Zone 1 of WTZ Podcast, host Noah Buono dives in the role reversal of LeBron having a great supporting cast that's helping increase this Laker team's postseason success and Curry all of a sudden not having as great of a supporting cast as we're used to seeing.
Noah also dives into LeBron's foot problem, Lakers closing this series out in 5, how he has been on the Philly train all year, Steve Kerr and Darvin Ham's chess match on the Warriors offensive strategies vs. the Lakers defensive strategies to limit Curry and why Jordan Poole's Game 1 shot was actually a better shot than Steph Curry's Game 4 shot.
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Speaker 1 (00:11):
You listen to his own one of Walkie Tucky's podcast,
Mna Bono, your host. The role reversal that's going on
in this Lakers Warrior series between Steph Curry and Lebron
James has been as a Lebron fan, fascinating to watch
because for so many years, during these Curry and Lebron battles,
it's just been Lebron fighting to have a supporting cast.
And I always go back to, obviously, the last time
(00:33):
they matched up against each other in the postseason, which
was in twenty eighteen, when Lebron carried that Cleveland team
that had no business being in the finals and Golden
State had Kevin Durant. They were fresh off their second
championship in their first one with the Kadi era. And
now we're in this scenario where Lebron's obviously in a
different phase of his career. Curry has is also kind
(00:56):
of in a different phase of his career where he
looks like he's gotten even better then he was during
the first three championships before getting the fourth one last year.
But the scenarios have changed because the Lakers' depth is
insane and the Warriors depth that we all thought was
supposed to be there with the young guys. Blending in
with the old guys has been non existent for the
(01:18):
most part. And you can take Jordan Poole as an example.
Seventeen points, four assists a game on fifty percent shooting
during last season's championship run. This year postseason, not the same.
In the last two games versus the Lakers in LA
he's averaging two points excuse me, two and a half
points for assists, three rebounds, he has three turnovers. He's
(01:41):
zero of six from threes, two of fifteen from the field,
which is fifteen percent. He's just been non existent. So
it's a different guy, and he's just one of the examples,
like the Andrew Wiggins that helped Curry win the title
in Boston last year, who was clearly their second best
player in that series. He's been fine, but he hasn't
been the guy he was last year. So then you
(02:03):
look over at the Lakers roster and it's just any
given night, you're gonna get what you get from Lebron
for the most part, you're gonna get what you get
from a D and then it doesn't really matter who
the third option is, whether it's D Lo, whether it's
Austin Reeves, Ruby Hachimura. Then we saw in Game four
it was Lonnie Walker. Like the depth on this team
is almost infinite. They're deep, they're big, they're physical, they're strong,
(02:26):
they got different bodies they can throw at different people.
And I just thought watching that game in Game four,
and I mean, obviously Curry wasn't great, but like Clay
was bad, Draymond was bad, Pools non existent, Like their
second best player was Gary Payton the second and it's like,
you're just not gonna win that way if you're the Warriors.
And so that role reversal has been something to watch
(02:50):
because it's just I have to speak biasedly because I'm
I'm a Lebron fan, and it's almost just been refreshing
to see this, not even because it's against the Warriors.
I think it even it makes it even sweeter that
it is against the Warriors because there's been so many
matchups with the Warriors where Lebron didn't have any help
and just him doing it by himself. And then he
gets criticized for losing and getting swept in the twenty
(03:12):
eighteen finals when he was amazing and you know, broke
his hand after Game one and still averaged over thirty
points for the series and was incredible. And it's like,
now it's Curry, and it's Curry kind of on his own.
Even though he's not on his own. It's just that,
you know, some of his championship pedigree, guys aren't playing
that well. It's just interesting and I'm just happy overall
(03:32):
to see that Lebron James finally has some help because
he is older. That foot clearly is a problem. He
clearly did need surgery, still does need surgery, and that's
going to happen in the offseason. Whenever this Lakers season
comes to an end, whether the Warriors come back three
to one and they lose in round two, or they
lose in round three, or they get to the finals
and lose there, or they get to the finals and win,
however their season ends. When this season ends, Lebron James
(03:54):
will have surgery on that foot. I can guarantee it.
I'm not a doctor, but you can just tell. In
the month of January, the man was averaging thirty five
points per game for the entire month. And now everybody
wants to run around, Oh, Lebron James isn't the same.
Are you sure? Are you sure? Because if you look
at this very season, he was putting up numbers that
(04:15):
everybody across the entire basketball world was like, oh my god,
Lebron's still got it. Oh my god, Look do you
see what Lebron's doing. It's like, yeah, yeah, you know,
I saw it. And then he got hurt. Okay, so
I think he's a little debilitated. He's definitely being more
conservative because he now knows he can rely on a
lot of these role guys, and he also knows, for
the most part, Anthony Davis pending health, which knock on Wood.
(04:38):
We hope he stays healthy. He can really rely on him.
He can really shoulder a heavy burden offensively, defensively, more
so defensively. As we saw game Game four, he tires
out in that fourth quarter. He kind of hides on
offense because he's exerting so much energy on defense. And
part of that is fine, but part of that is,
you know, gonna need him to step up a little
bit more in those fourth quarter situations because he can
(04:59):
he can get the Lakers easy buckets and keep the lead,
maintain a lead, you know, with his little shots around
the rim, so that's something to keep track of. But
I do think Lebron is hurt. He's conserving a lot.
He's got gas left in the tank. I know it.
I'm not going to get blinded by the fact that
you know, this is the player Lebron has become. It's not.
It's not. I saw this guy average in thirty five
(05:19):
a game in an entire month of January, thirty five
points a game. He was unreal. So I don't care.
You know, obviously I don't want him to get hurt,
but I don't care about all the extra noise that
he isn't the player that he once used to be.
He's not, You're right, but he's still very much like
that guy, and this injury put that aside, and he's
(05:40):
still pretty much that version. So I think we're going
to get some real Lebron explosions later in this postseason run.
As these rounds. He gets into these last two rounds,
if they can obviously close out the Warriors and then
Western Conference Finals finals, I think we're going to start
to see a lot more of him. Oh and my
last thing before we go to a quick break is
they will close out the Dubs tonight in five games
(06:03):
in Golden State. Nice gentlemen, sweep. I know that it's
not They're not favored. They're seven and a half point underdogs.
You obviously got to think Warriors come out swinging. And
I think the Warriors are gonna come out swing, and
I think they're gonna have a great first half. But
I think when the dust settles and the Lakers settle
into the game, settle into the crowd, I think that
they're just going to overpower this team that the way
that they've kind of done over the course of three
(06:23):
of the first four games outside of that Game two blowout,
I think that they're just gonna kind of it's gonna
come to a head. Golden State season is going to
come to an end. There's just no not only is
there no reason for Golden State to win this game,
other you know, unless they really had the miraculous three
to one comeback in them, which would be devastating for
myself and for everyone that is a Laker fan and
(06:43):
wants to see Lebron and these guys win the chip,
that'd be terrible, But I don't see it happening. I
think that the Lakers handle their business tonight. I think
that they know they want two to three extra days
of rest that they can get and avoid having to
play a six game, and so I think they're going
to come out guns blazing. I think the Warriors is
going to come out guns blazing. But I think over
the course of this forty eight minute game, Lakers are
going to be able to dictate pace, flow, physicality, and
(07:07):
I think the Warriors are just gonna end up submitting.
It feels like one of those games, so interested to
see what actually ends up transpiring. That's my take for
the night. I would take Lakers plus seven and a half.
I already have money on the money line, so I'll
leave it there. We'll go to a quick break come
back right after this, Okay. Embiid Harden I tweeted this
out yesterday before the game started in some quick takes,
(07:31):
I said quick takes without an explanation, and one of
the notes in there was that Embiad and harden we're
going to upset the Celtics. Now I didn't mean in
Game five, but I did mean in the overall series.
But the fact that they were able to take Game
five versus losing going down three to two and having
to win back to back game six, game seven and
winning a road game seven in Boston and they were
(07:52):
able to take this game five is huge, and they
kind of did it in very blowout esque dominant fashion.
They really controlled the entire game. Al Horford stunk. I
can't believe that's the first player that I'm naming for
the Celtics, but it stood out to me because he
put up a donut and he wasn't good. A couple
of good plays defensively, but he wasn't giving Embiid the
problems he was giving him. In Game four, Jason Tatum,
(08:15):
he was thirty six ten five eleven of twenty seven
from the field. That's forty percent. He played forty minutes.
I don't know, man, I've been on Philly's train all year,
and a lot of it has been a bias because
I love James Harden and I love Joel Embiid. But
I mean, aside from the Embiid injury, which is unfortunate
that he's even again dealing with an injury in the postseason,
(08:37):
I don't know to what extent it was debilitating him.
I mean, I know that he obviously had to get
his rhythm back, and I don't know what I meant
to say. I don't know to what extent this injury
is debilitating him on a game to game basis. But
for instance, last night thirty three seven and three thirty
seven minutes, he was ten of twenty three, So shade
under fifty percent. Well, I guess that's not a shade
(09:00):
forty three percent not a shade under. But regardless, the
knee is definitely still impacting him to some degree. James
Harden had one of his little more conservative games. He
was seventeen ten and eight, only took eight shots, played
about forty minutes, thirty nine on the stat sheet. But
then it was the production that they got from Tobias Harris,
(09:21):
Tyrese Maxi had a thirty ball, he was great. In
forty two minutes, he was ten to twenty one. That's
a shade under fifty percent. So I just don't trust
the Celtics. I don't really think that the Celtics in
late game situations, in dire close scheme, methodical, X and
O's coaches duels. I don't love, you know, the ability
of either coach on both staffs where they're gonna, you know,
(09:45):
X and O duel it out like a like kind
of what we're seeing with Golden State and the Lakers
with Steve Kerr and Darvin Ham. But I just my
overall point of saying that is that I just think
that and I've heard Bill Simmons and Ryan Risillo talk
about this on their show. You know, the way that
Joe Miszula operates in late game situations and like his
you know, take Game four for instance, and not calling
(10:07):
a timeout. Somehow, some way, Marcus Smart finds himself in
these situations always, and he's the guy taking these end
of the game shots. I don't get it. Cool. I've
seen him make a couple, We've seen him hit a
couple shots fine late game situations there's no shot clock,
you got the ball. Tatum goes super late into that
(10:28):
that end of gameplay, and Marcus Smart takes the shot
at the end ot it didn't even get the shot
off in time. But it's just like, I don't even
get it, like he his involvement late in the game
for the Celtics is just way too much. It's way
more than it should be. And my point in bringing
up Simmons and Risillo is that they argue you sometimes
(10:48):
that like Marcus Smart shouldn't even be out there. And
I was listening to him the other day and they're like, Oh,
that's the locker room cancer that probably comes in if
you bench Marcus Smart and you play Derek White over him,
or you have White and out there over him, and
it's like, yeah, Marcus Mart probably doesn't receive it. Well,
maybe he does. I personally think he would receive it well.
I think that externally he would show support, he would
(11:11):
be fine. Maybe internally it would cause a little bit
of extra antics and drama, but his involvement late in
the game, Joe Mizzoula is play calling and just decision making,
like and the ability or the willingness to just let
them free ball it out there almost in late game
situations like that and not just call time out, not
just really hone in on this is what we want
to get out of this set. Like I feel like
(11:33):
there's been time and time again this season where they
just haven't done that, and it costed them in that
game for at the end, and I you know, it's
a tough it's a tough one. I think they can
go back to Philly and they could. They could of
course win Game six. It could of course, win game six.
Do I think that they're going to No, I don't
because I think that Philly knows we can't go back
(11:54):
to Boston for a Game seven and win that game.
So we got to get it done here. We got
to get it done now. I think it's dire for
Philly to win this game. This is the best chance
that they've had to get to the Eastern Conference Finals
since they've had this team with Harden. Now, they had
some chances in years prior, in the late twenty tens
when they had Simmons, and you know, they had the
second round series in twenty eighteen when they lost to Boston,
(12:15):
and there's been a number of other times, obviously the
Atlanta series in twenty twenty one when Ben Simmons wouldn't
shoot the layup and you know, Atlanta ends up getting
to the Eastern Conference Finals, or in twenty nineteen when
they're literally seconds and bounces on the rim away from
Kawhi Leonard shot not going in when they were in
Toronto that had Jimmy Butler on that team. I've felt
from the jump this year that this is Philly's season,
(12:37):
this is their year. Harden takes the pay cut, they
go get PJ. Tucker and Beads riding an ultimate high.
He's gone a revenge tour for not getting the MVP.
It's been two years in a row coming into this
season where it was like, ooh, Embids making a strong
case for the MVP, can we give it to him?
First year when Jokich won it and Beid didn't play
enough games. Last year still kind of similar, he didn't
(12:57):
play enough games. He had that little two week stretch
where he was out and they gave it to Yokchen.
But this year he was dominant in all fatsits. He
averaged thirty three points a game, led the league in
scoring again, and it was his turn to win the MVP.
And I felt it. And I just felt the energy
with Harden and the positivity with Harden and the optimism
of like, now like this is my chance. I like, well,
I want to get this done here, like I'll take
a pay cut so we can sign him, so we
(13:18):
can sell. Like that's all part of what goes into
this stuff. And if you want to call it good karma,
call it good karmas. So I've been on the Philly
train from the jump I have. Now they've been a
little shaky, and James Harden's playoff thing that's still a
really that's still a real thing. It exists. James Harden
in the playoffs. Folding, crumbling and not being that guy
(13:39):
is a thing. I mean, it happened in this very series.
You go from you having forty five points in game
one hitting the game winning shot, to twelve points in
game two and you're two of fourteen from the field,
and then you follow that game up in game three
with sixteen points and you're three of fourteen from the field.
So like it's happened already in this series. And then
he follows it up, of course with the lling forty
(14:00):
two point game four, game winning shot. He was fantastic.
But so I'm aware. I'm aware that the playoff hardened
thing is still very real and it could come into
play here as Boston tries to push this thing to
seven and win it in seven. But I'm on the
Philly train. I think that they got what it takes
and I think that they will close this out in
(14:21):
six games, and that the type of team that Boston
is and how they've been up there with the best
record next to the Bucks, and they've been dominant during
stretches of the season. I just think that they've had
enough weird problems and enough of a roller coaster ride
during this season where it makes sense that the Philadelphia
seventy six ers can definitely and they're obviously in the
(14:42):
position to do it now, definitely take advantage of this
little Boston championship window and close it. Not fully close it,
but close it. Because they were in the finals last year.
They could have won the finals last year. They probably
should have won the finals last year if Jason Tatum
plays a little bit better and it is more consistent,
and they come into this year, they lose e Mayodoka,
they hired Joe Mizzula, and yeah, they got off to
(15:05):
a great start, but they have their shit has come
to a head and they have shown like they ain't perfect.
They got a lot of problems, they got a lot
of flaws, and yesterday in Game five was an example
of that. And I think Philly gets done closed out.
All right, quick break, I got one more thing I
want to rant about about Lakers Warriors, and then we'll
wrap it up. Be right back, okay, quickly, back to
(15:26):
the Lakers. Since they played a night I haven't even
mentioned Nick's heat. It's not worth mentioning. Okay, because as
a guy from New Jersey, I grew up watching the Knicks,
loved the Carmelo Carmelo Anthony Era in New York. Was
watching every single game on MSG network when I was,
you know, from fifth grade and all the way up
until Mellow left and got traded to the Thunder and
(15:47):
I was in eleventh grade. Maybe I don't even remember.
But point is not even worth talking about because they're
gonna lose. They're probably gonna lose in five. I mean,
I would love to see him get a win in
the garden, keep some some hope alive, even though I
don't see them coming back from a three to one deficit.
But aside from them, Laker game tonight, the chess match
(16:09):
between Steve Kerr Darvin Ham, how they've been utilizing the
Warriors offense to mismatch the Lakers defense, and how they're
utilizing Anthony Davis and you know, Game four, just throwing
him in a bunch of pick and roll actions and
getting him away from the rim. It really was working.
Early in the game, it was like, oh shit, Like
I'm thinking to my head, I'm like if I was
(16:30):
the coach, what is the one thing you can do
that when Anthony Davis is being brought away from the
basket in these pick and roll coverages, because they're sending
the man he's guarding up to set the screen. What
can you do to counteract that so that he can
just stay near the rim like and send someone else
up there. But one of the broadcasters said it, I
think it was Stan van Gundy was announcing the game,
or Jeff Van Gunny was in stan Stan SVG, Yeah, SVGI.
(16:54):
He was announcing the game, and he said, when he
comes up and is in the ball screen action, like
he's just got a blitz them, He's got blitz him
way harder. He's got to show more of a presence,
use his length, take two hard steps out there, and
put some real pressure on Curry in that ball screen
action so that that way the backside help can fill
in and wait a little bit. Because Curry's now pulled
(17:14):
out even further to half court and he's a little
bit more rattled. He's not as comfortable playing out of
that pick and roll because Anthony Davis's length and energy
and just presence being around that long body around Curry
in a pick and roll situation like that, blitzing it
that can disrupt some things and make the offensive player
a little bit more uncomfortable. So the Warriors were doing
(17:34):
a great job of it in the beginning of Game four,
and then towards the end of the game they totally
abandoned it. I mean for the most part, like it
wasn't even a thing. And the thing that I loved
the most about Game four that I hope we get
even more of tonight was the amount of times that
we got Curry on Lebron because Lebron was hunting Curry
and the pick and roll. He wanted him. Whoever's guard
and Curry, come, set me the screen, let him switch
on to me. Let's do this. I loved it. And
(17:57):
then there was a million times on a million, but
several times in the fourth quarter Lebron was on Curry,
ad switched on to Curry. And obviously that last possession
that we saw when Curry took the little one foot
step back inside the three point line, Miss Raymond gets
the rebound, kicks it back out that last possession and
he takes the forty five foot step back three That
was honestly a horrible shot, and I'll get to that
(18:18):
in a second. But those matchups are great, and it's
so fun to see these guys dueling one v one
like and it's just coming down to the stars, two heavyweights,
and it's so fun for the fans to see. Let me,
let me, let me just get off this this for
a second and talk about the shot, because Steph Curry
shot late in the game, Like, yeah, I was clenching
and I was like freaking out, like, oh God, no, no, no,
(18:40):
like it's gonna like I thought it. I didn't. I
don't know if I thought it was gonna go down.
But anytime that man shoots and the war, the Lakers
or whoever they're playing, doesn't have more than a six
point lead, like, I'm terrified because he just s he's
the most dangerous, like lethal guy from any spot on
the floor. So I don't really care how far away
he was. I was just scared. However, I didn't take
(19:01):
into account that in Steph Curry's postseason career in the
final minute of game tying or lead taking shots, I
think he's zero for twelve in those situations. He's never
hit one to tie the game or put them up
in the postseason. So that's an interesting stat and so
that if I knew that stat, Pryor, I probably probably
would have felt better about when that shot went up.
But my point is that shot right versus the game
(19:25):
one Jordan Pool shot are totally different. Now, of course
you want Steph Curry taking the shot, I do too,
But Jordan Pool shot in game one, he had already
hit six three pointers. He was wide the fuck open,
and he's made a shot like that plenty of times.
Oh and by the way, in that same game, two
of the shots Jordan Poole hit were ridiculous. They were
(19:45):
One of them was that crazy running like trying to
draw a foul and he's like leaning forward into the
left and he drills it. The other one he was
coming up the court on towards the right guard spot,
I believe it was, and he banked it in and
it was just like what that really went down like.
And then the other four like he just were rhythm
threes and he was feeling it. He found a little
(20:08):
bit of a rhythm. So that shot in game one,
like he was wide open, and did I love it? No?
But did I think it was a bad shot? No?
Like I thought that it was appropriate for the time
and score, And yes, he probably could have taken a
dribble in, but like the rhythm that he had, like
with already hitting six threes and being six of I
think he was six of ten at the time, finished
(20:30):
six of eleven from the three line. Like, that's a
fine shot, and obviously you want Curry taking the shot,
but the way that the play transpire doubling, Curry at
half swing to Draymond, Draymond swings to him, He's wide open.
But my point is that shot versus curry shot. I
would have felt even more terrified if I saw Steph
Curry say, fuck it, I'm putting this on the deck.
I'm gonna make Anthony Davis get around me, or I'm
(20:51):
gonna get around Anthony Davis and make him guard me,
slide his feet, and I'm gonna get into this paint
like I've been doing this entire fourth quarter and make
a play. And whether it's I make a play at
the rim for myself, I draw a foul, I find
an open shooter, and I get them a wide open
look fine, but I just think that Curry's like the
level of lethlesness that gets added to his game when
(21:12):
he is dribbling the ball around the court with that
insanely tight handle, unless it's his speed and his craftiness,
his creativity is touched around the rim. Like I would
have felt even more scared if he put the ball
in the deck because the Lakers were in scramble mode.
So when he threw that offensive rebound out and he
had time, I know that legs were a part of it.
I know that he was tired. I know that it
(21:33):
was just like a god if I could just hit
this shot, Like, but you're only down one man, go
to the fucking rim, go to the back. I can't
stand it, but like, what are we settling for a
fucking thirty five foot or four when you're down one,
get your ass into the paint. Like, I know you're
Steph Curry, that's fine, but I just like the settling.
(21:55):
As a guy that was rooting for the Lakers, I
was like, okay, fine, I was still nervous. Said that
I'm still nervous when he shot it because it's Steph Curry.
But I was so happy that he didn't put the
ball on the floor because I'm like, if this guy
puts the fucking ball on the floor. Something's gonna happen.
The Lakers are gonna scramble, the Warriors are gonna keep
moving and passing and find the open guy and get
(22:15):
the get it, get the greatest look they can get.
And I don't think that in that scenario, down one
one o two to one oh one, that they got
the best look that they could have gotten. So that's
on Steph Curry. I think that that shot that he
took was a worse shot than what Pool took given
the time and the score and the situation of how
that play broke down. Pools was a little bit more
(22:35):
in rhythm. Curry's was a little bit more like, I'm
Steph Curry, so I'm just gonna fucking shoot this, And
I just don't think it was the best look that
they could have gotten in that scenario. So that's a
wrap zone one. See you guys back here throughout the
rest of the postseason. Hey mo, Gang d Gang Day God. Yeah,
(23:00):
h
You listen to his own one of Walkie Tucky's podcast,
Mna Bono, your host. The role reversal that's going on
in this Lakers Warrior series between Steph Curry and Lebron
James has been as a Lebron fan, fascinating to watch
because for so many years, during these Curry and Lebron battles,
it's just been Lebron fighting to have a supporting cast.
And I always go back to, obviously, the last time
(00:33):
they matched up against each other in the postseason, which
was in twenty eighteen, when Lebron carried that Cleveland team
that had no business being in the finals and Golden
State had Kevin Durant. They were fresh off their second
championship in their first one with the Kadi era. And
now we're in this scenario where Lebron's obviously in a
different phase of his career. Curry has is also kind
(00:56):
of in a different phase of his career where he
looks like he's gotten even better then he was during
the first three championships before getting the fourth one last year.
But the scenarios have changed because the Lakers' depth is
insane and the Warriors depth that we all thought was
supposed to be there with the young guys. Blending in
with the old guys has been non existent for the
(01:18):
most part. And you can take Jordan Poole as an example.
Seventeen points, four assists a game on fifty percent shooting
during last season's championship run. This year postseason, not the same.
In the last two games versus the Lakers in LA
he's averaging two points excuse me, two and a half
points for assists, three rebounds, he has three turnovers. He's
(01:41):
zero of six from threes, two of fifteen from the field,
which is fifteen percent. He's just been non existent. So
it's a different guy, and he's just one of the examples,
like the Andrew Wiggins that helped Curry win the title
in Boston last year, who was clearly their second best
player in that series. He's been fine, but he hasn't
been the guy he was last year. So then you
(02:03):
look over at the Lakers roster and it's just any
given night, you're gonna get what you get from Lebron
for the most part, you're gonna get what you get
from a D and then it doesn't really matter who
the third option is, whether it's D Lo, whether it's
Austin Reeves, Ruby Hachimura. Then we saw in Game four
it was Lonnie Walker. Like the depth on this team
is almost infinite. They're deep, they're big, they're physical, they're strong,
(02:26):
they got different bodies they can throw at different people.
And I just thought watching that game in Game four,
and I mean, obviously Curry wasn't great, but like Clay
was bad, Draymond was bad, Pools non existent, Like their
second best player was Gary Payton the second and it's like,
you're just not gonna win that way if you're the Warriors.
And so that role reversal has been something to watch
(02:50):
because it's just I have to speak biasedly because I'm
I'm a Lebron fan, and it's almost just been refreshing
to see this, not even because it's against the Warriors.
I think it even it makes it even sweeter that
it is against the Warriors because there's been so many
matchups with the Warriors where Lebron didn't have any help
and just him doing it by himself. And then he
gets criticized for losing and getting swept in the twenty
(03:12):
eighteen finals when he was amazing and you know, broke
his hand after Game one and still averaged over thirty
points for the series and was incredible. And it's like,
now it's Curry, and it's Curry kind of on his own.
Even though he's not on his own. It's just that,
you know, some of his championship pedigree, guys aren't playing
that well. It's just interesting and I'm just happy overall
(03:32):
to see that Lebron James finally has some help because
he is older. That foot clearly is a problem. He
clearly did need surgery, still does need surgery, and that's
going to happen in the offseason. Whenever this Lakers season
comes to an end, whether the Warriors come back three
to one and they lose in round two, or they
lose in round three, or they get to the finals
and lose there, or they get to the finals and win,
however their season ends. When this season ends, Lebron James
(03:54):
will have surgery on that foot. I can guarantee it.
I'm not a doctor, but you can just tell. In
the month of January, the man was averaging thirty five
points per game for the entire month. And now everybody
wants to run around, Oh, Lebron James isn't the same.
Are you sure? Are you sure? Because if you look
at this very season, he was putting up numbers that
(04:15):
everybody across the entire basketball world was like, oh my god,
Lebron's still got it. Oh my god, Look do you
see what Lebron's doing. It's like, yeah, yeah, you know,
I saw it. And then he got hurt. Okay, so
I think he's a little debilitated. He's definitely being more
conservative because he now knows he can rely on a
lot of these role guys, and he also knows, for
the most part, Anthony Davis pending health, which knock on Wood.
(04:38):
We hope he stays healthy. He can really rely on him.
He can really shoulder a heavy burden offensively, defensively, more
so defensively. As we saw game Game four, he tires
out in that fourth quarter. He kind of hides on
offense because he's exerting so much energy on defense. And
part of that is fine, but part of that is,
you know, gonna need him to step up a little
bit more in those fourth quarter situations because he can
(04:59):
he can get the Lakers easy buckets and keep the lead,
maintain a lead, you know, with his little shots around
the rim, so that's something to keep track of. But
I do think Lebron is hurt. He's conserving a lot.
He's got gas left in the tank. I know it.
I'm not going to get blinded by the fact that
you know, this is the player Lebron has become. It's not.
It's not. I saw this guy average in thirty five
(05:19):
a game in an entire month of January, thirty five
points a game. He was unreal. So I don't care.
You know, obviously I don't want him to get hurt,
but I don't care about all the extra noise that
he isn't the player that he once used to be.
He's not, You're right, but he's still very much like
that guy, and this injury put that aside, and he's
(05:40):
still pretty much that version. So I think we're going
to get some real Lebron explosions later in this postseason run.
As these rounds. He gets into these last two rounds,
if they can obviously close out the Warriors and then
Western Conference Finals finals, I think we're going to start
to see a lot more of him. Oh and my
last thing before we go to a quick break is
they will close out the Dubs tonight in five games
(06:03):
in Golden State. Nice gentlemen, sweep. I know that it's
not They're not favored. They're seven and a half point underdogs.
You obviously got to think Warriors come out swinging. And
I think the Warriors are gonna come out swing, and
I think they're gonna have a great first half. But
I think when the dust settles and the Lakers settle
into the game, settle into the crowd, I think that
they're just going to overpower this team that the way
that they've kind of done over the course of three
(06:23):
of the first four games outside of that Game two blowout,
I think that they're just gonna kind of it's gonna
come to a head. Golden State season is going to
come to an end. There's just no not only is
there no reason for Golden State to win this game,
other you know, unless they really had the miraculous three
to one comeback in them, which would be devastating for
myself and for everyone that is a Laker fan and
(06:43):
wants to see Lebron and these guys win the chip,
that'd be terrible, But I don't see it happening. I
think that the Lakers handle their business tonight. I think
that they know they want two to three extra days
of rest that they can get and avoid having to
play a six game, and so I think they're going
to come out guns blazing. I think the Warriors is
going to come out guns blazing. But I think over
the course of this forty eight minute game, Lakers are
going to be able to dictate pace, flow, physicality, and
(07:07):
I think the Warriors are just gonna end up submitting.
It feels like one of those games, so interested to
see what actually ends up transpiring. That's my take for
the night. I would take Lakers plus seven and a half.
I already have money on the money line, so I'll
leave it there. We'll go to a quick break come
back right after this, Okay. Embiid Harden I tweeted this
out yesterday before the game started in some quick takes,
(07:31):
I said quick takes without an explanation, and one of
the notes in there was that Embiad and harden we're
going to upset the Celtics. Now I didn't mean in
Game five, but I did mean in the overall series.
But the fact that they were able to take Game
five versus losing going down three to two and having
to win back to back game six, game seven and
winning a road game seven in Boston and they were
(07:52):
able to take this game five is huge, and they
kind of did it in very blowout esque dominant fashion.
They really controlled the entire game. Al Horford stunk. I
can't believe that's the first player that I'm naming for
the Celtics, but it stood out to me because he
put up a donut and he wasn't good. A couple
of good plays defensively, but he wasn't giving Embiid the
problems he was giving him. In Game four, Jason Tatum,
(08:15):
he was thirty six ten five eleven of twenty seven
from the field. That's forty percent. He played forty minutes.
I don't know, man, I've been on Philly's train all year,
and a lot of it has been a bias because
I love James Harden and I love Joel Embiid. But
I mean, aside from the Embiid injury, which is unfortunate
that he's even again dealing with an injury in the postseason,
(08:37):
I don't know to what extent it was debilitating him.
I mean, I know that he obviously had to get
his rhythm back, and I don't know what I meant
to say. I don't know to what extent this injury
is debilitating him on a game to game basis. But
for instance, last night thirty three seven and three thirty
seven minutes, he was ten of twenty three, So shade
under fifty percent. Well, I guess that's not a shade
(09:00):
forty three percent not a shade under. But regardless, the
knee is definitely still impacting him to some degree. James
Harden had one of his little more conservative games. He
was seventeen ten and eight, only took eight shots, played
about forty minutes, thirty nine on the stat sheet. But
then it was the production that they got from Tobias Harris,
(09:21):
Tyrese Maxi had a thirty ball, he was great. In
forty two minutes, he was ten to twenty one. That's
a shade under fifty percent. So I just don't trust
the Celtics. I don't really think that the Celtics in
late game situations, in dire close scheme, methodical, X and
O's coaches duels. I don't love, you know, the ability
of either coach on both staffs where they're gonna, you know,
(09:45):
X and O duel it out like a like kind
of what we're seeing with Golden State and the Lakers
with Steve Kerr and Darvin Ham. But I just my
overall point of saying that is that I just think
that and I've heard Bill Simmons and Ryan Risillo talk
about this on their show. You know, the way that
Joe Miszula operates in late game situations and like his
you know, take Game four for instance, and not calling
(10:07):
a timeout. Somehow, some way, Marcus Smart finds himself in
these situations always, and he's the guy taking these end
of the game shots. I don't get it. Cool. I've
seen him make a couple, We've seen him hit a
couple shots fine late game situations there's no shot clock,
you got the ball. Tatum goes super late into that
(10:28):
that end of gameplay, and Marcus Smart takes the shot
at the end ot it didn't even get the shot
off in time. But it's just like, I don't even
get it, like he his involvement late in the game
for the Celtics is just way too much. It's way
more than it should be. And my point in bringing
up Simmons and Risillo is that they argue you sometimes
(10:48):
that like Marcus Smart shouldn't even be out there. And
I was listening to him the other day and they're like, Oh,
that's the locker room cancer that probably comes in if
you bench Marcus Smart and you play Derek White over him,
or you have White and out there over him, and
it's like, yeah, Marcus Mart probably doesn't receive it. Well,
maybe he does. I personally think he would receive it well.
I think that externally he would show support, he would
(11:11):
be fine. Maybe internally it would cause a little bit
of extra antics and drama, but his involvement late in
the game, Joe Mizzoula is play calling and just decision making,
like and the ability or the willingness to just let
them free ball it out there almost in late game
situations like that and not just call time out, not
just really hone in on this is what we want
to get out of this set. Like I feel like
(11:33):
there's been time and time again this season where they
just haven't done that, and it costed them in that
game for at the end, and I you know, it's
a tough it's a tough one. I think they can
go back to Philly and they could. They could of
course win Game six. It could of course, win game six.
Do I think that they're going to No, I don't
because I think that Philly knows we can't go back
(11:54):
to Boston for a Game seven and win that game.
So we got to get it done here. We got
to get it done now. I think it's dire for
Philly to win this game. This is the best chance
that they've had to get to the Eastern Conference Finals
since they've had this team with Harden. Now, they had
some chances in years prior, in the late twenty tens
when they had Simmons, and you know, they had the
second round series in twenty eighteen when they lost to Boston,
(12:15):
and there's been a number of other times, obviously the
Atlanta series in twenty twenty one when Ben Simmons wouldn't
shoot the layup and you know, Atlanta ends up getting
to the Eastern Conference Finals, or in twenty nineteen when
they're literally seconds and bounces on the rim away from
Kawhi Leonard shot not going in when they were in
Toronto that had Jimmy Butler on that team. I've felt
from the jump this year that this is Philly's season,
(12:37):
this is their year. Harden takes the pay cut, they
go get PJ. Tucker and Beads riding an ultimate high.
He's gone a revenge tour for not getting the MVP.
It's been two years in a row coming into this
season where it was like, ooh, Embids making a strong
case for the MVP, can we give it to him?
First year when Jokich won it and Beid didn't play
enough games. Last year still kind of similar, he didn't
(12:57):
play enough games. He had that little two week stretch
where he was out and they gave it to Yokchen.
But this year he was dominant in all fatsits. He
averaged thirty three points a game, led the league in
scoring again, and it was his turn to win the MVP.
And I felt it. And I just felt the energy
with Harden and the positivity with Harden and the optimism
of like, now like this is my chance. I like, well,
I want to get this done here, like I'll take
a pay cut so we can sign him, so we
(13:18):
can sell. Like that's all part of what goes into
this stuff. And if you want to call it good karma,
call it good karmas. So I've been on the Philly
train from the jump I have. Now they've been a
little shaky, and James Harden's playoff thing that's still a
really that's still a real thing. It exists. James Harden
in the playoffs. Folding, crumbling and not being that guy
(13:39):
is a thing. I mean, it happened in this very series.
You go from you having forty five points in game
one hitting the game winning shot, to twelve points in
game two and you're two of fourteen from the field,
and then you follow that game up in game three
with sixteen points and you're three of fourteen from the field.
So like it's happened already in this series. And then
he follows it up, of course with the lling forty
(14:00):
two point game four, game winning shot. He was fantastic.
But so I'm aware. I'm aware that the playoff hardened
thing is still very real and it could come into
play here as Boston tries to push this thing to
seven and win it in seven. But I'm on the
Philly train. I think that they got what it takes
and I think that they will close this out in
(14:21):
six games, and that the type of team that Boston
is and how they've been up there with the best
record next to the Bucks, and they've been dominant during
stretches of the season. I just think that they've had
enough weird problems and enough of a roller coaster ride
during this season where it makes sense that the Philadelphia
seventy six ers can definitely and they're obviously in the
(14:42):
position to do it now, definitely take advantage of this
little Boston championship window and close it. Not fully close it,
but close it. Because they were in the finals last year.
They could have won the finals last year. They probably
should have won the finals last year if Jason Tatum
plays a little bit better and it is more consistent,
and they come into this year, they lose e Mayodoka,
they hired Joe Mizzula, and yeah, they got off to
(15:05):
a great start, but they have their shit has come
to a head and they have shown like they ain't perfect.
They got a lot of problems, they got a lot
of flaws, and yesterday in Game five was an example
of that. And I think Philly gets done closed out.
All right, quick break, I got one more thing I
want to rant about about Lakers Warriors, and then we'll
wrap it up. Be right back, okay, quickly, back to
(15:26):
the Lakers. Since they played a night I haven't even
mentioned Nick's heat. It's not worth mentioning. Okay, because as
a guy from New Jersey, I grew up watching the Knicks,
loved the Carmelo Carmelo Anthony Era in New York. Was
watching every single game on MSG network when I was,
you know, from fifth grade and all the way up
until Mellow left and got traded to the Thunder and
(15:47):
I was in eleventh grade. Maybe I don't even remember.
But point is not even worth talking about because they're
gonna lose. They're probably gonna lose in five. I mean,
I would love to see him get a win in
the garden, keep some some hope alive, even though I
don't see them coming back from a three to one deficit.
But aside from them, Laker game tonight, the chess match
(16:09):
between Steve Kerr Darvin Ham, how they've been utilizing the
Warriors offense to mismatch the Lakers defense, and how they're
utilizing Anthony Davis and you know, Game four, just throwing
him in a bunch of pick and roll actions and
getting him away from the rim. It really was working.
Early in the game, it was like, oh shit, Like
I'm thinking to my head, I'm like if I was
(16:30):
the coach, what is the one thing you can do
that when Anthony Davis is being brought away from the
basket in these pick and roll coverages, because they're sending
the man he's guarding up to set the screen. What
can you do to counteract that so that he can
just stay near the rim like and send someone else
up there. But one of the broadcasters said it, I
think it was Stan van Gundy was announcing the game,
or Jeff Van Gunny was in stan Stan SVG, Yeah, SVGI.
(16:54):
He was announcing the game, and he said, when he
comes up and is in the ball screen action, like
he's just got a blitz them, He's got blitz him
way harder. He's got to show more of a presence,
use his length, take two hard steps out there, and
put some real pressure on Curry in that ball screen
action so that that way the backside help can fill
in and wait a little bit. Because Curry's now pulled
(17:14):
out even further to half court and he's a little
bit more rattled. He's not as comfortable playing out of
that pick and roll because Anthony Davis's length and energy
and just presence being around that long body around Curry
in a pick and roll situation like that, blitzing it
that can disrupt some things and make the offensive player
a little bit more uncomfortable. So the Warriors were doing
(17:34):
a great job of it in the beginning of Game four,
and then towards the end of the game they totally
abandoned it. I mean for the most part, like it
wasn't even a thing. And the thing that I loved
the most about Game four that I hope we get
even more of tonight was the amount of times that
we got Curry on Lebron because Lebron was hunting Curry
and the pick and roll. He wanted him. Whoever's guard
and Curry, come, set me the screen, let him switch
on to me. Let's do this. I loved it. And
(17:57):
then there was a million times on a million, but
several times in the fourth quarter Lebron was on Curry,
ad switched on to Curry. And obviously that last possession
that we saw when Curry took the little one foot
step back inside the three point line, Miss Raymond gets
the rebound, kicks it back out that last possession and
he takes the forty five foot step back three That
was honestly a horrible shot, and I'll get to that
(18:18):
in a second. But those matchups are great, and it's
so fun to see these guys dueling one v one
like and it's just coming down to the stars, two heavyweights,
and it's so fun for the fans to see. Let me,
let me, let me just get off this this for
a second and talk about the shot, because Steph Curry
shot late in the game, Like, yeah, I was clenching
and I was like freaking out, like, oh God, no, no, no,
(18:40):
like it's gonna like I thought it. I didn't. I
don't know if I thought it was gonna go down.
But anytime that man shoots and the war, the Lakers
or whoever they're playing, doesn't have more than a six
point lead, like, I'm terrified because he just s he's
the most dangerous, like lethal guy from any spot on
the floor. So I don't really care how far away
he was. I was just scared. However, I didn't take
(19:01):
into account that in Steph Curry's postseason career in the
final minute of game tying or lead taking shots, I
think he's zero for twelve in those situations. He's never
hit one to tie the game or put them up
in the postseason. So that's an interesting stat and so
that if I knew that stat, Pryor, I probably probably
would have felt better about when that shot went up.
But my point is that shot right versus the game
(19:25):
one Jordan Pool shot are totally different. Now, of course
you want Steph Curry taking the shot, I do too,
But Jordan Pool shot in game one, he had already
hit six three pointers. He was wide the fuck open,
and he's made a shot like that plenty of times.
Oh and by the way, in that same game, two
of the shots Jordan Poole hit were ridiculous. They were
(19:45):
One of them was that crazy running like trying to
draw a foul and he's like leaning forward into the
left and he drills it. The other one he was
coming up the court on towards the right guard spot,
I believe it was, and he banked it in and
it was just like what that really went down like.
And then the other four like he just were rhythm
threes and he was feeling it. He found a little
(20:08):
bit of a rhythm. So that shot in game one,
like he was wide open, and did I love it? No?
But did I think it was a bad shot? No?
Like I thought that it was appropriate for the time
and score, And yes, he probably could have taken a
dribble in, but like the rhythm that he had, like
with already hitting six threes and being six of I
think he was six of ten at the time, finished
(20:30):
six of eleven from the three line. Like, that's a
fine shot, and obviously you want Curry taking the shot,
but the way that the play transpire doubling, Curry at
half swing to Draymond, Draymond swings to him, He's wide open.
But my point is that shot versus curry shot. I
would have felt even more terrified if I saw Steph
Curry say, fuck it, I'm putting this on the deck.
I'm gonna make Anthony Davis get around me, or I'm
(20:51):
gonna get around Anthony Davis and make him guard me,
slide his feet, and I'm gonna get into this paint
like I've been doing this entire fourth quarter and make
a play. And whether it's I make a play at
the rim for myself, I draw a foul, I find
an open shooter, and I get them a wide open
look fine, but I just think that Curry's like the
level of lethlesness that gets added to his game when
(21:12):
he is dribbling the ball around the court with that
insanely tight handle, unless it's his speed and his craftiness,
his creativity is touched around the rim. Like I would
have felt even more scared if he put the ball
in the deck because the Lakers were in scramble mode.
So when he threw that offensive rebound out and he
had time, I know that legs were a part of it.
I know that he was tired. I know that it
(21:33):
was just like a god if I could just hit
this shot, Like, but you're only down one man, go
to the fucking rim, go to the back. I can't
stand it, but like, what are we settling for a
fucking thirty five foot or four when you're down one,
get your ass into the paint. Like, I know you're
Steph Curry, that's fine, but I just like the settling.
(21:55):
As a guy that was rooting for the Lakers, I
was like, okay, fine, I was still nervous. Said that
I'm still nervous when he shot it because it's Steph Curry.
But I was so happy that he didn't put the
ball on the floor because I'm like, if this guy
puts the fucking ball on the floor. Something's gonna happen.
The Lakers are gonna scramble, the Warriors are gonna keep
moving and passing and find the open guy and get
(22:15):
the get it, get the greatest look they can get.
And I don't think that in that scenario, down one
one o two to one oh one, that they got
the best look that they could have gotten. So that's
on Steph Curry. I think that that shot that he
took was a worse shot than what Pool took given
the time and the score and the situation of how
that play broke down. Pools was a little bit more
(22:35):
in rhythm. Curry's was a little bit more like, I'm
Steph Curry, so I'm just gonna fucking shoot this, And
I just don't think it was the best look that
they could have gotten in that scenario. So that's a
wrap zone one. See you guys back here throughout the
rest of the postseason. Hey mo, Gang d Gang Day God. Yeah,
(23:00):
h
Host
Noah Buono
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