On today's episode, Jason and Super Producer Rob G (Robert Guerra) kick things off by sharing their thoughts on Nikola Jokic's legendary performance in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals (31 points, 21 rebounds, 14 assists). It was truly one of the greatest statistical games in NBA Playoffs history. Having said that, LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the Lakers still managed to come back from a 21-point second deficit and give themselves a chance to steal the game at the end. So which team should feel better about this one heading into Game 2: the Nuggets or the Lakers? I think we can agree that both sides have many reasons to feel optimistic. Later, the guys share a few thoughts on the San Antonio Spurs winning the NBA Draft lottery and the rights to select French big man Victor Wembanyama. Would we have preferred that Wemby end up on a team with more surrounding talent? Yeah, but at least we know the Spurs will ensure that the Frenchman lives up to his otherworldly potential. Finally, J-Mac and Rob close the show by making their Best Bets for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat.
Click here to subscribe, rate and review all of the latest Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre podcasts! #Volume
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntire. What
(00:23):
is up, straight firefam, It's me Jason McIntyre. Straight Fire
for Wednesday, May seventeenth. A tremendous night in the Association.
What a game. Nuggets one thirty two, Lakers won twenty six.
Unbelievable basketball throughout the game. This was one of those
the game is so damn good you don't even turn
(00:45):
the channel during commercials, Like usually i'll look for movies,
I'll scroll around to see what else is on. Did
not change the channel at all. This was like, Okay,
I gotta pause, do you know the dishes? Whatever I
gotta do, and I'll come right back to the game.
This was a tremendous basket. Lakers come up just on
the short end of the stick. Great comeback. They unlocked
a few things in the fourth quarter we'll talk about shortly,
(01:07):
Denver goes up one. Nothing. If we talked about this
on Monday, the line was five and a half. By
Tuesday it was six and a half, and if you
bet late, you got beat because it landed on six.
Tough one if you back the Nuggets late. However, if
you listen to the straight Fire player props Hello, three
(01:28):
and zero, a tremendous start. Just bolstering your bank roll
from Memorial Day weekend. Michael Porter junior fourteen and a half,
Hey landed on fifteen. Jamal Murray I think it was
twenty four and a half, thirty one and CACP the
easy third quarter winner over nine and a half lands
on twenty one. Just a awesome night for overs folks.
(01:51):
If you're a Nuggets fan, you breathe a sigh of
a leaf, right, You're like, Okay, we almost blew that
twenty one point second half lead, and Lakers they had
a chance there. They did have a couple looks an
opportunity to tie the game, could not pull it off.
But if you're a Lakers fan, you take this win. Okay, Okay, Okay,
they got one. They got one, and you're not that dispirited.
(02:13):
I don't think it's that easy, though. My guess is
the consensus the Robg's of the world, who have Lakers
in six or whatever. I think Laker fans are gonna
be like, Okay, we got we got we unlocked the
hatchiemor thing. We benched d Low, who was an abomination
at both ends. You know, we came back. We could
have stole this one. We got Game two, and I'm
(02:34):
just gonna a word of caution if you look back
to that Phoenix series against Denver, similar situation in game one,
although Phoenix did not make a run in the fourth,
they just sat there, guys in the fourth to say, okay,
we got no shout, We're not coming back. Lakers tried
that comeback and Anthony Davis ends with forty two minutes played,
(02:55):
Lebron forty minutes played. Both of them were outstanding. You
got great games. You got sixty six points, twenty two rebounds,
and twelve assists from Lebron and Ad they were tremendous.
Ady fourteen or twenty three, Lebron nine of sixteen like
they were outstanding. From the free throw line nineteen or
twenty two, like they were awesome, and you lost. If
(03:17):
you look at that game two Denver Phoenix, Phoenix led
for most of Game two, and in the fourth quarter
the altitude caught up with them. They could not make shots. Now,
Chris Paul's injury did happen in the I think it
was late third quarter and Phoenix ran out of gas
and Denver. Denver's role players notably, KCP took over and
they were able to pull off the victory. I know
Lakers fans are gonna think Game two, they've got a
(03:39):
great shot. Just a word of caution. Eighty logged forty
two minutes Lebron forty. They get one night off, and
I know people think there's no date, no way Denver
can play this. Good folks. They were one of the
best offenses in the NBA for a reason. They were
the second best home record in the end for a reason. Okay, Jokic,
(04:04):
who was shut down and we'll talk about that shut
down in the fourth quarter, had like the best first
quarter probably of anyone in the playoffs. Ever, when you
look at the ten boards, I think he had ten boards,
five assists, Like no player had done that in the
first quarter in the history of the sport. I think
that was the graphic. Rob g can check me on
in a minute. Yokich ended with thirty four points, twenty
(04:26):
one boards, fourteen assists. I mean, listen, he was unbelievable.
Here's the weird thing. Oh, by the way, he had
six offensive boards. The Lakers team had five, So Jokic
out rebounded the entire Lakers on the offensive last six
to five. Here's the weird thing, though, Jokic had thirty
one heading into the fourth because he hit that prayer
(04:48):
three pointer over to Ad late I think at the
buzzer actually, and he goes to the fourth with thirty one.
He was shut down in the fourth. Why what happened?
Ruy Hachimora happened? And it's crazy because our guest yesterday
on the podcast, if you missed it, go back and listen.
You know you missed the bats. I'm sorry, our guest said,
Rui Hachi Mora is the X factor in the series,
(05:11):
and he broke it down perfectly. And guess who was
defending Jokic in the fourth quarter. Rui Hachimurra, one of
my favorite names in the NBA. By the way, I
got a I got the numbers for you right here,
Yokich with Ruey as his primary defender. Now, it only
happened six times in the game. Jokich was zero for
two with two turnovers. Jokich with Ad as the primary
(05:34):
defender fifteen times. Jokis was ten of thirteen, ten of
thirteen with two turnovers. Now this is the other interesting aspect.
You're like, well, what about the assists. Okay, they measured
points per play when Ad was guarding him one point
five to three, when Hachi Mora was guarding Jokic zero
point six seven. Now it's a small sample size, but again,
(05:56):
you know, listen, I'm not trying to hype up our
breakdowns of x A and o's, but we kind of
nailed this game one a lot between our guests calling
Hachimur to come in and defend Yokic. They needed that,
and Ad is the help defender. Now Denver will obviously
adjust because when Hachi Mora went to Jokic, Ad was
then hanging out next to Aaron Gordon, Aaron Gordon like
(06:18):
in the Dunkers spot, and Ad basically is sitting there
as a rim protector, So they will tweak that now.
Aaron Gordon zero for three from deep did not hit
his free throws. I almost wonder will the Lakers force
Denver to go small, perhaps with Bruce Brown, who had
(06:39):
an awesome game sixteen points, but he's good. I don't
want anybody saying like that was a flukey game. Absolutely not.
Bruce Brown very very good. I don't want to say
the best guy off the bench in the series. But
he is excellent player. He came in pure energy, rebounds, assists,
played big in Brooklyn. Now is it playing like? I
think they called him the backup point guard. He was excellent.
So my guess is yes, Aaron Gordon probably fewer minutes
(07:01):
in this ruey Ad lineup. But the Jamal Murray hunting
by Lebron was outstanding. Just like Lebron loves to go
at Steph Curry and did it often, Lebron was absolutely
going after Jamal Murray. It worked almost every time. Lebron
Lebron twenty six, twelve and nine, eight of eleven from
the foul line. The one thing I did not like,
(07:22):
and one of my buddies he called this. He's the
Lakers season ticket holder. Lebron loves his I'm gonna let
the shot clock wind down late in the game. I
want to be a hero ball. And he goes for
the kill shot three and I don't have exact numbers,
but it feels like he's shooting ten percent on those.
It's usually straight ahead, top of the key, sometimes like
(07:43):
diagonal at the long three, and it's just it's not
a good shot by Lebron, but he wants he wants
that hero shot and it just really does not work.
I Mean, I wonder like, is there anything the Lakers
can do to get Lebron out of that mindset? Because
I'll tell you right now, Austin Reeves, mister, what do
(08:04):
they call what do we call him? The ninety eight
million dollar guy? Ninety seven? Is that the number he
can get. Austin Reeves was tremendous five threes, twenty three points,
eight assists, zero turnovers his first Western Conference final ever.
He played forty two minutes, had twenty three to eight
and zero turnovers. Now, the turnovers are an issue because
(08:24):
Denver they don't play much defense. And for all anybody's
gonna say is well, Denver shot the lights out. Denver
shot fifty four percent. You know what, the Lakers shot
fifty four percent. Now, Denver from three forty six percent.
They made fifteen threes. The Lakers made eleven. Austin Reeves
said half of them. Here's the concern if you're the Lakers,
(08:46):
Besides the heavy minutes, obviously you can count on Austin Reeves.
We agree he's their third best player. I thought Ruy
Hachimura had a very good game. Lonnie Walker hit miss
off the bench. Jared Vanderbilt, I don't know, threeenty ten minutes.
I don't know that he's long for this series. Troy
Brown ain't in the rotation. Shrewder really struggled. Really, it
(09:11):
does not look like a series for Shreuter. I know
it's one game. I don't want to go overboard D'Angelo Russell.
He just didn't have it. I mean he's getting cooked
up defensively, offensively, like I didn't see it. A couple
turnaround jumpers in the third when they're down, like eighteen
zero for three from d Where are now? We were
wondering where you're gonna get the third scorer from against
Golden State, Like who's gonna step up? One game line Walker?
(09:32):
One game Loster Reeves because Denver's offense is so good, Rob,
I feel like the Lakers are gonna need a fourth
scorer because listen, we know the history. And I'm not
trying to call him James Harden here, but Anthony Davis
in these playoffs has essentially alternated great game with either
bad or average game. And I'm sorry, Rob, I know
(09:56):
people are excited. AD had forty at altitude in forty
two minutes. The idea that he's gonna come back and
go for twenty five or thirty. I'll be honest, that
seems foreign to me. We saw him in that Warrior
series start to show signs of fatigue, and yeah, he
would do things defensively, but even after his big Game
(10:18):
one where he had thirty and twenty three and they
got to win, he came back with eleven and seven.
Then they go home Game three, twenty five and thirteen,
gets to sit out the fourth quarter of a blowout,
comes back with twenty three and fifteen, and in Game
five in Golden State, he just wasn't as effective. Remember
zero blocks in Game five. Defensively didn't have it. It's
tough for AD to be consistent. So after only thirty
(10:41):
two minutes in the loss, bounces back in Game six
with seventeen and twenty. But Rob, I think you'd probably
agree with me for AD to score forty and lose
and know that you're probably not gonna get I mean, listen, Brob,
I don't think he's going for twenty five in Game two.
I don't know where the scoring comes from. Lakers down
on one and you got to get one in Denver, right,
(11:05):
you have to get one of these two would split
or you go home down oh two with zero room
for error back in LA.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
You know what, everything you said feels accurate. And I
still feel great about Lakers and six. And look, Jokic
was awesome, Murray was great. I mean, the Nuggets overall offensively,
we're as advertised. We talked about it for the last
few weeks that they have been playing like the most
(11:33):
impressive team in the postseason thus far. Last night in
Game one, Jokic had for my money, probably statistically the
best playoff game ever, you know, just in terms of
raw numbers, thirty four to twenty any player in the history,
well that I mean that. I mean, I don't I
guess modern era. I mean I don't know how, I
don't know if you want to go back to like
(11:54):
World Chamber, I mean, sure, Wilt.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Chamber then Magic Game six when he played center for Jabbar.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Statistically, Jokic is, but Nos were better. Just let me
look thirty four, twenty one and fourteen on twelve of
seventeen shooting like that. That's a video you could play
on NBA two K and not put those kind of
numbers up like that. That was unreal. So he plays great,
obvious said, Murray plays great. Nuggets shot sixty nine percent
(12:20):
on long twos and out rebounded the Lakers by seventeen
in a game they only won by six. Lebron James,
I know that he settled for that long three, and
I was just as mad as your buddy was. I
threw my rote at the TV when I saw it happen.
You know, Lebron James was seven of eight inside the paint.
(12:41):
The Lakers, for all of their miscues defensively against Denver,
especially in that first half, they could get whatever they
want on the other end as well. This is very
similar to what we saw early on in the Denver
Phoenix series, where neither team looked like they were capable
of stopping the other one right, it was just trade
one trade. One of the difference was in early in
(13:01):
that series is the Nuggets were trading threes for twos,
and that's why they ended up winning pretty easily in
the first two games. Where the Lakers have going for
them moving forward is their schematic fix is not really
like a huge alternate from what they can do normally,
and that's just play bigger, play Ruie more minutes, probably
(13:23):
start him in Game two, Jared Vanderbilt for more minutes
even if he's not shooting, just being a larger body.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
So we would agree you start ruey overshreoter. I would
agree with that. Yes, So where are you getting the
Vanderbilt minutes.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
From off the bench? Just you know, just play him.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
You know.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
The thing was is last series, it was okay to
play the three guard look because the Warriors played quick
and they were very they were very small, you know,
so it made sense to match size for size. All
of the adjustments that Darvin Hang came out with in
Game one early proved to be the wrong decision. He
came out small against a massive front line with Denver,
(14:03):
and that's why it was twenty to two rebounding at
one point in the middle of the second quarter. Yeah, okay.
They wanted to play fast, which you don't do against
an offensive juggernaut at altitude you don't like. That's just
you're playing right into their hands. If you're a defensive team,
be a defensive team. Don't try to outrun and gun
the best offense in basketball, especially when we had decide
disadvantage and number three, especially early on, they were doubling
(14:29):
Jokic when Ad had in one on one. If Yogic
scores on Ad, hey you live with it. You know,
AD's your best defender by far, probably the best defender
in basketball. If Yogic is gonna score, it is what
it is. Let him get his just don't let him
get everybody else involved. And what they were doing was
they were doubling off of the nearest guy most of
the time, whether it was Shrewder or Russell, and he
was getting wide open threes for these other guys. So
(14:51):
all three of their biggest, you know, strategic moves to
start off backfired in a big way, and then they're
down in a huge hole. Once they went back to
playing the way that they play plaid throughout most of
this postseason. We're gonna play big, We're gonna be living
in the paint. We're gonna grind you out defensively. Suddenly
the Lakers climb back from down twenty one to down three.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Yeah, I think I would. I would agree with you,
But you know how the chess match works. Denver saw
what happened, and they will be ready this time. So
I don't think they'll open with anything dramatic. But if
you go rueye with ad off of him. I think
the pretty clear adjustment is let's get Aaron Gordon out
of the game. And it's not like Aaron Gordon dominated
the glass. He did out three offensive boards, but those
(15:32):
were his only rebounds. I think you probably play Michael
Porter Junior as a big and you bring in Bruce
Brown and then it becomes a three point game. And listen, MPJ, Well,
we can say what we want about him. Soft doesn't
play a lot of d He did have a really
nice block on Hachie Mora, and he's a great shooter.
Did you see Have you seen the image I put
(15:53):
on my Instagram stories of the three he hit over
Austin Reeves in the corner? Oh yeah, Austin Reeves hand
was literally like a centermeter from his face and it
was just like, oh my god, how did he hit
that shot? Because shot clock was winding down. He was
three of six from deep Jokic, three of three from deep, Murray,
four of eight from deep KCP, three of eight from
deep and off the bench. Uncle Jeff Green won on
(16:14):
one and Bruce Brown won on one. Christian Brown was
zero and two. I don't know, man, this.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
They hit some incredible shots. Like like, look, they hit
some their offense was humming. I'm not gonna say that.
I'm gonna discount it. They were awesome offensively in Denver.
They also hit at least four or five shots where
either their circus shots like the Yolkic and Murray ones
there in the second half of the Yolks then the
third and the Murray in the earlier of the fourth,
(16:40):
and then the Michael Porter in the corner like there
were some where they were hand right in their face
and they just drilled it, dotted the ie. That's the
kind of stuff you can't count on moving forward.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
That's fair, But they're at home, and we know this
kind of thing tends to happen at home. Let me
the line just emerged. We're recording this right after Lakers
Nuggets finished a little after midnight Eastern time. Denver opens
up five and a half point favorites, and it's already
up to six at one sportsbook bet Chris, which is
considered like a sharp book, so early money on the
(17:13):
Nuggets rob This is gonna go one or two ways.
The Lakers will make adjustments, the Nuggets won't hit as
many shots, and the Lakers will win or the Lakers
will play well, but the altitude and the minutes will
catch up with him, and Denver will pull away and win.
I mean again, we like to think we know everything,
like one of those two things will happen, like those
are really the only two albums. I don't see the
(17:35):
Lakers getting blasted by twenty to.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
You, no, And I honestly don't think Altitude's gonna be
much of a problem in this game because it the
one thing that I noticed in this game and even
some of the other Nuggets series, is because they don't
play very physical defense. These minutes are not heavy minutes
in the same way that it's just cardio. Yeah, exactly.
(17:56):
There's a lot of up and down. You know, there's
a lot of guys smiling during the game last night,
even when it was a blowout, I mean, it was closed.
Guys didn't seem like they were doubled over the same
way that you saw in Lakers Grizzlies and Lakers Warriors.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
I do wonder rub fourth quarter. I don't have the
exact numbers, but it felt like the free throws were
a lot more in the fourth than they were the
first half. And you know, when you're tired and you're
not moving as quick, you're fouling more. I just again,
I've never played at altitude. I have no clue, but
the numbers are there for a reason, like Denver is
a home juggernaut. I mean, they dropped seventy two on
(18:30):
the Lakers in the first half. The Lakers responded with
seventy two of their own in the second half. Listen,
I didn't I don't know if it was a Max effort.
It kind of felt like that from the Lakers, like
they were like, holy cow, we can seal this, and
they nearly did. I'm trying to go back in the
game log and look, so when they were down three,
was it the Austin Reeves three that rimmed out?
Speaker 2 (18:50):
No, tho, when they were down three, it was the
Lebron James, the Lebron top of the key. It was
just short, just flat out short.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Not the greatest shot. So then they're down five and
then the Nuggets snuffed it out the Reeves three and
then Lebron kind of turned it over in the lane.
Good play by Jamal Murray, who you know is basically
gonna be hunted twenty four to seven as soon as
he's on the court by Lebron, But I don't know.
This is one of those games where a lot of
people haven't watched a ton of Nicola Jokic, and this
(19:20):
idea that Joel Embiid was like the best player in
the league this year is just comical. This shows that
the media is kind of a joke on some level.
You just said Jokic essentially had one of the best
games statistically in the history of the NBA playoffs. Bill
Russell had probably some forty and thirty games, but he
ain't have Vieta of as many assists like Jokic is
(19:41):
the complete triple threat. And the craziest part is, man,
he doesn't look winded at all. They give him his breaks.
He's hustling, he's chasing down every rebound. He I mean,
I'm gonna still call him the Dowe Serby and he's
not chiseled like a Dwight Howard was. And I don't know, man,
this this is gonna be a great great sy Lakers
come up a little short, but there is a reason
(20:04):
for optimism. Any final thoughts, rob On, you know, maybe
maybe we need to see some more Malik Beasley for shooting.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
I don't you know what I will say this about
I know him, the Lakers homer on the podcast, I'll
wear that proudly still Lakers and six. But look, Jokic
was so awesome even as an opposing fan, it's hard
not to appreciate how good he is. And I saw
in the postgame former Laker Contavious Calwell Pope was asked,
(20:30):
you know what's it like the difference between playing with
Jokic and a guy like Lebron James, And this, I
thought was the quote of the night, KCP quote. The
only difference is Lebron can jump higher. Now. That is
high praise for Nikolae Jokic, and rightfully so. Man, he
was incredible shooting, passing, rebounding, even defensively, and I know
(20:51):
Ad got his forty, but it wasn't like he was
a sieve there Defensively. He's just a good job of
being big. I'm looking forward to seeing what he'll do
in this series. I expect him to have statistically at
least a monster series and ultimately the Lakers prevail.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
A final thought, as I'm watching this game, Rob, I'm like,
this basketball is just unbelievable. I mean, one th six
just an awesome game. If you are just a face,
even if you're one of these NBA haters, Oh NBA China,
all that crap. You know, if you're one of those guys,
I hope you're not and you're watching this game, you're
just like, my gosh, these guys are good and rob
(21:27):
you know, I grew up on Magic and Bird like
that was my introduction to the NBA. I loved eighties ball.
I really like nineties NBA. I played nineties video games
with Penny. I love me some Penny Hardaway. I mean,
I love nineties basketball. This idea that those guys could
hang with this NBA or they're on the same level
(21:48):
or even close to it, it's just outright comical. And
I know it was a different era. There were some
different rules with the hand checking, but the shot making
we have now in the league is absurd. I mean,
the just watching Jokic, like I'm just trying to think, like,
how would my nineties Knicks defend Jokic. Would they put
Anthony Mason on him and have you income over for
the help defense. Maybe maybe that would be the strategy
(22:10):
and they would slow him down. But like just Denver's
making unbelievable three point shooting. The Lakers respond, Austin Reeves undrafted.
I mean, quick pop quiz, rob who's the best? And
I don't know the answer to this, so it's unfair.
But give me an undrafted player from the nineties who
was unbelievable in the NBA. No, I don't think that's happened.
(22:34):
I mean, I Jokic is he officially the best second
round pick in the history of the NBA. Like Draymond
Green was very, very good. But I mean Yokic is.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Too Envyoblynes, Yeah, monage you nobly, but yeah, I would
definitely go Jokic.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
I mean, we're we're talking about Jokic potentially knocking out
Kevin Durant, knocking out Devin Booker, knocking out a d
knocking out Lebron and then knocking out Jason Tatum in
the finals. He does that on top of the two MVPs.
He's definitely the best player in the NBA. I know
that it's constantly a moving target. And it was Curry,
(23:09):
it was Lebron, it was Giannis. Jokic has it for
the taking. I want to quickly go before we get
to tonight's Gape, and I don't think I'll be as
hot betting on Celtics heat as I was in the
player prop for Nuggets Lakers. The NBA Draft lottery happened
and your winners were and I don't know if there's
a good thing or not. The San Antonio Spurs, my
(23:32):
initial thought was, BA humbug, Why them? Why them again?
They got David Robinson in eighty seven, they got Duncan
in ninety seven, maybe it was David Robinson eighty nine,
whatever it was, And now they get Victor women Yama like,
how is that fair? Can't we let someone else get
in on the action? And then one of my buddies
on Instagram says me a message, no way. He's like
(23:54):
a huge Spurs fan and he's big into Nikosa and
he's like, no, this is great for the league, this
is perfect for women. You know, you go to Portland,
you're probably gonna get hurt like every other guy that
goes to Portland. Haha, you got to Charlotte, Michael Jordan
will find a way to screw it up. You go
to Houston, come on the James Harten except for forget
it Orlando, ha ha ha. You know it's a decent
(24:16):
case like San Antonio has the infrastructure, has the history
to make Wembin Yama very very successful, Like there's a
chance this could be more successful than we anticipate, very
very early, and people are already trying to clock the
who's just starting five next year around Wemby, Like, oh, well,
(24:36):
we've got Devin Vassol, the three point gunner. We get
the kid Malachi Brownham. I think he's Ohio State, young
young kid Keldon Johnson who's probably their second best player,
Jeremy Sohan. And you're like, how is this good for
the NBA? Dude, that's you're starting five. You're not getting
any anybody in free agency. I don't think you got
cap room, big time cap room. But where are you
(24:59):
going with that? And that's where it'll be interesting to
see how they build around a guy like webin Yama,
because listen, I'm a Knicks fan. I saw the Porzingis
thing happen and it hurt. You know, was still waiting
for chet Holmgren to play his first game in the NBA.
Still like big guys, it's just they're unorthodox. They're unicorns,
(25:21):
Like literally unicorns don't know what to do with them.
We don't know how their bodies are going to react
to the pounding in the NBA. Like I wouldn't be
shocked if they told WEBBN Yama no back to backs
as a rookie. You know, it's a bit of a
step up from the league in France. You know. So
San Antonio wins it, they'll take Weeban Yama Charlotte at
two LaMelo balls. Partner will be Scoot Henderson. I don't know.
(25:44):
Remember Brandon Miller of Alabama, who did have a terrible clunker,
terrible to end his season. My gosh, I was on
them against San Diego State and I think I don't
have the numbers in front of me, something like three
of seventeen. It was abysmal. He's a wing this is
the wing league. He did have the gun charge. Woge
was quick to note that the teams have looked into
(26:06):
Brandon Miller and he's clean. This is well one off. Apparently,
I'm efforting to get Wojes on the podcast. He is
still reluctant. I guess he doesn't do a lot of podcasts.
We are friends, we go back twenty five years, twenty years,
and I'm working on it. People. So if Brandon Miller
goes to Charlotte, that's fine. Like I like Brandon Miller,
I like LaMelo Ball. You know, I don't know that
(26:30):
Charlotte is gonna be that good with Brandon Miller. You know,
it's Charlotte guys, like they haven't been good in forever.
They can't figure out their coach, they can't get any
like what players are gonna remember what? They thought they
had a shot at Steph Curry because he went to Davidson.
I was like, maybe, no, not a chance. So they
got some of the guys in the rest of Terry
(26:51):
Rosey's an okay player, but he's selfish, Kelly Oubre, Gordon Hayward.
I think you probably try to package Gordon Hayward in
a deal for some kind of veteran. Who else did
they PJ Washington, Mark Williams, a young kid, I like,
how to do? Nick Richard's like, this is a twenty
five win team. After Charlotte is Portland, and then you've
got the Scoot Henderson stuff, and it's like, well, oh, really, Portland,
(27:13):
the team with Damian Lillard, the team with Anthonty Simons,
the team that just drafted Shadon Sharp, who they love.
In the top ten, they're gonna go grab another guard. Well,
Damian Lillard's gonna be like, I'm out, Like I mean,
Jeremy Grant, use of Nurkic, Cam Reddish, like, I don't,
I just they if they're drafting Scoot Henderson, fine, but
(27:36):
you have to move Damian Lillard absolutely. Now. One option
is you say we want to keep Dame, and we
will dangle the number three pick to someone and we'll
attach I don't know whoever you want, Cam Reddish, he's
floated around the league, batist, stible, whatever you want and
give us, give us a plug and play all Star
(27:57):
or All Star caliber player, and we'll try to ride
with Dame. Simon Sharp and said all Star. I don't know,
but like, there's not a lot to be excited about.
After the top three, you got the the Thompson Twins,
the kid from Houston who like I like, but I
don't know Jerrase Walker, like I don't. I mean, if
you want me to ask who I'm really excited about,
(28:18):
you got to go a little deeper. I like Jordan
Hawkins of Yukon, a lot winning player. High IQ looks
to me like like a Ray Allen type player. I
like him a ton. I kind of like Dareek Whitehead
of Duke. Derek Lively of Duke is the big center
who doesn't do anything but block shots. He's gonna fall
(28:38):
a little bit. My guy from the Breakers, Ryan Rupert,
very nice wing player. But this is this is not
an amazing draft. There's not a ton of guys outside
of Wombin Yama, Scoot and Brandon Miller, rob Any any
thoughts on Wemby or not? Really?
Speaker 2 (28:54):
I mean, uh, I kind of felt like it was
gonna be. It just felt like a Spurs thing, right
And according to a Fred Cats covers the NBA for
the Athletic, he was in the ping pong room when
it was happening. He said that not only did the
Spurs get the first pick, they got drawn two more
times in the lottery, so they had to redo multiple picks.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Huh.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
It's so you know. The way it works is they
don't actually draw all fourteen teams, right, They draw number one,
number two, number three, number four. That's how they draw
lottery balls. So the number they pull for the first
pick will be the first one, and then so on
and so on and so on. So the Spurs were
(29:41):
pulled for the number one pick, I'm assuming they were
also pulled then for numbers three and number four, Like
their lottery ball combination came up multiple times in that
top four order, So it seemed like it was, you know,
destiny that the Spurs were going to have the number
one overall pick. Destiny was on their side. The thing.
(30:02):
The same thing happened with the Lakers the year that
they went up in the Brandon Ingram Draft. I believe
it was where they had actually got pulled for the
second and third picks and then obviously you can't go
in a second. But so that's number one with whom
Minyami I was kind of sad. I wish he would
have ended up in a more competitive situation because the
(30:26):
San Antonio Spurs roster is terrible, right, I know that popping,
you know it gets a lot of credit, but they've
been arguably the worst team in the NBA for like
three or four years now, Like they're just not good.
So we're at least two to three years from when
Ben Yama even being like in a playoff discussion, and
when you have a guy that's that level of a talent.
(30:48):
I wish that he had a more competitive roster around
him so we could see him do some things. You know,
when when it was down to the Spurs and the Hornets,
I was really hoping for the LaMelo ball when yeah,
I'm a dynamic do I thought that would have been great?
Speaker 1 (31:02):
Well, let me ask you, I hadn't thought about this,
so it is one of the worst rosters in the league.
I just looked it up. It's certainly bottom three, maybe
maybe number one. If you're Popovich, do you say we
need to build a winning culture because we have one
and I don't think I won a playoff series in
like five years, maybe.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
Longer, probably longer than that.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Do you throw a hail Mary and say, let's go
bring in some guys, let's let's let's let's pay Klay Thompson.
He knows how to win. He's a winner, fits our culture,
and we could give up a guy that wants to
get paid, like a Keldon Johnson who the Warriors could use.
They could use wings. But like, is there a world
where the Spurs take a flyer on a veteran or two? Now?
(31:43):
I don't know if like a I mean Draymond Green
is he your big guy to defend the bigs and
weben Yamas a wing. I don't know they could. They
have a lot of options, but you gotta assume that
they They're gonna have some pretty good options right to
like make moves.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
I know people want to play a time cap space.
I mean, if they wanted to, they could, but that
just goes against everything that the Spurs have ever done.
Like they are the epitome of small market build the
correct way quote unquote, by the way, speaking of the Hornets,
check this out. I saw this online las last night
as well. They've had the number two pick three times
(32:20):
before this upcoming women Yama draft.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
Hold on. One of them was Marvin from UNC number
he was twenty four. Marvin something, you.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Mean Marvin Williams.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Marvin Williams, Yes, thank you.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
Okay, so what Marvin Williams?
Speaker 1 (32:35):
Right?
Speaker 2 (32:36):
But these are these are the ones that I'm most
fascinated by. The Shack draft, they were number two. They
got Alonzoil Morning, not lot A lowns On. Morning's not bad,
but you know he's not Shack.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Clearly.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
The Dwight Howard draft, they end up with a Mecca
Oka four.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
Oh oh, dear.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
And then number three. This is the worst one by far,
the Anthony Davis draft. They end up with the immortal
Michael kid Gilchrist.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
I loved him. Coming out of content was tough scene.
It's worse when you say what happened after Michael kid
Gilchrist in twenty twelve, Like there's a chance that they
didn't miss anything. Oh wait, Bradley Beal went third. Yeah,
Damian Lillard went sixth, Harrison Barnes seventh. All those guys
(33:26):
considerably better than Michael kid Gilchrist. Let's see who have
they got late? LaMelo Ball was a win? Uh they yeah?
Oh dear, yeah they They've had some I mean twenty
twenty one. James book Knight, he liked him, has not
after him? Course de Warte, Moses Moody, Sengoon, He's he's
(33:48):
been pretty good. Trey Murphy's been good. Book Knight's been
a zero. Oh man, this listen. NBA draft is tough,
NFL draft is tough. I'll do I'll do a mock
draft for Fox Sports next. The only thing better than
sitting on your couch watching the game. He's making money
while you do it. Here's your best bet. Let's quickly
(34:14):
go to tonight's game, Celtics eight and a half point
favorites at home against the Heat. Oh my, Now, Miami's
been resting since Friday when they dispatched Jalen Brunson. Celtics
played Sunday, and you know, I guess the matchup for
(34:37):
Boston is not great because Jimmy Butler is arguably the
most clutched player on the in the series, even though
the Celtics had Jason Tatum and bam Adebayo can give
them some problems. Huh. I guess I would. I guess
I would lean. I kind of want to go Celtics,
but off of three and O night, I don't want to.
(34:58):
I don't want to waste money flush it down the tube,
so I'll probably pass on the On the side, I
think Boston will win and cover. But like you said earlier, Rob,
like this is a Boston team that just knows they
just screw around and they're not locked in and focused.
They've been mediocre at home in their last like twenty
games in the playoffs. I don't think there are a
lot to blow them out. Any action from use on
(35:18):
the side here.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Yeah, I actually like Miami in the spot. Now, I
think I think Boston's gonna win. But the points is
way too much and the words of Doc Rivers, the
Celtics play with their meat too much. And I love
how we want to say play with their food as
they play with their meat. And that thing has just
gone rampant on the internet, by the way. But you know,
Miami is a tough team and Boston, I'm not gonna
(35:41):
say they're an unseerious bunch, but they definitely carry themselves
with the swagger of a team that's won like two
or three championships and they can just flip the switch
whenever they want. So I like Miami plus the points.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
Let me look at some player point props. Butler twenty
seven and a half, Bam seventeen and a half, Tatum
twenty nine, and I have Jalen Brown twenty four and
a half, Smart fourteen, brogged in Smart and brogged in
fourteen and a half, Kyle Lowry ten and a half.
That's the problem with Miami, rob I don't know who's
gonna go off. Is it gonna be Max Trus hitting
five threes? I don't know. Caleb Martin is he Caleb
(36:16):
Martin is eight and a half I.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
Don't know Kevin Love hitting four.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
Threes Kevin Love seven and a half. I mean it
could be like that's but that's the thing with that,
my tried and true model. No, it's not a model,
but role players at home bet them and then when
they're on the road fade him. So the role players
I'll be looking at here, like can Al Horford give
you seven and a half? Over seven and a half?
(36:41):
Like I just I don't feel supremely confident because you're right,
there's a world where Eric Spolster comes in with a
massive surprise and all of a sudden, the Celtics are
kind of shook, and next thing you know, Butler's got
forty and it's a game one. Upset like it would
not shock me? What't you give me Jalen Brown over
(37:02):
twenty four and a half points? How's that that'll be
my one? Because I do think Butler would probably go
to Tatum, and I don't see them putting BAM on
Jalen Brown and pulling him away from the hoop. If
they do, twenty four and a half is cooked. But
I do think Tatum had his Game seven, he got
his shine. I can see them wanting to get Jalen Brown.
Keep him happy, right, Rob, you know you gotta keep
(37:25):
your bet Robin happy. I guess I would go Jalen
Brown over twenty four and a half. I think that's
gonna be my lone bet. In Game one of Heat Celtics,
I'll go Heat one hundred Celtics one eleven.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
It's a lot of points.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
Well, the total is, uh, what do we got for
the total we got? We got two eleven, So I
landed right up right out of the total. There. All right,
We'll be back tomorrow. Spurs fans, I know your party.
And have you seen the video Rob of the Spurs
fans at bars? Yeah? I have, dude. They were we
were like lubricated on a Tuesday in San Antonio because
(38:03):
they won the draft. Lot. I can't recall ever seeing that,
can you.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
No, not even in the Zion Williamson Draft, which was
probably the closest like hype wise.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
That I can't remember. That was like the New Orleans
War room was yeah, yeah, that was cool. The Spurs
guy was shouting on Stagium. Yeah. I was kind of
rooting for Portland, you know, obviously, Luca, but you know,
congrats to the Spurs. We'll talk to you tomorrow.
The volume. This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntire. What
(00:23):
is up, straight firefam, It's me Jason McIntyre. Straight Fire
for Wednesday, May seventeenth. A tremendous night in the Association.
What a game. Nuggets one thirty two, Lakers won twenty six.
Unbelievable basketball throughout the game. This was one of those
the game is so damn good you don't even turn
(00:45):
the channel during commercials, Like usually i'll look for movies,
I'll scroll around to see what else is on. Did
not change the channel at all. This was like, Okay,
I gotta pause, do you know the dishes? Whatever I
gotta do, and I'll come right back to the game.
This was a tremendous basket. Lakers come up just on
the short end of the stick. Great comeback. They unlocked
a few things in the fourth quarter we'll talk about shortly,
(01:07):
Denver goes up one. Nothing. If we talked about this
on Monday, the line was five and a half. By
Tuesday it was six and a half, and if you
bet late, you got beat because it landed on six.
Tough one if you back the Nuggets late. However, if
you listen to the straight Fire player props Hello, three
(01:28):
and zero, a tremendous start. Just bolstering your bank roll
from Memorial Day weekend. Michael Porter junior fourteen and a half,
Hey landed on fifteen. Jamal Murray I think it was
twenty four and a half, thirty one and CACP the
easy third quarter winner over nine and a half lands
on twenty one. Just a awesome night for overs folks.
(01:51):
If you're a Nuggets fan, you breathe a sigh of
a leaf, right, You're like, Okay, we almost blew that
twenty one point second half lead, and Lakers they had
a chance there. They did have a couple looks an
opportunity to tie the game, could not pull it off.
But if you're a Lakers fan, you take this win. Okay, Okay, Okay,
they got one. They got one, and you're not that dispirited.
(02:13):
I don't think it's that easy, though. My guess is
the consensus the Robg's of the world, who have Lakers
in six or whatever. I think Laker fans are gonna
be like, Okay, we got we got we unlocked the
hatchiemor thing. We benched d Low, who was an abomination
at both ends. You know, we came back. We could
have stole this one. We got Game two, and I'm
(02:34):
just gonna a word of caution if you look back
to that Phoenix series against Denver, similar situation in game one,
although Phoenix did not make a run in the fourth,
they just sat there, guys in the fourth to say, okay,
we got no shout, We're not coming back. Lakers tried
that comeback and Anthony Davis ends with forty two minutes played,
(02:55):
Lebron forty minutes played. Both of them were outstanding. You
got great games. You got sixty six points, twenty two rebounds,
and twelve assists from Lebron and Ad they were tremendous.
Ady fourteen or twenty three, Lebron nine of sixteen like
they were outstanding. From the free throw line nineteen or
twenty two, like they were awesome, and you lost. If
(03:17):
you look at that game two Denver Phoenix, Phoenix led
for most of Game two, and in the fourth quarter
the altitude caught up with them. They could not make shots. Now,
Chris Paul's injury did happen in the I think it
was late third quarter and Phoenix ran out of gas
and Denver. Denver's role players notably, KCP took over and
they were able to pull off the victory. I know
Lakers fans are gonna think Game two, they've got a
(03:39):
great shot. Just a word of caution. Eighty logged forty
two minutes Lebron forty. They get one night off, and
I know people think there's no date, no way Denver
can play this. Good folks. They were one of the
best offenses in the NBA for a reason. They were
the second best home record in the end for a reason. Okay, Jokic,
(04:04):
who was shut down and we'll talk about that shut
down in the fourth quarter, had like the best first
quarter probably of anyone in the playoffs. Ever, when you
look at the ten boards, I think he had ten boards,
five assists, Like no player had done that in the
first quarter in the history of the sport. I think
that was the graphic. Rob g can check me on
in a minute. Yokich ended with thirty four points, twenty
(04:26):
one boards, fourteen assists. I mean, listen, he was unbelievable.
Here's the weird thing. Oh, by the way, he had
six offensive boards. The Lakers team had five, So Jokic
out rebounded the entire Lakers on the offensive last six
to five. Here's the weird thing, though, Jokic had thirty
one heading into the fourth because he hit that prayer
(04:48):
three pointer over to Ad late I think at the
buzzer actually, and he goes to the fourth with thirty one.
He was shut down in the fourth. Why what happened?
Ruy Hachimora happened? And it's crazy because our guest yesterday
on the podcast, if you missed it, go back and listen.
You know you missed the bats. I'm sorry, our guest said,
Rui Hachi Mora is the X factor in the series,
(05:11):
and he broke it down perfectly. And guess who was
defending Jokic in the fourth quarter. Rui Hachimurra, one of
my favorite names in the NBA. By the way, I
got a I got the numbers for you right here,
Yokich with Ruey as his primary defender. Now, it only
happened six times in the game. Jokich was zero for
two with two turnovers. Jokich with Ad as the primary
(05:34):
defender fifteen times. Jokis was ten of thirteen, ten of
thirteen with two turnovers. Now this is the other interesting aspect.
You're like, well, what about the assists. Okay, they measured
points per play when Ad was guarding him one point
five to three, when Hachi Mora was guarding Jokic zero
point six seven. Now it's a small sample size, but again,
(05:56):
you know, listen, I'm not trying to hype up our
breakdowns of x A and o's, but we kind of
nailed this game one a lot between our guests calling
Hachimur to come in and defend Yokic. They needed that,
and Ad is the help defender. Now Denver will obviously
adjust because when Hachi Mora went to Jokic, Ad was
then hanging out next to Aaron Gordon, Aaron Gordon like
(06:18):
in the Dunkers spot, and Ad basically is sitting there
as a rim protector, So they will tweak that now.
Aaron Gordon zero for three from deep did not hit
his free throws. I almost wonder will the Lakers force
Denver to go small, perhaps with Bruce Brown, who had
(06:39):
an awesome game sixteen points, but he's good. I don't
want anybody saying like that was a flukey game. Absolutely not.
Bruce Brown very very good. I don't want to say
the best guy off the bench in the series. But
he is excellent player. He came in pure energy, rebounds, assists,
played big in Brooklyn. Now is it playing like? I
think they called him the backup point guard. He was excellent.
So my guess is yes, Aaron Gordon probably fewer minutes
(07:01):
in this ruey Ad lineup. But the Jamal Murray hunting
by Lebron was outstanding. Just like Lebron loves to go
at Steph Curry and did it often, Lebron was absolutely
going after Jamal Murray. It worked almost every time. Lebron
Lebron twenty six, twelve and nine, eight of eleven from
the foul line. The one thing I did not like,
(07:22):
and one of my buddies he called this. He's the
Lakers season ticket holder. Lebron loves his I'm gonna let
the shot clock wind down late in the game. I
want to be a hero ball. And he goes for
the kill shot three and I don't have exact numbers,
but it feels like he's shooting ten percent on those.
It's usually straight ahead, top of the key, sometimes like
(07:43):
diagonal at the long three, and it's just it's not
a good shot by Lebron, but he wants he wants
that hero shot and it just really does not work.
I Mean, I wonder like, is there anything the Lakers
can do to get Lebron out of that mindset? Because
I'll tell you right now, Austin Reeves, mister, what do
(08:04):
they call what do we call him? The ninety eight
million dollar guy? Ninety seven? Is that the number he
can get. Austin Reeves was tremendous five threes, twenty three points,
eight assists, zero turnovers his first Western Conference final ever.
He played forty two minutes, had twenty three to eight
and zero turnovers. Now, the turnovers are an issue because
(08:24):
Denver they don't play much defense. And for all anybody's
gonna say is well, Denver shot the lights out. Denver
shot fifty four percent. You know what, the Lakers shot
fifty four percent. Now, Denver from three forty six percent.
They made fifteen threes. The Lakers made eleven. Austin Reeves
said half of them. Here's the concern if you're the Lakers,
(08:46):
Besides the heavy minutes, obviously you can count on Austin Reeves.
We agree he's their third best player. I thought Ruy
Hachimura had a very good game. Lonnie Walker hit miss
off the bench. Jared Vanderbilt, I don't know, threeenty ten minutes.
I don't know that he's long for this series. Troy
Brown ain't in the rotation. Shrewder really struggled. Really, it
(09:11):
does not look like a series for Shreuter. I know
it's one game. I don't want to go overboard D'Angelo Russell.
He just didn't have it. I mean he's getting cooked
up defensively, offensively, like I didn't see it. A couple
turnaround jumpers in the third when they're down, like eighteen
zero for three from d Where are now? We were
wondering where you're gonna get the third scorer from against
Golden State, Like who's gonna step up? One game line Walker?
(09:32):
One game Loster Reeves because Denver's offense is so good, Rob,
I feel like the Lakers are gonna need a fourth
scorer because listen, we know the history. And I'm not
trying to call him James Harden here, but Anthony Davis
in these playoffs has essentially alternated great game with either
bad or average game. And I'm sorry, Rob, I know
(09:56):
people are excited. AD had forty at altitude in forty
two minutes. The idea that he's gonna come back and
go for twenty five or thirty. I'll be honest, that
seems foreign to me. We saw him in that Warrior
series start to show signs of fatigue, and yeah, he
would do things defensively, but even after his big Game
(10:18):
one where he had thirty and twenty three and they
got to win, he came back with eleven and seven.
Then they go home Game three, twenty five and thirteen,
gets to sit out the fourth quarter of a blowout,
comes back with twenty three and fifteen, and in Game
five in Golden State, he just wasn't as effective. Remember
zero blocks in Game five. Defensively didn't have it. It's
tough for AD to be consistent. So after only thirty
(10:41):
two minutes in the loss, bounces back in Game six
with seventeen and twenty. But Rob, I think you'd probably
agree with me for AD to score forty and lose
and know that you're probably not gonna get I mean, listen, Brob,
I don't think he's going for twenty five in Game two.
I don't know where the scoring comes from. Lakers down
on one and you got to get one in Denver, right,
(11:05):
you have to get one of these two would split
or you go home down oh two with zero room
for error back in LA.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
You know what, everything you said feels accurate. And I
still feel great about Lakers and six. And look, Jokic
was awesome, Murray was great. I mean, the Nuggets overall offensively,
we're as advertised. We talked about it for the last
few weeks that they have been playing like the most
(11:33):
impressive team in the postseason thus far. Last night in
Game one, Jokic had for my money, probably statistically the
best playoff game ever, you know, just in terms of
raw numbers, thirty four to twenty any player in the history,
well that I mean that. I mean, I don't I
guess modern era. I mean I don't know how, I
don't know if you want to go back to like
(11:54):
World Chamber, I mean, sure, Wilt.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Chamber then Magic Game six when he played center for Jabbar.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Statistically, Jokic is, but Nos were better. Just let me
look thirty four, twenty one and fourteen on twelve of
seventeen shooting like that. That's a video you could play
on NBA two K and not put those kind of
numbers up like that. That was unreal. So he plays great,
obvious said, Murray plays great. Nuggets shot sixty nine percent
(12:20):
on long twos and out rebounded the Lakers by seventeen
in a game they only won by six. Lebron James,
I know that he settled for that long three, and
I was just as mad as your buddy was. I
threw my rote at the TV when I saw it happen.
You know, Lebron James was seven of eight inside the paint.
(12:41):
The Lakers, for all of their miscues defensively against Denver,
especially in that first half, they could get whatever they
want on the other end as well. This is very
similar to what we saw early on in the Denver
Phoenix series, where neither team looked like they were capable
of stopping the other one right, it was just trade
one trade. One of the difference was in early in
(13:01):
that series is the Nuggets were trading threes for twos,
and that's why they ended up winning pretty easily in
the first two games. Where the Lakers have going for
them moving forward is their schematic fix is not really
like a huge alternate from what they can do normally,
and that's just play bigger, play Ruie more minutes, probably
(13:23):
start him in Game two, Jared Vanderbilt for more minutes
even if he's not shooting, just being a larger body.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
So we would agree you start ruey overshreoter. I would
agree with that. Yes, So where are you getting the
Vanderbilt minutes.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
From off the bench? Just you know, just play him.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
You know.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
The thing was is last series, it was okay to
play the three guard look because the Warriors played quick
and they were very they were very small, you know,
so it made sense to match size for size. All
of the adjustments that Darvin Hang came out with in
Game one early proved to be the wrong decision. He
came out small against a massive front line with Denver,
(14:03):
and that's why it was twenty to two rebounding at
one point in the middle of the second quarter. Yeah, okay.
They wanted to play fast, which you don't do against
an offensive juggernaut at altitude you don't like. That's just
you're playing right into their hands. If you're a defensive team,
be a defensive team. Don't try to outrun and gun
the best offense in basketball, especially when we had decide
disadvantage and number three, especially early on, they were doubling
(14:29):
Jokic when Ad had in one on one. If Yogic
scores on Ad, hey you live with it. You know,
AD's your best defender by far, probably the best defender
in basketball. If Yogic is gonna score, it is what
it is. Let him get his just don't let him
get everybody else involved. And what they were doing was
they were doubling off of the nearest guy most of
the time, whether it was Shrewder or Russell, and he
was getting wide open threes for these other guys. So
(14:51):
all three of their biggest, you know, strategic moves to
start off backfired in a big way, and then they're
down in a huge hole. Once they went back to
playing the way that they play plaid throughout most of
this postseason. We're gonna play big, We're gonna be living
in the paint. We're gonna grind you out defensively. Suddenly
the Lakers climb back from down twenty one to down three.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Yeah, I think I would. I would agree with you,
But you know how the chess match works. Denver saw
what happened, and they will be ready this time. So
I don't think they'll open with anything dramatic. But if
you go rueye with ad off of him. I think
the pretty clear adjustment is let's get Aaron Gordon out
of the game. And it's not like Aaron Gordon dominated
the glass. He did out three offensive boards, but those
(15:32):
were his only rebounds. I think you probably play Michael
Porter Junior as a big and you bring in Bruce
Brown and then it becomes a three point game. And listen, MPJ, Well,
we can say what we want about him. Soft doesn't
play a lot of d He did have a really
nice block on Hachie Mora, and he's a great shooter.
Did you see Have you seen the image I put
(15:53):
on my Instagram stories of the three he hit over
Austin Reeves in the corner? Oh yeah, Austin Reeves hand
was literally like a centermeter from his face and it
was just like, oh my god, how did he hit
that shot? Because shot clock was winding down. He was
three of six from deep Jokic, three of three from deep, Murray,
four of eight from deep KCP, three of eight from
deep and off the bench. Uncle Jeff Green won on
(16:14):
one and Bruce Brown won on one. Christian Brown was
zero and two. I don't know, man, this.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
They hit some incredible shots. Like like, look, they hit
some their offense was humming. I'm not gonna say that.
I'm gonna discount it. They were awesome offensively in Denver.
They also hit at least four or five shots where
either their circus shots like the Yolkic and Murray ones
there in the second half of the Yolks then the
third and the Murray in the earlier of the fourth,
(16:40):
and then the Michael Porter in the corner like there
were some where they were hand right in their face
and they just drilled it, dotted the ie. That's the
kind of stuff you can't count on moving forward.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
That's fair, But they're at home, and we know this
kind of thing tends to happen at home. Let me
the line just emerged. We're recording this right after Lakers
Nuggets finished a little after midnight Eastern time. Denver opens
up five and a half point favorites, and it's already
up to six at one sportsbook bet Chris, which is
considered like a sharp book, so early money on the
(17:13):
Nuggets rob This is gonna go one or two ways.
The Lakers will make adjustments, the Nuggets won't hit as
many shots, and the Lakers will win or the Lakers
will play well, but the altitude and the minutes will
catch up with him, and Denver will pull away and win.
I mean again, we like to think we know everything,
like one of those two things will happen, like those
are really the only two albums. I don't see the
(17:35):
Lakers getting blasted by twenty to.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
You, no, And I honestly don't think Altitude's gonna be
much of a problem in this game because it the
one thing that I noticed in this game and even
some of the other Nuggets series, is because they don't
play very physical defense. These minutes are not heavy minutes
in the same way that it's just cardio. Yeah, exactly.
(17:56):
There's a lot of up and down. You know, there's
a lot of guys smiling during the game last night,
even when it was a blowout, I mean, it was closed.
Guys didn't seem like they were doubled over the same
way that you saw in Lakers Grizzlies and Lakers Warriors.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
I do wonder rub fourth quarter. I don't have the
exact numbers, but it felt like the free throws were
a lot more in the fourth than they were the
first half. And you know, when you're tired and you're
not moving as quick, you're fouling more. I just again,
I've never played at altitude. I have no clue, but
the numbers are there for a reason, like Denver is
a home juggernaut. I mean, they dropped seventy two on
(18:30):
the Lakers in the first half. The Lakers responded with
seventy two of their own in the second half. Listen,
I didn't I don't know if it was a Max effort.
It kind of felt like that from the Lakers, like
they were like, holy cow, we can seal this, and
they nearly did. I'm trying to go back in the
game log and look, so when they were down three,
was it the Austin Reeves three that rimmed out?
Speaker 2 (18:50):
No, tho, when they were down three, it was the
Lebron James, the Lebron top of the key. It was
just short, just flat out short.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Not the greatest shot. So then they're down five and
then the Nuggets snuffed it out the Reeves three and
then Lebron kind of turned it over in the lane.
Good play by Jamal Murray, who you know is basically
gonna be hunted twenty four to seven as soon as
he's on the court by Lebron, But I don't know.
This is one of those games where a lot of
people haven't watched a ton of Nicola Jokic, and this
(19:20):
idea that Joel Embiid was like the best player in
the league this year is just comical. This shows that
the media is kind of a joke on some level.
You just said Jokic essentially had one of the best
games statistically in the history of the NBA playoffs. Bill
Russell had probably some forty and thirty games, but he
ain't have Vieta of as many assists like Jokic is
(19:41):
the complete triple threat. And the craziest part is, man,
he doesn't look winded at all. They give him his breaks.
He's hustling, he's chasing down every rebound. He I mean,
I'm gonna still call him the Dowe Serby and he's
not chiseled like a Dwight Howard was. And I don't know, man,
this this is gonna be a great great sy Lakers
come up a little short, but there is a reason
(20:04):
for optimism. Any final thoughts, rob On, you know, maybe
maybe we need to see some more Malik Beasley for shooting.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
I don't you know what I will say this about
I know him, the Lakers homer on the podcast, I'll
wear that proudly still Lakers and six. But look, Jokic
was so awesome even as an opposing fan, it's hard
not to appreciate how good he is. And I saw
in the postgame former Laker Contavious Calwell Pope was asked,
(20:30):
you know what's it like the difference between playing with
Jokic and a guy like Lebron James, And this, I
thought was the quote of the night, KCP quote. The
only difference is Lebron can jump higher. Now. That is
high praise for Nikolae Jokic, and rightfully so. Man, he
was incredible shooting, passing, rebounding, even defensively, and I know
(20:51):
Ad got his forty, but it wasn't like he was
a sieve there Defensively. He's just a good job of
being big. I'm looking forward to seeing what he'll do
in this series. I expect him to have statistically at
least a monster series and ultimately the Lakers prevail.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
A final thought, as I'm watching this game, Rob, I'm like,
this basketball is just unbelievable. I mean, one th six
just an awesome game. If you are just a face,
even if you're one of these NBA haters, Oh NBA China,
all that crap. You know, if you're one of those guys,
I hope you're not and you're watching this game, you're
just like, my gosh, these guys are good and rob
(21:27):
you know, I grew up on Magic and Bird like
that was my introduction to the NBA. I loved eighties ball.
I really like nineties NBA. I played nineties video games
with Penny. I love me some Penny Hardaway. I mean,
I love nineties basketball. This idea that those guys could
hang with this NBA or they're on the same level
(21:48):
or even close to it, it's just outright comical. And
I know it was a different era. There were some
different rules with the hand checking, but the shot making
we have now in the league is absurd. I mean,
the just watching Jokic, like I'm just trying to think, like,
how would my nineties Knicks defend Jokic. Would they put
Anthony Mason on him and have you income over for
the help defense. Maybe maybe that would be the strategy
(22:10):
and they would slow him down. But like just Denver's
making unbelievable three point shooting. The Lakers respond, Austin Reeves undrafted.
I mean, quick pop quiz, rob who's the best? And
I don't know the answer to this, so it's unfair.
But give me an undrafted player from the nineties who
was unbelievable in the NBA. No, I don't think that's happened.
(22:34):
I mean, I Jokic is he officially the best second
round pick in the history of the NBA. Like Draymond
Green was very, very good. But I mean Yokic is.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Too Envyoblynes, Yeah, monage you nobly, but yeah, I would
definitely go Jokic.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
I mean, we're we're talking about Jokic potentially knocking out
Kevin Durant, knocking out Devin Booker, knocking out a d
knocking out Lebron and then knocking out Jason Tatum in
the finals. He does that on top of the two MVPs.
He's definitely the best player in the NBA. I know
that it's constantly a moving target. And it was Curry,
(23:09):
it was Lebron, it was Giannis. Jokic has it for
the taking. I want to quickly go before we get
to tonight's Gape, and I don't think I'll be as
hot betting on Celtics heat as I was in the
player prop for Nuggets Lakers. The NBA Draft lottery happened
and your winners were and I don't know if there's
a good thing or not. The San Antonio Spurs, my
(23:32):
initial thought was, BA humbug, Why them? Why them again?
They got David Robinson in eighty seven, they got Duncan
in ninety seven, maybe it was David Robinson eighty nine,
whatever it was, And now they get Victor women Yama like,
how is that fair? Can't we let someone else get
in on the action? And then one of my buddies
on Instagram says me a message, no way. He's like
(23:54):
a huge Spurs fan and he's big into Nikosa and
he's like, no, this is great for the league, this
is perfect for women. You know, you go to Portland,
you're probably gonna get hurt like every other guy that
goes to Portland. Haha, you got to Charlotte, Michael Jordan
will find a way to screw it up. You go
to Houston, come on the James Harten except for forget
it Orlando, ha ha ha. You know it's a decent
(24:16):
case like San Antonio has the infrastructure, has the history
to make Wembin Yama very very successful, Like there's a
chance this could be more successful than we anticipate, very
very early, and people are already trying to clock the
who's just starting five next year around Wemby, Like, oh, well,
(24:36):
we've got Devin Vassol, the three point gunner. We get
the kid Malachi Brownham. I think he's Ohio State, young
young kid Keldon Johnson who's probably their second best player,
Jeremy Sohan. And you're like, how is this good for
the NBA? Dude, that's you're starting five. You're not getting
any anybody in free agency. I don't think you got
cap room, big time cap room. But where are you
(24:59):
going with that? And that's where it'll be interesting to
see how they build around a guy like webin Yama,
because listen, I'm a Knicks fan. I saw the Porzingis
thing happen and it hurt. You know, was still waiting
for chet Holmgren to play his first game in the NBA.
Still like big guys, it's just they're unorthodox. They're unicorns,
(25:21):
Like literally unicorns don't know what to do with them.
We don't know how their bodies are going to react
to the pounding in the NBA. Like I wouldn't be
shocked if they told WEBBN Yama no back to backs
as a rookie. You know, it's a bit of a
step up from the league in France. You know. So
San Antonio wins it, they'll take Weeban Yama Charlotte at
two LaMelo balls. Partner will be Scoot Henderson. I don't know.
(25:44):
Remember Brandon Miller of Alabama, who did have a terrible clunker,
terrible to end his season. My gosh, I was on
them against San Diego State and I think I don't
have the numbers in front of me, something like three
of seventeen. It was abysmal. He's a wing this is
the wing league. He did have the gun charge. Woge
was quick to note that the teams have looked into
(26:06):
Brandon Miller and he's clean. This is well one off. Apparently,
I'm efforting to get Wojes on the podcast. He is
still reluctant. I guess he doesn't do a lot of podcasts.
We are friends, we go back twenty five years, twenty years,
and I'm working on it. People. So if Brandon Miller
goes to Charlotte, that's fine. Like I like Brandon Miller,
I like LaMelo Ball. You know, I don't know that
(26:30):
Charlotte is gonna be that good with Brandon Miller. You know,
it's Charlotte guys, like they haven't been good in forever.
They can't figure out their coach, they can't get any
like what players are gonna remember what? They thought they
had a shot at Steph Curry because he went to Davidson.
I was like, maybe, no, not a chance. So they
got some of the guys in the rest of Terry
(26:51):
Rosey's an okay player, but he's selfish, Kelly Oubre, Gordon Hayward.
I think you probably try to package Gordon Hayward in
a deal for some kind of veteran. Who else did
they PJ Washington, Mark Williams, a young kid, I like,
how to do? Nick Richard's like, this is a twenty
five win team. After Charlotte is Portland, and then you've
got the Scoot Henderson stuff, and it's like, well, oh, really, Portland,
(27:13):
the team with Damian Lillard, the team with Anthonty Simons,
the team that just drafted Shadon Sharp, who they love.
In the top ten, they're gonna go grab another guard. Well,
Damian Lillard's gonna be like, I'm out, Like I mean,
Jeremy Grant, use of Nurkic, Cam Reddish, like, I don't,
I just they if they're drafting Scoot Henderson, fine, but
(27:36):
you have to move Damian Lillard absolutely. Now. One option
is you say we want to keep Dame, and we
will dangle the number three pick to someone and we'll
attach I don't know whoever you want, Cam Reddish, he's
floated around the league, batist, stible, whatever you want and
give us, give us a plug and play all Star
(27:57):
or All Star caliber player, and we'll try to ride
with Dame. Simon Sharp and said all Star. I don't know,
but like, there's not a lot to be excited about.
After the top three, you got the the Thompson Twins,
the kid from Houston who like I like, but I
don't know Jerrase Walker, like I don't. I mean, if
you want me to ask who I'm really excited about,
(28:18):
you got to go a little deeper. I like Jordan
Hawkins of Yukon, a lot winning player. High IQ looks
to me like like a Ray Allen type player. I
like him a ton. I kind of like Dareek Whitehead
of Duke. Derek Lively of Duke is the big center
who doesn't do anything but block shots. He's gonna fall
(28:38):
a little bit. My guy from the Breakers, Ryan Rupert,
very nice wing player. But this is this is not
an amazing draft. There's not a ton of guys outside
of Wombin Yama, Scoot and Brandon Miller, rob Any any
thoughts on Wemby or not? Really?
Speaker 2 (28:54):
I mean, uh, I kind of felt like it was
gonna be. It just felt like a Spurs thing, right
And according to a Fred Cats covers the NBA for
the Athletic, he was in the ping pong room when
it was happening. He said that not only did the
Spurs get the first pick, they got drawn two more
times in the lottery, so they had to redo multiple picks.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Huh.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
It's so you know. The way it works is they
don't actually draw all fourteen teams, right, They draw number one,
number two, number three, number four. That's how they draw
lottery balls. So the number they pull for the first
pick will be the first one, and then so on
and so on and so on. So the Spurs were
(29:41):
pulled for the number one pick, I'm assuming they were
also pulled then for numbers three and number four, Like
their lottery ball combination came up multiple times in that
top four order, So it seemed like it was, you know,
destiny that the Spurs were going to have the number
one overall pick. Destiny was on their side. The thing.
(30:02):
The same thing happened with the Lakers the year that
they went up in the Brandon Ingram Draft. I believe
it was where they had actually got pulled for the
second and third picks and then obviously you can't go
in a second. But so that's number one with whom
Minyami I was kind of sad. I wish he would
have ended up in a more competitive situation because the
(30:26):
San Antonio Spurs roster is terrible, right, I know that popping,
you know it gets a lot of credit, but they've
been arguably the worst team in the NBA for like
three or four years now, Like they're just not good.
So we're at least two to three years from when
Ben Yama even being like in a playoff discussion, and
when you have a guy that's that level of a talent.
(30:48):
I wish that he had a more competitive roster around
him so we could see him do some things. You know,
when when it was down to the Spurs and the Hornets,
I was really hoping for the LaMelo ball when yeah,
I'm a dynamic do I thought that would have been great?
Speaker 1 (31:02):
Well, let me ask you, I hadn't thought about this,
so it is one of the worst rosters in the league.
I just looked it up. It's certainly bottom three, maybe
maybe number one. If you're Popovich, do you say we
need to build a winning culture because we have one
and I don't think I won a playoff series in
like five years, maybe.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
Longer, probably longer than that.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Do you throw a hail Mary and say, let's go
bring in some guys, let's let's let's let's pay Klay Thompson.
He knows how to win. He's a winner, fits our culture,
and we could give up a guy that wants to
get paid, like a Keldon Johnson who the Warriors could use.
They could use wings. But like, is there a world
where the Spurs take a flyer on a veteran or two? Now?
(31:43):
I don't know if like a I mean Draymond Green
is he your big guy to defend the bigs and
weben Yamas a wing. I don't know they could. They
have a lot of options, but you gotta assume that
they They're gonna have some pretty good options right to
like make moves.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
I know people want to play a time cap space.
I mean, if they wanted to, they could, but that
just goes against everything that the Spurs have ever done.
Like they are the epitome of small market build the
correct way quote unquote, by the way, speaking of the Hornets,
check this out. I saw this online las last night
as well. They've had the number two pick three times
(32:20):
before this upcoming women Yama draft.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
Hold on. One of them was Marvin from UNC number
he was twenty four. Marvin something, you.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Mean Marvin Williams.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Marvin Williams, Yes, thank you.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
Okay, so what Marvin Williams?
Speaker 1 (32:35):
Right?
Speaker 2 (32:36):
But these are these are the ones that I'm most
fascinated by. The Shack draft, they were number two. They
got Alonzoil Morning, not lot A lowns On. Morning's not bad,
but you know he's not Shack.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Clearly.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
The Dwight Howard draft, they end up with a Mecca
Oka four.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
Oh oh, dear.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
And then number three. This is the worst one by far,
the Anthony Davis draft. They end up with the immortal
Michael kid Gilchrist.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
I loved him. Coming out of content was tough scene.
It's worse when you say what happened after Michael kid
Gilchrist in twenty twelve, Like there's a chance that they
didn't miss anything. Oh wait, Bradley Beal went third. Yeah,
Damian Lillard went sixth, Harrison Barnes seventh. All those guys
(33:26):
considerably better than Michael kid Gilchrist. Let's see who have
they got late? LaMelo Ball was a win? Uh they yeah?
Oh dear, yeah they They've had some I mean twenty
twenty one. James book Knight, he liked him, has not
after him? Course de Warte, Moses Moody, Sengoon, He's he's
(33:48):
been pretty good. Trey Murphy's been good. Book Knight's been
a zero. Oh man, this listen. NBA draft is tough,
NFL draft is tough. I'll do I'll do a mock
draft for Fox Sports next. The only thing better than
sitting on your couch watching the game. He's making money
while you do it. Here's your best bet. Let's quickly
(34:14):
go to tonight's game, Celtics eight and a half point
favorites at home against the Heat. Oh my, Now, Miami's
been resting since Friday when they dispatched Jalen Brunson. Celtics
played Sunday, and you know, I guess the matchup for
(34:37):
Boston is not great because Jimmy Butler is arguably the
most clutched player on the in the series, even though
the Celtics had Jason Tatum and bam Adebayo can give
them some problems. Huh. I guess I would. I guess
I would lean. I kind of want to go Celtics,
but off of three and O night, I don't want to.
(34:58):
I don't want to waste money flush it down the tube,
so I'll probably pass on the On the side, I
think Boston will win and cover. But like you said earlier, Rob,
like this is a Boston team that just knows they
just screw around and they're not locked in and focused.
They've been mediocre at home in their last like twenty
games in the playoffs. I don't think there are a
lot to blow them out. Any action from use on
(35:18):
the side here.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Yeah, I actually like Miami in the spot. Now, I
think I think Boston's gonna win. But the points is
way too much and the words of Doc Rivers, the
Celtics play with their meat too much. And I love
how we want to say play with their food as
they play with their meat. And that thing has just
gone rampant on the internet, by the way. But you know,
Miami is a tough team and Boston, I'm not gonna
(35:41):
say they're an unseerious bunch, but they definitely carry themselves
with the swagger of a team that's won like two
or three championships and they can just flip the switch
whenever they want. So I like Miami plus the points.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
Let me look at some player point props. Butler twenty
seven and a half, Bam seventeen and a half, Tatum
twenty nine, and I have Jalen Brown twenty four and
a half, Smart fourteen, brogged in Smart and brogged in
fourteen and a half, Kyle Lowry ten and a half.
That's the problem with Miami, rob I don't know who's
gonna go off. Is it gonna be Max Trus hitting
five threes? I don't know. Caleb Martin is he Caleb
(36:16):
Martin is eight and a half I.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
Don't know Kevin Love hitting four.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
Threes Kevin Love seven and a half. I mean it
could be like that's but that's the thing with that,
my tried and true model. No, it's not a model,
but role players at home bet them and then when
they're on the road fade him. So the role players
I'll be looking at here, like can Al Horford give
you seven and a half? Over seven and a half?
(36:41):
Like I just I don't feel supremely confident because you're right,
there's a world where Eric Spolster comes in with a
massive surprise and all of a sudden, the Celtics are
kind of shook, and next thing you know, Butler's got
forty and it's a game one. Upset like it would
not shock me? What't you give me Jalen Brown over
(37:02):
twenty four and a half points? How's that that'll be
my one? Because I do think Butler would probably go
to Tatum, and I don't see them putting BAM on
Jalen Brown and pulling him away from the hoop. If
they do, twenty four and a half is cooked. But
I do think Tatum had his Game seven, he got
his shine. I can see them wanting to get Jalen Brown.
Keep him happy, right, Rob, you know you gotta keep
(37:25):
your bet Robin happy. I guess I would go Jalen
Brown over twenty four and a half. I think that's
gonna be my lone bet. In Game one of Heat Celtics,
I'll go Heat one hundred Celtics one eleven.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
It's a lot of points.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
Well, the total is, uh, what do we got for
the total we got? We got two eleven, So I
landed right up right out of the total. There. All right,
We'll be back tomorrow. Spurs fans, I know your party.
And have you seen the video Rob of the Spurs
fans at bars? Yeah? I have, dude. They were we
were like lubricated on a Tuesday in San Antonio because
(38:03):
they won the draft. Lot. I can't recall ever seeing that,
can you.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
No, not even in the Zion Williamson Draft, which was
probably the closest like hype wise.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
That I can't remember. That was like the New Orleans
War room was yeah, yeah, that was cool. The Spurs
guy was shouting on Stagium. Yeah. I was kind of
rooting for Portland, you know, obviously, Luca, but you know,
congrats to the Spurs. We'll talk to you tomorrow.
Host
Jason McIntyre
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.