Nick Wright recaps another wild New York Knicks 20-point comeback against the Boston Celtics. Then, Nick breaks down how the Oklahoma City Thunder were able to dismantle the Denver Nuggets in Game 2 of the Western Conference Semifinals. After, Nick previews Game 2 between the Anthony Edwards' Minnesota Timberwolves and the Stephen Curry-less Golden State Warriors. Later, Nick debates what is working for Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers as they go up 2-0 on the Cleveland Cavaliers. Turning their attention to the NFL, Nick and Damonza react to the Pittsburgh Steelers sending George Pickens to the Dallas Cowboys. Finally, as always, Nick and Damonza answer your questions.
0:00 - Intro/Missed the Cut/Draft Lottery
3:04 - BOS losing to NYK is good for basketball
27:57 - Knicks pull off another 20-point comeback
38:53 - OKC demolishes DEN
44:31 - Can GS survive without Steph?
50:28 - Haliburton’s heroics in CLE
55:29 - Cowboys trading for Pickens a mistake?
57:27 - Nick and Damonza answer your questions
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome in. What's drive in the Great episode three twenty
nine on a busy day and after an absolutely insane
for my money, last night was kind of the perfect
night of playoff basketball because we had one all time
game with an all time comeback and one game that
was over at halftime, so I finally could get some sleep.
(00:24):
Sweet Jesus man, I have been a zombie the last month.
These games every single night, they're all good. It feels
like no lead is safe. But the Oklahoma City lead
over Denver, I was like, that one feels safe. So
I'm gonna be totally honest with you. I didn't watch
second half of that game. I've been locked into everything
that one, went to bed early, felt good about it. Demons,
(00:46):
welcome in. I applaud that you have not taken the
Celtics jersey down. They maybe, by the way, might ask
you to put it on and see if you can
give them a good six minutes off the bench, because
you'll at least go to the basket and so necessary.
That would be necessary. Also, while the West Coast is
(01:06):
a good place in theory to be a sports fan,
nights like last night kind of a bummer because by
seven pm, you're just evenings ruined. Like you could have
a whole, you know, nice night in front of you,
but four fifteen start, seven o'clock finish, and it's like, okay,
well that sucked. So we'll get to all of that.
(01:28):
We're going to spend a lot of time on Nick
Celtics and then the other things. But first, what missed
the cut? A Sue Bird has become the USA Basketball
Managing director for the women's national team. Rob Blinka got
one vote for Executive of the Year. By the way,
I got no problem with that. Answering the phone is
(01:49):
answering the phone. An NBA Draft lottery is Monday. The
producers want me to tell you who I want to
win the Cooper Flag Sweepstakes. Honestly, I want Miami to
win it. I feel like Jimmy Butler did them dirty
and I would like to see the Miami Oh wait,
I'm an idiot. I'm a total idiot. The Miami Heat
(02:12):
can't win it. They could have at the end of
the regular season, but since they made the playoffs, yeah,
they they actually can't win it. So of the teams
that can actually win it, I know I had said,
I guess my answer because yeah, because Miami beat Atlanta
(02:32):
to get to get No, I don't want him to
be with these silly teams. I certainly don't want Dallas
to win it. I don't know Portland. Portland could be fun.
They're trying to I don't want the Spurs to win.
It doesn't seem fair. The the most fun one is Philly.
(02:54):
Philly just gets a total Paul George get out of
jail free card if they win it. But okay, let's
get to the act news of the day, Demons, which
is the fact that your team stinks.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Uh yeah, so yesterday Game two pretty much a carbon
copy of Game one. The Knicks pull off another twenty
point comeback in the Celtics lose.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
That's I don't I don't know what.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
To say here. It's we're still relying on the three.
Seems like we didn't get less to twenty less, but
still we're taking threes in spots where it's just like,
go and get a bucket increased.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
You didn't love the Jason Tatum up seven.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Jalen was on the ground, on the ground, Josh Harratt
fifteen feet away. Yeah, how do you feel about the
series or do you want me to go in China.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Oh we can. I mean I'll go, and then we
can go back and forth. The Knicks can win, and
they the Knicks deserve, they deserve to be the story.
But they are not the story. The Knicks deserve to
have us talking about how they have gone to Boston.
(04:07):
They have been down twenty points in the second half
in both of these games. They have not played great, honestly,
in either game. Yesterday, Michale Bridges is terrible for the
first three quarters before being awesome. Jalen Brunson is six
(04:27):
of nineteen in the game. With a few minutes left
in the game, he had made four shots and it's
not like he was getting He had made four shots
and got into the free throw line once and they
found a way to win. And they deserve credit for that.
But the store and we will I promise we'll spend
(04:49):
a lot of time on the Knicks, but the story
is Boston. The next story is about what I said
on Tuesday, Planning for this moment meant for more than
a year, and they're being a lot of similarities to
what how Minnesota was able to beat Denver to what
(05:13):
we are seeing with the Knicks and the Celtics. Let's
table those and we will get to those shortly, because
the story really is the defending champs falling apart in
real time, physically and mentally. And now let me make
(05:36):
this clear. I don't think it's over. I don't think like, oh,
no chance the Celtics come back. The Celtics are talented
enough and good enough obviously to win four out of
five against New York. In fact, most people thought they
were going to win four out of five against New York.
(05:57):
They just thought it was gonna be the first five games.
This is gonna be a nice, friendly, gentleman sweep. But
we are now here. Everyone's gonna focus on the three
point variants, and I get it. Twenty five of one
hundred from three fifteen of sixty in Game one, the
(06:20):
exact same percentage in Game two, except they were ten
of forty. I actually don't think that is that might
be the biggest reason they're down. I don't think that
is the biggest story surrounding them being down. The biggest
(06:41):
story surrounding them being down is Jason Tatum. And we
gave him all his flowers and all the credit for
what was, without a doubt at least to my eye,
the best regul season of his career. I understand he
(07:03):
didn't even have He wasn't the best numbers. He's averaged
almost exactly this many points. He's averaged twenty six point
eight or twenty six point nine points three of the
last four years his you know, his numbers in the
one year he did and he averaged thirty. His numbers
have been consistent, His field goal percentage have been consistent.
And it wasn't that he played more games. It was
(07:25):
just this felt like the best Tatum year because you
didn't get a great year from Jalen Brown by his standards,
Horford's a year or older. You saw some real deterioration
from Drew Holliday over the course of the year. And
yet Tatum answered the bell on both ends of the
(07:45):
court every night. And and this is the key piece,
not the key, but one of the key pieces of it.
Responded from what was a really weird few months for
him where he finally wins a championship, but he's not
the conference finals MVP. He's not the finals MVP. He
(08:09):
actually plays some of his worst basketball of the season
last year in the biggest games, most notably those two series,
the Conference finals in NBA Finals. Still it's not like
he was bad, but he just dropped a level that
then was compounded by the fact that Steve Kerr, who
(08:32):
obviously is at despite what lunatic Warrior fans would try
to tell you, Steve Kerr, who obviously is one of
the best and smartest basketball minds we have. Steve Kerr
saw Jason Tatum in the Olympics and said, can't use you. Sorry,
(08:52):
would love to, but actually you're not one of our
eight best. And he responded to all of that with
a year where he had an argument he was the
third best player in the league and where there was
no argument whatsoever he was one of the four best
(09:15):
players in the league. And for that to then and
then let me add another piece to it. After a
kind of rocky game one of the playoffs, but who cared,
they won, it was easy where he got hurt. He
(09:36):
then came back after missing a game, averaging thirty six,
eleven and six the rest of the series. It's like,
holy shit, Jase, this extra level that Bill Simmons has
been swearing on his children exists for years. For Jason
(09:59):
take we're seeing it. And then in back to back games,
he is twelve of forty two from the field. He
is five of twenty from three. He is a total
and complete non factor in the fourth quarter of these games.
(10:24):
The only play he made last night was when the
Knicks screwed up a switch and he got a wide
open dunk. And now, listen, I'll just tell you what
I said to Kevin Wilds when I facetimed him yesterday.
And I know this is going to sound unfair, but
(10:47):
it's just how I feel. And it's not prisoner of
the moment, because I have felt this way about Tatum forever.
He's an excellent player. But what I said to Wilds
is I don't care if the Celtics win the next
three championships, He's never going to be the best player
in the league. That guy is not the best player
(11:10):
in the league. And I don't I don't even think
the reason I said that to Wilds is because he
keeps trying to force the conversation of Jason Tatum's going
to force us into some really tricky conversations. What do
we do with the twenty seven year old with two
(11:32):
rings and four first team All nbas and all of
this what does that mean for where he is historically?
And my answer to that is Tatum is an excellent player.
He is not yet in the We need to evaluate
his historical greatness level. And I don't know that he
(11:56):
is going to be in that conversation. There is and
I can't put my finger on it, but there's something
that's just not there.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
I think it's a little tight in big spots, is
what it seems like to me watching the games.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
It feels to me like if his three isn't falling,
it knocks him off the rest of his game. And
what is And here is the Celtics piece. And I
just did Lebotard Show, and this is the point I
was trying to make the Celtics bum three strategy over
(12:43):
the long haul. Obviously, it's just a smart mathematical strategy.
As sample sizes get smaller, you put yourself more at
you know, the mercy of the variants, it's you know,
the team that really originated this strategy was Darryl Moury's Rockets.
(13:07):
But here's why. For Daryl Morey's Rockets it made total sense.
The team they were trying to beat, the KDI STEPH Warriors,
was flatly better than them, so they needed to shake
(13:29):
up the snow globe and add some damn variants because
if we just go go to the middle of the
ring and trade jabs, we got no shot. So instead
we're gonna throw some wild haymakers and risk getting knocked
(13:50):
out because that's our chance. This strategy for the Celtics
maybe wouldn't make sense if this were the NBA Finals
against Oklahoma City and they feel like they're better than us.
All year long, they've been better, they have the better resume,
(14:12):
they they're best players, better than our best player. They're
better than us, So let's add some uncertainty to it.
Up twenty points in the second half against the New
York Knicks. The last thing you want is to add uncertainty.
(14:34):
It's it's an insane It's not an insane way to play.
It's insane demande not to adjust, yeah, and not to
have It's a team, it's a football team that their
identity is chucking it deep and up ten in the
(15:02):
fourth quarter. They refuse to run the ball that and
here's the other piece of it. You've got Jason Tatum.
He's six' eight, it's an amazing shape. He can get
to the hoop, and it is it is stubbornness that
(15:29):
at this point might cost him their title defense to
lose both. And it's the first twenty point lead. I
said it Tuesday. The Knicks made that a game faster
than any team I can remember. It was twenty points,
Boston up by twenty with five and a half left
(15:50):
in the third, and it was a six point game
with a minute left in the third. So the Knicks
just in the span of ten possessions made it a game. Again.
Yesterday was different in that, yes, it was twenty and
then the Knicks chipped away, but was go ahead.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
We were holding it like we stayed out in front,
in front for a minute and we just kept shooting
the three, and they just kept chipping it away.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
It was fourteen with seven minutes left. And so I
if you look at the Celtics fourth quarter shot chart,
they did you know, they didn't just shoot threes. It
wasn't the third quarter in Game three. But there were
(16:41):
just these moments, most notably was the one Wilds took
the picture of. But it is it's a jarring image
where it is eighty six seventy seven. Is that I
want to make sure I have it. I think it's
(17:04):
yeah or the Let me try to pull out. I
should just pull up Wild's tweet because it is. It's
a wild decision by it's eighty six seventy nine. Pardon me.
And I don't know why this isn't showing me that,
(17:25):
but regardless, don't worry about it. Oh, here's why, because
it wasn't. I was like, I thought it was eighty
six because the score. Remember, and here's a sneaky important
part of the game that will be forgotten, the history.
The Knicks got an extra point during a time out
because they had called a Jalen Brunson three two and
(17:46):
then they fixed it. Oh, Michale Bridges, pardon me. And
so the score the scoreboard says eighty six seventy nine,
but it was actually eighty six eighty and and Derek
White misses a three. Michale Bridges then goes down misses
(18:07):
a three, and Josh Hart tries to save it and
starts the fast break, and all of a sudden and
we can put the image up. Jason Tatum finds himself
in this position. I don't think demon's a I like that.
(18:30):
I well, I don't think I like shooting that three.
If I'm the team trailing by seven, like I, I
don't think it's the smarter move.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
I got a dunk right there because it's not recovery,
like he's probably gonna try to get out.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
The way recovering. And by the way, it's and here's
the other thing. If Jalen Brunson is upright, you might
have a dunk there. Oh yeah, you're seven inches taller
than him. Horford's there. You have a full head of steam.
(19:10):
That is an impossible decision. Now you can be like, listen,
what does Jason Tatum shoot on corner threes? Blah blah blah. Again,
you're up You're actually up six, but you think you're
up seven. It's bananas. And the very next possession, we
don't have a picture of it, but Jalen Brown has
(19:33):
an alley to the basket and he takes a pull
up three. And so it's just.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
It is the Nicks just flatly want it more, is
what it seems like.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
Well, they are certainly more comfortable demands if it's close late, Yeah,
that is undeniable. And the fact that the Knicks have
now won five road playoff games and they have won
them they have played five road playoff games. They are
(20:11):
five and zero, and they have won those five games
by a combined This is really unbelievable. They have won
those five games by combined ten points. One in overtime.
(20:33):
They won Game three against Detroit by two, Game four
against Detroit by one, Game six against Detroit by three,
Game one against Boston by three and in overtime, and
Game two against Boston by one. It is uh, it
(20:58):
is a remarkable turn of events. Got a lot of heart,
So this is un I don't even think that my
buddy knows I'm doing the pod right now. But my
buddy Andy just texts me, if you're curious the odds
of a team that shot uh, let me read this
(21:21):
exact text real quick. Sorry, if you're curious the odds
of a team that shot thirty seven percent from three
over a season to shoot twenty five percent or less
over one hundred shots, it's less than one percent, he writes.
I'm blue an orange to the bone. But we're watching
somebody flop twelve sets in a night. It's a poker turn.
(21:42):
So I'm glad this is He's the second person that's
kind of brought up poker to me in this regard,
and here's my real indictment on the Celtics here. You
adjust your strat as a poker player based on do
(22:06):
I think I have a skill advantage? Okay? So let
me I will try to explain something in poker terms
that even if you're not a poker player, you'll understand. Okay.
So let's say you're at the final table of a
big tournament and you are thoroughly convinced, thoroughly convinced you're
(22:36):
the best player at the table, okay, and there's one
person there who has more chips than you, and therefore
that person can knock you out. And you get in
a spot where a bunch of people are you know,
(22:57):
get their cards. Is raising. I'm going to try to
do this in Gene and Eric terms. W even not
a poker player, you can understand it. And you have
an opportunity to get all your money in against this
the one guy who can knock you out, and he
(23:20):
shows you his cards, okay.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
And you have.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
As king and he has eight nine. You are about
a sixty a little more than a sixty forty favorite
in that spot. Shows it to you if you truly
(23:49):
believe you have a significant skill edge on the table.
There are a lot of players that in that spot
would say, nah, not going to even though in the
long run this is obviously wildly profitable for me if
(24:11):
I'm a sixty forty favorite, and again that wouldn't be
the math of those two exact hands. But just stick
with me. That means forty percent of the time I lose.
That means two out of five times I lose here.
And I don't want to roll those dice when I
(24:32):
think I can just grind you guys down. The Celtics saying,
by virtue of how they're playing well in the long run,
this is smart to me, underestimates what should be their
(24:57):
decided advantages in this series. And by the way, that's
not just hypothetical. They're decided advantages in this series during
the games where they have built twenty point leads, and
so it is. It is. It has the potential to
(25:24):
be an all time loss. That also, and this is
the part demon's and even though you're a Celtics fan,
maybe you could take some solace in it also has
the potential to maybe stem the tide a bit against
(25:51):
professional basketball simply being a three point shooting contest, and
I think that we if you guys go back, and
we should God dogg it, it might be worth putting
this clip back out there again. After the first night
of the NBA season, I did like a twenty minute
(26:15):
thought exercise on this show about how the NBA has
two major problems on its hand. One was the load
management stuff, but the other one was that watching three
point contests is not as good of an entertainment product
as the NBA we grew up with, and that even
(26:37):
though the league is deeper than ever, more skilled than ever,
in theory should be better than ever, that you potentially
might need to be proactive like Baseball was against the
shift and with the pitch clock and all those things,
because your consumers won't love it. The Boston Celtics breaking
every record for three point attempts. If they end up
(27:01):
cruising to a championship, then until the rules change, everyone's
an idiot for not playing that way. But if in
the small sample size of a series the Celtics get
whacked by what most people feel is a clearly inferior team,
(27:22):
and a team, by the way, who was zero to
eight this year against the Cavs and the Celtics and
like one in eighteen against the best teams in basketball.
Uh that whether it should or shouldn't change teams philosophies
and approaches pro sports are reactionary, and I think it will,
(27:44):
so yeah, I'll say it for the health of basketball.
It's good if this doesn't work for Boston. And now,
thirty minutes in, I want to talk about the Knicks
side of things, so everyone's gonna say some of the
same stuff here. Bridges defensive stops at the end of
these games has been unbelievable. And the fact that the
(28:07):
Knicks Tatum wasn't did you realize Demon's day that that
was correctly graded by the scorekeepers at the end a
steal and not a block because Tatum abandoned the shot
and was trying to pass it to Jalen Brown. It
was a steal.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
It was a steal and not a block. Yeah, I
could see how that kind of looked like a steal
because he was trying to pass it in mckill.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Bridges to you, No, that's my point. In real time,
I thought it was a shot that got blocked that
Bridges grabbed and then threw up in the air.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Oh yeah, No, I mean he tried to like turn
and kick it out right.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
He abandoned the shot. That's the point I like in
it was, I mean a brilliant defensive possessions. So people
are going to talk about that Brunton obviously, I mean
just more than earning his Clutch Player of the Year
award night after night after night. Uh, Karl Anthony towns
(29:08):
Is stretch in the second quarter when he was the
only Nick doing anything, when this thing could have gotten
totally away from him, might get forgotten. A bit to history.
And one other thing that I will focus on even
if no one else will. Joe Mizzoula going to the
hack of Mitchell Robinson's strategy when the team had two
(29:28):
team fouls and putting the Knicks in the bonus without
ever getting Mitch Robinson into the free throw line. I
thought was one of the bigger coaching mistakes of his
career up to this point. Just strategically, it didn't make sense.
It was as if the Knicks were gonna be caught
sleeping and pull Mitchell Robinson out before you got into
(29:52):
the bonus, which they almost did, but they didn't, or
he thought they would just leave him in once you
were in the bone. I don't know what he thought,
but that was a mistake. But the story for the
New York Knicks, and this was, if I can give
myself a little credit, something I talked about on the
(30:15):
pod and TV show Tuesday and Willigan Today is a
story of different objectives. Yes, of course the Knicks want
to win a championship, but they did not build a
team with that being the singular goal. They built a
(30:40):
team to beat Boston, with the logic being the only
chance we have of winning a championship is if we
can beat Boston. We can't rely on being on opposite
sides of the bracket and someone else beating them, or
injuries or whatever. We are going to have to go
(31:02):
through Boston. So we trade for og Ananobi, We trade
for Michale Bridges. Now we have long, switchable, defensive minded
wings for Brown and Tatum. We move off Julius Randall
and maybe just as importantly, Dante DiVincenzo to bring in
(31:23):
Carl Anthony Towns so we can match some of their
offensive firepower. And so if they want to play with
a big, a seven footer who can shoot, in Chris STAPs,
we got a seven footer who can shoot even better
than Karl Anthony Towns. They built a team, well, yes,
and and that, and we'll get to that. They built
(31:46):
a team to beat Boston, just like Minnesota hired away
the guy who built the Nuggets, who to then build
a team to beat the Nuggets. And then when the
Nuggets were defending champs in round two and everyone thought
(32:07):
they were cruising to the finals, they ran into a
team no one really believed in, and that team who
was built to beat them, not necessarily to win a title,
as they got clocked in the next round, built to
beat Denver, went to Denver and took game one and
then shocked everyone and took game two as well. Now
(32:30):
they ended up losing the next three, but they won
the series anyway. The folks who run the Knicks looked
at their biggest hurdle to making the first finals, making
the first conference finals and the first NBA finals the
(32:51):
franchises made this century and said it to Boston, said
all right, we'll build our version and we're gonna have
this added bonus. We're not going to be quite as
talented man for man, and our coach isn't going to
be one coach is the ultimate new school coach, and
(33:13):
the other coach is the ultimate old school coach. Our
coach isn't going to have the analytical bent and edge
Boston's does. But here's what we are going to have
an absolutely fearless end of game guy, and you guys
don't have it. And now I was talking about how
(33:35):
the Knicks just needed to get one more after winning
Game one in the next three to guarantee themselves they're
getting a game six at home. Now Boston's got to
get two of the next three in order to make
sure this series isn't over before game six. And that
(34:01):
is a shocking turn of events. And by the way,
nobody knows what to do with this series, where like
the Knicks are the favorite in the series, but the
Celtics are still the favorite in the conference. Like this
is a weird spot because nobody thought we'd be in
(34:23):
this spot. All right, you wanted to talk about Porzingis,
so go ahead.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
Yeah, So he's been am i with some type of
sickness that's messing with his stamina. How does that affect
our chances? You think with him being in and out
of the lineup.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
So the Porzingis thing is bizarre and you feel terribly
for the guy. I mean, this is why he missed
time weeks ago, and so I don't know what it is.
It's not you know, it's not the flu. It's not
and clearly they can't figure it out. But this is
a huge loss for them, a huge loss, and it
(35:05):
also everything matters, and even if they are able to
get through this series, which right now my pick would
be the next I don't think it's over, but right
now I think that my pick would be the next.
These extra miles on Horford, Yeah, are tough for one
(35:31):
of the oldest players in the league who's now pushed
into the starting lineup. In all of that, so that
you know, that's another issue. Let me before we move on, Demons,
where's your confidence level and what adjustments do you want
Boston to make.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
I think we'll win the series, and I'd like to
I'd like to just take what the defense has given
us and and just kind of take note of what's
happened in the last two games and just want it more.
And when you when you have the twenty point lead,
you know, do your best to keep that twenty point lead.
(36:12):
I don't know, I this is it's just it's we're
playing with some some competitive energy. It just it just
seems like the Knicks are just flying around and the
Celtics are just relying on their pedigree.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
And it also, yes, the Celtics feel right now a
little lase fair about it, which is so weird. All right,
the producers before we move on, really want me to
get to some photoshop. They did, Yeah, just go ahead.
Speaker 2 (36:39):
You got any New York is coming up to you
out there on the street.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
Oh, I mean they, I'm telling you they love the
me and the bodega with uh with a dou serve
Chris Brussard sign, a do not serve James Dolan's sign.
Who is that crying in the do you leave us now?
I don't know. Oh it's Joe Rogan. Who is it? Oh?
(37:06):
Oh okay, it's Robert de Niro. Sorry, it's very small
on my screen. Justin Fields and plays Aaron Rodgers. The
brdusers very proud of me at the bodego with the
hot Cheetos photoshop. That's the extra bonus you get for
watching us on YouTube. By the way, speaking of YouTube,
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Speaker 1 (39:36):
All right, demanse, let's get to this other stuff. I
said that I could have done the whole pod just
on Nicks Celtics, but there are other stories we must
get to, So go ahead.
Speaker 2 (39:46):
Uh yeah, So you decided to jump on the Denver bandwagon,
and they followed that with a forty five or forty
two point loss. I can't remember which one it is,
maybe you should jump the ship so things start winning again.
Speaker 1 (39:59):
Russ was there?
Speaker 2 (39:59):
Lee, Okay, so you couldn't miss any shots. Do you
think the first game was more telling or do you
think this last game was more of how it's going
to be?
Speaker 1 (40:09):
Well, listen, I jumping on the Denver bandwagon is maybe
a touch strong. I maybe yes. I have said since
the Lakers got eliminated that my pick to when the
title is Oklahoma City, and that's not really a sexy pick.
They are the they are now might in fact, let
(40:30):
me look, this will be a fun thing to do
real quick. What are the Thunder now minus money favorites?
This is something the championship? Yeah, so here's here's something
Folks get wrong a lot. They don't know that odds
(40:52):
on favorite is different than just being the favorite. So
odds on favorite means that you're minus money, that you're
priced at a greater than fifty percent chance to win.
So right now on DraftKings, Nope, the Thunder are not
yet minus money, but they are. They are plus one thirty.
(41:15):
Boston is plus three ten, the Calves are plus eight
point fifty, the Timberwolves are ten to one, the Knicks
thirteen to one, the Pacers fifteen to one, the Nuggets
seventeen to one, and the Warriors twenty five to one.
Speaker 2 (41:30):
Knocked at the Warriors having the least.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
Odds, Well, that is to me, Uh.
Speaker 2 (41:37):
They're saying curries, They're they're going to be screwed without him?
Speaker 1 (41:40):
Is but yes, that is that is the the essentially
the Warriors therket place saying maybe Steph will come back.
We don't want to write them off. Like but what
I do find so fascinating about it is that it
(42:05):
feels to me, with eight teams left, you could make
a credible case for any of the eight teams to
win a championship. And that is that's really unlike anything
I can quite remember. Okay, so there, so there's that.
Now to answer the game about last night. About last night,
(42:28):
I don't think either game is really indicative of the series.
But I think Game one is more indicative, not because
the Nuggets are gonna win it, but because Game one
was evidence of any game the Nuggets are going to
(42:49):
have a real chance. Jokers going to have to be transcendent.
Speaker 3 (42:55):
That is.
Speaker 1 (42:56):
That is the in my opinion, the real story here.
And the thunder who hadn't faced you know, they've won
two playoff series together as a group. The only real
adversity they faced in games that mattered was last year
against Dallas and Luca got the better of them for
(43:19):
the Thunders. For the Thunder to come out and score
an NBA record eighty seven first half points and just
absolutely annihilate Denver, to me, was a reminder of how
good this team is when it is firing on all cylins.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
How much do you think Denver let their foot off
the gas? You know, feel uncomfortable? They stole that game one,
so right, It's.
Speaker 1 (43:44):
Not so much they let their foot off the gas.
It's that I think they went into the game peak motivation,
and when the Thunder hit them with haymakers, then they're like, Okay,
tonight's not our night. And that's, by the way, that's fine.
Like the it's now whenever you're yeah, whenever you're the
(44:05):
inferior team, what you want to do is just keep
shortening the series. And so now it's not a best
of seven, it's a best of five now, and Denver
as home court, Like that's how they that's how they
have to look at it is. It's now a best
of five. It's first to three, and we've got three
(44:28):
of the five games in our building. And so now
are they going to go back to Oklahoma City Denver
that is up three to one. No, I don't. I
don't think that's realistic at all. What I do think
is Denver's goal is to then make it a best
of three, and have you know they won't to have
home court that in that scenario, make it a best
(44:48):
of three, get it back at two to two, and
then hope that somehow it can become a best of
one game seven. And so Oklahoma City has the highest
s of any team in the league. I think they've
demonstrated that. And they are now seventy three and fifteen.
(45:11):
It's pretty good, all right, Let's get on go on
to Warriors two Wolves.
Speaker 2 (45:16):
Warriors won Game one on the road without Steph. I
think he went out like eight minutes left in the
second quarter. They still pulled it off. I think he
suffered a hamstring strain. It's going to be out at
least a week. Do you give the Doves any chance
to win without Steph?
Speaker 1 (45:30):
No? And I thought that was a great win by them,
And I thought Steve Kerr was brilliant and playing thirteen
guys adjusting on the fly and Buddy Heald. Like these
last two games with Buddy Heeld, it reminds you of
how great the Warriors were when they had prime Klay Thompson.
(45:53):
Because the last two games Buddy Heild has been prime
Klay Thompson. It's been really it's just impressive.
Speaker 2 (45:59):
Did you give them no chance to win this series?
Speaker 1 (46:02):
If Steph is out? Call it?
Speaker 2 (46:05):
I mean, this is seven more days? Is the series
over by then?
Speaker 1 (46:08):
No?
Speaker 2 (46:09):
They the Warriors could lose like one game.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
The earliest he could be back, realistically is game six
because they play tonight Saturday, so that's game Uh so
let me do it like this. They already played game one.
Tonight is Game two, Saturday is Game three, Monday is
Game four. Wednesday is game five. Then they don't play
(46:37):
Did I do that wrong? They play Thursday, Sat. Yeah,
I did do that. No, Thursday, Saturday, Monday, Wednesday, and
then the next game is Sunday. I think the if
the Knicks.
Speaker 2 (46:51):
Can go out there and do that to the Celtics
and win the second game, I think the Warriors can
go back and beat them.
Speaker 1 (46:58):
Without Steph Curry. But it's just I just don't listen.
I don't. I think Jimmy's been good but not unbelievable.
Bud keep hitting. Yes, I don't. I think Buddy healed
is you know, going to regress more to the mean there?
And uh, I also think and this was do you
(47:24):
guys remember when the Lakers went down three to one
to Minnesota and I came on here and said, I
don't think necessarily the series is over. It obviously was,
but the Lakers' title hopes are done. And the reason
I said was because now the only way to get
(47:45):
out of Round one is they have to play every
other day, win a Game seven, and then start a
series where they're playing every other day for the entirety
of it, basically, and there are too old and too
thin of a team in order for that to be
an effective path. Essentially, that is now where the Warriors
(48:12):
are and you saw it immediately. Bite Steph, a player
who has never had a hamstring injury in his life,
ended up having to play every other day against that
Rockets defense running around like that. Windy said that since
they've started tracking, this Game seven against Houston was the
(48:34):
most like mileage Steph has run on the court in
a game in his career, and a quarter and a
half into the next game, he suffers his first ever
hamstring injury. Like that, every game matters, and the Warriors
kind of punted game five against Houston and then let
(48:56):
go of the rope in the fourth quarter of Game six,
and all of a sudden they find themselves in a
Game seven. And then all of a sudden, you find
yourself two days later playing in a Game one, and
even though you win it, that's the ultimate when the
battle lose the war. And so no, I listen, I
think the Timberwolves, we're talking about three point regression with
(49:19):
the Celtics. Timberwolves are now like twelve of seventy over
their last two games or something insane. And so I
don't I think that when we get to Game five
(49:40):
it's gonna be three to one. I think we're gonna
be I think the Minnesota is gonna win. The next
three is the short version of it, and I think
it's gonna be three to one going back to Minnesota.
And here's the other piece. They ruled Steph out a
week immediately, so game six is the earliest hea could
come back. That's probably not realistic. But even if he
(50:04):
is back for Game six. Are you gonna get a
fully healthy, fully functional Steff I don't know, so, yeah,
I think though, I think the Warriors are done. I
think Kur has done a great job. I think Jimmy's
been good and Draymond the last two games. To go
along with what had been great defense, he actually provided
some offensive punch. I don't think any of that's sustainable.
(50:28):
What are your follow ups here? A couple of Aunt
follow ups.
Speaker 2 (50:31):
So Chris Finch, head coach, came out and said, we
had one and a half one point in the first half.
You're the leader of the team and you've got to
come out and set the tone. If your SHOT's not going,
you still have to carry the energy. Yeah. How do
you feel about that?
Speaker 1 (50:47):
Yeah? I so Chris Finch is not afraid to kind
of call out his star player, and Aunt clearly disagreed
with him. Ant said, you know, I thought I just
my shot wasn't falling. I was still there on defense.
I think Chris Finch has done a really good job.
(51:08):
I also think that I it wouldn't make sense for
Aunt to be tired. They only played five against the Lakers.
It's only round two. He's twenty three years old. We
did see last year he said he got exhausted by
the conference finals. I am not yet ready to say
(51:30):
I think that is happening. I am ready to say
it is something to monitor. But I think Ant's gonna
come out and be outstanding tonight, and you know, he
finally hit some shots and he'll be fine. So I'm
not panicked about that. And I also am not as
angry at Aunt for the laughing about the three point shooting.
(51:53):
Brew was pissed. Brew was like, he's gotta be more serious.
I just think Ant is so overly confident, that is
so incredibly competent. I should say that sometimes he feels
like everything's gonna be fine, and that can be a
gift and a curse. I think he'll be fine. All right,
Let's quickly get to the other series. Let's quickly get
(52:14):
to the other series.
Speaker 2 (52:15):
The Pacers have stolen two now at home in the
Calves building. That overrated poll came out of the perfect
time for Haller Burdon. The Calves have some injuries going on.
Garland's been out for the last two, Mobley and Hunter
miss game two, Mitchell showing out. Though we have forty
eight points. How do you feel about the what's the
Cavs situation.
Speaker 1 (52:36):
I think they might be booked. I don't think a sweep,
but I don't know how you can recover from that
type of loss. Donovan Mitchell scores forty eight. Donovan Mitchell Now,
by the way, complete list of NBA players who have
multiple forty eight plus point playoff games that they lost,
(53:01):
Michael Jordan, Lebron, James, Donovan Mitchell. That's the list. Donovan
has scored forty eight, fifty and fifty seven in playoff losses.
But to melt the way they did where you're up seven,
here's another crazy one for you, Demanse. Since they've been
(53:24):
tracking this since ninety seven in the playoffs, as of
a week ago, teams down seven in the final minute
were one and one thousand, one hundred and sixty or something.
The only team that had ever come back from seven
down in the playoffs in the final minute was Oklahoma
(53:47):
City in twenty fourteen against lob City when Chris Paul
tried to draw a foul in the backcourt like launched
a sixty footer because he was trying to get a
shooting foul on it. They didn't call the foul, and
it kind of snow on them. The Pacers have done
it twice in a week. It had been done once. Ever,
the Baser has done it twice in a week to
(54:08):
the Bucks to eliminate them in the Tyres slash John
Halliburton game, and then this past game and the Cavs
couldn't get the ball past half court. Those plus the injuries,
I mean, that kind of trauma, that sports trauma plus
the injuries might just kill them. That might just be
(54:30):
all she wrote. And so I I think that. I
also think that if Pacers fans are saying, guys, we
made the conference finals last year and we took Boston
to overtime and then Tyrese Halliburton got injured and missed
(54:52):
the rest of the series like we were, nobody takes
this seriously. I understand the first stration if they feel
that way, but I just think the injuries now are
too much, and I will take it one step further,
and again Pacers fans are going to be pissed. I
(55:14):
think the winner of Boston New York is going to
go to the NBA Finals, which means I guess by proxy,
since I just said I think the Knicks are gonna
win the series. I think the Knicks are going to
be playing in the NBA Finals. That's crazy. It's so crazy.
(55:35):
You think you think it's you think I'm wrong.
Speaker 2 (55:38):
You just jumping ship to ship. They're all sinking. But yeah,
the New York Knicks ship is going to think.
Speaker 1 (55:44):
As well, what do you mean jumping ship to ship?
I mean Lakers?
Speaker 2 (55:48):
And then okay, well I guess about divers making the finals? Yeah, yes,
it was Lakers.
Speaker 1 (55:53):
Your Knicks, no, no, no, no, no, hold on to
win the championship. I was Lakers, yes, and now okay, yeah,
nixt to go all right? They got to play someone
in the finals. I was Boston. But your team doesn't
know how to shoot a layup or they're allergic to it.
Speaker 4 (56:14):
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of sports, Vice Sports brings an exciting and diverse range
of programming that goes beyond the game. From action pack
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Speaker 1 (56:30):
Depth profiles of athletes, coaches, teams.
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Speaker 1 (56:50):
All right, let's quickly do an NFL thing before we
get to listener questions.
Speaker 2 (56:54):
Cowboys made a move on George Pickens, wide receiver from Pittsburgh.
So Pickens is on a contract here, and we know
he's had some some character things in the past, whatever
you want to call them. Where do you think the
chances are the chances are this going wrong in Dallas?
Speaker 1 (57:12):
Well, listen, I don't think it's necessarily going to go
wrong as much as I just don't think it's gonna
be a wildly impactful I think that I think Pickens
is a fine player. I think he's a little overrated
because his highlights are so great, and I think you'd
(57:32):
be insane to pay him early, and so I would
think he's gonna be pissed that he's not gonna get
paid early. And if you don't pay him early, you
traded a third round pick for a rental, which, also,
given where Dallas is, that seems odd like it's just
not a move I would make. Like I think there
(57:53):
are certain guys that are just not really winning or quality,
like the juice is not worth the squeeze. I think
he's one of them, and I think that he obviously
has this massive talent, but he fell in the draft
because he's such a pain in the ass. Pittsburgh was
(58:15):
shopping him a year into his career because he's a
pain in the ass, and he was only worth a
third round pick because he's a pain in the ass.
And so you add to all that that, I know
people will be like, oh, now he's not gonna be
getting doubled like he was in Pittsburgh. Man. Some wide
receivers like being the number two option because they see
(58:36):
softer coverages. Some wide receivers are like, I just want
ten targets a game, and so all of that, all
of that concerns me in a significant way. All Right,
A reminder, do you guys like rate? Subscribe, review on YouTube, iTunes, Spotify,
everywhere to get to some of the Tuesday questions before
(58:59):
we get to today's. My big crow is listening from Croatia.
It's very kind of you, man, And by the way,
that's on my list. My pal Zach Lowe goes there
every summer, I think because his wife is from there,
I've heard nothing but amazing things, and I really want
(59:19):
to check it out. All right, go to Curtis's question
Demons from Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (59:24):
If you had to start one bench one and cut
one of these three players, what would be your order? Joker, Luca,
and Yannis.
Speaker 1 (59:32):
Well that's a kind of unfair. Listen. You guys know
how much I love Luca and how great I think
he is. But of the you picked the two guys
in the league better than him, So I mean the
answer has to be you start Joker, you bench, be honest,
and you cut Luca. But if you did a start
(59:54):
bench cut with literally any other group of players and Luca,
Luca would be my starter. But if you're the third
best and three best players in the league and he's third,
so yeah, that's what the answer is.
Speaker 2 (01:00:11):
Bronson, Bronson that level yet, go ahead, But Danny says
it feels like the search for the face of the
league has become irrelevant. Do you think we should stop
trying to force the issue and just enjoy the game?
Speaker 1 (01:00:22):
Well, I don't think any I mean, I don't mind
the conversation. I don't think there's any real forcing of
the issue, and it doesn't prevent me from enjoying the game.
So that's not a problem, all right.
Speaker 2 (01:00:33):
Next one, negative four and two if the Nuggets make
it to the conference finals, when Nicola Yo could secure
the head coaching job and didn't.
Speaker 1 (01:00:42):
I mean, listen, he is doing a nice little player
coach job, which I've enjoyed watching.
Speaker 2 (01:00:47):
Let's get to today's all right, So Eu a thunder
here says about Boston chucking threes is the lazy way
of playing the game. Hopefully this will send ripples through
the league and resent this ugly.
Speaker 1 (01:00:59):
Tree said this. Listen, I I don't enjoy watching it
as much as I enjoy different kind of diverse styles
of play, So that that is my hope to a
degree that this at least stems the tide a bit.
Let's go to Ryan.
Speaker 2 (01:01:17):
Can you remember a more surprising conference finals than the
potential Nicks versus Pacers series.
Speaker 1 (01:01:22):
It's very, very rare that both teams are a surprise.
It was a surprise last year the Pacers made it,
you know a few years ago. It was to me
a real big surprise when uh, the Blazers made it.
I think some would argue last year's Western Conference Finals
(01:01:44):
Dallas Minnesota was shocking. But I had picked Dallas from
the beginning, so that didn't shock me, but I think
it probably did shock the world to a degree. All right,
let's go to Adrian.
Speaker 2 (01:01:55):
Adrian, are we gonna Are we gonna talk about how
Yo Kich really has been very turnover prone and lacking
his usual efficiency for the last four to five games.
Speaker 1 (01:02:04):
Now, Okay, so listen, I think that is a slight overstatement.
So if you just go to Joker's game log, he
had the one game what game was it? It was
game like ten. He had seven in one of either
game two or three against the Clippers, And I said, listen, yeah,
(01:02:25):
it was Game two against the Clippers. He had seven turnovers,
only it was eight of sixteen from the field. So
what I think he's talking about is this Game five
against the Clippers, he was four of thirteen, but they
won in a blowout. Game seven against the Clippers he
(01:02:46):
was six to fourteen, but with five turnovers that they
won in a blowout. It is true that what's you
gonna call that? Zubos has given Joker trouble. Now the
these two games in this series, he has seven and
six turnovers. Yesterday and he had six fouls and he
(01:03:06):
never got into the game and the refs seemed to
be bothering him yesterday. Obviously, Joker didn't play well. No
one on the team played well. I didn't focus on
the seven turnovers in game one because he did that
along with forty two, twenty two and six in beating
the one seed, So so listen, he five plus turnovers
(01:03:30):
obviously too many, But I think his efficiency will be
higher this series than it was last series, when he
was exactly at fifty percent from the field still forty
five percent from three, because I don't think hartensteiner Chet
can give him the same problems Zubats can. All right,
I gotta run. Great job, Demond's a great job. Blewe duck,
great job volume. I'll see you guys on the TV
(01:03:52):
show at three and then I'm actually also doing Collins
Pod later tonight, So busy day for me. See you
guys there. We'll train
Welcome in. What's drive in the Great episode three twenty
nine on a busy day and after an absolutely insane
for my money, last night was kind of the perfect
night of playoff basketball because we had one all time
game with an all time comeback and one game that
was over at halftime, so I finally could get some sleep.
(00:24):
Sweet Jesus man, I have been a zombie the last month.
These games every single night, they're all good. It feels
like no lead is safe. But the Oklahoma City lead
over Denver, I was like, that one feels safe. So
I'm gonna be totally honest with you. I didn't watch
second half of that game. I've been locked into everything
that one, went to bed early, felt good about it. Demons,
(00:46):
welcome in. I applaud that you have not taken the
Celtics jersey down. They maybe, by the way, might ask
you to put it on and see if you can
give them a good six minutes off the bench, because
you'll at least go to the basket and so necessary.
That would be necessary. Also, while the West Coast is
(01:06):
a good place in theory to be a sports fan,
nights like last night kind of a bummer because by
seven pm, you're just evenings ruined. Like you could have
a whole, you know, nice night in front of you,
but four fifteen start, seven o'clock finish, and it's like, okay,
well that sucked. So we'll get to all of that.
(01:28):
We're going to spend a lot of time on Nick
Celtics and then the other things. But first, what missed
the cut? A Sue Bird has become the USA Basketball
Managing director for the women's national team. Rob Blinka got
one vote for Executive of the Year. By the way,
I got no problem with that. Answering the phone is
(01:49):
answering the phone. An NBA Draft lottery is Monday. The
producers want me to tell you who I want to
win the Cooper Flag Sweepstakes. Honestly, I want Miami to
win it. I feel like Jimmy Butler did them dirty
and I would like to see the Miami Oh wait,
I'm an idiot. I'm a total idiot. The Miami Heat
(02:12):
can't win it. They could have at the end of
the regular season, but since they made the playoffs, yeah,
they they actually can't win it. So of the teams
that can actually win it, I know I had said,
I guess my answer because yeah, because Miami beat Atlanta
(02:32):
to get to get No, I don't want him to
be with these silly teams. I certainly don't want Dallas
to win it. I don't know Portland. Portland could be fun.
They're trying to I don't want the Spurs to win.
It doesn't seem fair. The the most fun one is Philly.
(02:54):
Philly just gets a total Paul George get out of
jail free card if they win it. But okay, let's
get to the act news of the day, Demons, which
is the fact that your team stinks.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Uh yeah, so yesterday Game two pretty much a carbon
copy of Game one. The Knicks pull off another twenty
point comeback in the Celtics lose.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
That's I don't I don't know what.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
To say here. It's we're still relying on the three.
Seems like we didn't get less to twenty less, but
still we're taking threes in spots where it's just like,
go and get a bucket increased.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
You didn't love the Jason Tatum up seven.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Jalen was on the ground, on the ground, Josh Harratt
fifteen feet away. Yeah, how do you feel about the
series or do you want me to go in China.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Oh we can. I mean I'll go, and then we
can go back and forth. The Knicks can win, and
they the Knicks deserve, they deserve to be the story.
But they are not the story. The Knicks deserve to
have us talking about how they have gone to Boston.
(04:07):
They have been down twenty points in the second half
in both of these games. They have not played great, honestly,
in either game. Yesterday, Michale Bridges is terrible for the
first three quarters before being awesome. Jalen Brunson is six
(04:27):
of nineteen in the game. With a few minutes left
in the game, he had made four shots and it's
not like he was getting He had made four shots
and got into the free throw line once and they
found a way to win. And they deserve credit for that.
But the store and we will I promise we'll spend
(04:49):
a lot of time on the Knicks, but the story
is Boston. The next story is about what I said
on Tuesday, Planning for this moment meant for more than
a year, and they're being a lot of similarities to
what how Minnesota was able to beat Denver to what
(05:13):
we are seeing with the Knicks and the Celtics. Let's
table those and we will get to those shortly, because
the story really is the defending champs falling apart in
real time, physically and mentally. And now let me make
(05:36):
this clear. I don't think it's over. I don't think like, oh,
no chance the Celtics come back. The Celtics are talented
enough and good enough obviously to win four out of
five against New York. In fact, most people thought they
were going to win four out of five against New York.
(05:57):
They just thought it was gonna be the first five games.
This is gonna be a nice, friendly, gentleman sweep. But
we are now here. Everyone's gonna focus on the three
point variants, and I get it. Twenty five of one
hundred from three fifteen of sixty in Game one, the
(06:20):
exact same percentage in Game two, except they were ten
of forty. I actually don't think that is that might
be the biggest reason they're down. I don't think that
is the biggest story surrounding them being down. The biggest
(06:41):
story surrounding them being down is Jason Tatum. And we
gave him all his flowers and all the credit for
what was, without a doubt at least to my eye,
the best regul season of his career. I understand he
(07:03):
didn't even have He wasn't the best numbers. He's averaged
almost exactly this many points. He's averaged twenty six point
eight or twenty six point nine points three of the
last four years his you know, his numbers in the
one year he did and he averaged thirty. His numbers
have been consistent, His field goal percentage have been consistent.
And it wasn't that he played more games. It was
(07:25):
just this felt like the best Tatum year because you
didn't get a great year from Jalen Brown by his standards,
Horford's a year or older. You saw some real deterioration
from Drew Holliday over the course of the year. And
yet Tatum answered the bell on both ends of the
(07:45):
court every night. And and this is the key piece,
not the key, but one of the key pieces of it.
Responded from what was a really weird few months for
him where he finally wins a championship, but he's not
the conference finals MVP. He's not the finals MVP. He
(08:09):
actually plays some of his worst basketball of the season
last year in the biggest games, most notably those two series,
the Conference finals in NBA Finals. Still it's not like
he was bad, but he just dropped a level that
then was compounded by the fact that Steve Kerr, who
(08:32):
obviously is at despite what lunatic Warrior fans would try
to tell you, Steve Kerr, who obviously is one of
the best and smartest basketball minds we have. Steve Kerr
saw Jason Tatum in the Olympics and said, can't use you. Sorry,
(08:52):
would love to, but actually you're not one of our
eight best. And he responded to all of that with
a year where he had an argument he was the
third best player in the league and where there was
no argument whatsoever he was one of the four best
(09:15):
players in the league. And for that to then and
then let me add another piece to it. After a
kind of rocky game one of the playoffs, but who cared,
they won, it was easy where he got hurt. He
(09:36):
then came back after missing a game, averaging thirty six,
eleven and six the rest of the series. It's like,
holy shit, Jase, this extra level that Bill Simmons has
been swearing on his children exists for years. For Jason
(09:59):
take we're seeing it. And then in back to back games,
he is twelve of forty two from the field. He
is five of twenty from three. He is a total
and complete non factor in the fourth quarter of these games.
(10:24):
The only play he made last night was when the
Knicks screwed up a switch and he got a wide
open dunk. And now, listen, I'll just tell you what
I said to Kevin Wilds when I facetimed him yesterday.
And I know this is going to sound unfair, but
(10:47):
it's just how I feel. And it's not prisoner of
the moment, because I have felt this way about Tatum forever.
He's an excellent player. But what I said to Wilds
is I don't care if the Celtics win the next
three championships, He's never going to be the best player
in the league. That guy is not the best player
(11:10):
in the league. And I don't I don't even think
the reason I said that to Wilds is because he
keeps trying to force the conversation of Jason Tatum's going
to force us into some really tricky conversations. What do
we do with the twenty seven year old with two
(11:32):
rings and four first team All nbas and all of
this what does that mean for where he is historically?
And my answer to that is Tatum is an excellent player.
He is not yet in the We need to evaluate
his historical greatness level. And I don't know that he
(11:56):
is going to be in that conversation. There is and
I can't put my finger on it, but there's something
that's just not there.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
I think it's a little tight in big spots, is
what it seems like to me watching the games.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
It feels to me like if his three isn't falling,
it knocks him off the rest of his game. And
what is And here is the Celtics piece. And I
just did Lebotard Show, and this is the point I
was trying to make the Celtics bum three strategy over
(12:43):
the long haul. Obviously, it's just a smart mathematical strategy.
As sample sizes get smaller, you put yourself more at
you know, the mercy of the variants, it's you know,
the team that really originated this strategy was Darryl Moury's Rockets.
(13:07):
But here's why. For Daryl Morey's Rockets it made total sense.
The team they were trying to beat, the KDI STEPH Warriors,
was flatly better than them, so they needed to shake
(13:29):
up the snow globe and add some damn variants because
if we just go go to the middle of the
ring and trade jabs, we got no shot. So instead
we're gonna throw some wild haymakers and risk getting knocked
(13:50):
out because that's our chance. This strategy for the Celtics
maybe wouldn't make sense if this were the NBA Finals
against Oklahoma City and they feel like they're better than us.
All year long, they've been better, they have the better resume,
(14:12):
they they're best players, better than our best player. They're
better than us, So let's add some uncertainty to it.
Up twenty points in the second half against the New
York Knicks. The last thing you want is to add uncertainty.
(14:34):
It's it's an insane It's not an insane way to play.
It's insane demande not to adjust, yeah, and not to
have It's a team, it's a football team that their
identity is chucking it deep and up ten in the
(15:02):
fourth quarter. They refuse to run the ball that and
here's the other piece of it. You've got Jason Tatum.
He's six' eight, it's an amazing shape. He can get
to the hoop, and it is it is stubbornness that
(15:29):
at this point might cost him their title defense to
lose both. And it's the first twenty point lead. I
said it Tuesday. The Knicks made that a game faster
than any team I can remember. It was twenty points,
Boston up by twenty with five and a half left
(15:50):
in the third, and it was a six point game
with a minute left in the third. So the Knicks
just in the span of ten possessions made it a game. Again.
Yesterday was different in that, yes, it was twenty and
then the Knicks chipped away, but was go ahead.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
We were holding it like we stayed out in front,
in front for a minute and we just kept shooting
the three, and they just kept chipping it away.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
It was fourteen with seven minutes left. And so I
if you look at the Celtics fourth quarter shot chart,
they did you know, they didn't just shoot threes. It
wasn't the third quarter in Game three. But there were
(16:41):
just these moments, most notably was the one Wilds took
the picture of. But it is it's a jarring image
where it is eighty six seventy seven. Is that I
want to make sure I have it. I think it's
(17:04):
yeah or the Let me try to pull out. I
should just pull up Wild's tweet because it is. It's
a wild decision by it's eighty six seventy nine. Pardon me.
And I don't know why this isn't showing me that,
(17:25):
but regardless, don't worry about it. Oh, here's why, because
it wasn't. I was like, I thought it was eighty
six because the score. Remember, and here's a sneaky important
part of the game that will be forgotten, the history.
The Knicks got an extra point during a time out
because they had called a Jalen Brunson three two and
(17:46):
then they fixed it. Oh, Michale Bridges, pardon me. And
so the score the scoreboard says eighty six seventy nine,
but it was actually eighty six eighty and and Derek
White misses a three. Michale Bridges then goes down misses
(18:07):
a three, and Josh Hart tries to save it and
starts the fast break, and all of a sudden and
we can put the image up. Jason Tatum finds himself
in this position. I don't think demon's a I like that.
(18:30):
I well, I don't think I like shooting that three.
If I'm the team trailing by seven, like I, I
don't think it's the smarter move.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
I got a dunk right there because it's not recovery,
like he's probably gonna try to get out.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
The way recovering. And by the way, it's and here's
the other thing. If Jalen Brunson is upright, you might
have a dunk there. Oh yeah, you're seven inches taller
than him. Horford's there. You have a full head of steam.
(19:10):
That is an impossible decision. Now you can be like, listen,
what does Jason Tatum shoot on corner threes? Blah blah blah. Again,
you're up You're actually up six, but you think you're
up seven. It's bananas. And the very next possession, we
don't have a picture of it, but Jalen Brown has
(19:33):
an alley to the basket and he takes a pull
up three. And so it's just.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
It is the Nicks just flatly want it more, is
what it seems like.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
Well, they are certainly more comfortable demands if it's close late, Yeah,
that is undeniable. And the fact that the Knicks have
now won five road playoff games and they have won
them they have played five road playoff games. They are
(20:11):
five and zero, and they have won those five games
by a combined This is really unbelievable. They have won
those five games by combined ten points. One in overtime.
(20:33):
They won Game three against Detroit by two, Game four
against Detroit by one, Game six against Detroit by three,
Game one against Boston by three and in overtime, and
Game two against Boston by one. It is uh, it
(20:58):
is a remarkable turn of events. Got a lot of heart,
So this is un I don't even think that my
buddy knows I'm doing the pod right now. But my
buddy Andy just texts me, if you're curious the odds
of a team that shot uh, let me read this
(21:21):
exact text real quick. Sorry, if you're curious the odds
of a team that shot thirty seven percent from three
over a season to shoot twenty five percent or less
over one hundred shots, it's less than one percent, he writes.
I'm blue an orange to the bone. But we're watching
somebody flop twelve sets in a night. It's a poker turn.
(21:42):
So I'm glad this is He's the second person that's
kind of brought up poker to me in this regard,
and here's my real indictment on the Celtics here. You
adjust your strat as a poker player based on do
(22:06):
I think I have a skill advantage? Okay? So let
me I will try to explain something in poker terms
that even if you're not a poker player, you'll understand. Okay.
So let's say you're at the final table of a
big tournament and you are thoroughly convinced, thoroughly convinced you're
(22:36):
the best player at the table, okay, and there's one
person there who has more chips than you, and therefore
that person can knock you out. And you get in
a spot where a bunch of people are you know,
(22:57):
get their cards. Is raising. I'm going to try to
do this in Gene and Eric terms. W even not
a poker player, you can understand it. And you have
an opportunity to get all your money in against this
the one guy who can knock you out, and he
(23:20):
shows you his cards, okay.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
And you have.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
As king and he has eight nine. You are about
a sixty a little more than a sixty forty favorite
in that spot. Shows it to you if you truly
(23:49):
believe you have a significant skill edge on the table.
There are a lot of players that in that spot
would say, nah, not going to even though in the
long run this is obviously wildly profitable for me if
(24:11):
I'm a sixty forty favorite, and again that wouldn't be
the math of those two exact hands. But just stick
with me. That means forty percent of the time I lose.
That means two out of five times I lose here.
And I don't want to roll those dice when I
(24:32):
think I can just grind you guys down. The Celtics saying,
by virtue of how they're playing well in the long run,
this is smart to me, underestimates what should be their
(24:57):
decided advantages in this series. And by the way, that's
not just hypothetical. They're decided advantages in this series during
the games where they have built twenty point leads, and
so it is. It is. It has the potential to
(25:24):
be an all time loss. That also, and this is
the part demon's and even though you're a Celtics fan,
maybe you could take some solace in it also has
the potential to maybe stem the tide a bit against
(25:51):
professional basketball simply being a three point shooting contest, and
I think that we if you guys go back, and
we should God dogg it, it might be worth putting
this clip back out there again. After the first night
of the NBA season, I did like a twenty minute
(26:15):
thought exercise on this show about how the NBA has
two major problems on its hand. One was the load
management stuff, but the other one was that watching three
point contests is not as good of an entertainment product
as the NBA we grew up with, and that even
(26:37):
though the league is deeper than ever, more skilled than ever,
in theory should be better than ever, that you potentially
might need to be proactive like Baseball was against the
shift and with the pitch clock and all those things,
because your consumers won't love it. The Boston Celtics breaking
every record for three point attempts. If they end up
(27:01):
cruising to a championship, then until the rules change, everyone's
an idiot for not playing that way. But if in
the small sample size of a series the Celtics get
whacked by what most people feel is a clearly inferior team,
(27:22):
and a team, by the way, who was zero to
eight this year against the Cavs and the Celtics and
like one in eighteen against the best teams in basketball.
Uh that whether it should or shouldn't change teams philosophies
and approaches pro sports are reactionary, and I think it will,
(27:44):
so yeah, I'll say it for the health of basketball.
It's good if this doesn't work for Boston. And now,
thirty minutes in, I want to talk about the Knicks
side of things, so everyone's gonna say some of the
same stuff here. Bridges defensive stops at the end of
these games has been unbelievable. And the fact that the
(28:07):
Knicks Tatum wasn't did you realize Demon's day that that
was correctly graded by the scorekeepers at the end a
steal and not a block because Tatum abandoned the shot
and was trying to pass it to Jalen Brown. It
was a steal.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
It was a steal and not a block. Yeah, I
could see how that kind of looked like a steal
because he was trying to pass it in mckill.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Bridges to you, No, that's my point. In real time,
I thought it was a shot that got blocked that
Bridges grabbed and then threw up in the air.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Oh yeah, No, I mean he tried to like turn
and kick it out right.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
He abandoned the shot. That's the point I like in
it was, I mean a brilliant defensive possessions. So people
are going to talk about that Brunton obviously, I mean
just more than earning his Clutch Player of the Year
award night after night after night. Uh, Karl Anthony towns
(29:08):
Is stretch in the second quarter when he was the
only Nick doing anything, when this thing could have gotten
totally away from him, might get forgotten. A bit to history.
And one other thing that I will focus on even
if no one else will. Joe Mizzoula going to the
hack of Mitchell Robinson's strategy when the team had two
(29:28):
team fouls and putting the Knicks in the bonus without
ever getting Mitch Robinson into the free throw line. I
thought was one of the bigger coaching mistakes of his
career up to this point. Just strategically, it didn't make sense.
It was as if the Knicks were gonna be caught
sleeping and pull Mitchell Robinson out before you got into
(29:52):
the bonus, which they almost did, but they didn't, or
he thought they would just leave him in once you
were in the bone. I don't know what he thought,
but that was a mistake. But the story for the
New York Knicks, and this was, if I can give
myself a little credit, something I talked about on the
(30:15):
pod and TV show Tuesday and Willigan Today is a
story of different objectives. Yes, of course the Knicks want
to win a championship, but they did not build a
team with that being the singular goal. They built a
(30:40):
team to beat Boston, with the logic being the only
chance we have of winning a championship is if we
can beat Boston. We can't rely on being on opposite
sides of the bracket and someone else beating them, or
injuries or whatever. We are going to have to go
(31:02):
through Boston. So we trade for og Ananobi, We trade
for Michale Bridges. Now we have long, switchable, defensive minded
wings for Brown and Tatum. We move off Julius Randall
and maybe just as importantly, Dante DiVincenzo to bring in
(31:23):
Carl Anthony Towns so we can match some of their
offensive firepower. And so if they want to play with
a big, a seven footer who can shoot, in Chris STAPs,
we got a seven footer who can shoot even better
than Karl Anthony Towns. They built a team, well, yes,
and and that, and we'll get to that. They built
(31:46):
a team to beat Boston, just like Minnesota hired away
the guy who built the Nuggets, who to then build
a team to beat the Nuggets. And then when the
Nuggets were defending champs in round two and everyone thought
(32:07):
they were cruising to the finals, they ran into a
team no one really believed in, and that team who
was built to beat them, not necessarily to win a title,
as they got clocked in the next round, built to
beat Denver, went to Denver and took game one and
then shocked everyone and took game two as well. Now
(32:30):
they ended up losing the next three, but they won
the series anyway. The folks who run the Knicks looked
at their biggest hurdle to making the first finals, making
the first conference finals and the first NBA finals the
(32:51):
franchises made this century and said it to Boston, said
all right, we'll build our version and we're gonna have
this added bonus. We're not going to be quite as
talented man for man, and our coach isn't going to
be one coach is the ultimate new school coach, and
(33:13):
the other coach is the ultimate old school coach. Our
coach isn't going to have the analytical bent and edge
Boston's does. But here's what we are going to have
an absolutely fearless end of game guy, and you guys
don't have it. And now I was talking about how
(33:35):
the Knicks just needed to get one more after winning
Game one in the next three to guarantee themselves they're
getting a game six at home. Now Boston's got to
get two of the next three in order to make
sure this series isn't over before game six. And that
(34:01):
is a shocking turn of events. And by the way,
nobody knows what to do with this series, where like
the Knicks are the favorite in the series, but the
Celtics are still the favorite in the conference. Like this
is a weird spot because nobody thought we'd be in
(34:23):
this spot. All right, you wanted to talk about Porzingis,
so go ahead.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
Yeah, So he's been am i with some type of
sickness that's messing with his stamina. How does that affect
our chances? You think with him being in and out
of the lineup.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
So the Porzingis thing is bizarre and you feel terribly
for the guy. I mean, this is why he missed
time weeks ago, and so I don't know what it is.
It's not you know, it's not the flu. It's not
and clearly they can't figure it out. But this is
a huge loss for them, a huge loss, and it
(35:05):
also everything matters, and even if they are able to
get through this series, which right now my pick would
be the next I don't think it's over, but right
now I think that my pick would be the next.
These extra miles on Horford, Yeah, are tough for one
(35:31):
of the oldest players in the league who's now pushed
into the starting lineup. In all of that, so that
you know, that's another issue. Let me before we move on, Demons,
where's your confidence level and what adjustments do you want
Boston to make.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
I think we'll win the series, and I'd like to
I'd like to just take what the defense has given
us and and just kind of take note of what's
happened in the last two games and just want it more.
And when you when you have the twenty point lead,
you know, do your best to keep that twenty point lead.
(36:12):
I don't know, I this is it's just it's we're
playing with some some competitive energy. It just it just
seems like the Knicks are just flying around and the
Celtics are just relying on their pedigree.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
And it also, yes, the Celtics feel right now a
little lase fair about it, which is so weird. All right,
the producers before we move on, really want me to
get to some photoshop. They did, Yeah, just go ahead.
Speaker 2 (36:39):
You got any New York is coming up to you
out there on the street.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
Oh, I mean they, I'm telling you they love the
me and the bodega with uh with a dou serve
Chris Brussard sign, a do not serve James Dolan's sign.
Who is that crying in the do you leave us now?
I don't know. Oh it's Joe Rogan. Who is it? Oh?
(37:06):
Oh okay, it's Robert de Niro. Sorry, it's very small
on my screen. Justin Fields and plays Aaron Rodgers. The
brdusers very proud of me at the bodego with the
hot Cheetos photoshop. That's the extra bonus you get for
watching us on YouTube. By the way, speaking of YouTube,
like rate, subscribe review, it really helps us out and
(37:29):
we really do appreciate If the NBA eighty two game
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Speaker 1 (39:36):
All right, demanse, let's get to this other stuff. I
said that I could have done the whole pod just
on Nicks Celtics, but there are other stories we must
get to, So go ahead.
Speaker 2 (39:46):
Uh yeah, So you decided to jump on the Denver bandwagon,
and they followed that with a forty five or forty
two point loss. I can't remember which one it is,
maybe you should jump the ship so things start winning again.
Speaker 1 (39:59):
Russ was there?
Speaker 2 (39:59):
Lee, Okay, so you couldn't miss any shots. Do you
think the first game was more telling or do you
think this last game was more of how it's going
to be?
Speaker 1 (40:09):
Well, listen, I jumping on the Denver bandwagon is maybe
a touch strong. I maybe yes. I have said since
the Lakers got eliminated that my pick to when the
title is Oklahoma City, and that's not really a sexy pick.
They are the they are now might in fact, let
(40:30):
me look, this will be a fun thing to do
real quick. What are the Thunder now minus money favorites?
This is something the championship? Yeah, so here's here's something
Folks get wrong a lot. They don't know that odds
(40:52):
on favorite is different than just being the favorite. So
odds on favorite means that you're minus money, that you're
priced at a greater than fifty percent chance to win.
So right now on DraftKings, Nope, the Thunder are not
yet minus money, but they are. They are plus one thirty.
(41:15):
Boston is plus three ten, the Calves are plus eight
point fifty, the Timberwolves are ten to one, the Knicks
thirteen to one, the Pacers fifteen to one, the Nuggets
seventeen to one, and the Warriors twenty five to one.
Speaker 2 (41:30):
Knocked at the Warriors having the least.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
Odds, Well, that is to me, Uh.
Speaker 2 (41:37):
They're saying curries, They're they're going to be screwed without him?
Speaker 1 (41:40):
Is but yes, that is that is the the essentially
the Warriors therket place saying maybe Steph will come back.
We don't want to write them off. Like but what
I do find so fascinating about it is that it
(42:05):
feels to me, with eight teams left, you could make
a credible case for any of the eight teams to
win a championship. And that is that's really unlike anything
I can quite remember. Okay, so there, so there's that.
Now to answer the game about last night. About last night,
(42:28):
I don't think either game is really indicative of the series.
But I think Game one is more indicative, not because
the Nuggets are gonna win it, but because Game one
was evidence of any game the Nuggets are going to
(42:49):
have a real chance. Jokers going to have to be transcendent.
Speaker 3 (42:55):
That is.
Speaker 1 (42:56):
That is the in my opinion, the real story here.
And the thunder who hadn't faced you know, they've won
two playoff series together as a group. The only real
adversity they faced in games that mattered was last year
against Dallas and Luca got the better of them for
(43:19):
the Thunders. For the Thunder to come out and score
an NBA record eighty seven first half points and just
absolutely annihilate Denver, to me, was a reminder of how
good this team is when it is firing on all cylins.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
How much do you think Denver let their foot off
the gas? You know, feel uncomfortable? They stole that game one,
so right, It's.
Speaker 1 (43:44):
Not so much they let their foot off the gas.
It's that I think they went into the game peak motivation,
and when the Thunder hit them with haymakers, then they're like, Okay,
tonight's not our night. And that's, by the way, that's fine.
Like the it's now whenever you're yeah, whenever you're the
(44:05):
inferior team, what you want to do is just keep
shortening the series. And so now it's not a best
of seven, it's a best of five now, and Denver
as home court, Like that's how they that's how they
have to look at it is. It's now a best
of five. It's first to three, and we've got three
(44:28):
of the five games in our building. And so now
are they going to go back to Oklahoma City Denver
that is up three to one. No, I don't. I
don't think that's realistic at all. What I do think
is Denver's goal is to then make it a best
of three, and have you know they won't to have
home court that in that scenario, make it a best
(44:48):
of three, get it back at two to two, and
then hope that somehow it can become a best of
one game seven. And so Oklahoma City has the highest
s of any team in the league. I think they've
demonstrated that. And they are now seventy three and fifteen.
(45:11):
It's pretty good, all right, Let's get on go on
to Warriors two Wolves.
Speaker 2 (45:16):
Warriors won Game one on the road without Steph. I
think he went out like eight minutes left in the
second quarter. They still pulled it off. I think he
suffered a hamstring strain. It's going to be out at
least a week. Do you give the Doves any chance
to win without Steph?
Speaker 1 (45:30):
No? And I thought that was a great win by them,
And I thought Steve Kerr was brilliant and playing thirteen
guys adjusting on the fly and Buddy Heald. Like these
last two games with Buddy Heeld, it reminds you of
how great the Warriors were when they had prime Klay Thompson.
(45:53):
Because the last two games Buddy Heild has been prime
Klay Thompson. It's been really it's just impressive.
Speaker 2 (45:59):
Did you give them no chance to win this series?
Speaker 1 (46:02):
If Steph is out? Call it?
Speaker 2 (46:05):
I mean, this is seven more days? Is the series
over by then?
Speaker 1 (46:08):
No?
Speaker 2 (46:09):
They the Warriors could lose like one game.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
The earliest he could be back, realistically is game six
because they play tonight Saturday, so that's game Uh so
let me do it like this. They already played game one.
Tonight is Game two, Saturday is Game three, Monday is
Game four. Wednesday is game five. Then they don't play
(46:37):
Did I do that wrong? They play Thursday, Sat. Yeah,
I did do that. No, Thursday, Saturday, Monday, Wednesday, and
then the next game is Sunday. I think the if
the Knicks.
Speaker 2 (46:51):
Can go out there and do that to the Celtics
and win the second game, I think the Warriors can
go back and beat them.
Speaker 1 (46:58):
Without Steph Curry. But it's just I just don't listen.
I don't. I think Jimmy's been good but not unbelievable.
Bud keep hitting. Yes, I don't. I think Buddy healed
is you know, going to regress more to the mean there?
And uh, I also think and this was do you
(47:24):
guys remember when the Lakers went down three to one
to Minnesota and I came on here and said, I
don't think necessarily the series is over. It obviously was,
but the Lakers' title hopes are done. And the reason
I said was because now the only way to get
(47:45):
out of Round one is they have to play every
other day, win a Game seven, and then start a
series where they're playing every other day for the entirety
of it, basically, and there are too old and too
thin of a team in order for that to be
an effective path. Essentially, that is now where the Warriors
(48:12):
are and you saw it immediately. Bite Steph, a player
who has never had a hamstring injury in his life,
ended up having to play every other day against that
Rockets defense running around like that. Windy said that since
they've started tracking, this Game seven against Houston was the
(48:34):
most like mileage Steph has run on the court in
a game in his career, and a quarter and a
half into the next game, he suffers his first ever
hamstring injury. Like that, every game matters, and the Warriors
kind of punted game five against Houston and then let
(48:56):
go of the rope in the fourth quarter of Game six,
and all of a sudden they find themselves in a
Game seven. And then all of a sudden, you find
yourself two days later playing in a Game one, and
even though you win it, that's the ultimate when the
battle lose the war. And so no, I listen, I
think the Timberwolves, we're talking about three point regression with
(49:19):
the Celtics. Timberwolves are now like twelve of seventy over
their last two games or something insane. And so I
don't I think that when we get to Game five
(49:40):
it's gonna be three to one. I think we're gonna
be I think the Minnesota is gonna win. The next
three is the short version of it, and I think
it's gonna be three to one going back to Minnesota.
And here's the other piece. They ruled Steph out a
week immediately, so game six is the earliest hea could
come back. That's probably not realistic. But even if he
(50:04):
is back for Game six. Are you gonna get a
fully healthy, fully functional Steff I don't know, so, yeah,
I think though, I think the Warriors are done. I
think Kur has done a great job. I think Jimmy's
been good and Draymond the last two games. To go
along with what had been great defense, he actually provided
some offensive punch. I don't think any of that's sustainable.
(50:28):
What are your follow ups here? A couple of Aunt
follow ups.
Speaker 2 (50:31):
So Chris Finch, head coach, came out and said, we
had one and a half one point in the first half.
You're the leader of the team and you've got to
come out and set the tone. If your SHOT's not going,
you still have to carry the energy. Yeah. How do
you feel about that?
Speaker 1 (50:47):
Yeah? I so Chris Finch is not afraid to kind
of call out his star player, and Aunt clearly disagreed
with him. Ant said, you know, I thought I just
my shot wasn't falling. I was still there on defense.
I think Chris Finch has done a really good job.
(51:08):
I also think that I it wouldn't make sense for
Aunt to be tired. They only played five against the Lakers.
It's only round two. He's twenty three years old. We
did see last year he said he got exhausted by
the conference finals. I am not yet ready to say
(51:30):
I think that is happening. I am ready to say
it is something to monitor. But I think Ant's gonna
come out and be outstanding tonight, and you know, he
finally hit some shots and he'll be fine. So I'm
not panicked about that. And I also am not as
angry at Aunt for the laughing about the three point shooting.
(51:53):
Brew was pissed. Brew was like, he's gotta be more serious.
I just think Ant is so overly confident, that is
so incredibly competent. I should say that sometimes he feels
like everything's gonna be fine, and that can be a
gift and a curse. I think he'll be fine. All right,
Let's quickly get to the other series. Let's quickly get
(52:14):
to the other series.
Speaker 2 (52:15):
The Pacers have stolen two now at home in the
Calves building. That overrated poll came out of the perfect
time for Haller Burdon. The Calves have some injuries going on.
Garland's been out for the last two, Mobley and Hunter
miss game two, Mitchell showing out. Though we have forty
eight points. How do you feel about the what's the
Cavs situation.
Speaker 1 (52:36):
I think they might be booked. I don't think a sweep,
but I don't know how you can recover from that
type of loss. Donovan Mitchell scores forty eight. Donovan Mitchell Now,
by the way, complete list of NBA players who have
multiple forty eight plus point playoff games that they lost,
(53:01):
Michael Jordan, Lebron, James, Donovan Mitchell. That's the list. Donovan
has scored forty eight, fifty and fifty seven in playoff losses.
But to melt the way they did where you're up seven,
here's another crazy one for you, Demanse. Since they've been
(53:24):
tracking this since ninety seven in the playoffs, as of
a week ago, teams down seven in the final minute
were one and one thousand, one hundred and sixty or something.
The only team that had ever come back from seven
down in the playoffs in the final minute was Oklahoma
(53:47):
City in twenty fourteen against lob City when Chris Paul
tried to draw a foul in the backcourt like launched
a sixty footer because he was trying to get a
shooting foul on it. They didn't call the foul, and
it kind of snow on them. The Pacers have done
it twice in a week. It had been done once. Ever,
the Baser has done it twice in a week to
(54:08):
the Bucks to eliminate them in the Tyres slash John
Halliburton game, and then this past game and the Cavs
couldn't get the ball past half court. Those plus the injuries,
I mean, that kind of trauma, that sports trauma plus
the injuries might just kill them. That might just be
(54:30):
all she wrote. And so I I think that. I
also think that if Pacers fans are saying, guys, we
made the conference finals last year and we took Boston
to overtime and then Tyrese Halliburton got injured and missed
(54:52):
the rest of the series like we were, nobody takes
this seriously. I understand the first stration if they feel
that way, but I just think the injuries now are
too much, and I will take it one step further,
and again Pacers fans are going to be pissed. I
(55:14):
think the winner of Boston New York is going to
go to the NBA Finals, which means I guess by proxy,
since I just said I think the Knicks are gonna
win the series. I think the Knicks are going to
be playing in the NBA Finals. That's crazy. It's so crazy.
(55:35):
You think you think it's you think I'm wrong.
Speaker 2 (55:38):
You just jumping ship to ship. They're all sinking. But yeah,
the New York Knicks ship is going to think.
Speaker 1 (55:44):
As well, what do you mean jumping ship to ship?
I mean Lakers?
Speaker 2 (55:48):
And then okay, well I guess about divers making the finals? Yeah, yes,
it was Lakers.
Speaker 1 (55:53):
Your Knicks, no, no, no, no, no, hold on to
win the championship. I was Lakers, yes, and now okay, yeah,
nixt to go all right? They got to play someone
in the finals. I was Boston. But your team doesn't
know how to shoot a layup or they're allergic to it.
Speaker 4 (56:14):
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of sports, Vice Sports brings an exciting and diverse range
of programming that goes beyond the game. From action pack
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Speaker 1 (56:30):
Depth profiles of athletes, coaches, teams.
Speaker 4 (56:34):
Vice Sports captures the raw energy, drama, and passion that
makes sports truly Unforgettable catch live events and other exclusive
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Speaker 1 (56:50):
All right, let's quickly do an NFL thing before we
get to listener questions.
Speaker 2 (56:54):
Cowboys made a move on George Pickens, wide receiver from Pittsburgh.
So Pickens is on a contract here, and we know
he's had some some character things in the past, whatever
you want to call them. Where do you think the
chances are the chances are this going wrong in Dallas?
Speaker 1 (57:12):
Well, listen, I don't think it's necessarily going to go
wrong as much as I just don't think it's gonna
be a wildly impactful I think that I think Pickens
is a fine player. I think he's a little overrated
because his highlights are so great, and I think you'd
(57:32):
be insane to pay him early, and so I would
think he's gonna be pissed that he's not gonna get
paid early. And if you don't pay him early, you
traded a third round pick for a rental, which, also,
given where Dallas is, that seems odd like it's just
not a move I would make. Like I think there
(57:53):
are certain guys that are just not really winning or quality,
like the juice is not worth the squeeze. I think
he's one of them, and I think that he obviously
has this massive talent, but he fell in the draft
because he's such a pain in the ass. Pittsburgh was
(58:15):
shopping him a year into his career because he's a
pain in the ass, and he was only worth a
third round pick because he's a pain in the ass.
And so you add to all that that, I know
people will be like, oh, now he's not gonna be
getting doubled like he was in Pittsburgh. Man. Some wide
receivers like being the number two option because they see
(58:36):
softer coverages. Some wide receivers are like, I just want
ten targets a game, and so all of that, all
of that concerns me in a significant way. All Right,
A reminder, do you guys like rate? Subscribe, review on YouTube, iTunes, Spotify,
everywhere to get to some of the Tuesday questions before
(58:59):
we get to today's. My big crow is listening from Croatia.
It's very kind of you, man, And by the way,
that's on my list. My pal Zach Lowe goes there
every summer, I think because his wife is from there,
I've heard nothing but amazing things, and I really want
(59:19):
to check it out. All right, go to Curtis's question
Demons from Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (59:24):
If you had to start one bench one and cut
one of these three players, what would be your order? Joker, Luca,
and Yannis.
Speaker 1 (59:32):
Well that's a kind of unfair. Listen. You guys know
how much I love Luca and how great I think
he is. But of the you picked the two guys
in the league better than him, So I mean the
answer has to be you start Joker, you bench, be honest,
and you cut Luca. But if you did a start
(59:54):
bench cut with literally any other group of players and Luca,
Luca would be my starter. But if you're the third
best and three best players in the league and he's third,
so yeah, that's what the answer is.
Speaker 2 (01:00:11):
Bronson, Bronson that level yet, go ahead, But Danny says
it feels like the search for the face of the
league has become irrelevant. Do you think we should stop
trying to force the issue and just enjoy the game?
Speaker 1 (01:00:22):
Well, I don't think any I mean, I don't mind
the conversation. I don't think there's any real forcing of
the issue, and it doesn't prevent me from enjoying the game.
So that's not a problem, all right.
Speaker 2 (01:00:33):
Next one, negative four and two if the Nuggets make
it to the conference finals, when Nicola Yo could secure
the head coaching job and didn't.
Speaker 1 (01:00:42):
I mean, listen, he is doing a nice little player
coach job, which I've enjoyed watching.
Speaker 2 (01:00:47):
Let's get to today's all right, So Eu a thunder
here says about Boston chucking threes is the lazy way
of playing the game. Hopefully this will send ripples through
the league and resent this ugly.
Speaker 1 (01:00:59):
Tree said this. Listen, I I don't enjoy watching it
as much as I enjoy different kind of diverse styles
of play, So that that is my hope to a
degree that this at least stems the tide a bit.
Let's go to Ryan.
Speaker 2 (01:01:17):
Can you remember a more surprising conference finals than the
potential Nicks versus Pacers series.
Speaker 1 (01:01:22):
It's very, very rare that both teams are a surprise.
It was a surprise last year the Pacers made it,
you know a few years ago. It was to me
a real big surprise when uh, the Blazers made it.
I think some would argue last year's Western Conference Finals
(01:01:44):
Dallas Minnesota was shocking. But I had picked Dallas from
the beginning, so that didn't shock me, but I think
it probably did shock the world to a degree. All right,
let's go to Adrian.
Speaker 2 (01:01:55):
Adrian, are we gonna Are we gonna talk about how
Yo Kich really has been very turnover prone and lacking
his usual efficiency for the last four to five games.
Speaker 1 (01:02:04):
Now, Okay, so listen, I think that is a slight overstatement.
So if you just go to Joker's game log, he
had the one game what game was it? It was
game like ten. He had seven in one of either
game two or three against the Clippers, And I said, listen, yeah,
(01:02:25):
it was Game two against the Clippers. He had seven turnovers,
only it was eight of sixteen from the field. So
what I think he's talking about is this Game five
against the Clippers, he was four of thirteen, but they
won in a blowout. Game seven against the Clippers he
(01:02:46):
was six to fourteen, but with five turnovers that they
won in a blowout. It is true that what's you
gonna call that? Zubos has given Joker trouble. Now the
these two games in this series, he has seven and
six turnovers. Yesterday and he had six fouls and he
(01:03:06):
never got into the game and the refs seemed to
be bothering him yesterday. Obviously, Joker didn't play well. No
one on the team played well. I didn't focus on
the seven turnovers in game one because he did that
along with forty two, twenty two and six in beating
the one seed, So so listen, he five plus turnovers
(01:03:30):
obviously too many, But I think his efficiency will be
higher this series than it was last series, when he
was exactly at fifty percent from the field still forty
five percent from three, because I don't think hartensteiner Chet
can give him the same problems Zubats can. All right,
I gotta run. Great job, Demond's a great job. Blewe duck,
great job volume. I'll see you guys on the TV
(01:03:52):
show at three and then I'm actually also doing Collins
Pod later tonight, So busy day for me. See you
guys there. We'll train
Host
Nick Wright
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