May 1, 2025 • 22 mins
On today's episode, Jason laments a swift, 5-game playoff exit for the Los Angeles Lakers, after the Minnesota Timberwolves closed them out on Wednesday night. Jason dives into both sides of the matchup, explaining how Minnesota sneakily became the hottest team in the NBA. Jason gives his thoughts on what went wrong for the Lakers and looks at how their needs can be addressed in the offseason. Plus, things are about to get wild in Jason's basketball league!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up straight Fire, Pamp, It's me Jason McIntyre.
Straight Fire for Thursday, May the first. It is a
new month, ladies and gentlemen, but unfortunately the month is
off to a rocky start. The Lakers were eliminated last night.
(00:32):
Oh my gosh, fudge my gosh. Guys, I don't know.
This is gonna be a tough one because I'm equal
parts stunned, disgusted, angry, surprised, and then you know, you
start to dig into stuff and like, well, well, you know, Jason,
maybe a miscalculated a few things. We'll dig into that. Obviously,
(00:55):
the Warriors that have chanced to close it out, they decided,
you know what, we're not going to show up. We'd
rather try to close this out at home. They get
blasted by the Rockets. I think they were down forty
at what point, not sure, but that game, no nobody
really cared about it. I do want to talk about
something very random before I get to the Lakers. So
(01:16):
you guys know, I play in these a lot of
men's basketball leagues, right I'm in the over thirty five league.
I missed the championship game last year last season and
we lost. God listen man, I was so cooking that
league last year. Folks House, the third leading scorer at
one point led the league in threes. Anyways, So then
the Thursday League, which is really highly competitive and super tough.
(01:38):
We had four guys injured last year in the playoffs
for including myself, missed the playoffs and we end up
losing in the championship, which sucked. Right. We lost in
the championship the year before with Richard Jeffers. So we're
now taking too many injuries. So we're taking the Thursday
League off. However, two dudes I'm friends with who I
(01:58):
have gotten to know. They're like twenty five. They are
real ballers. Like these guys are good. Both one of
them played at Shamana, the other went to like Okill Academy.
He's just really good. So they got roped in randomly
to join teams in something called the Mecca League out
here in Long Beach, and it's a pretty awesome league.
(02:19):
Anybody who follows basketball knows this guy named Frank Nitty,
this you know Instagram famous dudes in the league. He's
really really good. He's won the Julie. He plays in
pro leagues around the world, a lot of international pros,
some former NBA guys, and I see the highlights online.
It's all one on one, right, and I'm like, damn,
these guys. I could never hang in this league. But
my two buddies got roped in and they're like, dude,
(02:41):
these guys are good. But it's not like unbelievable. It's
a lot of one on one, not a lot of
team play. Everybody brings like their own photographers so they
can flex for the GRAM. That's the kind of basketball
it is. Let's get a team. So for the last
like two weeks, pretty quietly, we've been trying to put
a team together. Now again, I'm just gonna remind you
the age of most of the guys in this league.
(03:01):
I will not really be able to hang. That being said,
I have some a history of being a decent GM,
and if I could come in and give a few
minutes here, a few minutes here, I'm obviously not gonna
make every game. However, here's the interesting point this upcoming season.
The winner gets fifty thousand dollars. I've never played for
a league with that much at stake. I've played for
(03:22):
in top leagues in New York City, in suburban Pennsylvania.
All these leagues are good, but fifty k on the
line's a little different, right, So I will just say
trying to assemble this squad is really fun. Now. I'm
sure some people are like, oh, you got that former
NBA player j Mack, Yeah, count me in. I'm sure
some of those guys will eventually be like, yeah, I
(03:44):
can't make it, but this will be one of the
wildest things I've done in basketball.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Now.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Listen, there's a chance I totally embarrassed myself. I don't care.
So I reached out to the league and they're like, oh, yes,
we're aware of your work, Jason. We're very happy to
have you. It's almost like that casino that's like, oh
is this dumb money at blackjack? Yeah, please put out
more money. So anyways, there will be periodic updates about that.
Very excited. I also wanted to start in a positive
(04:12):
note and something funny because I think this Lakers breakdown
is gonna be freaking depressing. I mean, guys, the Timberwolves
played a pretty awful basketball game. They at one point
missed eighteen straight threes in the second half. They were
seven of forty seven from three. Anthony Edwards was oh
(04:32):
of eleven on threes. Jaden McDaniels played eighteen minutes, fouled out,
total non factor. How did Lakers lose this game? Oh,
Rudy Gobert, who appeared to be like double the size
of Victor wembin yama inhaled twenty four rebounds, had twenty
(04:52):
seven points. Yes, you heard that right. Rudy Gobert had
twenty seven and twenty four and then Timberwolves pulled off
the victory. Now this is only the beginning of how
crazy this freaking game was. So Rudyo Gobert had nine
offensive rebounds. The Lakers as a team had eight. Rudy
Gobert won this game for the Wolves. It was unbelievable.
(05:12):
And this is what's wild. I totaled Rudy Gobert's numbers
for the Force four games. The Lakers essentially were playing
so smart and so good, Rudy Gobert was unplayable. His
minutes were limited in the series. Okay, he played twenty
four minutes, twenty nine, twenty five, twenty six. This for
all NBA center. Lakers were playing him off the floor.
He was a non factor. The Lakers removed the center,
(05:35):
went essentially small ball throughout and Chris Finch, one of
the most underrated coaches in the league, one of the
best coaches in the league. I will say he comes
to the herd, comes on the set, and is super
awesome to talk to during commercial breaks before and after.
I'm grilling him about basketball, asking like, hey, can Rob
Dillingham play? Hey what about this? Hey? Well, Carl Anthony Towns.
(05:56):
I mean, I'm just a sponge absorbing as much info
and he's like answering every question. He's a great guy.
He's also smart as hell when it comes to basketball.
Gobert played a series high thirty nine minutes. He was
twelve of fifteen. It felt like everything was a dunker
layup folks. In the first four games, Rudy Gobert totaled
fourteen points and twenty five rebounds. So four games he
(06:20):
had a total of fourteen and twenty five. In game
five he had twenty seven and twenty four. That is
absolutely staggering. I don't even like At points, it was
like Lebron trying to box out Rudy Gobert and that's
not gonna go well. Luka Donciz trying to box out
Rudy Gobert. That is absolutely not gonna go well. And
it ended in disaster for the Lakers. And I cannot
(06:41):
believe that I just said Rudy Gobert eliminated the Lakers.
It was a podium game from Rudy Gobert. It was like, hey,
why did you give up so many picks? Oh, that's why,
Like Rudy Gobert saved their bacon because nobody else had
it tonight again Anthony Edwards five of nineteen. Now the
other guy who played well for them, and you gotta
give this guy a shout out. He was the second
(07:03):
best player on the Wolves in the series, and that's
Julius Randall. Folks. I don't know if he was pissed
that the Lakers ended up trading him back in the day.
I don't know what set him off with someone talking
trash to him. He had a hell of a series.
He was essentially unguardable. If the Lakers wanted to play
Lebron at the five right and DFS at the or
(07:24):
Lebron at the four and DFS at the five, Lebron
just he can't cautd Lebron forty. He's gonna get Julius
Randall is stronger, younger, and I mean he's a bull
in a china shop and the Lakers could not stop him.
And I think where I miscalculated this series and thought
throughout the Lakers are fine, They're gonna be okay. I
think they can come back. It's not over. And I
(07:46):
sound like, in hindsight, a real dopey, uninformed moron. Folks.
I don't think people realize what Minnesota needed to do
this regular season just to get out of the play in.
They finished the regulars season seventeen and four. They were
not going to play in. They were not gonna secure
(08:06):
a top six seed without that strong end. At one
point this team in February, they were twenty seven and
twenty three. At one point late February post All Star Break,
they were thirty two and twenty nine. They lost to
(08:27):
the Utah Jazz by one, and to drop to thirty
two and twenty nine, it's like, oh, they're gonna be seven,
eight or nine, maybe ten, but they'll be in the
planet and then I don't know what changed. I would
love to hear Chris Finch talk about it, but from
that point they went, let's say, seventeen and four to
(08:47):
end the regular season, seventeen and four, and I missed it. Guys,
I'm sorry. You know, March madness. I'm not gonna blame it, obviously,
it's me. I just missed it. March Madness happens. I'm
locked in on March madness. Sorry, that's I'm locked in
on marks Mannis and they go seventeen to four. I
totally miss it. And the other thing I missed was
(09:08):
just how dangerous this team is defensively, Like, I'm not
even I'm not no cap in here. You could go
through all ten playoff teams in the West, assuming the
playing teams catas playoff teams, and I think Minnesota is
the worst matchup for the Lakers. Why they have a
center who can do damage. Obviously, Yokich would have been
(09:30):
a major problem, as we evidenced by Rudy Gobert grabbing
nine offensive boards and having twenty seven and twenty four
in the deciding game. Okay, when they don't want to
play him, they can still throw at you length in
Twitchy nas Reed who can hit threes, Twitchy Jade McDaniels,
who can defend and hit threes, Julius Randall, bullan or
China Shop, who was just unbelievable in the series, probably
(09:52):
the greatest playoff series he's had in his life. They
have a better bench than the Lakers. Oh, by the way,
Game five, they outscored the Lakers bench twenty two to four.
Were Okay, Dante Divigenzo is NCAA champion A. I don't
know if he wanted an NBA title or not, but
he's been a solid NBA rotation player now for what
five six years? And oh yeah, Anthony Edwards, he can
(10:14):
defend up and it's like they're just such a long
team that they give they're the one team in the
West that could match Luca and Lebron with Anthony Edwards,
Jaden McDaniels and Julius Randall and nos Reid as well
like Oklahoma City. And I'll maintain this obviously you could
(10:34):
say that's hollow. It doesn't mean anything, Jason. Oklahoma City
did not scare me at all. They didn't. Their matchups
for Luca and Lebron are smaller guards Lou Dort, Alex Caruso.
I don't think they're as good defensively for the matchup
of Lebron and Luca as Jaden McDaniels and Naz Reid.
(10:56):
Those guys are very long and big. Caruso and lou
Dort are smaller. They're compacted, very very good defenders, elite defenders,
all NBA guys, but for them matchup against Luca Lebron,
Minnesota has everything and I just missed it. Honestly, first
impressions matter, and I guess going thirty two and twenty
(11:16):
nine to start the season is like, geez, these guys
aren't great, and I know, I just didn't. I didn't
notice that they I mean, I think we knew they
went seventeen to four, but I don't know how they
did it and watching them in this in this series, man.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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Speaker 2 (11:42):
Live now in the Lakers defense and I'm not going
to kill him here. I don't think you can kill
the Lakers. Game one they got blown out, Okay, I
think they were stunned by the physicality of Minnesota and
frankly the length of the offense. And Game two they
bounced back, and you know, I was at the game.
I thought that was you know, Lakers led soup to nuts.
It was never really competitive. I think it was twenty
(12:03):
five to ten in the first quarter. Minnesota got maybe
within five six in the fourth port whatever, it's fine.
Games three, four, and five, Okay, the Lakers were tied
with Minnesota with four minutes left and then they end
up losing. The Lakers led by two in Game four
with ninety seconds left and end up losing. The Lakers
(12:25):
trailed by three with ninety seconds left in Game five
and ended up losing. These are three coin toss games. Literally,
Lakers right there at the end and blew them all.
Then you if you will, if as long as you
accept that, then we can get into well, wait a minute,
why are they constantly blowing all these fourth quarter games? Well,
(12:48):
I think that's a legitimate question. And that and Lebron
struggles in the fourth quarter in the series. Hey man,
let's be real. The Lakers bench killed him. When you
can't go to your bench. So liction Anthony Edwards won
play forty three minutes. He's twenty three friggin years old.
Luca Is twenty five games, was injured and I. I mean,
(13:14):
I've been reluctant to admit because I'm a Luca guy.
But guys, he's not in the best of shape. Obviously,
people are gonna make the stupid Nico Harrison. Nico was
right the fuck he was. Are you kidding me? Max
didn't get out of the plane. They're probably not a
playoff team next year unless Kyrie Irving has a magical
(13:35):
recovery and he's back early and take him to the
promised Land. Luca's gonna be fine. This will be a
wake up call for him. Let's not forget eleven months ago,
the dude was in the NBA Finals, carried Dallas on
his back. Obviously this loss will sting, but he's been
with the team for two months. This is how desperate
JJ Reddick was on Wednesday night. Maxi Kleeber, who's been
(13:59):
out of basketball action due to an injury since January.
Since January, and Maxi Kleeber was called upon in the
fourth quarter when Dorian Phinney Smith filed out MAXI. Let's go, buddy,
like that's that's bleak. So the Lakers starters ninety two,
the Wolf starters eighty one. Folks, everybody can laugh at
(14:22):
the Lakers, and I get it, the haters, the trolls,
they're going to do that. I don't think the Lakers
were that far off in the series, but the fourth
quarter fatigue, the age of Lebron, Like, how do you
remedy that? You got to have Lebron on the floor
to stay in the game. You needed Lebron Again, you
look at Lebron's line and you're like, twenty two, seven
(14:43):
and six. That's pretty damn good for a forty year
old playing forty minutes. Now, he's only one of five
from three got to the line, and not as efficient
from the line three of six, but like you know,
they Austin Reeves played like absolute ass made one late three,
but gosh, he was downright terrible in the series. I
(15:04):
think Ruiyachi Mora showed extremely well. I don't know, like
he's a good trade piece, but he's a good three
and D guy. I like Ruyachi Mora, Austin Reeves. It
looks like the final numbers aren't quite in yet, but
this is a guy who did not give to the
free throw line in the final two games. That's not great.
In fact, he got to the free throw line six
(15:27):
five success seven times in the entire series. That's out
of character for him. This is a guy who can
cook off the dribble. I mean, I'm just scanning his
ESPN game log. Twelve free throw attempts against OKC, ten
against Memphis, eleven against Brooklyn, twelve against Minnesota, thirteen against Portland,
thirteen against Indiana, sixteen against Golden State. This guy attacks.
(15:52):
Where was that he turned into a jump shooter? Was
it the defense of Anthony Edwards? Was he worn down
from defending up? I don't know, but he's sure as
hell's shot terribly from three and overall, like Austin Reeves
just killed them. He was not good at all.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
I'm sure you guys have seen this by now, but
the Lakers were outscored by forty two in the fourth
quarter in the series. I think that's answered barely easily
with When you don't have depth and your guys are
battling bigger dudes for rebounds all game long, they are
tired and they're unable to deliver the way they were
early in the series and the game. The Lakers, according
(16:44):
to Reddick, were twelve of fifty two from three in
the fourth quarter in the series, twelve divided by fifty two,
a robust twenty three percent. And all these offensive boards
Minnesota kept drabbing. It led to a more shots, folks. Again,
even a Minnesota shooting forty percent, that's still give me
(17:08):
four out of eleven. That's eight more points and they
win by seven. They shot eight more free throws, they
win by seven. Just it's a numbers game for the Lakers,
and they couldn't rebound. So now the question becomes, well,
maybe they should have traded for Mark Williams. Well, you
had to give up a lot and draft picks. I
(17:30):
think the Lakers' standing pat wasn't the worst thing in
the world. I thought they were championship material this year. Obviously,
losing four to one to Minnesota two games at home
says Otherwise, that being said, can they retool on the
fly and get this team going? Like you know, I'm
personally surprised Dalton Connect didn't play, but I don't know
(17:52):
who he's really defending in this series. I will add
and this just just hit me. In the preseason, I'm
fairly certain I picked Minnesota and the Knicks or Minnesota
in Boston to meet in the finals. I was so
bullish on that trade of cat, you know, I like
it Anthony Edwards. But again, I didn't see it all
(18:13):
season or for much of the season, and so I
just like kind of wrote them off. That's a lesson learned.
I'll never forget. The biggest lesson I've learned in the
NFL draft goes back to Patrick Mahomes. He was coming
out of Texas Tech. I remember watching the videos. I'm like, Okay,
he can sling up, but where's the defense. They're playing
Arena league defense in what was the Big Twelve. You
know Patrick Mahomes doing for like six hundred yards in games,
(18:36):
a lot of interceptions, and I'm like, well, that's because
they're in the air raid. They're not doing anything but
chucking chuck and duck. That's not gonna work in the NFL. Well,
lesson learned. Now, Listen, there was data to back this up.
Quarterbacks from the Big Twelve had not transitioned over the
past decade to the NFL. They just were not playing well.
Because oh, by the way, you're facing actual defenses now
(18:59):
as a go to this, you know, CFL caliber defense
in the Big twelve. Well, I missed it. Patrick Mahomes
now is one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history
of football. I didn't see it coming out. Now, in
my defense, somebody took Mitch Trubisky ahead of Patrick Mahomes.
He was I believe the tenth player drafted tenth. Nine guys,
when I had of Patrick Mahomes, Who's gonna go down
(19:21):
as one of like the five best players in football history.
So yeah, my untrained I missed it. So did nine
other NFL teams. Like even if you had a quarterback
and some didn't, if you knew Patrick Mahomes was that generation,
you would have taken him. Then again, not to get
sus sidetracked, but if Patrick Mahomes goes to I don't
(19:41):
freaking know, Jacksonville, Tennessee, you know one of these crap teams,
crap organizations, does he become Patrick Mahomes. Yes, I could
toss the Jets in there, but I won't. Anyways, it's
a tough one, guys. It's a tough to stomach when
your starters outscore the other stars. But the bench gives
you nada that hurts. Lakers had one blocked shot and
(20:06):
it was by Rui. They had fifteen turnovers. It's just
that one hurts. So Minnesota will now advance two face
likely the Warriors. I guess the Rockets still have a
chance down three to two. I don't know. Anytime my
team that I'm on gets knocked out of some tournament
(20:26):
or whatever, I want to see the team that beat
me going to win the championship, right, Because then I
was like, well we lost to the champs. Well it's
not not the worst thing in the world. We didn't
lose the freaking bums. We lost to the champs. And
I don't know if Minnesota's gonna be the champs. But
I would need to dig in a little more to
the matchup against OKC. But you know, you've got to
(20:48):
rim Protector and Rudy, I don't I mean, you're gonna
need him against Hert and Stein. You know, McDaniel's Brandon,
They've got guys. Conley's a bit of a weak link,
but Devincenzo's very good. He didn't have a great game.
He had a couple of goonish fouls. I'm surprised he
didn't get call for a flagrant on Luca, but I digress.
Oh Lakers, hold out. Do you have anything else on
(21:09):
my friggin' notes? No, I don't. It hurts man. Luca
and Reeves both missed layups in the final two minutes
I have in my notes, and again after the ruie
three they're down three with ninety seconds left. You get
one stop and I believe in the next possession, you know,
(21:29):
instead of guessing, I should just look it up. You know,
the memory is good, but it's not great. I spent
too much time on social media. So on the next possession, Yeah,
Austin Reeves cheats out of the corner on an Anthony
Edwards drive, Aunt hits Conley in the corner and the
veteran bangs at three. I hurt, guys, It really hurt.
(21:50):
Anthony Edwards fifteen to eleven and eight three steals. He's
really good. He is tonight's actions. Check the lines. Nick
at Pistons Detroit is favored by one and a half.
Oh my, Now, I haven't seen the status of Brunson
or Heart. I'm just gonna assume they're warriors and they'll
play Pistons blowout. No, I don't know, guys, I don't
(22:16):
have a feel. I feel like I lost my fastball. Honestly,
I was so off on all three games Tuesday. I
thought the Lakers had it. I did nail the Rockets,
but man, and then Nuggets at Clippers paper clips favored
by six and a half. I mean, hell, part of
me wants the Clippers to win that series just so
I can go to playoff basketball. I you know, I
don't know if I can get hooked up with Clippers tickets,
(22:37):
but surely I know somebody who's going to games and
can get me in there. That's all for today. Man,
I'm a little shook. Oh. By the way, I'm hosting
the Herd on Friday, So any hot take ideas send
them my way, because I already have some stuff percolating
on a low simmer on the range. Talk to you then,
This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up straight Fire, Pamp, It's me Jason McIntyre.
Straight Fire for Thursday, May the first. It is a
new month, ladies and gentlemen, but unfortunately the month is
off to a rocky start. The Lakers were eliminated last night.
(00:32):
Oh my gosh, fudge my gosh. Guys, I don't know.
This is gonna be a tough one because I'm equal
parts stunned, disgusted, angry, surprised, and then you know, you
start to dig into stuff and like, well, well, you know, Jason,
maybe a miscalculated a few things. We'll dig into that. Obviously,
(00:55):
the Warriors that have chanced to close it out, they decided,
you know what, we're not going to show up. We'd
rather try to close this out at home. They get
blasted by the Rockets. I think they were down forty
at what point, not sure, but that game, no nobody
really cared about it. I do want to talk about
something very random before I get to the Lakers. So
(01:16):
you guys know, I play in these a lot of
men's basketball leagues, right I'm in the over thirty five league.
I missed the championship game last year last season and
we lost. God listen man, I was so cooking that
league last year. Folks House, the third leading scorer at
one point led the league in threes. Anyways, So then
the Thursday League, which is really highly competitive and super tough.
(01:38):
We had four guys injured last year in the playoffs
for including myself, missed the playoffs and we end up
losing in the championship, which sucked. Right. We lost in
the championship the year before with Richard Jeffers. So we're
now taking too many injuries. So we're taking the Thursday
League off. However, two dudes I'm friends with who I
(01:58):
have gotten to know. They're like twenty five. They are
real ballers. Like these guys are good. Both one of
them played at Shamana, the other went to like Okill Academy.
He's just really good. So they got roped in randomly
to join teams in something called the Mecca League out
here in Long Beach, and it's a pretty awesome league.
(02:19):
Anybody who follows basketball knows this guy named Frank Nitty,
this you know Instagram famous dudes in the league. He's
really really good. He's won the Julie. He plays in
pro leagues around the world, a lot of international pros,
some former NBA guys, and I see the highlights online.
It's all one on one, right, and I'm like, damn,
these guys. I could never hang in this league. But
my two buddies got roped in and they're like, dude,
(02:41):
these guys are good. But it's not like unbelievable. It's
a lot of one on one, not a lot of
team play. Everybody brings like their own photographers so they
can flex for the GRAM. That's the kind of basketball
it is. Let's get a team. So for the last
like two weeks, pretty quietly, we've been trying to put
a team together. Now again, I'm just gonna remind you
the age of most of the guys in this league.
(03:01):
I will not really be able to hang. That being said,
I have some a history of being a decent GM,
and if I could come in and give a few
minutes here, a few minutes here, I'm obviously not gonna
make every game. However, here's the interesting point this upcoming season.
The winner gets fifty thousand dollars. I've never played for
a league with that much at stake. I've played for
(03:22):
in top leagues in New York City, in suburban Pennsylvania.
All these leagues are good, but fifty k on the
line's a little different, right, So I will just say
trying to assemble this squad is really fun. Now. I'm
sure some people are like, oh, you got that former
NBA player j Mack, Yeah, count me in. I'm sure
some of those guys will eventually be like, yeah, I
(03:44):
can't make it, but this will be one of the
wildest things I've done in basketball.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Now.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Listen, there's a chance I totally embarrassed myself. I don't care.
So I reached out to the league and they're like, oh, yes,
we're aware of your work, Jason. We're very happy to
have you. It's almost like that casino that's like, oh
is this dumb money at blackjack? Yeah, please put out
more money. So anyways, there will be periodic updates about that.
Very excited. I also wanted to start in a positive
(04:12):
note and something funny because I think this Lakers breakdown
is gonna be freaking depressing. I mean, guys, the Timberwolves
played a pretty awful basketball game. They at one point
missed eighteen straight threes in the second half. They were
seven of forty seven from three. Anthony Edwards was oh
(04:32):
of eleven on threes. Jaden McDaniels played eighteen minutes, fouled out,
total non factor. How did Lakers lose this game? Oh,
Rudy Gobert, who appeared to be like double the size
of Victor wembin yama inhaled twenty four rebounds, had twenty
(04:52):
seven points. Yes, you heard that right. Rudy Gobert had
twenty seven and twenty four and then Timberwolves pulled off
the victory. Now this is only the beginning of how
crazy this freaking game was. So Rudyo Gobert had nine
offensive rebounds. The Lakers as a team had eight. Rudy
Gobert won this game for the Wolves. It was unbelievable.
(05:12):
And this is what's wild. I totaled Rudy Gobert's numbers
for the Force four games. The Lakers essentially were playing
so smart and so good, Rudy Gobert was unplayable. His
minutes were limited in the series. Okay, he played twenty
four minutes, twenty nine, twenty five, twenty six. This for
all NBA center. Lakers were playing him off the floor.
He was a non factor. The Lakers removed the center,
(05:35):
went essentially small ball throughout and Chris Finch, one of
the most underrated coaches in the league, one of the
best coaches in the league. I will say he comes
to the herd, comes on the set, and is super
awesome to talk to during commercial breaks before and after.
I'm grilling him about basketball, asking like, hey, can Rob
Dillingham play? Hey what about this? Hey? Well, Carl Anthony Towns.
(05:56):
I mean, I'm just a sponge absorbing as much info
and he's like answering every question. He's a great guy.
He's also smart as hell when it comes to basketball.
Gobert played a series high thirty nine minutes. He was
twelve of fifteen. It felt like everything was a dunker
layup folks. In the first four games, Rudy Gobert totaled
fourteen points and twenty five rebounds. So four games he
(06:20):
had a total of fourteen and twenty five. In game
five he had twenty seven and twenty four. That is
absolutely staggering. I don't even like At points, it was
like Lebron trying to box out Rudy Gobert and that's
not gonna go well. Luka Donciz trying to box out
Rudy Gobert. That is absolutely not gonna go well. And
it ended in disaster for the Lakers. And I cannot
(06:41):
believe that I just said Rudy Gobert eliminated the Lakers.
It was a podium game from Rudy Gobert. It was like, hey,
why did you give up so many picks? Oh, that's why,
Like Rudy Gobert saved their bacon because nobody else had
it tonight again Anthony Edwards five of nineteen. Now the
other guy who played well for them, and you gotta
give this guy a shout out. He was the second
(07:03):
best player on the Wolves in the series, and that's
Julius Randall. Folks. I don't know if he was pissed
that the Lakers ended up trading him back in the day.
I don't know what set him off with someone talking
trash to him. He had a hell of a series.
He was essentially unguardable. If the Lakers wanted to play
Lebron at the five right and DFS at the or
(07:24):
Lebron at the four and DFS at the five, Lebron
just he can't cautd Lebron forty. He's gonna get Julius
Randall is stronger, younger, and I mean he's a bull
in a china shop and the Lakers could not stop him.
And I think where I miscalculated this series and thought
throughout the Lakers are fine, They're gonna be okay. I
think they can come back. It's not over. And I
(07:46):
sound like, in hindsight, a real dopey, uninformed moron. Folks.
I don't think people realize what Minnesota needed to do
this regular season just to get out of the play in.
They finished the regulars season seventeen and four. They were
not going to play in. They were not gonna secure
(08:06):
a top six seed without that strong end. At one
point this team in February, they were twenty seven and
twenty three. At one point late February post All Star Break,
they were thirty two and twenty nine. They lost to
(08:27):
the Utah Jazz by one, and to drop to thirty
two and twenty nine, it's like, oh, they're gonna be seven,
eight or nine, maybe ten, but they'll be in the
planet and then I don't know what changed. I would
love to hear Chris Finch talk about it, but from
that point they went, let's say, seventeen and four to
(08:47):
end the regular season, seventeen and four, and I missed it. Guys,
I'm sorry. You know, March madness. I'm not gonna blame it, obviously,
it's me. I just missed it. March Madness happens. I'm
locked in on March madness. Sorry, that's I'm locked in
on marks Mannis and they go seventeen to four. I
totally miss it. And the other thing I missed was
(09:08):
just how dangerous this team is defensively, Like, I'm not
even I'm not no cap in here. You could go
through all ten playoff teams in the West, assuming the
playing teams catas playoff teams, and I think Minnesota is
the worst matchup for the Lakers. Why they have a
center who can do damage. Obviously, Yokich would have been
(09:30):
a major problem, as we evidenced by Rudy Gobert grabbing
nine offensive boards and having twenty seven and twenty four
in the deciding game. Okay, when they don't want to
play him, they can still throw at you length in
Twitchy nas Reed who can hit threes, Twitchy Jade McDaniels,
who can defend and hit threes, Julius Randall, bullan or
China Shop, who was just unbelievable in the series, probably
(09:52):
the greatest playoff series he's had in his life. They
have a better bench than the Lakers. Oh, by the way,
Game five, they outscored the Lakers bench twenty two to four.
Were Okay, Dante Divigenzo is NCAA champion A. I don't
know if he wanted an NBA title or not, but
he's been a solid NBA rotation player now for what
five six years? And oh yeah, Anthony Edwards, he can
(10:14):
defend up and it's like they're just such a long
team that they give they're the one team in the
West that could match Luca and Lebron with Anthony Edwards,
Jaden McDaniels and Julius Randall and nos Reid as well
like Oklahoma City. And I'll maintain this obviously you could
(10:34):
say that's hollow. It doesn't mean anything, Jason. Oklahoma City
did not scare me at all. They didn't. Their matchups
for Luca and Lebron are smaller guards Lou Dort, Alex Caruso.
I don't think they're as good defensively for the matchup
of Lebron and Luca as Jaden McDaniels and Naz Reid.
(10:56):
Those guys are very long and big. Caruso and lou
Dort are smaller. They're compacted, very very good defenders, elite defenders,
all NBA guys, but for them matchup against Luca Lebron,
Minnesota has everything and I just missed it. Honestly, first
impressions matter, and I guess going thirty two and twenty
(11:16):
nine to start the season is like, geez, these guys
aren't great, and I know, I just didn't. I didn't
notice that they I mean, I think we knew they
went seventeen to four, but I don't know how they
did it and watching them in this in this series, man.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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Speaker 2 (11:42):
Live now in the Lakers defense and I'm not going
to kill him here. I don't think you can kill
the Lakers. Game one they got blown out, Okay, I
think they were stunned by the physicality of Minnesota and
frankly the length of the offense. And Game two they
bounced back, and you know, I was at the game.
I thought that was you know, Lakers led soup to nuts.
It was never really competitive. I think it was twenty
(12:03):
five to ten in the first quarter. Minnesota got maybe
within five six in the fourth port whatever, it's fine.
Games three, four, and five, Okay, the Lakers were tied
with Minnesota with four minutes left and then they end
up losing. The Lakers led by two in Game four
with ninety seconds left and end up losing. The Lakers
(12:25):
trailed by three with ninety seconds left in Game five
and ended up losing. These are three coin toss games. Literally,
Lakers right there at the end and blew them all.
Then you if you will, if as long as you
accept that, then we can get into well, wait a minute,
why are they constantly blowing all these fourth quarter games? Well,
(12:48):
I think that's a legitimate question. And that and Lebron
struggles in the fourth quarter in the series. Hey man,
let's be real. The Lakers bench killed him. When you
can't go to your bench. So liction Anthony Edwards won
play forty three minutes. He's twenty three friggin years old.
Luca Is twenty five games, was injured and I. I mean,
(13:14):
I've been reluctant to admit because I'm a Luca guy.
But guys, he's not in the best of shape. Obviously,
people are gonna make the stupid Nico Harrison. Nico was
right the fuck he was. Are you kidding me? Max
didn't get out of the plane. They're probably not a
playoff team next year unless Kyrie Irving has a magical
(13:35):
recovery and he's back early and take him to the
promised Land. Luca's gonna be fine. This will be a
wake up call for him. Let's not forget eleven months ago,
the dude was in the NBA Finals, carried Dallas on
his back. Obviously this loss will sting, but he's been
with the team for two months. This is how desperate
JJ Reddick was on Wednesday night. Maxi Kleeber, who's been
(13:59):
out of basketball action due to an injury since January.
Since January, and Maxi Kleeber was called upon in the
fourth quarter when Dorian Phinney Smith filed out MAXI. Let's go, buddy,
like that's that's bleak. So the Lakers starters ninety two,
the Wolf starters eighty one. Folks, everybody can laugh at
(14:22):
the Lakers, and I get it, the haters, the trolls,
they're going to do that. I don't think the Lakers
were that far off in the series, but the fourth
quarter fatigue, the age of Lebron, Like, how do you
remedy that? You got to have Lebron on the floor
to stay in the game. You needed Lebron Again, you
look at Lebron's line and you're like, twenty two, seven
(14:43):
and six. That's pretty damn good for a forty year
old playing forty minutes. Now, he's only one of five
from three got to the line, and not as efficient
from the line three of six, but like you know,
they Austin Reeves played like absolute ass made one late three,
but gosh, he was downright terrible in the series. I
(15:04):
think Ruiyachi Mora showed extremely well. I don't know, like
he's a good trade piece, but he's a good three
and D guy. I like Ruyachi Mora, Austin Reeves. It
looks like the final numbers aren't quite in yet, but
this is a guy who did not give to the
free throw line in the final two games. That's not great.
In fact, he got to the free throw line six
(15:27):
five success seven times in the entire series. That's out
of character for him. This is a guy who can
cook off the dribble. I mean, I'm just scanning his
ESPN game log. Twelve free throw attempts against OKC, ten
against Memphis, eleven against Brooklyn, twelve against Minnesota, thirteen against Portland,
thirteen against Indiana, sixteen against Golden State. This guy attacks.
(15:52):
Where was that he turned into a jump shooter? Was
it the defense of Anthony Edwards? Was he worn down
from defending up? I don't know, but he's sure as
hell's shot terribly from three and overall, like Austin Reeves
just killed them. He was not good at all.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
I'm sure you guys have seen this by now, but
the Lakers were outscored by forty two in the fourth
quarter in the series. I think that's answered barely easily
with When you don't have depth and your guys are
battling bigger dudes for rebounds all game long, they are
tired and they're unable to deliver the way they were
early in the series and the game. The Lakers, according
(16:44):
to Reddick, were twelve of fifty two from three in
the fourth quarter in the series, twelve divided by fifty two,
a robust twenty three percent. And all these offensive boards
Minnesota kept drabbing. It led to a more shots, folks. Again,
even a Minnesota shooting forty percent, that's still give me
(17:08):
four out of eleven. That's eight more points and they
win by seven. They shot eight more free throws, they
win by seven. Just it's a numbers game for the Lakers,
and they couldn't rebound. So now the question becomes, well,
maybe they should have traded for Mark Williams. Well, you
had to give up a lot and draft picks. I
(17:30):
think the Lakers' standing pat wasn't the worst thing in
the world. I thought they were championship material this year. Obviously,
losing four to one to Minnesota two games at home
says Otherwise, that being said, can they retool on the
fly and get this team going? Like you know, I'm
personally surprised Dalton Connect didn't play, but I don't know
(17:52):
who he's really defending in this series. I will add
and this just just hit me. In the preseason, I'm
fairly certain I picked Minnesota and the Knicks or Minnesota
in Boston to meet in the finals. I was so
bullish on that trade of cat, you know, I like
it Anthony Edwards. But again, I didn't see it all
(18:13):
season or for much of the season, and so I
just like kind of wrote them off. That's a lesson learned.
I'll never forget. The biggest lesson I've learned in the
NFL draft goes back to Patrick Mahomes. He was coming
out of Texas Tech. I remember watching the videos. I'm like, Okay,
he can sling up, but where's the defense. They're playing
Arena league defense in what was the Big Twelve. You
know Patrick Mahomes doing for like six hundred yards in games,
(18:36):
a lot of interceptions, and I'm like, well, that's because
they're in the air raid. They're not doing anything but
chucking chuck and duck. That's not gonna work in the NFL. Well,
lesson learned. Now, Listen, there was data to back this up.
Quarterbacks from the Big Twelve had not transitioned over the
past decade to the NFL. They just were not playing well.
Because oh, by the way, you're facing actual defenses now
(18:59):
as a go to this, you know, CFL caliber defense
in the Big twelve. Well, I missed it. Patrick Mahomes
now is one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history
of football. I didn't see it coming out. Now, in
my defense, somebody took Mitch Trubisky ahead of Patrick Mahomes.
He was I believe the tenth player drafted tenth. Nine guys,
when I had of Patrick Mahomes, Who's gonna go down
(19:21):
as one of like the five best players in football history.
So yeah, my untrained I missed it. So did nine
other NFL teams. Like even if you had a quarterback
and some didn't, if you knew Patrick Mahomes was that generation,
you would have taken him. Then again, not to get
sus sidetracked, but if Patrick Mahomes goes to I don't
(19:41):
freaking know, Jacksonville, Tennessee, you know one of these crap teams,
crap organizations, does he become Patrick Mahomes. Yes, I could
toss the Jets in there, but I won't. Anyways, it's
a tough one, guys. It's a tough to stomach when
your starters outscore the other stars. But the bench gives
you nada that hurts. Lakers had one blocked shot and
(20:06):
it was by Rui. They had fifteen turnovers. It's just
that one hurts. So Minnesota will now advance two face
likely the Warriors. I guess the Rockets still have a
chance down three to two. I don't know. Anytime my
team that I'm on gets knocked out of some tournament
(20:26):
or whatever, I want to see the team that beat
me going to win the championship, right, Because then I
was like, well we lost to the champs. Well it's
not not the worst thing in the world. We didn't
lose the freaking bums. We lost to the champs. And
I don't know if Minnesota's gonna be the champs. But
I would need to dig in a little more to
the matchup against OKC. But you know, you've got to
(20:48):
rim Protector and Rudy, I don't I mean, you're gonna
need him against Hert and Stein. You know, McDaniel's Brandon,
They've got guys. Conley's a bit of a weak link,
but Devincenzo's very good. He didn't have a great game.
He had a couple of goonish fouls. I'm surprised he
didn't get call for a flagrant on Luca, but I digress.
Oh Lakers, hold out. Do you have anything else on
(21:09):
my friggin' notes? No, I don't. It hurts man. Luca
and Reeves both missed layups in the final two minutes
I have in my notes, and again after the ruie
three they're down three with ninety seconds left. You get
one stop and I believe in the next possession, you know,
(21:29):
instead of guessing, I should just look it up. You know,
the memory is good, but it's not great. I spent
too much time on social media. So on the next possession, Yeah,
Austin Reeves cheats out of the corner on an Anthony
Edwards drive, Aunt hits Conley in the corner and the
veteran bangs at three. I hurt, guys, It really hurt.
(21:50):
Anthony Edwards fifteen to eleven and eight three steals. He's
really good. He is tonight's actions. Check the lines. Nick
at Pistons Detroit is favored by one and a half.
Oh my, Now, I haven't seen the status of Brunson
or Heart. I'm just gonna assume they're warriors and they'll
play Pistons blowout. No, I don't know, guys, I don't
(22:16):
have a feel. I feel like I lost my fastball. Honestly,
I was so off on all three games Tuesday. I
thought the Lakers had it. I did nail the Rockets,
but man, and then Nuggets at Clippers paper clips favored
by six and a half. I mean, hell, part of
me wants the Clippers to win that series just so
I can go to playoff basketball. I you know, I
don't know if I can get hooked up with Clippers tickets,
(22:37):
but surely I know somebody who's going to games and
can get me in there. That's all for today. Man,
I'm a little shook. Oh. By the way, I'm hosting
the Herd on Friday, So any hot take ideas send
them my way, because I already have some stuff percolating
on a low simmer on the range. Talk to you then,
Host
Jason McIntyre
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