Nick Wright reacts to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder's 114-88 win over Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals of the NBA Playoffs. Nick breaks down why SGA's foul grifting has gotten out of control and how OKC's defense led to them outscoring Minnesota 70-40 in the second half. Later, Nick discusses the struggles for Ant, Julius Randle, Rudy Gobert, and the Wolves and whether he expects them to bounce back in Game 2.
03:32 - SGA foul calls out of control
16:15 - Timberwolves did not show up
21:14 - Pacers-Knicks Predictions
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome in What's Right with Nick Wright A quick emergency
reaction show to Thunder one fourteen Timberwolves eighty eight in
a game that sounds like a blowout because it was
a blowout, but for the better part of three quarters
it certainly didn't feel like and it wasn't a blowout
as Minnesota went in, went into halftime with a four
(00:22):
point lead, had a four point lead around midway through
the third quarter, and then the Thunder did what the
Thunder do, which is go on these defense generated runs.
We talked about it last week that they have the
ability to go on these fifteen to two runs without
running any offense. That just forces steel, get a lay up,
(00:45):
forces steel, get a lay up, force a bad shot,
get out in transition, and that seemingly is what happened
the entirety of the second half as they beat the
Timberwolves seventy to forty in the second half in route
to a twenty six point victory. And here is the
problem with discussing that game. The Thunder deserve a ton
(01:10):
of credit. I compared them glowingly to the nineties Bulls,
the second version of that, those teams that had Pippin
and Rodman and Jordan defensively, and that they could just
swarm you as you had tried to just move the
(01:33):
ball up the court and wreak so much havoc on
defense that they could win games that way. I said
on this show and on the TV show back in
November after seeing the Thunder in person for the first
time this year when I was in LA and watched
Lakers pre Luca, Lakers against the Thunder, that I thought
(01:57):
the Thunder were the best team in the league. That
what made me pick the Lakers to win the championship
was seeing that the Lakers dealt with the Thunders so
well in their two regular season matchups at the end
of the year when they got Luke a d Ancic,
Because I thought the Thunder were the team to beat
(02:18):
and I thought the Lakers could beat them. And there
last night, even if you remove just remove garbage time,
the Thunder played ten guys and got solid contributions from
nine of the ten. Really, Aaron Wiggins is the only
one who didn't do much, but Isaiah Joe gave him
good minutes. Obviously, Cason Wallace gave them good good minutes.
(02:42):
They didn't even play the other Jalen Williams in that
man rotation they were running. So you would like to
have this story be a team that has been intelligently built,
that has a souper star scoring champ about to be
(03:02):
League MVP, a you know, kind of up and coming
second and third options in JDub and Chet and this
team just absolutely annihilating Minnesota in the Thunder's first conference
finals game since KD was there. You'd love for that
(03:26):
to be the story, but it's not the story. The
story is and there's no way around it. And I
think you guys know from as I interrupt myself my
hesitation across sports to blame officials, and I'm not blaming
(03:50):
the officials for this one, but the officiating is the
story because the dyke between how the thunder Guard, which
is awesome playoff physical defense, and the way Shae is
(04:12):
allowed to be guarded, and the way Shae courts contact
or initiates contact and then reacts as if there were
a sniper in the crowd and just flails to the
ground and time after time after time gets rewarded for
(04:33):
it is utterly maddening. And we have seen listen, James
Harden was different stylistically than Shae, but did a lot
of this same stuff. Obviously, maybe this feels more jarring
(04:56):
because Harden's teams were not the best defensive team we've
seen in a quarter century or at least twenty years.
That was on the other end of the court, roughing
everyone up. But it is impossible to watch, and I
(05:17):
like it. By the way, the way Caruso and Dort
and Wiggins and Wallace and j Dubb are allowed to
guard and then see on the other end of the court,
how Shay gilgeses Alexander is treated by the refs as
(05:40):
if he's playing by a different set of rules. Miles Brown,
who is someone I quote a lot on this show
because I think he's a smart guy, and I also
think he has very funny twitter. He's at Mt Brown.
He tweeted, the way gets to play football on one
(06:02):
end of the court and behind museum glass on the
other is infuriating, And that is exactly how I feel.
And I do think there is a knock on effect
from when Shae gets When Shade draws four fouls in
the first five minutes of the game, not only does
(06:24):
Jaden McDaniels and Rudy Gobert and others get in foul trouble,
but and go beart. Listen, go Bert got two fouls early.
One was offensive, so maybe he's the wrong example. He
actually didn't fall again after that, but he was kind
of seemingly knocked out of the game impact wise after
those opening two fouls. But the knock on effect is this,
(06:47):
when the refs make it clear immediately we are going
to reward Shay's flopping because that's what it is. It
is shameless flopping. Then later in the game and you
saw it in the second half, guys feel like, well,
(07:07):
I have to give him space or else he's going
to draw the foul even if the foul didn't exist,
and all of a sudden, shaken totally comfortably step into
that seventeen footer that he's the best in the league
at and we have the the bad acting, dopey agenda Layden,
(07:37):
folks who have been trying to tell you for the
last five years the league is dying because the league
had the audacity to be to try to have some
type of social conscience. Those folks who've been in hiding
this postseason because the ratings have been off the charts,
because the games have been great. Those folks obviously have
(07:59):
not ign knowledge that the first two rounds of these playoffs,
the ratings were some of the best we've seen in
more than ten years in this league through the first
two rounds. Now, part of that is the games have
just been awesome, but it have that type of rating
when Steph really only played around, when Lebron only played around,
(08:22):
when Durant didn't make the playoffs at all, when Giannis
only played one round is a testament to the fact
that the audience has enjoyed the way these games have
been played and officiated. That this postseason we are allowing
a level of physicality and a level of contact that
(08:45):
is so unlike what is allowed in the regular season.
The audience likes it, and the teams have adjusted. And
it's not even accurate to say that that has applied
to every team, accept the Thunder, because it absolutely has
applied to the Thunder's defense. Alex Crusoe's awesome and I
(09:10):
give him massive credit. Alex Crusoe was basically allowed to
take out a police baton on Nikola Jokic. The refs
are like, whatever, man, you're six inches taller than him,
deal with it fine. I am not complaining about that.
I thought that was great. But when you compare that
(09:34):
to the way the refs are saying you have to
guard Shay and these are laughable plays. And credit to
Doris and to Richard Jefferson for acknowledging it during the broadcast,
but these are Shay. It's not even like the old
(09:56):
hard and hook the guy's arm and then go up it.
Just take a take a step and act like you
got hit and collapse to the floor while tossing up
a shot. Some of the most egregious ones yesterday he
actually made the shot while falling. There was one truly
(10:20):
egregious one that the Timberwolves challenged in won. But you
don't have endless challenges and you don't want to use
them early, and it's just unbecoming. And I was one
(10:41):
of the reasons I had a level, not huge, but
a level of thunder skepticism. Was I wondered, was Shay
going to get the whistle and the playoffs that he
got in the regular season and up to this point
the answer is absolutely yes, if not a better one,
(11:05):
because he's averaging this well, probably about the same whistle
his free throws in each game of these playoffs. Seven
in the first game of the playoffs, he only played
twenty three minutes because they won by fifty four. In
game two of the playoffs, when they won by twenty
(11:26):
nine in Game three, thirteen in the deciding game against Memphis,
and then nine in Game one against Denver, eleven in
Game two against Denver, just five in the overtime loss
to Denver, than twelve, then six, then eleven, then nine,
(11:48):
and last night fourteen. And this is going to sound
und sportsman of me, but it is sports and this
is part of it. If I am Minnesota and this
(12:11):
is how they are going to I'll give it game
too and see what type of whistle he's getting. But
if it's clear any type of contact he is going
even if he generates it, even if it's borderline fraudulent,
(12:32):
he's just going to get that whistle, then you guys
need to decide as a team if we're going to
get our money's worth on these fouls, because right now
he is getting the best of all worlds. He's living
at the free throw line, and he's leaving the game
(12:55):
physically feeling better than he came into the game. Because
there's no hard contact. Last night. There wasn't a single
foul that was like, oh, that's a hard playoff foul.
And I'm not talking about dirty plays. I'm not talking
about undercutting him anything like that. The audience knows what
I'm talking about here, and I hate that that's the story.
(13:18):
But that's the story of Game one, and it is
why people got And I sometimes I say things on
the TV show were on here, and I say ahead
of time that I know I'm gonna get killed for this.
Don't care. It's just how I feel. I owe the
audience honesty. So I'm gonna give him honesty. And when
(13:41):
I sat on the show yesterday, I think the thunder
of the best team, I think they're going to win.
I hope the Timberwolves win. Part of it was because
I do not like this style of play being rewarded.
I just don't the foulbating, flopping nonsense. And I'm glad
(14:07):
I got that takeout prior to Game one because I
feel like a lot of America watching that game joined me.
And here's the other part of it. He doesn't have
to do this, So take later stage, Jimmy Butler, who
(14:32):
was not a volume or a good three point shooter
who was not a crazy explosive athlete, and in order
for him to be peak effective, he had to be
drawing fouls. But he drew fouls kind of the old
(14:54):
fashioned way. He would pump, fake, get you in the air,
and go up and that can be annoying, but that's
not grifting. That is it's a frustrating guy to go
against because you're like, just stay on the ground. He's
not going up with his first shot, and guys would
(15:14):
have a hard time with it. Shay is just kind
of wildly throwing himself into the lane, falling sideways, looking
for minimal contact, selling it like Daniel day Lewis, and
(15:36):
being rewarded by it in a playoffs when for other
guys it has been if you're not bleeding from the nose,
it probably wasn't a foul and it's just wildly frustrating. Now,
was that again? Was that the reason the Thunder won
(16:00):
by twenty six? They outscored him seventy to forty in
the second half, So was that that was the story
of the game. But was that the reason the Thunder one. No,
And we'll get into the reason the Thunder one right now,
which is every single player on Minnesota except for Julius Randall,
played poorly, every single one. If you just go down
(16:24):
the box score, Jaden scored I think five immediate points
to the rest of the way, got in foul trouble,
couldn't be as effective, fouled out. Rudy got two thousand
the first one hundred seconds of the game, went to
the bench, finished the game twenty minutes, two points, three rebounds,
(16:47):
no impact. Conley hit the one big three in the
four in the third quarter to I think put them
up three, up four. Other than that, nothing A man.
I think Ant, I'm gonna look real quick. I think
(17:08):
Ant had sixteen in the first half and then finished
the game with eighteen. I should have had that in
front of me. But I can get it right now.
Series stats for this that game. I want to see
what Ant had in the second half of this game.
(17:30):
Ant had five points in the second half, so we
had thirteen at halftime in the third, yeah, he had
zero in the fourth. I mean they were getting blown out,
but I mean going into the fourth, No, they weren't
getting blown out. That's wrong. They got blown out in
the fourth. Going into the fourth, they were down ten
he had, so Ant didn't attack enough. Ant took five
(17:52):
two point field goals, and you know, wasn't getting teammates
involved the way he had earlier in the postseason, so
he wasn't great. Naz Reid has been on I don't
I think it's too strong to say he's cost himself
a ton of money. I think that's too early, but
(18:12):
because he's a free agent this offseason. But nas Reed
has had two good playoff games this year, Game one
against the Lakers and Game one against the Warriors, which
they lost. He was so big for them in last
(18:35):
year's postseason and in this year's postseason, he has just
not delivered the way I expected him to. Now, maybe
that bounces back, but last night was another game. I mean,
he's won for eleven, zero for seven from three. Dante
came in hit two big threes at various times when
(18:58):
the thunder were running away to kind of keep the
Timberwolves attached. But he's three for fourteen, three for twelve
from three. And Nikil Alexander Walker, Shay's cousin, they were
just content leaving him wide open and he couldn't make
him pay. So nas Dante and Nikile Alexander Walker combine
(19:26):
to go what is that five for twenty six from three?
The Thunder as a whole go fifteen to fifty one
from three. Julius the only one, I mean outside of
Julius Randall, they're ten of forty five from three. So
that's not gonna be good enough. Obviously, so none of
(19:47):
their guys played well enough. But the story is how
honestly unattractive of a game that was thanks to the way,
in my opinion, the reps called it with sha and
how that impacted how they were able to guard him
(20:08):
the rest of the game, how they instantly rewarded it
in the opening minutes of the game, and how they
didn't then decide, all right, we're just gonna call it
super tight on both sides. That's not what happened. And
this was a game you can't call it a must
win for the Timberwolves. But when you're more rested, when
(20:33):
Oklahoma City's coming off of seven game war, when rust
wasn't a factor like it was in Game one against
Golden State, you're up for at halftime, to just fold
in the second half like that, it does not bode
well for your chances because now if you're Minnesota. You
(20:56):
either have to win four of the next five or
three of the next five plus a game seven in
Oklahoma City, which is a hell of an ask. But first,
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Speaker 1 (23:56):
All right, the other thing I want to do quickly
here is just talk for a moment about Pacers Nicks,
which is I want to be like very clear, I
think the Pacers are really good. I think they are.
They they have been. What did they start the year like?
(24:19):
Because the Pacers, I'm gonna again this was something I
probably should have pulled up before, but I'll just do
it in real time after. So they started the season
ten and fifteen. Okay, since then they finished the year
(24:40):
with fifty wins. They're eight and two in the postseason,
so they are now fifty eight and thirty four. So
after starting ten and fifteen, they have gone. They have
They're forty eight and nineteen. Is that right? Yeah? That
is right. Let me figure out what that is. Over
(25:02):
the totality of a season, forty eight divided by sixty seven.
That's right, forty eight nineteen. Yeah, that's a seventy one
winning percentage. Over the course of eighty two games. That's
a fifty nine win pace. So they have been an
excellent team basically for the totality of the season after
(25:24):
the first twenty five games, so not the totality of
the season. But you guys understand what I mean. Since
mid December they've been awesome and since you know, they
went into the new year sixteen and eighteen, and so
you guys, they have been again playing at almost a
sixty win pace for quite some time. And obviously they
(25:47):
were awesome in Round one and Round two of the playoffs.
They also have seven guys they really trust and an
eighth they'll play in a pinch, not I mean they'll
play more than in a pinch, but an eighth and
(26:08):
Obi Top and that they're fine with. But Haliburton Siakam Turner,
that is in today's NBA more than competent top three.
When you have nemhar Nies Smith, Mathin McConnell rounding out
your real seven man rotation and Obi Top and when
(26:29):
you need him, that's plenty. So I think the Pacers
obviously can win. I, however, do not think that they
are better than the Knicks, and I will take the
Knicks in this series. I will take the Knicks tonight,
and I will take the Knicks in six games for
(26:51):
the series. And I do think last year's series against
the Pacers for the Knicks is instructive in that that
series went seven. Julius Randall, who obviously doesn't play for
the team anymore, but he was out for the series,
and they didn't have Karl Anthony Towns in that game seven.
(27:14):
Og Ananobi, you know, was attempted to play, made two shots,
then could do nothing. You can be like, well, but
they don't have Hartenstein like they used to. That's true.
But Hartenstein in that game seven was a total non factor.
I think he had zero points. And Mitchell Robinson was hurt.
(27:36):
And obviously Jalen Brunson got banged up in that series,
and in that game seven, the Knicks were in a
position in that game seven were precious and Alec Burks
combined for like fifty some minutes. Duce McBride, if I remember,
correctly led the team in minutes that game. So they
are a very different team. He didn't obviously, didn't have bridges,
(28:02):
didn't have towns. Randal was hurt, so you it's not
a wash like, well, they didn't have towns, but they
had Randall, no the and so I think last year's
series of anything should give the Knicks a little more confidence.
I also think that the Knicks' demolition of Boston the
(28:26):
way they did in that Game six should give them
a little more confidence. And the other thing about that
playoff series or that Game seven against the Pacers was
the Pacers, if you remember it, were just shooting lightning
(28:50):
bolts out there ass the entirety of that game. I
don't know if it was like the best percentage from
the field of any team in a Game seven. Ever,
it was something insane. They scored one thirty, They shot
like sixty five percent from the field. And so I now,
maybe that's too much time talking about Game seven, but
we haven't seen Game one yet when we're recording this.
(29:10):
I like the Knicks tonight. I like the Knicks in
the series. And now I will say fair is fair
A lot of the foul baiting stuff that we that
I just ranted about with Shae if Shae is the
(29:31):
gold medalist of it this NBA season. Obviously, Brunson is
the silver medalist, but Brunson has not been rewarded this
postseason the way Shay is Man. Brunson didn't have a
single game against the Pacers. I'm sorry against the Celtics
(29:53):
where he got to ten free throws, shot seven four seven,
and and so listen, Brunson will do more of the
hardened stuff, try to hook your arm and do it.
He'll do less of the I just fell down. But
that could be a very annoying and very difficult for
(30:15):
the reps NBA Finals if that's what we get, and
I think that's what we're gonna get. I think it
is going to be OKC versus the Knicks, and to
kind of circle back to where we were on this.
If this is how the rest of this series is
going to be officiated, in the Western Conference Finals, you
(30:37):
are going to have the incredibly rare event of the casual,
uninvested NBA fan or sports fan rooting for the team
from New York over the team from Oklahoma City, because
that is not going to be something fans in fans
(31:01):
enjoy or or want to see rewarded as the champion
Now listen. Oklahoma City is now seventy five and eighteen
on the year. They have one of the best defenses
in the league has seen in the last maybe the
(31:23):
best defense league has seen the last twenty years. They're
incredibly deep, and at some point the NBA is going
to announce league MVP, and it's going to be Shay
and it should be Shay said I said throughout the
year when this, you know, once, not throughout the year,
but in the final couple months, once there had been
real evidence that Shae was the league MVP, and rightfully so.
(31:48):
The thunder are a great, great team. I would just
I hope for the rest of the conference finals they're
playing by the same rules as everybody else has been
this postseason. All right, I'm headed to Indianapolis. I might
try to do an emergency show or a reaction show
(32:08):
from Indy. I got to figure out what the tech
set up in the hotel I'm going to be in is,
so like rate subscribe review that way you get these
delivered right to you. But I'll be on TV later
today or maybe I already was on TV, depending on
when you're watching this. Then I'm heading to indianapolisse first
(32:30):
things first, gonna be live from the Indy five hundred,
talk to you guys. Then what's right
Welcome in What's Right with Nick Wright A quick emergency
reaction show to Thunder one fourteen Timberwolves eighty eight in
a game that sounds like a blowout because it was
a blowout, but for the better part of three quarters
it certainly didn't feel like and it wasn't a blowout
as Minnesota went in, went into halftime with a four
(00:22):
point lead, had a four point lead around midway through
the third quarter, and then the Thunder did what the
Thunder do, which is go on these defense generated runs.
We talked about it last week that they have the
ability to go on these fifteen to two runs without
running any offense. That just forces steel, get a lay up,
(00:45):
forces steel, get a lay up, force a bad shot,
get out in transition, and that seemingly is what happened
the entirety of the second half as they beat the
Timberwolves seventy to forty in the second half in route
to a twenty six point victory. And here is the
problem with discussing that game. The Thunder deserve a ton
(01:10):
of credit. I compared them glowingly to the nineties Bulls,
the second version of that, those teams that had Pippin
and Rodman and Jordan defensively, and that they could just
swarm you as you had tried to just move the
(01:33):
ball up the court and wreak so much havoc on
defense that they could win games that way. I said
on this show and on the TV show back in
November after seeing the Thunder in person for the first
time this year when I was in LA and watched
Lakers pre Luca, Lakers against the Thunder, that I thought
(01:57):
the Thunder were the best team in the league. That
what made me pick the Lakers to win the championship
was seeing that the Lakers dealt with the Thunders so
well in their two regular season matchups at the end
of the year when they got Luke a d Ancic,
Because I thought the Thunder were the team to beat
(02:18):
and I thought the Lakers could beat them. And there
last night, even if you remove just remove garbage time,
the Thunder played ten guys and got solid contributions from
nine of the ten. Really, Aaron Wiggins is the only
one who didn't do much, but Isaiah Joe gave him
good minutes. Obviously, Cason Wallace gave them good good minutes.
(02:42):
They didn't even play the other Jalen Williams in that
man rotation they were running. So you would like to
have this story be a team that has been intelligently built,
that has a souper star scoring champ about to be
(03:02):
League MVP, a you know, kind of up and coming
second and third options in JDub and Chet and this
team just absolutely annihilating Minnesota in the Thunder's first conference
finals game since KD was there. You'd love for that
(03:26):
to be the story, but it's not the story. The
story is and there's no way around it. And I
think you guys know from as I interrupt myself my
hesitation across sports to blame officials, and I'm not blaming
(03:50):
the officials for this one, but the officiating is the
story because the dyke between how the thunder Guard, which
is awesome playoff physical defense, and the way Shae is
(04:12):
allowed to be guarded, and the way Shae courts contact
or initiates contact and then reacts as if there were
a sniper in the crowd and just flails to the
ground and time after time after time gets rewarded for
(04:33):
it is utterly maddening. And we have seen listen, James
Harden was different stylistically than Shae, but did a lot
of this same stuff. Obviously, maybe this feels more jarring
(04:56):
because Harden's teams were not the best defensive team we've
seen in a quarter century or at least twenty years.
That was on the other end of the court, roughing
everyone up. But it is impossible to watch, and I
(05:17):
like it. By the way, the way Caruso and Dort
and Wiggins and Wallace and j Dubb are allowed to
guard and then see on the other end of the court,
how Shay gilgeses Alexander is treated by the refs as
(05:40):
if he's playing by a different set of rules. Miles Brown,
who is someone I quote a lot on this show
because I think he's a smart guy, and I also
think he has very funny twitter. He's at Mt Brown.
He tweeted, the way gets to play football on one
(06:02):
end of the court and behind museum glass on the
other is infuriating, And that is exactly how I feel.
And I do think there is a knock on effect
from when Shae gets When Shade draws four fouls in
the first five minutes of the game, not only does
(06:24):
Jaden McDaniels and Rudy Gobert and others get in foul trouble,
but and go beart. Listen, go Bert got two fouls early.
One was offensive, so maybe he's the wrong example. He
actually didn't fall again after that, but he was kind
of seemingly knocked out of the game impact wise after
those opening two fouls. But the knock on effect is this,
(06:47):
when the refs make it clear immediately we are going
to reward Shay's flopping because that's what it is. It
is shameless flopping. Then later in the game and you
saw it in the second half, guys feel like, well,
(07:07):
I have to give him space or else he's going
to draw the foul even if the foul didn't exist,
and all of a sudden, shaken totally comfortably step into
that seventeen footer that he's the best in the league
at and we have the the bad acting, dopey agenda Layden,
(07:37):
folks who have been trying to tell you for the
last five years the league is dying because the league
had the audacity to be to try to have some
type of social conscience. Those folks who've been in hiding
this postseason because the ratings have been off the charts,
because the games have been great. Those folks obviously have
(07:59):
not ign knowledge that the first two rounds of these playoffs,
the ratings were some of the best we've seen in
more than ten years in this league through the first
two rounds. Now, part of that is the games have
just been awesome, but it have that type of rating
when Steph really only played around, when Lebron only played around,
(08:22):
when Durant didn't make the playoffs at all, when Giannis
only played one round is a testament to the fact
that the audience has enjoyed the way these games have
been played and officiated. That this postseason we are allowing
a level of physicality and a level of contact that
(08:45):
is so unlike what is allowed in the regular season.
The audience likes it, and the teams have adjusted. And
it's not even accurate to say that that has applied
to every team, accept the Thunder, because it absolutely has
applied to the Thunder's defense. Alex Crusoe's awesome and I
(09:10):
give him massive credit. Alex Crusoe was basically allowed to
take out a police baton on Nikola Jokic. The refs
are like, whatever, man, you're six inches taller than him,
deal with it fine. I am not complaining about that.
I thought that was great. But when you compare that
(09:34):
to the way the refs are saying you have to
guard Shay and these are laughable plays. And credit to
Doris and to Richard Jefferson for acknowledging it during the broadcast,
but these are Shay. It's not even like the old
(09:56):
hard and hook the guy's arm and then go up it.
Just take a take a step and act like you
got hit and collapse to the floor while tossing up
a shot. Some of the most egregious ones yesterday he
actually made the shot while falling. There was one truly
(10:20):
egregious one that the Timberwolves challenged in won. But you
don't have endless challenges and you don't want to use
them early, and it's just unbecoming. And I was one
(10:41):
of the reasons I had a level, not huge, but
a level of thunder skepticism. Was I wondered, was Shay
going to get the whistle and the playoffs that he
got in the regular season and up to this point
the answer is absolutely yes, if not a better one,
(11:05):
because he's averaging this well, probably about the same whistle
his free throws in each game of these playoffs. Seven
in the first game of the playoffs, he only played
twenty three minutes because they won by fifty four. In
game two of the playoffs, when they won by twenty
(11:26):
nine in Game three, thirteen in the deciding game against Memphis,
and then nine in Game one against Denver, eleven in
Game two against Denver, just five in the overtime loss
to Denver, than twelve, then six, then eleven, then nine,
(11:48):
and last night fourteen. And this is going to sound
und sportsman of me, but it is sports and this
is part of it. If I am Minnesota and this
(12:11):
is how they are going to I'll give it game
too and see what type of whistle he's getting. But
if it's clear any type of contact he is going
even if he generates it, even if it's borderline fraudulent,
(12:32):
he's just going to get that whistle, then you guys
need to decide as a team if we're going to
get our money's worth on these fouls, because right now
he is getting the best of all worlds. He's living
at the free throw line, and he's leaving the game
(12:55):
physically feeling better than he came into the game. Because
there's no hard contact. Last night. There wasn't a single
foul that was like, oh, that's a hard playoff foul.
And I'm not talking about dirty plays. I'm not talking
about undercutting him anything like that. The audience knows what
I'm talking about here, and I hate that that's the story.
(13:18):
But that's the story of Game one, and it is
why people got And I sometimes I say things on
the TV show were on here, and I say ahead
of time that I know I'm gonna get killed for this.
Don't care. It's just how I feel. I owe the
audience honesty. So I'm gonna give him honesty. And when
(13:41):
I sat on the show yesterday, I think the thunder
of the best team, I think they're going to win.
I hope the Timberwolves win. Part of it was because
I do not like this style of play being rewarded.
I just don't the foulbating, flopping nonsense. And I'm glad
(14:07):
I got that takeout prior to Game one because I
feel like a lot of America watching that game joined me.
And here's the other part of it. He doesn't have
to do this, So take later stage, Jimmy Butler, who
(14:32):
was not a volume or a good three point shooter
who was not a crazy explosive athlete, and in order
for him to be peak effective, he had to be
drawing fouls. But he drew fouls kind of the old
(14:54):
fashioned way. He would pump, fake, get you in the air,
and go up and that can be annoying, but that's
not grifting. That is it's a frustrating guy to go
against because you're like, just stay on the ground. He's
not going up with his first shot, and guys would
(15:14):
have a hard time with it. Shay is just kind
of wildly throwing himself into the lane, falling sideways, looking
for minimal contact, selling it like Daniel day Lewis, and
(15:36):
being rewarded by it in a playoffs when for other
guys it has been if you're not bleeding from the nose,
it probably wasn't a foul and it's just wildly frustrating. Now,
was that again? Was that the reason the Thunder won
(16:00):
by twenty six? They outscored him seventy to forty in
the second half, So was that that was the story
of the game. But was that the reason the Thunder one. No,
And we'll get into the reason the Thunder one right now,
which is every single player on Minnesota except for Julius Randall,
played poorly, every single one. If you just go down
(16:24):
the box score, Jaden scored I think five immediate points
to the rest of the way, got in foul trouble,
couldn't be as effective, fouled out. Rudy got two thousand
the first one hundred seconds of the game, went to
the bench, finished the game twenty minutes, two points, three rebounds,
(16:47):
no impact. Conley hit the one big three in the
four in the third quarter to I think put them
up three, up four. Other than that, nothing A man.
I think Ant, I'm gonna look real quick. I think
(17:08):
Ant had sixteen in the first half and then finished
the game with eighteen. I should have had that in
front of me. But I can get it right now.
Series stats for this that game. I want to see
what Ant had in the second half of this game.
(17:30):
Ant had five points in the second half, so we
had thirteen at halftime in the third, yeah, he had
zero in the fourth. I mean they were getting blown out,
but I mean going into the fourth, No, they weren't
getting blown out. That's wrong. They got blown out in
the fourth. Going into the fourth, they were down ten
he had, so Ant didn't attack enough. Ant took five
(17:52):
two point field goals, and you know, wasn't getting teammates
involved the way he had earlier in the postseason, so
he wasn't great. Naz Reid has been on I don't
I think it's too strong to say he's cost himself
a ton of money. I think that's too early, but
(18:12):
because he's a free agent this offseason. But nas Reed
has had two good playoff games this year, Game one
against the Lakers and Game one against the Warriors, which
they lost. He was so big for them in last
(18:35):
year's postseason and in this year's postseason, he has just
not delivered the way I expected him to. Now, maybe
that bounces back, but last night was another game. I mean,
he's won for eleven, zero for seven from three. Dante
came in hit two big threes at various times when
(18:58):
the thunder were running away to kind of keep the
Timberwolves attached. But he's three for fourteen, three for twelve
from three. And Nikil Alexander Walker, Shay's cousin, they were
just content leaving him wide open and he couldn't make
him pay. So nas Dante and Nikile Alexander Walker combine
(19:26):
to go what is that five for twenty six from three?
The Thunder as a whole go fifteen to fifty one
from three. Julius the only one, I mean outside of
Julius Randall, they're ten of forty five from three. So
that's not gonna be good enough. Obviously, so none of
(19:47):
their guys played well enough. But the story is how
honestly unattractive of a game that was thanks to the way,
in my opinion, the reps called it with sha and
how that impacted how they were able to guard him
(20:08):
the rest of the game, how they instantly rewarded it
in the opening minutes of the game, and how they
didn't then decide, all right, we're just gonna call it
super tight on both sides. That's not what happened. And
this was a game you can't call it a must
win for the Timberwolves. But when you're more rested, when
(20:33):
Oklahoma City's coming off of seven game war, when rust
wasn't a factor like it was in Game one against
Golden State, you're up for at halftime, to just fold
in the second half like that, it does not bode
well for your chances because now if you're Minnesota. You
(20:56):
either have to win four of the next five or
three of the next five plus a game seven in
Oklahoma City, which is a hell of an ask. But first,
let me tell you guys, NBA's eighty two game grind
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Speaker 1 (23:56):
All right, the other thing I want to do quickly
here is just talk for a moment about Pacers Nicks,
which is I want to be like very clear, I
think the Pacers are really good. I think they are.
They they have been. What did they start the year like?
(24:19):
Because the Pacers, I'm gonna again this was something I
probably should have pulled up before, but I'll just do
it in real time after. So they started the season
ten and fifteen. Okay, since then they finished the year
(24:40):
with fifty wins. They're eight and two in the postseason,
so they are now fifty eight and thirty four. So
after starting ten and fifteen, they have gone. They have
They're forty eight and nineteen. Is that right? Yeah? That
is right. Let me figure out what that is. Over
(25:02):
the totality of a season, forty eight divided by sixty seven.
That's right, forty eight nineteen. Yeah, that's a seventy one
winning percentage. Over the course of eighty two games. That's
a fifty nine win pace. So they have been an
excellent team basically for the totality of the season after
(25:24):
the first twenty five games, so not the totality of
the season. But you guys understand what I mean. Since
mid December they've been awesome and since you know, they
went into the new year sixteen and eighteen, and so
you guys, they have been again playing at almost a
sixty win pace for quite some time. And obviously they
(25:47):
were awesome in Round one and Round two of the playoffs.
They also have seven guys they really trust and an
eighth they'll play in a pinch, not I mean they'll
play more than in a pinch, but an eighth and
(26:08):
Obi Top and that they're fine with. But Haliburton Siakam Turner,
that is in today's NBA more than competent top three.
When you have nemhar Nies Smith, Mathin McConnell rounding out
your real seven man rotation and Obi Top and when
(26:29):
you need him, that's plenty. So I think the Pacers
obviously can win. I, however, do not think that they
are better than the Knicks, and I will take the
Knicks in this series. I will take the Knicks tonight,
and I will take the Knicks in six games for
(26:51):
the series. And I do think last year's series against
the Pacers for the Knicks is instructive in that that
series went seven. Julius Randall, who obviously doesn't play for
the team anymore, but he was out for the series,
and they didn't have Karl Anthony Towns in that game seven.
(27:14):
Og Ananobi, you know, was attempted to play, made two shots,
then could do nothing. You can be like, well, but
they don't have Hartenstein like they used to. That's true.
But Hartenstein in that game seven was a total non factor.
I think he had zero points. And Mitchell Robinson was hurt.
(27:36):
And obviously Jalen Brunson got banged up in that series,
and in that game seven, the Knicks were in a
position in that game seven were precious and Alec Burks
combined for like fifty some minutes. Duce McBride, if I remember,
correctly led the team in minutes that game. So they
are a very different team. He didn't obviously, didn't have bridges,
(28:02):
didn't have towns. Randal was hurt, so you it's not
a wash like, well, they didn't have towns, but they
had Randall, no the and so I think last year's
series of anything should give the Knicks a little more confidence.
I also think that the Knicks' demolition of Boston the
(28:26):
way they did in that Game six should give them
a little more confidence. And the other thing about that
playoff series or that Game seven against the Pacers was
the Pacers, if you remember it, were just shooting lightning
(28:50):
bolts out there ass the entirety of that game. I
don't know if it was like the best percentage from
the field of any team in a Game seven. Ever,
it was something insane. They scored one thirty, They shot
like sixty five percent from the field. And so I now,
maybe that's too much time talking about Game seven, but
we haven't seen Game one yet when we're recording this.
(29:10):
I like the Knicks tonight. I like the Knicks in
the series. And now I will say fair is fair
A lot of the foul baiting stuff that we that
I just ranted about with Shae if Shae is the
(29:31):
gold medalist of it this NBA season. Obviously, Brunson is
the silver medalist, but Brunson has not been rewarded this
postseason the way Shay is Man. Brunson didn't have a
single game against the Pacers. I'm sorry against the Celtics
(29:53):
where he got to ten free throws, shot seven four seven,
and and so listen, Brunson will do more of the
hardened stuff, try to hook your arm and do it.
He'll do less of the I just fell down. But
that could be a very annoying and very difficult for
(30:15):
the reps NBA Finals if that's what we get, and
I think that's what we're gonna get. I think it
is going to be OKC versus the Knicks, and to
kind of circle back to where we were on this.
If this is how the rest of this series is
going to be officiated, in the Western Conference Finals, you
(30:37):
are going to have the incredibly rare event of the casual,
uninvested NBA fan or sports fan rooting for the team
from New York over the team from Oklahoma City, because
that is not going to be something fans in fans
(31:01):
enjoy or or want to see rewarded as the champion
Now listen. Oklahoma City is now seventy five and eighteen
on the year. They have one of the best defenses
in the league has seen in the last maybe the
(31:23):
best defense league has seen the last twenty years. They're
incredibly deep, and at some point the NBA is going
to announce league MVP, and it's going to be Shay
and it should be Shay said I said throughout the
year when this, you know, once, not throughout the year,
but in the final couple months, once there had been
real evidence that Shae was the league MVP, and rightfully so.
(31:48):
The thunder are a great, great team. I would just
I hope for the rest of the conference finals they're
playing by the same rules as everybody else has been
this postseason. All right, I'm headed to Indianapolis. I might
try to do an emergency show or a reaction show
(32:08):
from Indy. I got to figure out what the tech
set up in the hotel I'm going to be in is,
so like rate subscribe review that way you get these
delivered right to you. But I'll be on TV later
today or maybe I already was on TV, depending on
when you're watching this. Then I'm heading to indianapolisse first
(32:30):
things first, gonna be live from the Indy five hundred,
talk to you guys. Then what's right
Host
Nick Wright
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