May 19, 2024 • 24 mins
Jason Timpf reacts to Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, and the Dallas Mavericks' 117-116 Game 6 win over Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, and the Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round of the NBA Playoffs. Jason breaks down the game's biggest highlights and shares his main takeaways as Dallas advances to the Western Conference Finals. #volume
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welcome to night. You're at the volume. Happy Saturday, everybody,
Oh ball, If you guys are having a great start
to your weekend. Well, the basketball gods looked on us
(01:58):
kindly today and finally gave us an entertaining basketball game.
Now had kind of a brutal final sequence which we'll
get into. But the Dallas Mavericks end up closing out
the Oklahoma City Thunder in six games, are gonna advance
to the next round to play the winner of that
Minnesota Denver game tomorrow, which is gonna be an exciting one.
We're gonna get into all the details. I'm gonna talk
(02:18):
a little bit about Shay's first playoff series as well,
which I thought was a revelation, and then we're gonna
talk a little bit about Oklahoma City looking forward as well.
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(02:40):
them throughout the remainder of the postseason. All right, let's
talk some basketball. So I want to kind of start
with that final sequence. You know a couple things the
it was gonna be chaos kind of no matter what.
I'm gonna start with the final play first, and then
we'll get into some of the other crunch time details,
like Luca kind of had his head down and was
just his way to the basket right, and so that
(03:02):
kind of baited Shay into making that gamble, and when
he did, you know you're gambling on a player in Luca,
who obviously has struggled with turning the ball over a
little bit in this series, but he's a guy that
has pretty good floor awareness, probably knows what's going on,
and he kind of regained control of the basketball just
in time to shovel it out there to PJ Washington,
and then from there, Shay has no choice but to
(03:24):
go with just a chaotic like hard close out right,
and so PJ pump bakes and Shae goes for it
and from there, like, if you're Shay, you just have
to You've broken his rhythm already. You broke his rhythm.
Now he's just jacking the shota right, so it's not
even worth swiping back the way that he did, So
(03:45):
like there was a risk involved there. I didn't like
to call yes by the absolute letter of the law.
By the book, he did come through and hit him
on the forearm after hitting the basketball, but generally speaking,
like when you start a block by hitting the basketball first,
I'm more or less of the opinion that everything else
is fair game from there. Obviously, I know Mavicks fans
(04:08):
will disagree, but at the end of the day, like
I didn't really have a I didn't have a problem
with the call standing after review, but I'd prefer that
that doesn't get called. But even under that circumstance, Tyree
hit a little swim move from the elbow and he
had the inside angle on that offensive rebound put back,
and I think he was just gonna get the game winner,
or at least what would have amounted as to the
(04:28):
game winner after that. And like, even if you don't
use the challenge there and you have your time out,
Tyrie's put back would have taken considerably more time off
the clock, and so it would have been Thunderball down
by one, but like maybe even less than a second left, right,
I didn't see exactly how much time would have been left,
So like it was ugly. You hate to see a
(04:50):
series end like that, But I feel like, even if
the whistle doesn't blow there, Dallas wins the series. And
if again, if you're Oklahoma City, if you're Shay, and
Shae was Shaye was unfreaking believable in this game, And
we're gonna talk at length later about how impressed I
was by him in his first ever playoff run. Is
the number one option on his team. But you broke
(05:12):
his rhythm, make him take that tough like kind of
break rhythm, pump fake three point shot in the corner,
and live with the results. As soon as you start
swinging back around trying to block the shot, that's when
you open the door up for the whistle, which is
what's gonna give him three chances to make two free
throws to win that game. And so like ugly don't
(05:32):
like the whistle, feel like Dallas wins even if they
don't blow the whistle. So it felt to me like
the right team won. And even if you look at
Oklahoma City potentially stealing that game, they lost their last
two home games against Dallas and didn't look particularly great
in either of them. So feels to me like the
right team won the series, even though that was a
very very unfortunate kind of sequence to end the game.
(05:55):
That said, down the stretch, it kind of felt like
right around the mid third quarter on, it kind of
felt like this relentless wave from from Dallas, like Kyrie
got it going in that third quarter, Luka Doncic got
it going. Kyrie went on another run in that fourth
quarter stretch, then Luca got it going down the stretch
of the game. There was just unbelievable shot making all
(06:16):
over the floor. Kyrie hit this like bailout three at
the end of the shot clock where he took this,
I need to go back and look because the footwork
on it was so fascinating to me. He was like
squared up with the defender and he like just threw
the ball out to the left and covered like twelve
feet with some wild hop step and then rose up
and knocked down the three. I need to look at
the footwork there because that was super fascinating as like
(06:38):
a move to go to when you need like emergency
separation at the tail end of a shot clock. I'm
really curious to see what that one looked like a
little bit closer, But like Kyrie and Luca were just amazing,
and it kind of felt like Shay was just stiff
arming them the entire stretch, right Like they go on
that stretch in the middle of the third quarter, and
I think I think Dallas got it to two if
(06:58):
I remember correctly, and Shae hits like that one leg
bank shot off the glass, he hits the short fade
away off the right baseline, he hits the step back
three that seven points just kind of like stiff armed
that advance from Dallas, and then down the stretch of
this game, Dallas like had zero answers for Shae. Remember
we got earlier in the series that that Luca I
(07:23):
think in the postgame presser was like asking for the
for Dallas to start double teaming Shae because they were
having trouble guarding him, and they randomly double teamed him
on a late possession in the game and Jalen Williams
got wide open for three and knocked it down even
on the the lob the Chet that gave Oklahoma City
the lead late, Like Shae kind of turned the corner
in Chet's man stepped up in help and Chet was
(07:45):
just wide open on the baseline. It was they were
just compromised no matter what they did with Shae. They
tried running zone that didn't have a ton of success either,
and so it just was they just were really struggling
with Shae. And then on the other end of the floor,
Oklahoma City was struggling with Luca and and it just
turned into a shot making contest and Dallas just made
more shots. I thought Derek Lively was unbelievable on the
(08:07):
offensive glass in the fourth quarter. We saw the tip tunk,
but he was drawing fouls, getting offensive rebounds, was really
doing some damage to Chet underneath the rim just by
being physical and beating him to fifty to fifty balls.
And we're going to get into more detail with this
with Oklahoma City, but you know what was the biggest
problem with Oklahoma City all season the ability to control
the defensive glass. I think they were twenty seventh or
(08:28):
twenty eighth in opponent offensive or in defensive rebound percentage
and fourteen to seven in offensive rebounds tonight twenty seven
to eight in second chance points in favor of Dallas.
That's the game. That's the game right there. So like
the issue that plagued you all season long ended up
being what costs you at the end of the day,
(08:49):
which is what we'll get into when we talk a
little bit more about Oklahoma City down the line. But
shout out to Derek Lively. I thought his activity was
incredible and then big plays down the stretch. PJ. Washington
got in foul trum. Those of you guys who've ever
played the organized basketball know that, like when you get
in foul trouble, it's really frustrating because like you're playing
in these short spurts. Even when you get back into
the game, it feels weird to be out there because
(09:11):
like you're out of rhythm and everyone else has got
like a good sweat and is ready to go, and
you've been sitting for a long time. Like foul trouble
can really be problematic for rhythm. And he was struggling
to make shots, but he had a couple of big
ones down the stretch of this game, including the foul
shots late. Obviously they were struggling with Shaye, but he
also got some big stops on Shay down the stretch
of this game. He struggled. You know, I was looking
(09:34):
at the matchups and I thought PJ. Washington would be
able to hold that better against Shae, And honestly, the
off the dribble stuff caused more problems like dribble penetration.
Shae was able to beat him a little bit easier,
but on the possessions where PJ was actually able to
keep him in front, his length was a factor and
he was able to kind of absorb that off arm
and get really good contests and force him into some misses.
(09:55):
Darre Jones junior that ridiculous fade away he hit. But
even then it was like, like that was classic Shae,
Like Derek Jones hits this tough fade away over chet
Holmgren goes sliding into the scorers table. Crowd's going crazy,
and Shae just dribbles up the floor, just hits a
hard in out dribble step back on on PJ. Washington
and gets just barely enough separation and knocks it down
(10:17):
and you're like, holy shit, here we are again. One fifteen,
one thirteen. Like, I can't say enough about Shaye. I
thought he was unbelievable. But Dallas whether the storm again.
Close out games are hard, Like this was kind of
a weird game of like ebbing and flowing energy. Right
like Oklahoma City comes out the gates red hot, they
get up by ten. Dallas scrounges, you know, just kind
(10:37):
of works really hard, gets back into the game and
they tied it. I think it was like forty two
forty two in the middle second quarter. And then okay
See goes on this crazy run to end the second quarter.
They force Dallas into a bunch of turnovers. They're running
out in transition, they're getting dunks and wide open corner threes.
All of a sudden they're up by what were they
up at the halftime, like fourteen fifteen points, right, and
like then you go on this crazy run and you
(10:57):
fight back, and then Shay goes on his little seven
zer run that goes on right, and then in the
fourth quarter of you're battling and here comes Shay again,
and here comes Jalen Williams. Like it was just that
close out games are hard. You can't replicate the urgency
that comes from actually facing elimination, and so I thought
it was an impressive job from Dallas to just kind
of weather that storm and get through it. And again,
(11:19):
like we said at the top, like hate to see
a series end like that, but I every way I
look at that possession with the one hinged piece being
the whistle, even if that doesn't get blown, I still
think Dallas wins that game in all likelihood, So like
it's ugly, but it felt like the right team won.
Moving on to Dallas in the next round, I'll be
(11:42):
picking Minnesota or Denver, regardless who comes out. I think
both of those teams are playing at a little bit
of a higher level right now. But I think Dallas
has a chance against those two teams in a way
that Oklahoma City didn't in terms of Oklahoma City's lack
of size, like as we talked about, like Dallas isn't
particularly big, but they were able to out big Oklahoma
City in a lot of different ways, like even just
(12:03):
chet struggling with Derek Lively down the stretch of this game,
right twenty seven to eight and second chance points like
that's really difficult to weather under any circumstances. And we
all know what Aaron Gordon and nikolea Jokic can do
on the front line. We all know what that super
athletic Minnesota Timberwolves team can do on the front line.
So like, I don't think Oklahoma City would have had
any chance in the conference finals, whereas I think Dallas
(12:26):
does have a chance. And again with Dallas, it's gonna
be all about you know, both specifically Denver, and I
do believe Denver will win tomorrow, though we'll see. I
think Minnesota has a good chance if Denver were to advance.
Denver is very much a load up type of defense.
They like to bring Jokich up to the level of
the screen. They like to tag the roller usually the
weak side is where the openings are, and Luka Dancic
(12:46):
is just one of the very best players in the
league at getting the ball across the floor to the
weak side corner. As a matter of fact, I actually
think that Denver is gonna have to think long and
hard about using more of a load drop coverage to
try to stay out of rotation as much as possible
and try to count on on Cacp and Aaron Gordon
to just get enough stops. But it's gonna be really
really interesting matchups in the next round. A big part
(13:07):
of winning tonight is you get yourself three days. I
think I heard Luca in the postgame interview say that
he's gonna that the team's gonna probably take tomorrow off
before they start practicing. That's gonna be big, just in
terms of getting Luca's knee a chance to have some
additional rest going into the next round. Like this is
a you know, to quote Lebron James because he says
this every year, but like every round gets harder no
(13:28):
matter what you think, no matter how hard you think
the matchups are, every round just ends up getting harder.
And like even for Denver, if they survive Minnesota, Like,
they're not gonna be able to think like, oh, we're
going into an easier matchup against Dallas. No, Like, Dallas
just is just a different basketball team and they have
a lot more offensive firepower than Minnesota had, and they're
(13:49):
gonna present a whole other different set of challenges. And
like even for Minnesota, Like Minnesota, if they beat Denver tomorrow,
like you're gonna sit there and think like, oh, it's
gonna No, it's not gonna get any easier. Dallas is
going to present their own set of issues for Minnesota.
It's going to be a challenge under any circumstances. We
will have a full series preview on Monday morning after So,
(14:12):
like the schedule as of right now, Tomorrow is Nick's Pacers.
It's a three thirty Eastern start. I'll be going live
on YouTube after that game. Then the night game is
Denver Minnesota. I'm gonna be going with Colin that night,
I'm pretty sure. But even if I go with Colin,
I plan on doing an instant reaction after that game
on my feed, and then Monday morning will have a
(14:34):
series preview. So Mavericks fans keep an eye on the
feeds for Monday morning. Moving on to Oklahoma City, I
want to talk a little bit about Shay's first playoff
series first, just kind of focus in on him and
then look at Oklahoma City as like a whole, you know.
I was really curious to see what Shay's first playoff
(14:55):
run would look like. As the number one guy, he
kind of falls into a category of players similar to
James Harden, Trey Young, Luka Doncic, that are very heliocentric
in the sense that so many possessions involve Shay picking
on a matchup, dribbling, you know, fifteen to twenty times
on a possession before he gets to his spot. And
(15:15):
I've always had this kind of theory that when heliocentric
players they face the same perimeter defenders over and over
and over and over again, that they have the propensity
to get solved sometimes. And I thought we saw that
in a big way with James Harden, and I think
we've seen that quite a bit with Trey Young over
the years, but specifically with Luca was the first guy
that kind of dawned on me where it's like he's
(15:36):
got some resiliency because he's just willing to attack from anywhere, Like, yeah,
he might control all these possessions, but like, if he
needs to go to the mid range, he can go
to the mid range. If he needs to go to
the post, he can go to the post. If he
needs to work from beyond the three point line, he
can work from beyond the three point line. If he
needs to function more as a playmaker against a loaded
up defense, he can function more as a playmaker against
the loaded up defense. Whereas with James Harden, it was
(15:57):
like all live dribble, all ice own pick and roll,
all from the wings, all step back the reason layups,
and then he kind of sort it added a floater
towards the tail end of the of the Houston run right,
So like that was in a lot of ways what
I thought led to James Harden having some struggles, specifically
with Shae. What I was really curious about is he's
not a guy we really think about is over like
(16:18):
a absolute top tier athlete, and he doesn't have the
size that Luca has, Like Luca has like a really
really big frame, and so like, as long as he
can control angles and leverage, like he's just so damn
big that he it's kind of like that final possession,
like lou Dort couldn't stop Luca from getting two feet,
you know, damn near right underneath the basket before Shay
(16:39):
came in and helped, because lucas just big as hell
and there's not a whole lot you can do about that, right,
So I was really curious to see a slender, not
top tier athlete type of player like Shay to see
how he look in his first playoff series, and he
just passed with absolute flying colors. No one can guard
the guy. His hesitation start stop movements keep everybody off balance.
(17:00):
I talked about this at the end of the The
Last Night Show in the mail bag, But he has
this move where like he'll go between the legs kind
of slow, but then as he goes between the legs
kind of slow, like he'll be down in this lungey
looking stance where he's like got all of his kinetic
energy just kind of like saved up right. And then
(17:20):
when the ball gets to that other hand, whether it's
right to left or left to right, just like somewhere
right like a split second after he gets it in
his left hand, he'll just take off and he gets
like a lot of separation with that that first step
and gets and he can beat He gets beat people
off the dribble extremely easily. Like there was a play
in the first half where he was I think he
(17:41):
was being guarded by Derek Jones Junior, but he got
screened and Derek Lively was in the drop and he
just went right around Derek Lively so easily got into
the paint and I think he ended up missing a
reverse layup on this play. But I remember sitting there
thinking like, like he's so like he has not had
any trouble getting to his spot over the course of
this series, and like one of the unique things about
(18:03):
Shaye too, And you know, they what was the phrase
that I think I Richard Jefferson saying that the thunder.
You know, staff and players they referred to him as
like mister consistency or mister consistent or something like that.
And a big part of that is he's willing to
work close to the basket when you're taking shots. Again,
like I talk about three level scoring, Shay's not taking
a ton of like twenty footers, right, Like it's a
(18:24):
lot of like he'll take the threes, like he'll take
twenty four footers, but like, for the most part, his
jump shooting is like fifteen feet in in and so
when you're taking the majority of your jumpers fifteen feet
in in, those are just higher percentage shots. It's like
four level scoring, right. It's like there's there's threes, there's
the rim, there's long twos, and then there's short twos.
(18:44):
And so because Shay's able to get to his spots
against basically anybody, and because he can hit you know,
close to fifty percent of those shots, there's a resiliency
with Shaye that I found really impressive. Like, I think
his worst game in this series, if I remember correctly,
I think he went ten for twenty. Like, that's not
that bad of a game, right, Like, there is a
(19:05):
resiliency with Shae that shined through in a big way.
And you can point a lot of different different directions
for where things went wrong for Oklahoma City in this series.
None of them were Shay. He was right there with
Luca and Kyrie the entire series and outplayed them in
many cases. Shae was incredible. Can't say enough about how
impressed I was by him in his first playoff runs.
(19:25):
He has just continued his ascent on schedule from what
we saw a couple of years ago when he first
started flashing that superstar potential. Talking about Oklahoma City looking forward,
a couple of things. Don't worry too much about the
downsides of what you saw from Oklahoma City this year.
Some of the execution errors, some of the drive and
kick decision making that was so poor. Some of the
(19:47):
rough nights that like Jalen Williams had where he's struggling
to kind of read the floor and see what was
happening around him. So much of that was young players. Now,
I understand that the theme of this playoff run has
been young players doing well, but the truth of the
matter is, it's not the early twenty guys that have
been doing well, except for Anthony Edwards. It's mostly been
the late twenties guys that have been controlling the show
(20:08):
here in this postseason run. Like these Thunder players are
excruciatingly young compared to a lot of these other teams
out there, and when we've seen other young teams make
runs like the Thunder in twenty twelve, there were a
lot of veteran presences on the roster, Guys like Kendrick Perkins,
Guys like Derek Fisher. They had an element of experience
(20:30):
in their rotation that was substantial in something that I
think made that team different. So like, you're gonna just
get several orders of magnitude better next year, just by
getting another year another offseason of workouts for all these
guys and like Chet unbelievable defensive playoff run. But hey man,
(20:52):
the three point shots not as consistent as it needs
to be. So he's got to get in the gym
this summer and turn himself from a shooter into a maker.
He's got to be a guy that you can't just
live with the lake close out on, but a guy
that you absolutely have to be there on the catch
or he's gonna burn you. That's an opportunity for him
to get some more Jalen Williams. I think he learned
a little bit about the difference in intensity in these
(21:13):
environments and how getting separation for these shots and making
reads when you drive into traffic are a little bit tougher.
Another offseason for him in another eighty two games of
reps will go a long way towards helping right now,
as far as the personnel gap goes, we talked about
it all season long, no matter how many games the
thunder one, no matter how many times they beat a
really good team at the top of the league. I
(21:33):
consistently said, you can't win in the NBA playoffs if
you're that bad at defensive rebounding. And they just do
not have a big forward that they can play alongside
Chet so that they have a physical profile that allows
them to contend on the defensive glass. And that's just
something that they're gonna have to address this offseason. I
think that they're like the perfect candidate for a team
(21:56):
that I think should be throwing everything on the table
for a guy like Lori Markinen. I think if they
can get a big four and specifically a guy who
specializes playing off the ball, your on ball creators are great.
Shay is perfect, Jalen Williams is perfect. That everything is
great about that. The guy that you need to find
somebody who is a professional off ball player, but one
(22:18):
that can help you on the defensive glass and can
help you in low man possessions. I think Lori Markahen
would be perfect. He's like the absolute like shoe In
like cannot conceive of a better basketball fit for that
power forward spot next to Chet. He's big, he's strong,
he's very good athlete. He would be in a role
that accentuates what he's great at. I think that that's
(22:38):
the kind of direction they need to look to go.
But everything else is like everything else is the sky's
the limit for this Oklahoma City team. You love the depth.
Lou Dort played Luca into two of the worst playoff
games I've ever seen him play in Game one in
Game four, that's the credit to lou Dort. I saw
lou Dort make Luca lose his composure in a way
(22:59):
I've never seen him lose his composure before. You've got
one of the best big perimeter defenders in the league.
Now he's got to work on not fouling as much.
He's got to kind of find a happy medium in there,
but he's going to You've got everything looks everything looks great.
You just have to upgrade that Josh Getty position into
a bonafide, legitimate two way power forward that can kind
(23:20):
of anchor things for you on the front line. Great
season though for Oklahoma City. Really think they're gonna be
a perennial powerhouse in this league. Just too young and
a little too small and a couple of critical weaknesses
that did them in this season. All right, guys, that
is all I have for tonight. As always, as sincerely
appreciate you guys for supporting me and supporting the show.
We're going to be back tomorrow right after the final
(23:42):
buzzer of Nick Pacers with a breakdown of with an
instant reaction to that game, and then again in the
evening with Colin and most likely my channel as well
to break down timber Wolves Nuggets. And then all you
Maverick's fans don't forget, We'll have a series pre you
on Monday morning. I appreciate you, guys. I will see
you tomorrow. The volume
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welcome to night. You're at the volume. Happy Saturday, everybody,
Oh ball, If you guys are having a great start
to your weekend. Well, the basketball gods looked on us
(01:58):
kindly today and finally gave us an entertaining basketball game.
Now had kind of a brutal final sequence which we'll
get into. But the Dallas Mavericks end up closing out
the Oklahoma City Thunder in six games, are gonna advance
to the next round to play the winner of that
Minnesota Denver game tomorrow, which is gonna be an exciting one.
We're gonna get into all the details. I'm gonna talk
(02:18):
a little bit about Shay's first playoff series as well,
which I thought was a revelation, and then we're gonna
talk a little bit about Oklahoma City looking forward as well.
You guys know the joke before we get started. Subscribe
to a brand new YouTube channel so you don't miss
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Own our hoops tonight, and then keep dropping mail bag
questions in those YouTube comments that we can keep hitting
(02:40):
them throughout the remainder of the postseason. All right, let's
talk some basketball. So I want to kind of start
with that final sequence. You know a couple things the
it was gonna be chaos kind of no matter what.
I'm gonna start with the final play first, and then
we'll get into some of the other crunch time details,
like Luca kind of had his head down and was
just his way to the basket right, and so that
(03:02):
kind of baited Shay into making that gamble, and when
he did, you know you're gambling on a player in Luca,
who obviously has struggled with turning the ball over a
little bit in this series, but he's a guy that
has pretty good floor awareness, probably knows what's going on,
and he kind of regained control of the basketball just
in time to shovel it out there to PJ Washington,
and then from there, Shay has no choice but to
(03:24):
go with just a chaotic like hard close out right,
and so PJ pump bakes and Shae goes for it
and from there, like, if you're Shay, you just have
to You've broken his rhythm already. You broke his rhythm.
Now he's just jacking the shota right, so it's not
even worth swiping back the way that he did, So
(03:45):
like there was a risk involved there. I didn't like
to call yes by the absolute letter of the law.
By the book, he did come through and hit him
on the forearm after hitting the basketball, but generally speaking,
like when you start a block by hitting the basketball first,
I'm more or less of the opinion that everything else
is fair game from there. Obviously, I know Mavicks fans
(04:08):
will disagree, but at the end of the day, like
I didn't really have a I didn't have a problem
with the call standing after review, but I'd prefer that
that doesn't get called. But even under that circumstance, Tyree
hit a little swim move from the elbow and he
had the inside angle on that offensive rebound put back,
and I think he was just gonna get the game winner,
or at least what would have amounted as to the
(04:28):
game winner after that. And like, even if you don't
use the challenge there and you have your time out,
Tyrie's put back would have taken considerably more time off
the clock, and so it would have been Thunderball down
by one, but like maybe even less than a second left, right,
I didn't see exactly how much time would have been left,
So like it was ugly. You hate to see a
(04:50):
series end like that, But I feel like, even if
the whistle doesn't blow there, Dallas wins the series. And
if again, if you're Oklahoma City, if you're Shay, and
Shae was Shaye was unfreaking believable in this game, And
we're gonna talk at length later about how impressed I
was by him in his first ever playoff run. Is
the number one option on his team. But you broke
(05:12):
his rhythm, make him take that tough like kind of
break rhythm, pump fake three point shot in the corner,
and live with the results. As soon as you start
swinging back around trying to block the shot, that's when
you open the door up for the whistle, which is
what's gonna give him three chances to make two free
throws to win that game. And so like ugly don't
(05:32):
like the whistle, feel like Dallas wins even if they
don't blow the whistle. So it felt to me like
the right team won. And even if you look at
Oklahoma City potentially stealing that game, they lost their last
two home games against Dallas and didn't look particularly great
in either of them. So feels to me like the
right team won the series, even though that was a
very very unfortunate kind of sequence to end the game.
(05:55):
That said, down the stretch, it kind of felt like
right around the mid third quarter on, it kind of
felt like this relentless wave from from Dallas, like Kyrie
got it going in that third quarter, Luka Doncic got
it going. Kyrie went on another run in that fourth
quarter stretch, then Luca got it going down the stretch
of the game. There was just unbelievable shot making all
(06:16):
over the floor. Kyrie hit this like bailout three at
the end of the shot clock where he took this,
I need to go back and look because the footwork
on it was so fascinating to me. He was like
squared up with the defender and he like just threw
the ball out to the left and covered like twelve
feet with some wild hop step and then rose up
and knocked down the three. I need to look at
the footwork there because that was super fascinating as like
(06:38):
a move to go to when you need like emergency
separation at the tail end of a shot clock. I'm
really curious to see what that one looked like a
little bit closer, But like Kyrie and Luca were just amazing,
and it kind of felt like Shay was just stiff
arming them the entire stretch, right Like they go on
that stretch in the middle of the third quarter, and
I think I think Dallas got it to two if
(06:58):
I remember correctly, and Shae hits like that one leg
bank shot off the glass, he hits the short fade
away off the right baseline, he hits the step back
three that seven points just kind of like stiff armed
that advance from Dallas, and then down the stretch of
this game, Dallas like had zero answers for Shae. Remember
we got earlier in the series that that Luca I
(07:23):
think in the postgame presser was like asking for the
for Dallas to start double teaming Shae because they were
having trouble guarding him, and they randomly double teamed him
on a late possession in the game and Jalen Williams
got wide open for three and knocked it down even
on the the lob the Chet that gave Oklahoma City
the lead late, Like Shae kind of turned the corner
in Chet's man stepped up in help and Chet was
(07:45):
just wide open on the baseline. It was they were
just compromised no matter what they did with Shae. They
tried running zone that didn't have a ton of success either,
and so it just was they just were really struggling
with Shae. And then on the other end of the floor,
Oklahoma City was struggling with Luca and and it just
turned into a shot making contest and Dallas just made
more shots. I thought Derek Lively was unbelievable on the
(08:07):
offensive glass in the fourth quarter. We saw the tip tunk,
but he was drawing fouls, getting offensive rebounds, was really
doing some damage to Chet underneath the rim just by
being physical and beating him to fifty to fifty balls.
And we're going to get into more detail with this
with Oklahoma City, but you know what was the biggest
problem with Oklahoma City all season the ability to control
the defensive glass. I think they were twenty seventh or
(08:28):
twenty eighth in opponent offensive or in defensive rebound percentage
and fourteen to seven in offensive rebounds tonight twenty seven
to eight in second chance points in favor of Dallas.
That's the game. That's the game right there. So like
the issue that plagued you all season long ended up
being what costs you at the end of the day,
(08:49):
which is what we'll get into when we talk a
little bit more about Oklahoma City down the line. But
shout out to Derek Lively. I thought his activity was
incredible and then big plays down the stretch. PJ. Washington
got in foul trum. Those of you guys who've ever
played the organized basketball know that, like when you get
in foul trouble, it's really frustrating because like you're playing
in these short spurts. Even when you get back into
the game, it feels weird to be out there because
(09:11):
like you're out of rhythm and everyone else has got
like a good sweat and is ready to go, and
you've been sitting for a long time. Like foul trouble
can really be problematic for rhythm. And he was struggling
to make shots, but he had a couple of big
ones down the stretch of this game, including the foul
shots late. Obviously they were struggling with Shaye, but he
also got some big stops on Shay down the stretch
of this game. He struggled. You know, I was looking
(09:34):
at the matchups and I thought PJ. Washington would be
able to hold that better against Shae, And honestly, the
off the dribble stuff caused more problems like dribble penetration.
Shae was able to beat him a little bit easier,
but on the possessions where PJ was actually able to
keep him in front, his length was a factor and
he was able to kind of absorb that off arm
and get really good contests and force him into some misses.
(09:55):
Darre Jones junior that ridiculous fade away he hit. But
even then it was like, like that was classic Shae,
Like Derek Jones hits this tough fade away over chet
Holmgren goes sliding into the scorers table. Crowd's going crazy,
and Shae just dribbles up the floor, just hits a
hard in out dribble step back on on PJ. Washington
and gets just barely enough separation and knocks it down
(10:17):
and you're like, holy shit, here we are again. One fifteen,
one thirteen. Like, I can't say enough about Shaye. I
thought he was unbelievable. But Dallas whether the storm again.
Close out games are hard, Like this was kind of
a weird game of like ebbing and flowing energy. Right
like Oklahoma City comes out the gates red hot, they
get up by ten. Dallas scrounges, you know, just kind
(10:37):
of works really hard, gets back into the game and
they tied it. I think it was like forty two
forty two in the middle second quarter. And then okay
See goes on this crazy run to end the second quarter.
They force Dallas into a bunch of turnovers. They're running
out in transition, they're getting dunks and wide open corner threes.
All of a sudden they're up by what were they
up at the halftime, like fourteen fifteen points, right, and
like then you go on this crazy run and you
(10:57):
fight back, and then Shay goes on his little seven
zer run that goes on right, and then in the
fourth quarter of you're battling and here comes Shay again,
and here comes Jalen Williams. Like it was just that
close out games are hard. You can't replicate the urgency
that comes from actually facing elimination, and so I thought
it was an impressive job from Dallas to just kind
of weather that storm and get through it. And again,
(11:19):
like we said at the top, like hate to see
a series end like that, but I every way I
look at that possession with the one hinged piece being
the whistle, even if that doesn't get blown, I still
think Dallas wins that game in all likelihood, So like
it's ugly, but it felt like the right team won.
Moving on to Dallas in the next round, I'll be
(11:42):
picking Minnesota or Denver, regardless who comes out. I think
both of those teams are playing at a little bit
of a higher level right now. But I think Dallas
has a chance against those two teams in a way
that Oklahoma City didn't in terms of Oklahoma City's lack
of size, like as we talked about, like Dallas isn't
particularly big, but they were able to out big Oklahoma
City in a lot of different ways, like even just
(12:03):
chet struggling with Derek Lively down the stretch of this game,
right twenty seven to eight and second chance points like
that's really difficult to weather under any circumstances. And we
all know what Aaron Gordon and nikolea Jokic can do
on the front line. We all know what that super
athletic Minnesota Timberwolves team can do on the front line.
So like, I don't think Oklahoma City would have had
any chance in the conference finals, whereas I think Dallas
(12:26):
does have a chance. And again with Dallas, it's gonna
be all about you know, both specifically Denver, and I
do believe Denver will win tomorrow, though we'll see. I
think Minnesota has a good chance if Denver were to advance.
Denver is very much a load up type of defense.
They like to bring Jokich up to the level of
the screen. They like to tag the roller usually the
weak side is where the openings are, and Luka Dancic
(12:46):
is just one of the very best players in the
league at getting the ball across the floor to the
weak side corner. As a matter of fact, I actually
think that Denver is gonna have to think long and
hard about using more of a load drop coverage to
try to stay out of rotation as much as possible
and try to count on on Cacp and Aaron Gordon
to just get enough stops. But it's gonna be really
really interesting matchups in the next round. A big part
(13:07):
of winning tonight is you get yourself three days. I
think I heard Luca in the postgame interview say that
he's gonna that the team's gonna probably take tomorrow off
before they start practicing. That's gonna be big, just in
terms of getting Luca's knee a chance to have some
additional rest going into the next round. Like this is
a you know, to quote Lebron James because he says
this every year, but like every round gets harder no
(13:28):
matter what you think, no matter how hard you think
the matchups are, every round just ends up getting harder.
And like even for Denver, if they survive Minnesota, Like,
they're not gonna be able to think like, oh, we're
going into an easier matchup against Dallas. No, Like, Dallas
just is just a different basketball team and they have
a lot more offensive firepower than Minnesota had, and they're
(13:49):
gonna present a whole other different set of challenges. And
like even for Minnesota, Like Minnesota, if they beat Denver tomorrow,
like you're gonna sit there and think like, oh, it's
gonna No, it's not gonna get any easier. Dallas is
going to present their own set of issues for Minnesota.
It's going to be a challenge under any circumstances. We
will have a full series preview on Monday morning after So,
(14:12):
like the schedule as of right now, Tomorrow is Nick's Pacers.
It's a three thirty Eastern start. I'll be going live
on YouTube after that game. Then the night game is
Denver Minnesota. I'm gonna be going with Colin that night,
I'm pretty sure. But even if I go with Colin,
I plan on doing an instant reaction after that game
on my feed, and then Monday morning will have a
(14:34):
series preview. So Mavericks fans keep an eye on the
feeds for Monday morning. Moving on to Oklahoma City, I
want to talk a little bit about Shay's first playoff
series first, just kind of focus in on him and
then look at Oklahoma City as like a whole, you know.
I was really curious to see what Shay's first playoff
(14:55):
run would look like. As the number one guy, he
kind of falls into a category of players similar to
James Harden, Trey Young, Luka Doncic, that are very heliocentric
in the sense that so many possessions involve Shay picking
on a matchup, dribbling, you know, fifteen to twenty times
on a possession before he gets to his spot. And
(15:15):
I've always had this kind of theory that when heliocentric
players they face the same perimeter defenders over and over
and over and over again, that they have the propensity
to get solved sometimes. And I thought we saw that
in a big way with James Harden, and I think
we've seen that quite a bit with Trey Young over
the years, but specifically with Luca was the first guy
that kind of dawned on me where it's like he's
(15:36):
got some resiliency because he's just willing to attack from anywhere, Like, yeah,
he might control all these possessions, but like, if he
needs to go to the mid range, he can go
to the mid range. If he needs to go to
the post, he can go to the post. If he
needs to work from beyond the three point line, he
can work from beyond the three point line. If he
needs to function more as a playmaker against a loaded
up defense, he can function more as a playmaker against
the loaded up defense. Whereas with James Harden, it was
(15:57):
like all live dribble, all ice own pick and roll,
all from the wings, all step back the reason layups,
and then he kind of sort it added a floater
towards the tail end of the of the Houston run right,
So like that was in a lot of ways what
I thought led to James Harden having some struggles, specifically
with Shae. What I was really curious about is he's
not a guy we really think about is over like
(16:18):
a absolute top tier athlete, and he doesn't have the
size that Luca has, Like Luca has like a really
really big frame, and so like, as long as he
can control angles and leverage, like he's just so damn
big that he it's kind of like that final possession,
like lou Dort couldn't stop Luca from getting two feet,
you know, damn near right underneath the basket before Shay
(16:39):
came in and helped, because lucas just big as hell
and there's not a whole lot you can do about that, right,
So I was really curious to see a slender, not
top tier athlete type of player like Shay to see
how he look in his first playoff series, and he
just passed with absolute flying colors. No one can guard
the guy. His hesitation start stop movements keep everybody off balance.
(17:00):
I talked about this at the end of the The
Last Night Show in the mail bag, But he has
this move where like he'll go between the legs kind
of slow, but then as he goes between the legs
kind of slow, like he'll be down in this lungey
looking stance where he's like got all of his kinetic
energy just kind of like saved up right. And then
(17:20):
when the ball gets to that other hand, whether it's
right to left or left to right, just like somewhere
right like a split second after he gets it in
his left hand, he'll just take off and he gets
like a lot of separation with that that first step
and gets and he can beat He gets beat people
off the dribble extremely easily. Like there was a play
in the first half where he was I think he
(17:41):
was being guarded by Derek Jones Junior, but he got
screened and Derek Lively was in the drop and he
just went right around Derek Lively so easily got into
the paint and I think he ended up missing a
reverse layup on this play. But I remember sitting there
thinking like, like he's so like he has not had
any trouble getting to his spot over the course of
this series, and like one of the unique things about
(18:03):
Shaye too, And you know, they what was the phrase
that I think I Richard Jefferson saying that the thunder.
You know, staff and players they referred to him as
like mister consistency or mister consistent or something like that.
And a big part of that is he's willing to
work close to the basket when you're taking shots. Again,
like I talk about three level scoring, Shay's not taking
a ton of like twenty footers, right, Like it's a
(18:24):
lot of like he'll take the threes, like he'll take
twenty four footers, but like, for the most part, his
jump shooting is like fifteen feet in in and so
when you're taking the majority of your jumpers fifteen feet
in in, those are just higher percentage shots. It's like
four level scoring, right. It's like there's there's threes, there's
the rim, there's long twos, and then there's short twos.
(18:44):
And so because Shay's able to get to his spots
against basically anybody, and because he can hit you know,
close to fifty percent of those shots, there's a resiliency
with Shaye that I found really impressive. Like, I think
his worst game in this series, if I remember correctly,
I think he went ten for twenty. Like, that's not
that bad of a game, right, Like, there is a
(19:05):
resiliency with Shae that shined through in a big way.
And you can point a lot of different different directions
for where things went wrong for Oklahoma City in this series.
None of them were Shay. He was right there with
Luca and Kyrie the entire series and outplayed them in
many cases. Shae was incredible. Can't say enough about how
impressed I was by him in his first playoff runs.
(19:25):
He has just continued his ascent on schedule from what
we saw a couple of years ago when he first
started flashing that superstar potential. Talking about Oklahoma City looking forward,
a couple of things. Don't worry too much about the
downsides of what you saw from Oklahoma City this year.
Some of the execution errors, some of the drive and
kick decision making that was so poor. Some of the
(19:47):
rough nights that like Jalen Williams had where he's struggling
to kind of read the floor and see what was
happening around him. So much of that was young players. Now,
I understand that the theme of this playoff run has
been young players doing well, but the truth of the
matter is, it's not the early twenty guys that have
been doing well, except for Anthony Edwards. It's mostly been
the late twenties guys that have been controlling the show
(20:08):
here in this postseason run. Like these Thunder players are
excruciatingly young compared to a lot of these other teams
out there, and when we've seen other young teams make
runs like the Thunder in twenty twelve, there were a
lot of veteran presences on the roster, Guys like Kendrick Perkins,
Guys like Derek Fisher. They had an element of experience
(20:30):
in their rotation that was substantial in something that I
think made that team different. So like, you're gonna just
get several orders of magnitude better next year, just by
getting another year another offseason of workouts for all these
guys and like Chet unbelievable defensive playoff run. But hey man,
(20:52):
the three point shots not as consistent as it needs
to be. So he's got to get in the gym
this summer and turn himself from a shooter into a maker.
He's got to be a guy that you can't just
live with the lake close out on, but a guy
that you absolutely have to be there on the catch
or he's gonna burn you. That's an opportunity for him
to get some more Jalen Williams. I think he learned
a little bit about the difference in intensity in these
(21:13):
environments and how getting separation for these shots and making
reads when you drive into traffic are a little bit tougher.
Another offseason for him in another eighty two games of
reps will go a long way towards helping right now,
as far as the personnel gap goes, we talked about
it all season long, no matter how many games the
thunder one, no matter how many times they beat a
really good team at the top of the league. I
(21:33):
consistently said, you can't win in the NBA playoffs if
you're that bad at defensive rebounding. And they just do
not have a big forward that they can play alongside
Chet so that they have a physical profile that allows
them to contend on the defensive glass. And that's just
something that they're gonna have to address this offseason. I
think that they're like the perfect candidate for a team
(21:56):
that I think should be throwing everything on the table
for a guy like Lori Markinen. I think if they
can get a big four and specifically a guy who
specializes playing off the ball, your on ball creators are great.
Shay is perfect, Jalen Williams is perfect. That everything is
great about that. The guy that you need to find
somebody who is a professional off ball player, but one
(22:18):
that can help you on the defensive glass and can
help you in low man possessions. I think Lori Markahen
would be perfect. He's like the absolute like shoe In
like cannot conceive of a better basketball fit for that
power forward spot next to Chet. He's big, he's strong,
he's very good athlete. He would be in a role
that accentuates what he's great at. I think that that's
(22:38):
the kind of direction they need to look to go.
But everything else is like everything else is the sky's
the limit for this Oklahoma City team. You love the depth.
Lou Dort played Luca into two of the worst playoff
games I've ever seen him play in Game one in
Game four, that's the credit to lou Dort. I saw
lou Dort make Luca lose his composure in a way
(22:59):
I've never seen him lose his composure before. You've got
one of the best big perimeter defenders in the league.
Now he's got to work on not fouling as much.
He's got to kind of find a happy medium in there,
but he's going to You've got everything looks everything looks great.
You just have to upgrade that Josh Getty position into
a bonafide, legitimate two way power forward that can kind
(23:20):
of anchor things for you on the front line. Great
season though for Oklahoma City. Really think they're gonna be
a perennial powerhouse in this league. Just too young and
a little too small and a couple of critical weaknesses
that did them in this season. All right, guys, that
is all I have for tonight. As always, as sincerely
appreciate you guys for supporting me and supporting the show.
We're going to be back tomorrow right after the final
(23:42):
buzzer of Nick Pacers with a breakdown of with an
instant reaction to that game, and then again in the
evening with Colin and most likely my channel as well
to break down timber Wolves Nuggets. And then all you
Maverick's fans don't forget, We'll have a series pre you
on Monday morning. I appreciate you, guys. I will see
you tomorrow. The volume
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