Colin is joined by Jason Timpf, host of “Hoops Tonight” to break down the Celtics win over the Mavericks in Game 2!
They start with the series being terribly lopsided in the favor of the Boston Celtics (3:30) and why two straight Boston wins have shown that Jayson Tatum isn’t the alpha “get a bucket” guy that’s necessary for the Celtics to win the series (8:30)
They both predict the series will be over in five games (10:30) and Colin predicts that despite their dominant performance so far, Boston won’t be a dynasty (15:00).
Finally, they debate whether Dan Hurley will take the Lakers job (22:30) and whether it was a mistake to leave Caitlin Clark off the roster for the Olympic team (27:00).
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
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Speaker 2 (01:32):
All right, welcome to hoops tonight. You're at the volume.
Happy Sunday everybody. This NBA Finals Game two Instant Reaction
is brought to you by Chase Freedom Unlimited.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
How do you cash back? All right?
Speaker 2 (01:43):
So the Celtics win Game two one oh five to
ninety eight. Shoot poorly, but do enough have an excellent
defensive performance As the role players and co star for
the Dallas Mavericks continue to struggle.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
We've got Colin Coward here. We're gonna break it all down.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Colin, how much of this to this point, do you
view as the Celtics presenting just problems that Dallas can't solve,
versus Dallas kind of having the finals yips and struggling
a bit on the road.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Well, Kyrie hasn't played. It'd be nice if he showed
up for the finals. You know, Tatum will get more
heat because he's in his athletic prime and we're kind
of waiting for the moment from him, and Kyrie's had
the shot and the title in the moment, but Kyrie
hasn't delivered. But I mean when Porzingis and Tatum are
really off their offensive games, they're shooting games and you
(02:29):
kind of controlled the second half. Dallas again last game
had a really nice run, had a nine to nothing
run in this game. They are a streaky hot offense
if Luca gets rolling. But I mean mostly outside of two,
three or four minute right, I could take six minutes
out of this series. It's lopsided, like it's not particularly close.
(02:51):
I like the Celtics and six and I felt at
the time, is they listen, they can just man up.
Their biggest can be honest and they're just they're just
two we all talk offense. They're too good defensively, they're
just they got too many guys that can manu up.
I mean, they got guys that didn't make All NBA
that if they weren't on the Celtics, they didn't want
(03:12):
three guys on the Celtics All NBA defense. So I
think some of it is just Boston's got better dudes.
And I think we all realize that Denver Boston were
the best teams. But it happens Minnesota constructed to beat Denver.
Denver led by twenty in that game in Game seven,
or I think we'd have a really compelling six to
(03:33):
seven game series.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
What I see is a.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
I mean, Tatum on Iso threes has been horrible and
it has no effect on the outcome that is that's different.
I mean Kyrie and no show. This is mostly a
lopsided series. So there's just this this cushion Boston has
that Dallas doesn't. That's what I see.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Yeah, I look at it mostly as problems that Boston presents.
So there's gonna be a lot of talk about the shooting.
And there's no doubt that Dallas is not playing well
outside of Luca on the offensive end of the floor.
And for the record, I don't think this is a sweep.
I think Dallas will go home and get one. I
think that they're due for a bunch of role players
to break out. I think Kyrie has struggled a little
bit with the Boston crowd just with all of the energies,
(04:21):
the negative energy surrounding that situation. I think going home
will be good for him. But the reality is is
like Boston hasn't really gotten going offensively to the level
that they're capable of, outside of a brief run in
the first half of Game one, like even after that point,
they cooled off substantially. Like you know, it's funny. I
really look at it to a very basic problem for Dallas,
(04:43):
which is they cannot contain the basketball. There's this so,
as you know, I coach in the high school level,
and when I'm doing the skill development with the kids,
like king of the Court so they can practice on
their games, and I use this like simple kind of
idea to try to convince them to pass the ball more.
I'll let them play King of the Court with the
defender right on them, and they'll barely ever score. It'll
(05:04):
be like one out of every ten times. And then
I'll have him do it with the closeout, where like
the kid has to start underneath the basket and throw
the ball and then sprint out at the defender or
at the offensive player, and they score like four or
five times out of ten. They're like many many orders
of magnitude better offensively. Now at the pro level, that's
a smaller gap, but it's still a gap. And that's
(05:25):
really the problem here is Boston can just easily get
that first little bit of dribble penetration, and then what
they're doing is they're throwing the ball to thirty million
dollar players who are standing at the perimeter just waiting
for a guy who's sprinting with his hair on fire
to get out to close out. It's just unsustainable. And
it's not just Luca. And by the way, Luca's getting
(05:46):
hounded all over the place when he's on every possession.
But it's not just Luca. There's a bunch of Dallas
players that are struggling to contain the ball. They're going
at Gafford and just going right around him every single time.
They're taking smaller players into the post. It's a problem.
They just they can't contain the basketball. And then Boston
has so much offball talent, and then even there's nobody
(06:07):
they can ignore to just park somebody in the paint,
or to every time they double every time Luca just
randomly decides to kind of double team the ball. They're
just in rotation. Again, That to me is the fundamental issue.
I do think Dallas will have better offensive nights as
they move back to Dallas, as they move back home,
but I just don't know how they solve the problem
that they can't guard Boston well.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
And something else is let's focus on Tatum. So I've
always said I feel like Tatum's in the top ten,
somewhere about eight, but there is sort of that finishing
element that it just doesn't feel like the all time greats.
Prime example in this game, Jalen Brown, when they inched
back closer late, Jalen Brown bursts past this guy, highly
(06:49):
athletic move. He seals it a couple possessions earlier, Tatum
just couldn't get it going. And you know my take
on Tatum was he actually assisted well, he defended well,
There's a lot of things he did well. But our
lifetime Kareem Bird, Lebron, Steph Duncan, Michael, we need a
basket He's not consistently that guy. Now again defensively, I
(07:15):
mean rebounds, he fills the stat sheet. But again Boston
won a title. It's Paul Pierce. It's kg like, we
want our guys to get their points. And with Tatum,
I just feel like we just and I've said this,
I picked Brown to be the MVP of this series.
I know what I get with Jalen Tatum. It depends
(07:36):
on the matchup. It depends on his headspace, where is
he at. Is he playing with confidence? It's not a
knock on him, but Boston is built to overcome his
really bad three point shooting series. They're built for it.
They just got so many dudes. It's kind of becoming
the series. I thought it would look like. I just
thought Kyrie would be more available. But man, when you Boston,
(08:01):
I'm watching Porzingis's limping. Tatum at one point was I
have this written down here. He was eight for forty four,
eighteen percent on ISO threes, So I mean he was
just you know, is this yeah eight vers at forty four.
It was eighteen percent And it has no impact outside today.
(08:22):
I mean, forget the first game. It was a blowout.
If you take out a nine to nothing Dallas run.
It is a blowout. I mean, there wasn't a moment
in the second half I thought, oh, Dallas is gonna
come back. So also, Lively, he's a rookie, he's not
playing great, So this happens. I think this not every finals.
I mean, we saw San Antonio early Lebron team in Cleveland.
(08:44):
You're like, like a like a game and a half in,
You're like, yeah, this isn't gonna work. They got way
more good players. I kind of feel like, I mean,
Luca now is not at one hundred percent. I kind
of feel like Dallas will steal Game three. But I
think it may be a five game. That's what it
feels like to me.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yeah, I this this screams five gamer to me too.
I gave I gave them six because I figured they
Boston has a tendency too in game two's after they
win Game one convincingly to kind of let their foot
off the.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Gas and are weird at home. Boston's weird at home.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
I don't actually think they've lost a road playoff game
this year yet, which is going to be an interesting
thing when they get going there. But like, yeah, I
mean on the on the Dallas front, the to me,
the the offensive issues go deeper than just guys struggling
on the road too, Like Boston having put Jason Tatum
on their center has completely janked up their offense because
(09:37):
now there's just so much there's so many bodies in
the paint. Derek Jones, Junior PJ. Washington don't know how
to operate in those ball screens. Another big thing too,
you talked about all the guys that can guard, like
Al Horford switched on to Luca is A is a
great matchup for Boston. They just live with that. They
feel like he can guard there. So like they're just
there's not a lot of great options for Dallas to
(09:58):
get good opportunities for the role players so that they
can get going. Now, Kyrie is the one guy where
you're like, dude, you just got to do more. You've had,
you know, six thirty point games in your NBA Finals career.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
You got to find a way to do more. Right.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
But like the other stuff, I really struggle with them
finding a way to kind of find those openings. As
far as the Superstar part goes with Boston, I find
this super fascinating because this entire finals is very different
from some of the finals we've seen in NBA history,
where it's like Steph first Lebron or it's you know
these guys, we see these big apex kind of stars,
and like it's like weird seeing a team led by
(10:32):
a Jason Tatum who's as kind of funky in as
flawed as he is as a superstar. It's weird seeing
Luca as the superstar of Dallas just getting hunted relentlessly
on the on the defensive end of the floor. I
think with Tatum, and really it all just starts with
where you're beginning the conversation, Like if you're beginning the
conversation with is Tatum a apex superstar with the top
(10:56):
guys in the league, it's just no, you're just gonna
run into all these issues.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
He doesn't.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
He's not good enough at kind of like confidently taking
command of a basketball game. He has like no go
to movie can go to that is like I'm going
to get a bucket here half the time, Like he
doesn't have any of that stuff. But once you put
him down in the tier below that, you start to
look at him more as like he's a multi tooled
player who can do a bunch of different things to
help him. His ability to hold up against Gafford on
(11:21):
the glass and to switch out in pick and roll
has been the major adjustment that has caused problems for
Dallas offensively. And then, yeah, if you put on a
team like this with five really good offensive players, if
you put a ball hog out there, it might mess
everything up. And he's not that guy. And so in
a weird way, you talk about this all the time
with the NFL, like if a GM is prioritizing offensive
(11:43):
line player players and like skill players, they're telling you
that they're worried about their quarterbacks ability to kind of
make something from nothing, right, they're telling you what they
think that That's what I look at with the Brad
Stevens piece. Here he by going to get Porzingis and
Drew Holliday. He told you what he thought about Jalen
Brown and Ja That's right, these guys aren't good enough.
I need to give them just an overwhelming amount of
(12:05):
support in order for them to accentuate their strengths. And
it's worked wonderfully in this season.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Yeah, no GMS. When you can get rid of Tyreek
Hill for Patrick Mahomes. They're telling you we can win
a lot of games without the fastest player in the world,
and I thought, you know, Porzingis was a bit of
a steal, to be honest. We talked about this last time.
The league. The league would not doesn't really want what
Boston's doing. They don't want like five high end players
on a single team, but they kind of stole them.
(12:33):
And then you generate that trade with Drew Holliday, who's
like a better version of Marcus Smart, especially on offense.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
He was good.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
He was really good today. So I think I think
we're getting this series. We thought, I am happy Jalen
Brown won the Eastern Conference, you know, finals player MVP,
I think he'll win, has a good chance to win
the finals MVP. And I think Jalen Brown And also,
did you notice during the time he's doing a majority
(13:01):
of the talking like he is, he's the leader.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
He is the valpha ye.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Way more of an alpha, And so I think, you know,
it's it's okay. Like I said, my concern about them
coming into the series was are they too collaborative?
Speaker 3 (13:16):
But they're not.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
That was a question. It wasn't a referendum or a
definitive statement. I'm like, are they too collaborative? Nah, it
kind of works. I think Denver would have been a
much tougher match, but that's the way the breaks work.
And I said this before the finals. I said, Boston's
too good not to win one, but they're too weird
to be a dynasty. They lose at home, they don't
have an alpha. I think my take is I would
(13:40):
bet money that Denver comes back next year and wins,
and I think Minnesota is going to rearrange the deck chairs.
Boston We'll still be really, really good, but I don't
think Boston's a three straight championship team. Also, eventually after
next year, they may have to move off some pieces
because of the maxis to Tatum and Brown. But I
think we're seeing kind of what we thought. You know,
the notes I have right here, Boston getting much better shots,
(14:03):
Boston Tatum, it was a lot you know, porzingis Tatum
not great offensively not an issue. Boston back to back
three's biggest lead. You know. One of the things I
also noticed is that Kyrie's not getting assists. The Mavericks
aren't getting a ton of them, which usually tells you
(14:26):
stagnant ball movement. You know, Luca was doing some clever stuff,
but it's a nothing. I don't there's not a lot
of continuity with Dallas's offense. I mean, you're the guy
that coaches. To me, it just doesn't feel like there's
any rhythm to a lot of their offensive possessions.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Yeah, and that's by design, Like so again, in order
for there to be so To give you an example
in game one, the I haven't looked at the numbers
from game two yet, but one of the things that
you look at as an indicator of getting the defense
in rotation, meaning like to get the defense in rotation,
you need to engage a help defender. Because as soon
as you engage a help defender, you've brought a second
defender to the ball, which means off the ball you
(15:03):
have four on three, right, that's where your advantage is now.
From there, when you make a kickout pass, it's a
spot up opportunity if they drive the close out or
if they shoot a three. In game one, Boston generated
thirty six spot up opportunities and Dallas generated twelve. And
that is the main issue there is they're not getting
Luca and Kyrie have not been good enough on an
(15:26):
island as scorers to consistently bring multiple players to the ball,
which will get those opportunities. For example, in Game one
on ISOs, Dallas got just zero point five to four
points per possession including passes. That's why would you send
an extra defender. They're getting stops. To your point, their
dudes are getting stops, and so like it's kind of
(15:47):
like a trickle down effect. If you don't demonstrate the
threat of actually bringing in that second defender, you're not
going to get the opportunities to get the other guys going.
In Game three, what has to happen for Dallas is
Kyrie and Luca have to so deeply compromise the defense
that they start to warp Boston in on them to
(16:08):
generate those opportunities. And they just haven't been able to
do that to this point. Like Boston's looking at those
numbers from Luca twelve for twenty one, four for nine
from three thirty two points. They don't care, like they
they've been they've been shooting terribly and they've been winning
this entire series. So like at the end, at the
end of the day, like they're like Luca, we're making
Luca work hard. Luca had eight turnovers tonight. So if
(16:30):
you if you actually like piece it all together, the
total number of possessions for him to take twenty one shots,
to go four for eight from the foul line into
and to turn the ball over eight times and only
have thirty two points, Like that's a battle that Boston
is like kind of winning, Like they're they're they're Dallas
scored ninety eight points.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
They're not.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
They're they're they're they're trying. It's like a bend but
don't break kind of concept, like they're just we're gonna
take our lumps. Luca's gonna hit some step back threes,
He's gonna hit some tough shots. But if we stay
home off the ball, well, we're doing well enough on
a per possession basis that we don't need to overreact,
and they're not getting enough from Kyrie. Now, maybe things
will change in Game two if Kyrie can get going.
But I still think it's gonna come down to the
(17:11):
stars because there's nothing that Boston has to react to
in terms of sending extra defenders that will get PJ.
Washington wide open corner threes, or we'll get Derek Jones
Junior wide open cuts off of the wing. Like I
maintain that these are problems that I don't think that
they can solve. I mean, so, what do you think?
Do you think Dallas will come back in game three?
(17:32):
Is that what you're looking at it?
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Yeah, Dallas wins game three, Boston wins the next two.
And I think Porzingis is a little limpy and gimpy.
I think the same thing. Luke is not a one
hundred percent. But you know, if Porzingis again gives you
twenty minutes ten each half, you know size length, it
feels like it's over.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Now.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
There's two other topics I want to address won Dan Hurley.
So I was told by a really good source today
Lakers have offered him the job. Dan and his boys
really liked it. They're kind of it's cool. You know,
his wife's from Jersey, where that's a whole different ballgame.
LA is very intimidating to people who don't live here.
(18:19):
It's not a money issue. The finances being reported are
a little I'm not sure if I believe him. I'll
believe it when I see it. So I've heard various reports.
One way too low, one feels too high. But I'm
going to guess because the NBA runs through coaches much
like the NFL. Sixty year seven a year and I
(18:39):
told a friend, I said, I don't know if the
Knicks would hire him, I said, but would it be
shocking if next year, like this year, the Knicks fall
apart in the playoffs. There's some complaining about how hard
Tibbs coaches and the minutes he plays, and everybody goes,
get the guy from Yukon. If he wins an international championship,
(19:00):
that to me is a potentially better gig. Wife's happy,
closer to home, easier conference. You've got a star, but
it's not the burden of sort of Lebron at the
end of his career or Anthony Davis, who maybe the
best two in the league in a decade but doesn't
always feel like a one offensively. So that's what I
was told, is that Hurley will make a decision tomorrow.
(19:21):
My gut is, I don't know why I feel this.
He won't take the job, and my feeling is there's
going to be better opportunities the Lakers job right now.
The best part of it is the brand in college sports,
like if George is available and they're down in the dumps,
you take the job. Texas is available because I get
(19:42):
twenty five players a year in football, right or basketball,
the transfer portal, I can get twelve new guys.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
NBA is different.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
There's real limitations if you don't have a lot of
draft picks, If unless you have expiring contracts, it's hard.
You're not going to get rid of Lebron and Ad.
You probably don't want to get rid of Austin Reeves.
You know, what are you gonna get for a lot
of these guys, these rotational guys. So I think it's
one of those things where you know, in the NBA
(20:09):
also makes you match contracts when you make trades. It's
a hard league to make big trades. And so my
gut feeling is Dan Hurley Tomorrow calls and says, I mean,
ask yourself this when you know it, you know it
he interviewed like forty eight hours ago, right, Like, it's
(20:29):
like you kind of make the call, right, So I
w'ch my gut feeling. How's it land for you?
Speaker 3 (20:35):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (20:35):
So I'm a literally like I'm still kind of feeling
fifty to fifty Like it kind of felt to me
when this whole saga started that it was a Monday call,
Like it just seem yeah here because Dan Hurley is
not in a position of desperation like he is. He's
incredibly well established where he is. And also he knows
the Lakers are gonna wait for him. So like, even
(20:56):
if you said, hey, I need another week, like they'd
wait another week before they turn around and hire you know,
Brego or somebody like that. Right, So, like I get
why they're waiting. I'm with you that I'm still kind
of like I'm very cautious about getting too stoked about
it your opinion though about potentially waiting for a better job.
Let's just be straight. I want Dan Hurley to go
(21:17):
to the Lakers because I root for the Lakers, but
like the that's not the best job. And here's the
reason why, Like this is a this is an ownership
group that has demonstrated a considerable amount of incompetence over
the last ten years or so.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
Like they don't have a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
They let Alex Crusoe walk simply because of money. And
you know how much the Lakers could have used Alex
Crusoe over the course of the last couple of years,
Like letting Julius Randa walk for nothing, letting Brook Lopez
walk for nothing, the whole Magic Johnson fiasco, like the
disrespect of Tylou during their negotiation to not treating him
like a championship coach in the summer of twenty eighteen.
(21:55):
There's like all of this stuff over the last half
dozen years that would lead you to believe that, Like,
it's a little bit of a volatile situation. So I
want him to go there, But you'd be a fool
if you if you weren't actually looking around behind the
scenes and making phone calls. I guarantee you Dan Hurley
has heard the ugly stuff, and I'm sure that he's
had some uh, I'm sure he's had some reticence there
(22:17):
that said, like you said, he gets stoked with his
boys when he goes on the visit because it's the
Los Angeles Lakers. Man, It's it's it's just there's something,
there's a cool factor there, right, I think I think
even just extending it to the scope of NBA history,
like when they tell the story of Lebron James's career,
what if you were the guy who coached him for
the last couple of years, what if you made a
deep playoff runt or if you had have God forbid,
(22:38):
you won a title or something like that. Like there's
a there's a level of basketball immortality that I think
Dan Hurley could be factoring in here as well.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
So the other story is the Caitlin Clark didn't make
the Olympics and uh, which which is funny because people
get you know, the Olympic teams are interesting. When you
get to the bottom or the back end of an
Olympic roster, it gets political. I mean, you know, Devin
(23:07):
Booker made this year's team, Kyrie Irving and Jalen Brown didn't.
And I think most gms would take those guys. Kyrie
is the most talented, Jalen's the most versatile. Booker can
hit shots, and he made it. Steve Kerr's the coach.
You know, Phoenix is in the West. I mean, who
knows why. I mean, sometimes the guys you want to
(23:28):
you want to coach a guy, you want to create
a relationship with a guy, like we all know that
Laytoner made it. Michael didn't one Isaiah on the team.
It got political, so Christian later made the team.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Diana Tarassi right now for the women's team is not
as good as Kaitlyn Clark statistically, but she's been there before.
She's a she's just kind of the glue of the league.
And at the end, there's better players in the league
than her, including Kaitlin Clark, and they put her on.
But here's my bigger takeaway that if you were a player,
(24:04):
a woman's player for the Olympic team, wouldn't you want
Caitlin Clark on the team because it'll double the TV
ratings The average sports fan. Sports fan doesn't know this.
Our women's basketball team has won seven straight goals. They
don't lose games like they're like the dream team. Every
single Olympics, I think they've won like eight of nine
(24:25):
to nine of ten. They're completely our most dominant team,
and most people don't know that because they don't watch.
They get about six to seven million viewers, they get
fourteen or more with Caitlin Clark. And my takeaway is
when Connor McGregor came to the UFC, you wanted to
be on the undercard because people saw you, including Monster
Energy Drinks or you know, Pens Oil. Whoever, when Tiger
(24:47):
got on the tour, you wanted to be in a foursome,
you know, you'd get a sponsor. If I was on
that team, I'd be like, yeah, put her on the team, eyeballs.
So to me, it's as if it's being established that
the players didn't really want her. And my take is,
I think the agents of the other players are probably like, what.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Are you doing my forward?
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Who's going to be a rotational player in the Olympics
gonna have fourteen million people. Those are the kind of
players that benefit the stars always make their endorsements. So
that was my first take is that don't make this
Caitlin against the women. I think most of the women
in the league know, even Angel Reese knows, you know,
rising tide lifts all boats. I am surprised, however, that NBC,
(25:35):
who pays all the money for the Olympics, right, that's
how Olympics generate their revenues. The TV partner didn't get
on the phone and go, hey, could you do us
as solid you know, well, well write you check that part.
If I was NBC, I would be like, guys, we're
TV partners, We're paying all the bills. That was my
takeaway that NBC should be pissed, And I actually think
(25:57):
she'd be good for the other girls even if she
didn't play. What was your initial thought.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
I saw your tweet and I thought that was the
perfect takeaway. Like from a financial perspective, it just made
so much sense to have her on board, even like
from a competitive standpoint, like if I was the girls
on the team, I'd be like, yeah, I want to
kick her button practice every day, you know what I mean?
And that before we go any further. That's been the
most frustrating thing for me watching the entire Caitlan Clark
(26:22):
saga over the past month and a half. Like what's
happening to her is something that has happened to every
talented young player that's entered a.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
Professional basketball league.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Ever, Let's pretend you play in the WNBA and all
you do when you turn on your TV or when
you look at your phone is hear about how amazing
Caitlin Clark is.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
You don't think you want.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
To test your abilities against her, Like this has happened
at the NBA level constantly. We've all seen when Patrick
Beverley like straight up tried to punk Lonzo Ball on
national television because Lonzo Ball had all that hype coming in,
like there's nothing exceptional happening to Caitlin Clark, and she
doesn't think there's anything exceptional. She knows like the same
thing happened to her when she first went into college.
(27:03):
People try to step up to it to people try
to pick her up full court, people try to be physical.
This is so normal and it's being made into now.
The political side of things has grabbed a hold of
this and it's gone completely off the rails, which which
is crazy to watch. Like a Caitlin Clark is a
competitor who is going into the most talented and by
the way, this league doesn't have very many teams, which
(27:25):
means it is completely stacked with talent. So like it's
just a really difficult spot that she's in, and she's
in her team has some limitations and all that kind
of stuff as far as the Team USA thing goes,
Like she's there's the basketball case. It's on the fence right,
Like you could argue if you were making a list
of just the twelve best women's basketball players in the world,
(27:46):
she's on the fence and probably should be left off.
But to your point, throughout every single national like it's
like Anthony Davis being on the on the redeem team,
right or the team in twenty twelve, right, Like sometimes
you just bring the super young talented kid along. Yeah, energy,
and and like there's no there's no reason not to
bring her. And I don't buy the excuse. The excuse
(28:08):
that's like, oh, when she doesn't get playing time, her
fan base will be ravenous, Okay, by all means, then
leave her off the roster.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
That'll go just as well.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Like like it like I didn't understand the whole, the
whole kind of backlash there, because again, she should have
been included, but there was a reasonable case for her
not to be included. I loved her response today, how
she's like something to strive for. Hopefully twelve it's four
years from now. Hopefully they they they include me. But yeah,
I mean, I just I just wish people understood the
(28:37):
basic competitive dynamics that are taking place, because it's really
nothing special that's going on there.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
Yeah, I mean, it's just I mean, we know the Olympics,
you know, this is something else to remember about sports.
I was talking to a friend about this. The NFL
decides we're going to give Netflix Christmas, you know, the
main you know, not everybody loved that. Not the other
networks loved it. But Christmas is big and everybody's home.
We're going to get a streaming giant Christmas. Those are
(29:04):
good games. They've never had Wednesday games before. They last
year they went to Peacock. What a shock. They put
Patrick Mahomes on Peacock. They wanted another streaming giant to
do well because those are ascending businesses. Amazon got its
best schedule so very clearly in the last year, the
NFL has said, yeah, we're going to streaming. It's a business.
(29:26):
FIFA is a business. I mean, the Olympics held a
Summer Olympics in Soshi. Never been there, but you know,
when you think of Sydney and Barcelona, you don't think
of Soshi as a summer retreat. So it's like people
tend to get very precious, especially people who cover a sport,
you know, like I know it. I've covered this for years. Yeah,
(29:48):
too close to the forest, like baseball writers and not
all certainly, but those that argued against the pitchclock, well,
baseball's infinitely more watchable. Attendance is up again this year.
TV rating her up the games now if you get
good pitching, they're two and a half hour games. They
fly by. It's a much better television product, and the
baseball writers push back in it. It's like sometimes I'm
(30:10):
seeing a lot of these almost with this religious veracity,
this kind of like I know this sport, it's business.
All this stuff. The NFL schedule, Jason, you don't think
they put Aaron Rodgers worried about his health. They got
him all over September games in October to a point
(30:31):
where it's competitively unfair. He's got short weeks, night games,
they got mahomes playing every day but Tuesday. Like, we
understand this stuff. Money greases, it lubricates all of it.
Speaker 3 (30:41):
So I just thought, guys, this is what are.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
We doing here? You want more people to watch the Olympics.
Caitlin Clark's television gold. And I also, I'll say that
beyond the fact that you know, she's probably not one
of the twelve best players, I do think in this
three ball era you could certainly make an argument she's
not like just the defensive big You can always throw
(31:05):
a three point shooter on the back end of any
team in the world and be like, yeah, whatever, Like
her game kind of fits. Being the last person to
make an Olympic roster or frankly, make any roster if
you just got a guy that can shoot.
Speaker 3 (31:19):
So I.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Her response was really good. I'll say it again. We're
freaking out more than she is, Like she's she's kind
of I would say this, she's built for all this stuff.
She's really been good about it.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
Yeah, to take it further, she's been so far in
a way, the best college basketball player for at least
the last two years, if not longer. She's probably as
a competitor, loving like the challenge every day, waking up
like I need to figure out this league, and like
to have a big moment like she did in the
last in the last game where she goes for what
thirty eight and seven or whatever. Yeah, by the way,
(31:54):
putting over twenty thousand people in an arena for two
really bad teams at the bottom of the WNBA stand
things which to your point, like like, I don't know
why if you were a player on the team USA team,
why you wouldn't want Caitlyn on the the on the
on the roster just so that you get more exposure
while you're playing overseas. But it is what it is.
I I'm with you. She's she's handling it like a champ.
(32:15):
I just I hate it because she's being kind of weaponized,
even especially on the political side of that. She's being
weaponized and used to make points that don't even make sense.
Like I I'm just glad that she's been the column
in the storm because she's been put in a really
tough situation. All right, guys, that is all we have
for tonight. This NBA Finals Game two Instant Reaction was
brought to you by Chase Freedom Unlimited Unlimited one point
(32:36):
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we'll have our film session in the morning and then
Colin I will be back for Game three on Wednesday.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
We will see you guys then the volume.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
Thanks so much for listening. If you've enjoy the podcast,
take a moment rate and review
The volume. All right, we are really really close to
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Speaker 2 (01:32):
All right, welcome to hoops tonight. You're at the volume.
Happy Sunday everybody. This NBA Finals Game two Instant Reaction
is brought to you by Chase Freedom Unlimited.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
How do you cash back? All right?
Speaker 2 (01:43):
So the Celtics win Game two one oh five to
ninety eight. Shoot poorly, but do enough have an excellent
defensive performance As the role players and co star for
the Dallas Mavericks continue to struggle.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
We've got Colin Coward here. We're gonna break it all down.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Colin, how much of this to this point, do you
view as the Celtics presenting just problems that Dallas can't solve,
versus Dallas kind of having the finals yips and struggling
a bit on the road.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Well, Kyrie hasn't played. It'd be nice if he showed
up for the finals. You know, Tatum will get more
heat because he's in his athletic prime and we're kind
of waiting for the moment from him, and Kyrie's had
the shot and the title in the moment, but Kyrie
hasn't delivered. But I mean when Porzingis and Tatum are
really off their offensive games, they're shooting games and you
(02:29):
kind of controlled the second half. Dallas again last game
had a really nice run, had a nine to nothing
run in this game. They are a streaky hot offense
if Luca gets rolling. But I mean mostly outside of two,
three or four minute right, I could take six minutes
out of this series. It's lopsided, like it's not particularly close.
(02:51):
I like the Celtics and six and I felt at
the time, is they listen, they can just man up.
Their biggest can be honest and they're just they're just
two we all talk offense. They're too good defensively, they're
just they got too many guys that can manu up.
I mean, they got guys that didn't make All NBA
that if they weren't on the Celtics, they didn't want
(03:12):
three guys on the Celtics All NBA defense. So I
think some of it is just Boston's got better dudes.
And I think we all realize that Denver Boston were
the best teams. But it happens Minnesota constructed to beat Denver.
Denver led by twenty in that game in Game seven,
or I think we'd have a really compelling six to
(03:33):
seven game series.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
What I see is a.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
I mean, Tatum on Iso threes has been horrible and
it has no effect on the outcome that is that's different.
I mean Kyrie and no show. This is mostly a
lopsided series. So there's just this this cushion Boston has
that Dallas doesn't. That's what I see.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Yeah, I look at it mostly as problems that Boston presents.
So there's gonna be a lot of talk about the shooting.
And there's no doubt that Dallas is not playing well
outside of Luca on the offensive end of the floor.
And for the record, I don't think this is a sweep.
I think Dallas will go home and get one. I
think that they're due for a bunch of role players
to break out. I think Kyrie has struggled a little
bit with the Boston crowd just with all of the energies,
(04:21):
the negative energy surrounding that situation. I think going home
will be good for him. But the reality is is
like Boston hasn't really gotten going offensively to the level
that they're capable of, outside of a brief run in
the first half of Game one, like even after that point,
they cooled off substantially. Like you know, it's funny. I
really look at it to a very basic problem for Dallas,
(04:43):
which is they cannot contain the basketball. There's this so,
as you know, I coach in the high school level,
and when I'm doing the skill development with the kids,
like king of the Court so they can practice on
their games, and I use this like simple kind of
idea to try to convince them to pass the ball more.
I'll let them play King of the Court with the
defender right on them, and they'll barely ever score. It'll
(05:04):
be like one out of every ten times. And then
I'll have him do it with the closeout, where like
the kid has to start underneath the basket and throw
the ball and then sprint out at the defender or
at the offensive player, and they score like four or
five times out of ten. They're like many many orders
of magnitude better offensively. Now at the pro level, that's
a smaller gap, but it's still a gap. And that's
(05:25):
really the problem here is Boston can just easily get
that first little bit of dribble penetration, and then what
they're doing is they're throwing the ball to thirty million
dollar players who are standing at the perimeter just waiting
for a guy who's sprinting with his hair on fire
to get out to close out. It's just unsustainable. And
it's not just Luca. And by the way, Luca's getting
(05:46):
hounded all over the place when he's on every possession.
But it's not just Luca. There's a bunch of Dallas
players that are struggling to contain the ball. They're going
at Gafford and just going right around him every single time.
They're taking smaller players into the post. It's a problem.
They just they can't contain the basketball. And then Boston
has so much offball talent, and then even there's nobody
(06:07):
they can ignore to just park somebody in the paint,
or to every time they double every time Luca just
randomly decides to kind of double team the ball. They're
just in rotation. Again, That to me is the fundamental issue.
I do think Dallas will have better offensive nights as
they move back to Dallas, as they move back home,
but I just don't know how they solve the problem
that they can't guard Boston well.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
And something else is let's focus on Tatum. So I've
always said I feel like Tatum's in the top ten,
somewhere about eight, but there is sort of that finishing
element that it just doesn't feel like the all time greats.
Prime example in this game, Jalen Brown, when they inched
back closer late, Jalen Brown bursts past this guy, highly
(06:49):
athletic move. He seals it a couple possessions earlier, Tatum
just couldn't get it going. And you know my take
on Tatum was he actually assisted well, he defended well,
There's a lot of things he did well. But our
lifetime Kareem Bird, Lebron, Steph Duncan, Michael, we need a
basket He's not consistently that guy. Now again defensively, I
(07:15):
mean rebounds, he fills the stat sheet. But again Boston
won a title. It's Paul Pierce. It's kg like, we
want our guys to get their points. And with Tatum,
I just feel like we just and I've said this,
I picked Brown to be the MVP of this series.
I know what I get with Jalen Tatum. It depends
(07:36):
on the matchup. It depends on his headspace, where is
he at. Is he playing with confidence? It's not a
knock on him, but Boston is built to overcome his
really bad three point shooting series. They're built for it.
They just got so many dudes. It's kind of becoming
the series. I thought it would look like. I just
thought Kyrie would be more available. But man, when you Boston,
(08:01):
I'm watching Porzingis's limping. Tatum at one point was I
have this written down here. He was eight for forty four,
eighteen percent on ISO threes, So I mean he was
just you know, is this yeah eight vers at forty four.
It was eighteen percent And it has no impact outside today.
(08:22):
I mean, forget the first game. It was a blowout.
If you take out a nine to nothing Dallas run.
It is a blowout. I mean, there wasn't a moment
in the second half I thought, oh, Dallas is gonna
come back. So also, Lively, he's a rookie, he's not
playing great, So this happens. I think this not every finals.
I mean, we saw San Antonio early Lebron team in Cleveland.
(08:44):
You're like, like a like a game and a half in,
You're like, yeah, this isn't gonna work. They got way
more good players. I kind of feel like, I mean,
Luca now is not at one hundred percent. I kind
of feel like Dallas will steal Game three. But I
think it may be a five game. That's what it
feels like to me.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yeah, I this this screams five gamer to me too.
I gave I gave them six because I figured they
Boston has a tendency too in game two's after they
win Game one convincingly to kind of let their foot
off the.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Gas and are weird at home. Boston's weird at home.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
I don't actually think they've lost a road playoff game
this year yet, which is going to be an interesting
thing when they get going there. But like, yeah, I
mean on the on the Dallas front, the to me,
the the offensive issues go deeper than just guys struggling
on the road too, Like Boston having put Jason Tatum
on their center has completely janked up their offense because
(09:37):
now there's just so much there's so many bodies in
the paint. Derek Jones, Junior PJ. Washington don't know how
to operate in those ball screens. Another big thing too,
you talked about all the guys that can guard, like
Al Horford switched on to Luca is A is a
great matchup for Boston. They just live with that. They
feel like he can guard there. So like they're just
there's not a lot of great options for Dallas to
(09:58):
get good opportunities for the role players so that they
can get going. Now, Kyrie is the one guy where
you're like, dude, you just got to do more. You've had,
you know, six thirty point games in your NBA Finals career.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
You got to find a way to do more. Right.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
But like the other stuff, I really struggle with them
finding a way to kind of find those openings. As
far as the Superstar part goes with Boston, I find
this super fascinating because this entire finals is very different
from some of the finals we've seen in NBA history,
where it's like Steph first Lebron or it's you know
these guys, we see these big apex kind of stars,
and like it's like weird seeing a team led by
(10:32):
a Jason Tatum who's as kind of funky in as
flawed as he is as a superstar. It's weird seeing
Luca as the superstar of Dallas just getting hunted relentlessly
on the on the defensive end of the floor. I
think with Tatum, and really it all just starts with
where you're beginning the conversation, Like if you're beginning the
conversation with is Tatum a apex superstar with the top
(10:56):
guys in the league, it's just no, you're just gonna
run into all these issues.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
He doesn't.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
He's not good enough at kind of like confidently taking
command of a basketball game. He has like no go
to movie can go to that is like I'm going
to get a bucket here half the time, Like he
doesn't have any of that stuff. But once you put
him down in the tier below that, you start to
look at him more as like he's a multi tooled
player who can do a bunch of different things to
help him. His ability to hold up against Gafford on
(11:21):
the glass and to switch out in pick and roll
has been the major adjustment that has caused problems for
Dallas offensively. And then, yeah, if you put on a
team like this with five really good offensive players, if
you put a ball hog out there, it might mess
everything up. And he's not that guy. And so in
a weird way, you talk about this all the time
with the NFL, like if a GM is prioritizing offensive
(11:43):
line player players and like skill players, they're telling you
that they're worried about their quarterbacks ability to kind of
make something from nothing, right, they're telling you what they
think that That's what I look at with the Brad
Stevens piece. Here he by going to get Porzingis and
Drew Holliday. He told you what he thought about Jalen
Brown and Ja That's right, these guys aren't good enough.
I need to give them just an overwhelming amount of
(12:05):
support in order for them to accentuate their strengths. And
it's worked wonderfully in this season.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Yeah, no GMS. When you can get rid of Tyreek
Hill for Patrick Mahomes. They're telling you we can win
a lot of games without the fastest player in the world,
and I thought, you know, Porzingis was a bit of
a steal, to be honest. We talked about this last time.
The league. The league would not doesn't really want what
Boston's doing. They don't want like five high end players
on a single team, but they kind of stole them.
(12:33):
And then you generate that trade with Drew Holliday, who's
like a better version of Marcus Smart, especially on offense.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
He was good.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
He was really good today. So I think I think
we're getting this series. We thought, I am happy Jalen
Brown won the Eastern Conference, you know, finals player MVP,
I think he'll win, has a good chance to win
the finals MVP. And I think Jalen Brown And also,
did you notice during the time he's doing a majority
(13:01):
of the talking like he is, he's the leader.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
He is the valpha ye.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Way more of an alpha, And so I think, you know,
it's it's okay. Like I said, my concern about them
coming into the series was are they too collaborative?
Speaker 3 (13:16):
But they're not.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
That was a question. It wasn't a referendum or a
definitive statement. I'm like, are they too collaborative? Nah, it
kind of works. I think Denver would have been a
much tougher match, but that's the way the breaks work.
And I said this before the finals. I said, Boston's
too good not to win one, but they're too weird
to be a dynasty. They lose at home, they don't
have an alpha. I think my take is I would
(13:40):
bet money that Denver comes back next year and wins,
and I think Minnesota is going to rearrange the deck chairs.
Boston We'll still be really, really good, but I don't
think Boston's a three straight championship team. Also, eventually after
next year, they may have to move off some pieces
because of the maxis to Tatum and Brown. But I
think we're seeing kind of what we thought. You know,
the notes I have right here, Boston getting much better shots,
(14:03):
Boston Tatum, it was a lot you know, porzingis Tatum
not great offensively not an issue. Boston back to back
three's biggest lead. You know. One of the things I
also noticed is that Kyrie's not getting assists. The Mavericks
aren't getting a ton of them, which usually tells you
(14:26):
stagnant ball movement. You know, Luca was doing some clever stuff,
but it's a nothing. I don't there's not a lot
of continuity with Dallas's offense. I mean, you're the guy
that coaches. To me, it just doesn't feel like there's
any rhythm to a lot of their offensive possessions.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Yeah, and that's by design, Like so again, in order
for there to be so To give you an example
in game one, the I haven't looked at the numbers
from game two yet, but one of the things that
you look at as an indicator of getting the defense
in rotation, meaning like to get the defense in rotation,
you need to engage a help defender. Because as soon
as you engage a help defender, you've brought a second
defender to the ball, which means off the ball you
(15:03):
have four on three, right, that's where your advantage is now.
From there, when you make a kickout pass, it's a
spot up opportunity if they drive the close out or
if they shoot a three. In game one, Boston generated
thirty six spot up opportunities and Dallas generated twelve. And
that is the main issue there is they're not getting
Luca and Kyrie have not been good enough on an
(15:26):
island as scorers to consistently bring multiple players to the ball,
which will get those opportunities. For example, in Game one
on ISOs, Dallas got just zero point five to four
points per possession including passes. That's why would you send
an extra defender. They're getting stops. To your point, their
dudes are getting stops, and so like it's kind of
(15:47):
like a trickle down effect. If you don't demonstrate the
threat of actually bringing in that second defender, you're not
going to get the opportunities to get the other guys going.
In Game three, what has to happen for Dallas is
Kyrie and Luca have to so deeply compromise the defense
that they start to warp Boston in on them to
(16:08):
generate those opportunities. And they just haven't been able to
do that to this point. Like Boston's looking at those
numbers from Luca twelve for twenty one, four for nine
from three thirty two points. They don't care, like they
they've been they've been shooting terribly and they've been winning
this entire series. So like at the end, at the
end of the day, like they're like Luca, we're making
Luca work hard. Luca had eight turnovers tonight. So if
(16:30):
you if you actually like piece it all together, the
total number of possessions for him to take twenty one shots,
to go four for eight from the foul line into
and to turn the ball over eight times and only
have thirty two points, Like that's a battle that Boston
is like kind of winning, Like they're they're they're Dallas
scored ninety eight points.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
They're not.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
They're they're they're they're trying. It's like a bend but
don't break kind of concept, like they're just we're gonna
take our lumps. Luca's gonna hit some step back threes,
He's gonna hit some tough shots. But if we stay
home off the ball, well, we're doing well enough on
a per possession basis that we don't need to overreact,
and they're not getting enough from Kyrie. Now, maybe things
will change in Game two if Kyrie can get going.
But I still think it's gonna come down to the
(17:11):
stars because there's nothing that Boston has to react to
in terms of sending extra defenders that will get PJ.
Washington wide open corner threes, or we'll get Derek Jones
Junior wide open cuts off of the wing. Like I
maintain that these are problems that I don't think that
they can solve. I mean, so, what do you think?
Do you think Dallas will come back in game three?
(17:32):
Is that what you're looking at it?
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Yeah, Dallas wins game three, Boston wins the next two.
And I think Porzingis is a little limpy and gimpy.
I think the same thing. Luke is not a one
hundred percent. But you know, if Porzingis again gives you
twenty minutes ten each half, you know size length, it
feels like it's over.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Now.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
There's two other topics I want to address won Dan Hurley.
So I was told by a really good source today
Lakers have offered him the job. Dan and his boys
really liked it. They're kind of it's cool. You know,
his wife's from Jersey, where that's a whole different ballgame.
LA is very intimidating to people who don't live here.
(18:19):
It's not a money issue. The finances being reported are
a little I'm not sure if I believe him. I'll
believe it when I see it. So I've heard various reports.
One way too low, one feels too high. But I'm
going to guess because the NBA runs through coaches much
like the NFL. Sixty year seven a year and I
(18:39):
told a friend, I said, I don't know if the
Knicks would hire him, I said, but would it be
shocking if next year, like this year, the Knicks fall
apart in the playoffs. There's some complaining about how hard
Tibbs coaches and the minutes he plays, and everybody goes,
get the guy from Yukon. If he wins an international championship,
(19:00):
that to me is a potentially better gig. Wife's happy,
closer to home, easier conference. You've got a star, but
it's not the burden of sort of Lebron at the
end of his career or Anthony Davis, who maybe the
best two in the league in a decade but doesn't
always feel like a one offensively. So that's what I
was told, is that Hurley will make a decision tomorrow.
(19:21):
My gut is, I don't know why I feel this.
He won't take the job, and my feeling is there's
going to be better opportunities the Lakers job right now.
The best part of it is the brand in college sports,
like if George is available and they're down in the dumps,
you take the job. Texas is available because I get
(19:42):
twenty five players a year in football, right or basketball,
the transfer portal, I can get twelve new guys.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
NBA is different.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
There's real limitations if you don't have a lot of
draft picks, If unless you have expiring contracts, it's hard.
You're not going to get rid of Lebron and Ad.
You probably don't want to get rid of Austin Reeves.
You know, what are you gonna get for a lot
of these guys, these rotational guys. So I think it's
one of those things where you know, in the NBA
(20:09):
also makes you match contracts when you make trades. It's
a hard league to make big trades. And so my
gut feeling is Dan Hurley Tomorrow calls and says, I mean,
ask yourself this when you know it, you know it
he interviewed like forty eight hours ago, right, Like, it's
(20:29):
like you kind of make the call, right, So I
w'ch my gut feeling. How's it land for you?
Speaker 3 (20:35):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (20:35):
So I'm a literally like I'm still kind of feeling
fifty to fifty Like it kind of felt to me
when this whole saga started that it was a Monday call,
Like it just seem yeah here because Dan Hurley is
not in a position of desperation like he is. He's
incredibly well established where he is. And also he knows
the Lakers are gonna wait for him. So like, even
(20:56):
if you said, hey, I need another week, like they'd
wait another week before they turn around and hire you know,
Brego or somebody like that. Right, So, like I get
why they're waiting. I'm with you that I'm still kind
of like I'm very cautious about getting too stoked about
it your opinion though about potentially waiting for a better job.
Let's just be straight. I want Dan Hurley to go
(21:17):
to the Lakers because I root for the Lakers, but
like the that's not the best job. And here's the
reason why, Like this is a this is an ownership
group that has demonstrated a considerable amount of incompetence over
the last ten years or so.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
Like they don't have a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
They let Alex Crusoe walk simply because of money. And
you know how much the Lakers could have used Alex
Crusoe over the course of the last couple of years,
Like letting Julius Randa walk for nothing, letting Brook Lopez
walk for nothing, the whole Magic Johnson fiasco, like the
disrespect of Tylou during their negotiation to not treating him
like a championship coach in the summer of twenty eighteen.
(21:55):
There's like all of this stuff over the last half
dozen years that would lead you to believe that, Like,
it's a little bit of a volatile situation. So I
want him to go there, But you'd be a fool
if you if you weren't actually looking around behind the
scenes and making phone calls. I guarantee you Dan Hurley
has heard the ugly stuff, and I'm sure that he's
had some uh, I'm sure he's had some reticence there
(22:17):
that said, like you said, he gets stoked with his
boys when he goes on the visit because it's the
Los Angeles Lakers. Man, It's it's it's just there's something,
there's a cool factor there, right, I think I think
even just extending it to the scope of NBA history,
like when they tell the story of Lebron James's career,
what if you were the guy who coached him for
the last couple of years, what if you made a
deep playoff runt or if you had have God forbid,
(22:38):
you won a title or something like that. Like there's
a there's a level of basketball immortality that I think
Dan Hurley could be factoring in here as well.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
So the other story is the Caitlin Clark didn't make
the Olympics and uh, which which is funny because people
get you know, the Olympic teams are interesting. When you
get to the bottom or the back end of an
Olympic roster, it gets political. I mean, you know, Devin
(23:07):
Booker made this year's team, Kyrie Irving and Jalen Brown didn't.
And I think most gms would take those guys. Kyrie
is the most talented, Jalen's the most versatile. Booker can
hit shots, and he made it. Steve Kerr's the coach.
You know, Phoenix is in the West. I mean, who
knows why. I mean, sometimes the guys you want to
(23:28):
you want to coach a guy, you want to create
a relationship with a guy, like we all know that
Laytoner made it. Michael didn't one Isaiah on the team.
It got political, so Christian later made the team.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Diana Tarassi right now for the women's team is not
as good as Kaitlyn Clark statistically, but she's been there before.
She's a she's just kind of the glue of the league.
And at the end, there's better players in the league
than her, including Kaitlin Clark, and they put her on.
But here's my bigger takeaway that if you were a player,
(24:04):
a woman's player for the Olympic team, wouldn't you want
Caitlin Clark on the team because it'll double the TV
ratings The average sports fan. Sports fan doesn't know this.
Our women's basketball team has won seven straight goals. They
don't lose games like they're like the dream team. Every
single Olympics, I think they've won like eight of nine
(24:25):
to nine of ten. They're completely our most dominant team,
and most people don't know that because they don't watch.
They get about six to seven million viewers, they get
fourteen or more with Caitlin Clark. And my takeaway is
when Connor McGregor came to the UFC, you wanted to
be on the undercard because people saw you, including Monster
Energy Drinks or you know, Pens Oil. Whoever, when Tiger
(24:47):
got on the tour, you wanted to be in a foursome,
you know, you'd get a sponsor. If I was on
that team, I'd be like, yeah, put her on the team, eyeballs.
So to me, it's as if it's being established that
the players didn't really want her. And my take is,
I think the agents of the other players are probably like, what.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Are you doing my forward?
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Who's going to be a rotational player in the Olympics
gonna have fourteen million people. Those are the kind of
players that benefit the stars always make their endorsements. So
that was my first take is that don't make this
Caitlin against the women. I think most of the women
in the league know, even Angel Reese knows, you know,
rising tide lifts all boats. I am surprised, however, that NBC,
(25:35):
who pays all the money for the Olympics, right, that's
how Olympics generate their revenues. The TV partner didn't get
on the phone and go, hey, could you do us
as solid you know, well, well write you check that part.
If I was NBC, I would be like, guys, we're
TV partners, We're paying all the bills. That was my
takeaway that NBC should be pissed, And I actually think
(25:57):
she'd be good for the other girls even if she
didn't play. What was your initial thought.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
I saw your tweet and I thought that was the
perfect takeaway. Like from a financial perspective, it just made
so much sense to have her on board, even like
from a competitive standpoint, like if I was the girls
on the team, I'd be like, yeah, I want to
kick her button practice every day, you know what I mean?
And that before we go any further. That's been the
most frustrating thing for me watching the entire Caitlan Clark
(26:22):
saga over the past month and a half. Like what's
happening to her is something that has happened to every
talented young player that's entered a.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
Professional basketball league.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Ever, Let's pretend you play in the WNBA and all
you do when you turn on your TV or when
you look at your phone is hear about how amazing
Caitlin Clark is.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
You don't think you want.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
To test your abilities against her, Like this has happened
at the NBA level constantly. We've all seen when Patrick
Beverley like straight up tried to punk Lonzo Ball on
national television because Lonzo Ball had all that hype coming in,
like there's nothing exceptional happening to Caitlin Clark, and she
doesn't think there's anything exceptional. She knows like the same
thing happened to her when she first went into college.
(27:03):
People try to step up to it to people try
to pick her up full court, people try to be physical.
This is so normal and it's being made into now.
The political side of things has grabbed a hold of
this and it's gone completely off the rails, which which
is crazy to watch. Like a Caitlin Clark is a
competitor who is going into the most talented and by
the way, this league doesn't have very many teams, which
(27:25):
means it is completely stacked with talent. So like it's
just a really difficult spot that she's in, and she's
in her team has some limitations and all that kind
of stuff as far as the Team USA thing goes,
Like she's there's the basketball case. It's on the fence right,
Like you could argue if you were making a list
of just the twelve best women's basketball players in the world,
(27:46):
she's on the fence and probably should be left off.
But to your point, throughout every single national like it's
like Anthony Davis being on the on the redeem team,
right or the team in twenty twelve, right, Like sometimes
you just bring the super young talented kid along. Yeah, energy,
and and like there's no there's no reason not to
bring her. And I don't buy the excuse. The excuse
(28:08):
that's like, oh, when she doesn't get playing time, her
fan base will be ravenous, Okay, by all means, then
leave her off the roster.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
That'll go just as well.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Like like it like I didn't understand the whole, the
whole kind of backlash there, because again, she should have
been included, but there was a reasonable case for her
not to be included. I loved her response today, how
she's like something to strive for. Hopefully twelve it's four
years from now. Hopefully they they they include me. But yeah,
I mean, I just I just wish people understood the
(28:37):
basic competitive dynamics that are taking place, because it's really
nothing special that's going on there.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
Yeah, I mean, it's just I mean, we know the Olympics,
you know, this is something else to remember about sports.
I was talking to a friend about this. The NFL
decides we're going to give Netflix Christmas, you know, the
main you know, not everybody loved that. Not the other
networks loved it. But Christmas is big and everybody's home.
We're going to get a streaming giant Christmas. Those are
(29:04):
good games. They've never had Wednesday games before. They last
year they went to Peacock. What a shock. They put
Patrick Mahomes on Peacock. They wanted another streaming giant to
do well because those are ascending businesses. Amazon got its
best schedule so very clearly in the last year, the
NFL has said, yeah, we're going to streaming. It's a business.
(29:26):
FIFA is a business. I mean, the Olympics held a
Summer Olympics in Soshi. Never been there, but you know,
when you think of Sydney and Barcelona, you don't think
of Soshi as a summer retreat. So it's like people
tend to get very precious, especially people who cover a sport,
you know, like I know it. I've covered this for years. Yeah,
(29:48):
too close to the forest, like baseball writers and not
all certainly, but those that argued against the pitchclock, well,
baseball's infinitely more watchable. Attendance is up again this year.
TV rating her up the games now if you get
good pitching, they're two and a half hour games. They
fly by. It's a much better television product, and the
baseball writers push back in it. It's like sometimes I'm
(30:10):
seeing a lot of these almost with this religious veracity,
this kind of like I know this sport, it's business.
All this stuff. The NFL schedule, Jason, you don't think
they put Aaron Rodgers worried about his health. They got
him all over September games in October to a point
(30:31):
where it's competitively unfair. He's got short weeks, night games,
they got mahomes playing every day but Tuesday. Like, we
understand this stuff. Money greases, it lubricates all of it.
Speaker 3 (30:41):
So I just thought, guys, this is what are.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
We doing here? You want more people to watch the Olympics.
Caitlin Clark's television gold. And I also, I'll say that
beyond the fact that you know, she's probably not one
of the twelve best players, I do think in this
three ball era you could certainly make an argument she's
not like just the defensive big You can always throw
(31:05):
a three point shooter on the back end of any
team in the world and be like, yeah, whatever, Like
her game kind of fits. Being the last person to
make an Olympic roster or frankly, make any roster if
you just got a guy that can shoot.
Speaker 3 (31:19):
So I.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Her response was really good. I'll say it again. We're
freaking out more than she is, Like she's she's kind
of I would say this, she's built for all this stuff.
She's really been good about it.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
Yeah, to take it further, she's been so far in
a way, the best college basketball player for at least
the last two years, if not longer. She's probably as
a competitor, loving like the challenge every day, waking up
like I need to figure out this league, and like
to have a big moment like she did in the
last in the last game where she goes for what
thirty eight and seven or whatever. Yeah, by the way,
(31:54):
putting over twenty thousand people in an arena for two
really bad teams at the bottom of the WNBA stand
things which to your point, like like, I don't know
why if you were a player on the team USA team,
why you wouldn't want Caitlyn on the the on the
on the roster just so that you get more exposure
while you're playing overseas. But it is what it is.
I I'm with you. She's she's handling it like a champ.
(32:15):
I just I hate it because she's being kind of weaponized,
even especially on the political side of that. She's being
weaponized and used to make points that don't even make sense.
Like I I'm just glad that she's been the column
in the storm because she's been put in a really
tough situation. All right, guys, that is all we have
for tonight. This NBA Finals Game two Instant Reaction was
brought to you by Chase Freedom Unlimited Unlimited one point
(32:36):
five percent cash back is just the beginning. Cash back
three percent on dining including takeout, three percent at drugstores,
five percent on Chase travel in one point five percent
on everything else. How do you cash back? All right, guys,
we'll have our film session in the morning and then
Colin I will be back for Game three on Wednesday.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
We will see you guys then the volume.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
Thanks so much for listening. If you've enjoy the podcast,
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Host
Colin Cowherd
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