean that that builds my case on why it
was such a choke job by Denver Chris just because
of that reason, Anthony Edwards has has a horrendous six
for twenty.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
Four shooting game.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Yeah, that's what I'm talking about, shooting and you lose
that game at home when you're up by twenty.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
It's a it's a choke. Other players stepped up, but
that's a that's a choke. McDaniels Carl. You can't count
on that. I'm not when your game count on him
every night. No, no, no, But they know I get it.
But that's why I say it's a choke. Yeah, I
I I don't think like I said, I think that
it was a great comeback. But Denver or Minnesota's depth
(06:56):
and their defense, that's what they had. We know Denver
didn't have the depth that it had last year, and
ultimately that came back to bite them.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
Rob.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Denver had four players in the series average double figure points.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
Minnesota has six.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Minnesota played a game without Rudy Gobert and then another
game without Mike Connelly, like.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
They played two games without a starter.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
I mean, so they just proved to me, they proved
that they were the better team.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
Simple as that.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
I got Minnesota going all the way. Rob, I give
you know, Dallas obviously a chance. I got Minnesota in six.
But I think you know Dallas is a good team.
So who is your at this point? Who do you
Because I think you had picked Denver.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Taken down, you got Dallas and now people will still
be mad because the European player will still wind up
being in the mix. I know we've seen some American
basketball is back now.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
Because the jobs from Nick Young. That doesn't make sense. No,
I don't you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
I mean, Anthony Edwards is wonderful and we all you know,
lik him, but he at this point, rob a, he's
not better than Yokid.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
I mean that's what That's what I thought, Like, Okay,
they won the series, but let's not get let's not
get crazy.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Yeah, I mean, sometimes rob people because when you have
a debate about players and who's better, whether it's gold,
whether it's just two players, who's better, And because rings
are a part of the discussion, rob or wins are
a part of the discussion, some people take go overboard
(08:40):
and to the extreme and feel like just because you
won your team one means you, as an individual player
are better.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
It doesn't mean that. I just talked about Rob the.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Depth how that's what you know, saved Minnesota and enabled
them to prevail. So yeah, but it's a good win
and isn't rob We are talking. We talked about this
a week or two ago. This is the era of parody.
This will be the sixth new champion in or six
(09:14):
different champions in the last six years. Brust winner has
never gotten past the second round in it.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
The following year after they won it is and it
feels good.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
I mean, Rob, we know the seventies the league was
was really messed up.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
A lot of drugs.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
There was a lot of stuff going on, right and
for the first half of the decade, half of the
best players in the world were in the ABA, not
the NBA. So it was a lot a lot that
the league had going on that it had to correct.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
But now all of that it was. It was not good.
Now if the.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Parody to me is good because you out all these
great young players, Jo Kic, Anthony Edwards, Luka, Jason Tatum.
Let's see what John Moran looks like when he comes back.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
He's almost on the back burner, isn't he.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
I said, well, he is right now, But obviously I'm
just I would imagine he can still play.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
He's been out of the league for a year and
I'm just saying it's just on foot.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
I haven't forgotten about him because I expect him to
come back and be I mean, people talking about Anthony Edwards.
Jah wasn't just as good. He wasn't the defender Edwards,
but he was fantastic so you've got a lot of
these great young players, Rob kind of fighting to see
which one can maybe take over this era. Yeah, I
(10:36):
ain't even mentioned Giannis and Embiid and guys like that.
So it's very exciting.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Odd Couple
with Chris Brussard and Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm
Eastern four pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the
iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 6 (10:52):
Palie Fusco with Tony Fusco, you know, as the host
of the number one rated Paully and Tony Fusco Show,
we get tons and tons.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Of fan mail, read piles of it.
Speaker 6 (11:01):
In fact, Tony, why don't you open up one of
those letters right now and read what's inside?
Speaker 7 (11:04):
Hey, listen to this. Dear Paulie and Tony, your sports
takes the dumbest and most terrible.
Speaker 4 (11:10):
Wait, why open this other one?
Speaker 7 (11:12):
Dear Paulie and TONI you suck more than anyone. Wait,
Dear Paulie and Tony, you guys are the absolute best.
There you go coming up with the stupidest take.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Get Just listen to the ton Fusco Show on the
iHeart Radio app, Apple.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Yea.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Our next guest is an NBA champion, Serious XM, NBA
Radio New Orleans Pelicans color analysts, and of course Fox
Sports Radio NBA analysts our man, Antonio Dan. You now, Antonio,
I was looking for I was looking forward to this
because I was like, Antonio, jump on me, come on
(11:56):
here and gloat with me, because I've been giving it
to Rob for saying that the Timberwolves wouldn't win another
game and that the series was over and.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
That I had jumped the gun.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Well that so, yeah, he reminded me that you you
jumped off the Timberwolves. You did, and and picked the
Nuggets after it was three to two.
Speaker 6 (12:18):
What the thing is, I picked the Nuggets from the beginning.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
Oh you picked the nugget. Okay, So you didn't pick
the t Wolves. Oh okay, okay, okay. I thought you
picked it in the beginning. I think I did. I
really thought you picked the t Wolves.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
But but you from the beginning, how surprised from the jump.
Speaker 6 (12:36):
I was wrong on both of these series. I was
wrong on this series and I was also wrong on
the Nitt Pacer series.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
Yeah, we want to hear both of your takes.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Uh, how surprised are you at what we saw in
the Denver Minnesota.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
That's a big turnaround.
Speaker 6 (12:50):
I say the thing, I'm not as surprised as I
am impressed, if that makes sense. I'm not a surprise
with the way it turned out. I'm more impressed with
the fact that Minnesota the way that did it. Like
all of us whose job it is to speak on
these games and talk about these games, will be completely lying.
If we knew that Minnesota would win by forty five.
Speaker 4 (13:11):
In Game six, that was crazy, no box, that's for me.
Speaker 6 (13:16):
The fact that that is a close out game for
the Denver Nuggets and they beat the Nuggets by forty five.
Forty five, But okay, that's cool. Now if you're the
Nuggets to get it all right, we get a Game
seven at home, so maybe we fall back a little bit.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
Yep.
Speaker 6 (13:32):
One fact that they were down what they were down
in Denver and fought back, with Anthony Edwards struggling the
way that he struggling. I am so impressed with the
way that the Minnesota Timberwills play. I'd run out of
adjuda to describe him, honestly.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
But that's why I called it a choke job by
by uh no, No, I'm gonna tell you why, because
just what you talked about. First of all, you're at home.
First of all, you've lost three home games in the series. Okay,
you Anthony Edwards six for twenty four, one of their
best players, their best player, doesn't even put turning of
(14:07):
that kind of performance that you would have in a
game seven, and you go from a twenty point lead
to an eight point loss.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
That's a twenty eight point turner run.
Speaker 6 (14:16):
I did it. But here's the thing, I tell you,
the one thing I was right about with the Denver Nuggets.
I have been saying from day one that the lack
of death and Denver would be a problem. And on
our show, I don't know how many Denver Nuggets fans
calling in and let me have it. Oh, you don't
watch the Denver Nuggets the way we do. Christian Brown
and Peyton Watson and all these guys are just as
(14:38):
good as Bruce Brown and Jeff Green and all those guys,
And then reared his ugly head. What the fact of
the matter is the Denver Nuggets, when those five don't
play well, they're in trouble because they have nowhere else
to go when they don't have defensive versatility, they don't
have experience, they don't have anything whatsoever coming up the bench.
So it was those five against the world.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
Okay, let's go check ahead.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
I thought, well, I thought Antonio Minnesota was the better team.
I think, as you said, they're they're deeper, they're more versatile. Uh,
And they out played Denver over the course of the
seven games, and in every factor the stats, every statistical category,
(15:22):
they were better in. So I think they were the
better team. And we're really in an interesting era Antonio
of parody. Right, this will be the sixth straight new
champion or different champion in the last six years. And
I think the best players, the Jokich's, the Lucas, the
(15:44):
eventually win Benyama, the Anthony Edwards, the Yannis Is they're
kind of battling to see, Okay, who's going to emerge
as kind.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
Of the top player of this new era.
Speaker 6 (15:57):
You with me on that, Yeah, I mean what we
see and it's awesome when you get a chance to
kind of see it up close and personal, is we're
watching the torch being passed, and we saw this because
some of the best players in this league of past
or yester year we're eliminated. Kevin Duran was at home,
(16:17):
Lebron James was at home. Steph Curry was at home.
You know that you can go through some of the
older players that we've been accustomed to seeing this time
of year. Every year, year after year after year, we've
seen the tors pass. You know, Now you have young
stars Sga, Jaylen Brunton, you know, Jarif Haliburton, Luca go
(16:38):
down the list, Anthony Edwards, go down the list of
different guys right now that are younger and that have
now pushed their team to this particular point. It's I
love it. I love it. I love the fact, like
I don't have a dog in the fight, obviously, but
I love the fact that there is going to be
a different champion. I love the fact there's going to
(16:58):
be a different champion, you know, and right Jason Tatum,
Daylon Brown, all these young guys that are up and coming,
It's going to be a battle, and for me that
makes it more exciting.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Let me ask you about the Knicks, and I know
they were banged up and injuries and whatnot, but that game,
I still felt like they won the first two games
they had to lose four out of five. How do
you register or reconcile that that they lost in Game
seven in a way that it went Do you just
attributed to injuries or because that game was over even
(17:31):
before Brunton got a broken hand?
Speaker 4 (17:34):
How do you get get that?
Speaker 6 (17:36):
I don't attribute it to injury. I mean, obviously that's
a factor. But you can say that every year for
every team. There's been no team that's ever moved on
to an NBA Championship where something has to go on
their way, right. You can remember when Golden State won
years back, and everybody that they met on the way
was without their starting right card. Yeah, the year Toronto won,
there was no Kevin Durant and no play time. Like,
(17:59):
you can say that every year. The thing is you
got to give credit what credits due. Indiana ended up
being the tougher team, which is hard to do because
you have two blue collar teams going head to head,
Indiana being the more blue collar team, being the deeper
team that made it like, we didn't expect TJ McConnell
and Obi top End and Jackson and those guys that
(18:22):
have the impact on the series that they had none
of us did. I didn't even know, because what I
saw in this series was a team that kind of
changed identities. I was worried about whether or not Indiana's
identity in the regular season of being a showtime Lakers
team up and down path and trying to outscore you,
if that can translate to the postseason. But you know
(18:42):
what they did. They defended. They actually picked up ninety
four feet quite often, which is very rare to see
in today's NBA. They were the tougher of the two
blue collar teams when it mattered most.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
It was strange, Antonio, that they were able, because usually
you can't just turn it on in the playoffs and say,
you know what, let's defend. Now, you know what, I'm right,
But they did, which I know, we know Rick carl
as a good defensive coach. But for their players to
do that, and you're right, become good defenders in the playoffs,
and you just don't see.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
That very often.
Speaker 6 (19:16):
You never see that. I don't believe. I don't believe
in the proverbial switch. I've heard Jimmy Butler talk about that,
like you know, when the playoff comes, I hit the switch.
And I don't believe in that, like I feel like
it's something that's been there all year, but it's something
they didn't lean into and to the playoffs to they
actually realized they had to being down two and then realizing,
you know what, man, we got to beat the Knicks
(19:38):
four out of five times. And this is why if
you have an opportunity to close out in game six,
this is why Denver surprised me in approaching game six
the way that they did, because anything can happen in
game seven. And by anything meaning a team can go
out and not miss a shot for the entire first half.
Speaker 4 (19:55):
I mean they missed nine shots. That was incredible.
Speaker 6 (20:00):
And this is why you don't want to go to
a game seven because you hear the cliche statement all
the time, Well, anything can happen in a game seven. Yeah,
a team can go out and not miss a shot
in the first half. And then a team in your
best player can fracture at hand in a game seven, right, Like,
so many things can happen in a game seven. This
is why when you have the opportunity to close out
(20:20):
a team, you have to close them out and don't
play with your food.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
What kind of chance do you give Indiana against Boston?
Speaker 6 (20:28):
I give them a chance. I give them. It's because
I have my I have my worries with Boston, but
with Indiana, I mean, it's one of those things where
everybody they've played has not been healthy. And I don't
blame them. I don't blame them one bit. Your job
is to play who's in front of you. So now
they play the underman Milwaukee team with no Giannis, they
play the underman New York Knicks team. Now they're playing
(20:50):
an under man Boston Subjics team when no Christos worth
Ini is three for the first two games. My issue
with Boston again, one is depth, and two is I
don't know how much I trust Boston in the last
five minutes of a game as far as offensive execution
is concerned. Really good team, only team in the league
where everybody on the floor is a legitimate three point shooter.
(21:13):
But I'll tell you what, when it gets close and
it's five minutes, I see a lot of one on onman.
I see a lot of Jayson Tatum going one on one.
Speaker 4 (21:21):
I see.
Speaker 6 (21:25):
I need when it works. When it works, it's fantastic.
When it works, it's great. But what happens when those
one leg fadeaways that Jason Tatum is shooting goes aren't falling,
or you know, all of a sudden, you have a
team that's cuted in and then zoned in on Jaln
Brown and they're taking away what he does best. How
does the Boston So because the thing about Boston, they
(21:47):
haven't been tested yet. Everybody else that's playing right now
has been tested somewhat to some degree, and Boston hasn't
been tested yet. So I definitely do give Indiana a
shot here. I don't think they're going to win that series,
but I do give them a chance.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
In thirty seconds before you go, who you like in
the West MAVs or the t Wolves.
Speaker 6 (22:07):
Oh man, this is it. Like, it's hard for me
to picture anybody beatn Minnesota. It's hard. You're gonna have
Anthony Edwards on Kyrie Irving, you're gonna hunt Jada McDaniels
on Luca. But on the other side, man, they can
hunt matchups. Yes, with Rudy Gobert. I'm interested to see
how involved Rudy go Gibert can be as a defensive
(22:29):
Player of the Year and if Luca and Kyrie are
going to hunt that matchup. With all that being said,
I'm gonna take Minnesota. I'm gonna take Minnesota in seven.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
I'm seven.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
Wow, I got Minnesota in six. Obviously, can see it
going seven. I agree, I think Antonio, if Gobert is
a problem, Like for the Timberwolves, will they go small?
We know they can go small, but I actually thought
there were times they could have, or at least I
thought they should have gone small without go bet even
(23:02):
Game seven, and to their credit, they didn't, you know
what I mean, they kept him in there.
Speaker 4 (23:08):
Well, I hear you. They're still big.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
But I'm just saying, you got towns and read and knives,
you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (23:15):
And Rudy's on the bench. That's all I'm saying. But
will they do that?
Speaker 6 (23:19):
I don't know, right because that goes away from what
they've done throughout the course of the season. Right, That's
hard to do this time of year, right, I hear you?
Speaker 4 (23:27):
Yeah? All right, that's our man, Antonio Daniels.
Speaker 6 (23:30):
Great stuff, for sure. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
So Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup
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Speaker 3 (23:46):
We brought up the Celtics in the last segment about Luca.
This is my statement about the Celtics. They need to
win the championship. Nothing else will suffice. Getting to the
finals is not enough. Now that den't go this Yep.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
If they're not at full strength, did somebody gets to
get to the finals?
Speaker 4 (24:13):
But not right now? That's what I'm asking. That's that's
what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
So, I mean that always does, but change something like
if Jason Tatum or Jalen Brown gets hurt, that changes something.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
I'm just saying from the standpoint of like what they
are right now. I'm just saying them not having a
big guy like that against a team like that.
Speaker 4 (24:34):
Well, he Pa.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
Zinga should be back by the time they get to
the final finals. Okay, they said not because they're saying
he might miss the first two games.
Speaker 4 (24:42):
Okay, I got you. So I'm assuming he's going to
be healthy.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
But if they lose to Indiana, Rob Joe Missoula needs
to be fired. I mean, what what what what in
the world could justify you keeping him if they lose
to the freaking Indiana Pacers. All Right, they were a
(25:09):
team when he took over that had just reached the
finals with em Udoka, and now you were disappointed in
the playoffs last year, and you would be disappointing again
this year.
Speaker 4 (25:24):
And Rob, that won't be enough.
Speaker 6 (25:27):
Now.
Speaker 4 (25:27):
If they get to the finals, Joe Missoula's job will
be safe, and that's fine.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
But I'm saying, Rob, if they get to the finals
and they are healthy, they are intact, then if they
don't win it, they need to shake something up. Trade
Jalen Brown, what you need a shakeup? Because Rob, this
(25:54):
is the sixth time in the last eight years they've.
Speaker 4 (25:58):
Been to the Eastern Conference finals.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
If you check throughout the history of the league, any
team that has been to the conference finals six times
in eight years has won at least won championship, if
not multiple.
Speaker 4 (26:12):
You gotta at least get one.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
I'm with you on that, and Rob, if they had
gotten to the finals and lost to Denver, I think
people as disappointed in Boston as they would have been.
You would have been like, hey, we ran into a
better team. There's no shame in losing to the best
player in the world and the defending champions. We're disappointed,
(26:39):
but it is what it is. We'll get them next year.
Now that Denver's gone, rap Yo, you shouldn't lose to
the And I'm not saying I'm not picking them. I
said last series that I think the Western Conference winner
I got Minnesota winning at all. But Boston, which as
(27:01):
I said, has been to the conference finals six times
in the last eight years, has been to the finals once.
If they they're the most experienced team left.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
Dallas is young.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
Luka Donca Drob, believe it or not, is younger than
Jason Tatum. We don't think of it because Luca has
been a superstar essentially since he stepped into the league.
But he's younger, and then of course Anthony Edwards just
twenty two years old.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
So my point is this, Rob, it was you would
to lose to.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Golden State, a proven champion, that was, hey, you gotta
beat the champs and they couldn't.
Speaker 4 (27:48):
That was forgivable to lose to Denver. Same thing. Can
we get it to lose to a.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
Younger team than you that all these years you've been
going to the conference finals has been nowhere to be found.
Now you will have been surpassed by a younger star
and team. No that that can't happen. If you're the Celtics.
(28:16):
It's so they gotta.
Speaker 4 (28:17):
Win it all. To me, I understand. I don't think
that that's so outrageous.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Like, at some point you can't keep doing the same things,
and there's a path that's there for them, Chris, and
if they don't take advantage of it or get to
the point where they can finally win a championship, you
gotta wonder if they're ever going to get there, right.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
Yeah, I mean, Rob, I would start thinking, Okay, they're
this generation Sacramento Kings right with Chris Webber, and they're
going to get the Oklahoma City Thunder with Durant and Westbrook,
the Phoenix Suns with Steve Nash and Amar Stodermaring, those guys,
like all those great teams that could never get over the.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
Hump, and it can happen. You think that you keep going.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
On and it'll change or you know what I mean, Chris,
or or you'll get there eventually and before you know it,
it doesn't happen. So at this point, I'm with you.
They've been together long enough, they've had a lot of runs.
If they can't get there, you have to look at
it and go we gotta shake this up. We gotta
we gotta split them up. We need to bring somebody
(29:30):
else in that maybe will compliment, uh, you know, Tatum,
you know, or do something different than Tatum or whatever
it is. But I do agree with you and and Mossola.
He got the job by default. Let's just be honest.
And to his credit, Chris, I'm not poo pooing him.
(29:50):
He wasn't even a first bench assistant. He was sitting
in the second bed job. Okay, like they like, They
just they picked him. And to his credit, they've continued
to win. They got talent. Maybe not where you want
to go, Chris, it's hard to argue at the record.
Speaker 4 (30:07):
Can we say that?
Speaker 6 (30:08):
Right?
Speaker 3 (30:09):
The record was great, by far, the best record in
the league. But Rob, if they were in the West,
they wouldn't have that record.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
No, I get it, but they're not in the West.
Speaker 4 (30:17):
I No, I'm not holding it against them. But I'm
saying I'm not fool. Now maybe I'll be proving wrong.
I'm not fool.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
I don't think they're the best team in the league.
The record would say so. Well, they were the best
record in the league by a nice margin. But and
they haven't been tested yet. Miami was injured, Cleveland was injured.
Now you get in Indiana team that's young and completely inexperienced,
(30:51):
and when they get to the finals, it's going to
be a culture shot as far as the competition. But Rob,
here's why I'm saying this needs to be the year
because Dallas, Rob, next year they gonna be better. Minnesota
next year they gonna be better. Okayc gonna be better.
(31:16):
Philadelphia if they're healthy, will be better. Milwaukee you would
think would be better. I mean, teams are going to
get better. This is the year for Boston to snatched
that championship. And like I'm saying, if they can't do
(31:38):
it this year, Rob Winter or they gonna do it,
I think Denver's gonna be back and better. They're gonna
make some moves, so they gotta go get it done.
And look, they did some shake ups last year. Remember
they got rid of Marcus Smart, they brought in Drew Holiday.
But the thing I see with them, Rob, is I
(32:00):
feel like under email Doka, they were a tough, hard
nosed team. Now some of that is that Marcus Smart
was there. Robert Williams the third was also there. You
gotta admit you don't have those guys anymore. They've chosen
to go the finesse route. They got the all five
(32:23):
of their starters can can drop threes. They spread that
floor like their Finesse team. And that's fine if it works.
But I'm skeptical, and I like, I want you know,
I want finesse. I want shooting ability obviously, but I
also want some some toughness.
Speaker 4 (32:46):
And uh, we'll see Rob.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
But I'm just saying, if I am a Celtics fan, player, employee, whatever,
there is no excuse.
Speaker 4 (32:57):
We have got to get it done. This is our
you here.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
And I think for Zingas will be back for the finals,
but condor Rob even if he isn't. Now, I mean,
obviously Minnesota is a big team, but Dallas, I mean
Lucas playing, but he's playing banged up, So I think
they gotta get it done.
Speaker 4 (33:19):
The problem is.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
People don't have confidence in them, and no matter who
comes out of the West, you probably won't feel good
about the Celtics having a chance to win, would you.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
Well I won't, but there are people that will been
telling the house is gonna pick them.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
I mean, I mean, I'm just saying, and there and
they pay him we get it, Chris. I mean, let's not.
Speaker 4 (33:49):
Analytics does well.
Speaker 3 (33:51):
He will tell you he's objected, or I think, okay,
the analytics crew likes Boston.
Speaker 4 (33:58):
Their analytics are are hot. But here here's the thing.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
We've also seen with the analytics. And when you miss
those threes and you go seven for thirty five or whatever,
right like, those nights happen.
Speaker 4 (34:09):
Oh and that's why they have some bizarre nights Boston.
But rob the analytics. And this is also true in baseball.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
Analytics even out over eighty two games or in Baseball
one hundred and.
Speaker 4 (34:22):
Sixty two yep. But we're talking about a short a
seven game series. We're talking about seven games.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
And also, Chris, analytics they can't factor in the stress level,
the pressure of the postseason.
Speaker 4 (34:36):
I don't care. There are guys who you might.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
Say, oh yeah, his analytics, or you put this guy
up not in the bottom of the ninth Chris, of
a postseason game, right seriously.
Speaker 4 (34:46):
It does.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
Analytics don't tell you who's cold blooded, yep, who's got
ice in their veins? Who panics? Who the moment right now?
It tells you none of them.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
Sometimes that's a feel where you're like this dude can
get a I know he can't, or he can make
a three.
Speaker 4 (35:02):
We need a three here, yep, I agree, I agree,
so we will see.
Speaker 3 (35:07):
But to me, Rob, of all the teams, Dallas, it
will be their first time Luca in the finals. Look,
I know they wouldn't be happy again. I said for them,
this is an opportunity for them. But you know, if
they lost, you'd be like, Okay, next year, they're coming
back better than ever. Right, if Minnesota loses, you'll be like,
(35:28):
man An, it's twenty two.
Speaker 4 (35:29):
Our future is bright.
Speaker 3 (35:32):
And in the end, of course, Rob, you know this
is a good building block for them already.
Speaker 4 (35:39):
No, no Boston on the entire field. Boston must win
the championship.
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