On today’s episode, Jason and Super Producer Rob G (Robert Guerra) kick things off by sharing their thoughts on the Boston Celtics' Game 5 blowout win over the Miami Heat. Jayson Tatum and the Celtics put on one hell of a shooting expedition. Even though Jimmy Butler swears Miami will bounce back to win Game 6, you've got to imagine that doubt is starting to creep in for the Heat. Later, the guys get into a quick back-and-forth over Kyrie Irving's request that media members and fans stop speculating about his future. Kyrie has always been a little extra, but the lack of self-awareness on his part is absolutely astounding - especially when you factor in the fact that he's brought almost all of this speculation upon himself. Finally, J-Mac closes the show by echoing Adam Silver's statement that 90s NBA basketball was too physical to be appealing for fans. The talking heads on TV - many of whom are guys who played professional during that era - have been trying to convince us for years that the 90s were the pinnacle of the NBA, so it's got to sting knowing that even the commissioner of the league disagrees.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. This is straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. What
is up? Straight firefam, It's me Jason McIntyre, Straight Fire
(00:21):
for for Friday, May twenty sixth, Folks, the NBA Conference Finals.
Heat Celtics does not want to end. And as everybody knows,
I'm going on vacation tomorrow, I will be in Communicado,
and by that I mean I won't be on social
media at all. I probably won't be watching sports, and
I should say no social media at all. Listen, I
(00:43):
like Instagram, don't really care that much for Twitter, so
I won't even open that app. But because Heat Celtics
now is going to Game six, I have to make
a business decision. Do I interrupt vacation, figure out what
time I'm gonna be in another country, figure out what
time the game is on Saturday night and watch it? Yeah,
I don't know. Celtics go bonkers from deep in Game five.
(01:06):
They go sixteen of thirty nine. Now, I've got the
numbers here. If you look at Boston's shooting from three
when they are forty percent are better. They are now
thirty eight and two this season, Boston thirty eight and
two when they shoot forty percent or better. It just
so happens. They've had two games now forty percent or better.
(01:27):
They were not showing up from deep earlier in the series.
If you're Miami, are you worried? Not if you ask
Jimmy Butler, who said afterward, we will win this series.
And as soon as I heard that quote, I told Rob,
I was like, Hey, this sounds like a dude who's
not very certain in the locker room. Maybe the doubt
is starting to creep in. Could we blow this? You
(01:48):
know that Gabe Vincent's out, Tyler Hero is not coming
back yet, Boston's hitting threes, they've kind of figured out
the chess match, and his doubts starting to creep into
the Miami locker room. The good news is they had
to go home Saturday and try try to put away Boston.
The problem is they didn't leave for one second in
Game five, not one. Miami fell behind early and kept
(02:11):
falling behind, down fifteen at the end of the first quarter,
never was single digits the rest of the way. It
was kind of a snoozer. My guy Jason Tatum twenty one,
eleven and eight did not shoot a grete from deep,
but you know who did Derek White Baby Derek White
twenty four points, six threes, Marcus Smart twenty three points,
(02:33):
four threes. Here's the interesting thing. Jimmy Butler only logged
thirty four minutes, so he should be fresh. Bam outabayo
thirty two minutes, he as well should be fresh. The
problem is if you don't get vincent. You saw how
short that bench was. They had to put what's his name?
The kid high Smith, the guy who I said, Heywood
high Smith. I followed a lot of college basketball faithful watchers. Well,
(02:56):
I guess we didn't have video when we were doing
the podcast the last two plus years. But you guys
don't have gambling on college basketball throughout the season. I've
never heard of Haywood Highsmith of the Miami Heat. He
went to something called Willing Jesuit. This is his second
season and he's twenty six years old. So by you
know my math there. It's late at night as we're
recording this, after the Heat got their doors blown off.
(03:19):
So Haywod high Smith was twenty four in college. Oh interesting,
I never heard of the guy I had to play
thirty some odd minutes. And now Rob, we're looking at
a series where it's like, oh, well, if Boston is
all of a sudden hitting threes, are they going to
be the second team from Boston to come back down
from three and win a series. Nobody's ever done it
in NBA history. Listen, if they get Game six, you
(03:41):
know they're going to be favored by at least seven
or more in Game seven. They are currently I can't
believe this. They open as three point favorites. It was
quickly bent down to two and a half. So some
early money showing on the Heat for Game six Saturday
night in South Beach. I don't know, Rob, this makes
me long badly for the Lakers and Nuggets just still
(04:05):
be going on this series like it just doesn't have
the juice. This game was a blowout for three quarters.
It was a snooze fest. I don't know. At this point,
I'm starting to look at the prospects of the Celtics,
how they match up with the Nuggets. So am I
looking too far ahead.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
A little bit? Yeah? I mean I may not be
as confident as Jimmy Butler, but I still believe that
the Miami Heat will get this done, just because you know,
one hundred and fiftyeth tried one hundred and fifty of failed.
Nobody comes back from down three zero in the NBA.
It's just it is what it is. I will say
after having watched last night's game, though, is the Boston Celtics,
(04:41):
when they are locked in and focused as they have
been in for the basically the last six quarters, they
are the most dangerous team in the NBA by a
wide margin. Like I don't think it's even close. What
they can do offensively and defensively. Everybody can shoot, they
can play five out, they can play big, they can
play small, they can go fast, they can go slow,
they can do whatever they want to when they're locked in.
(05:03):
And it's part of what makes them so damn frustrating,
and it's part of the reason why I'm picking Miami
to eventually, whether it's in six or seven, to close
this out because.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
You think seven in Boston.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Maybe, sure, maybe, because Boston has shown us repeatedly over
the last few seasons, this group, specifically, that they trick
away games better than anybody in the NBA. This should
not have gotten to three to zero were it not
for a series of mental blunders through Games one and two,
(05:35):
switching screens where you don't have to bad turnovers. Jason Tatum,
you know, Jalen Brown for getting out of shoot for
two and a half games. Like that kind of stuff
happens to them all the time. And it's why, even
as a Laker fan and as Celtics hater, I get
frustrated watching Boston play. So I can imagine how Celtics
(05:58):
fan feel watch and then play knowing that what we
saw in game what is that now? Game five is
in there. They just don't tap into it all the time,
and they don't seem to play well until their backs
are against the wall.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Remember, they don't tap in until they absolutely have to.
Like what was it Game six in Philly? I think
they were down three in the fourth quarter and it
took Jason Tatum waking up. Remember he was like one
for fourteen in the game, and then he goes for
like fourteen points in the fourth quarter, outscoring the entire
six Ers team, and they got lucky. The Celtics did that.
(06:34):
Philadelphia miss some open threes. It was like Melton missing,
Tucker missing. They're missing open shots that should have put
away Boston, and then you give them an extra chance
and then they you know, blow out in Game seven,
and now Miami's given him extra life. And I guess
the scary thing for me, Rob if you're looking at
Miami like they had a shot in the fourth quarter
in game in Game four, they had a shot and
(06:55):
I mean I think they were within five eighty eight
eighty three. Then Tatum took over. Since that moment, it's
been all Boston in this series, all Boston. And you
have to start wondering if maybe you don't want to
say Miami's run out of gas, but if there is
some doubt, like, hey, you know, we weren't that good.
We were playing above the rim for like three four weeks.
(07:15):
Now you have to kind of wonder, like water finds
its level, is that gonna happen here to the heat.
The only guy I think that can keep them from
losing is Jimmy Butler, and I was looking at his
props before the game. I was like, Oh, yeah, this
is gonna be close, you bet Butler. And as soon
as he gave Vincent's out, I'm like, I don't know,
Boston could win by a ton And here it is
Butler ten shots. I think that's a few as he's
(07:37):
had any game in the postseason. Ten shots. That's it. Like,
I don't know, man, it's Celtics team. Like you said,
it's scary. We came into the playoffs saying, this is
the deepest team in the league. This is I had
them going to the finals and beating the Nuggets that's
actually still in play. Somehow, the player points pool did
not go well for me. This Boston series has imploded because,
(07:59):
and I know you don't care, but essentially, for a while,
Brogden was getting the lion's share of the minutes and
the shots and the scoring, and Derek White was marginalized.
Remember early in the playoffs against Atlanta, White was the
guy and Brogden was marginalized. Then it flipped for like
five or six games, and now Brogden got eight minutes
in a blowout and zero points. That's two straight games
(08:20):
with no points. So he's like fallen out of favor
for some reason. I don't know what's up with that.
I guess rob, I would ask from a juice interest perspective,
the league has to be rooting for Boston. I mean, listen,
I like Jimmy Butler, but I would rather see Tatum
and company in the finals. I guess from like an
(08:41):
from an interest level among casuals. I mean, the Celtics
haven't won of titles since DOC and I think KG
and what like two thousand and eight the Paul Pierce
Wheelchair Series. You're a Laker fan, you remember what it one?
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Was it?
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Rob?
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Yeah? That is two thousand and eight, That is correct.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Yeah, yeah, it's been a forever. And I mean there's
just so much crazy is happening. And again, even if
you're not that interested in the series, consider this at three.
Everybody in their mom had Joe Missoula fired after one year.
He wins game four, Well, maybe you gotta stay of execution, Rob,
He's down one game five. Okay, let's say they lose
(09:19):
it the buzzer on a Jimmy Butler shot in game six.
Does Mossoula get fired? I don't know. You're fighting back
for three, you looking decent in the process. I think
Missoula might have saved his job. And Brad Stevens, now,
remember Missoula was his guy. Brad Stevens probably says, hey,
you know what, we didn't have the right assistant coaches
in place. First year coaching for Missoula tall order with
(09:43):
this great cast, that's been together forever. A couple tweaks
around the fringes and we're fine. And my guess is
Missoula ain't getting fired anymore. Rob, I don't know. I
know now, if they get blasted by twenty five in
game six, I could see a case where he's gone.
But if Boston keeps playing this way and keeping the
series close and wins it or whatever, I think he's
(10:04):
probably safe. Now.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Rob, I'll tell you what if he ends up keeping
his job, you know, assume that they lose, because that's
the only time where it would become a controversy. It
won't be for anything that he's done. In my opinion,
it'll be because Jason Tatum has saved his job. Like
I know, everyone talks about playoff Jimmy, and rightfully so
right he's been awesome. Elimination Tatum or close out game Tatum,
(10:28):
whatever you want to call him, is phenomenal entering last night.
In the last two postseasons and elimination games, he's averaging
thirty points basically nine rebound, six assists, forty eight percent
from the field, forty eight percent from three and in
another elimination game here in game five, he had what
you would consider for him to be an off nine
in those situations. To your point, twenty one eleven and
(10:50):
eight on fifty percent from the field, the three ball
wasn't quite there. So if he is able to continue
to put up these kind of numbers, win or lose,
I think it may give Brad Stevens and the Celtics
brass kind of a false sense of of I don't know,
if not security, but an idea that they're a better
team with Joe Miszula, or he's done a better job
(11:12):
than what he's really done. Like sometimes it just comes
down to did your superstar make the playser not?
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Yeah? And seriously, like you can't just fire the coach
without a strategy, right, Like who you gonna go get?
It sounds like Nick Nurse is probably gonna be getting
the Milwaukee job. It sounds like Phoenix is probably going
with their assistant or the associate coach, Anthony Well, I
always named Anthony Anthony. I'm spacing on a route.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
But definitely not Doc Rivers.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
It is. It's definitely not Doc Rivers. But it sounds
like it's gonna be the associate coach from Phoenix getting
the job. Kevin Young, Kevin Young. I'm sorry, Kevin Young.
It seems like they keep the continuity. This team was close.
They just got beat by a pretty damn good Nuggets team.
Not the end of the world. Maybe they move eight
and then they're fine. I just don't know where you
(12:05):
automatically go and like Monty Williams is I guess you
could do that, But now you're going way outside Boston
where it had been some continuity with Stevens and Udoka
and then Missoula, and now you're I mean, I like
Monty Williams, I don't know. It just seems like Missoula
may have saved his job. The other topic that's moderately
interesting rob like who has a better shot against the
(12:27):
Nuggets the Heat, who, by the way, got in a
big bigger than a dust up, we could call it
a fracas, a kerfuffle. If you guys remember there was
a Morris twin on the Heat I forget which one.
They're interchangeable, and he did like kind of a dirty
shot to Jokic, and Jokic responded with like a body
(12:49):
block that sent Morris down, and again Jokic like a
shoulder when he wasn't looking from like a two hundred
and sixty two hundred and seventy pounds. Man, that's gonna hurt.
And Morris was for a considerable amount of time. The
Heat were ticked off, and there was a lot of
Jimmy Butler like, come meet me in the parking lot,
Kyle Lowry. They were ready to go. And it wasn't
(13:10):
just with Jokic. They were ready to fight Jokic's brothers.
The two large Serbians two might have been three. I
don't know how many there are. I just know other large,
scary individuals. And there's a great photo and I popped
it on Instagram that a photographer in Denver took the
Miami Heat team literally outside the Denver Nuggets' locker room door,
(13:31):
all standing there waiting. Now, heat culture is really a thing,
and of course nothing materialized here, but the fact that
this could, you know, go back head to head in
the finals is kind of spicy. But I'm sorry, I
would rather just see elite scorer Jason Tatum and Jamal Murray.
You know my guys, Jamal Murray obviously, you know Jokich
(13:54):
versus the Robert Williams crafty Al Horford as opposed to
Yokich versus bam ade Bio and Kevin Love. Boston just
has better players. I still think the Nuggets are better
than either team. I would say Nuggets and seven whoever
they're playing facing because they have home court advantage. I believe, right, Rob.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
No, I think Boston has the home court in that situation.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Wait, man, that changes things. So Boston would have home court,
but they would have just finished a grueling seven game series. Correct,
So six is Saturday, seven would be Tuesday Monday, and
then there would be Tuesday Wednesday off Thursday start in Boston. Huh.
(14:39):
Celtics will have have gone seven. They will six against
the Hawks, seven against the Sixers, seven against the Heat,
so they'll be on game twenty one. They could play
twenty eight postseason games. That's ridiculous. The Nuggets meanwhile, went
five six, four, lot of rest. Yeah, I would take
(15:03):
the Nuggets over the Celtics, even though they don't have
home court advantage. Shoot, could they beat elimination game Tatum? Huh?
I would say, let me let that marinate. But by
the time I get back and we start doing the
podcast again, it'll be actually, I guess the eve of
Game one. I think the podcast will return Wednesday night,
(15:24):
maybe thirdy Yeah, Wednesday night, Wednesday, I should be back
just a little Memorial Day see Yesta out of town.
And the bummer about the NBA right now is there's
not really a ton of other juicy stories. There's like
minuscule James Harden, Kyrie Irving going on Instagram, Rob did
you see the Kyrie Irving video?
Speaker 2 (15:42):
By the way, I saw a couple of Kyrie Irving videos.
One of them maybe there was what I missed. One
of them felt like it was a direct shot at
front of the show Brian Windhorst and his reporting about
you know that these guys on TV and they're speculating
about my future, don't listen to them. And because I
believe that was a few hours after Wendy had gone
(16:04):
on ESPN and said that Kyrie was using the Lakers
as leverage or he could be using Lakers' leverage to
get more from Dallas.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
To get four from Dallas yeah or four yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
So he responded to that, and then I saw another
clip that felt like a direct shot at me and
the rest of Lakers, nay know where He's like, He's like,
I've seen you guys tag me, and you know hey,
come to my city and blah blah blah, And he
said that it bothered him that he said, stop tagging
me and these kind of things. You know, he's I
think it's kind of funny, but you know, I also
like to live my life. And it's like, well, don't
(16:37):
you don't you want to feel the love Kyrie? Wherever
city you decide to go to, don't you want to
have the purple and gold you know hearts next to
all you're at Kyrie Irving things like come on, absolutely, is.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
He aware of how the gram works that you can
set up a function so you can't be tagged?
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Oh, I have no idea if you know.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Yeah, well it's because when I go to tag some
people sometimes they're like this person does not allow to
be tag. So Kyrie Irving needs to first of all,
learn how to use Instagram. And then the other part
is like, well, I don't know, maybe you should stop
like I don't know, demanding trades everywhere you go, lying
to the fans in Boston, getting away from Lebron in Cleveland,
(17:18):
Like there's a pattern here, Kyrie. You get Kevin Durant
to Brooklyn tarnished Kevin Durant's career and yeah, you're damn right,
it's tarnished. And then you end up demanding multiple trades
in Brooklyn, finally getting your way, you get to Dallas
and what was the did they go six and thirteen
or six and seventeen the number whatever it was, But
you stunk in Dallas. You take them out of the playoffs,
(17:42):
and now you're like, hey, hey, stop talking about me,
and what are you talking about? Like Kyrie's brought all
this on himself, and you know, you don't see superstars
like Steph Curry hopscotching or around team. Do you see
next tier guys Kevin Durant hopscotching around team? You should
have just stayed in Golden State. KD dumb move to
follow Kyrie Irving. I don't I get too upset with
(18:04):
Kyrie Irving, But but.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
What about Lebron James hopscatching teams?
Speaker 1 (18:08):
He's doing it in a civilized event.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Oh that's different, Well different he's.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Doing he's going for a tour in duty. I don't
think he's ever demanded a trade. He spends his time there,
takes the team to the finals. Should be noted. Wins
a championship and then says I'm out, thank you for
you know, that was a lot of fun. I'm on
to the next one. You know what's wrong with that?
Don't don't compare Lebron, Oh Rob, you get me started.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
I'm just saying saying that you don't like when guys
like Homie hop teams and that's been lebron'smo for his career.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Well again, you could do it in a dignified manner
without demanding a trade like like Kyrie does.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Okay, you know a lot. It's not the switching. It's
the way he switches is that's what you don't like.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Yeah, Kevin Durant did it. You know what I did.
I did my eleven years or whatever it was in Okase.
I spent my I'm there. You drafted me. I was
a good soldier. You paid me a lot of money.
I took you guys to the finals. You traded my
guy Harden. We lose to the words. You know what,
I've had enough, I'm out. What's wrong with that? I
got no problem with that at all. It's the guys
like Harden and Kyrie who's just like, get me the
(19:17):
hell out of it, you know, like demanding trade like
Lebron's ever demanded trade. Charles Barkley has demanded trades. Your guy,
Kobe Bryant briefly demanded a trade. I guess he retracted.
It is that what happened? You You were on the
front lines for that, Rob I was. I was on
the East coast.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Yeah, he had demanded a trade, I think to Pluto
even he said, I'll play anywhere but Los Angeles and
line the Swish klaide. Yeah, I mean, thankfully, you know,
Pogosol came about six months later and it all worked
out and they won a championship, a couple of championships.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Yeah, they got Pawgosol in exchange for Kwame Brown, who
can now be seen on Instagram among other guys, but
Kwame Brown. It was all over Instagram essentially, like just
berating everyone or Lebron, Kevin Dury, It's just going after
people like that's what Kwame Brown does now. Former number
(20:12):
one pick made a lot of money in the league.
Now seems to drive like a large vehicle around like
North Carolina, I think and just rant like that's what
he's what, that's what his future is.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
By the way, Quime was drafted in what like two
thousand and three, so he's probably not even it's even forty.
Give me an age on Kwame Brown. He can't be
that old. He seems to be the angriest dude who
used to play in the NBA. Fair assessment, Rob, I
(20:43):
mean there's a lot. He's forty one, forty one, forty one,
My gosh, that is a brutal career.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
All right.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Anyways, let's wrap up with this comment Adam silvermade. I'm
not gonna bet on Game six. Listen, I haven't bet
on the past few games in this series. I just
don't understand this series. It's not making sense. And now
it's starting to make sense with Boston Hot. But you
know what happens, just as you feel like you understand something,
it goes the other way. So let's wrap up with this, Rob.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
This quote.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
Adam Silver was asked about nineties basketball. As you see
me in my Seattle Seahawks Seattle Sonics T shirt, Sorry Sonics,
Adam Silver, nineties basketball was too physical to be appealing,
and a lot of people are outraged, like, oh, that
was the best error the nineties. You know who else
besides Adam Silver thought it was too physical? To be
(21:37):
appealing like basketball fans. Do you remember they had to
essentially change the rules because it got so rugged and
rough and physical the games. And as soon as the
nineties ended, that brand continued for a couple of years. Yo,
Shaq and Kobe did fine with it, and once they
petered out and went their separate ways. It was essentially
(21:59):
a game that I thought we invented in my basement
as kids, called body check basketball. I think I've talked
about it on the podcast. So we had a basement
with the Nerf hoop and we essentially we had like
two Nerf hoops set up, and it was the kind
of it was the kind of game we just made
up where you know, you would pass the ball around
and try to score and you were allowed to do
(22:21):
body checking like it was hockey. So like we had
I like we had dry wall. We had like it
was it was like eighties nineties guys. Come on. We
had like those walls that were like kind of brownish
and black and they kind of looked like, I don't know,
it was a pretty cheap material. Okay, it was a basement,
you know, and we would be body checking. So we
(22:42):
ended up putting holes in the wall during body check basketball.
There were some injuries, nothing major, And that's what NBA
looked like right after Jordan retired, even during Jordan unappealing
like not fun now fun to play, but watching it's
just brutal, the fouls, the physical nature. Adams was right,
and all these apologies for nineties basketball, they forget one
(23:03):
thing that the nineties era. And we talked about this
at length, Rob. I think we had bj Armstrong come
on here and we like they had an interesting debate
about it. But like it was the expansion era, you
had Miami emerging. You know how bad they were the
first couple of years. Go look at the roster that
they had. I know they had Ronnie Psychelee, I got
(23:23):
all the cards, but the roster was terrible. I think
they I think Charlotte, I mean they had a bunch
of I think Vancouver was in there, big Country reeves.
Like go look at those rosters. It's bad basketball. Like
if you started, Rob, if they added two teams to
the league right now, I don't think the level of
(23:46):
play would fall off that dramatically because I think now
the league is deeper than it's ever been, and it's
like an offensive skill league. Can you score? Can you
Jordan Poole get to the bucket? Can you get off
a shot? And in the nineties it was only a
handful of guys on each team who could do that.
Now one through four, you basically have to be able
(24:08):
to get your own shot. Power forwards around the league
in two threes, left and right. I mean, I'll go
ahead and guess, like the power forwards of like the nineties,
you know, Charles Oakley, Anthony Mason. I'm not gonna just
name Nicks, but you know what I'm talking about. Actually,
Mace had a decent outside shot. Charles Oakley, who was
the big guy the Davis Brothers, remember those guys in
in Indiana, Like the typical nineties power forward could not shoot,
(24:31):
barely could dribble like it was just not great basketball.
And Rob, I don't know why people are so outraged
about Adam Silver's comments about physical basketball and give me skill,
gimme shooting. The current NBA is way better. It's not
even close. All right. That wraps it for Celtics Heat
Game five, another blood bath. Miami's in trouble, folks. I
(24:54):
don't have an official pick for Game six because this
series has kind of broke me. I don't understand it.
I don't understand Boston blew the first two games. I
don't understand how Boston no showed in Game three. I'm
a little surprised Boston finally solved the fourth quarter in
Game four and then Game five, Miami non competitive and
when they could close out the series against the Boston
(25:15):
team that struggled at home throughout the playoffs the last
two years. So what's gonna happen in Game six? Like,
just roll the dice and maybe you'll get snake eyes
and that'll give you the answer. But I mean, I
certainly am not betting this game. I would consider this
given the Jimmy Butler comments. A Jimmy Butler game where
he shows up and doesn't let Miami lose, because if
you know, it goes back to Boston for Game seven.
(25:37):
Not great Miami. But I will point this out either way,
the Denver Nuggets are going to be my pick in
the NBA Finals. I don't care who they face. So
we will pick up the podcast. I believe next Thursday
morning we'll be back, ready, fresh, ready to go, ready
to talk to NBA Finals, Start talking NBA free agency, everybody,
(25:58):
have a safe holiday weekend. Talk to you next week.
The volume. This is straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. What
is up? Straight firefam, It's me Jason McIntyre, Straight Fire
(00:21):
for for Friday, May twenty sixth, Folks, the NBA Conference Finals.
Heat Celtics does not want to end. And as everybody knows,
I'm going on vacation tomorrow, I will be in Communicado,
and by that I mean I won't be on social
media at all. I probably won't be watching sports, and
I should say no social media at all. Listen, I
(00:43):
like Instagram, don't really care that much for Twitter, so
I won't even open that app. But because Heat Celtics
now is going to Game six, I have to make
a business decision. Do I interrupt vacation, figure out what
time I'm gonna be in another country, figure out what
time the game is on Saturday night and watch it? Yeah,
I don't know. Celtics go bonkers from deep in Game five.
(01:06):
They go sixteen of thirty nine. Now, I've got the
numbers here. If you look at Boston's shooting from three
when they are forty percent are better. They are now
thirty eight and two this season, Boston thirty eight and
two when they shoot forty percent or better. It just
so happens. They've had two games now forty percent or better.
(01:27):
They were not showing up from deep earlier in the series.
If you're Miami, are you worried? Not if you ask
Jimmy Butler, who said afterward, we will win this series.
And as soon as I heard that quote, I told Rob,
I was like, Hey, this sounds like a dude who's
not very certain in the locker room. Maybe the doubt
is starting to creep in. Could we blow this? You
(01:48):
know that Gabe Vincent's out, Tyler Hero is not coming
back yet, Boston's hitting threes, they've kind of figured out
the chess match, and his doubts starting to creep into
the Miami locker room. The good news is they had
to go home Saturday and try try to put away Boston.
The problem is they didn't leave for one second in
Game five, not one. Miami fell behind early and kept
(02:11):
falling behind, down fifteen at the end of the first quarter,
never was single digits the rest of the way. It
was kind of a snoozer. My guy Jason Tatum twenty one,
eleven and eight did not shoot a grete from deep,
but you know who did Derek White Baby Derek White
twenty four points, six threes, Marcus Smart twenty three points,
(02:33):
four threes. Here's the interesting thing. Jimmy Butler only logged
thirty four minutes, so he should be fresh. Bam outabayo
thirty two minutes, he as well should be fresh. The
problem is if you don't get vincent. You saw how
short that bench was. They had to put what's his name?
The kid high Smith, the guy who I said, Heywood
high Smith. I followed a lot of college basketball faithful watchers. Well,
(02:56):
I guess we didn't have video when we were doing
the podcast the last two plus years. But you guys
don't have gambling on college basketball throughout the season. I've
never heard of Haywood Highsmith of the Miami Heat. He
went to something called Willing Jesuit. This is his second
season and he's twenty six years old. So by you
know my math there. It's late at night as we're
recording this, after the Heat got their doors blown off.
(03:19):
So Haywod high Smith was twenty four in college. Oh interesting,
I never heard of the guy I had to play
thirty some odd minutes. And now Rob, we're looking at
a series where it's like, oh, well, if Boston is
all of a sudden hitting threes, are they going to
be the second team from Boston to come back down
from three and win a series. Nobody's ever done it
in NBA history. Listen, if they get Game six, you
(03:41):
know they're going to be favored by at least seven
or more in Game seven. They are currently I can't
believe this. They open as three point favorites. It was
quickly bent down to two and a half. So some
early money showing on the Heat for Game six Saturday
night in South Beach. I don't know, Rob, this makes
me long badly for the Lakers and Nuggets just still
(04:05):
be going on this series like it just doesn't have
the juice. This game was a blowout for three quarters.
It was a snooze fest. I don't know. At this point,
I'm starting to look at the prospects of the Celtics,
how they match up with the Nuggets. So am I
looking too far ahead.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
A little bit? Yeah? I mean I may not be
as confident as Jimmy Butler, but I still believe that
the Miami Heat will get this done, just because you know,
one hundred and fiftyeth tried one hundred and fifty of failed.
Nobody comes back from down three zero in the NBA.
It's just it is what it is. I will say
after having watched last night's game, though, is the Boston Celtics,
(04:41):
when they are locked in and focused as they have
been in for the basically the last six quarters, they
are the most dangerous team in the NBA by a
wide margin. Like I don't think it's even close. What
they can do offensively and defensively. Everybody can shoot, they
can play five out, they can play big, they can
play small, they can go fast, they can go slow,
they can do whatever they want to when they're locked in.
(05:03):
And it's part of what makes them so damn frustrating,
and it's part of the reason why I'm picking Miami
to eventually, whether it's in six or seven, to close
this out because.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
You think seven in Boston.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Maybe, sure, maybe, because Boston has shown us repeatedly over
the last few seasons, this group, specifically, that they trick
away games better than anybody in the NBA. This should
not have gotten to three to zero were it not
for a series of mental blunders through Games one and two,
(05:35):
switching screens where you don't have to bad turnovers. Jason Tatum,
you know, Jalen Brown for getting out of shoot for
two and a half games. Like that kind of stuff
happens to them all the time. And it's why, even
as a Laker fan and as Celtics hater, I get
frustrated watching Boston play. So I can imagine how Celtics
(05:58):
fan feel watch and then play knowing that what we
saw in game what is that now? Game five is
in there. They just don't tap into it all the time,
and they don't seem to play well until their backs
are against the wall.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Remember, they don't tap in until they absolutely have to.
Like what was it Game six in Philly? I think
they were down three in the fourth quarter and it
took Jason Tatum waking up. Remember he was like one
for fourteen in the game, and then he goes for
like fourteen points in the fourth quarter, outscoring the entire
six Ers team, and they got lucky. The Celtics did that.
(06:34):
Philadelphia miss some open threes. It was like Melton missing,
Tucker missing. They're missing open shots that should have put
away Boston, and then you give them an extra chance
and then they you know, blow out in Game seven,
and now Miami's given him extra life. And I guess
the scary thing for me, Rob if you're looking at
Miami like they had a shot in the fourth quarter
in game in Game four, they had a shot and
(06:55):
I mean I think they were within five eighty eight
eighty three. Then Tatum took over. Since that moment, it's
been all Boston in this series, all Boston. And you
have to start wondering if maybe you don't want to
say Miami's run out of gas, but if there is
some doubt, like, hey, you know, we weren't that good.
We were playing above the rim for like three four weeks.
(07:15):
Now you have to kind of wonder, like water finds
its level, is that gonna happen here to the heat.
The only guy I think that can keep them from
losing is Jimmy Butler, and I was looking at his
props before the game. I was like, Oh, yeah, this
is gonna be close, you bet Butler. And as soon
as he gave Vincent's out, I'm like, I don't know,
Boston could win by a ton And here it is
Butler ten shots. I think that's a few as he's
(07:37):
had any game in the postseason. Ten shots. That's it. Like,
I don't know, man, it's Celtics team. Like you said,
it's scary. We came into the playoffs saying, this is
the deepest team in the league. This is I had
them going to the finals and beating the Nuggets that's
actually still in play. Somehow, the player points pool did
not go well for me. This Boston series has imploded because,
(07:59):
and I know you don't care, but essentially, for a while,
Brogden was getting the lion's share of the minutes and
the shots and the scoring, and Derek White was marginalized.
Remember early in the playoffs against Atlanta, White was the
guy and Brogden was marginalized. Then it flipped for like
five or six games, and now Brogden got eight minutes
in a blowout and zero points. That's two straight games
(08:20):
with no points. So he's like fallen out of favor
for some reason. I don't know what's up with that.
I guess rob, I would ask from a juice interest perspective,
the league has to be rooting for Boston. I mean, listen,
I like Jimmy Butler, but I would rather see Tatum
and company in the finals. I guess from like an
(08:41):
from an interest level among casuals. I mean, the Celtics
haven't won of titles since DOC and I think KG
and what like two thousand and eight the Paul Pierce
Wheelchair Series. You're a Laker fan, you remember what it one?
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Was it?
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Rob?
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Yeah? That is two thousand and eight, That is correct.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Yeah, yeah, it's been a forever. And I mean there's
just so much crazy is happening. And again, even if
you're not that interested in the series, consider this at three.
Everybody in their mom had Joe Missoula fired after one year.
He wins game four, Well, maybe you gotta stay of execution, Rob,
He's down one game five. Okay, let's say they lose
(09:19):
it the buzzer on a Jimmy Butler shot in game six.
Does Mossoula get fired? I don't know. You're fighting back
for three, you looking decent in the process. I think
Missoula might have saved his job. And Brad Stevens, now,
remember Missoula was his guy. Brad Stevens probably says, hey,
you know what, we didn't have the right assistant coaches
in place. First year coaching for Missoula tall order with
(09:43):
this great cast, that's been together forever. A couple tweaks
around the fringes and we're fine. And my guess is
Missoula ain't getting fired anymore. Rob, I don't know. I
know now, if they get blasted by twenty five in
game six, I could see a case where he's gone.
But if Boston keeps playing this way and keeping the
series close and wins it or whatever, I think he's
(10:04):
probably safe. Now.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Rob, I'll tell you what if he ends up keeping
his job, you know, assume that they lose, because that's
the only time where it would become a controversy. It
won't be for anything that he's done. In my opinion,
it'll be because Jason Tatum has saved his job. Like
I know, everyone talks about playoff Jimmy, and rightfully so
right he's been awesome. Elimination Tatum or close out game Tatum,
(10:28):
whatever you want to call him, is phenomenal entering last night.
In the last two postseasons and elimination games, he's averaging
thirty points basically nine rebound, six assists, forty eight percent
from the field, forty eight percent from three and in
another elimination game here in game five, he had what
you would consider for him to be an off nine
in those situations. To your point, twenty one eleven and
(10:50):
eight on fifty percent from the field, the three ball
wasn't quite there. So if he is able to continue
to put up these kind of numbers, win or lose,
I think it may give Brad Stevens and the Celtics
brass kind of a false sense of of I don't know,
if not security, but an idea that they're a better
team with Joe Miszula, or he's done a better job
(11:12):
than what he's really done. Like sometimes it just comes
down to did your superstar make the playser not?
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Yeah? And seriously, like you can't just fire the coach
without a strategy, right, Like who you gonna go get?
It sounds like Nick Nurse is probably gonna be getting
the Milwaukee job. It sounds like Phoenix is probably going
with their assistant or the associate coach, Anthony Well, I
always named Anthony Anthony. I'm spacing on a route.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
But definitely not Doc Rivers.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
It is. It's definitely not Doc Rivers. But it sounds
like it's gonna be the associate coach from Phoenix getting
the job. Kevin Young, Kevin Young. I'm sorry, Kevin Young.
It seems like they keep the continuity. This team was close.
They just got beat by a pretty damn good Nuggets team.
Not the end of the world. Maybe they move eight
and then they're fine. I just don't know where you
(12:05):
automatically go and like Monty Williams is I guess you
could do that, But now you're going way outside Boston
where it had been some continuity with Stevens and Udoka
and then Missoula, and now you're I mean, I like
Monty Williams, I don't know. It just seems like Missoula
may have saved his job. The other topic that's moderately
interesting rob like who has a better shot against the
(12:27):
Nuggets the Heat, who, by the way, got in a
big bigger than a dust up, we could call it
a fracas, a kerfuffle. If you guys remember there was
a Morris twin on the Heat I forget which one.
They're interchangeable, and he did like kind of a dirty
shot to Jokic, and Jokic responded with like a body
(12:49):
block that sent Morris down, and again Jokic like a
shoulder when he wasn't looking from like a two hundred
and sixty two hundred and seventy pounds. Man, that's gonna hurt.
And Morris was for a considerable amount of time. The
Heat were ticked off, and there was a lot of
Jimmy Butler like, come meet me in the parking lot,
Kyle Lowry. They were ready to go. And it wasn't
(13:10):
just with Jokic. They were ready to fight Jokic's brothers.
The two large Serbians two might have been three. I
don't know how many there are. I just know other large,
scary individuals. And there's a great photo and I popped
it on Instagram that a photographer in Denver took the
Miami Heat team literally outside the Denver Nuggets' locker room door,
(13:31):
all standing there waiting. Now, heat culture is really a thing,
and of course nothing materialized here, but the fact that
this could, you know, go back head to head in
the finals is kind of spicy. But I'm sorry, I
would rather just see elite scorer Jason Tatum and Jamal Murray.
You know my guys, Jamal Murray obviously, you know Jokich
(13:54):
versus the Robert Williams crafty Al Horford as opposed to
Yokich versus bam ade Bio and Kevin Love. Boston just
has better players. I still think the Nuggets are better
than either team. I would say Nuggets and seven whoever
they're playing facing because they have home court advantage. I believe, right, Rob.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
No, I think Boston has the home court in that situation.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Wait, man, that changes things. So Boston would have home court,
but they would have just finished a grueling seven game series. Correct,
So six is Saturday, seven would be Tuesday Monday, and
then there would be Tuesday Wednesday off Thursday start in Boston. Huh.
(14:39):
Celtics will have have gone seven. They will six against
the Hawks, seven against the Sixers, seven against the Heat,
so they'll be on game twenty one. They could play
twenty eight postseason games. That's ridiculous. The Nuggets meanwhile, went
five six, four, lot of rest. Yeah, I would take
(15:03):
the Nuggets over the Celtics, even though they don't have
home court advantage. Shoot, could they beat elimination game Tatum? Huh?
I would say, let me let that marinate. But by
the time I get back and we start doing the
podcast again, it'll be actually, I guess the eve of
Game one. I think the podcast will return Wednesday night,
(15:24):
maybe thirdy Yeah, Wednesday night, Wednesday, I should be back
just a little Memorial Day see Yesta out of town.
And the bummer about the NBA right now is there's
not really a ton of other juicy stories. There's like
minuscule James Harden, Kyrie Irving going on Instagram, Rob did
you see the Kyrie Irving video?
Speaker 2 (15:42):
By the way, I saw a couple of Kyrie Irving videos.
One of them maybe there was what I missed. One
of them felt like it was a direct shot at
front of the show Brian Windhorst and his reporting about
you know that these guys on TV and they're speculating
about my future, don't listen to them. And because I
believe that was a few hours after Wendy had gone
(16:04):
on ESPN and said that Kyrie was using the Lakers
as leverage or he could be using Lakers' leverage to
get more from Dallas.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
To get four from Dallas yeah or four yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
So he responded to that, and then I saw another
clip that felt like a direct shot at me and
the rest of Lakers, nay know where He's like, He's like,
I've seen you guys tag me, and you know hey,
come to my city and blah blah blah, And he
said that it bothered him that he said, stop tagging
me and these kind of things. You know, he's I
think it's kind of funny, but you know, I also
like to live my life. And it's like, well, don't
(16:37):
you don't you want to feel the love Kyrie? Wherever
city you decide to go to, don't you want to
have the purple and gold you know hearts next to
all you're at Kyrie Irving things like come on, absolutely, is.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
He aware of how the gram works that you can
set up a function so you can't be tagged?
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Oh, I have no idea if you know.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Yeah, well it's because when I go to tag some
people sometimes they're like this person does not allow to
be tag. So Kyrie Irving needs to first of all,
learn how to use Instagram. And then the other part
is like, well, I don't know, maybe you should stop
like I don't know, demanding trades everywhere you go, lying
to the fans in Boston, getting away from Lebron in Cleveland,
(17:18):
Like there's a pattern here, Kyrie. You get Kevin Durant
to Brooklyn tarnished Kevin Durant's career and yeah, you're damn right,
it's tarnished. And then you end up demanding multiple trades
in Brooklyn, finally getting your way, you get to Dallas
and what was the did they go six and thirteen
or six and seventeen the number whatever it was, But
you stunk in Dallas. You take them out of the playoffs,
(17:42):
and now you're like, hey, hey, stop talking about me,
and what are you talking about? Like Kyrie's brought all
this on himself, and you know, you don't see superstars
like Steph Curry hopscotching or around team. Do you see
next tier guys Kevin Durant hopscotching around team? You should
have just stayed in Golden State. KD dumb move to
follow Kyrie Irving. I don't I get too upset with
(18:04):
Kyrie Irving, But but.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
What about Lebron James hopscatching teams?
Speaker 1 (18:08):
He's doing it in a civilized event.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Oh that's different, Well different he's.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Doing he's going for a tour in duty. I don't
think he's ever demanded a trade. He spends his time there,
takes the team to the finals. Should be noted. Wins
a championship and then says I'm out, thank you for
you know, that was a lot of fun. I'm on
to the next one. You know what's wrong with that?
Don't don't compare Lebron, Oh Rob, you get me started.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
I'm just saying saying that you don't like when guys
like Homie hop teams and that's been lebron'smo for his career.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Well again, you could do it in a dignified manner
without demanding a trade like like Kyrie does.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Okay, you know a lot. It's not the switching. It's
the way he switches is that's what you don't like.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Yeah, Kevin Durant did it. You know what I did.
I did my eleven years or whatever it was in Okase.
I spent my I'm there. You drafted me. I was
a good soldier. You paid me a lot of money.
I took you guys to the finals. You traded my
guy Harden. We lose to the words. You know what,
I've had enough, I'm out. What's wrong with that? I
got no problem with that at all. It's the guys
like Harden and Kyrie who's just like, get me the
(19:17):
hell out of it, you know, like demanding trade like
Lebron's ever demanded trade. Charles Barkley has demanded trades. Your guy,
Kobe Bryant briefly demanded a trade. I guess he retracted.
It is that what happened? You You were on the
front lines for that, Rob I was. I was on
the East coast.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Yeah, he had demanded a trade, I think to Pluto
even he said, I'll play anywhere but Los Angeles and
line the Swish klaide. Yeah, I mean, thankfully, you know,
Pogosol came about six months later and it all worked
out and they won a championship, a couple of championships.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Yeah, they got Pawgosol in exchange for Kwame Brown, who
can now be seen on Instagram among other guys, but
Kwame Brown. It was all over Instagram essentially, like just
berating everyone or Lebron, Kevin Dury, It's just going after
people like that's what Kwame Brown does now. Former number
(20:12):
one pick made a lot of money in the league.
Now seems to drive like a large vehicle around like
North Carolina, I think and just rant like that's what
he's what, that's what his future is.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
By the way, Quime was drafted in what like two
thousand and three, so he's probably not even it's even forty.
Give me an age on Kwame Brown. He can't be
that old. He seems to be the angriest dude who
used to play in the NBA. Fair assessment, Rob, I
(20:43):
mean there's a lot. He's forty one, forty one, forty one,
My gosh, that is a brutal career.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
All right.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Anyways, let's wrap up with this comment Adam silvermade. I'm
not gonna bet on Game six. Listen, I haven't bet
on the past few games in this series. I just
don't understand this series. It's not making sense. And now
it's starting to make sense with Boston Hot. But you
know what happens, just as you feel like you understand something,
it goes the other way. So let's wrap up with this, Rob.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
This quote.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
Adam Silver was asked about nineties basketball. As you see
me in my Seattle Seahawks Seattle Sonics T shirt, Sorry Sonics,
Adam Silver, nineties basketball was too physical to be appealing,
and a lot of people are outraged, like, oh, that
was the best error the nineties. You know who else
besides Adam Silver thought it was too physical? To be
(21:37):
appealing like basketball fans. Do you remember they had to
essentially change the rules because it got so rugged and
rough and physical the games. And as soon as the
nineties ended, that brand continued for a couple of years. Yo,
Shaq and Kobe did fine with it, and once they
petered out and went their separate ways. It was essentially
(21:59):
a game that I thought we invented in my basement
as kids, called body check basketball. I think I've talked
about it on the podcast. So we had a basement
with the Nerf hoop and we essentially we had like
two Nerf hoops set up, and it was the kind
of it was the kind of game we just made
up where you know, you would pass the ball around
and try to score and you were allowed to do
(22:21):
body checking like it was hockey. So like we had
I like we had dry wall. We had like it
was it was like eighties nineties guys. Come on. We
had like those walls that were like kind of brownish
and black and they kind of looked like, I don't know,
it was a pretty cheap material. Okay, it was a basement,
you know, and we would be body checking. So we
(22:42):
ended up putting holes in the wall during body check basketball.
There were some injuries, nothing major, And that's what NBA
looked like right after Jordan retired, even during Jordan unappealing
like not fun now fun to play, but watching it's
just brutal, the fouls, the physical nature. Adams was right,
and all these apologies for nineties basketball, they forget one
(23:03):
thing that the nineties era. And we talked about this
at length, Rob. I think we had bj Armstrong come
on here and we like they had an interesting debate
about it. But like it was the expansion era, you
had Miami emerging. You know how bad they were the
first couple of years. Go look at the roster that
they had. I know they had Ronnie Psychelee, I got
(23:23):
all the cards, but the roster was terrible. I think
they I think Charlotte, I mean they had a bunch
of I think Vancouver was in there, big Country reeves.
Like go look at those rosters. It's bad basketball. Like
if you started, Rob, if they added two teams to
the league right now, I don't think the level of
(23:46):
play would fall off that dramatically because I think now
the league is deeper than it's ever been, and it's
like an offensive skill league. Can you score? Can you
Jordan Poole get to the bucket? Can you get off
a shot? And in the nineties it was only a
handful of guys on each team who could do that.
Now one through four, you basically have to be able
(24:08):
to get your own shot. Power forwards around the league
in two threes, left and right. I mean, I'll go
ahead and guess, like the power forwards of like the nineties,
you know, Charles Oakley, Anthony Mason. I'm not gonna just
name Nicks, but you know what I'm talking about. Actually,
Mace had a decent outside shot. Charles Oakley, who was
the big guy the Davis Brothers, remember those guys in
in Indiana, Like the typical nineties power forward could not shoot,
(24:31):
barely could dribble like it was just not great basketball.
And Rob, I don't know why people are so outraged
about Adam Silver's comments about physical basketball and give me skill,
gimme shooting. The current NBA is way better. It's not
even close. All right. That wraps it for Celtics Heat
Game five, another blood bath. Miami's in trouble, folks. I
(24:54):
don't have an official pick for Game six because this
series has kind of broke me. I don't understand it.
I don't understand Boston blew the first two games. I
don't understand how Boston no showed in Game three. I'm
a little surprised Boston finally solved the fourth quarter in
Game four and then Game five, Miami non competitive and
when they could close out the series against the Boston
(25:15):
team that struggled at home throughout the playoffs the last
two years. So what's gonna happen in Game six? Like,
just roll the dice and maybe you'll get snake eyes
and that'll give you the answer. But I mean, I
certainly am not betting this game. I would consider this
given the Jimmy Butler comments. A Jimmy Butler game where
he shows up and doesn't let Miami lose, because if
you know, it goes back to Boston for Game seven.
(25:37):
Not great Miami. But I will point this out either way,
the Denver Nuggets are going to be my pick in
the NBA Finals. I don't care who they face. So
we will pick up the podcast. I believe next Thursday
morning we'll be back, ready, fresh, ready to go, ready
to talk to NBA Finals, Start talking NBA free agency, everybody,
(25:58):
have a safe holiday weekend. Talk to you next week.
Host
Jason McIntyre
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