Nerd Sesh - Game 5 Reactions: Thunder WIN CLASSIC over Nuggets, Pacers FINISH Cavs - The Volume

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. No, Oh my god, how could he do that?

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Watch what Charles Darwin?

Speaker 3 (00:20):
The nerves is where it's at. Welcome everybody back into
Nerd Sash. As always, I'm Carson brev and alongside me
is Logan Camden, and you already know the drill. We
have two amazing playoff basketball games to talk about today,
because playoff basketball is just amazing, Logan. We have the
Indiana Pacers closing out the Calves to advance to the

(00:42):
Eastern Conference Finals. Super fun game that we will talk about,
but of course we have to start with one of
the best basketball games I've ever seen. And I don't
think of that as any hyperbole, any exaggeration, Like I
love both the Nuggets and the Thunder. I love watching
them both play, so maybe it's a little heightened for me,
but good god, that was just peak hoops man, And specifically,

(01:03):
it's one of the best clutch battles between two absolute
forces that I've ever seen. Sga creates fifteen straight points
for the Thunder down the stretch. Jokic scores eleven straight
points for the Nuggets, but it ends up being the
Thunder who pulled through on the back of that collective
clutch performance, led of course by SGA. They have to

(01:25):
come back for the second consecutive game, not from a
big deficit, but nevertheless from a deficit in the fourth quarter,
winning in the clutch where they couldn't in games one
and three earlier in this series. What do you have
to say about this thunder win, Logan.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
I mean, it really is down to the clutch execution.
For me, that's where I think this game was decided.
I didn't like some of the defense and some of
the easy shots that the Nuggets allowed Oklahoma City to
get to late Lou Dort walks into some pretty open threes.
He also just got hot in Denver. Could not create
offense down the stretch. I mean they completely stalled out. Wow,

(02:02):
not Yoki.

Speaker 3 (02:03):
They had one guy who was scoring every time just
because he's a god.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
I'm just saying everybody else like, and they had a
really long like streak in this game without a make
in the fourth quarter. Like, they just they couldn't generate anything,
And so I thought it was their inability to generate offense,
and then I thought they just conceded some open looks.
Jalen Williams gets a wide open corner three late in
this game, and Sga comes through big and hits that

(02:29):
mid range and won. So I thought okay See executed
better down the stretch, and it was Denver's inability, I think,
around Jokic to get any offense out of those guys. Man,
this was a horrendous Michael Porter junior game. This was
a really bad RUSS game too. I mean, there are
just some really ugly, nasty moments in this one. And

(02:50):
the two biggest boxes got checked for Denver in this game. Man,
you gotta have a great Yolkic game normally, right, And
they had been winning without Yokic having these great games,
but when he gives you this, you expect to win.
And then I thought Jamal had some big shots in
the fourth quarter, and I thought he almost did enough.
I thought it was a good Jamal game, and normally
when you check both of those boxes, you're gonna win.

(03:10):
But I thought Oklahoma City just executed better in the
fourth quarter and Denver's offense stalled out for a little
bit and okay See found open looks. Man. I also
thought the Denver's defense, like I said, could have been
better in the fourth too. I thought they allowed them
to get some easy looks and they're creating advantages. This
team just it's they're really hard to defend too, like
Hardenstein gets an alley oop, like you're just out of

(03:32):
rotation sometimes with this team. But okay, see finally executed
better down the stretch, man. I it's so crazy watching
Denver lose a game when Yokic plays like this. Man,
I mean, the fading shot at the top of the
key late in the shot clock, like that is a
ridiculous shot to hit when the stakes are that high.
And he's doing everything in this game, man, draining threes,

(03:53):
hitting floaters, getting everything to go. It's amazing that Oklahoma
City wins a game like this when Jokic plays like
the best player on the planet. I thought Jokic was
the best player in the in the game, but okay,
so he executed better down the stretch.

Speaker 3 (04:07):
Jogics was incredible. It's one of the best games of
his career. And that is a crazy high bar. It's
one of the best performances you will ever see in
a loss. But down the stretch, Sga was every bit
as good. Like when it came to clutch time, they
were both perfect and the difference was one guy was perfect,
and his teammates could also knock down the shots that
he created for them, and the other guys passing out

(04:28):
to NPJ off double teams who couldn't make a shot
all night. But I thought the thunders clutch execution was phenomenal. Like,
I feel like you're under selling it when you're talking
about Denver's defense, which by the way, I thought was
actually quite good again in this game. I've been so
impressed with their defense was good throughout this series.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
Game. I was just disappointed with some of the shots
they allowed them to get too late, Like I just
felt like some of them were too easy.

Speaker 3 (04:49):
What I will say is, I don't know why you
go away from the zone on some of those clutch possessions.
And there comes a point where, like I probably would
have just been doubling Sga out right because he was
so special as a s But then again, they do
double Sga on the possession, or he swings to Dort,
who swings to jadup and you get a wide open three.
The possession that you're talking about where iHeart gets the
lob from Sga, that's because he's collapsing the defense and

(05:12):
they're helping aggressively, so like, you can't guard everything at once, man,
and if Shay is gonna be as ridiculously great as
a one on one score as he was down the
stretch of this game where he's going at Christian Brown,
he's getting into the paint, but he's also just showing
you some incredible tough shot making With the shot that
he makes over Jamal Murray, he does really walk into
an open pull up three, but Denver's been relatively willing

(05:34):
to concede on that because hitting.

Speaker 1 (05:36):
That's a possession that I was mad at too. That's
another one where I thought Jokic should have been high
up at the level. There's a difference in that shot.
It's a completely different shot than me and SGA. Step
back three I'm very okay with him taking because he's
fading away from the basket and it's just harder to
find the touch on that shot. A walk in pull
up three that's basically a mid range jumper for SGA.

(05:57):
That's the difference. To me. I'm okay with conceding a
step back three to SGA, but I'm not okay with
conceding a well. Can it don't get me wrong, Maybe
maybe Jokic steps up, maybe SGA just kicks it to
Hartenstein because they have the smaller defender on him, and
they still end up scoring on that possession. But that
is a possession that I'm talking about during the end
of this game where I thought Yokic should have been

(06:18):
at the level and should have contested that. I don't
want to concede a shot like that late in this
game because it's a different shot that's easier for SGA
in my opinion.

Speaker 3 (06:27):
Oh, it's absolutely different from the step back three. He
has been off from deep overall, But you're right, that
is a much more comfortable, in rhythm shot for him.
So if there's one defensive possession to criticize from Denver,
that would be the one. But overall, I just thought
it was outstanding shot making an individual scoring from SGA,
and then he was making all the right reads late
and everybody around him was making the shots, which is

(06:47):
just such a huge reversal from how this game started
for SGA, where it felt like he was again confounded
by the zone and like he's been up and down
as a decision maker throughout this series. But in the
first quarter he's forcing drives into pack paints, he's seeing
multiple bodies, and he's turning the ball over. He's forcing
some really difficult finishes. He starts this game one of
six with four turnovers, and then he ends it with

(07:10):
the performance of his postseason career. I would say down
the stretch, just absolutely outstanding stuff from him. But you
have to credit the collective because this is an OKAC
team that at times has just looked really uncomfortable in
these big spots against Denver in this series. You think
about not just SGA and some questionable decision making in
earlier games forcing the issue, some not being at his best,

(07:33):
the supporting cast guys just not looking comfortable making shots
off the catch. Lou Dort gives you three massive three
pointers in the fourth quarter when he had been horribly
off for this entire series and the entire playoffs. Like
I talked about how after last game they needed to
be closing with Caruso, they needed to be going with
Caruso over Dort, and it was just like Lou flipped

(07:54):
a switch where in the first half of this game,
even into the third quarter, he's missing everything from three.
He looks uncomfortable out there, He's got some out of
control drives a couple bad turnovers, and then he just
locked in and all of a sudden is so confidently,
so comfortably stepping into these shots and making them a
great clip, which like he should be capable of doing.
This is a guy who has shot forty percent from

(08:14):
deep in back to back seasons. He's a really good
three point shooter, but he was so deep in his
own head, and then at the biggest possible moment, like
this season defining stretch, when you're down nine, he's the
guy who steps up and is making big shots that
was so massive. Jadub hits the huge three that is
created for him by the SGA double down the stretch.

(08:35):
I just can't think of a more significant way for
OKC to win a basketball game, like especially within the
context of them now doing this in back to back
games where Denver has not just been playing them to
a draw through three quarters, Denver has taken the lead,
and specifically Denver has done it like in the third
quarter of these last two games, we're like, oh man,

(08:56):
are they starting to pull away? And instead it's okay,
see who's sharper down the stretch. It's OKC who really
executes in the clutch. We know that they can blow
teams out. We know that they're capable of winning these
games by twenty five points because they're just that great.
The test in this series was going to be can
they gut out these clutch games against Denver? And early
in the series the returns were no. They fumble Game

(09:17):
one away, they really struggle down the stretch in Game three,
and in this one it just felt like they were
so comfortable, they were so great, and that all starts
with SGA, but it really was top to bottom for
the Thunder. I just think Denver is the best possible
test that they could have faced, because you're going up
against the best player in the world, You're going up
against the best offensive player in the world. You're going

(09:39):
up against the offense that has been so proven in
the clutch, that is so battle tested, that is made
of grown ass men who have been here before, who
have won the title, and you're the kids who are
extremely talented, but you haven't been here before, and you
have to beat them in the biggest moments to move forward.
That's what they did in this one. I just think
it's special stuff because as talented as they are, man,

(09:59):
it's still not normal to do this so young, like
they love the stat they would be the youngest team
to win the title since the seventy seven Blazers. Teams
this young don't win games this big throughout the scope
of NBA history. The Thunder of the exception to that rule,
and they showed that tonight.

Speaker 1 (10:14):
I want to give Sga a lot of credit for
doing what he did down the stretch door too early
in the fourth quarter and this collective defense all game.
I do think it's important to mention, like how much
of this I do put on the inability of Denver
supporting cast to like manufacture offense late though Jokic in
the fourth quarter goes four of six, players not name

(10:37):
Jokic go one of fifteen from the floor. It's like,
I mean, literally, no one else can hit a shot.
Murray goes cold, he goes one of six. He's the
lone one who does end up hitting a shot. MPJ
goes zero to three, and like, again, I want to
give credit to the Thunder defense as well, but oh
my gosh, like this was a they grind it to

(10:57):
a halt, like players not name Jokic, like nobody else
could get it going. And I think that's as big
of a component of this as Okac's stepping up to
the challenge. And I think they did a good job
defensively too. Like again, I think that's where you also
have to give credit to the thunder defense. I don't
want to downplay it and just say that they didn't
pull up, but Russ is completely off. I mean, oh

(11:17):
my god, dude, his shooting my skin watching those two airballs. Man,
watching MPJ not even come close, And like, I don't
know why Jokic is deferring to him lay either. Dude,
It's like you just hit a crazy, ridiculous contested fader. Man,
just do it again.

Speaker 3 (11:37):
If you're getting doubled, man, Like he's gonna make the
right basketball.

Speaker 1 (11:41):
I thought I should have passed it to Brown on
that possession. Actually on the weak side, I thought he
was probably the better target, just because Brown I think
would have been a little bit more open. But I
feel for Jokic in this game. Man, this is a
legendary performance. And I don't say that lightly. Like this
is a the work he was doing on the glass,
on top of just the straight up score, the putbacks,

(12:01):
the grown man, big body shit he was doing on
the inside was huge in this game, and I just
feel for the guy. Man. It's weird. It's balanced out
a little bit though ironically, right like Jokic. They win
a couple of games where Yokic isn't as good, and
ironically he goes superhuman in this one and they end

(12:22):
up losing it. But I do feel for the guy.
I really thought the Denver supporting cast let them down
in the fourth quarter in a big way. Man.

Speaker 3 (12:30):
It's one of the best playoff performances of Jokic's career.
I think about Games four and especially Game five against
Minnesota last year. That's probably still number one for me.
There's some incredible performances in the title run. I mean
just ridiculous stuff. He goes thirty twenty ten against the Heat,

(12:50):
he drops fifty three on the Suns with crazy efficiency.
But this is somewhere in that top five. I think
it's better than what he did in Game one because
as great as he was in the fourth quarter of
Game one and as monstrous as his box score production was,
and I want to be clear, he was fantastic in
that game through three quarters, the thunder were really making
him work. He wasn't super efficient from the field. He

(13:11):
had seven turnovers in that game, Like it was more difficult.
This was the first game all series where I've looked
at Yokic and I've gone, He's comfortable. He's getting whatever
he wants out there against the best defense in the world,
the defense that has given him far more trouble over
these last three playoff games than I've ever seen a
defense due to him. Like he is coming off of
the worst three game stretch of his playoff career, he

(13:32):
comes out and just delivers a masterpiece. You mention the
grown man dominance on the glass, I mean that was
a big part of it, right, and that was an
advantage that Denver had in this game that kept the minute.
Despite their poor outside shooting. Jokic was rebounding his own misses.
He was just consistently living on the offensive glass and
scoring efficiently off putbacks, but also the three point shot,

(13:53):
which had been super off for him in this series.
He came into this game shooting twenty one percent from
deep against OKC. He goes five of seven from deep,
and he's doing it in every way.

Speaker 1 (14:03):
Man.

Speaker 3 (14:03):
He's doing it off the pop, he does it out
of inverted pick and roll when they go under. He
does it just with that special one of one Jokic
shot making that you saw from him to tie this
game up at one h three apiece. And he's also
like absolutely perfect on those touch shots which had been
offered him. He was shooting forty percent in the paint
outside the restricted area. In this series, that number is

(14:24):
always sixty percent for Yokics. He literally has the best
paint touch we've ever seen. Those shots had been off okay,
so he had done a great job of challenging them,
but in this game, like the runners were automatic from him.
That was special. He was just doing everything offensively at
such an extremely high level and was at his absolute
best in the clutch. So it is a shame the

(14:46):
Denver doesn't come out of this game with a win,
considering that Jokic was that monumentally great. But I do
think that it's just such a testament to oksee. I mean,
they score on every possession down the stretch, like it's
incredibly difficult to beat a team when they do that.
Denver had to be perfect, and Jokic was, but his
teammates were not. And that's where I do agree he
was absolutely let down. Now, I thought that Jamal was

(15:09):
on his way to one of those special Jamal Murray
that third quarter or third quarter, you just look at
him and you're like, oh, man, he is locked in.
And when he is locked in, he just needs that
sliver of separation and there's really not anything you can
do about it. That's what makes the Murray Yokic pick
and roll so unstoppable when Jamal is at his best, Like,
you can't blitz it because you're not gonna give Yokic

(15:31):
a four on three. You're not gonna give Jokic a
free floater off the rolls. So if he could just
get a little bit of separation coming around that screen,
he can be automatic on those pull up jumpers. And
he was. But then, as you said, in the fourth quarter,
he really cooled down. But at the end of the day,
I mean, he is certainly not the culprit Russell Westbrook
one of seven from the field. Oh of three from Deep,

(15:51):
and let me tell you it was a bad. Oh
of three from Deep. I think two of those were airballs.
Christian Brown two of eight from Deep, Michael Porter Junior
oh with five from Deep, Aaron Gordon one of five
from Deep, Peyton Watson one of three from deep. I
thought we got a lot of Peyton Watson in this game.
It's a great effort places.

Speaker 1 (16:08):
But I really like Peyton Watson man, but.

Speaker 3 (16:12):
He does a lot of good.

Speaker 1 (16:13):
It's such a he is an awesome energy guy. I
would not I don't mind having Peyton Watson in the rotation.
I can honestly deal with some of his offensive limitations.
He is an awesome just you need guys like that
on your basketball team that are just gonna come out
there and play super hard and give everything they've got.
I feel like Peyton Watson just leaves everything he's got

(16:35):
on the floor, and I really admire and appreciate that
in him. He's always going one hundred and ten percent.

Speaker 3 (16:41):
He's an absolute dog, and he comes up with three
offensive rebounds and two steals in this game, like he
was making the effort plays. The thing is in that spot,
they really needed somebody who could knock down an outside shot,
and they didn't have it.

Speaker 1 (16:55):
MPJ has been and like I do feel for the
guy with the shoulder injury. I mean, it's just hard
dealing with injury like that, especially what any injury period
is hard to deal with, but specifically the injury that
mpj's dealing with where he's you know, they're saying he
struggling putting his arms over his head, and that's a
brutal I mean, especially when your primary value is a
jump shooter. So yeah, I do feel for him, but

(17:17):
it just sucks, man. And that is where I would
be critical of of Denver's roster building in terms of
just versatility and having guys to turn to, like for example,
and this isn't a perfect one to one comp but
this archetype like just a catch and shooter, Like you know,
it would have been nice if Denver could have put
in even like a Sam Merrill, right, like I'll use
the calves and their depth as an example, or just

(17:39):
like a reliable shooter man, like they just don't have.

Speaker 3 (17:42):
Strather's the closest thing that's act to that. And he
gets some minutes in this game, but still not a
guy you want to be playing big playoff minutes, MPJ.
And this sucks to say because, like you have to
understand the context of the injury, but he very well.
Maybe the difference between Denver being up in the series
and Denver losing this series last two games, both of

(18:03):
which have gone down to the wire. He has given
you five points on two a fourteen shooting, and it's
been to struggle these entire playoffs. And obviously when you
have an ac joint sprain, like, yeah, it's going to
really affect your shooting. But like you said, that is
just so overwhelmingly where his value comes from. It is
from being one of the best jump shooters on the
planet at his size, such a lethal weapon, playing off

(18:26):
of the Yokich Murray two man game and off of
Jokic doubles. When he can't make those shots and he's
giving you fifty one percent true shooting in these playoffs
nine points per game, then all of the other issues
that he has become a bigger deal and we've talked about.
He's not going to be as consistently engaged defensively and
on the glass. He's not a high IQ basketball player.

(18:46):
He's out there to make shots at a special level,
and he has been flat out incapable of doing that
in these playoffs.

Speaker 1 (18:51):
And what sucks too, is when you look at Denver's
lineups together, it's compounded because a lot of their players
that they rely on that you know, aren't the Big four.
They all have that general same archetype and same shortcomings, right,
Like Brown isn't the most reliable shooter, like Gordon isn't either.

(19:11):
I know he's forty percent this year. He's been great
as a shooter, but.

Speaker 3 (19:15):
I do think he's pretty damn reliable at this point.

Speaker 1 (19:17):
Yeah, I shouldn't let him in. You're right, I shouldn't
lump him in with these guys. But it's like Brown, Westbrook, Watson,
and so it's.

Speaker 3 (19:24):
True, it's not true. They've always had to play one
of those guys big minutes and they're not reliable.

Speaker 1 (19:30):
Oh and it's just also what I was gonna say
is it's just redundant too, right, it's harder playing those
guys together, Like because you could go, I want Peyton
Watson out there in for MPJ. But it's like, what's
stopping Oklahoma City from just like clogging the lane up
and throwing four guys at Jokic because you're not afraid
any of those guys punishing you. So Denver's just got

(19:50):
to address that. Man. You know, I'm not ready to
write them off in this series by any means. I
would never count out Jokic. I just this game really
reinstilled a lot faith in me with Jokic that he
can get back to this level no matter the circumstances,
because it had been a disastrous series for the most
part outside of Game one leading up to this. And

(20:11):
this gives me a little bit more confidence that Denver
could push this seven. And that is where I think
it's gonna happen. Man, I think Denver's gonna, oh, send
this the distance.

Speaker 3 (20:20):
I do interesting, it's hard to win in Denver. It's
probably the biggest home court advantage that we have in
this league. Home court advantage hasn't been a thing in
these playoffs. Home teams are like basically exactly five hundred.
But when you have to go play at fifty two
to eighty with a very very passionate crowd, like I
do think that it has more of an.

Speaker 1 (20:38):
Action shout out sorry, let's cut you off, shout out
okay c's home field or home court advantage. I love
the I don't know, I kind of get like a
euro League or like a euro Basketball field when they
all got the shirts on in the sections and they're
just they're rowdy, man. I like Okac fans, man, they
get they're really passionate. They're really loud. Uh, it's a

(20:59):
it's also a hard environment to play. I want to
give them credit for being loud too. Man.

Speaker 3 (21:03):
Oh, absolutely, it's a phenomenal, phenomenal atmosphere. Jokic was so
so great in this game. Can he replicate it? I mean,
I think that he's the best offensive player ever, so maybe,
but the last few games were a real struggle. Now,
I did think that he made a couple of changes
in this game that make a meaningful difference. First of all, obviously,
him being able to hit the three is just absolutely

(21:26):
game changing because you see him weaponize the threat of
the jump shot into a couple of fouls where he
gets to the line late in this game. But he
has been living out on the perimeter and from beyond
the arc more than you would like if you're a
Nuggets fan. But that's because every single post touch he
is seeing a baseline double from the thunder and oftentimes
it's chet Holgern, who is just extremely disruptive as a

(21:47):
rimp protector. And if it's not him, it's gonna be
Sga or Caruso or somebody who was like psychotically active
going after the ball. They've made life so damn hard
on him in the paint as an interior scorer, where
he's normally at his best, and so he'd been relying
on the three ball more but it was off. When
he makes five of seven threes, that changes so much
and that opens up more for him in all facets

(22:08):
of his game. So that's really really big if he
has found the jumper and he found the touch, so
the shot making was just flat out better. I also
thought he was really aggressive a couple times when he
saw single coverage. There was one Caruso switch where they
didn't double and he backed him down from like eighteen
feet and just got right to a little easy hook.
There was another possession where he had Hertenstein basically in
single coverage. Wiggins was coming to double him from the nail,

(22:32):
but he just turned over his left shoulder, got to
a lefty hook and was able to get a clean
look off. He really has not been willing to turn
to that left shoulder get that specific shot off, So
that's valuable to see from him, even though it's only
one possession. That being said, man, I do think that
OKC is just better, and like it's not by a
big margin. I want to be clear, this Denver team

(22:53):
is a completely different beast from what we saw in
the regular season because of the level that they're defending at,
like they are a serious act defensive team, and that
changes so much and it makes them a team that
is a threat to win the title. That being said,
when you lose two of the four clutch games against
the team that I do think is more talented, that
I do think has more margin, that I do think

(23:14):
has significantly better depth, that I do think has significantly
better role players, that I would bet to win the
non superstar minutes, and they do again in this one.
The Nuggets are actually I think that they played even
in the non superstar minutes, but you expect them overall
to win those minutes. Like it's really hard to win
in Denver. But this game was the roadmap for Denver

(23:38):
to winning this series or last game. And we've been
in four clutch games out of five now, so there's
a good chance that they do get another one.

Speaker 1 (23:45):
That's why I think it's gonna be Titan. I'm just
I thought this was still like a relatively down game
from j dub Yeah, you know, like I don't know,
I'm just not ready to completely write off Denver, Like
I think MBJ could have a balance back game. Maybe
Rush shoots a little better, Brown Gordon shoot a little better,

(24:06):
like and if Jokic. The most important thing is the
Yokic is confident and on. I mean, I don't think
you can ever expect, even as great as Yokic is,
expecting him to replicate this performance again, I think would
be yeah, a lot, you know, but Yolkic can give
you another great game. And as long as this three
point touches on, as long as he's aggressive and confident,

(24:28):
then I'd give him a chance. I mean, that's that's
the fundamental basis. And I really like the level they've
been defending at. Like you mentioned, I think some things
can swing back in their favor. And uh, I just
think all these games are gonna be tight. Man. These
are two great basketball teams, and I just expect every
game to kind of come down to the wire and
who is gonna grab it when it's in the balance late.

(24:50):
They're the best series. You know, these type of series,
in my opinion, of the best when you do get
a lot of games like this, when it's who's gonna
who's gonna step up? To the plate and tonight it
was OK see. But and I think Murray can be
better too. Carson, you mentioned that stretch, Dude, I wrote
that down immediately when Murray was going, I was like,
oh shit, man, Murray's about to hit that mode. He's

(25:11):
about to hit playoff Murray mode. I think he could
be better down the stretch too. Man. I expected a
little bit more out of Jamal, So I just don't know. Man,
It's a toss up. I think these teams are so balanced.
I'm still rocking with my original prediction Thunder and seven.
I think they get it done on their home floor.
But I trust Denver to handle business at home, and
I do think home court's a big deal for Denver,

(25:33):
and I expect another big Jokic game. So I'm gonna
take Denver in six. But it sounds like to me
you're on OKC side.

Speaker 3 (25:41):
I mean for Game six specifically, I don't have a
strong opinion. I do think that OKC is gonna win
the series. I wouldn't write Denver off. I just think
it would require Jokic rising to like such an absolutely
special level. And my take on this series is if
the Superstars play not even necessarily to a draw. But

(26:02):
if SGA plays up to his potential and SGA plays
great basketball, the Thunder will win a clear majority of
the games under those circumstances, especially when spot up shooters
actually look comfortable and are knocking down the good looks
that they're getting.

Speaker 1 (26:18):
Do you think that's the largest gap between these teams?

Speaker 3 (26:20):
I do the shooting, Yeah, it's probably just the defensive personnel.
I mean, just the speed that Okay See has. The
collective line.

Speaker 1 (26:30):
Don't necessarily mean that it's been reflected in the results,
But I think that's like the biggest gap when I
look at these teams skills, it's a big gest Like
Oklahoma City has a myriad of guys that they can
turn to that are really great shooters, and Denver just doesn't.

Speaker 3 (26:44):
Oh overall depth, I think is probably the biggest difference. Specifically,
shooting is up there. And like Denver obviously shot a
high percentage from three, but they were the second lowest
volume three point shooting team in the league. And Christian
Brown is a fake for two percent three point shooter.
He's not somebody who you consistently trust. Russell Westbrook, they
can talk about his percentages from the corners all they want,

(27:06):
and he's had some big shooting games in these playoffs,
but he is highly erratic and he is not dependable
in that role. Okay see. I mean it had been
a slog for them shooting the three in games three
and four, but they did bounce back, and this is
just a massive swing game to go their way, for
everything to go right for them down the stretch, and
for Denver to feel like they had this one and

(27:27):
Jokic got to that level and they couldn't pull it out.
It does feel significant emotionally, Not that I think Denver
is going to be like down on their luck and
that they're going to have any quid in them. That
would really surprise me. They are former champions and they
are fucking playing like it in this series. It's more
significant for okay see, I think to feel like, Okay,
we belong in these clutch spots. We can get the

(27:48):
job done, we can make the right decisions, we can
knock down the shots. That's what I think is really significant.
I do want to give a couple of quick shoutouts
to some more thunder. Alex Caruso, once again just one
of the dudes on the floor who looks totally comfortable
and confident stepping into and knocking down shots off the
catch all the while he makes some disruptive plays as
usual defensively, not his best game defensively, just because he's

(28:10):
had some absolute gems, but really good Chet I thought
was really good in this game, very efficient knocks down
one to three. Wasn't forcing a bunch of attempts from
beyond the arc, though, which I'm okay with, because he
hasn't been super comfortable, super good as a shooter in
this series whatsoever. He'd been bad as a three point
shooter coming into this one. But I thought that he

(28:31):
was doing all of the stuff around that. I thought
that he was phenomenal in the dunker spot and cutting.
I thought that he was really smart playing off the ball,
and then he was able to use his half court
skill in a couple spots. I mean, he dusted Aaron
Gordon off the bounce and got to a dunk. He
had a great take versus Jamal Murray for an and one.
He was handling well, he was under control, he was

(28:52):
aggressive finishing at the rim, and then he was just
sensational protecting the rim on the other side. My god,
He is just absolute, lutely incredible interior defender and rim
protecting talent. I also thought that Isaiah Hartenstein was really
good in this one. I thought that he came up
with a couple of big rebounds. I thought that he
was able to find the push shot a little bit. Oh,

(29:12):
we have a beautiful chet to iHeart bag to Big Lob,
which I can't forget. That also got me absolutely bricked.
I love those moments more than anything. But it really
was a nice collective performance from OKC down the stretch though.
It's just Shay rising to that special level. Now he's
got to maintain this because, like I said, this series
has been peaks and valleys for him. You have Game

(29:33):
two where he looks totally in control, and then you
have Game three where it's like a complete reversal and
he looks totally uncomfortable. And this game, again, there was
a real two sided performance from him. The first quarter
was very, very different from the fourth quarter. So he
has to be consistent. But if he is, if OKC
shoots up to their level, I do think that they

(29:53):
are the better team. But shout out to denver Man.
I do think that they're the biggest threat to OKC
in the West, maybe in the field at this point,
with Cleveland going down and obviously having their injury stuff,
with Boston about to go down now that Tatum is out,
I don't know if there's a scarier team that OKC
could face. I think that Indiana is great, Minnesota, Minnesota

(30:14):
is really good, and I think that Minnesota is a
tough matchup for OKC in a different way than Denver is.
But like when Denver is playing at the level of
like a fringe top ten defense and they're bringing a scheme,
I think Menejo is very well designed to challenge you,
really I do. I don't know. I think it's close.
I think it's close.

Speaker 1 (30:34):
I think Minnesota can just establish their brand of basketball
man and the level that Randall's been at, the level
that Ant's been able to reach in the second half
of these games. Now, it's gonna be interesting because it's
obviously a different matchup, right like and against some of
the elite perimter defenders in basketball, two really high level
rim protectors, Like I think it's gonna be a big
prove it series for Ant in a lot of ways

(30:55):
and Randall two. But I think Minnesota poses an interesting
and they don't have that same depth issue that the
Denver has. You know, they've got a lot of guys
they can turn to. So I actually would say Minnesota, man,
I think they probably pose a little bit more of
an interesting threat to okay See, like I think, and
it's not close. I think all these teams are really close.
I think I'm gonna pick that series if we get

(31:16):
it between either team, probably to go seven as well,
like get his neck and neck. But I wouldn't sleep
on Minnesota, man. I've been super impressed with them.

Speaker 3 (31:25):
I haven't been super impressed with them in this series
against the Warriors. I think that they're getting a little
too much praise for playing against a team that is
extremely extremely limited. Now, I have been super impressed by Randall.
I do think that in these last couple of games
has found a really high level, and I think that
Minnesota is a perfectly good choice. In fact, coming into
this series, I said I thought that Minnesota was the
biggest threat to Oksee in the West. But Denver's been

(31:47):
defending at a really impressive level for the entire playoffs
now for two series, and when they are doing that,
their offense scares me a hell of a lot more
than Minnesota's, even though I think Minnesota's offense is good,
like they have Nico Yokic and still Okay. So he
has found a way to give them major trouble and
to figure things out enough on the offensive end to
move forward and take a huge three to two lead.

(32:08):
We have some super chats, Indie Merchant, Sam, thank you
for another generous donation. Jokic might just be the goat
good god, incredible.

Speaker 1 (32:17):
Yeah, pretty much.

Speaker 3 (32:19):
I'm going to go through and see where I think
that this ranks among his best playoff games ever. Logan
entertain the people for a moment, say something about Jokic.
Glaize Jokic.

Speaker 1 (32:32):
Dude, I love him. He's my favorite player to watch.
He might be dude, Jokic is so nice.

Speaker 3 (32:38):
Yeah, man, I think that this has gotta be in
the top three. I think the game five against Minnesota,
as I said, takes the cake. Yeah, honestly, I think that.
I thought of all the Lakers games, boy, he had
some great games against the Lakers. The game where he
went thirty four to twenty one and four against the

(33:00):
Lakers when he.

Speaker 1 (33:01):
Met the Sun's game. Where do you put that.

Speaker 3 (33:03):
One when he had fifty three Game three of that series.
That's up there as well, top five.

Speaker 1 (33:11):
It's so crazy, man. Jokis just I don't know if
I've ever seen a player make the game look as
effortless when he's got it going as Jokic does. Man,
he makes it look so easy, like you know what
I mean, Like hey, Lebron, MJ like all these legends,
like they make the game. Jokic just makes the game
look so easy when he's on. Man, it looks like
he's it's so simple, man, It's it's amazing, it is.

Speaker 3 (33:37):
Joel West says, Jokic used the last of Denver's Devil
Voodoo on that nasty turnaround three. That's just what he does. Man.
As crazy as it is, He's done that too many
times in the playoffs to call it devil voodoo.

Speaker 1 (33:51):
Yo just believes he can make every shot and then
he does.

Speaker 3 (33:55):
Yeah, it's crazy. End of the shot clock, dude. When
he put that up, I literally said fuck it. Why
I said that out loud to myself on the couch.
Nobody was with me, but it was just like at
that point in the game, everything was going in for
both teams, and I just had a feeling man. So
Gabriel says, what do you all think changed in Joker's
offensive process day for him to bounce back? Or did
he simply lock in? I think that we've discussed that
at this point, But thank you Gabriel for the generous donation.

(34:17):
Is there anything else you want to add?

Speaker 1 (34:18):
Logan, Yeah, I mean I do think he locked in,
but I think the majority of it had him to
do with just being aggressive, being confident and looking for
his shot. He had been a little bit more, a
little passive in some of these last couple of games.
And also I thought he did a much better job
of just protecting the basketball. He'd just got an uncharacteristically
reckless and just out of control, you know, in terms

(34:40):
of where I expect Jokic to be. But he did
lock in. You know, in this life, Carson, you're either
tweaking or you're locked in. And you don't want to
be tweaking.

Speaker 3 (34:48):
No, you definitely don't want to be tweaking, and he
was locked in. I agree with what you said. I
also just think the shot making got better for him,
and I do think that like he knows what he's
looking for now right, he knows where the doubles are
com from. And so even though Okac is still executing
the scheme very very effectively and it's given him a
lot of trouble in games two through four, there's a
little bit more experience against it, which I think made

(35:11):
him a little bit more prepared for this game. Maui says,
Chet being hunted all game with the lack of strength
and weight health concern you have to be an elite
shooter like Katie. To be elite, Denver easily win with
healthy MPJ Maui, I always appreciate your generous donations. I
don't know why you hate Chet Holmgren so much, and
it's just not true. The only guy who was trying
to get Chet off of switches is Niko Jokic because
he's two hundred and eighty pounds.

Speaker 1 (35:33):
Yeah, hunted is kind of crazy. I mean, Chet had
some ridiculous blocks in this game and just he did
those moments.

Speaker 3 (35:39):
Also the number of times where Jamal has gone at
the rim and just been like ah shit man mid air,
and he's also had some incredible finishes. But like against Chet,
you either have to do something special to finish, or
you have to pass out or you're going to travel
or miss badly. Like he's he's our best technical rim
protector in basketball. I do think he's the best pure

(35:59):
rim protect Yeah, he's insane, dude, He's absolutely crazy, and
I'm gonna find Chets rim protection numbers in these playoffs.

Speaker 1 (36:06):
I was also kind of impressed with chet in this
game offensively too. I thought some of this stuff, him
getting to the rim, him being aggressive like Chets, it's
it's freaky when Check gets going offensively like that and
it doesn't look natural. It looks it really looks freakish.

Speaker 3 (36:21):
He's an alien, bro, He's an alien. Chet Holmgrin in
these playoffs is holding opposing players to forty six percent
shooting at the rim, So that's nineteen percent below their
average after he held them nineteen percent below their average
in the regular season. Keep in mind, that's the best
number I've ever seen posted in a season. Like people
always focus on the weight with Chet, When you are

(36:42):
seven foot one with a seven to five wingspan and
you have perfect timing, perfect instincts as a shot blocker,
you're consistently vertical, like, you can't score over that. It's
been super hard for Jokic to score over him, especially
when he's the back line defender. He has given him
a ton of troubles, so thank you again. May stop
with the chet hate chet is that dude, Patrick robertson

(37:04):
Nuggets fans, let's chill on the SGA is nothing but
a foulbator. Yoll kicch was shamelessly foul hunting in the
fourth quarter and y'all have no comment on it. It's
a fair point yell kids grifted his way to the
line twice and the Jay Will one was just not
a foul.

Speaker 1 (37:16):
There's a lot of players I just I just want
refs to stop rewarding it, like there are so many
like little let him play ball. I hate the interruptions
to the game, the way it slows it down, Like
there's a lot of interruptions already in the game, sometimes
just inadvertently, and that's just an actual one. And it's weird, man.
I beginning of these playoffs, I really felt like they

(37:36):
were doing a good job of letting teams play and
get really physical, and now that we've gotten deeper, I
feel like some of these games the rest have kind
of reverted to old tendencies and blown on that whistle
a little more.

Speaker 3 (37:51):
Yoll Kich is definitely not somebody who I would classify
as a foulbator. To be clear, I think that he
generally gets a pretty tough whistle. I think that he's
allowed to unleash a lot of physicality, so think a
ton of physicality is allowed against him. And for the
rate at which he scores in the paint, his free
throw rate is lower than you would expect, certainly, So
I definitely don't think that he's the guy who anybody
should try to make like the face of falbating. That

(38:12):
being said, I don't think that SGA is either. And
this is like as pure of a scoring game as
you're gonna get, bro. I had somebody reply, and I
shouldn't even look at my Twitter replies, but I did
for this one. After I talked about this special game
down the stretch and they were like, falbat or SGA,
can't respect it? Brother. That was nothing but pure buckets
down the stretch, nothing but pure buckets. And guess what.
This is one of the greatest shot making guards we've

(38:33):
ever seen. This is a guy who is unparalleled in
his proficiency at the rim among guards. This is a
guy who is unparalleled in his proficiency from the mid range.
This is a guy who this year was unparalleled in
his efficiency out of pick and roll and isolation. This
is a special bucket getter, a guy who was special
at putting the ball in the basket in the field
of play. He shot four actual free throws today before

(38:56):
they just intentionally fouled him at the end. So yeah,
get the fuck out of here with that. Nothing against
you could obviously my offensive goat. But respect Shay because
he is also incredible and this was a huge, huge
performance from him. Man, these playoffs from him have not
been as seamless as I would have liked and as
I would have hoped, And this game wasn't even but
in the biggest moments, the biggest moment of his career

(39:17):
legitimately was that fourth quarter, and holy shit, did he
rise to the occasion. Enough about this game, even though
I could talk about it all day, But biggest win
the Thunder have had in a long time, in a
long time, maybe since going to the twenty twelve finals.
Like obviously they went up three to one against the
Warriors in twenty sixteen, didn't get the job done. That

(39:38):
was a very big win. But to do it with
this generation, with this corps to be here so fast,
even though that was the expectation, Like just seeing them
actually rise to the challenge of Denver when Yolkic is
at their best and they're at their best defensively, like,
it was still a moment. It was a real moment
for them, and I'm very, very excited to see where
they go from here, and I'm proud of the fellas.
We're gonna take a quick break, then we will talk

(39:59):
about the Pacers advancing and we will talk about what's
next for the Cavs after some quick words from DraftKings.
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Speaker 3 (42:52):
The Indiana Pacers logan are advancing to their second consecutive
Eastern Conference Finals. They come out with a clutch win
over the Cleveland Cavaliers. What do you have to say
about them? Indiana Pacers getting the job done.

Speaker 1 (43:07):
Back to back Eastern Conference Finals appearances for this team,
and I think we need to rain a little bit
more praise on the boy Tyrese Halliburton. Man, he's one
of the best offensive engines in basketball.

Speaker 3 (43:18):
You're speaking my language, code Cook.

Speaker 1 (43:20):
They tried to say this dude was overrated, and I
love it, man, because I think Halle has taken that
chip on his shoulder and proven himself in a big way.
I mean, how many clutch moments and just how many
times he had to come through and what I really
liked in this game and what I really hope to
see more from Halliburton as he ascends, because I think

(43:42):
Halliburton's arguably a superstar already. I would argue with the
level of success that he has had, his accolades, but
most importantly the team's success. The fact that now this
is back to back ec F appearances, which is not easy.
The Pacers haven't done this since twenty thirteen and twenty fourteen.
And I just think that if we really see him

(44:03):
get to this consistent level of aggression, that he is
going to be widely considered. I think that tends to
get overblown with him, but it was noticeable in this
game how aggressive he was. Man. You know, he gives
you a thirty piece in this game. But also Halliburton
just so consistently makes the right decision down the floor.
And we always talk about that, but I think it

(44:24):
might be you know, we always talk about undervalued archetypes Carson,
like the defensive big and stuff like that. I mean,
I think one of the most underrated like intangibles is
just decision making or are you going to make the
right decision down the floor. And Halliburton, that's why I
loved him when he was a young player in Sacramento. Man,
the seamless fit and I didn't see this kind of

(44:46):
ability for him, but he was always brilliant and just
so smart and it just works. And I want to
give a lot of credit to Indiana as a collective,
to just this team and the shooting that they have,
and all of them make really great decisions. But Halliburton
is the reason that this offense is great, that this
team is great, and that they are going to back
to back Eastern Conference finals. Man, recognize Halliburton needs to

(45:08):
be fully appreciated, and I think he's done that in
these playoffs. Man, I think that a lot of people
are gonna have to uh respect him. Dude. He dominated
the Caves down to stretch and it sucks for them
because they're not at full strength. And we'll talk about
that in a second, but I think people have got
to start respecting and recognizing that Tyrese Haliburton is one
of the best offensive engines in basketball. Man.

Speaker 3 (45:30):
You're apprecirom the choir, and I would add on to that,
just recognizing that the Indiana Pacers are one of the
absolute best.

Speaker 1 (45:35):
Teams in the league. Cannot correct some them. Last episode
we did the Cleveland versus India, Indiana versus who is
the third offense?

Speaker 3 (45:44):
The Knicks the Knicks.

Speaker 1 (45:46):
I'm I was still having New York above Cleveland. I'm
okay with that one. I would put Indiana above everybody else, Okay.

Speaker 3 (45:54):
I think that Indiana is certainly a better offense than
the Knicks. As I said, I also think that the
Caves when they're right, when they're healthy, are absolutely a
better offense than the Knicks. We already talked about this.
But they have a lot more creation because they have
multiple elite guard creators. They have more ball handling from
the perimeter. In general, they have a lot more three
point shooting. They were top three and threes made end
three point percentage. I think that they're a better collective
ball movement team. I think they're a better collective cutting team.

(46:18):
I think that they have better play finishing. I think
that they have fewer non threats offensively compared to the Knicks.
I think that they have better depth. I think that
the Caves are a.

Speaker 1 (46:26):
Better offense threat.

Speaker 3 (46:27):
Josh Hart, Josh Hart, Mitch Robinson like really limited offensive players.
None of those guys see the floor. For the Caves,
everybody is an offensive weapon in some way. For them.
It's a special offense. But the Pacers are a special offense.
My god. I mean, they have been the most reliably
great offense in this postseason, and they've just been an
excellent basketball team for three quarters of the year. Now,

(46:48):
I read off these numbers after Game four, but they're
forty five and fifteen in their last sixty games with
Tyrese Haliburton. Since that slow start, they have been playing
at better than a sixty win pace. And it kind
of cracks me up when I see these takes about
the paces of people being like, oh, they have devil
magic or they get LUCKI or whatever, because like, that's

(47:09):
just crazy to me. When I watched the Indiana Pacers,
I don't see a team that's getting lucky. I see
a team with the most consistently great offense in basketball,
that shares the ball better than anybody else, that gets
easy offense in transition more consistently than anybody else, that
capitalizes on defense's laps, is more consistently than anybody else,
that's as deep as anybody. Like. They were the number

(47:32):
one playoff offense last year, they're the number two playoff
offense this year. That's not a coincidence. That's not a fluke.
That's not devil magic. That's great basketball. And the guy
who drives it is Tyre's Halliburn, who was just absolutely
sensational today and really kept them in the game in
the first half. He was five of six from deep

(47:52):
in that first half and was just targeting Jared Allen relentlessly,
who has had a really, really difficult time guarding Tyre's
Halliburton in this series. I mean, he's gotten abused off
of switches a number of times by Halle, But four
of Halliburton's threes in the first half came when he
went at Jared Allen. One was off of switch one

(48:13):
versus Allan playing drop because he had gotten toasted off
the switch and then two of them were off of
defensive miscommunications where it looked like Alan wanted to play drop,
but I think it was Garland wanted to switch, and
so Hallie just walked into an open pull up three.
The other one, Siakam, came and said a flare screen.
Alan just seemed oblivious to it. I don't know what
was going on with Jared Allen today. I thought he
was spacey. I thought he was out of it, and honestly,

(48:34):
I thought it was kind of an unacceptable performance from
him in a do or die game. But Halle had
his way with Jared Allen all series. But also like, yes,
he's gonna dazzle you with some of those moments on ball,
with his shot making, with his scoring, but it's the
all around offensive impact with him. It's the versatility. He's
great playing off the catch and so he can fit
into your offensive attack seamlessly and be so efficient there.

(48:56):
He blew by ty Jerome a couple times in this game,
and then he's weaponizing his scoring threat to create great
shots for his teammates. They started blitzing him in this game.
Down the stretch. You can't blitz Tyrese Haliburton he's too
good a decision maker, he's too good a passer, and
the offensive pieces around him are too good, Like they're
gonna take advantage of that consistently. So once again, man,
he just gets you great shot after great shot. And

(49:19):
if you don't get his impact by now, you just
aren't paying attention and you are just way late to
the party.

Speaker 1 (49:26):
Man.

Speaker 3 (49:26):
It's not always going to show up in the box score.
It absolutely did tonight, but in terms of the team results,
in terms of the shot quality that he gets you,
possession after possession, if that's him scoring the basketball, if
that's him drawing too, if that's him collapsing the defense
and kicking out, and maybe he doesn't get the assist,
maybe it's a hockey assist. You're gonna get a really
good shot when Hallie is on the floor and he's

(49:47):
dictating your offense. And then he's also going to fit
in and be selfless and just like, what a beautiful
offensive basketball player, what a special offensive talent. I was
thinking today, there's a lot of parallels between Tyre's Halliburton
and Reggie Miller. Now obviously they play basketball very differently,
but you got two pacers greats both of whom are
very unique offensive geniuses and offensive engines. And because of that,

(50:12):
I think if they get misunderstood and they get underrated
a lot, because like neither of their impact is going
to be fully captured in the box score. With Reggie,
it was his hyper efficiency as a scorer. It was
his elite, unparalleled shooting threat at the top, He's unmatched
off ball movement like, he was constantly stressing defenses, drawing
too away from the ball, Like think about the guy

(50:32):
who basically originated gravity as we know it. That was
consistently creating easier offense for his teammates, and that's why
the Pacers were an automatic top eight offense for a
decade With Reggie Miller, even as the personnel around him
sort of shifted in and out, he was that consistent,
great offensive engine. With Halle, I've talked about it's not
always volume scoring, it's not always even necessarily crazy assist numbers,

(50:55):
although the assist numbers are consistently high. It's that flawless
decision making and the ability to always put you in
excellent offensive positions in the half court in transition, pushing pace,
being as efficient as he is out of every play type,
the on ball value, the off ball value. Neither of
them are going to have, like the consistent nights where
they're scoring thirty. Like even Reggie, his scoring volume wasn't

(51:17):
necessarily insane, but the efficiency, the value of it was,
So I was just thinking about that. Man. It's kind
of fitting unfortunately that, like the Pacers, would be underestimated
because this is a franchise that's consistently been really damn
good man since nineteen ninety. They've made the playoffs twenty
seven times. Only the Spurs have made it more. That's
insanely impressive to do as a small market, and yet

(51:39):
they never really get that love. They never really get
that attention, And unfortunately, I think the same is true
for their best players. But I appreciate them and I
love them both, and I think they're both wildly underrated,
Reggie and Halley.

Speaker 1 (51:49):
Yeah, they're both polarizing too, I mean.

Speaker 3 (51:51):
And very true, and they both like to talk some shit.

Speaker 1 (51:54):
Yeahgie, Reggie shaped defenses man or defense has shaped their
coverages around Reggie. And the thing with Halle is it's
like when you're dealing with a good decision maker. That's
what sucks about playing him is He's always gonna make
you pick your poison and Halliburton's gonna go with the
other thing, and he's gonna kill you with that, and
it's really hard to stop. I kind of would equate

(52:15):
Halliburton closer to like a Steve Nash type, just in
the sense that, like you know, oh absolutely again, like
the box score just isn't fully gonna really represent all
that they're doing offensively and on the court, and they're
so consistently great and smart situationally, like these guys are
just masterminds of basketball that always understand the situation. They

(52:37):
know where the advantage is gonna be, they know where
the opportunity is, like just little stuff like pushing the
ball in fast breakopera. I think Halliburton's the best at
dead in basketball, like those hit ahead passes and finding
guys on the break when the defense isn't set up,
like you know, Jokic is great too, and there's some
other guys, but Halley to me is the best. And
Indiana generates more points off that I feel like than

(52:58):
anybody else that I watch, and Hallie's awesome, man, And
I'm you know, I was wrong because I doubted the
Pacers too, But I do feel a little bit vindicated
just about Halliburton and how we viewed him as a player,
that he's done this in back to back seasons now,
and I want to put a lot of these point
guard conversations to bed. I'm so dead ass, but I

(53:20):
don't want to talk about these anymore. I don't want
to talk about Halle versus John Morant at all. I'm
completely done. I'm over that. I don't want to talk
Halliburton versus the Aaron Fox at all anymore. I said
that back when they did the Halliburton Fox trade that
I would rather have Halliburton for the future, and I
feel like I've been proven right in that. Like I
feel like Halliburton has very clearly cemented himself in the

(53:43):
upper echelon of lead guards, even from a Tree Young
or a Kid Cunningham, who are both great basketball players.
I think he is in this Brunson Steph tier where
he belongs. And I mean it.

Speaker 3 (53:57):
Does not Steph tier.

Speaker 1 (54:00):
Is it's in the East, closer th that Brunton tier.
But I'm saying all of those guys are relatively close
among the best point guards in basketball. Like it's I
would still take Brunson, but it's like Steph Brunson, Howe,
and you know, like Luca.

Speaker 3 (54:13):
I just think STEP's in a different tier from those guys.
I think his offensive impact is still historic, and I
think all you have to do is watch the Warriors
without him this year and they're eighty eight offensive rating.

Speaker 1 (54:23):
Without him in the playoffs guards in basket, That's all
I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (54:25):
I agree, I think he's top five. I mean, we
ranked our top thirty players not too long ago, and
there's some things on that list that I wish I
could change my placement. If Tyre's aliburn is not one
of them, maybe I would want to move him up
with a spot or two. But I had him at number eighteen,
so the only point guards who I had above him
were Shay, Luca, Steph and Brunson. And I think that

(54:46):
with the consistent elite team offensive results that he turns out,
that's very appropriate in terms of just like as a
building block who I can build around. There's so many
different archetypes that can thrive alongside Halle. He can play
with other ball handling guards and be excell because of
his off ball value. Any sort of play finisher is
going to thrive alongside him, shooters at rim finishing bigs.

(55:07):
He's gonna get everybody so much easy offense because he
plays with pace at such an incredibly high level. So
I agree. I think a lot of those conversations have
been silly, and we've been consistent with our pro halle stance.
But I saw a great tweet the other day somebody
was basically like, Hallie's just going to keep leading the
Pacers to fifty win seasons and Eastern Conference Finals appearances,
and people are going to keep proposing like various versions

(55:29):
of would you rather with him? Against like different iterations
of Dejonte Murray, just like dudes who are gonna maybe
put up bigger box score numbers.

Speaker 1 (55:36):
Oh ridiculous. Man.

Speaker 3 (55:38):
Well, I think maybe it stops, you know, maybe it
stops if he gets into the finals, and that could
change the narrative. But we have seen that people were
debating Austin Reeves versus Tyree taliburt in a couple months ago. Yeah,
a lot of people just don't get it. But now
I think you have to get it, and if you're
watching the Pacers, I think that you get it. I
do want to give props to everybody though, because it's
always a collective effort. With Indiana, their depth is so special.

(56:00):
Their entire starting five is so well rounded. Miles Turner's
rim protection was just incredible in this game. He has
four blocks, and I thought made it exceedingly difficult for
Cleveland to score at the rim and in the paint.

Speaker 1 (56:13):
Dude, I thought Indiana's a shutout Miles. I think he's great.
I thought Indiana's transitioned defense in this game was excellent.

Speaker 3 (56:19):
God, dude, And to be fair, like the one play
that sticks out in my mind is when Donovan Mitchell
like fully slows up he's got a breakaway lay up
and then I think it's Miles Turner who comes in
and blocks that shot. But I thought that their transition
defense was excellent. I totally agree. And that's where the
Cavs were like trying to get out and find some
easy offense to get back into this game because their

(56:40):
half court offense was not looking good and Indiana did
a great job of preventing that. But this is just
the best defensively Miles Turner's ever played. I think it's
the best basketball he's ever played. Two and a half
blocks a game in these playoffs, holding players six percent
below their average at the rim. Really really good two
way stuff for mim me. It's a couple of big
shots as well. Nemhard hits a couple big shots as
he always does, giving you fifteen point six assists a

(57:03):
game on sixty three percent true shooting in these playoffs.
What an absolute dog. He has a big and one
over Garland to basically put this game to bed. Siakam
was pretty good. Like it's a special group, man, It's
a special offense, and it has been for a couple
of years. But with their collective defensive improvement and buy in,
and that includes everybody. Hallie makes another huge defensive play
that leads to a breakaway lay up late in this game,

(57:25):
and he's made a number of clutch defensive plays in
this playoff run. He's taken a legitimate defensive leap this year.
Back to back conference finals appearances is very impressive and
it is very well deserved. And as I've said, this
is a team that absolutely can win the title with
their defensive improvement. There is nobody who I look at
and say they can't beat them. I'm gonna pick Okac
to beat everybody. I'm gonna pick Oka See to beat everybody.

(57:48):
But Indiana's offense has a consistency that nobody else in
the remaining playoff field is going to match, and that's
a weapon that is really special and it gives them
a chance against anybody. Would you like to talk about
the Cavs side of this logan? Where did things go
wrong for them? Let's start with that before we move
on to what's next and talk about their future.

Speaker 1 (58:07):
Yeah, I mean, this was disappointing for them, just because
you get Mitchell and Garland dealing with such significant injuries
that are clearly hampering both of them, which is just brutal.
It's really hard to overcome.

Speaker 3 (58:23):
Hard to watch Man, very hard to watch Darius Garland
just fall down for the eighteenth time this series because
his toe is fucked.

Speaker 1 (58:31):
You were talking about Jared Allen struggling individually versus Halliburton.
What did you think about the Cavs option to close
with out Alan or Garland for a lot of the
fourth quarter, Because I like, I understand riding the hot
hand and Ty Jerome hit some big shots. DeAndre Hunter
hit some big shots too. I didn't think I thought

(58:55):
either one of those guys both of those guys should
have been off or a combination of both of those
guys and Max Strue should have been off the floor
for Garland and Alan, and I understand that neither of
them had had the best game, but I just think
in that situation, and like I said, I understand Atkinson
maybe wanted to run with the hot hand, but I
would have much rather have just gone down with my

(59:16):
best five and ritten it out. I thought Jerome and
Hunter were pretty bad down the stretch after they had
that little good spurt.

Speaker 3 (59:26):
I mean, Time made some plays. Now, he got targeted
defensively a couple times. He also had two steals in
this game, or at least he made two plays that
led to steels. It's tough because just like Garland was
an absolute shell of himself man. And it's not just
like always having a bad game. It's like, for three
games he hasn't been able to show you nearly the

(59:46):
same level of burst that you're used to. Again, he's
falling down, he's dribbling the ball off his foot like
he is just so clearly so affected by the toe.
It's one of the most obviously impactful injuries that I've
seen a player play. Through a while, like he just
wasn't the same and it was very obvious why that
being said, he also just missed a couple of good looks.
He missed a couple of looks from three that he

(01:00:07):
really should have made. He should make as Darius Garland
one of the best shooters on the planet. So Ty
was able to come in and give them a little
spark and actually create some separation to make a couple
of shots, and then they end up in.

Speaker 1 (01:00:18):
A drought before he hit those shots exactly.

Speaker 3 (01:00:21):
It was like he was the savior for a moment
and it's not like they rode him for too long.
And Alan I thought was just bad in this game.
I mean, I didn't think that he was good on
the glass. I thought that he was bad defense.

Speaker 1 (01:00:33):
I didn't like the fact that Thomas for a little
bit too, they didn't have Mobley or Alan on the floor.
Now that was super weird lineup.

Speaker 3 (01:00:44):
Where that was brief, but that I didn't like.

Speaker 1 (01:00:46):
Thomas Bryant had like two donks or just two really
easy looks inside where I just thought, if you have
one of Alan or Mobley on the floor, that's just like.

Speaker 3 (01:00:55):
Come on, noroection Watson for a couple of minutes.

Speaker 1 (01:00:58):
I watch Thomas Bryant take the first baseline turnaround I've
ever seen today, and you're letting that guy serve you
late buckets like that. I just didn't understand some of
the rotation stuff late with Kenny Atkinson.

Speaker 3 (01:01:12):
It's tough because Garland was really bad, and I thought
that Allen was pretty bad in this game, and the
Calves depth is one of their strengths, so I was
okay with it. I was okay with him going with
a couple of those other guys for as long as
he did. This is really disappointing for the Calves, and
it's really just about the Guards not being able to
generate the offense that they needed. Like, clearly both these
guys were significantly hampered by the injury. It was probably

(01:01:34):
more obvious with Garland, but I think you very clearly
saw it with Mitchell two. I mean, he aggravated the
ankle last game, didn't play in the second half last game,
so it was clearly a significant thing. He's grabbing at
his ankle a bunch and like just not as explosive
if you watched Donovan Mitchell, if you watched Arius Garland
play basketball, healthy, Like you know that those aren't the
guys who we saw out there today. Neither of them

(01:01:55):
were capable of getting downhill at the level that were
used to and so like they couldn't pressure the ram consistently,
and they weren't getting into the paint even to pass out.
And I will say, as much as I think their
injuries are significant components and their struggles in this game,
I also didn't like their process. They really were not
moving the ball. Those two combined for four assists, and

(01:02:16):
like you could tell from the first quarter, Indiana's offense
started a little slow, so Cleveland had a lead early,
but like Mitchell and Garland were putting up some tough
shots and it was very stagnant, and it was very
jump shot reliant. And yeah, they both shoot poorly and
they missed a couple of shots that they should make,
but they were just wildly inefficient and like really got

(01:02:36):
nothing going until Mitchell just started stepping up and made
a few big threes and the fourth quarter, late in
the fourth quarter specifically, he also got to the line
a good bit. He was able to get downhill more
than Garland. Garland, even when he could get downhill, really
couldn't finish like he gives you eleven points, three assists,
five turnovers on four of sixteen from the field. Just brutal,
just hard to watch. And Mitchell was obviously better. He

(01:02:58):
ends this game with thirty five points like that's his
but still a real struggle. He still shot eight of
twenty five from the field and again had one assist.
So I didn't like any of it, the process, the
shot making, obviously, the injuries being a significant factor. It
was all really rough for the guards. Also, Max Struce
was awful. I've defended Max Struce throughout these playoffs as

(01:03:18):
one of the better offensive role players in basketball. The
Max s Truce haters are dancing on his grave today
because geez, Louise man oh of nine from the field
and some bad shots, Like there were so many threes
that Cleveland took today where I was like, Yeah, that's rushed,
that's leaning, that's at a weird angle, that's well contested.
Just really not the offense that we're used to seeing.

(01:03:40):
And that all starts with the guards not being able
to create the same shots that they normally can. So
that's the most significant factor in this one, for sure.
I do want to give props Toevin Motley for being
great in this game, Like when so many dudes around
him were struggling, he was dominating the offensive glass, which
we knew was a huge key to Cleveland winning in
this series. That was a huge part of their formula.

(01:04:01):
In Game three, he gets them five offensive rebounds. That
was really big. And also he was really good creating
off the bounce, and that's been a struggle for him
in this series because Indiana extends their defense so far
out they pressure the ball so much. Like Mobili is
comfortable handling for a seven footer, but he's not comfortable
handling against that sort of pressure usually. But he was

(01:04:23):
able to handle and then get himself good position in
the paint and then get to his little hooks, get
to his little touch shots, and so I thought that
it was a really really good performance from him. I
also thought that he was excellent defensively protecting the rim
in this one. So if you're gonna find a silver
lining in this game, it has to be Mobley's performance
in him going out on a high note, like he's
playing through a little bit of an injury as well,

(01:04:45):
and this wasn't the best series from him. I guess,
but Game three was really good. Game five was phenomenal,
and he got better as it went along, and he
didn't fade. He stayed aggressive, he got more comfortable against
a challenging defense. For a guy as young as he
is who's taken such a significant leap in one year offensively,
I think that that's very encouraging. He also shot forty

(01:05:08):
five percent from three in these playoffs on like legitimate volume.
He was taking more than four threes a game, so
that's really encouraging seeing his shooting hold up in the playoffs.
There's a couple that he takes throughout the course of
these playoffs where it's like, maybe I don't want you
putting up that look necessarily against a contest. Maybe it's
a little rushed, But overall, him shooting that well, super impressive,

(01:05:30):
super significant, and I think you have to feel good
about his performance. It wasn't easy. It's not gonna be
easy for a player as young as he is taking
on a much bigger role in the playoffs. But this
game was really impressive. It really was.

Speaker 1 (01:05:43):
I was really impressed with Mobley, especially with the struggles
of Mitchell and Garland, and I mean Mitchell gets to
the line a lot. But and you texted this, I
think you were talking about how it looked like Mitchell
was just like he would be finishing these if he
was fully healthy, and it really did look like Mitchell
was just like one one step slower than normal. A
lot of possessions, Like I remember one Mathern has this

(01:06:05):
chase down block on him in transition where he just
takes that's what it was for second to gather himself
and it's just like that's that's just never you know
what I mean. Like that was kind of an encapsulation
of the whole game. And then three missed free throws
late that was mobi I thought was fantastic. And Carson,
you and I have floated this idea around for a while.

(01:06:29):
I actually do think it might be time for the
Calves to move on from Jared Allen. And the reason
I say this is not because I don't think Allen
and Mobley can work, or not because I think Allen's
on a horrible contract. I think that the Calves just
don't need Jared Allen as much, and I think they're

(01:06:49):
spacing an offense could become even more elite if they
leaned into Mobili at the five. I think this team
is at its best defensively and offensively when Evan Mobley
is at the five and he can anchor it. He's
just a game changing player at that position. And more importantly,
I think Jared Allen is a very intriguing asset in

(01:07:12):
the league today. You know, this is a guy who
can rebound at a high level, who can protect the rim,
who's got you know, really good touch on the inside
now with his baby hooks and stuff, a little bit
of that short role playmaking, you know, and stuff like that,
and he's a good role man. Like. It's not because
I don't think they can work. It's not because I

(01:07:32):
hate the fit. It's not because of the money or
anything like that. It's simply because I think they could
get a piece that fits in a little bit better,
you know, ideally, like a more skilled big wing or
something like that. I think could work. This is gonna
suck because it's the guy they're playing, but it's like

(01:07:53):
the ideal guy I look at it is a guy
like Pascal Siakam where I go, man, he would be
like an awesome fit that play.

Speaker 3 (01:08:00):
Let me ask you somebody else. Yeah, sure there's one
idea who comes to mind marketing.

Speaker 1 (01:08:07):
But I don't really think the Jazz would be interested
in Alan No.

Speaker 3 (01:08:10):
I don't think so. I think that they want to
straight up assets if they're going to move off of Lowry. Now,
this team also is going to be looking for assets,
certainly more than they're looking for a Jared Allen. But
you attach a little draft capital. I don't think it's
the package they're looking for. But my hold up with
the Calves trading Jared Allen has not been that I
disagree with any of what you said. I do think

(01:08:31):
that Mobley is at his best at the five, and
he has shown that he is more than capable of
anchoring elite defense at the five. In fact, the Calves
had a better defense this year when Mobley was on
the floor without Allen than when they were both out
there together, or then when Allen was out there alone
and just with optimal spacing around him, him getting all
those play finishing opportunities, him not being asked to live

(01:08:53):
on the perimeter as consistently like that, being more of
the garnish and the extra stuff for his game. I
think that that's when he's at his best, and long
term I would like to see that. My hold up
has just been Jared Allen is making twenty million dollars
right now. That is an insane value contract. You're not
gonna get a top fifty player for twenty million dollars

(01:09:13):
a year very often at all. However, I was thinking,
there is one guy who's really good and who is
on a very reasonable contract basically that exact same size
for the next three years, for the next two years
after this, and he's in that archetype you were talking about.
What about Cam Johnson, How would you like him for
the Cavs. Hmmm, Oh, it's not a big enough fish.

(01:09:35):
I think the fit is really good. I think this
offense becomes unstoppable. Now, obviously you have to find another
rotational big. That's another challenge of moving off of Allen. Well.

Speaker 1 (01:09:47):
I do think he's better than Dre Yeah, you know
I liked I like Dean Wade off the bench is
a front court playable asset. I still think Dean.

Speaker 3 (01:09:57):
Wait minutes tonight good, Dean Wait minutes tonight.

Speaker 1 (01:10:00):
Dean Wade's Dean Waite solid. I do think you need
another backup big, but it's intriguing. Man, I hadn't thought
about Cam And the reason I hesitant is maybe the
name value. But he played really, really well in a
difficult situation this year. Man, I gotta think that he
would be He would play even better if his job

(01:10:20):
was that much easier, man getting manufactured easy looks, and
I think it helps the spacing like Mobily maybe even
better as a role man and a lob threat with
all that space to work inside or running inverted pick
and roll. I think that makes the Cavs offense even better.
That's interesting. I'm kind of fifty to fifty on that.
I think what's in it for Brooklyn? Like, why would

(01:10:40):
they do that?

Speaker 3 (01:10:41):
Well, that's the problem. I don't think that they would
because I think that they're looking for multiple first round
picks for Cam Johnson more so than they're looking for
a player like Jared Allen. That was just the first
one I could think of, because my inclination was I
don't think they should move off of Allen. And the
reason I say that is because again and I do
think that his contract is such good value for them,

(01:11:02):
and he is a really good player and the fit
with Mobley really does work. Do I think Mobley is
at his best at the five? Yes? But is he
still really good at the four? Yes? Is the cas
double big lineup really effective? Absolutely? It is. And if
you do move off of Allen, well, then now like
you aren't just moving off of a talented basketball player,
you have to figure out, Okay, who is that good

(01:11:23):
big who we're bringing in, because right now they have
forty eight minutes of awesome big man play, And you're
gonna get sixteen minutes when Mobilire and Allen are out
there together. You're gonna get sixteen minutes when it's just Mobile.
You're gonna get sixteen minutes when it's just Allen. That
works really damn well for them. They have been dominant
with all of those different lineup configurations. So I'm not
forcing it if I'm the Cavs. Like, my take is,

(01:11:44):
they don't need to do anything major whatsoever this offseason.
I understand that some people are going to be like,
will hold on, this is a wildly disappointing end of
the season. Of course they have to change things up.
I think this is a very difficult series to judge
for them because of a number of factors. They shot
the ball unusually poorly, just like terrible three point shooting

(01:12:04):
in this series. I didn't like a lot of those
shots in this game, but earlier in the series they
were missing good looks from deep, and they're an elite
three point shooting team. Donovan Mitchell was off as a
shooter this entire series, but obviously, like they were also
just super banged up and their best players were not
able to play their best basketball when you look at
Mitchell and Garland because of the injuries, especially Garland, and

(01:12:25):
their offense just wasn't able to get the same rhythm
that we're used to because their guys weren't out there,
so everything was thrown off by some very unfortunately timed injuries.
I do think that there are a couple of things
that the Cavs need to improve upon. Like I think
that they need to be a bit more prepared for
playoff physicality. That's an area in which I thought that

(01:12:46):
they maybe shrank from the moment a little bit. And
I wonder if some of the shooting issues that they
had are mental, just because like, there is an element
of playoff and experience. This team has been there. Most
of these guys have been in the playoffs, but they
don't really have deep playoff experience. My take though, is
all of that stuff is going to get better with time.

(01:13:07):
All of that stuff that I just talked about is
going to naturally improve. And I do believe that this
corps is great. And if people say, oh, this is
the same group that failed last year and the year
before that, it's just not like Garland took a big
leap this season. He was a different basketball player and
then he just wasn't healthy for the playoffs. Mobili took
a big leap. This is a dramatically better team than

(01:13:28):
the one that lost in the second round last year.
Even though they go out in the same round of
the playoffs. The circumstances are so dramatically different. So I
think they have all the talent and they have the time. Like,
give yourself a chance to get healthy for next year.
Mitchell is twenty eight, Alan is twenty seven, Garland is
twenty five, Mobley is twenty three, and it's just going
to continue getting better. Give it another year, because you

(01:13:51):
look around the East Jason Tatum is out for the year, man, like,
you are in position to be top dogs in the
conference when you're at full strength. I don't think they
need to change things up. If there's a great deal
out there to be made with Alan, That's the one
that I would consider. Other than that, like, I need
to see them fail in a playoff run when they

(01:14:12):
are actually at full strength, because maybe there's a world
in which I'm like, Okay, the Garland Mitchell backcourt, it's
too small, defensively, too exploitable, limits them on the glass,
you can attack Garland too much. Whatever. But right now
my thought is like, offensively, they're so special when Garland
is right. That's why you have Evan Mobley and Jared
Allen as back line defenders. It's why you have a
really good group of wings, like think that they can

(01:14:34):
win the title and because of that when they have
the luxury of time because their core is still pretty young.
In this scheme of things. I'm not forcing it, I'm
not rushing, I'm not panicking any sort of move.

Speaker 1 (01:14:45):
I mean, I know it's disappointing the way the season ended,
but I think overall it's got to be an encouraging season.
Darius Garland back in a big way, Like Evan Mobley
won Defensive Player of the.

Speaker 3 (01:14:56):
Year, they won sixty four games.

Speaker 1 (01:14:59):
Yeah, I think you're just ignoring some very important context
and it just ended up being pretty unfortunate, you know,
just how things broke for Cleveland. I don't look at
this as like a failure or anything. Again, it's disappointing,
but I think people that are gonna draw major conclusions
like the cass can't get it done or something like that,
or just overreacting to this. And I don't want to

(01:15:19):
take anything away from Indiana. Indiana's really damn good, and
I think they prove that in this series that they
are very very legitimate. They're here, they're not going anywhere
like they are. They deserve they demand respect. Indiana has
demanded that, and so I want to give them a
ton of credit to But I agree with you Carson.
I wouldn't be in a rush to do anything dire

(01:15:41):
right now. Your guys are young, Mobley's getting better, Garland's
still getting better. Again. If that Alan trade presents itself
and you think it's beneficial for your roster and you're
comfortable finding another backup, big go for it. But I wouldn't,
like I said, I wouldn't be in a rush to
do anything drastic or dire.

Speaker 3 (01:15:59):
Given another year. Man, I need to see that there
are roster issues, not health issues. That infect everything else.

Speaker 1 (01:16:06):
Also, I mean, like I still like a lot of
these guys on this roster too, like DeAndre Definite, Bruce
ty Jerome, There's Dean Wade. Like, They've got a lot
of different guys that can give you contributions on a
given night.

Speaker 3 (01:16:16):
And the good news is ty Jerome just played his
way out of a contract. You're gonna get him back
for chump change.

Speaker 1 (01:16:23):
Actually is a great point cards and they just.

Speaker 3 (01:16:25):
Might You got to think about him. Man, They weren't
gonna win the series anyways with all the injuries, So
Ty having a disaster class is a good thing because
he's actually nice as fuck. We all know that he
was the best offensive bench guarden basketball this year. Now
they're going to get him back on a discounted contract.
That's a win, I really think, given another year and
then we'll see what happens from there. But I do
believe in the caves and listen, man, the twenty fifteen

(01:16:46):
Hawks stuff, it's got to stop. That team was not
as talented, That team was not as good. That team
was not as successful in the regular season. Even I
understand they won a lot of games, but like, if
you just look at net rating, the Calves were top
twenty in NBA history. The Hawks were like two hundred
and like that was the end of the line for them. Man,
those guys were all old. Obviously, big Al Horford has

(01:17:07):
managed to stick around for a long ass time after.
But that core was old. Korver was old, Millsap was old,
Jeff Kee wasn't old. But like, this is a group
that still has so much more room to grow and
they're just more talented.

Speaker 1 (01:17:19):
Yeah, exactly, somebody was fake, man, Like you got all
star Kyle Korver, Like, shout out Kyle Korver, man, But
come on, dude, there's levels to this, Like you had
Demari Carroll. Like the Calves are in a different tier
to me. Man, I think that Hawks team was a
byproduct of a comically weak East and uh m hmm,
that's shit. I think the Calves are for real.

Speaker 3 (01:17:40):
I mean they posted a top ten relative offense in
NBA history this year. Man, They're dominant. They were dominant,
and I want to see them run it back. That
being said, I can't give enough congratulations to the Indiana Pacers,
and I will say, just as a basketball fan, I
would be overjoyed to see them in the finals. Like,
I think they are probably the most fun in the

(01:18:00):
NBA right now. Hallie's one of my favorite players, definitely
in my top ten easily.

Speaker 1 (01:18:05):
I'm gonna just also talk a ton of shit. If
the Pacers go deep, man.

Speaker 3 (01:18:10):
I'll fire me up. I mean, it's so good for
the Halle Agendas, but they're also just a franchise that
I have a lot of respect and a lot of
appreciation for.

Speaker 2 (01:18:16):
Man.

Speaker 3 (01:18:16):
Like I said, I think it's really exceptional to do
what they've done as a small market for as long
as they have, and it would be dope to see
so Like, they're gonna get the Knicks, and I'll likely
unless the Celtics pull off a miracle without Jason Tatum,
which I don't see happening, and so obviously there's gonna
be a lot of hype around the Knicks, but I'm
gonna pick Indiana. I'm gonna pick Indiana get to the finals,
and I don't know, it just fires me up. There's
something about a PACER's deep run, man, it excites me.

(01:18:40):
Like I love the Paul George teams, I love the
Reggie teams. I love the two thousand team that made
the finals. Just excites me. It really excites me. So
I'm looking forward to seeing what they can get done
from here. Appreciate all you guys tuning in. What a
day of basketball, What a time to be alive, Logan,
how lucky are we to be NBA fans. Charlie Kirk
thinks we're all well, Charlie Kirk thinks the NBA is unwatchable.

(01:19:02):
Unfortunately I saw that tweet. Force down amen to that dude.
I blocked him. I said, Charlie Kirk, you can't talk,
you can't contact me anymore. You can't keep sending me
these nasty pictures of your feet. I'm not interested. And
also I don't want to hear your takes about NBA basketball.

Speaker 1 (01:19:17):
You could forward me.

Speaker 3 (01:19:19):
If you want, you son of a bitch, you son
of a bitch. Well, all right, let's just say let's
let's no more basketball talk for Charlie Kirk.

Speaker 1 (01:19:27):
How about no talk at all. We'll just zip his
mouth shut. I have a great idea, though, Carson. Yeah,
so today was such an excellent day of basketball. I
had this crazy radical idea.

Speaker 3 (01:19:38):
Yeah, let's run it back tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (01:19:42):
Let's do it again.

Speaker 3 (01:19:44):
Is that legal?

Speaker 1 (01:19:45):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:19:47):
Right, Well, we're going to be back tomorrow. In fact,
we're both mandated to court mandated to do a show
every night, so we will see you guys here. Will
they be able to recreate the magic of tonight? Maybe
not hard to say, but I'm excited all the same
as playoff basketball. Baby doesn't get better than that. We
got two potential closeout games. You know that we got
to be back here and we hope that you guys
are here with us. If you want to join us,

(01:20:09):
you know where to find us. On our YouTube channel.
You can watch our live stream or you can watch
it after the fact, or you can listen to the
full episode after the fact across all audio platforms. You
can also check us out across social if you want TikTok,
Instagram at Nerd, sessh, Twitter at nerd, Underscore sesh to
see clips from the show, graphics from the show, and
of course all of our short form trivia content. And
if you want to chat with the gang and be

(01:20:31):
part of our community over on Discord, you can do
so by joining at the link that is in our
link treat and that is across all of our social
media bios. So with that, as always appreciate you guys,
I've been Carson Braber, I've been Logan Camden and this
was nerd Sash

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Nerd Sesh - Game 5 Reactions: Thunder WIN CLASSIC over Nuggets, Pacers FINISH Cavs

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Nerd Sesh - Game 5 Reactions: Thunder WIN CLASSIC over Nuggets, Pacers FINISH Cavs