On today’s episode, Jason and Super Producer Rob G (Robert Guerra) get the party started with a deep dive into the Denver Nuggets' Game 2 win over the Los Angeles Lakers in what sports fans now refer to as The Jamal Murray Game. As has been the case throughout his postseason career, Murray exploded in the fourth quarter to help Denver win going away. Murray has quietly been one of the best playoff performers for years so it's nice to see him getting the recognition he deserves. On the flip side, LeBron James and Anthony Davis both struggled mightily for Los Angeles as the Lakers lost consecutive games for the first time in these playoffs. Do they have what it takes to win the next two at home and even the series? The guys seem lukewarm on the possibility, at best. Later, the guys share their thoughts on Jimmy Butler's impressive postseason run and debate whether or not Butler's career has actually been better than Kawhi Leonard's and Klay Thompson's.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
This is straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. What is up
straight Fire? Payam, It's me Jason McIntyre. Straight Fire for Friday,
May nineteenth. It is a tough morning for Lakers fans
out here in Los Angeles. A brutal collapse by Anthony
(00:32):
Davis and the Lakers. Listen. I know people want to
blame Lebron. We'll get into it all. They went into
the Jamal Murray buzzsaw. Jamal Murray goes off.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
In a way.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I don't think we've seen one of these in the playoffs,
Like Jason Tatum has gone off. Steph Curry went off
for games. Tatum out a good fourth. I don't know
that we've seen a twenty three point fourth quarter. Jamal
Murray an unconscious effort at home, splashing threes over eighty
Vanderbilt in the eye of Lebron twice overshrewder, it didn't matter.
(01:03):
Unbelievable performance from Jamal Murray, thirty seven points and Denver
steals another game at home. They are up to nothing
on the Lakers. We'll definitely get into that. Obviously. I've
got toot my own horn early. I told you guys,
Anthony Davis under. And it is so funny because just
before we recorded, and it's approaching midnight here after the
about forty five minutes after the game ended, I went
(01:25):
back and listened to the end of yesterday's podcast, and
I'm talking myself through what the bets should be. I'm like,
I can't go back to the KCP. Well, good thing
I didn't he hit under. I start talking myself into
Yoki t points rebounds. I says, so, I'm like, no
way that numbers inflated. It didn't hit, it went under,
and I ended up on a d because he's inconsistent
throughout the playoffs and Antony, listen, this is gonna be
(01:48):
a if Friday, we're at the blame game. A lot
of people are gonna blame Lebron the reverse donk, come on,
he missed the layup late. Lebron did have some miscues.
I think if you want to fault Lebron, that's fine.
Fault him for the three pointers. I have mentioned it repeatedly.
I've told you guys, I go to games my buddy
season ticket holder, and Lebron does this thing where he
(02:10):
wants to kill shot. He wants that dagger and he
wants it from three and in probably the most amazing
status postseason that I've heard, Rob g found this one.
Lebron James has now missed After Game two, he has
now missed nineteen straight fourth quarter three pointers nineteen. He
(02:31):
is thirty eight years old. That obviously needs to be said.
He was oh for six from deep in this one.
He was settling late. He's now OH for ten from
three in the series against Denver. Again, Lake I wrote,
if it Laker fans want to kill Lebron, it's a
lot of Jordan defenders and if we could find an
opening to backs Lebron, hey, let's do it. Lebron James
is not the reason that the Lakers lost Game two
(02:54):
and they collapsed in the fourth quarter. If you want
to pinpoint point number one, Jamal Murray went off and
they were all over him. He's hitting twenty nine foot
step back threes. He went postal and Jamal Murray, by
the way, had been having an awful game. I had
him going into the fourth quarter. Going into the fourth quarter,
Jamal Murray on the struggle bus. It looks like he
(03:16):
was five of seventeen shooting at halftime. I think he
was three to fifteen because I noted. Remember game two,
and I said this yesterday. Remember game two against Phoenix.
He had a great game one and he was tired
in game two, four six stuff, struggled and then made
a couple late. Jamal Murray's reason this game was won
by the Nuggets. He just an unbelievable, unconscious performance. Lakers
(03:36):
ended up settling for some threes late. They missed eleven
straight threes in the fourth quarter. And you know why
you're shooting threes in the fourth quarter, because you're tired
and you don't want to drive, you don't want to
pound it down low. That's what the Lakers did. And
I would say their second biggest thing in this game
was Anthony Davis. And again I'm not just saying that
because I want to bet, but Anthony Davis has gone
(03:56):
great game and then subpar game, great game, subparkt He
just the body, It just isn't there, the inconsistencies, the
legs Anthony Davis is. I think his final two shots
in like the final six minutes were both threes. He
lost the ball going up against Aaron Gordon. And I
will point this out about the refs. They did let
(04:18):
them play fouls were nineteen to eighteen. The Lakers attempted
eight more free throws at her. I don't think there's
anything there, but I do think Anthony Davis settled for
way too many shots. Anthony Davis in the paint three
of nine, he just again. Aaron Gordon is a large individual.
Jokic obviously is a big man, and Anthony Davis, after
(04:41):
playing forty two minutes now logs forty one. Lebron goes
forty and forty again. These are big, heavy minutes, especially
at altitude. And Anthony Davis, remember the Remember the stat
Anthony Davis had not played twenty straight games with the Lakers,
getting back to I believe the bubble year, he had
(05:03):
not played twenty straight games with the Lakers, and he's
now done that at the end of the regular season.
In these playoffs obviously, because they need him and the
guys wearing down. You saw it now. We'll get to
Game three later. But I did not think ad was
anything special. Jokic didn't totally eat his lunch. Jokich twenty three,
seventeen and twelve, another triple double. I believe that's his
(05:23):
seventh in the playoffs. Eventually, he's gonna break the record whatever,
whoever owns a record. But Jokic did not utterly dominate
the way he did in Game one. And I will
point this out Anthony Davis and the Lakers are getting
murdered on the glass. Offensive rebounds for the Lakers. Game two,
they had four. Jokic by himself had four. The Lakers
are getting not getting the second chances, and that hurts
(05:46):
because remember that was a big edge they had against
Golden State, like you know the size. They don't have
that here. So who are they leaning on my guy?
Austin Reeves? I mean, come on, how good is Austin Reeves? Folks?
I know everybody. All they want to say is he's
gonna get paid. He's gonna get paid. Somebody's gonna give
him a contract that is going to force the Lakers
to pay him. The Austin Reeve's like ninety million dollars,
(06:06):
and you know what they're gonna have to do it.
He's the third best player. He undeniably, it's not even
I don't even think it's close at this point. We'll
get to D'Angelo Russell or me Angelo Russell in a minute.
Austin Reeves twenty two points five threes. So guys not
named Austin Reeves shooting on the Lakers from d we're
three for twenty one. This is regressing to early season.
(06:30):
Lakers don't have three point shooters. I mentioned it to
Rob g before the pod. I'm sure he'll push back.
Rob make a note of it. I do believe when
we head back to LA for Saturday's game, I almost
guarantee you we will see some minutes from Beasley or
Brown because the Lakers need three point shooting outside of
(06:52):
Austin Reeves. D'Angelo Russell is it was a catastrophe, ladies
and gentlemen, if you want to shove anyone in the
doghouse headed back to LA and you kind of need him,
so I don't think you could totally do that, but
it's warranted. D'Angelo Russell, are you ready for this? Fifty
nine minutes on the court in two games, the Lakers
are minus forty one when he's on the court, minus
(07:13):
forty one when he's off the court. They are plus
thirty and thirty seven minutes. Like at some point Darvinham
and the staff have to look at this and be like,
oh wait a minute, wait a minute, way they're targeting.
They're straight up going at him all the time because
Russell is an indifferent defender. He is a I don't
want to call him prodigious, that's a little strong, but
he is a very gifted offensive talent. His stuff in
(07:35):
the lane, I like his little floater is a little
step back, but he's always looking for a shot one
of five on threes and he's just a Michael Malone.
If you guys heard some comments after game one, he
alluded to Russell, you know, we played so like he
couldn't be on the floor in the fourth or whatever,
and I was like, that's weird. I don't think of
d'andela Russell's that good of a player, and I don't
(07:57):
think that this is like gorilla warfare. But Michael Malone
hinting at d'angela Russell's fourth quarter of a minutes to
me was surprising because I'm like, like, he's not that great,
and then all of a sudden, if you watch, you
could go on YouTube and watch the highlights, like they're
attacking Russell almost every chance they can get. He is
by far the weak link defender. Reeves is capable. Reeves
(08:18):
hustles through screens, will block some shots. He's long. You're
not totally attacking Lebron. You ain't going after a dy
I think it. D'angela Russell is like a target. There's
a target on his back and he's been atrocious. Now,
all that being said, folks, the Lakers midway through the
third quarter had this game in hand. They're up nine,
they're up eleven. It felt like, okay, we're going back
(08:39):
to La tied at one. But I cannot drill at
home enough altitude and no days off. There's one day
off in between every game, no extra days, no extra
time for treatment. Lebron's ankle will see I'm sure, sure
he's gonna.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Play through it.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Guy's a freaking cyborg. But this Laker team melted down
in the fourth quarter. N out of gas started settling
for threes, and Jamal Murray had twenty three points in
the fourth the Lakers had twenty four. So listen. Is
the first time the Lakers have lost back to back
games in the playoffs. They did cover the spread by
(09:14):
half a point. Again, I told you guys, don't betting
on the sides. Too much chicanery, free throws, late threes.
I'm not messing with the sides. I don't totally have
an answer. I don't think it's panic down for the Lakers.
In my opinion, the series is not over at all.
The Nuggets survived Game one and then needed Jamal Murray
(09:35):
to go volcanic and ererupt in the fourth quarter to
win Game two. So this series is definitely not over.
Remember Denver did go to Phoenix and lost both games.
Now Phoenix got Devin Booker and Kevin Durant to combined
for like, you know, eighty points in Game three, and
then in Game four it was I believe Landry Shamat
(09:57):
splashing threes. Hey, maybe we'll see Lenny w have a game.
Ruy Haachi Mora is definitely delivering. You know, we saw
a lot of him. He's just a good player. I
think you've got to keep RUI it's weird because, like
all of a sudden, I don't know the cap rob
But if you're talking me into we're keeping a d
We're keeping Lebron, We're keeping Reeves, We're keeping Hachi Mora.
(10:20):
You like fill out dudes around them. I think that's
a squad. I don't know, I'm not. Yeah, it felt
like the Lakers were old and creaky, and they needed
some desperate moves. But this is a Lakers team. They're
right there with this Nuggets team. They've lost two games
against the second best team at home in the league
this year by what a combined eleven points, Like, they're
(10:40):
not that far off. This is definitely not over. My problem,
Rob is there's no extra days of rest, and I
don't see how the Lakers are gonna steal one in Denver.
An amazing stat, Rob, I don't know. This is absolutely
staggering this season. The Nuggets have lost one game this
(11:02):
season against a Western Conference team when Yokis plays. That
was a one point game in December. They are thirty
one and one when Yokics plays at home against the West,
now eight and zero in the playoffs. This is a
major home court advantage. And I'm not worried about the Lakers.
I think they'll be okay, but there is no room
for error when they come home this weekend.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Yeah. I mean, that's the understatement of the millennium. You know,
the down two to oh Lakers and six is teetering,
teetering on the edge right now when we're recording this podcast, Look,
NBA teams saw us on ESPN, and the Conference finals
are six and fifty six all time when trailing two
to zero in a series. Two of those wins, though
(11:47):
Laker fans, Two of the six were by Lebron James
led teams in two thousand and seven and twenty eighteen,
So if there's anybody that can do it, you know,
it's probably him. As much as I want to talk
about the Lakers, because you know, the Lakers on my team,
I'm still not willing to fully concede Lakers in six
this night, it's all about Jamal Murray. You know. I
(12:09):
know that we talk a lot about playoff Jimmy, Jimmy
Butler and everything that he's been doing when he's been incredible.
For my money's probably been the best player in the
postseason on both ends of the floor throughout this entire
playoff run. But it's time to start mentioning playoff Jamal
or playoff Murray in the same breath as playoff Jimmy,
(12:29):
because during his postseason career, Jamal Murray averages twenty five,
six and five on forty seven forty one ninety shooting splits,
and more impressively than that, he now has four twenty
point fourth quarters in the postseason four four. Wow. Jamal
(12:55):
Murray needs to be starting to get discussed as one
of the elite guards in the NBA. I don't know
if it's because he plays in the Mountain West. I
don't know if it's because he plays with Nikola Jokic,
but what he does year in year out in the
postseason needs to be recognized more.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Wait, is that four to twenty point fourth quarters in
his career or these playoffs.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
In his career? In the postseason?
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Okay, yeah, the bubble he had, didn't he have a
couple of fifty burgers against like Utah or something.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Yeah, he was incredible well. And then also those four
to twenty point fourth quarters in the postseason are more
than any other player over the last twenty five years.
So he is incredible at it when the chips are down,
as good as Jokic is, and he is phenomenal. Where
(13:48):
does Denver go to? They go to Murray. Him scoring
those twenty three points in the fourth quarter as impressive
as it was, just the counting stats twenty three and
six seven. To your point, he was drilling these shots
right in guy's eyes. So it's like watching Steph Curry
(14:08):
with the Warriors. When Steph makes an open three, you're like,
ah shit, you know he made it open three. But
when Steph drills a pull up, side step step back
three pointer from the logo, that hurts a little bit more.
And in a game like one we saw in Game two,
where it was a rock fight. For most of that game,
nobody could get anything going. He was struggling. Jokic had
(14:31):
big numbers, but I didn't think he was really having
a an all caps Yokic type game. Ad and Lebron
couldn't hit the red side of a barn, and he
was drilling these shots with a hand right in his
face like they weren't even there. Those kind of threes
feel like they count for five points. So Jamal Murray
deserves all the flowers he's gonna get here on Friday,
(14:51):
heading into the weekend, he was for my money or
that was the most impressive I've seen any player play
in these playoffs, including the Jason Datum Game six.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
So a lot of people, you know, I've been hyping
the hell out of Murray for a while. That bubble
obviously did some things, But it goes back to a
story I read Rob about him by Jackie McMullen in
twenty nineteen. It was titled why No Stage is too
Big for the Nuggets Jamal Murray And you know, the
dads who know me know that I am like geeky
(15:26):
about hoops. I love it. I want my kids to
play basketball. I think it's great for body and mind
and friendships and all that stuff. And I read this
story on Jamal Murray and he's from Canada, Okay, and
his dad grew you know, when Jamal Murray was like
a young kid, his dad was like his trainer. And
I read the story by Jackie McMullen and this is
(15:47):
I'm just gonna read this paragraph. By the time Jamal
was seven, he was required to drain thirty consecutive free
throws before he could stop for the day. His dad
limited distractions. Did he's connecting the TV and forbidding cell phones,
video games, and frivolous trips to the mall. His dad
fell in love with the game by watching Jordan and
(16:09):
incorporated teachings of Bruce Lee and kung fu. He stressed
physical strength, mental fortitude, and intercom calm c alm nut. Yeah, Rob,
you know what it takes when you're like, you know,
five of seventeen heading into the fourth and you're tired mentally,
you need to have no fear. Jason Tatum showed that
in the fourth quarter game stick against the Sixers. Jamal
(16:31):
Murray had that in game two at home. Jamal, according
to the story, learned to meditate daily, eliminating outside noise
by focusing on his breathing and lowering his heart rate
to forty beats a minute. This is a guy who
his dad would make him do. Wall sits in the
snow in Canada. Wall sits like I just I love
(16:56):
everything about this grind and like, listen, did part to
me reading this thing? Oh yeah, I'm gonna do this
with my kids of course, And then you know my
wife hears that and she's like, you can't get your
son to go in the shower at night.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
You know.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
It's like that that listen, that's reality. But the dedication
and the hard work that Jamal Murray put in. Since then,
I've been a fan, and obviously I have him in
the player points a pool. He dropped thirty seven makes
me look good. I might be in first at this point,
who knows. But everything you said about him, rob like
he's a killer. I don't know how they defend him.
I don't want to hear this. Oh, Dennis Schruter can
(17:28):
garda like listen Shruder Chase Curry and did a decent job.
Murray's a different animal. And I'm not saying he's better
than Kurry. He's obviously younger, and he's playing in the
pick and roll off yokicch and Yokis is a big body.
It's tough to get around him. And a lot of
these shots. You watch the highlights, Jamal's hitting over a
d over Lebron and like he's a killer. I don't know,
(17:50):
Rob Wer. We don't want to litigate these guys after
every game. But the league is full of really good
shooting guards. I'm gonna call up the leading scorer as
a shooting guard. And again this is off of Jamal
Murray historically great game, but you tell me, like who's better?
And again, regular season is one thing. Can you show
(18:12):
out in the playoffs when it matters? So this is
shooting points leaders for shooting guard this season number one.
I'll go ahead and guess that it's Devin Booker, Well,
Shake gill Is, Alexander Well. They have missed point guard. Okay,
so number one is oh Donovan Mitchell actually number one
(18:35):
twenty eight point three points per game. Who you like
in d Mitch or uh, Jamal Murray?
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Ooh, that's a good one. I lean Jamal Murray because
he's a more willing defender.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Yes. And by the way, Mitchell, who I love had
awesome success early in his career, hasn't really duplicated that.
And oh, by the way, got cooked up the last
two years by Jalen Brunson had to head in the playoffs.
That's a fact. I'm not I'm not just saying that
is a Knicks fan like it, brunts and torch him.
Number two leading score shooting guard Devin Booker. Devin Booker
versus Jamal Murray, the Kentucky guys. That's a tough one
(19:12):
because Devin Booker is very good. He's a little bigger.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Who you got rob uh? Well, I mean, if we're
just going, okay, who would you pick in the postseas,
I'm taking Jamal Murray.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Yeah, I mean Booker at two amazing games at home.
He's got Kevin Durant by his side. I don't know
how Jalen Brown's listed as a shooting guard. I think
it was a small forward. Brown a much much better defender,
has no handle at all. I don't know Jalen Brown.
That's a that's tough because of Brown's defense. But I
just I know what I'm getting for sure.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
With Jamal exactly. You know exactly I don't know, and
that and that matters in the postseason. Like I know
that we started off talking about Steph Curry, and obviously
Steph curR is a better player. But when you said
that Jamal Murray is a different animal. He is because
he's six four two fifteen. He can get to the
little mid range pull up. He can he can score
over length in a ways that you know Steph doesn't
(20:10):
really do it as well, even though he's a better
player than Jamal Murray. Jamal Murray in the postseason, he's
efficient and he's a killer in the fourth quarter. Like,
I don't know what else you want from a guy
at that position in the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Now here's a weird thing. So you could argue that
Jamal Murray is point guard and CACP is the shooting guard,
and Jamal initiates the offense. Like there's a case to
be made for that. But when I see Jamal Murray,
I don't think point guard, do you.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Rob No? I think Yo Kitchen is a point guard.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Jokicch does lead them in assists, but I think if
you want to get paid, as Jamal Murray obviously will
get continued to get paid throughout his career, you want
to be a point guard. Did you have his postseason
numbers this in these playoffs?
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Yes, and now these numbers have not been full updated
yet because you know it takes usually several hours into
the next day before they get it. But heading into
Game two, he was at twenty six five or twenty
six points, six assists, five rebounds on forty seven forty
(21:18):
ninety two shooting splits.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
So fifty to forty ninety is what Steph Curry had done.
That was like historic. I think the only guys who
did that were what Curry did, Nash.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Do it in the regular season.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Yes, okay, fifty to forty ninety, that's like historically great
and after game two, hell, Jamal Murray might be closing
in on that. I mean, in this series alone, he's
in two games. Jamal Murray is just devastating, like you
can't stop him at this point, he's automatic from the line.
(21:52):
There's a lot to love about it. But so anyways, Rob,
adjustment wise for Darvin Ham Game three, coming back to LA,
I don't think you need to reinvent the wheel. My
only thing would be I would try to, if possible,
save some Lebron and Ad for the fourth quarter because
(22:15):
there isn't an extra day arrest and you can't lose
this game. I think if you can possibly steal any
minutes and may be tweaking your rotation a little bit,
but I think you absolutely try to make it so
that Ad and Lebron are are targeting closer to like
thirty seven minutes as opposed to forty one to forty two.
I know that's going to be difficult, but if you
(22:35):
can grab a six to seven point lead and steal
some minutes, you know, use your time out. Why. I
think you've got to do that because ultimately, Rob, I
don't think there's a scenario that the Lakers can win
a seven game series, even though they have Lebron against
He's not I just I don't know that that's possible
given the schedule of this series.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
That's fair, you know. Look, we said before the series
started that Denver has been the most impressive team in
this postseason, and I think that that has continued, you know,
through these first two games. As far as adjustments go,
I don't know if either team has like a major
adjustment that they feel like they need to make. Because
if you're the Lakers, you know, if you say Lebron
(23:14):
stops shooting so many pull up threes as an adjustment,
then sure, but you know he was when he got
to the paint. He can get there whenever he wants to.
He just smoked three layups or two lamps and a dunk.
Anthony Davis, to your point, was missing bunnies all night,
like five foot an in just missing short whatever, Like,
is there an adjustment to that, No, because he normally
(23:35):
expect them to make those shots. It's just it is
what it is, Ruy that putting him on Jokics really
stifled or slowed down rather the Denver offense. So I
don't know if there's really schematic adjustments from the Lakers
end and from Denver's point of view. You know, they
still from my money, haven't shown a good counter for
(23:58):
when the Lakers take ad off of Yokik, Like as
I know that they ended up winning Game two, and
credit to them, but that was less about any kind
of schematic alteration than it was just Jamal Murray went
volcanic in the fourth quarter because the Lakers were able
to really slow down Denver, a team that scored one
hundred and thirty two points in Game one and they
(24:20):
had under eighty hitting into the fourth quarter of Game two.
So if I'm Denver, maybe you know more pinned downs
for Michael Porter Junior when Yogic is being covered like that.
Aaron Gordon as a screener, like maybe MPJ.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
MPJ has been really good in this series. I don't.
I mean, I know he can be a liability defensive,
but it feels like he's not forcing much.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
Right No, And and the credit to him. They're coming
him off of screens and curls and things like that,
and he's hitting those shots yeah at home, I mean exactly.
But we'll see the fact is those those looks normally
in their offense go to KCP because he's a better
movement shooter than Mike than MPGA, And in this case,
in this series, especially in Game two, MPG was hitting
(25:04):
those shots.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Yeah, he's got like a silky smooth game to him
where lay are like, damn this guy, like I just
he doesn't he doesn't totally feel refined. I don't know
if that makes sense, but he sometimes is out of control.
He seemed to play under control in this series. I
want to look at his splits and see if he's
awful on the road. Well, while you look that up,
my thought on him, he almost looks like sometimes like
(25:27):
he's not trying hard. Yeah, like he's kind of he
glides through the game the way that he plays almost
too cool, Yeah, a little bit. But I mean, if
he's making shots, then do whatever the hell you want, right,
And he was making the shots during the regular season
on the road forty seven percent field goals at home
fifty on the road forty two from three forty. So
then the numbers aren't that different. Huh interesting, Yeah, I
(25:52):
got I'll just have to put a pick on social
media for Saturday's games. But it's I'm going to take
the Lakers to win the game. There's no way Denver's
I'm going on three nothing one. Other things, Rob, this,
I didn't tell you we were gonna I was gonna
spring this on you, but you know, so, like I
have a Jimmy Butler guy. As you know, I think
you were producing my radio show in twenty eighteen when
I had that Jimmy Butler over Kawhi take and it
(26:13):
was one of these, as the bar school guys call
it like a quick take when I say something like
that's just like a crazy and I don't think it's crazy,
but I had I would take Jimmy Butler over Kawhi
Leonard in twenty eighteen. And you know you can find
the clip, it's online. And so I said, I looked
at the twenty eleven draft on Thursday, well during while
(26:33):
I was on the herd, and I was like, this
is interesting. Look at how good this twenty eleven draft is,
Robb are you ready for some of these names? So
in the twenty eleven draft, h Kyrie Irving went one,
uh Clay was in the lottery, Kawhi was in the lottery,
uchachit one second round, Tobias Harris went somewhere, Kemba Walker
(26:55):
was first round, Isaiah Thomas was the very last pick,
and then Jimmy Butler was thirtieth in the first round.
That's eight pretty damn good players. I said. The best
careers from the twenty eleven draft career obviously individual, I
had number one Jimmy Butler, I had number two Kawhi Leonard,
(27:16):
number three, Klay Thompson, number four Kyrie Irving. And then
I went vo Tobias Kemba, Isaiah, whatever, do you have
an issue with Butler one, Leonard, two, Klay three, Kyrie four?
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Just in terms of who's the better player, who's had
the better.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Well, those are two different questions.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
So okay.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
I mean, if you want to tackle better player, like,
that's fine, but I'm curious who has had the better
career individual player, Jimmy Butler, Kawhi, Clay or Kyrie. And
this will say a lot ladies and gentlemen. Rob doesn't
didn't know I was gonna ask this, so this will
say a lot about Rob. And based on his answer,
and I'll tell you why. I would say why Okay,
(28:01):
Kawhi won, Who's two? Butler okay? Three, Clay okay? And
for Kyrie yes, okay, So we agree on Kyrie. So
all these people got angry at me on Thursday and
this turned into like a good topic on the Herd
that Coward was so excited about because it became an
issue of are you a rings guy or are you
(28:23):
more than that? Because if you want to play the
rings game, yes, Clay Thompson's the winner. He has the
most rings period, end of story. But I think Rob
and I we've talked about this. Klay Thompson was a
splash brother and he was either and again this is debatable.
Clay was either the second, third, or fourth best player
(28:44):
on the Warriors before KD and after KD. Okay. Second,
you know, Andre Gudala won a finals MVP whatever that means.
Draymond Green heartbeat of the team. Andrew Wiggins last year
was pretty much which definitely their second best player in
the finals, Right Rob? You remember that?
Speaker 1 (29:03):
Yeah? Absolutely so.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Clay Thompson as good as he is, great shooter, amazing,
top five shooter all time, maybe number two. Who knows,
Clay never led a team anywhere by himself. So that's
why I don't even consider him one. I don't understand
how all these fans are saying Clay had the best career.
Why because he was part of an amazing team that
won a bunch of titles. Well that's outstanding and that's fun,
(29:27):
but he didn't lead them anywhere, right, Jimmy Butler has
been in alpha everywhere. He's gone Chicago, Minnesota, Philly with
MBD and Ben Simmons. He was the best player on
that team. Don't even try to argue with me. And
then he goes to Miami hashtag heat culture and all
he does is take him to the finals, the Eastern
(29:51):
Conference Finals again last year and he's in the Easter
Conference Finals again as the Alpha. And then you have
the Jimmy Butler Kawhi Leonard debate. Rob where why was
not quite a baggage handler, but he was on that
Spurs team that took down Lebron. For one, Kawhi did
win MVP. If you want to go look up his stats,
(30:11):
the average seventeen a game. We could debate who the
Alpha on that team was. I don't know, Rob, I
don't we would. I would have to drill down and
spend some time. But he was on a team with
I think Tony Parker was still around. I think they
still had Manu, they had Tim Duncan, they had Papovich.
(30:31):
Like I don't know, he was like the young guy
on that on that veteran team. And then he was
on the team the next year when all the guys
were tired. That was up like thirty on the Warriors
with KD, or maybe it was two years later with KD.
And then the whole thing happened when he who's foot
did he step on? It was a guy's name. He
(30:52):
was kind of a goonish European.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
Oh geez, I wish I remembered.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Okay, well somebody out there shouting, how guess forget this buffood?
Speaker 1 (31:02):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Anyways, and then the series, you know, he goes down.
The series is over, and then Kawhi was never the same.
He like feuded matures, but we got it, got it,
got all right, and then he forces his way out,
goes to Toronto, gets the luckiest title ever. Sorry Toronto,
that's just a fact. Kevin Durant played eleven frigid minutes
(31:22):
in the series. Come on, okay, and then he goes
to the Clippers and it's been a disaster with him
as the number one, a disaster. So I know he's
been the defensive player the year twice at two finals MVPs.
That's hard to argue. But for my money, I said
Butler over Kawhi. Does any of that make sense to you? Rob?
(31:43):
Did I sway? You or you just like, sorry, no, it's.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
No, I mean it's close. Even when I made my
answer and my only reason why I picked Kawhi over
Jimmy Butler is I think that Jimmy Butler's floor is
probably much higher on a game to game season, a season,
play off, the playoff level, but Kawhi's peaks were just higher.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
Yeah, Kawhi's peak was incredible. Here's the thing though, how
long did that peak last?
Speaker 1 (32:09):
Oh? Yeah, that's a good question.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
And here's the next question. Who would you rather have
next season?
Speaker 1 (32:17):
Oh, Jimmy Butler?
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Okay, Who would you rather have for the next three years?
Jimmy Butler Okay, So we will revisit this. I don't
mind if you guys want to say, Jason, you're out
of your mind, recency bias, blah blah blah. I'm just
saying rob like this is even if you disagree, it's
way closer than a slam dunk Kawhi Leonard.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
It is absolutely it's crazy. It sounds on its face. No,
it's you are one thousand percent. It is definitely a debate,
no matter which side of the fence you're on.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Yeah, Celtics Heat, we didn't get to talk about it yesterday.
Do you believe Celtics are in trouble? You like the
heat in this.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
The Celtics are so annoying, man, because they're clearly when
they're locked in and playing, they're the best team in basketball. Like,
I don't think it's even close. They one through five,
they can switch, they can all score, they can all
handle the ball a little bit. They're just they're a monster.
The problem is they trick around like every other game
(33:13):
for no good reason. And that's why it's frustrating to
watch them play, even though on the Lakers fan just
when teams do that on a night to night basis
as a basketball fan, it gets under your skin that
they just they're not focused.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
I've actually, for the first time I've I've changed. I
thought Celtics over Nuggets in the finals, because we remember
that was that was my pick before the playoffs. I'm
actually saying I think the Nuggets are going to beat
them now. And that's probably a little a little bit
of a recency bias to the I just I for
(33:55):
some reason, Boston's apathy. Yes, I just it's it's it's
jarring and disturbing, and you know, Mike Malone is a
damn good coach. Some of the stuff he says, Man,
he's really popping off. Joe Mizzoula seems out of his
a little out of his league here. And I don't
know what to make of this, like this Jokic dominance, Like,
(34:18):
I don't know how you stop this.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
Guy, Rob, I don't. You don't stop him.
Speaker 2 (34:22):
All you could do is pretty much could like all
this talk about Shaq and Coward and I got into
it on the show. He's like, oh, Shaq would shove
him in in a locker and he would dunk all
over him. I'm like, I don't know, man, this is
a burly serbian. Yeah, Yokic isn't pushed around easily. I
know he has a vertical leap of like you know,
my lazy dog. But like Yokic is crafty in the lane.
(34:44):
He's just putting shots up in for some reason. He
feels if he's shooting like inside six or seven feet,
it feels automatic, doesn't it?
Speaker 1 (34:50):
Absolutely everything that goes up like feathery touch. Like I said,
a Game two, I didn't think it was like a
great Yolkic game. He's still fins twenty three seventeen and
twelve like he just his he puts up numbers like
nobody have ever seen at that position. It's unreal.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Yeah, I mean the centers are almost back in vogue
thanks to him. Just unbelievable performance. Anyways, all right, guys,
Uh anything else we gotta cover?
Speaker 1 (35:15):
Rop Uh? No, I think we hit everything. Lakers would
be back to too by the time we record on
Tuesday mornings, So it's gonna be great.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
Wait, wait, are we not recording on Monday.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
No, I'm just saying that once we go Tuesday, I'm
already skipping. Oh you're skipping giving them two wins. Yeah,
it'll be two to one by the time you hear
from us again.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
I think, I think, Yeah, I would expect the Lakers
to win Game three. I am not as certain about
Game four. Not as certain. It's it's early.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
Obviously either team has lost the home game in these postseason.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
Yes, that's indouble again. I just can't get over the
rest issues for the Lakers. I just totally I don't
so like, do you think Ad bounces back with a
huge Game three? I don't know.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
I mean, I don't know if if by huge you
mean at least twenty five points Yes.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
Somebody else is gonna have to step up. It's sadly
it might have to be the Angela Russell. I don't
know I would. I'll just be I will my hot
take over the week. I predict in a non blowout,
Beasley or Beasley or Brown make an appearance because they're
gonna have to get three point shooting round. Like at
this point, if Reeves is off the floor, they're hurting
(36:25):
Austin Reeves in thirty six minutes last night was plus thirteen.
They lost the game by five. How does that happen,
Austin Reeves.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
None of the other guards played well man daggery.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
Somebody's got to step up anyways. All right, everybody, enjoy
the weekend. We'll talk to you Monday.
The volume.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
This is straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. What is up
straight Fire? Payam, It's me Jason McIntyre. Straight Fire for Friday,
May nineteenth. It is a tough morning for Lakers fans
out here in Los Angeles. A brutal collapse by Anthony
(00:32):
Davis and the Lakers. Listen. I know people want to
blame Lebron. We'll get into it all. They went into
the Jamal Murray buzzsaw. Jamal Murray goes off.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
In a way.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I don't think we've seen one of these in the playoffs,
Like Jason Tatum has gone off. Steph Curry went off
for games. Tatum out a good fourth. I don't know
that we've seen a twenty three point fourth quarter. Jamal
Murray an unconscious effort at home, splashing threes over eighty
Vanderbilt in the eye of Lebron twice overshrewder, it didn't matter.
(01:03):
Unbelievable performance from Jamal Murray, thirty seven points and Denver
steals another game at home. They are up to nothing
on the Lakers. We'll definitely get into that. Obviously. I've
got toot my own horn early. I told you guys,
Anthony Davis under. And it is so funny because just
before we recorded, and it's approaching midnight here after the
about forty five minutes after the game ended, I went
(01:25):
back and listened to the end of yesterday's podcast, and
I'm talking myself through what the bets should be. I'm like,
I can't go back to the KCP. Well, good thing
I didn't he hit under. I start talking myself into
Yoki t points rebounds. I says, so, I'm like, no
way that numbers inflated. It didn't hit, it went under,
and I ended up on a d because he's inconsistent
throughout the playoffs and Antony, listen, this is gonna be
(01:48):
a if Friday, we're at the blame game. A lot
of people are gonna blame Lebron the reverse donk, come on,
he missed the layup late. Lebron did have some miscues.
I think if you want to fault Lebron, that's fine.
Fault him for the three pointers. I have mentioned it repeatedly.
I've told you guys, I go to games my buddy
season ticket holder, and Lebron does this thing where he
(02:10):
wants to kill shot. He wants that dagger and he
wants it from three and in probably the most amazing
status postseason that I've heard, Rob g found this one.
Lebron James has now missed After Game two, he has
now missed nineteen straight fourth quarter three pointers nineteen. He
(02:31):
is thirty eight years old. That obviously needs to be said.
He was oh for six from deep in this one.
He was settling late. He's now OH for ten from
three in the series against Denver. Again, Lake I wrote,
if it Laker fans want to kill Lebron, it's a
lot of Jordan defenders and if we could find an
opening to backs Lebron, hey, let's do it. Lebron James
is not the reason that the Lakers lost Game two
(02:54):
and they collapsed in the fourth quarter. If you want
to pinpoint point number one, Jamal Murray went off and
they were all over him. He's hitting twenty nine foot
step back threes. He went postal and Jamal Murray, by
the way, had been having an awful game. I had
him going into the fourth quarter. Going into the fourth quarter,
Jamal Murray on the struggle bus. It looks like he
(03:16):
was five of seventeen shooting at halftime. I think he
was three to fifteen because I noted. Remember game two,
and I said this yesterday. Remember game two against Phoenix.
He had a great game one and he was tired
in game two, four six stuff, struggled and then made
a couple late. Jamal Murray's reason this game was won
by the Nuggets. He just an unbelievable, unconscious performance. Lakers
(03:36):
ended up settling for some threes late. They missed eleven
straight threes in the fourth quarter. And you know why
you're shooting threes in the fourth quarter, because you're tired
and you don't want to drive, you don't want to
pound it down low. That's what the Lakers did. And
I would say their second biggest thing in this game
was Anthony Davis. And again I'm not just saying that
because I want to bet, but Anthony Davis has gone
(03:56):
great game and then subpar game, great game, subparkt He
just the body, It just isn't there, the inconsistencies, the
legs Anthony Davis is. I think his final two shots
in like the final six minutes were both threes. He
lost the ball going up against Aaron Gordon. And I
will point this out about the refs. They did let
(04:18):
them play fouls were nineteen to eighteen. The Lakers attempted
eight more free throws at her. I don't think there's
anything there, but I do think Anthony Davis settled for
way too many shots. Anthony Davis in the paint three
of nine, he just again. Aaron Gordon is a large individual.
Jokic obviously is a big man, and Anthony Davis, after
(04:41):
playing forty two minutes now logs forty one. Lebron goes
forty and forty again. These are big, heavy minutes, especially
at altitude. And Anthony Davis, remember the Remember the stat
Anthony Davis had not played twenty straight games with the Lakers,
getting back to I believe the bubble year, he had
(05:03):
not played twenty straight games with the Lakers, and he's
now done that at the end of the regular season.
In these playoffs obviously, because they need him and the
guys wearing down. You saw it now. We'll get to
Game three later. But I did not think ad was
anything special. Jokic didn't totally eat his lunch. Jokich twenty three,
seventeen and twelve, another triple double. I believe that's his
(05:23):
seventh in the playoffs. Eventually, he's gonna break the record whatever,
whoever owns a record. But Jokic did not utterly dominate
the way he did in Game one. And I will
point this out Anthony Davis and the Lakers are getting
murdered on the glass. Offensive rebounds for the Lakers. Game two,
they had four. Jokic by himself had four. The Lakers
are getting not getting the second chances, and that hurts
(05:46):
because remember that was a big edge they had against
Golden State, like you know the size. They don't have
that here. So who are they leaning on my guy?
Austin Reeves? I mean, come on, how good is Austin Reeves? Folks?
I know everybody. All they want to say is he's
gonna get paid. He's gonna get paid. Somebody's gonna give
him a contract that is going to force the Lakers
to pay him. The Austin Reeve's like ninety million dollars,
(06:06):
and you know what they're gonna have to do it.
He's the third best player. He undeniably, it's not even
I don't even think it's close at this point. We'll
get to D'Angelo Russell or me Angelo Russell in a minute.
Austin Reeves twenty two points five threes. So guys not
named Austin Reeves shooting on the Lakers from d we're
three for twenty one. This is regressing to early season.
(06:30):
Lakers don't have three point shooters. I mentioned it to
Rob g before the pod. I'm sure he'll push back.
Rob make a note of it. I do believe when
we head back to LA for Saturday's game, I almost
guarantee you we will see some minutes from Beasley or
Brown because the Lakers need three point shooting outside of
(06:52):
Austin Reeves. D'Angelo Russell is it was a catastrophe, ladies
and gentlemen, if you want to shove anyone in the
doghouse headed back to LA and you kind of need him,
so I don't think you could totally do that, but
it's warranted. D'Angelo Russell, are you ready for this? Fifty
nine minutes on the court in two games, the Lakers
are minus forty one when he's on the court, minus
(07:13):
forty one when he's off the court. They are plus
thirty and thirty seven minutes. Like at some point Darvinham
and the staff have to look at this and be like,
oh wait a minute, wait a minute, way they're targeting.
They're straight up going at him all the time because
Russell is an indifferent defender. He is a I don't
want to call him prodigious, that's a little strong, but
he is a very gifted offensive talent. His stuff in
(07:35):
the lane, I like his little floater is a little
step back, but he's always looking for a shot one
of five on threes and he's just a Michael Malone.
If you guys heard some comments after game one, he
alluded to Russell, you know, we played so like he
couldn't be on the floor in the fourth or whatever,
and I was like, that's weird. I don't think of
d'andela Russell's that good of a player, and I don't
(07:57):
think that this is like gorilla warfare. But Michael Malone
hinting at d'angela Russell's fourth quarter of a minutes to
me was surprising because I'm like, like, he's not that great,
and then all of a sudden, if you watch, you
could go on YouTube and watch the highlights, like they're
attacking Russell almost every chance they can get. He is
by far the weak link defender. Reeves is capable. Reeves
(08:18):
hustles through screens, will block some shots. He's long. You're
not totally attacking Lebron. You ain't going after a dy
I think it. D'angela Russell is like a target. There's
a target on his back and he's been atrocious. Now,
all that being said, folks, the Lakers midway through the
third quarter had this game in hand. They're up nine,
they're up eleven. It felt like, okay, we're going back
(08:39):
to La tied at one. But I cannot drill at
home enough altitude and no days off. There's one day
off in between every game, no extra days, no extra
time for treatment. Lebron's ankle will see I'm sure, sure
he's gonna.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Play through it.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Guy's a freaking cyborg. But this Laker team melted down
in the fourth quarter. N out of gas started settling
for threes, and Jamal Murray had twenty three points in
the fourth the Lakers had twenty four. So listen. Is
the first time the Lakers have lost back to back
games in the playoffs. They did cover the spread by
(09:14):
half a point. Again, I told you guys, don't betting
on the sides. Too much chicanery, free throws, late threes.
I'm not messing with the sides. I don't totally have
an answer. I don't think it's panic down for the Lakers.
In my opinion, the series is not over at all.
The Nuggets survived Game one and then needed Jamal Murray
(09:35):
to go volcanic and ererupt in the fourth quarter to
win Game two. So this series is definitely not over.
Remember Denver did go to Phoenix and lost both games.
Now Phoenix got Devin Booker and Kevin Durant to combined
for like, you know, eighty points in Game three, and
then in Game four it was I believe Landry Shamat
(09:57):
splashing threes. Hey, maybe we'll see Lenny w have a game.
Ruy Haachi Mora is definitely delivering. You know, we saw
a lot of him. He's just a good player. I
think you've got to keep RUI it's weird because, like
all of a sudden, I don't know the cap rob
But if you're talking me into we're keeping a d
We're keeping Lebron, We're keeping Reeves, We're keeping Hachi Mora.
(10:20):
You like fill out dudes around them. I think that's
a squad. I don't know, I'm not. Yeah, it felt
like the Lakers were old and creaky, and they needed
some desperate moves. But this is a Lakers team. They're
right there with this Nuggets team. They've lost two games
against the second best team at home in the league
this year by what a combined eleven points, Like, they're
(10:40):
not that far off. This is definitely not over. My problem,
Rob is there's no extra days of rest, and I
don't see how the Lakers are gonna steal one in Denver.
An amazing stat, Rob, I don't know. This is absolutely
staggering this season. The Nuggets have lost one game this
(11:02):
season against a Western Conference team when Yokis plays. That
was a one point game in December. They are thirty
one and one when Yokics plays at home against the West,
now eight and zero in the playoffs. This is a
major home court advantage. And I'm not worried about the Lakers.
I think they'll be okay, but there is no room
for error when they come home this weekend.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Yeah. I mean, that's the understatement of the millennium. You know,
the down two to oh Lakers and six is teetering,
teetering on the edge right now when we're recording this podcast, Look,
NBA teams saw us on ESPN, and the Conference finals
are six and fifty six all time when trailing two
to zero in a series. Two of those wins, though
(11:47):
Laker fans, Two of the six were by Lebron James
led teams in two thousand and seven and twenty eighteen,
So if there's anybody that can do it, you know,
it's probably him. As much as I want to talk
about the Lakers, because you know, the Lakers on my team,
I'm still not willing to fully concede Lakers in six
this night, it's all about Jamal Murray. You know. I
(12:09):
know that we talk a lot about playoff Jimmy, Jimmy
Butler and everything that he's been doing when he's been incredible.
For my money's probably been the best player in the
postseason on both ends of the floor throughout this entire
playoff run. But it's time to start mentioning playoff Jamal
or playoff Murray in the same breath as playoff Jimmy,
(12:29):
because during his postseason career, Jamal Murray averages twenty five,
six and five on forty seven forty one ninety shooting splits,
and more impressively than that, he now has four twenty
point fourth quarters in the postseason four four. Wow. Jamal
(12:55):
Murray needs to be starting to get discussed as one
of the elite guards in the NBA. I don't know
if it's because he plays in the Mountain West. I
don't know if it's because he plays with Nikola Jokic,
but what he does year in year out in the
postseason needs to be recognized more.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Wait, is that four to twenty point fourth quarters in
his career or these playoffs.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
In his career? In the postseason?
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Okay, yeah, the bubble he had, didn't he have a
couple of fifty burgers against like Utah or something.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Yeah, he was incredible well. And then also those four
to twenty point fourth quarters in the postseason are more
than any other player over the last twenty five years.
So he is incredible at it when the chips are down,
as good as Jokic is, and he is phenomenal. Where
(13:48):
does Denver go to? They go to Murray. Him scoring
those twenty three points in the fourth quarter as impressive
as it was, just the counting stats twenty three and
six seven. To your point, he was drilling these shots
right in guy's eyes. So it's like watching Steph Curry
(14:08):
with the Warriors. When Steph makes an open three, you're like,
ah shit, you know he made it open three. But
when Steph drills a pull up, side step step back
three pointer from the logo, that hurts a little bit more.
And in a game like one we saw in Game two,
where it was a rock fight. For most of that game,
nobody could get anything going. He was struggling. Jokic had
(14:31):
big numbers, but I didn't think he was really having
a an all caps Yokic type game. Ad and Lebron
couldn't hit the red side of a barn, and he
was drilling these shots with a hand right in his
face like they weren't even there. Those kind of threes
feel like they count for five points. So Jamal Murray
deserves all the flowers he's gonna get here on Friday,
(14:51):
heading into the weekend, he was for my money or
that was the most impressive I've seen any player play
in these playoffs, including the Jason Datum Game six.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
So a lot of people, you know, I've been hyping
the hell out of Murray for a while. That bubble
obviously did some things, But it goes back to a
story I read Rob about him by Jackie McMullen in
twenty nineteen. It was titled why No Stage is too
Big for the Nuggets Jamal Murray And you know, the
dads who know me know that I am like geeky
(15:26):
about hoops. I love it. I want my kids to
play basketball. I think it's great for body and mind
and friendships and all that stuff. And I read this
story on Jamal Murray and he's from Canada, Okay, and
his dad grew you know, when Jamal Murray was like
a young kid, his dad was like his trainer. And
I read the story by Jackie McMullen and this is
(15:47):
I'm just gonna read this paragraph. By the time Jamal
was seven, he was required to drain thirty consecutive free
throws before he could stop for the day. His dad
limited distractions. Did he's connecting the TV and forbidding cell phones,
video games, and frivolous trips to the mall. His dad
fell in love with the game by watching Jordan and
(16:09):
incorporated teachings of Bruce Lee and kung fu. He stressed
physical strength, mental fortitude, and intercom calm c alm nut. Yeah, Rob,
you know what it takes when you're like, you know,
five of seventeen heading into the fourth and you're tired mentally,
you need to have no fear. Jason Tatum showed that
in the fourth quarter game stick against the Sixers. Jamal
(16:31):
Murray had that in game two at home. Jamal, according
to the story, learned to meditate daily, eliminating outside noise
by focusing on his breathing and lowering his heart rate
to forty beats a minute. This is a guy who
his dad would make him do. Wall sits in the
snow in Canada. Wall sits like I just I love
(16:56):
everything about this grind and like, listen, did part to
me reading this thing? Oh yeah, I'm gonna do this
with my kids of course, And then you know my
wife hears that and she's like, you can't get your
son to go in the shower at night.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
You know.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
It's like that that listen, that's reality. But the dedication
and the hard work that Jamal Murray put in. Since then,
I've been a fan, and obviously I have him in
the player points a pool. He dropped thirty seven makes
me look good. I might be in first at this point,
who knows. But everything you said about him, rob like
he's a killer. I don't know how they defend him.
I don't want to hear this. Oh, Dennis Schruter can
(17:28):
garda like listen Shruder Chase Curry and did a decent job.
Murray's a different animal. And I'm not saying he's better
than Kurry. He's obviously younger, and he's playing in the
pick and roll off yokicch and Yokis is a big body.
It's tough to get around him. And a lot of
these shots. You watch the highlights, Jamal's hitting over a
d over Lebron and like he's a killer. I don't know,
(17:50):
Rob Wer. We don't want to litigate these guys after
every game. But the league is full of really good
shooting guards. I'm gonna call up the leading scorer as
a shooting guard. And again this is off of Jamal
Murray historically great game, but you tell me, like who's better?
And again, regular season is one thing. Can you show
(18:12):
out in the playoffs when it matters? So this is
shooting points leaders for shooting guard this season number one.
I'll go ahead and guess that it's Devin Booker, Well,
Shake gill Is, Alexander Well. They have missed point guard. Okay,
so number one is oh Donovan Mitchell actually number one
(18:35):
twenty eight point three points per game. Who you like
in d Mitch or uh, Jamal Murray?
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Ooh, that's a good one. I lean Jamal Murray because
he's a more willing defender.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Yes. And by the way, Mitchell, who I love had
awesome success early in his career, hasn't really duplicated that.
And oh, by the way, got cooked up the last
two years by Jalen Brunson had to head in the playoffs.
That's a fact. I'm not I'm not just saying that
is a Knicks fan like it, brunts and torch him.
Number two leading score shooting guard Devin Booker. Devin Booker
versus Jamal Murray, the Kentucky guys. That's a tough one
(19:12):
because Devin Booker is very good. He's a little bigger.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Who you got rob uh? Well, I mean, if we're
just going, okay, who would you pick in the postseas,
I'm taking Jamal Murray.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Yeah, I mean Booker at two amazing games at home.
He's got Kevin Durant by his side. I don't know
how Jalen Brown's listed as a shooting guard. I think
it was a small forward. Brown a much much better defender,
has no handle at all. I don't know Jalen Brown.
That's a that's tough because of Brown's defense. But I
just I know what I'm getting for sure.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
With Jamal exactly. You know exactly I don't know, and
that and that matters in the postseason. Like I know
that we started off talking about Steph Curry, and obviously
Steph curR is a better player. But when you said
that Jamal Murray is a different animal. He is because
he's six four two fifteen. He can get to the
little mid range pull up. He can he can score
over length in a ways that you know Steph doesn't
(20:10):
really do it as well, even though he's a better
player than Jamal Murray. Jamal Murray in the postseason, he's
efficient and he's a killer in the fourth quarter. Like,
I don't know what else you want from a guy
at that position in the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Now here's a weird thing. So you could argue that
Jamal Murray is point guard and CACP is the shooting guard,
and Jamal initiates the offense. Like there's a case to
be made for that. But when I see Jamal Murray,
I don't think point guard, do you.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Rob No? I think Yo Kitchen is a point guard.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Jokicch does lead them in assists, but I think if
you want to get paid, as Jamal Murray obviously will
get continued to get paid throughout his career, you want
to be a point guard. Did you have his postseason
numbers this in these playoffs?
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Yes, and now these numbers have not been full updated
yet because you know it takes usually several hours into
the next day before they get it. But heading into
Game two, he was at twenty six five or twenty
six points, six assists, five rebounds on forty seven forty
(21:18):
ninety two shooting splits.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
So fifty to forty ninety is what Steph Curry had done.
That was like historic. I think the only guys who
did that were what Curry did, Nash.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Do it in the regular season.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Yes, okay, fifty to forty ninety, that's like historically great
and after game two, hell, Jamal Murray might be closing
in on that. I mean, in this series alone, he's
in two games. Jamal Murray is just devastating, like you
can't stop him at this point, he's automatic from the line.
(21:52):
There's a lot to love about it. But so anyways, Rob,
adjustment wise for Darvin Ham Game three, coming back to LA,
I don't think you need to reinvent the wheel. My
only thing would be I would try to, if possible,
save some Lebron and Ad for the fourth quarter because
(22:15):
there isn't an extra day arrest and you can't lose
this game. I think if you can possibly steal any
minutes and may be tweaking your rotation a little bit,
but I think you absolutely try to make it so
that Ad and Lebron are are targeting closer to like
thirty seven minutes as opposed to forty one to forty two.
I know that's going to be difficult, but if you
(22:35):
can grab a six to seven point lead and steal
some minutes, you know, use your time out. Why. I
think you've got to do that because ultimately, Rob, I
don't think there's a scenario that the Lakers can win
a seven game series, even though they have Lebron against
He's not I just I don't know that that's possible
given the schedule of this series.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
That's fair, you know. Look, we said before the series
started that Denver has been the most impressive team in
this postseason, and I think that that has continued, you know,
through these first two games. As far as adjustments go,
I don't know if either team has like a major
adjustment that they feel like they need to make. Because
if you're the Lakers, you know, if you say Lebron
(23:14):
stops shooting so many pull up threes as an adjustment,
then sure, but you know he was when he got
to the paint. He can get there whenever he wants to.
He just smoked three layups or two lamps and a dunk.
Anthony Davis, to your point, was missing bunnies all night,
like five foot an in just missing short whatever, Like,
is there an adjustment to that, No, because he normally
(23:35):
expect them to make those shots. It's just it is
what it is, Ruy that putting him on Jokics really
stifled or slowed down rather the Denver offense. So I
don't know if there's really schematic adjustments from the Lakers
end and from Denver's point of view. You know, they
still from my money, haven't shown a good counter for
(23:58):
when the Lakers take ad off of Yokik, Like as
I know that they ended up winning Game two, and
credit to them, but that was less about any kind
of schematic alteration than it was just Jamal Murray went
volcanic in the fourth quarter because the Lakers were able
to really slow down Denver, a team that scored one
hundred and thirty two points in Game one and they
(24:20):
had under eighty hitting into the fourth quarter of Game two.
So if I'm Denver, maybe you know more pinned downs
for Michael Porter Junior when Yogic is being covered like that.
Aaron Gordon as a screener, like maybe MPJ.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
MPJ has been really good in this series. I don't.
I mean, I know he can be a liability defensive,
but it feels like he's not forcing much.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
Right No, And and the credit to him. They're coming
him off of screens and curls and things like that,
and he's hitting those shots yeah at home, I mean exactly.
But we'll see the fact is those those looks normally
in their offense go to KCP because he's a better
movement shooter than Mike than MPGA, And in this case,
in this series, especially in Game two, MPG was hitting
(25:04):
those shots.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Yeah, he's got like a silky smooth game to him
where lay are like, damn this guy, like I just
he doesn't he doesn't totally feel refined. I don't know
if that makes sense, but he sometimes is out of control.
He seemed to play under control in this series. I
want to look at his splits and see if he's
awful on the road. Well, while you look that up,
my thought on him, he almost looks like sometimes like
(25:27):
he's not trying hard. Yeah, like he's kind of he
glides through the game the way that he plays almost
too cool, Yeah, a little bit. But I mean, if
he's making shots, then do whatever the hell you want, right,
And he was making the shots during the regular season
on the road forty seven percent field goals at home
fifty on the road forty two from three forty. So
then the numbers aren't that different. Huh interesting, Yeah, I
(25:52):
got I'll just have to put a pick on social
media for Saturday's games. But it's I'm going to take
the Lakers to win the game. There's no way Denver's
I'm going on three nothing one. Other things, Rob, this,
I didn't tell you we were gonna I was gonna
spring this on you, but you know, so, like I
have a Jimmy Butler guy. As you know, I think
you were producing my radio show in twenty eighteen when
I had that Jimmy Butler over Kawhi take and it
(26:13):
was one of these, as the bar school guys call
it like a quick take when I say something like
that's just like a crazy and I don't think it's crazy,
but I had I would take Jimmy Butler over Kawhi
Leonard in twenty eighteen. And you know you can find
the clip, it's online. And so I said, I looked
at the twenty eleven draft on Thursday, well during while
(26:33):
I was on the herd, and I was like, this
is interesting. Look at how good this twenty eleven draft is,
Robb are you ready for some of these names? So
in the twenty eleven draft, h Kyrie Irving went one,
uh Clay was in the lottery, Kawhi was in the lottery,
uchachit one second round, Tobias Harris went somewhere, Kemba Walker
(26:55):
was first round, Isaiah Thomas was the very last pick,
and then Jimmy Butler was thirtieth in the first round.
That's eight pretty damn good players. I said. The best
careers from the twenty eleven draft career obviously individual, I
had number one Jimmy Butler, I had number two Kawhi Leonard,
(27:16):
number three, Klay Thompson, number four Kyrie Irving. And then
I went vo Tobias Kemba, Isaiah, whatever, do you have
an issue with Butler one, Leonard, two, Klay three, Kyrie four?
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Just in terms of who's the better player, who's had
the better.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Well, those are two different questions.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
So okay.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
I mean, if you want to tackle better player, like,
that's fine, but I'm curious who has had the better
career individual player, Jimmy Butler, Kawhi, Clay or Kyrie. And
this will say a lot ladies and gentlemen. Rob doesn't
didn't know I was gonna ask this, so this will
say a lot about Rob. And based on his answer,
and I'll tell you why. I would say why Okay,
(28:01):
Kawhi won, Who's two? Butler okay? Three, Clay okay? And
for Kyrie yes, okay, So we agree on Kyrie. So
all these people got angry at me on Thursday and
this turned into like a good topic on the Herd
that Coward was so excited about because it became an
issue of are you a rings guy or are you
(28:23):
more than that? Because if you want to play the
rings game, yes, Clay Thompson's the winner. He has the
most rings period, end of story. But I think Rob
and I we've talked about this. Klay Thompson was a
splash brother and he was either and again this is debatable.
Clay was either the second, third, or fourth best player
(28:44):
on the Warriors before KD and after KD. Okay. Second,
you know, Andre Gudala won a finals MVP whatever that means.
Draymond Green heartbeat of the team. Andrew Wiggins last year
was pretty much which definitely their second best player in
the finals, Right Rob? You remember that?
Speaker 1 (29:03):
Yeah? Absolutely so.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Clay Thompson as good as he is, great shooter, amazing,
top five shooter all time, maybe number two. Who knows,
Clay never led a team anywhere by himself. So that's
why I don't even consider him one. I don't understand
how all these fans are saying Clay had the best career.
Why because he was part of an amazing team that
won a bunch of titles. Well that's outstanding and that's fun,
(29:27):
but he didn't lead them anywhere, right, Jimmy Butler has
been in alpha everywhere. He's gone Chicago, Minnesota, Philly with
MBD and Ben Simmons. He was the best player on
that team. Don't even try to argue with me. And
then he goes to Miami hashtag heat culture and all
he does is take him to the finals, the Eastern
(29:51):
Conference Finals again last year and he's in the Easter
Conference Finals again as the Alpha. And then you have
the Jimmy Butler Kawhi Leonard debate. Rob where why was
not quite a baggage handler, but he was on that
Spurs team that took down Lebron. For one, Kawhi did
win MVP. If you want to go look up his stats,
(30:11):
the average seventeen a game. We could debate who the
Alpha on that team was. I don't know, Rob, I
don't we would. I would have to drill down and
spend some time. But he was on a team with
I think Tony Parker was still around. I think they
still had Manu, they had Tim Duncan, they had Papovich.
(30:31):
Like I don't know, he was like the young guy
on that on that veteran team. And then he was
on the team the next year when all the guys
were tired. That was up like thirty on the Warriors
with KD, or maybe it was two years later with KD.
And then the whole thing happened when he who's foot
did he step on? It was a guy's name. He
(30:52):
was kind of a goonish European.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
Oh geez, I wish I remembered.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Okay, well somebody out there shouting, how guess forget this buffood?
Speaker 1 (31:02):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Anyways, and then the series, you know, he goes down.
The series is over, and then Kawhi was never the same.
He like feuded matures, but we got it, got it,
got all right, and then he forces his way out,
goes to Toronto, gets the luckiest title ever. Sorry Toronto,
that's just a fact. Kevin Durant played eleven frigid minutes
(31:22):
in the series. Come on, okay, and then he goes
to the Clippers and it's been a disaster with him
as the number one, a disaster. So I know he's
been the defensive player the year twice at two finals MVPs.
That's hard to argue. But for my money, I said
Butler over Kawhi. Does any of that make sense to you? Rob?
(31:43):
Did I sway? You or you just like, sorry, no, it's.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
No, I mean it's close. Even when I made my
answer and my only reason why I picked Kawhi over
Jimmy Butler is I think that Jimmy Butler's floor is
probably much higher on a game to game season, a season,
play off, the playoff level, but Kawhi's peaks were just higher.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
Yeah, Kawhi's peak was incredible. Here's the thing though, how
long did that peak last?
Speaker 1 (32:09):
Oh? Yeah, that's a good question.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
And here's the next question. Who would you rather have
next season?
Speaker 1 (32:17):
Oh, Jimmy Butler?
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Okay, Who would you rather have for the next three years?
Jimmy Butler Okay, So we will revisit this. I don't
mind if you guys want to say, Jason, you're out
of your mind, recency bias, blah blah blah. I'm just
saying rob like this is even if you disagree, it's
way closer than a slam dunk Kawhi Leonard.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
It is absolutely it's crazy. It sounds on its face. No,
it's you are one thousand percent. It is definitely a debate,
no matter which side of the fence you're on.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Yeah, Celtics Heat, we didn't get to talk about it yesterday.
Do you believe Celtics are in trouble? You like the
heat in this.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
The Celtics are so annoying, man, because they're clearly when
they're locked in and playing, they're the best team in basketball. Like,
I don't think it's even close. They one through five,
they can switch, they can all score, they can all
handle the ball a little bit. They're just they're a monster.
The problem is they trick around like every other game
(33:13):
for no good reason. And that's why it's frustrating to
watch them play, even though on the Lakers fan just
when teams do that on a night to night basis
as a basketball fan, it gets under your skin that
they just they're not focused.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
I've actually, for the first time I've I've changed. I
thought Celtics over Nuggets in the finals, because we remember
that was that was my pick before the playoffs. I'm
actually saying I think the Nuggets are going to beat
them now. And that's probably a little a little bit
of a recency bias to the I just I for
(33:55):
some reason, Boston's apathy. Yes, I just it's it's it's
jarring and disturbing, and you know, Mike Malone is a
damn good coach. Some of the stuff he says, Man,
he's really popping off. Joe Mizzoula seems out of his
a little out of his league here. And I don't
know what to make of this, like this Jokic dominance, Like,
(34:18):
I don't know how you stop this.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
Guy, Rob, I don't. You don't stop him.
Speaker 2 (34:22):
All you could do is pretty much could like all
this talk about Shaq and Coward and I got into
it on the show. He's like, oh, Shaq would shove
him in in a locker and he would dunk all
over him. I'm like, I don't know, man, this is
a burly serbian. Yeah, Yokic isn't pushed around easily. I
know he has a vertical leap of like you know,
my lazy dog. But like Yokic is crafty in the lane.
(34:44):
He's just putting shots up in for some reason. He
feels if he's shooting like inside six or seven feet,
it feels automatic, doesn't it?
Speaker 1 (34:50):
Absolutely everything that goes up like feathery touch. Like I said,
a Game two, I didn't think it was like a
great Yolkic game. He's still fins twenty three seventeen and
twelve like he just his he puts up numbers like
nobody have ever seen at that position. It's unreal.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Yeah, I mean the centers are almost back in vogue
thanks to him. Just unbelievable performance. Anyways, all right, guys,
Uh anything else we gotta cover?
Speaker 1 (35:15):
Rop Uh? No, I think we hit everything. Lakers would
be back to too by the time we record on
Tuesday mornings, So it's gonna be great.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
Wait, wait, are we not recording on Monday.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
No, I'm just saying that once we go Tuesday, I'm
already skipping. Oh you're skipping giving them two wins. Yeah,
it'll be two to one by the time you hear
from us again.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
I think, I think, Yeah, I would expect the Lakers
to win Game three. I am not as certain about
Game four. Not as certain. It's it's early.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
Obviously either team has lost the home game in these postseason.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
Yes, that's indouble again. I just can't get over the
rest issues for the Lakers. I just totally I don't
so like, do you think Ad bounces back with a
huge Game three? I don't know.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
I mean, I don't know if if by huge you
mean at least twenty five points Yes.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
Somebody else is gonna have to step up. It's sadly
it might have to be the Angela Russell. I don't
know I would. I'll just be I will my hot
take over the week. I predict in a non blowout,
Beasley or Beasley or Brown make an appearance because they're
gonna have to get three point shooting round. Like at
this point, if Reeves is off the floor, they're hurting
(36:25):
Austin Reeves in thirty six minutes last night was plus thirteen.
They lost the game by five. How does that happen,
Austin Reeves.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
None of the other guards played well man daggery.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
Somebody's got to step up anyways. All right, everybody, enjoy
the weekend. We'll talk to you Monday.
Host
Jason McIntyre
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