April 28, 2025 • 42 mins
Nick Wright reacts to Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves’ 116-113 win over LeBron James, Luka Doncic, and the Los Angeles Lakers in Game Four of their first round matchup in the NBA Playoff. Nick discusses the Lakers’ late-game collapse, JJ Redick’s bold coaching decision, and whether he believes in LA’s ability to overcome their 3-1 series deficit. Later, Nick reacts to Steph Curry’s heroic performance in the Golden State Warriors’ Game Three win over the Houston Rockets as well as Damian Lillard rupturing his Achilles in Game 4 of the Pacers-Bucks series. Finally, Nick reacts to Aaron Gordon’s game-winner in Game Four of Nuggets-Clippers to even the series at 2-2. #Volume #Herd
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome in What's Right with Nick Wright, a quick Monday
morning pod after what was a remarkable and unbelievable weekend
of NBA basketball, and also the weekend that almost assuredly
marked the end of the Los Angeles Lakers season. And
that's not even because I think necessarily they are drawing
(00:33):
dead to execute a three to one comeback. They're obviously
drawing very slim, but I don't think they are at
zero percent. However, the present they will get if they
somehow do execute a three to one comeback with a
rotation that clearly only has five players the head coach
trusts is either going to be the Golden State Warriors
(00:55):
or or the Houston Rockets, both of which present massive
problem for this team in this moment. And if you
were like me and you really thought this team's high
end was not just conference finals caliber, not just NBA
Finals caliber, but championship caliber, this weekend was a hard
(01:17):
punch in the face about that. And if you want
to chalk up Friday to man, Luca was sick and
played like it and didn't have it and they ran
out of gas at the end. Fine, but then Sunday
presented far more problems issues concerns that obviously, as they
(01:46):
now face elimination games for the rest of their season,
and the only way to not face elimination games the
rest of their season is to win three straight elimination
games and then get a fresh start after a seven
game war. Then you've got to be honest about what
we're seeing, and I want to be I want to
(02:06):
give credit words due Anthony Edwards is having his moment,
and I know people here want to hear, probably you know,
me talking about Lebron and Luca in the end of
that game, and we will. But Anthony Edwards forty three points,
forty three to nine and six, going to war with
(02:27):
Lebron throughout the game, suffering what the broadcast seemed to
think was a catastrophic injury, and Anthony in the moment
reacted like it was a catastrophic injury. Everyone's heart sank
when they saw it, and he pops up. It doesn't matter.
He plays forty four minutes, is brilliant in the fourth quarter,
(02:49):
and that has been the key to this series, and
obviously the key to Game four is the Timberwolves, a
team that was not good in clutch situation closing out
games It's really where you thought the Lakers were going
to have a decided advantage in this series, was let
(03:11):
it be close late and have Lebron and Luca take over.
The opposite has happened. It's been close late the last
couple games. Lebron and Luca have been absolutely out of gas,
and Anthony Edwards has taken over Julius Randall exercising some
playoff demons, and now you're in a spot that I
(03:35):
don't think anyone anticipated, even the most ardent Timberwolves fans,
even after they took Game one. I don't think thought
it would be three to one in this fashion going
back to Los Angeles. And so let's get into Game four.
And by the way, we'll talk Steph was played one
(03:55):
of the most remarkable playoff games of his career this week,
and we'll get into that. Dame sadly, i mean tragically
tore his achilles. That's probably we're going to get into
that more tomorrow. And obviously Nuggets Clippers with a finish
for the ages, so we'll try to quickly hit on
all those. But where we have to start is with
(04:17):
JJ Reddick and I I am not going to act
as if JJ hasn't been awesome this year. He has.
And I'm not going to act as if the you
know that JJ Reddick is the problem for the Lakers.
Far from it. However, when a rookie head coach does
(04:41):
something that, according to you know, the stats and information, folks,
no coach has ever done in modern playoff history, maybe
in all of playoff history, which is play the exact
same five guys for the entirety of a second half
(05:02):
of a playoff game, and then those five guys are totally, absolutely,
unequivocally out of gas at the end. That's going to
be a story. And JJ was left without a lot
of great options. He decided after the opening couple minutes understandably,
(05:24):
he couldn't trust Jackson Hayes. I thought he would try
to steal a few minutes for Lebron or Luca with
Vanderbilt or Gabe or even Goodwin. He decided not to.
And he was in a weird spot because the Lakers
(05:45):
had that great third quarter which allowed them to go
into the fourth with a lead, a position they have
been brilliant all year. I don't know what the record was,
something like forty five and four or something outrageous going
into the fourth quarter with a lead, they outscore the
(06:05):
Turbles by thirteen, and I think JJ's thought process was,
if we can in the opening few minutes of the
fourth hold or even push this lead a bit, then
maybe I'll steal a couple of minutes to rest. But
that's how what happened. Aunt kept coming down and making plays.
(06:26):
The Timberwolves stayed right in that down four to down
seven range, and JJ never felt comfortable taking those five
off the court, and by the very end of the
game they were all on fumes. Lebron somehow found a
(06:46):
couple bursts of energy on the defensive end the steal
in the block, and I thought that was going to
be the story of the game that Lebron after is
I think one hundred and fourth career playoff twenty points half,
plays a wildly efficient game twenty seven to twelve and eight,
and then makes the key defensive plays down the stretch
(07:09):
to turn a four point deficit into a six point
lead after the huge Austin Rui threes. But of course
that's not what happened, and you saw the fatigue kicking
in at various moments before the final couple of minutes
Luca got I think it was Jade McDaniels on his hip,
(07:31):
or maybe it was Julius had to lay up, missed it.
Lebron out of a time out, great play, had to
lay up, missed it, And I said it was Austin
and Ruy hit the three. Was Austin and Dorian Finney
Smith that hit the threes. But despite all of that,
(07:51):
it's Lakers up two with the ball after the Lebron
block with a minute ten left. And yeah, if I mean,
this is a keep you up at night restless, bad
sleep game because there's so many moments that you just wonder, man,
(08:17):
if they just do this a little bit better, change
one thing. And by the way, those moments existed in
the first half. I was watching the game with my
best friend and co worker at FS one, Danny Parkins,
over at his house, and the whole first half, even
in the first quarter when they were leading, I said
(08:39):
to him, four minutes left in the first quarter, Man,
they should be up thirteen, they should be up fifteen,
And this is gonna end up being a situation where
they're up seven and you feel sick about it. They
were only actually up four at the end of that quarter,
Then the second quarter the Timberwolves go on the run.
(09:00):
All of a sudden, you're trailing at the half. Then
they do have that great third quarter, and now to
get back to where we were. The highest leverage possession
of the season for the Lakers ends up being no
real ball movement. Guys standing around Luca dribbling the ball
(09:21):
up to minute left, finds Lebron. Lebron takes an exhausted three,
and I understand like there is going to be a
carve out of folks that either why doesn't he drive there?
Or that focus on Lebron's fourth quarter zero points and
(09:43):
the turnover, which I'll get to in a moment, which
I understand, And I'm not even saying that's totally unfair.
I am saying that when the last two games Lebron
is played are the two greatest playoff games by a
super old guy in league history, I'm gonna have a
(10:03):
little bit of grace. But the Lebron three with fifty
four seconds left in that spot, you wonder, when JJ
sees that possession is going nowhere and sees how dead
everybody is, is that a time to use your final timeout?
(10:25):
Probably not. You probably don't want to use your last
time out in that spot. But if you get a
basket there, you win the game. Then next time Timberwolves
ball up to forty seconds left, the Lakers understand, just
(10:45):
can't allow a three. You don't allow a three, You're
gonna be in great shape tied with the ball with
a two for one opportunity. They don't allow a three,
and Austin makes his biggest mistake of the season, fouling Jaden.
McDaniels on it, no hope to alter the shot foul. Jaden,
(11:08):
to his credit, makes the free throw, and now all
of a sudden, you're trailing for the first time in
basically the entirety of the second half after the opening
few minutes when you took the lead in the second half.
That's not true, you were trailing a couple minutes earlier.
But you're trailing with forty seconds left, down one with
(11:28):
the ball, Luca gets tripped. I don't think I'll be honest.
I disagree with JJ. I don't think it was a foul.
I think it was fine that they didn't call that.
Lebron with the bad inbounds pass and then this is
the one. I just hate the challenge the out of
(11:52):
bounds call that now can retroactively turn into a foul.
All of a sudden, Anthony Edward's going to the line.
He was a killer. He makes both three throws, and
then the Lakers I thought got lucky that the Timberwolves
didn't foul Luke in the back court or foul lebron
(12:13):
As on the catch. Austin got a decent look, he
missed it. Now you're down three to one, and you
still see moments flashes from this team that show the
highest end. And I understand some folks are going to say, listen,
(12:34):
we knew this was a mismatched roster when you traded
for a guy at mid season that you need an offseason.
I don't buy all that, or maybe I should buy it,
but I I knew all that. Going into these playoffs,
I thought they got the perfect draw. I thought the
Timberwolves would be athletic and feisty, but I did not
(13:01):
think that in close games late they would have the edge.
And they have. And I looked at the Lakers path
and I said, Okay, you have the Timberwolves in Round
one with home court. You have been dominant against the
Western Conference this year. You have been dominated at home
this year. Then in round two you're going to have
(13:23):
either a young Rockets team that doesn't have a go
to scorer or a Warriors team, where again you have
home court, and the Warriors will have just been coming
off a seven game absolute war with Houston. It saw
a real path, a real path, and instead Friday Night
(13:48):
they waste a Lebron masterpiece where they can't finish at
the end of thirteen to one run. Luca is sick
and pretty ineffective, and is once again awesome. Another eight
assist game for Friday Night. Jaden McDaniels has the game
of his life, almost all targeting. Luca Julius has another
(14:13):
good playoff game. You lose that fourth quarter by ten.
Lebron seems gassed the final few minutes there despite giving
you thirty eight, ten to four to two and two.
And then Sunday afternoon JJ goes for it, the smallest
(14:37):
interval between games they'll have all postseason, from a Friday
night to a Sunday afternoon. JJ understanding we have two
days off before Game five, gotta win. This goes for it.
Plays Austin, Luca, Ruey and Dorian All twenty four minutes
(15:02):
of the second half and they can't hit the tape
and can they win Wednesday? Yeah? They should. And if
they win Wednesday, will I be on here Thursday feeling like, well,
(15:25):
you know, you got a shot Friday and then it's
a game seven in your building? Yeah? Maybe? But if
the goal for this Lakers team and this was the goal.
When you have Lebron James, I don't care that he's forty.
He is still unequivocally what top eight playoff guy right
(15:53):
now this moment, like I'm not I'm not sure the
what's the full list of guys this postseason who you'd
say either have been better you'd rather have in no
particular order, just going through the series, Tatum, Giannis, aunt
(16:16):
Ants earned it, Joker, Steph who I'll get to, there's
an argument for it. Fair's fair, Kawhi maybe maybe Jalen Brunson.
So what's that seven six, seven, eight when you have
(16:40):
I don't even at his age, a guy who's still
a top eight, let's go conservatively playoff performer this moment
and Luca getting bounced in round one when you're a
minus two hundred favorite is a disaster. And even if
(17:02):
somehow you are able to dig deep and overcome and
come back from this deficit. What legs are you going
to have going into Round two when the series basically
start going every other day. I don't know that you're
(17:24):
gonna have them. And so that's why started the pod
by saying the season ended on Sunday. They needed the
Round one to be done in six or less, and
they needed to demonstrate to themselves and their team that
(17:52):
they had at least seven guys they trusted. Even if
you don't trust Austin or I'm sorry up Jackson Hayes,
who I wouldn't. You got to at least trust Vanderbilt
or Vincent more than you have, and they haven't. They
(18:18):
can't steal minutes. It's why I thought Kerr as brilliant,
and it'll get to Steph shortly. As brilliant as Steph
was this weekend, all the games are running together? Was
that Saturday? Was that Friday? I don't even remember Friday night?
Saturday night. Kerr deserves massive credit himself for finding his
(18:43):
way through without Jimmy Butler, for massaging the rotation the
way he did, and the Lakers didn't think they had
that luxury. They play four guys forty plus minutes. They
play Luca coming off whatever illness he was dealing with.
(19:06):
Forty six, They play Lebron in his two hundred and
eighty fourth career playoff game, forty six, and they don't
get to the finish line. And it's just a damn
shame to waste. And this is and then I'll get
(19:27):
to ant. We're all focused on Lebron, every single one
of these man. Every single time we're watching, we might
be watching the final great playoff game of the greatest
(19:47):
playoff performer in NBA history's career. Like Friday Night, the
odds are, the odds are that's the most points Lebron
will ever scorre in a playoff game. Again, all the
none of the records. At this point, it's just he's
just passing his own oldest ever records again and again
(20:09):
and again. But thirty eight last on Friday Night, that's
like a minus three hundred favorite to be the most
points Lebron ever scores in a playoff game the rest
of his career. Sunday afternoon twenty seven to twelve eight,
(20:29):
three and three. The best Laker on the defensive end
and arguably the best Laker on the offensive end and
it's wasted. And listen, the Lebron missed the three. Lebron
turned the ball over on the end bounds, and I Lebron,
(20:54):
I suppose you can say fouled Anthony Edwards. I'm that one.
I'm not gonna kill him on I thought that the
US going to the Zapruder review and the Timberwolves challenging
the out of bounds, not even hoping to get the
out of bounds, but hoping to then retroactively get the foul.
I don't love any of that, but the rules are
the rules, and so now we see. And the other
(21:23):
story here is, of course Anthony Edwards and Anthony Edwards,
who is putting a whole lot of pelts on his
wall at such a young age. We have now seen
(21:46):
Anthony Edwards not Kevin Durant and Devin Booker out of
a playoff series, Nikola Jokic out of a playoff series,
then get bounced by Luca and say I was out
of gas. And he now is this close to knocking
(22:09):
Lebron James and Luka Doncic out of a playoff series
in a postseason where through four games he's averaging thirty
eight and six on forty three percent from three forty
five forty three eighty three splits. Listen, he can say
(22:33):
all he wants about not wanting to be the face
of the league, and the fact of the matter is,
as long as Lebron and Steph are playing, that spot
is probably not really open. But his charisma, his style,
(22:54):
his competitiveness, his athleticism, his ferocity, his listeners, all of that,
all of that is face of the league's stuff. And
it certainly doesn't hurt that folks in the media seem
convinced he looks like and reminds them of Michael Jordan,
(23:18):
and so this is a huge moment for Aunt and Ant.
Then I just mentioned beat Durant, beat Joker, is this
close to beating Lebron and Luca and then in the
next round would have a chance to beat Steph. Now,
I still think Houston has a shot in that series,
(23:40):
but obviously Golden State's in great position is the favorite
right now. He's building quite the resume at twenty three
years old, and it's really really impressive and credit to
Chris Finch and that entire listen. Jaden McDaniels has been
(24:04):
awesome they have. I think Rudy Rudy has had his
moments on the offensive, I mean on the defensive end
more than his moments. He's been good on the defensive end,
but he has been His total inability to take advantage
of the lakers lack of size has been a little embarrassing.
(24:25):
And I understand he's not an offensive player, but he's
not a four point a game guy. In the regular season,
He's a dozen points a game. In this series, he's
been a zero on offense. Hasn't mattered because An's been
that good, Julius is exercising some playoff demons, Jaden's been great,
and then Nas. They've had different role players step up,
(24:50):
and so they they've gotten away with the fact that
Mike Connley was about as unplayable as I thought he
would be. That's the crazy part to me about this
sies a lot of my pre series analysis of go
Beart's not gonna take advantage of their lack of size.
(25:10):
Conley's not going to be playable. You can pencil Luca
in for thirty a game and Lebron will be great.
They've come to fruition and it hasn't mattered because the
Lakers have been The fourth quarter margins in this series
(25:31):
have been mortified. Game one twenty three to seventeen, so
the Timberwolves are plus six. Game two, the Lakers won it,
but it was twenty to thirteen, So now the Timberwolves
are plus seven. Plus seven there, so plus thirteen overall.
(25:52):
Game three thirty to twenty, So now the Timberwolves are
plus seventeen. Game four thirty two to nineteen, So now
the Timbrelves are plus thirty. You lose the fourth quarters
by thirty points in an otherwise tightly contested series, You're
(26:18):
in terrible shape. And so shout out to the Timberwolves.
This was truly a wake up in the middle of
the night think about it game, and it is obviously
(26:41):
a think about all off season game. If this series
goes the way one thinks it's likely to go, I mean,
I'll look right now the series odds. They've got to
be like minus one thousand, right, series markets minus five
(27:05):
hundred minus on thousand. I guess was too strong, and
then so that means the Lakers must be big favorites.
Let me check with our friends at DraftKings, and then
I'm gonna tell you about DraftKings Lakers five and a
half point favorites Game five. Yeah, but Lakers who went
into this postseason with seventeen to one to win the
(27:28):
title now forty to one, and honestly, that feels a
little strong because even if they were to execute the
three to one comeback, what legs are they going to
have for round two? Much less Round three and four,
which doesn't seem to be It's gonna be a problem
(27:49):
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co slash audio. All Right, some other quick hitters from
the weekend. I thought Steph was unbelievable Saturday evening. And
(30:03):
it wasn't just that he was getting beat up the
whole game.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
And it wasn't just that the Rockets understood, if we
can somehow contain him, the Warriors have no other offense.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
It was his just other worldly stamina from start to
finish in that game, in a game that it would
have been really easy for the Warriors, and for Steph
(30:49):
to say, Okay, we don't have Jimmy Houston was dialed
that first quarter defense they're gonna be beating us up,
and Steph very early on didn't have it going Okay,
no problem, long series, Jimmy, we'll be back, And instead
(31:15):
stephannswers with thirty six, seven and nine. In his forty
one minutes, they're plus eighteen, which means in the seven
minutes he sat, they were minus seven. They needed one
other guy to show up offensively. They got two other
(31:35):
guys to show up offensively, Gary Payton the second and
obviously Buddy Hit the huge threes and the Rockets. On
the other hand, Jalen Green responds to his thirty eight
point game with his fifth single digit game in his
last six games. Jalen Green has not been the same
(32:01):
guy since they clinched that two seed. Now, his minutes
weren't the same at the end of the regular season,
but still he had the one explosion in Game three,
gets utterly shut down the Warriors, and Fred van Vliet,
after hitting two threes to open that game, went right
(32:21):
back to what he had been. He's two for two
to start the game, three for twelve and one for
seven from three the rest of the way. He's been
brutal this series. Shngoon not quite involved enough and probably
should have been playing more minutes. I know he had
some foul trouble, but the Warriors playing of Amen Thompson.
(32:46):
Take all the shots you want, buddy, we don't care
if they're from seven feet, has been great. Draymond, who's
been nothing but triple singles in this series, had another
great defensive performance. They got by with Quinton Posts not
being able to hit a shot, and you would think
(33:10):
the Rockets would sign up for any game. The three
point discrepancy is only three made threes difference. The Rockets
will say, Okay, no problem. The Warriors only outshot them
from three, fourteen to eleven. The Rockets got to the
(33:33):
line nine more times, couldn't make their free throws, but
the Rockets turnovers, which they've got to win that battle.
The Rockets have shied from the Steven Adams shingoon double
big minutes for a reason that I don't totally understand.
And the Warriors overcame a fourth quarter depicit and it
(34:00):
is two points, but still for a dominant fourth quarter
where Steph was brilliant and took control of that series,
retook control of that series, I should say. And so
I still think this seven game series. I still think
the rock and we'll see what the you know, how
(34:21):
Jimmy looks when he comes back. But that was a gritty,
great win by the Warriors and by Steph. Great win.
And I think that it's Steph or Ant for who's
(34:48):
been the best player this postseason. And Steph doing that
at thirty seven is remarkable and none of that the
people Warrior fans. And it's so I said this on
the pod on Thursday, but I'll say it again. These
folks who don't have any type of microphone other than
(35:11):
their Twitter feed. Acting as if those of us who
have actual platforms are obligated to comment on everything via
Twitter because that's their platform, is that it's just out
to launch levels of cluelessness. The idea that all where's
(35:37):
Nick's commentary now on Warriors Rockets? I don't know, man,
Probably on the podcast, YouTube show or TV show that
I'm doing twenty hours of content every single week. You'll
probably get it there. But those folks that are upset
about the we know the rules with Steph Curry k
(36:01):
as if this game contradicts it. No, this game, if anything,
watch the commentary today we get on Steph Curry, it'll
just confirm it. When he's great, he's in the Goat
conversation and he's better than Magic Johnson. And when he's not,
we move on to the next thing. That's just what
it is, and it's it. But when he's great, and
(36:26):
he has been great this postseason and he's thirty seven
years old, it's the best small guy, old guy season
ever and he deserves massive credit. And then the other listen,
(36:48):
I don't even want We'll do it on Tuesday. The
Dame injury part, but they're the The shock waves of
Dame reportedly bowing his achilles and therefore being out all
of next year are going to be felt throughout this offseason,
(37:11):
and you feel sick for Dame, and obviously people are
going to jump to what it means for you. Honest
Dame has a two year, one hundred and twelve million
dollars contract extension that has not started yet starts next season,
so Dall Dan will be fine money wise, but you
(37:33):
worry about, obviously what this means for an all time
great player's career. So we'll do more of that tomorrow.
The other story from the weekend is the Clippers furious
fourth quarter comeback in a game much like the Laker
(37:57):
game where it was like, and we trust these five
guys were playing these five guys for the Nuggets, and
those five guys ran out of gas at the end,
but thanks to and I thought Jokers in a game
Joker was awesome. I mean he hit thirty six twenty
one and eight, thirty six twenty one and eight. I
(38:18):
thought Joker's decision on that last possession of I don't
care if it's a good shot or not. I'm taking
it was very unjoker, like, maybe you have that luxury
because it's a tie game more so than otherwise. I
was shocked by that decision when it was clear it
wasn't gonna be a good look. But maybe it was like, man,
Jamal doesn't have it tonight. Porter's injured, and I mean
(38:40):
Porter played tough and played well through the plate through
the injury, and you're not gonna trust Christian Brown and
that's spot and Aaron Gordon you're not gonna want to
play for. I get, so maybe it's more reasonable than
I thought. But the Aaron Gordon buzzer beating dunk to
(39:05):
tie a series rather than go down three to one
is really the stuff of legends. And it is such
a stomach punch for the Clippers in a game that
it looked like they were going to It was such
(39:28):
a weird game, and that the first half is back
and forth the whole time, as tightly contested as you get.
Denver then absolutely blitzes them in the second half to
be up twenty going into the fourth quarter of a
playoff game up twenty, and the Clippers then more than
(39:51):
chip away. The Clippers thanks to a great Norman Powell
game Zubach doing his thing on the offensive end, even
though he got absolutely crushed on the other end. Some
time he plays by kawhis you saw playoff James Harden
show up a bit. And despite the fact that the
(40:15):
Nuggets were basically telling Chris Dunn, shoot all you want, buddy,
we're not worried about you, Clippers still in position to
steal it, and that play by Aaron Gordon changes the
entire complexion of that series. And now listen, maybe you
can say, oh, well, the Nuggets could have won and overtime.
They could have won and overtime, but they were so gassed.
(40:39):
It's the same way I felt once the Lakers went
down three with ten seconds left yesterday. When Ant makes
both those free throws, the game's over, because even if
Austin makes that shot, the Lakers were on fumes and
you just felt like that game was going to be
a rap in overtime. And that's how I felt when
(41:02):
I saw Jokic put up that shot. It's like, Okay,
well they're gonna lose. Aaron Gordon by maybe one one
hundredth of a second saves them, and now we have
a great series there in Oklahoma City, which I know
this is going to sound shitty, and Oklahoma City fans
are going to be upset as unimpressive in a sweep
(41:25):
as I can remember. It just didn't look the last
couple games the way you would have wanted it to look.
But maybe they felt correctly, like, man, we can play
our c minus game and the Memphis still can't take
a game from us, And they were right. So now
you're gonna have Oklahoma City resting and chilling watching what
(41:45):
is going to be a seven game slugfest between the
Clippers and the Nuggets. All Right, this was a little cathartic.
I don't I can't say I feel better, but maybe
a little bit, I don't know, less anxious about what
was a what if weekend for the Los Angeles Lakers,
(42:08):
Lebron and Luca. And we'll see how they look on Wednesday,
but I'll remember this weekend as the weekend when the
Lakers championship hopes went to die. And God, nothing would
make me happier than a month from now. Folks sending
me this clip, Oh you lost faith? Look at them now.
(42:30):
I've never wanted to be wrong about a take more
than I want to be wrong about this one, but
that's It feels like the Lakers season ended this weekend
and it shouldn't have. All right, I'll see you guys
tomorrow with demands. What's right
Welcome in What's Right with Nick Wright, a quick Monday
morning pod after what was a remarkable and unbelievable weekend
of NBA basketball, and also the weekend that almost assuredly
marked the end of the Los Angeles Lakers season. And
that's not even because I think necessarily they are drawing
(00:33):
dead to execute a three to one comeback. They're obviously
drawing very slim, but I don't think they are at
zero percent. However, the present they will get if they
somehow do execute a three to one comeback with a
rotation that clearly only has five players the head coach
trusts is either going to be the Golden State Warriors
(00:55):
or or the Houston Rockets, both of which present massive
problem for this team in this moment. And if you
were like me and you really thought this team's high
end was not just conference finals caliber, not just NBA
Finals caliber, but championship caliber, this weekend was a hard
(01:17):
punch in the face about that. And if you want
to chalk up Friday to man, Luca was sick and
played like it and didn't have it and they ran
out of gas at the end. Fine, but then Sunday
presented far more problems issues concerns that obviously, as they
(01:46):
now face elimination games for the rest of their season,
and the only way to not face elimination games the
rest of their season is to win three straight elimination
games and then get a fresh start after a seven
game war. Then you've got to be honest about what
we're seeing, and I want to be I want to
(02:06):
give credit words due Anthony Edwards is having his moment,
and I know people here want to hear, probably you know,
me talking about Lebron and Luca in the end of
that game, and we will. But Anthony Edwards forty three points,
forty three to nine and six, going to war with
(02:27):
Lebron throughout the game, suffering what the broadcast seemed to
think was a catastrophic injury, and Anthony in the moment
reacted like it was a catastrophic injury. Everyone's heart sank
when they saw it, and he pops up. It doesn't matter.
He plays forty four minutes, is brilliant in the fourth quarter,
(02:49):
and that has been the key to this series, and
obviously the key to Game four is the Timberwolves, a
team that was not good in clutch situation closing out
games It's really where you thought the Lakers were going
to have a decided advantage in this series, was let
(03:11):
it be close late and have Lebron and Luca take over.
The opposite has happened. It's been close late the last
couple games. Lebron and Luca have been absolutely out of gas,
and Anthony Edwards has taken over Julius Randall exercising some
playoff demons, and now you're in a spot that I
(03:35):
don't think anyone anticipated, even the most ardent Timberwolves fans,
even after they took Game one. I don't think thought
it would be three to one in this fashion going
back to Los Angeles. And so let's get into Game four.
And by the way, we'll talk Steph was played one
(03:55):
of the most remarkable playoff games of his career this week,
and we'll get into that. Dame sadly, i mean tragically
tore his achilles. That's probably we're going to get into
that more tomorrow. And obviously Nuggets Clippers with a finish
for the ages, so we'll try to quickly hit on
all those. But where we have to start is with
(04:17):
JJ Reddick and I I am not going to act
as if JJ hasn't been awesome this year. He has.
And I'm not going to act as if the you
know that JJ Reddick is the problem for the Lakers.
Far from it. However, when a rookie head coach does
(04:41):
something that, according to you know, the stats and information, folks,
no coach has ever done in modern playoff history, maybe
in all of playoff history, which is play the exact
same five guys for the entirety of a second half
(05:02):
of a playoff game, and then those five guys are totally, absolutely,
unequivocally out of gas at the end. That's going to
be a story. And JJ was left without a lot
of great options. He decided after the opening couple minutes understandably,
(05:24):
he couldn't trust Jackson Hayes. I thought he would try
to steal a few minutes for Lebron or Luca with
Vanderbilt or Gabe or even Goodwin. He decided not to.
And he was in a weird spot because the Lakers
(05:45):
had that great third quarter which allowed them to go
into the fourth with a lead, a position they have
been brilliant all year. I don't know what the record was,
something like forty five and four or something outrageous going
into the fourth quarter with a lead, they outscore the
(06:05):
Turbles by thirteen, and I think JJ's thought process was,
if we can in the opening few minutes of the
fourth hold or even push this lead a bit, then
maybe I'll steal a couple of minutes to rest. But
that's how what happened. Aunt kept coming down and making plays.
(06:26):
The Timberwolves stayed right in that down four to down
seven range, and JJ never felt comfortable taking those five
off the court, and by the very end of the
game they were all on fumes. Lebron somehow found a
(06:46):
couple bursts of energy on the defensive end the steal
in the block, and I thought that was going to
be the story of the game that Lebron after is
I think one hundred and fourth career playoff twenty points half,
plays a wildly efficient game twenty seven to twelve and eight,
and then makes the key defensive plays down the stretch
(07:09):
to turn a four point deficit into a six point
lead after the huge Austin Rui threes. But of course
that's not what happened, and you saw the fatigue kicking
in at various moments before the final couple of minutes
Luca got I think it was Jade McDaniels on his hip,
(07:31):
or maybe it was Julius had to lay up, missed it.
Lebron out of a time out, great play, had to
lay up, missed it, And I said it was Austin
and Ruy hit the three. Was Austin and Dorian Finney
Smith that hit the threes. But despite all of that,
(07:51):
it's Lakers up two with the ball after the Lebron
block with a minute ten left. And yeah, if I mean,
this is a keep you up at night restless, bad
sleep game because there's so many moments that you just wonder, man,
(08:17):
if they just do this a little bit better, change
one thing. And by the way, those moments existed in
the first half. I was watching the game with my
best friend and co worker at FS one, Danny Parkins,
over at his house, and the whole first half, even
in the first quarter when they were leading, I said
(08:39):
to him, four minutes left in the first quarter, Man,
they should be up thirteen, they should be up fifteen,
And this is gonna end up being a situation where
they're up seven and you feel sick about it. They
were only actually up four at the end of that quarter,
Then the second quarter the Timberwolves go on the run.
(09:00):
All of a sudden, you're trailing at the half. Then
they do have that great third quarter, and now to
get back to where we were. The highest leverage possession
of the season for the Lakers ends up being no
real ball movement. Guys standing around Luca dribbling the ball
(09:21):
up to minute left, finds Lebron. Lebron takes an exhausted three,
and I understand like there is going to be a
carve out of folks that either why doesn't he drive there?
Or that focus on Lebron's fourth quarter zero points and
(09:43):
the turnover, which I'll get to in a moment, which
I understand, And I'm not even saying that's totally unfair.
I am saying that when the last two games Lebron
is played are the two greatest playoff games by a
super old guy in league history, I'm gonna have a
(10:03):
little bit of grace. But the Lebron three with fifty
four seconds left in that spot, you wonder, when JJ
sees that possession is going nowhere and sees how dead
everybody is, is that a time to use your final timeout?
(10:25):
Probably not. You probably don't want to use your last
time out in that spot. But if you get a
basket there, you win the game. Then next time Timberwolves
ball up to forty seconds left, the Lakers understand, just
(10:45):
can't allow a three. You don't allow a three, You're
gonna be in great shape tied with the ball with
a two for one opportunity. They don't allow a three,
and Austin makes his biggest mistake of the season, fouling Jaden.
McDaniels on it, no hope to alter the shot foul. Jaden,
(11:08):
to his credit, makes the free throw, and now all
of a sudden, you're trailing for the first time in
basically the entirety of the second half after the opening
few minutes when you took the lead in the second half.
That's not true, you were trailing a couple minutes earlier.
But you're trailing with forty seconds left, down one with
(11:28):
the ball, Luca gets tripped. I don't think I'll be honest.
I disagree with JJ. I don't think it was a foul.
I think it was fine that they didn't call that.
Lebron with the bad inbounds pass and then this is
the one. I just hate the challenge the out of
(11:52):
bounds call that now can retroactively turn into a foul.
All of a sudden, Anthony Edward's going to the line.
He was a killer. He makes both three throws, and
then the Lakers I thought got lucky that the Timberwolves
didn't foul Luke in the back court or foul lebron
(12:13):
As on the catch. Austin got a decent look, he
missed it. Now you're down three to one, and you
still see moments flashes from this team that show the
highest end. And I understand some folks are going to say, listen,
(12:34):
we knew this was a mismatched roster when you traded
for a guy at mid season that you need an offseason.
I don't buy all that, or maybe I should buy it,
but I I knew all that. Going into these playoffs,
I thought they got the perfect draw. I thought the
Timberwolves would be athletic and feisty, but I did not
(13:01):
think that in close games late they would have the edge.
And they have. And I looked at the Lakers path
and I said, Okay, you have the Timberwolves in Round
one with home court. You have been dominant against the
Western Conference this year. You have been dominated at home
this year. Then in round two you're going to have
(13:23):
either a young Rockets team that doesn't have a go
to scorer or a Warriors team, where again you have
home court, and the Warriors will have just been coming
off a seven game absolute war with Houston. It saw
a real path, a real path, and instead Friday Night
(13:48):
they waste a Lebron masterpiece where they can't finish at
the end of thirteen to one run. Luca is sick
and pretty ineffective, and is once again awesome. Another eight
assist game for Friday Night. Jaden McDaniels has the game
of his life, almost all targeting. Luca Julius has another
(14:13):
good playoff game. You lose that fourth quarter by ten.
Lebron seems gassed the final few minutes there despite giving
you thirty eight, ten to four to two and two.
And then Sunday afternoon JJ goes for it, the smallest
(14:37):
interval between games they'll have all postseason, from a Friday
night to a Sunday afternoon. JJ understanding we have two
days off before Game five, gotta win. This goes for it.
Plays Austin, Luca, Ruey and Dorian All twenty four minutes
(15:02):
of the second half and they can't hit the tape
and can they win Wednesday? Yeah? They should. And if
they win Wednesday, will I be on here Thursday feeling like, well,
(15:25):
you know, you got a shot Friday and then it's
a game seven in your building? Yeah? Maybe? But if
the goal for this Lakers team and this was the goal.
When you have Lebron James, I don't care that he's forty.
He is still unequivocally what top eight playoff guy right
(15:53):
now this moment, like I'm not I'm not sure the
what's the full list of guys this postseason who you'd
say either have been better you'd rather have in no
particular order, just going through the series, Tatum, Giannis, aunt
(16:16):
Ants earned it, Joker, Steph who I'll get to, there's
an argument for it. Fair's fair, Kawhi maybe maybe Jalen Brunson.
So what's that seven six, seven, eight when you have
(16:40):
I don't even at his age, a guy who's still
a top eight, let's go conservatively playoff performer this moment
and Luca getting bounced in round one when you're a
minus two hundred favorite is a disaster. And even if
(17:02):
somehow you are able to dig deep and overcome and
come back from this deficit. What legs are you going
to have going into Round two when the series basically
start going every other day. I don't know that you're
(17:24):
gonna have them. And so that's why started the pod
by saying the season ended on Sunday. They needed the
Round one to be done in six or less, and
they needed to demonstrate to themselves and their team that
(17:52):
they had at least seven guys they trusted. Even if
you don't trust Austin or I'm sorry up Jackson Hayes,
who I wouldn't. You got to at least trust Vanderbilt
or Vincent more than you have, and they haven't. They
(18:18):
can't steal minutes. It's why I thought Kerr as brilliant,
and it'll get to Steph shortly. As brilliant as Steph
was this weekend, all the games are running together? Was
that Saturday? Was that Friday? I don't even remember Friday night?
Saturday night. Kerr deserves massive credit himself for finding his
(18:43):
way through without Jimmy Butler, for massaging the rotation the
way he did, and the Lakers didn't think they had
that luxury. They play four guys forty plus minutes. They
play Luca coming off whatever illness he was dealing with.
(19:06):
Forty six, They play Lebron in his two hundred and
eighty fourth career playoff game, forty six, and they don't
get to the finish line. And it's just a damn
shame to waste. And this is and then I'll get
(19:27):
to ant. We're all focused on Lebron, every single one
of these man. Every single time we're watching, we might
be watching the final great playoff game of the greatest
(19:47):
playoff performer in NBA history's career. Like Friday Night, the
odds are, the odds are that's the most points Lebron
will ever scorre in a playoff game. Again, all the
none of the records. At this point, it's just he's
just passing his own oldest ever records again and again
(20:09):
and again. But thirty eight last on Friday Night, that's
like a minus three hundred favorite to be the most
points Lebron ever scores in a playoff game the rest
of his career. Sunday afternoon twenty seven to twelve eight,
(20:29):
three and three. The best Laker on the defensive end
and arguably the best Laker on the offensive end and
it's wasted. And listen, the Lebron missed the three. Lebron
turned the ball over on the end bounds, and I Lebron,
(20:54):
I suppose you can say fouled Anthony Edwards. I'm that one.
I'm not gonna kill him on I thought that the
US going to the Zapruder review and the Timberwolves challenging
the out of bounds, not even hoping to get the
out of bounds, but hoping to then retroactively get the foul.
I don't love any of that, but the rules are
the rules, and so now we see. And the other
(21:23):
story here is, of course Anthony Edwards and Anthony Edwards,
who is putting a whole lot of pelts on his
wall at such a young age. We have now seen
(21:46):
Anthony Edwards not Kevin Durant and Devin Booker out of
a playoff series, Nikola Jokic out of a playoff series,
then get bounced by Luca and say I was out
of gas. And he now is this close to knocking
(22:09):
Lebron James and Luka Doncic out of a playoff series
in a postseason where through four games he's averaging thirty
eight and six on forty three percent from three forty
five forty three eighty three splits. Listen, he can say
(22:33):
all he wants about not wanting to be the face
of the league, and the fact of the matter is,
as long as Lebron and Steph are playing, that spot
is probably not really open. But his charisma, his style,
(22:54):
his competitiveness, his athleticism, his ferocity, his listeners, all of that,
all of that is face of the league's stuff. And
it certainly doesn't hurt that folks in the media seem
convinced he looks like and reminds them of Michael Jordan,
(23:18):
and so this is a huge moment for Aunt and Ant.
Then I just mentioned beat Durant, beat Joker, is this
close to beating Lebron and Luca and then in the
next round would have a chance to beat Steph. Now,
I still think Houston has a shot in that series,
(23:40):
but obviously Golden State's in great position is the favorite
right now. He's building quite the resume at twenty three
years old, and it's really really impressive and credit to
Chris Finch and that entire listen. Jaden McDaniels has been
(24:04):
awesome they have. I think Rudy Rudy has had his
moments on the offensive, I mean on the defensive end
more than his moments. He's been good on the defensive end,
but he has been His total inability to take advantage
of the lakers lack of size has been a little embarrassing.
(24:25):
And I understand he's not an offensive player, but he's
not a four point a game guy. In the regular season,
He's a dozen points a game. In this series, he's
been a zero on offense. Hasn't mattered because An's been
that good, Julius is exercising some playoff demons, Jaden's been great,
and then Nas. They've had different role players step up,
(24:50):
and so they they've gotten away with the fact that
Mike Connley was about as unplayable as I thought he
would be. That's the crazy part to me about this
sies a lot of my pre series analysis of go
Beart's not gonna take advantage of their lack of size.
(25:10):
Conley's not going to be playable. You can pencil Luca
in for thirty a game and Lebron will be great.
They've come to fruition and it hasn't mattered because the
Lakers have been The fourth quarter margins in this series
(25:31):
have been mortified. Game one twenty three to seventeen, so
the Timberwolves are plus six. Game two, the Lakers won it,
but it was twenty to thirteen, So now the Timberwolves
are plus seven. Plus seven there, so plus thirteen overall.
(25:52):
Game three thirty to twenty, So now the Timberwolves are
plus seventeen. Game four thirty two to nineteen, So now
the Timbrelves are plus thirty. You lose the fourth quarters
by thirty points in an otherwise tightly contested series, You're
(26:18):
in terrible shape. And so shout out to the Timberwolves.
This was truly a wake up in the middle of
the night think about it game, and it is obviously
(26:41):
a think about all off season game. If this series
goes the way one thinks it's likely to go, I mean,
I'll look right now the series odds. They've got to
be like minus one thousand, right, series markets minus five
(27:05):
hundred minus on thousand. I guess was too strong, and
then so that means the Lakers must be big favorites.
Let me check with our friends at DraftKings, and then
I'm gonna tell you about DraftKings Lakers five and a
half point favorites Game five. Yeah, but Lakers who went
into this postseason with seventeen to one to win the
(27:28):
title now forty to one, and honestly, that feels a
little strong because even if they were to execute the
three to one comeback, what legs are they going to
have for round two? Much less Round three and four,
which doesn't seem to be It's gonna be a problem
(27:49):
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For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see DKNNG dot
co slash audio. All Right, some other quick hitters from
the weekend. I thought Steph was unbelievable Saturday evening. And
(30:03):
it wasn't just that he was getting beat up the
whole game.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
And it wasn't just that the Rockets understood, if we
can somehow contain him, the Warriors have no other offense.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
It was his just other worldly stamina from start to
finish in that game, in a game that it would
have been really easy for the Warriors, and for Steph
(30:49):
to say, Okay, we don't have Jimmy Houston was dialed
that first quarter defense they're gonna be beating us up,
and Steph very early on didn't have it going Okay,
no problem, long series, Jimmy, we'll be back, And instead
(31:15):
stephannswers with thirty six, seven and nine. In his forty
one minutes, they're plus eighteen, which means in the seven
minutes he sat, they were minus seven. They needed one
other guy to show up offensively. They got two other
(31:35):
guys to show up offensively, Gary Payton the second and
obviously Buddy Hit the huge threes and the Rockets. On
the other hand, Jalen Green responds to his thirty eight
point game with his fifth single digit game in his
last six games. Jalen Green has not been the same
(32:01):
guy since they clinched that two seed. Now, his minutes
weren't the same at the end of the regular season,
but still he had the one explosion in Game three,
gets utterly shut down the Warriors, and Fred van Vliet,
after hitting two threes to open that game, went right
(32:21):
back to what he had been. He's two for two
to start the game, three for twelve and one for
seven from three the rest of the way. He's been
brutal this series. Shngoon not quite involved enough and probably
should have been playing more minutes. I know he had
some foul trouble, but the Warriors playing of Amen Thompson.
(32:46):
Take all the shots you want, buddy, we don't care
if they're from seven feet, has been great. Draymond, who's
been nothing but triple singles in this series, had another
great defensive performance. They got by with Quinton Posts not
being able to hit a shot, and you would think
(33:10):
the Rockets would sign up for any game. The three
point discrepancy is only three made threes difference. The Rockets
will say, Okay, no problem. The Warriors only outshot them
from three, fourteen to eleven. The Rockets got to the
(33:33):
line nine more times, couldn't make their free throws, but
the Rockets turnovers, which they've got to win that battle.
The Rockets have shied from the Steven Adams shingoon double
big minutes for a reason that I don't totally understand.
And the Warriors overcame a fourth quarter depicit and it
(34:00):
is two points, but still for a dominant fourth quarter
where Steph was brilliant and took control of that series,
retook control of that series, I should say. And so
I still think this seven game series. I still think
the rock and we'll see what the you know, how
(34:21):
Jimmy looks when he comes back. But that was a gritty,
great win by the Warriors and by Steph. Great win.
And I think that it's Steph or Ant for who's
(34:48):
been the best player this postseason. And Steph doing that
at thirty seven is remarkable and none of that the
people Warrior fans. And it's so I said this on
the pod on Thursday, but I'll say it again. These
folks who don't have any type of microphone other than
(35:11):
their Twitter feed. Acting as if those of us who
have actual platforms are obligated to comment on everything via
Twitter because that's their platform, is that it's just out
to launch levels of cluelessness. The idea that all where's
(35:37):
Nick's commentary now on Warriors Rockets? I don't know, man,
Probably on the podcast, YouTube show or TV show that
I'm doing twenty hours of content every single week. You'll
probably get it there. But those folks that are upset
about the we know the rules with Steph Curry k
(36:01):
as if this game contradicts it. No, this game, if anything,
watch the commentary today we get on Steph Curry, it'll
just confirm it. When he's great, he's in the Goat
conversation and he's better than Magic Johnson. And when he's not,
we move on to the next thing. That's just what
it is, and it's it. But when he's great, and
(36:26):
he has been great this postseason and he's thirty seven
years old, it's the best small guy, old guy season
ever and he deserves massive credit. And then the other listen,
(36:48):
I don't even want We'll do it on Tuesday. The
Dame injury part, but they're the The shock waves of
Dame reportedly bowing his achilles and therefore being out all
of next year are going to be felt throughout this offseason,
(37:11):
and you feel sick for Dame, and obviously people are
going to jump to what it means for you. Honest
Dame has a two year, one hundred and twelve million
dollars contract extension that has not started yet starts next season,
so Dall Dan will be fine money wise, but you
(37:33):
worry about, obviously what this means for an all time
great player's career. So we'll do more of that tomorrow.
The other story from the weekend is the Clippers furious
fourth quarter comeback in a game much like the Laker
(37:57):
game where it was like, and we trust these five
guys were playing these five guys for the Nuggets, and
those five guys ran out of gas at the end,
but thanks to and I thought Jokers in a game
Joker was awesome. I mean he hit thirty six twenty
one and eight, thirty six twenty one and eight. I
(38:18):
thought Joker's decision on that last possession of I don't
care if it's a good shot or not. I'm taking
it was very unjoker, like, maybe you have that luxury
because it's a tie game more so than otherwise. I
was shocked by that decision when it was clear it
wasn't gonna be a good look. But maybe it was like, man,
Jamal doesn't have it tonight. Porter's injured, and I mean
(38:40):
Porter played tough and played well through the plate through
the injury, and you're not gonna trust Christian Brown and
that's spot and Aaron Gordon you're not gonna want to
play for. I get, so maybe it's more reasonable than
I thought. But the Aaron Gordon buzzer beating dunk to
(39:05):
tie a series rather than go down three to one
is really the stuff of legends. And it is such
a stomach punch for the Clippers in a game that
it looked like they were going to It was such
(39:28):
a weird game, and that the first half is back
and forth the whole time, as tightly contested as you get.
Denver then absolutely blitzes them in the second half to
be up twenty going into the fourth quarter of a
playoff game up twenty, and the Clippers then more than
(39:51):
chip away. The Clippers thanks to a great Norman Powell
game Zubach doing his thing on the offensive end, even
though he got absolutely crushed on the other end. Some
time he plays by kawhis you saw playoff James Harden
show up a bit. And despite the fact that the
(40:15):
Nuggets were basically telling Chris Dunn, shoot all you want, buddy,
we're not worried about you, Clippers still in position to
steal it, and that play by Aaron Gordon changes the
entire complexion of that series. And now listen, maybe you
can say, oh, well, the Nuggets could have won and overtime.
They could have won and overtime, but they were so gassed.
(40:39):
It's the same way I felt once the Lakers went
down three with ten seconds left yesterday. When Ant makes
both those free throws, the game's over, because even if
Austin makes that shot, the Lakers were on fumes and
you just felt like that game was going to be
a rap in overtime. And that's how I felt when
(41:02):
I saw Jokic put up that shot. It's like, Okay,
well they're gonna lose. Aaron Gordon by maybe one one
hundredth of a second saves them, and now we have
a great series there in Oklahoma City, which I know
this is going to sound shitty, and Oklahoma City fans
are going to be upset as unimpressive in a sweep
(41:25):
as I can remember. It just didn't look the last
couple games the way you would have wanted it to look.
But maybe they felt correctly, like, man, we can play
our c minus game and the Memphis still can't take
a game from us, And they were right. So now
you're gonna have Oklahoma City resting and chilling watching what
(41:45):
is going to be a seven game slugfest between the
Clippers and the Nuggets. All Right, this was a little cathartic.
I don't I can't say I feel better, but maybe
a little bit, I don't know, less anxious about what
was a what if weekend for the Los Angeles Lakers,
(42:08):
Lebron and Luca. And we'll see how they look on Wednesday,
but I'll remember this weekend as the weekend when the
Lakers championship hopes went to die. And God, nothing would
make me happier than a month from now. Folks sending
me this clip, Oh you lost faith? Look at them now.
(42:30):
I've never wanted to be wrong about a take more
than I want to be wrong about this one, but
that's It feels like the Lakers season ended this weekend
and it shouldn't have. All right, I'll see you guys
tomorrow with demands. What's right
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