Ep. 73: NBA Playoffs & Play-In Tournament Breakdown, Picks, and Predictions - 04/14/25

Sean Barnard and Sam Oshtry break down the start of the #NBAPlayoffs, beginning with the Play-In Tournament.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ladies and gentlemen, the long grind of the eighty two
game regular season is officially in the books, and the
NBA Playoffs have arrived. First, we got to get through
the Plane Tournament and officially decide all these seedings. But myself,
Sean Bernard, and Sam Austria of The Score are here
to break down exactly how the table is set for
this awesome playoffs in coming before we dive falling into it. Sam,
how are we doing, my man?

Speaker 2 (00:21):
I'm great, no complaints at all. It's the best time year,
the best two months of the year coming up, so
let's get into it.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
We've made it, my man.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
We got through the March Madness after a lousy March Madness,
even though it's pretty good final four like, these are
the best two months of the year. I don't want
to hear any college basketball purists out there, these are
the best two months.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
Yeah, and a lot of chalk in March madness. We
will see if we get that in the NBA here,
But before we dive into the full playoffs slate still
going to start with kind of just putting a boat
on the regular season here. So obviously the NBA really
went for this crescendo of an end of a regular season.
They wanted all thirty teams to play both on Friday
and Sunday on Sunday, jamming them all between tip offs
between one o'clock and three to thirty. There, it was

(01:00):
a lot going on in the NBA world. So what
were your thoughts on that exact kind of set up
there and the takeaways now that it did go down.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
It was classic NBA to just botch the scheduling. You
have you play Friday, a bunch of key games on Friday,
and then no games on Saturday, like none, not a
single game on Saturday. Nike, you hoop Summon at night.
I guess people wanted to wanted everyone to watch that.
And then you have all thirty teams playing Sunday. Not
only were all thirt teams playing Sunday, but you're going
head to head with the Masters, and it happened to

(01:27):
be one of the more interesting Masters rounds. Ever, So
it was really bad scheduling. And the most important game
of the day that was going to decide a playoff
matchup was was Nuggets, excuse me, Clippers Warriors, and that
was started at three point thirty, literally head to head
with Rory's finish. So I was like everyone in all
these group chats are blowing up about Rory, like oh
my God, like holy moly, like a look at all

(01:49):
this and and I'm just like, yeah, I know, right,
like the Warriors, Clippers going o t to to make
hard to make the playoffs. So it's like it was
classic NBA just botch the scheduling. You can't have a
go head to head with the Masters, especially on Sunday
at the Masters. But look, it was a good day
and it's cool that the playing tournament has created this

(02:09):
interesting final couple weeks of the season where every game
is so important and the Warriors essentially missed the playoffs
or excuse me, have the chance to miss the playoffs
and being in the play in by losing to the
Spurs where that Horace Harrison Barnes buzzer beater a few
games ago. So it's like every game these last couple
weeks of the season was so important and that's pretty cool.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
Yeah, one hundred percent there, And I honestly like, I
still don't love the way it entirely played out, just
because you miss a lot of action when there's that
many games taking place at the same time, and ultimately
there was not a ton of games that mattered. The
Eastern Conference was fully decided. It was down to the West,
but it was a close race. And I do think
it is cool that that final game between the Clippers
and Warriors did push the overtime and some pretty faithful,

(02:51):
just really interesting stuff down the stretch there. We got
a Draymond just misshot that can't happen, a play design
for Buddy Heel that just absolutely bricked on a three,
some interesting stuff from both teams there really change the
outlook of these playoffs that if the Warriors had come
out and won, that would be talking about a first
round series between the Lakers and Warriors. Instead, it was God,

(03:11):
I was.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
Gonna say, here's my thing is that I wonder how
you feel about this. The seventh seed is honestly the
better path for not just the Warriors, but for any
team that was going to get this because if you're
assuming you win the plan. That's the difficultart about getting
the seven seed is you have a win and in
game to get that actual seed and there's a chance
you could still make the playoffs or be the A seed,
which you don't want to play the Thunder in the

(03:32):
first round. But when you're if the Warriors get the
seven seed here, they'll play the Rockets, who are the
least experienced team in the entire Western Conference playoffs, in
the first round, and then they if they escape them,
they'd avoid the Thunder in the second round. As you
pull up the playoff bracket here, So that's the best
possible path for the seventh seed. So in a weird way,
it's like the Warriors still have to go and handle

(03:53):
business tomorrow night against the struggling Grizzlies. But if the
Warriors can get that seventh seed, that's a better path
than being the sixth seed and playing the Lakers in
the first round, which if they had won the game yesterday,
that's what they would have faced. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
No, you're absolutely right about that. And I was even
sitting there thinking like if I'm one of these teams
right now, and I do think it was much more
advantageous for the Warriors overall. Maybe it is the best
direction to let that game slip, But the risk that
you do run there is anything can happen in a
one and done setting. As we were about to discuss
with the playing tournament, and if you do end up
having to go against Oklahoma City Thunder in the opening round,
not a recipe. I don't think either one of these

(04:28):
teams won. But let's stick with the Warriors since that
it was where the playing tournament will be the second
game of tonight's action facing off against the Memphis Grizzlies,
and to put the odds on the table here, the
Warriors are seven point favorites minus three h five on
DraftKings sportsbook. There these are two teams that have had
their outlook pretty shaken up to a pretty significant extent
down the home stretch of the season. For the Warriors directly,

(04:49):
the addition of Jimmy Butler has changed their out look entirely.
They are twenty three and seven with him in the lineup.
And for the Memphis Grizzlies, making the coaching game with
a coaching change with nine games from in the regular
season there. So, what's your initial feel on this specific game,
Sam Howie film, I.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
Think the Warriors went big and a lot of people
are concerned about the Warriors right now because how they
finish that game. Number one steph is there's times where
it doesn't look one hundred percent. We saw Jimmy Butler banged
up late in that game when he banged needs with
Kawhi Leonard on a drive. It was great verticality, honestly,
in a great contest by Jimmy Butler. But he bangs
knees with Kawhi Letterer and he's he's banged up down

(05:27):
in the final minute of that game yesterday. So now
they have one day rest. They're gonna be at home,
but they're going into this game a little banged up
where they needed the rest because every game had been
so important for them, so they'd played their starters all
these minutes. I just think I'm not a fan of
this Grizzlies team at all. I'm not a fan of
the coaching change. John Moran is having one of the
worst seasons when you take the entirety of the year,

(05:48):
not including last year for John Moran because he was
suspended then injured. This is probably one of the worst
seasons of his career. His drives are down, and when
your drives are down, you're not getting thrim as much.
That's fine if you're a great three point shooter like
Anthony Edwards is shooting way more threes and not driving
as much, but he's drilling his threes and his field
goal attempts and three point attempts are believed exactly with

(06:10):
John morint He's not a great three point shooter at all.
So if you're not a three point threat and you're
and you're also not driving to the rin, it's like
what are you? And and they don't run really any
pick and roll like that. That's that's the one thing
about them is their offense. They don't really rely on
pick and roll the I mean they run it sometimes,
but not to the extent that a lot of other
teams do. So you're relying on him and Desmond Beam

(06:31):
and Jared Jackson. Junior has had a great year, but
he's not a great rebounder, and their small Warriors lineup
with Draymond Green at the five. I just don't see
how the nugget excuse me, the Grizzlies are gonna guard that.
I think the Warriors win.

Speaker 1 (06:43):
Dig I like it, and I do feel pretty similarly there.
I think that we h And by the way, I
do want to give Mark Henry Junior a little shout
out in the comments here, saying, what is the lebron
Hate Club Lakers.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
We'll get to that. We'll get to that.

Speaker 1 (06:54):
Yeah, And I don't think we've seen anything anti Lebron
yet at this point, says stay tuned for forgetting that.
I'm just flyying. I do like Lakers team, but to
keep it on the tracks and stick with this Warriors
team directly here, I feel very similarly about you. With
John Moran, I do think he's a flawed basketball player,
and this Grizzlies team as a whole, it's still fascinating
to me. They made the decision to fire Taylor Jenkins
with nine games remaining, and sort of the spin zone

(07:15):
that seems to be coming out now is they didn't
want him to have a chance to save his job.
That if the team had to overperform in the playoffs,
it looks bad when you fire him. To this point,
I think that's kind of a broken thought process on
a lot of levels there. But the bottom line is
this is the situation the team has to go in.
And now with saying this all about John Moran, to
get the dude his flowers a little bit. Amid the
grenades celebrations, all the other antics that are going on,

(07:39):
the dude has balld To end the season. That's a
list off his scoring out puts. The final five games
this season thirty six points against the Warriors on five
to eight three point shooting, had thirty points the next
game twenty eight points, thirty six points, twenty one points.
He's shooting forty one percent from three over his final
fifteen games in the season. He has increased his overall
on the season above thirty percent from me on the

(08:00):
arc here, So a strong ending by job. With all
that being said here, I don't think that he has
enough in himself or around him to take down this
Warrior's team. Now, the point about injuries, I think is
interesting here. The Warriors have done everything possible to sort
of downplay this little hand or thumb injury that Steph
Curry's dealing with. It's on his shooting thumb. Man like,
there's no way around that being bothersome to an extent,

(08:22):
And even though they're kind of talking about how it
is like been bothering him all year, that he's just
dealt with this, it is pretty clear to me that
in recent games he's at least holding it more, dealing
with it more. It seems to be a bigger deal
at the worst time So what do you think is
exactly gone with Steph Curry and how much of a
concern do you think that is?

Speaker 2 (08:39):
Sim Yeah, it's it's hard to know because like there's
certain games when he played the Rockets a couple games going,
he scores three points and he's one for ten, and
he kind of got discouraged in the sense that he
stops shooting threes at a high rate, and it was like,
all right, something's probably bothering with him. But then he
plays the Clippers yesterday and he scores thirty six points
and I believe he was seven for twelve from three
and he's like, all right, there's nothing wrong with Curry.

(09:00):
So I think there's something there. I don't think it's
a legitimate excuse as he enters the playoffs, because we've
seen him have great shooting nights and have great outputs.
But he also had two really crucial late turnovers against
the Clippers yesterday. But that's also been the knock on Curry. Really,
the only knock on Curry his entire career is that
he's often lazy and just lacks of days ago with

(09:21):
the ball, and he's more prone to turnovers. So I'm
not really concerned about the Curry injury. I don't think
it'll affect him tomorrow night. I don't think it'll affect
the Warrior's playoff run. The Jimmy thing, I think Jimmy
will be fine too, because it really was just he
banged these. It wasn't like some non contact kN the injury.
He really just banged these. The interesting thing for me
with this Warrior's team in this lineup is that Jonathan

(09:41):
Kaminga was benched yesterday, completely benched out of the rotation,
and Steve curR been hinting at it for a while
because he had said, we can't have that much non
shooting on the floor together, which would be Draymond, Jimmy
and Jonathan Minga, all guys who just aren't threats from three,
and as good as Steph is, that puts him in
a really uncomfort position when he's he's the guy that

(10:02):
that's gonna be blitzed right when he crosses half court
and they have no other's shooting on the floor. So
so that's really uncomfortable for the Warriors to be out there.
And Jonathanminga didn't play a minute, like this guy didn't
play a minute. He's been in trade talks for a while.
You could have traded him at the deadline exactly. Yeah,
and that's that was the whole reasoning for trading him
at the deadline, just because if you're if he's not

(10:23):
part of your long term future, then get rid of
him and get something of value back. And now you're
sitting him and essentially what yesterday what was a playoff game,
and who knows what his role will be in the
playoffs moving forward, because you really can't have that much
non shooting on the floor. I don't think he deserves
to play, not like zero minutes at all, that you
can find a role with him where he shares the
floor with Draymond when Jimmy's on the bench oft times

(10:44):
like maybe ten to fifteen minutes. But that was really
interesting to me that they they said, we can't have
this much non shooting on the floor, and Moses Moody
got way more minutes because of it. But it's not
like he's some great three point shooter either. So it
was interesting that John the Kaminga was completely bench and
that's something I'm watching tomorrow and moving forward.

Speaker 1 (11:01):
Yeah, and my prediction is that that continues that I
think that that's probably decision Steve Kerr has decided in
his head that that is the best direction for this
team moving forward. I've never got the sense that Steve
Kerr is the biggest Jonathan Kaminga guy, nor am I
to be Yeah, and even like to use Moody as
sort of the example here for starters. I thought Moody
played relatively well yesterday, and you just kind of know

(11:21):
what you're getting a little bit more like Kaminga's a
wildcard man, and there's times where that works to your benefit,
where he's creating off the dribble, making some things happen,
and there's also times where that works to your detriment
where it's just a wildcard. You don't know what you're
getting out there, and it doesn't always look pretty. So
I don't think that sits great with Steve Kerr, and
it will be interesting to watch. That's a great storyline
to point out. My final prediction for this matchup, I'm

(11:42):
with you. I think the Warriors role relatively easy, and
I think this is going to be a situation where
the experience really shows. I think Jimmy Butler is going
to show his worth for this Golden State Warriors team.
It is going to get nasty. There's gonna be some
you know, playoff like atmosphere there. But I think the
Warriors cover the minus seven and they end up taking
care of business pretty easily. You're on the same page
all that.

Speaker 2 (12:00):
Yeah, I'm with you on that. It does war me
because it was a couple of years ago when the
Warriors were in the play and I believe they had
the eighth seed and they lost that game to the Kings, right, yeah,
and then they lost the next game too, and they
were out of the classes.

Speaker 1 (12:14):
Yeah, yeah, you're right.

Speaker 2 (12:15):
I th yeah, the last game was against the Kings,
but they were the A seed. They had two chances
to make the playoffs, and they lost both those games
and were out of the playoffs. So it's like the
experience factor should help for a team that has that
much championship DNA in them, But they've also been in
this playoff situation playing situation before and have dropped out
of the playoffs completely. I don't think that's gonna happen
this year, Beau. I think they're way better than the Grizzlies. Yeah,

(12:37):
and I think this team is way better since Jimmy
Butler I mean, I don't have the exact reckond in
front of me, but I believe it's something like twenty
three and six or gimme twenty three and seven since
Jimmy came in. Like, they've been one of the better
teams in the NBA since they traded for Jimmy. So
I think they take care of business tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (12:53):
Yeah. Absolutely. Now let's move things earlier on in the
night in the Eastern Conference here between the Atlanta Hawks
and or Atlanta Magic, a game that I think there's
a little bit more wide rating opinions, although I know
you and I are aligned here. The Magic are five
point favorites minus two of five on the money line
on Draft Kings Sportsbook. The Atlanta Hawks are plus one
plus one seventy odds, pulling the upset with the game

(13:13):
total set at two seventeen. Here. Interesting clash of styles,
and you might as well name the play in tournament
the Atlanta Hawks Invitational at this point. Maybe the DeMar
Deroz's An Invitational Invitational could work as well. But Hawks
verse Magic, where's your head at, Sam Ostrick?

Speaker 2 (13:29):
Yeah, my head is living with the Hawks. And there's
a bunch of teams that are just in the play in.
Perpetual playing teams. Yeah, every single year, you can just
count them to be in the play in. And that
really speaks to the franchise accepting an ownership, really accepting mediocrity,
because like I guess, it's something to be optimistic about
if you're if you're a fan, But at some point,
it's like, all right, the bulls and they started singing

(13:49):
this this year and they will moving forward, but like,
at some point, you just can't be in the play
and every single year you gotta either somehow get to
the top of standings or start tanking to give yourself
some some better draft picks. But I'm back to this game.
I'm with the Hawks on this, and it's more just
that this Magic offense is really disappointing. I expected, and

(14:10):
I saw you you tweeted this too, but they're they're
having one of the worst three point shooting seasons in
the last decade. Yep, it's been that bad for them.
And I expected guys like Jalen Suggs and Franz Wagner
after he had a horrible shooting season last year and
he started this year shooting pretty good from three. He
was like around thirty five thirty seven percent through the
first month and a half, month and a half of

(14:31):
the year, and it's just his numbers have completely tanked
between him and Pollo, and there are two similar positionally,
and when neither guy can shoot, it's a pretty easy
offense to stop. And that's the only thing. It's like.
The Hawks defense is not good at all. They're in
the bottom half of the league. Even Dyson Daniels is
obviously a great defender and he's the Steels leader and

(14:52):
in contention of Defensive Player of the Year. But beyond
him that, they're one of the worst. They've been a
really bad defense. But when you're going against the Magic
team are a phenomenal offense or excuse me, a really
poor offense, I'm gonna trust the Hawks defense and their
offensive firepower more than I would the Magic. So I
think the Hawks can cover and somehow win. And there's

(15:12):
also the other factor where you would rather be the
eighth seed. I'm not saying this is gonna play into
this matchup, and people I remember last year it was
the Pelicans Lakers game in that seven eight and people
were discussing the similar thing. I would rather be the
eighth seed than the seventh seed, because I'd much rather
play the Caves than the Celtics in the first round especially.

(15:33):
I mean, if you're the Hawks, you've gotten kind of killed,
but by the Celtics a couple of years in a
row now in the playoffs, and that's just it's just
unfortunately you keep running into them. But that's where you've
landed in the standings. I'd rather be the eighth seat.
I'm not saying that's gonna play a factor, but it's
definitely in my mind, and it has to be in
the coaching staff's mind to some degree.

Speaker 1 (15:51):
I think you're right about the overall point there, but
I also think there needs to be a little bit
of I guess self analysis here, where if you're the
Atlanta Hawks, the Miami Heat, any of these teams in
the plane, you look yourself in the mirror and say,
can we really go I fry with either one of
these teams.

Speaker 2 (16:04):
Here's the thing, here's the thing. The Magic went seven
games with the Calves.

Speaker 1 (16:07):
Last year.

Speaker 2 (16:07):
They can I don't think they would beat the Caves.
The Calves are way better this year than they were
last year. They could somehow convince themselves that they could
beat the Calves in a series if they get that
eat seed.

Speaker 1 (16:17):
Yeah, it's an interesting point, and it is fascinating, like
the stark differences that these two franchises have gone since
that series. The Calves obviously going to heights that I
don't think any of us predicted being the clear cut
number one seed in the East. And then there's the Magic, who,
by the way, started the season fifteen and seven and
looked like they were on the track and on the
right track there. What's most frustrating to me about this,
You're you're absolutely right about the shooting. Their offense is

(16:39):
unwatchable for stretches. And what's most frustrating about that to
me is they knew this was an issue. They were
twenty fourth in the league in three point percentage last year,
and they went out and gave sixty six million dollars
to Kentavious Callwell Pope saying this will fix it. And
Kadavius Callwell Pope has shot thirty four point six percent
from three his worst since twenty fifteen to sixteen, and
he acknowledged the team stat collectively, the Orlando Magic, you're

(17:02):
shooting thirty one point seven percent from beyond the thirty
one point eight percent from beyond the three point arc.
That is the lowest not just in the NBA this year,
but the last team to shoot close to that, who
was the Los Angeles Lakers in twenty fifteen to sixteen.
This has been the worst three point shooting team in
a decade here, and you're just not gonna win a
lot of games in this current ecosystem of basketball when

(17:22):
that is the case here. I like the Hawks win
out right. I like the plus one seventy, and I
do think that there have to be some pretty hard
conversations about this Orlando Magic team and how you build
out from here, because in the same way we had
these conversations with about Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown, who
by the way, are each notably better players, and the
two guys were talking about that in Orlando, I do
think there's too many overlapping strengths and weaknesses and that

(17:44):
they are going to have to make some changes down
the line. Your thoughts there.

Speaker 2 (17:47):
It is always interesting because you have to factor in
injuries into the equation, and like obviously Sixers going through
this now where it's like when you're really building out
your your future prospects, and how you want to build
this team four you have to factor in injuries, Like
obviously Jalen Suggs wasn't part of the solution when it
came to three point shooting, but he missed a lot
of time is now obviously out for the year. Paulo

(18:09):
Banterra had an early season injury, and then Franz got injured,
and like, injuries just kept coming come coming when they
couldn't build roster continuity. But I'm with you where it's
like you need to go out and get more shooting,
and they tried that, like KCP was the shooter that
they got that was supposed to help them. And if
you remember last offseason, the discussion was really who was
the best Phrasian signing between Paul George and CASEB And honestly,

(18:32):
like who who was worse? Because they're both just disastrous,
But who was the worst Phrasian signing between those two
who were just they were the hottest guys on the market,
like everyone wanted them, they were gonna get a lot
of money and both have just been so disappointing. It's
it's pretty funny how that works when you have such
high expectations for a free agent and then they're just
they're just horrible.

Speaker 1 (18:51):
Yeah, no, it is fascinator, and I don't think either
of those franchises are running the same victory lap that
they were at the time for those signings there. But
we'll keep it into the next week.

Speaker 2 (19:00):
I have to reevaluate like best how you talk about
best offseason moving forward?

Speaker 1 (19:06):
We need to pause the off season grades. I think
like moving like, let's get you.

Speaker 2 (19:09):
Know, whoever trades for Kevin Durant, they're gonna be the
best off season and the best they're gonna have won
the off season. And then obviously we'll see if that
works out, but it probably won't.

Speaker 1 (19:20):
Yeah, no, you're absolutely right about that. Now we'll move
on to the next day here looking at Wednesday's slate,
and we'll stick in the Eastern Conference for two more
perennial playing teams as the Miami Heat in Chicago Bulls
face off. Sam Ashi, what are you thinking about this
matchup here?

Speaker 2 (19:35):
Yeah? I like the Heat just because I trust Eric olstromore.
But they've been another team that's that's and I don't
want to go too long on this, but they've been
another team that's been really disappointing. And and you kind
of think about what their long term future holds, and
there's not a lot of optimism there. Like obviously Bam
start out the year not great. It has been much

(19:55):
better in the last couple of months of the season
than he was the first half of the season. Tyler
hur had best year of his career, but not a
lot of help, not a lot of development from I mean,
Khalol Wears is good, but and he's he had a
good year, but not a lot of development from a
lot of their younger players that you kind of expected
to take a jump this year. So that's been pretty disappointing.
But for this game, I like the Heat. I think

(20:17):
the Heat cover just because it's it's Eric Spolstra in
one game situation. The coaching coaching edge is there.

Speaker 1 (20:23):
We're going head to head on this one. That I'm
an agreement that I trust Eric Spolstra. I'm not in
agreement that I trust just about anyone on this Heat
roster here. And like for this Bulls team specifically, they're
not a team that I think has any chance to
make sort of some sort of playing noise. But I've
been more I guess motivated by the way that they've
played in recent weeks than I can feel in several
of the years to this point that I do think
Josh Giddy has teased being a potential, like I don't

(20:46):
want to say foundational piece because that's a little bit strong,
but a guy that you can look forward to moving forward,
putting up triple doubles on regular basis, hauling in ten
plus rebounds, being so creative in the way that he
does make passes for others and generate looks within this offense.
I've been impressed with Giddy running the show. Kobe White
is a guy that I think, I again has taken
a huge leap this season, and they have their flaws Defensively,

(21:08):
Lucvich leaves a ton to be desired on the inside.
They're not a perfect team by any means, but I
kind of just think this is a last year for
the Miami Heat. They haven't really had an opportunity to
build collectively the way they hope that Jimmy Butler trade
stuff hung over this franchise for just about the entirety
of the season, and I haven't seen any sort of
sample size that has me convinced that this team can
play cohesive, winning basketball. We've seen them flip the switch

(21:28):
when they get in the playing tournament before. I don't
think the same kind of Heat culture applies without Jimmy
Butler here this season.

Speaker 2 (21:35):
Yeah, I don't disagree with you. Duncan Robinson has been
pretty disappointing. I mean, look look up and down the roster,
and it's disappointment after disappointment after disappointment. I don't even
know if this Heat team would even want to be
in the playoffs at this point. There probably is some
value in getting on with the off season and getting
on with your obviously you start the draft preparation process already,
but just gearing all your resources towards that and frequency

(21:56):
and how you're going to move towards the future, rather
than even making we having the chance to make a
playoff series and just get swept in the first round.
So I don't know if you're going to see that
motivation from the Heat. I just I just think they're
the better team with the better coach. And when it's that,
it's a pick them. I mean it's plus one, literally
a pick them. I guess I'll roll with the Heat.

Speaker 1 (22:13):
Yeah, it's definitely a coin flip game here. I do
lean Chicago just from a little bit of a talent advantage.
But do hear your point about Spolstra, and we'll be
interesting to see from one disappointment to another. We will
head the Western Conference where the Dallas Mavericks will be
hosting these Sacramento Kings in the second matchup of night
or ipodogize Sacramento Kings hosting the Dallas Mavericks here. So
the Kings are five point favorites minus one ninety eight

(22:34):
on the money line. Obviously, it's been a hectic year
for the Mavericks here. I'm not even sure what their
fan base is rooting for at this point. But how
do you see this game going.

Speaker 2 (22:42):
Sam, I'll tell you what they're rooting for, the rooting
to lose this game and just get on with this team,
this franchise, this ownership group, their GM, all of it.
Good riddance, and this is a give up game to me.
It's not really just a fan base. It's honestly, these
players are probably so sick of the fatigue of having
to answer all these questions about they have that stuff
they have literally nothing to do with. Like, yeah, someone

(23:02):
said at one point, I forget who was on the MAVs.
But someone was like, guys, like, can you stop yelling
fire Niko, Like, we had nothing to do with this.
We're the players. You're yelling it at us, You're impacting us,
You rooting against your own home team, And it's just
obviously I know this game is in Sacramento, but it's
really just a give up game for the MAVs. Like
I'm sure Jason Kidd has been exhausted all year. He
probably doesn't even want to advance further making into the playoffs.

(23:24):
You're not playing for anything. Anthony Davis is the best
player in this game, no doubt. I just I just
don't see I don't see the MAVs giving that much
effort that would require to win on the road in
this game. So I'll take the Kings with the points,
all right, Well.

Speaker 1 (23:37):
We're going head to head on this one as well.
As I do think the Dallas Mavericks went out right
with the plus one sixty five year, Anthony Davis is
gonna be the best player on that floor by a
pretty comforamble margin. I also think this King's team is
pretty flawed. They don't have a lot defensively whatsoever. It's
interesting like the talent is clearly there, but it's a
bunch of like recycle guys that we kind of know
don't work together that we've seen zach Lene and Demardovs

(23:58):
and not capable of playing together elevating team. The mind
of Sabonis, we've seen his flaws and by the way,
I think Anthony Davis is going to eat him up
on the boards. I know he read love the league
and rebounding. He's a talented player, Sabonis, but he's got
a lot of flaws as well. I think it kind
of helps this Mavericks team that this is a road
game and that they are not playing in front of
the Dallas home crowd there. I also kind of think,
like with Anthony Davis specifically, there is a little bit

(24:20):
of a chip on his shoulder of like, don't forget
about me. I think that matters in this game. I
think he's going to carry this team to a win.
I don't think this is going to to change how
we remember the trade or the outlook for this Mavericks
organization whatsoever. But I do think they have a little
bit of positivity to build off that they do take
down this Kings team.

Speaker 2 (24:36):
The only thing I'll say is I'm so down on
the Grizzlies right now. I know Joh's been playing much better,
but I'm so down to the Grizzlies right now. I
could see the winner of this nine to ten game
beating the Grizzlies in the second play and sneaking into
the eighth spot. So it'll be an interesting game, yeah.

Speaker 1 (24:50):
And that is actually my prediction as well as I
think that will shake out. Speaking the playoffs, I do
I have the MAVs sneaking in that. Yeah, it'll be
interesting there. But I'm like, I do have sympathy for
Anthony Davis specifically here for the same reason of like,
he did nothing to cause this man, he just was traded,
was a part of the deal, and basically is walking

(25:11):
into a fan base hated for none of his own
doing there. So I have a lot of sympathy with that,
and I do think, like, I'm not brushing over he's
not Luke a Doncic whatsoever, But Anthony Davis is a
damn good basketball player.

Speaker 2 (25:22):
For sure, and I do respect the fact that even
came back. I mean, after that injury, ninety five percent
of guys would just be like, all right, I'm shutting
the season down. Let me get healthy for completely healthy
for next season. And just been disasterious year. We're not
really playing for anything. Maybe a final playoff spot, let
me just shut it down. Ninety five guys would have
taken that approach, or ninety five percent of the guys
in league would have taken that approach. So I do

(25:43):
respect him playing this out. But yeah, you're right, he
had nothing to do with this. He's been an innocent
bystander in it all. Yeah, and he's just caught in
the crossfire.

Speaker 1 (25:51):
Yeah, it is unfortunate for him there, but we'll keep
it moving out of the playing games. But I'm gonna
keep it in the same realm here. So sharing my
screen pulling up the playoffs again, my question for you,
Sam Austre is out of these playoff teams, looking at
the top seeds, which, of course in the East it
is the Cleveland Cavaliers and it is the Boston Celtics
defending Boston Celtics. There is the one and two seed,
and then in the West the Oklahoma City Thunder holding

(26:13):
things down to this top seed the Houston Rockets as
the two seeds. I think there's a pretty clear answer
on this, but which of these top seeds is most
vulnerable to being beat by a playing team?

Speaker 2 (26:24):
Yeah, I'm gonna say the Rockets pretty easily. I'm going
to say the Rockets just because the bottom of the
West is so much better than the bottom of the East.
And I think it's all about experience to me, like
we've seen teams that have no experience in the playoffs
come up short time and time again. You talk about
those Warriors team before the Dynasty in those early twenty

(26:46):
ten years, thirteen fourteen, before they broke through. Those teams
had to go through playoff scars before they finally broke through.
Talk about the Grizzlies teams. The Grizzles have been the
two seed multiple times in the West. They've won one
playoff series as the two seeds, the top seed in
the West, time and time again. You need the playoff scars,
you need the playoff battles. It's just like I think

(27:06):
people forget during this intermission here where we go from
the regular seasons to the playoffs, that it's a completely
different game. Like the defensive coverages are zeroed in on,
your stars were in the every are you the whole
purpose of playoff matchups is just hunting mismatches and just
getting these switches to expose weak defenders and heightening your
weaknesses and eliminating your strengths. It's just a completely different game.

(27:28):
It just is. And when you have teams that haven't
been through. Immy Udoka is a phenomenal coach and he
has been through because he led the Celtics to the finals,
But Jalen Green and Amen Thompson and Jabari Smith and
you and Opera and Singhu and all these guys have
never played in a single playoff game in their in
their careers. When you're playing a team, if assuming it
is the Warriors, and that's the only reason the way

(27:49):
I would take the Rockets to lose if it is
against the Warriors, those guys have been through battle after
bad off, the battle for the last decade, all types
of losses, Yeah, a ton of rings, all types of championship,
all of it. That's as experienced as a group as
you can get. And it is it will be an
interesting matchup because as we saw a couple of games ago,
when Steph Cory scored three points in thirty three minutes,

(28:12):
that was the Rocket's physicality just completely destroying him mentally
and physically. And what they were doing was they were
top blocking him a lot, even on his cuts where
he relocates a lot, they were checking him. They were
being ultra physical with him. And it reminded me of
the quarter final playing tournament game all the way back

(28:32):
in December, if you remember that, it was a really
controversial games the quarterfinals between the Rockets and the Warriors,
and the Warriors lost on a pretty bad call, but
it was a really low scoring game and the Rockets
were just so physical with the Warriors. Was before Jimmy
was even there, but they were so physical with the
Warriors that it really impacted Steph. And obviously, when Steph's
not going, it hurts your whole team. The physic cow

(28:52):
of the Rockets would warror me a little bit against
the Warriors team that goes small, because again the Rockets,
they've been playing a ton with their two bigs with
alburn Sengoun and Steven Adams in the lineup, and that's
why they're number one entire NBA in rebounding percentage. So
they've been going big and just and hammering that and
that's going to be quite the contrast from a team
like the Warriors who plays really small with Draymond the five.
So the Rockets have basketball advantages that exist, especially with

(29:15):
their rebounding, defensive physicality. But I'm not taking an experienced
group to be that experience of a group who've been
through the scorers, been through the battles. The Rockets time
will come, It's just not this year.

Speaker 1 (29:27):
Yeah. No, I'm in full agreement with all of that,
and honestly, pretty much regardless of how these playoffs I
guess not full out depending on how exactly it goes down,
but this season and its hole should be viewed as
a win by the Rockets, that this was a huge
step for the franchise, that you're moving in the right direction.
I get this is not all of it. This is
a very simplified way of looking at it. But my
pushback for any optimism with the Rockets is when you

(29:48):
look around the Western Conference, name me a single series
that you're going to have the best player on the
floor on and I don't think it exists. And that's
tough to do. That's a huge issue that this organization
is going to run into. Moving Ken Jalen Green really
be that guy canam and Thompson take that leap. Is
Shane Gun talent enough offensively to make up for some
of the shortcomings on the other side of the ball.

(30:08):
Those are all questions they got to sort throw. I
will see what happens is the Warriors. I do think
they win that series, and I think they're probably favored
in that series. But they're gonna be a fight man
like the Rockets, won't roll over, and I do give
them credit for that. So we do see that go ahead.

Speaker 2 (30:22):
I was gonna say, and it's not only that they
don't have the best player like you could. You could
match up best player verus best player, and someone will
have advantage. But you know who the ball is going
too late time and time again. Who is the ball
going too late with the Rockets. I mean, we've seen
it's been Jalen Green a bunch, but he is one
of the more inefficient players over the last five over
his entire career. Alprinson Gun is a really good hub,

(30:43):
but he's not Yo Kitcher Empiid when he operates from
that high post, the who can get you a bucket
every single time. Fred van Fleet has been through some
playoff wars. He's really the most experienced playoff player there
him and Dylan Brooks, but those aren't guys you're going
too late in the game. They don't have a single
closer A men Thompson is everyone loves him, but he's
still can't shoot the ball just yet. So you still
have a single closer. Who is the ball going to

(31:04):
when you need a bucket in the final couple minutes
of a game. They don't have anybody. It's not just
not the best player in the series. They don't have
a single closure that anybody should trust.

Speaker 1 (31:13):
Yeah, no, you're absolutely right there. And like, with all
this being said, I still kind of think the Rockets
are on the exact right path here that it's best
to like get burnt by this in the playoffs and
go through build up those same scars we're talking about.
So even if they do flame out in the first round,
which we're kind of predicting to happen, if it is
the Warriors here, it shouldn't be this like this is
disastrous from Houston perspective. They still took a lot of

(31:34):
steps this year, so don't want to go too hard
on them now to go.

Speaker 2 (31:38):
Let me ask you though, if they do flame out
in the first round, or they make a run to
like somehow they make a run to the conference finals.
Let's say which scenario would be more likely to want
to get a guy and go chase a star like
Kevin Durant, because I think the time, I don't know
if Kevin Durant's necessarily the answer. Giannis could become available
this week, not free agency, but this offseason via trade,

(32:01):
and I would want Giannis way more than I would
want Kad at this point. But like, what scenario would
you be more likely to go out and get a star?
Because I think the time has comforted.

Speaker 1 (32:11):
Yeah, I think pretty much regardless of what happens, that
that's where their head should be at. And I mean,
this team's talented, man, and and I guess, like what
I've really pointed to him is they feel very in
need of that consolidation trade where you're sending three young
talents for one star, like they've got like Reed Shepherd,
who was drafted, Like I think there's teams that have
read Shepherd was drafted by he would be Rookie of

(32:32):
the Year this season, and he barely played any minutes
for that team. And that's like more of a testament
to how much talent they had, Guys like Tarry Easton
who would be like clear cut, high minute guy on
a plenty of other rosters and he and Witmore another
great like. They have a ton of guys who they
have a hard time carving out. So I think kind of,
regardless of how the season ends, they have to find

(32:53):
a way to make a console consolidation trade where you
trade a bunch of young guys for like a top
end talent. But only so many of those top en exists,
So I guess to me, it doesn't kind of matter
the context of how this playoff exit happens. That's got
to be the conclusion that's got to be where their
heads at. But I will praise once again, it's good
that they just saw out the process. They did not
rush it. More teams messed up, you know, blowing the

(33:14):
load too early and going all in before guys are ready,
and the Rockets have not made that mistake, So credit
to them. Any other final thoughts on this before we
move on.

Speaker 2 (33:22):
No, I think that the easier answers the Warriors. So yeah,
I mean, assuming they win, that that'll be a popular upset.
I think the Warriors there's a chance it'll be a
very tight series in terms of the odds board. There's
a chance the Warriors are even favored coming.

Speaker 1 (33:35):
Out of that. I kind of think they will be,
and we'll be interesting to see where those odds do
settle there. But to move on to the the series
that we do know where a set, let's start it
right off with Mark Henry Junior's Lakers. Here, the Lakers
are minus two hundred favorites favorites over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Both teams has been sort of a strange year four. Obviously,
the Timberwolves had great success in the playoffs last year,

(33:55):
then elected to pull the plug on the Karl Anthony
Towns experience experience there, sending him to New York, fully
handing the keys to Anthony Edwards. Me that with both
the good and the bad with it overall, I would
call it a very successful season for Anthony Edwards, but
there certainly were some growing pains. And then this Lakers team,
I mean, Luka Doncic certainly changes the story quite a
bit here. They've found a way to get on the

(34:16):
same page and click a lot faster than I sort
of expected here. There's still some flaws they have not
had a chance to fully build out the rotter around
these guys. But where are you at on this Lakers
team and this series against the Timberwolves.

Speaker 2 (34:28):
Yeah, this is an interesting series, and I think a
lot of people are kind of penciling in the Lakers
and I don't think it's gonna be that easy for them.
But to me, this series starts and ends with Rudy Gobert, and.

Speaker 3 (34:37):
You know we can end it right there then yeah, yeah,
And that's where I'm going because you know, Luca loved
the fact that he was gonna be playing Rudy Gobert
in that first round, and Rudy Gobert probably wasn't happy
about it.

Speaker 2 (34:49):
He probably still his nightmares from that shot where Luca
just got him on an island. And to me, Rudy
Gobert's become unplayable in this series because what you've seen
from Luca over the last month or so is he's
been so good attacking switches, and not just obviously we
know what he is when he stepped back, step back,
so when he gets a slow footed big on him,

(35:10):
but he's been really good at getting by a lot
of these bigs too, where he explosiveness coming off that
injury earlier. This year is really back to Luca's levels
and his deceleration and everything that makes him great as
a driver as a passer. So it's gonna be interesting
to see how the Wolves kind of play those picking
roll coverages because you can't straight switch and put Rudy
Gobert on an island or against a guy like that.

(35:32):
But again, the Lakers play small, and what they do
is they put Ruey at the five and Dorian Finney
Smith at the four, and obviously those other three guys
Austin Reeves, Lebron and Luca round out the lineup. And
when you had you play that small, all guys are
can shoot the ball. Like Ruy. Hachimuri is a really
good three point shooter, especially when he's clicking, and he's
a willing three point shooter. This Lakers offense is impossible

(35:55):
to stop. So you're gonna have to stretch Rudy Gobert
out to the perimeter, and at that point there's really
no need from to play like he shouldn't be on
the floor because he's a liability offensively, and if you're
forcing him out to the perimeter and he's not even
at the rim, there's no need for him to be
on the floor. So I think the Lakers are gonna
make him unplayable in this series. And we've seen that
before from him in the playoffs, not just in the NBA,

(36:17):
by the way, We've seen that in the Olympics and
he plays for France and he becomes unplayable because he's
a zero offensively and if teams are going to go
small and have five shooters on the floor, you can't
play it. So to me, he's gonna be unplayable in
this series. Look, I think the Lakers are just are
the more talented group, and it really comes down to that.
They have two of the best passers and two of

(36:38):
the best closers in NBA history as far as I'm
concerned with Lebron and Luca, and then they have Austin
Reeves who has been incredibly clutched this year too. Anthony
Edwards leads the entire NBA and clutch points, but a
lot of the Lakers coverages are gonna come down to
blitzing and just doubling Anthony Edwards and force him, force
the ball out of his hands, put the Lakers remote,

(37:00):
and then force the Wolves shooters to make shots like
Donte Deevin Chnz with phenomenal three point shooters shooting almost
forty percent from the three this year after a really
rough start. Nasri can make threes. Besides those two, like, please,
Julius Smandals, shoot all the threes you want. If you're
the Lakers, that's what you're thinking. There's a lot Nikill,
Alexander Walker, a lot of guys that you just want
to shoot threes, and it's gonna come down to whether

(37:22):
they can hit shots or not. And I just trust
the Lakers supporting cast and the Lakers going small more
than I would the Wolves. I think it's a competitive series.
I just think the Lakers probably winning five or six.

Speaker 1 (37:32):
Yeah, I think it's Lakers and six is my pick.
And it's interesting, like you're absolutely right about all the
skepticism of Gobert, Like he's a guy that he's so
elite in the skills that he's good at, but so
limited in what his skill set is. He's a very
bizarre basketball player with all that there. But I kind
of think Julius Randall's the biggest story from a Timberwolves
perspective for what are your chances here? I think the
Lakers are gonna say, Julius, go play some Julius Randall

(37:54):
basketball and we'll see what happens here. I think all
focus will be unlimiting Anthony Edwards. Not that that's easy there.
And your point about like playing small, yes, it's true
the Lakers, that's their priority, that's the way they want
to play, but it's not this true small ball like
when you have Lebron James and Luka Dancic out there.
Those are guys that can gobble up rebounds that are
real deal six foot eight. However, you know tall and
why those guys are. We know what units they are

(38:16):
on the basketball court. So it does kind of change
the perspective a little bit for me there. But the
bottom line is this Lakers team still has flaws. They
have not been able to build out the roster the
way I think will fully optimize these guys. But the
only real matchup that I was dreading from their perspective
was the Denver Nuggets. I think if there was Nikola
Jokic versus this Lakers team, there would be some real issues.
They're on the exact opposite opposite side of the brackt here.

(38:38):
So I love how that this setup has made for
this Lakers. I do like Mark Henry Junior taking a
stab on them to win the title. I'm not fully there,
but I don't think that they end up having too
much trouble in the series is Lakers and six, and
I do think they win the next series too.

Speaker 2 (38:50):
I think they had the perfect path to the conference
finals and then from there You'll never know, so I do.
I do like the bet by by Mark because this
team is the best path they could have possibly a
visioned the Wolves in the first round and then either
probably the Rockets inexperienced group, or the Warriors, who they
match up pretty nicely against as another small ball group

(39:11):
in the second round. So it's the best possible path
for the Warriors. To your Julius Randall point, he's been
playing really well and I've been pretty impressed, like he's
back to his bully ball ways.

Speaker 1 (39:22):
He gets a worse rep than he deserves. I'll give
him that for sure.

Speaker 2 (39:25):
Yeah, I agree, And it's always the thing I've said
about him is he's really talented and is really good player.
He's just never really found the right situation because there's
not a lot of a lot of right situations for
him in the NBA because he's such an isolation heavy
player and he's a ball stopper and he's good at that,
but he's not like great at that, and he's not
a four spacer because he's like a fine shooter, but
not some great shooter. So there's really he's like, he's

(39:48):
a really good player, it's just like he's kind of
outdated in a way where it's, yeah, maybe fifteen years
ago he would have been an All NBA guy consistently.
But he's been playing really well to his credit, and
I do think he's gonna be one of the bigger
X factors this this this series. Really, I'm just I'm
not convinced about the supporting cast Anthony Edwards is gonna
have around them when your whole priority is gonna be

(40:10):
doubling him, blitzing him, trying to take the ball out
of his hands. And he's pretty good player out of
the blitz when we've seen those pick and roll coverages,
but he's not like a Luka Doncic out of the blitz.
So we'll see how how he reacts to that coverage.
And I'm sure JJ will implement it because we've heard
JJ talk about how he likes splitzing guys and getting
the ball out of his hands before before I'm just

(40:31):
not sure. I don't trust that supporting cast around them.
I don't trust the shooting on that Wolves team other
than Anthony Edwards. I think the Lakers win. And now
I'm thinking about it, as you've talked me into it,
I'm gonna say Lakers in five too.

Speaker 1 (40:43):
I like it. I like it. Let's let's keep it
in the West for this next one. Here the matchup
that I kind of alluded to, the Los Angeles Clippers
and the Denver Nuggets. So the Denver Nuggets another team
to shockingly fire their head coach right before, Michael Balloon
now out looking for a job on the streets here.
But this Nuggets team continues on here. Two teams like
the Clippers. I want to give their flowers a little

(41:04):
bit more than I think they kind of have gotten.
This team battled all season. They embraced the defensive minded.
I guess, you know, identity as a team in the
way that we've never really seen James Harden even at
this age, even past his six years era, is still
being like the complete hub and engine of an offense
in a way that I think a lot of people doubted,
and Kawhi Leonard is playing some of the best basketball
and looking his physically best that I feel I've seen

(41:27):
from him in years at this point. So, how do
you see this series going and what's your level of
optimism for whichever one of these teams you want to take.

Speaker 2 (41:35):
So the second the line came out, I was Clippers, Clippers, Clippers,
And now everyone seems to be on the Clippers, and
a lot of people are betting have betted downs because
that numbers dropped significantly. The Clippers are still slight underdogs,
but but they still are underdogs, which is surprising to me.
On DraftKings right now, yes, I think that numbers started
like plus one sixty or something. It's been bet all

(41:56):
the way down to that. It varies based on the book,
but on DraftKings, yeah, plus one ten. Now that's interesting
that they're still underdogs because this is as much of
a Pickham series as you could find, and I think
it goes seven. It's the one I'd feel most confident
going seven. Clippers. Like I'm a complete fool for this,
Like I'm just a complete fool, and like Anyone who's
gonna clip pick the Clippers to when the series are

(42:18):
going to run is just, for lack of a better term,
like an idiot, Like and I'm gonna be an idiot
because the Clippers and Kawhi Leonard have been the best
team and the best player in basketball over the last
month to month and a half. And I don't really
care because every time you pick the Clippers, they disappoint
you and all hinges on Kawhi Leonard because he is
not Like, do you know the last time Kawhi Leonard

(42:40):
has finished a playoffs playoffs or finished the season?

Speaker 1 (42:44):
Was it eighteen nineteen?

Speaker 2 (42:46):
Eighteen nineteen was the last time, not including the bubble.
The bubble was the last time. Okay, so the bubble,
which is crazy excluding the bubbles obviously weird circumstance stance.
The last time he finished of season was he won
the NBA Championship in finals MVP with the Rafters. Because
the year after the bubble, he had that he had
the against the Jazz, he got hurt and that was

(43:07):
when the whole injury and he was out for the
whole next season. Then in twenty twenty that was so
that was twenty one, and then twenty twenty two is
out the whole season, twenty three he plays two games,
then he's out for this out for the season, and
in the first round, and then last year he plays
two games and he's out for the season again. So
he hasn't finished the playoffs in like over five years

(43:29):
really excluding the bubble. So how could I possibly trust
a guy like that who's just never healthy ever? But
he looks as healthy as he's ever been entering the playoffs,
and and it's probably helped that he's sat a lot
of this season, and really it probably he's set more
than he even should have, and only he's only he
only played thirty seven regular season games just to get
him healthy. And that that's why I'm so high on

(43:51):
the Slippers teams, because they're playing the best basketball that
that they that anyone in the NBA has played. Number
one in that rating of the last fifteen games, number
one in all offense over the last fifteen games, number
three in defense over the last fifteen games. Kawhi Leonard
is performing an all NBA level. So I'm not really
I'm not concerned about the Clippers team at all in
terms of the injury factors because Kawhi actually looks healthy.

(44:13):
Like I feel like a fool for actually picking them.
But I think this Clippers team could win the entire
win the whole West.

Speaker 1 (44:18):
Wow, look at that. Look at that, Sam. I do
think the Clippers win this series. I thought this was
gonna be one we were going head to head on
as I mean, Nikola Yoch.

Speaker 2 (44:26):
Can take the Nuggets.

Speaker 1 (44:29):
I mean Nicola Jokic like still doing very special stuff
and I have committed to I think Sha Gildess Alexander
should win MVP, but this is a special seies by
Jokic that I don't think should go under. Ay, this
is the best basketball that he's played of his career,
and this is the three time MVP we're talking about.
Beyond Jokic, don't got a lot of optimism for this
Nuggets team, and that's sort of I think the root

(44:50):
of this entire implosion going on in evert. But the
last question I wanted to bounce out off you in
regards to this series, I kind of think of Ika Zubac,
who we haven't even mentioned yet, is having a career
year looking like one of the best centers in the league.
I think he's the best defensive matchup that Nikola Jokic
has ever had it in the playoffs? Do you think
got fair and foul?

Speaker 2 (45:09):
Take fair? Except the Minnesota series last year when they
put Karnthon Towns at the four, that they put Coarnthi
Towns guarding Jokic and then at Rudy Gobert acting as
a floater has really helped a roamer. Yeah, that was
that was a really tough matchup for yok just because
it was essentially they were doubling him and the and
the taller guy and the bigger guy was floating. But

(45:31):
I'm with you that Zubach is in contention for defensive
Player of the Year and he's a phenomenal defender, one
of the more maybe like the third best center in
the league this year when you consider the fact that
Embiid wasn't really in the league this year and some
other guys had Wenby wasn't really in the league this
I mean he was for half the year, sure, but
like guys who's starting to finish the entire year, Zubach
was a top three center all season. I mean he's

(45:51):
been phenomenal, especially defensively. So yeah, I think it's a Jokic.
It's a tough matchup for Jokic. Jokic is that good.
He's gonna get his He's gonna create shots for others.
But that's what I think the Nuggets strategy is gonna be.
It's really gonna be guarding Jokic straight up, letting him
get his, but limiting other guys like Jamal Murray, Michael
Porter Junior, Aaron Gordon, and the series is gonna come

(46:12):
down to the others as it always has with the Nuggets. Yeah,
we know Jamal Murray really struggled the playoffs last year.
Michael Port Junior was really bad in that Wolve series
last year. Are those guys going to make enough shots
for the Nuggets to beat the Clippers? That I'm not
convinced about. And I just think this Clippers team where
it's a lot of times the playoffs simply come down
to who is the best player in the series. Jokic

(46:35):
is the best player in this series, and he's the
best player in every series he'll ever play for probably
a long time. But right now, the way Kawhi Lender
is playing, that gap is not that is not that huge. Yeah,
like Kawhi Leonarder is playing at He's been one of
the best five players in league of last month and
a half. He looks healthy, his explosion is back. He's
getting to any spot he wants on the floor, He's

(46:56):
getting to the free throw line of higher rate. He like,
this is the Kawhi Leonard that carried the Raptors to
a championship. And maybe I'm getting fooled by only a
month and a half sample size, but that's big enough
to me where Kawhi Leonard can can win you a
series and will you to a series win. And I
could see him doing this against the Nuggets.

Speaker 1 (47:13):
Absolutely, and by the way he played forty seven minutes yesterday,
that like the he's back, it's off. And for KAUI specifically,
like what a fascinating guy that if you were to
talk to somebody who had never watched NBA basketball, like
explaining the story arc of him, I think he's probably
like in the upper echelon of most unique just overall
stories with everything that's going on with this guy. But yeah,

(47:34):
I kind of will be rooting for this Clippers team
and I did not expect that to be the case there, so.

Speaker 2 (47:38):
Well, look Sean, that we also could be here in
like two Mondays from now, and I'll be like, a
Kawhi questionable for next game, James game, yeah, out for
the season, shutting him down, and I'll be like, yeah,
I'm an idiot for getting fooled by by the Kawhi
health thing. I do want to ask you back, because
we haven't mentioned this guy, are you concerned at all

(47:59):
about Jams Hardened in the playoffs?

Speaker 1 (48:03):
I mean, I think we know the deal with James
Harden at this point. There will be a clunker game
that you just straight up can't win with him on
the floor in the series that they'll drop one essentially
because of James Harden. But I think that this specific
Clippers team is sort of built to contain his highs
and lows in a way that we haven't seen probably
ever on a James Harden team. I guess maybe the
Brooklyn team is going to kind of throw them in

(48:23):
that category here. But like having a guy like Kawhi
that he can playoff. And by the way, when you
look at his assist numbers, he averages like three more
assists per game with Kawhi on the floor. With him
not like you can kind of see where Hardened like
metamorphosizes into this score first guy to where he's back
into kind of a true floor general there. So he
has his flaws. He's not going to be perfect, and
there will be some cold stretches. But I give James

(48:44):
a lot of credit for this season. Man. He's absolutely
been an All NBA guy in my opinion, I think
he's competed defensively more than he has a lot of
seasons in his career. And I mean the team obviously
rocks with him that like they they're built around James Harden. Still,
so he's not perfect. He'll have his downs, but I
think that they can survive the James Harden experience.

Speaker 2 (49:02):
I'm one hundred percent with you because this team doesn't
rely on James Harden the way the other playoff teams has,
and we know like he is, he's a playoff choker,
like he just is. That that's the reality of James
Harden time and time again. He's come up short in
the playoffs in big moments, but that was in Houston
when he was the guy, the entire offense and everything
was around him, and then also in Philadelphia where he

(49:24):
was second fiddled to it Joel Embiid. But Embiid also
wasn't a playoff a proven playoff guy at all by
any stretch. Kawhi Leonard went Healthy is went Healthy is
a proven playoff guy, so like he he can play
second fiddle. And we should also mention Norman Pow is
playing an all star level like those four guys on

(49:45):
the floor, that lineup of Norman Powell, Zubac, Kawhi Leonard,
and James Harden, and he can throw like a Chris
Stunn in there or Derek Jones junior whichever fifth guy. Yeah,
those guys that those lineups have been one of the
best in the league in terms of their net rating
over the last month and a half to two months.

(50:05):
So those lineups have been unbeatable. And hopefully Ben Simmons
doesn't make the rotation because he shouldn't maybe like eight
minutes a night max. But this, this Clippers team is
built to make a playoff for him.

Speaker 1 (50:16):
Yeah, so we will see if it happens here. They
do have a lot of those guys that I have
kind of my astericks and red flags next to. But
somehow it does all work here. So shout out to
this Clippers team. Let's get it over the Eastern Conference here,
So two more matchups to dive into. We'll start off
with the one before I get all fired up, the
Milwaukee Bucks in the Indiana Pacers. Here the exact odds
on DraftKings sportsbook. The Pacers are minus two hundred favorites,

(50:38):
the Bucks plus one one sixty. There. There does seem
to be some optimism that Damian Lillard can return or
potentially take the floor, but we will see if that
actually happens. Here, where's your head at on this series?

Speaker 2 (50:48):
This is the toughest one for me, and this has
kind of become a robbery in the NBA. Yeah, in
a weird way between the Bucks and the Pacers. This
Pacers team dominated the Bucks last year the regular season. Yeah,
four to oho in the regular season, right, and then
they went into the playoff series, but it wasn't a
real playoff series because Giannis and Dame were both in

(51:09):
and out. The line up barely played, and you know,
Chris Middleton had some great games. And then the Bucks,
I think they won one or two games.

Speaker 1 (51:16):
I just headed up. I'm pretty sure they swept them.

Speaker 2 (51:18):
The Pacers swept them.

Speaker 1 (51:20):
I'll double check, but yeah, I'm pretty sure.

Speaker 2 (51:22):
Maybe, right, but I feel like it. I remember it
being more competitive. I remember that Chris Middleton going crazy
one game.

Speaker 1 (51:28):
You're right, four to two, four two four two.

Speaker 2 (51:31):
They did sweep them. I think in the regular season.
The Pacers dominated them in the regular season, so four
to two in a series that Giannis and Dame were
bare leaving in. But this Pacers team is pretty different, honestly,
because they're way better defensively. They've been a top ten
defensive league over the last two months, So this this
Pacers team is better defensively. A part of me, it's
really hard matchup to handicap because we have no idea.

(51:52):
What's gonna have a Dame with Dame. I'm taking this
Bucks team. This Duck Bucks team has been playing pretty
well recently. I'm taking the Bucks with Dame. But we're
dealing with a butt blood clot. We're not dealing with
like a a tor or torn ankle or a rolled
ankle or something like that, or banged up knee. It's
a blood clot. Like that's a very serious thing. You
can't even really travel on a plane with that. You don't.
You don't come back early from a blood clot. But

(52:15):
every all these signals from the Bucks are that he's
progressing better and and he could be able to come
back to the playoffs. If Dame comes back at any
point in this series, like before Game four, I'm taking
the Bucks. I could see the series going seven anyway.
This to me and people are really high on the
Spacers team this year, and I think they've done some
really good things over the last couple months. Tyres Haliburn

(52:35):
played himself into an All NBA team after really struggling
at the start of the season. I still think Pascal
Siakam is the best player on the team. This to
me comes down to Giannis, who since Dame's gone out,
has played a lot of point guard, which really has
unlocked this offense because with him just bringing the ball
up the floor, you have to have so much help.
But when when you're trying to stop being in the
gaps on on Gianni's drives, and he's just obviously a

(52:58):
great passer. He's so big, athletic, he can get to
the rim in two steps. He's the best player in
the series by a mile. This is best player. Take
the best player in the series, take that team to win,
and as underdogs, I think the Bucks win the series
and seven Wow.

Speaker 1 (53:14):
I like it there, and I also have not fully
figured out what to do with this series. I hate
that it has played out this way because I was
really starting to believe in how this Bucks team was
playing before Lillard was shut down there, and it sucks
that even like under the best case scenario here, you're
just kind of shoving him back in and hoping that
you guys can pick up where he left off here.
Giannis is absolutely leveled up his game as a passer
this season. I've been really impressed with not just like

(53:36):
the raw assist numbers, but he's doing some more advanced
stuff than I've ever seen from him as far as
generating looks for others, and that does matter. He's also
basically entirely cut out three point shots from his shot
diet there, which I think he deserves credit for. Like
we've kind of forced him into the box of like
everyone has to shoot threes these days. He just takes
the shots that he's good at, and it's been really
effective for this Bucks team. Now, with all that being said,

(53:57):
look at this Pacers team. I'm really encouraged, but they've
basically been the opposite of last year. They were red
hot at the start of last season and really faded
down the stretch. With that pretty linearly connected to the
level of play from Tyrese Haliburton. This year, it's been
the opposite. They started cold, Haliburton had a really tough
stretch to start the year, and both him and the
team have turned things around this second half of the season.
So I don't hate any direction with what you want.

(54:19):
With that overall take, I do lean towards the Pacers
winning this series, but Dame is that ultimate question mark there.
If it was a fully healthy Damian Lillard, I think
I would be on the Bucks, But based on the uncertainty,
I think I'm rockward the Pacers to win this series
would not be willing to pay the minus two hundred
for that series price.

Speaker 2 (54:34):
Though Giannis has become in a weird way underrated, I
would think he's having the best season of his career probably,
and he's had to do everything, especially for the last
two months for this team to really drag them even
even to get a top five seed in the East.
He's shooting his worst percentage from three in the last decade,

(54:54):
which is interesting, as you said, because he's really just
he's not taking three he doesn't have to. He can
get to the rim at will when he's capable of
hitting a twelve to fifteen foot jumper when he has to,
but he doesn't need to shoot threeas and he's shooting
horribly from them when he does twenty two percent right
now or this season. I'm just this is best. Like
I said, this is the best player. Take the best

(55:15):
player in the series who's playing at the best. He's
playing at the best production of his entire career right now.
So just take that guy and answer the questions later.
I really like the Bucks. I'm now I'm talking myself
into it. I'm starting to really like the Bucks.

Speaker 1 (55:28):
Hey, I don't hate it there, and we'll see how that.
We will shift over to the last matchup of this
opening round, which I believe is the most.

Speaker 2 (55:36):
It took us an hour to get here. It's the
only one that we even need to talk about.

Speaker 1 (55:39):
Yea, the most disrespectful line in the opening round is
the New York Knicks being minus four hundred favorites over
the Detroit Pistons plus three ten to win the series?
Is the Pistons there, and the same exact question I'll
start out with Sam Austri Who is the best player
on this series?

Speaker 2 (55:56):
It's the dumbest question. You know, the best player in
the series, everybody in this series. It's Jalen Brunson. Kate
Cunningham has never step foot on a playoff floor in
his life. We're talking about Jalen Brunson average thirty five
points a game against the Sixers last year, when he
shot sixteen percent from three in those opening two games
against the Sixers last year, and he was horrible in

(56:17):
those first two games, and then he comes back with
like a thirty eight ball in three straight, forty balls,
forty plus balls. He's one of the best playoff performers
in the entire NBA. There aren't six or seven guys
in the entire league I would trust in the playoffs
more than Jalen Brunston. He's by for the best player
in the series. He's not even a question. I don't
care the best season, who's the best player. It's Jalen

(56:40):
Brunston because he's been there. He's a phenomenal playoff performer.
He's a great clutch performer, second in the league in
clutch points behind Anthony Edwards.

Speaker 1 (56:47):
This season.

Speaker 2 (56:48):
It's not even a question who's the best player. He's
also become a much better passer this year and getting
Karl Anthony Townsend to the offense. I don't care about
the raw numbers. Jalen Brunson is the best player in
the series and he's one of the best players in
the league. Still forget about who that guy is. And
when the light shine bright is.

Speaker 1 (57:03):
I will give you the point about Kate Cunningham has
to take the crown here that Jalen Bronson has done
this on the biggest stage all those If I just
want to look at these guys as two basketball players,
Kate Cunningham is better at the sport. He's a better
rebounder than Jalen Bronson. He's a better passer than Jalen Bronson.
He's a better defender than Jalen Bronson. There is no doubt.

Speaker 2 (57:20):
Who cares if your point guard is a better rebounder.

Speaker 1 (57:24):
I mean fair, But at the same time, I got it.
You know that these are all facts that I got
to bring to the table here. The defense is the
bigger story with me, with Kate and with Jaalen specifically,
and honestly, with all that I'm talking about with Kate,
Cunningham versus Jalen Bronson. Who this series comes down to
me is Karl Anthony Towns. Carl Anthony Towns is an
incredibly talented basketball player, but I kind of think he's
also a very flawed basketball player. Defensively, he is a nightmare.

(57:47):
And I think for the Knicks fans that are ready
to chase me with the pitchfors for this truth coming
your way, get ready to learn Kate Cunningham, because it's
gonna be a nightmare every time that Carl Anthony Towns
is tesked with guarding that man in the pick and roll.
That is what I happen to a ton. I don't
subscribe to this theory of you can just shift Cat
to the four with Mitchell Robinson as the five and
everything is fixed. That means he has to garden space more,

(58:09):
which I frankly think he's even weaker than he is
as a rim deterrent, which by the way, he's also
very poor at there. Kat is excellent offensively. This Knicks
team has reached a level offensively that I didn't think
was possible, but they've also been worse defensively than I
thought could be the case. I thought the floor was
higher than what we've seen from them defensively. And this
Pistons team, they're not afraid.

Speaker 2 (58:28):
Man.

Speaker 1 (58:28):
There's gonna be fights, there's gonna be ejection, there's gonna
be technicals. Isaiah Stewart is getting kicked out of at
least two of these games here, But I don't think
they're gonna roll over. It does feel a bit premature
for the Pistons to go out there and outright win
the series. But I do think that this series goes seven.
My favorite bet regarding it will be over five and
a half games. There's almost no doubt in my mind
that the series goes at least six. And what I

(58:50):
want the takeaway to be from this overall series is
that Kate Cunningham has arrived. That this guy is now
on the stage that we're talking about as a franchise cornerstone,
a clear cut all NBA guy, which he has been
for the entirety of the season. I want him to
go with eye to eye with Jalen Bronson, and I
think he will.

Speaker 2 (59:06):
Let me tell you how this series is gonna play
at They're going to blitz Kid Cunningham into oblivion. All
of his ball screens are gonna be blitz splitz blitz.
I don't care who they put in the actions. Obviously,
the next are gonna try to make do some pre
switching where they don't have to put Karnalthton Town's in
the actions and they can get Jalen Bronson or excuse me,
a Josh Hart or a an og or McHale Bridges

(59:29):
on those on those pick and roll coverages. They're going
to be blitzing kid Cunningham into Oblivim. Make him make
plays out of the blitz, and then you know what
can what's gonna happen. You're gonna have to rely on
the Pistons pretty inconsistent three point shooting to win this series.
You've got Malik Beasley, phenomenal shooter. Don't get me wrong,
That's not the guy you want the ball going to.
If you're the Knicks, when that ball gets start starts,

(59:49):
get starts to get swump, you know you do want
the ball to go to Tobias Harris more. You know
that more than anyone. Please, the Knicks want Tobias Harris
to shoot as many three as possible. He's shooting like
somebody that around thirty five percent from three. This year
in the playoffs. I don't really trust that Asar Thompson,
who was a phenomenal athlete and is uh he's gonna
going to be a great player in this league for

(01:00:10):
a long time. He is a horrible three point shooter.
Let him shoot threes. Let guys like Tim Hardaway Junior
can make threes. But again, inconsistent guys like Ron Holland
not a good three point shooter. They're going to blitz
Kid Cunningham. And again guys like Jalen Duran and some
of these other guys who are gonna get the ball
in the short roll off the blitz, they're not great

(01:00:31):
short role playmakers the way we see some of these
other guys in the league are like in Isaiah Hartenstein
or or Alpern Seangoon or some of these other guys.
He's not like that. Blitzing Kaid Cunningham is going to
create a lot of problems for him because he's never
He's been blitzed throughout certain regular season games, but not
throughout a two week series or a series that I
only have going five games, but consistently on a night

(01:00:52):
to night basis, Blitzing Kaid Cunningham is going to be
the answer, and he's gonna I'm not gonna say struggle
in this series. He's gonna get his They'll no doubt.
He's a phenomenal player and to your point, he has arrived.
He is a franchise cornerstone. You will be able to
win and be a top seed in the East for
years to come with a guy like Kate. This series

(01:01:12):
is gonna be difficult for him because you're gonna start
og on him Michael Bridges, who's been a little underwhelming
as an on ball defender this year, but he's gonna
get reps on him. You're obviously gonna try to target
Jalen Brunson to get switches where Jaylen Brunt is gonna
have to card Kate Cunningham, kind of like the Sixers
did a lot with Tyres Maxi to get Brunton on
him last year. Again, they're going to switch Kate cunning
or excuse me, blitz Kate Cunningham all the time, get

(01:01:34):
the ball out of his hands. The Knicks are just
the better team, Like, there's not much more to it
than me. They have the best player in the series,
they have the way better and more talented starting five,
and yeah, There are concerns about Cornithon Towns defensively for sure,
but in this series that's not really gonna be an issue.

Speaker 1 (01:01:50):
What is there any world in your mind to the
next lose this year?

Speaker 2 (01:01:54):
No? None?

Speaker 1 (01:01:55):
All right, Well, about what.

Speaker 2 (01:01:58):
I was gonna say, there is there is one world
injuries of course, Yeah, becauldn't bring that up. Yeah, That's
the thing about this next team is everyone likes to
talk about how they were oh and eight against the
Cavs and the Celtics. Well, for of those series or
four of those games, if you want to throw in
the Thunder by the way, sure, yeah, but the thunder
is just anomaly this season. They're stagging out, but they're

(01:02:18):
not getting to the finals anyway, so they're really not
even relevant. The Knicks aren't getting there. But uh, what
I'll say about that is they're oh and eight against
the Cavs and Celtics this year. Four of those games,
so half of those games they didn't have one of
their starters, and then the other two two of the
four games where they were were at full strength was

(01:02:38):
in Octobers, two of the first three games of the season.
So I don't really care about October basketball. When you're
trying to incorporate two new starters into your lineup, and
then really only comes down to two games, and one
of those games the Knicks one to overtime against the
Celtics and should have won in regulation, and that was
last week. So I'm not really concerned about that oh
and eight mark. But what that does show is how
vulnerable they are when one starter goes down, one starter

(01:03:01):
goes down, it's a complete it for next team. So yeah,
of course they played. That starting lineup has played two
hundred plus more minutes than any other five man lineup
in the entire NBA this season, so they have a
lot of miles on them. But they also have a
week off now, which is gonna help. And Jylen Brunson
has been a little banged up. It's only played four
games since he came back, but again, having a week
off is gonna help injuries. Already concerned. Other than that,

(01:03:24):
if that starting five is on the flour together and
they're gonna be playing thirty plus or thirty five plus,
some of them forty plus minutes a night, I don't
see any way possible. The Knicks don't win in really
six games maximum, But I think it's gonna be in five.

Speaker 1 (01:03:38):
You know, the the Pistons beat the Cavaliers this.

Speaker 2 (01:03:40):
Year, congratulations, should they hang a man?

Speaker 1 (01:03:43):
Well, you're giving one for an overtime loss to the
Boston Celtics, So I mean, what are we doing.

Speaker 2 (01:03:49):
I'm just saying their playoff prospects. It's just it's a
little flawed, that oh to eight record. That's my only
point is that you lost eight times against the top
teams context surrounding that team sort of. But at the
same time, if you're that good, you find a way.
That's what basketball is.

Speaker 1 (01:04:05):
Man. You think the Celtics were fully healthy in all
those games? Do you think the Cavaliers had their one
best punch in every single one of those? I don't
have it in front of you, but I find that
hard to believe if that was.

Speaker 2 (01:04:15):
But that's the point is that nobody those teams can
rely on death. The Knicks can't. And that's the one
that's the problem.

Speaker 1 (01:04:20):
That's like a point against it. When Oji Anobi's hamstring
inevitably pops off the bone in Game two of this series,
then what then what happens? And you have to look
at Tom Thibodeau for playing him a million minutes this
entire season, Simms deserves criticism. Here. Do you think if
they lose this series, Dibbs is fired?

Speaker 2 (01:04:38):
No chance?

Speaker 1 (01:04:39):
No chance. Really, I've had some knicked people that have
been pitching that to me, which I was kind of
surprised by it as well. Let me ask it in
a better way here, what is a successful playoff playoffs
for this next team?

Speaker 2 (01:04:52):
Let me say something about Fibbs real quick, so well,
I'll answer your question first, actually successful playoff run? Of course,
if you make the conference finals, it's and beat the
Celtic in the second round. That's super successful. That would
be incredible. I don't think that's happening. I'm not going
to go that far with this next team. I do
think it's possible. I think they're a little undervalued. I
don't think that's gonna happen. A successful playoffront will be
beating the Pistons and then going at least six games

(01:05:14):
against the Celtics.

Speaker 1 (01:05:16):
What would you say, I mean, I think that's realistic.
I think that has to be like the bar, I
don't think you should be thrilled that that's the outcome.
Like I guess my whole point about this next team.
The way that I'm looking at it, I think there's
a pretty significant gap between the Celtics and that. Now, granted,
not a lot of teams are in that tier. I
frankly think it's a tier of three this season. The

(01:05:37):
West is kind of a different story here, but I
would put like the true top dogs of this season
have been the Cavaliers, the Celtics, and the Thunder. I
don't think the Knicks are like close to cracking that,
and I think that should be a more humbling reality
than anything that these results indicate.

Speaker 2 (01:05:51):
Here's the thing about about that point. This next team
isn't set up for one year. When they made those bridges,
that huge bridges treat and gave up all those picks
when they got Karnthine Town, this next team, I know
the Bridge's extension could get a little complicated this offseason,
but this next team is set up for years to come,
so it didn't. Why does it have to My question
to you would be why does it have to happen

(01:06:11):
in year one? Why does it all have to come
together in your one?

Speaker 1 (01:06:14):
See, we were looking at the same exact situation and
viewing it completely differently. I view this as a bad thing.
You've cashed in all your chips for a not good
enough team. Where does the leap happen? Does Jalen Bronson
get better? Can Michhal Bridges get better? Does og Annoby
take another lead? Does Karl Anthony Towns magically figure out
how to defend? I don't think any of these things happen,
like this is who the team is here.

Speaker 2 (01:06:35):
There's three things to me that that could happen in
terms of a leap. Number one is to get more depth.
Of course, you get more depth, you can play your
guys less and then that's important has to do it.
I agree, but I do think if you had look,
he needs to trust some younger guys like Tyler Kolek,
Lancerew Shamon a little more throughout the year. But if
he had a little bit more depth, he's playing those
guys pay the stars left a little bit, a little

(01:06:57):
bit like Brunson.

Speaker 1 (01:06:59):
But he did this with the well like this is
who he is, Like you.

Speaker 2 (01:07:02):
Know, you're right, you're right, but but more depth it'll
help to a degree. Also can withstand injuries, because by
the way, Oji had one of the more healthy seasons
of his career, Like he was pretty healthy for how
much he played this year, he was ninth in the
NBA in minutes, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:07:16):
Second, Yeah, Mikal Bridges and Jalon Bronson.

Speaker 2 (01:07:19):
I would assume no heart heart, why did birthday? No, yeah,
it was heart. Uh it was heart and mckel Bridges
were first and second. But here's what I'll answer your
question about where does the leap come. Number one, It
can comes with pairing Corinthy Towns with a five, and
it's sacrificed a little offensively for more defense. Because I'm

(01:07:40):
with you, Karnthy Towns could not play the five defense.
He gets targeted the pick and roll. He's not that
great guardian space. He just he isn't a five defensively
at all. Offensively, he's lethal because because we know what
he can shoot from three. So that's the first thing.
I don't know if Mitch is the answer, mostly because
of his the health concerns. They really don't even play
more than twenty minutes a night, and you're gonna need
a better five. Isay? Hartenstein would have been perfect, but

(01:08:03):
obviously that that didn't happen. Yeah, he sure is, he
sure is. He's awesome. And then the second part is
making McHale. Bridges more featured in the offense, which is
a leap that can happen internally. And that's my biggest
grit with Fibbs this year is that you have not
seen it's really a one dimension offense. And they are
the most efficient pick and roll offense in the entire NBA.

(01:08:25):
So it's not like they're not they're not doing a
good job with that one to five picking roll between
Brunton and kat it's just a little one dimensional, like
Bridges is not should not be be relegated to the
corner as a spot up guy, like I want to
see him in more actions. Number One, he is great
coming downhill off a high ball screen. He's great off handoffs,
some zoom actions. When he gets ahead of steam downhill,

(01:08:45):
getting to the rim or getting to his midi pull
up spots or even three point pull up spots, that's
when he's at his best. So him being more featured
in the offense is some elite that can happen internally,
and it's also just figuring it out. Like you've seen
teams throughout the throughout the trajectories stay with the same
core and more chemistry you build. Guys take leaps. You

(01:09:06):
just figure it out, and those teams to stick together
oftentimes are rewarded for their patients and a couple of
years down the line, this could be an NBA championship team.

Speaker 1 (01:09:15):
Maybe you're I'm having to really squint, as Daryl moriy
once said, to view this team as a championship contender. Here,
we'll see what overall shakes out from there.

Speaker 2 (01:09:24):
I let me the way, let me put the question
to you though about about the Pistons series. What could
you see going wrong for the Knicks where the Pistons
win the series?

Speaker 1 (01:09:32):
I well, I mean injuries is certainly what I would
lead with there. Like I view it more as a
ticking time bomb than like bad luck. It's like if
you just push them a little bit, it's gonna happen. Man,
these guys have win and tear that like you can't
quite replicate here for the Pistons exactly here. I mean,
Caid's the guy that's got to be the straw that
starts to drink. And you bring up some fair points
about the blitzes and everything like that. I think internally

(01:09:53):
there's a chance where they can bully ball this next
team that I think Jalen Darren, I think Isaiah Stewart,
the amount of big bodies that they have. These guys
aren't like ridiculously skilled. It is more like brute forrest
and athleticism type thing. But I kind of think if
they're gonna play Karl Anthony Towns at the five, which
will at least get in stretches, you can beat this
team up on the in tier. I kind of think
that's the direction the Pistons have a chance. And of

(01:10:15):
course Kate doing his thing, so it's not gonna be perfect,
but the Knicks have to I mean, the Pistons have
to like impose themselves defensively and be the bully against
this next team, which I do think is possible.

Speaker 2 (01:10:27):
Yeah, I think you're right about that. I mean, I say,
if Stewart might make Coro Anthony Towns cry with the year,
I could definitely see that. And look, Jalen Duran, they're
a really tough, physical defensive group and good rebounding team too,
not that the Knicks aren't that, but they're not what
they were last year when they were the best rebounding
and offensive rebounding team in the league and a top
ten defense. So yeah, they definitely lost some physicality and

(01:10:49):
toughness from last season. It's not the same type of
group in that way. I just I just one team
is way better and they're more experienced, and like I'm
putting my chips on that table. That's why I think
the Piss since could get a win just based off
of pure toughness of physicality. One win, though, That's as
far as that's going to get them, and I don't
see it going more than that Beyond the big picture though.

(01:11:09):
Just back to that conversation for a second before we
wrap up big picture. The Knicks just won back to
back fifty had back to back fifty win seasons for
the first time since nineteen ninety four to ninety five. Like,
this team is on the right path. Last offseason they
made their big splash with McHale Bridges and Karnthine Towns. Yeah,
and the whole it wasn't to win in one season,

(01:11:30):
and it wasn't just to win immediately. Part of it
was to get better wing defenders, to build a roster
to defend teams like the Celtics, who are a wing
dominant offensively wing dominant players, but it was also it
was to build for the next few years, and that's
what they're doing. And so it's not about this one
season for the Knicks. It's from big picture perspective. They're
on the right path. They're not some team in like

(01:11:52):
playoff purgatory just because they're about to lose in the
second round for the third straight year. This is a
new team. They're on the right path. They have the
right person.

Speaker 1 (01:12:00):
Now they have to.

Speaker 2 (01:12:00):
Build around the margins and like, look, they're still the
fifth best record in the NBA this year. Like, they're
not some team that completely fell off. They had a
better record this year than last year, so they didn't
completely fall off. The Knicks will be alright. I know
you don't want that to hear that, but the Knicks
will be all right.

Speaker 1 (01:12:15):
Yeah, they'll be fine. Like in the grand scheme of things,
they're certainly in a significally better position than they were
a couple of years ago. There's no doubt about that.
So they are moving in the right direction there. But
I do think the flowers have been handed the organization
a little prematurely, like they have not done a lot yet.
I just will put it this way, so we'll see
how that ultimately shakes out. They are minus four hundred
favorites for a reason in this series. Here and by

(01:12:37):
the way, when I was starting to chirp up my
anti Knicks take belief in this Piston team, I had
proposed to me by shots to Matt Cheriko, who's a
Knicks guy, Knicks content creator out there, trying to get
me to agree to a waffle house punishment where I
got to stay for twenty four hours every waffle I
think it was pancake, whatever it was, for every pancake

(01:12:57):
they get if the Knicks win that series. And I'm like, brother,
their mine is four hundred.

Speaker 2 (01:13:01):
That's not the best odds.

Speaker 1 (01:13:03):
Like, I get what you're I like where your head's
at here, but like, I'm not if this is a
six years next series, you can kind of talk me
into that. I'm not. I'm not going to bat for
the Pistons that hard.

Speaker 2 (01:13:13):
I was gonna say, maybe that's a good proposal. When
it's Nick Celtics, Yeah, somehow win, then you should have
to do that.

Speaker 1 (01:13:20):
I that I'd be willing to stake the risk for.
But yeah, when we're talking literal mind is four hundred
favorites this series is you're not putt I'm not putting
the pancakes on the line for that one.

Speaker 2 (01:13:30):
But can we get an update on the on the
TikTok dances for the past?

Speaker 1 (01:13:34):
Yeah, I do. I I've created my game plan a
little bit here. Those are gonna start roll out. I'm
gonna do a countdown until the Draft lottery. So there's
there's some tough Jared McCain tiktoks I have scrolled through, evaluated,
watched the tape on and got to get recreated. How
what are you doing? You have to do every single
one I have. People have been pretty light on the request,
which I appreciate. I'm not kind of reinforcing there, so

(01:13:54):
I think I'm mostly gonna pick mine. I have a
couple of the requests. Yeah, yeah, I mean people are
more than what I'm probably gonna do. Ten tiktoks as
a countdown until the Draft lottery is my game plan.
I might go as many as two weeks if the
hips really get flown here.

Speaker 2 (01:14:07):
Nice, I'm looking forward to it, looking forward to.

Speaker 1 (01:14:09):
It absolutely well. We dove into the entire plan in
and opening round. For now, we will find out officially
what those seeds are set for the top two seeds
in each conference once the plane is complete, but me
and Sam we're gonna be breaking things down from every
single angle across the next few weeks in this NBA Playoffs.
Appreciate each of one of you guys tuning into this here.
Make sure you're hitting that subscribe button wherever you're listening at,
whether it is on the iHeart app, on YouTube for

(01:14:31):
Fox Sports, the Gambla, or anywhere else there. So appreciate
you guys. Keep it locked and we back talk with
you next time. Please,