Ep. 75: NBA Playoffs Opening Round Takeaways, Biggest Concerns, and Biggest Winners - 04/21/25

A BONUS edition of the pod as Sean Barnard and Sam Oshtry dive into the #NBAPlayoffs. Opening round takeaways, biggest concerns, biggest winners, and more.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Happy Monday everyone, and a happy NBA playoff Monday.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
It is. I'm here with my guy Sam Austria of
the Score.

Speaker 1 (00:06):
My name is Sean Minard here on Fox Sports The Gambler,
and we have plenty of playoff action to get into.
So Sam, before we hit the ground running here, there
is a lot of hype leading up to this opening
week of playoffs, a lot of blowouts on the table,
maybe not what exactly we were hoping for. I think
some of what we expected, some surprises here, So too,
straight up, did the opening week.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Up to the hype for you?

Speaker 3 (00:24):
I think so? I think so.

Speaker 4 (00:26):
I don't care about the blowouts necessarily, Like people are
chirving about the thunder fifty point win, Like that's what
happens when you have that lop side of matchups, when
you have a historically great team in the Thunder taking
on a team that maybe shouldn't have even been in
the playoffs in the Grizzlies, with how they finished the
regular season.

Speaker 3 (00:44):
So I think so.

Speaker 4 (00:45):
Like even like the Lakers Wolves game, that game was
interesting to watch through all forty eight minutes, I thought
pretty much like even though the Wolves were pretty much
in control that entire second half. Lakers make a late
push around the midway point of the fourth quarter. But
I thought that was an exciting game throughout. The Warriors
are up twenty one point, Rockets come all the way back.
I thought it was a great and we have some
really competitive games to get to. I thought it was

(01:06):
a great opening weekend.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
Yeah, absolutely, and I do think that are better days
to come. Were bigger moments as far as the playoffs
are concerned. So still getting the feet wet, getting things underway,
and before we dive into the specifics of each of
these matchups here, got to ask about your viewing experience here,
because you are not just alone checking things out from
the TV.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
On Saturday.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
You did make the trip up to New York to
see one of the better games, probably maybe the best
game of the opening round between the Knicks and Pistons.
What was your experience like taking that in from Madison
Square Guarden.

Speaker 3 (01:32):
Yeah, it was awesome. That arena. I've been to a
lot of basketball venues.

Speaker 4 (01:36):
At all different levels. That arena is second to none.
It's just special. It's just different. In the playoffs, It's
the Mecca for a reason, the world's most famous arena
and the place was going bananas in the fourth quarter,
Like you kind of felt a nervous energy, i'd say
throughout the first three quarters, and it kind of reflected
how I think a lot of Knicks fans and NBA
fans felt about the next season, where there wasn't that

(02:00):
there wasn't as much excitement as last season. I think
the team was different, the identity of the group was different.
There was kind of more expectations, so you kind of
felt that nervous energy, especially as it was a competitive
game and the Pistons took a little bit of a
lead throughout those first three quarters. But the fourth quarter
was absolutely bananas. I mean it was just electric, wild,
whatever adjective you want to use there. It was incredible.

(02:21):
Like the energy in that place is just different. It's
second to none. It's that special of an arena. When
you're in the building for a playoff game, it's an
amazing atmosphere and a lot of times you could say
it's a building win, like throughout that twenty one zero run,
Like the momentum comes from that fan base and that building,
and it was just it was wild. It was awesome
to be there. Anytime you can get to MSG for

(02:42):
a playoff game. It's special.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
Yeah, that is incredible there. I am jealous of that.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
I still got to make my way up there for
a game have not been yet, so certainly one that
is right there on the bucket list.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
And let's dive into a.

Speaker 1 (02:52):
Little bit of each of these games, so to set
the table for each I will go and order it.
From the weekend, the Pacers did they take down the
Milwaukee Bucks from one to seventeen into ninety eight, A
little bit of chirpin at the end of that with
Dame Lollard on the bench, which I liked. Then the
Denver Nuggets producing a one twelve to one to ten
victory over the Clippers.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
Excited to talk about that.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
One a one twenty three to one twelve victory by
the Knicks which you alluded to there, the Timberwolves beating
the Lakers one seventeen to ninety five. Then yesterday we
have the Thunder blowing out the Grizzlies one thirty one
to eighty the largest playoff franchise win and Thunder history,
the largest playoff loss in Grizzlies history, and the biggest
margin of victory in any game one history in NBA.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
In NBA history.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
There we all said the Celtics defeat the Magic one
of three to eighty six, the Cleveland Cavaliers beating the
heat one twenty one to one hundred, and then last
night winding things down, the Golden State Warriors beating the
Houston Rockets ninety five to eighty five. So, Sam, I'll
have you leave us here. Out of all those games,
which one was the most notable takeaway? So which game
one do you think is going to dictate the series?

(03:50):
Out of these matchups?

Speaker 4 (03:53):
I think, honestly, not just Sells in the building, but
the Knicks Pistons, and I think let's just dive into
that one first. I guess if you want to look,
we had this conversation Ojo had Kid Cunningham in prison.
I mean he that was an incredible individual defensive performance,
and Kaid hadn't seen a lot of those coverages where

(04:14):
especially from the Knicks during the regular season, where Og
was just this defensive tendencity was on a different level.
But it wasn't just that, Like they tried to target
Brunson a lot in that first quarter, and the Knicks
did a great job with their coverage of where Brunson
would hard hedge, but OJ is such a good screen
navigator that he got back and Bruntswood hard hedge, and
then he would recovered to his guy and Og would

(04:35):
return and just have Kate cunning him in a prison
like Kate really really struggled three points in the first half,
and he was the physicality. Like everyone talked about the
physicality for the Pistons was gonna bother the Knicks, and
I think it did to some degree in the first half,
but it was also the vice versa, like Og and
Noby's one of the best on ball defenders in the NBA,
and he had Kid Cunningham just he locked Kate cunning

(04:56):
him up for pretty much the entire first half and
you could even say most of the game. And Michael
Bridges had some good shifts on him as well, but
it was mostly Og that was his primary defender. So
I was so impressed with that, and I just think
that then, I know you disagree, which why I wanted
to start with this, but I think the Knicks set
the tone of like, all right, you guys think you're
gonna be physical, but we're also going to be physical defensively.

(05:18):
We have two of the best wing defenders in the NBA.
Kate Cunningham has never played in a playoff game before.

Speaker 3 (05:24):
And we can talk.

Speaker 4 (05:24):
About Kat and the Cat and Mitch lineups, how great
those were. But I was impressed with the Knicks how
they set the tone on Kate Cunningham coming into this one.

Speaker 2 (05:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (05:34):
No, I mean that was that fourth quarter in particular,
the way the tides turned and way the complete control
of that game shift. It was was certainly a notable
takeaway there. And we obviously know you're kind of viewing
this series a little bit more through the Knicks lens,
where I am through the Pistons lens to make the
Pistons case here and why, Like, obviously this was a
missed opportunity by Detroit. There's no way around it that
you did have a lead going into that fourth quarter,

(05:55):
that you built up a lead as significant as up
to nine heading into that Bear, which was big deal
for them. They had him on the ropes and were
unable to finish the job. I kind of think this
is what they needed. It was a wake up call
in this first game. They did have to get their
feet wet. Four playoff intensity Kid Cunningham, and while he
still ended with I believe twenty one eleven and six
or something right around there not his best game. He

(06:15):
will be better than that, and a lot of these
were self inflicted issues by Detroit. I felt the turnovers
were a huge story to me, and that's where I
really thought the game fell apart.

Speaker 2 (06:24):
They finished with twenty one on the game.

Speaker 1 (06:25):
You will not win playoff games when you're turning the
ball over twenty one times against a team like the
New York next There so definitely a statement performance the
way they came on in that fourth quarter. But for me,
I think, like what it confirm orres than anything, we
should be buckling up for a series that neither one
of these teams is back and down.

Speaker 4 (06:40):
Yeah, I'm on the other side because the Pistons didn't
take advantage of a Tobias Harris.

Speaker 3 (06:45):
Yeah, let's just start with this.

Speaker 4 (06:46):
How do you feel that that Tobias Harris in his
first playoff game with the Pistons were more than ever
did in his playoff performances with the Sixers. That's just
classic classic Sixers luck there. But you have to take
advantage of tobayas plaoff performance like that. Tim Hardaway, Junior
was awesome. The fact that you had the Knicks in
foul trouble. Oh, Josh Hart had three fouls early, Kate

(07:09):
Cat had three fouls at the start of that third quarter.
Michel Bridges had three fouls at one point. You had
to take advantage of that foul trouble because the Knicks.
For as much as people say Tom Diibodeau refuses to
go to this bench, he was forced to go to
his bench and he played four bench guys because of
the foul trouble they were in. And I really want
to focus on the Karnthone Towns Mitchell Robinson lineup, and
I think Timms went to it reluctantly because they only
played forty seven minutes together in the regular season and

(07:31):
everyone's been clamoring for that lineup because they want to
see Cat play the four and Mitch play the five.
So he was forced to go to that lineup when
Josh Hart had three fouls in that first half. And
it was an incredibly impressive lineup when when Mitch was
at the five, Cat was at the four. They had
one hundred defensive rating, phenomenal defensive rating. Their net rating
was plus eleven, and I thought it really worked and

(07:52):
they had a lot of success with that. So the bench,
which everyone was like, that's not going to be a
factor in the series for the Knicks, the bench really stuffed.
We know what Campaign did with with that flurry in
the second half, which it's funny that he did that
against the Knicks for the Sixers last year and now
he was doing it for the Knicks. That guy just
even if I don't care how old he is, at
some point, just sign him late in the season, let him,

(08:15):
let him go on a playoff run with your group,
because that he's just I don't really think he's a
very good player, and his shot is really ugly, but
he's made for the playoffs and he's quite literally an
energizer bunny. But I was, I was just I don't
think the Pistons took advantage of some great performances from
the stars, and like I said, like this is Caid's
first playoff appearance, I don't trust that he's going to

(08:37):
figure it out and turn around. The coverages for the
Knicks were incredibly impressive, and og and Andobi's one of
the best individual defenders and he was being so physical
and locking Kate up so I'm not really convinced that
he's going to turn this series around. And the last
thing I'll say is, you know, Brunson struggled early in
that first half too, and then he injures himself and
he comes back and it's just he's as tough as

(08:58):
they come and was phenomenal.

Speaker 3 (09:00):
That fourth quarter.

Speaker 4 (09:01):
Fibbs quote, by the way, Yeah, when he said put
on put on the cape or he put on Bibbs
rarely makes jokes.

Speaker 3 (09:07):
You really thought he cook with that one.

Speaker 4 (09:09):
But but but my point is that on the Piston side,
you have Jalen Brunson, who I talked about how they
tried to target him earlier in that first in that
first quarter, and the Knicks were really good with the
defensive coverages of hedging him, recovering and getting back and
letting Og navigate those screens and get back to kid.
They didn't target him at all pretty much in that

(09:30):
fourth quarter, especially when the Knicks went on that twenty
one zero run, and not only did not target through
the next weakest defender he had a bum ankle like
he was limping out there, and he was in spurts.
He was great offensively, but he was clearly limping out there,
went back to the locker room for a reason, changed
his shoes for a reason. He was hurt, and the
Knicks weren't even targeting him and weren't weren't putting him

(09:50):
in action, or excuse me, the Pistons weren't targeting him
and weren't putting him in action. So so I thought
that was pretty poor coaching execution from them, and I
was just disappointed with that. But look, I don't see
I think the Knicks matched the Pistons physicality. I thought
Cat was phenomenal defensively. Something the Knicks did with they
changed they didn't really put Cat and drop coverage when

(10:11):
Mitch was out and Kat was playing the five. They
really had Cat come to the level of the screen
on his ball screens, and he was great in ball
screen coverage, which which was the concern with him coming
in to the season and this playoffs. So I was
really impressed with his Knicks defensively, with how they handle
the Pistons physicality.

Speaker 3 (10:27):
I don't think this is gonna be a series.

Speaker 1 (10:28):
Yeah, And for all the trash that I've talked on,
Karl Anthony Towns defense did finish with four steels and
two blocks in that game. He did exceed my expectations there,
but it is a seven game series for a reason.
Here now you mentioned Tobias Harris to fully set the
table on that. Tobias Harris scored twenty two points.

Speaker 2 (10:43):
At halftime for the Pistons. He used that.

Speaker 1 (10:45):
Twenty two number. He did not score twenty two points
in his past thirteen playoff game for the sixeris. He
reached that total in just eleven of his fifty seven
games overall played in the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (10:56):
In Philadelphia, he did.

Speaker 1 (10:57):
Ultimately finish with just twenty five in that game, so
pretty fitting three point second half. But shout out to
Tobias Man. I have no hatred in my heart for
Tobias now that he's out there. Shout out to him
and campaign man electric, absolutely electric. Before we move on,
they are back in action tonight. It is a six
and a half point spread in favor of the New
York Knicks. From the way you're talking, I believe you
expect them to roll once again.

Speaker 3 (11:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (11:19):
I don't know about roll, but I do think they
win and cover that number again tonight. Look, I think
they found something with those kar Anthine Towns. Mitchell Robinson lineups,
and I really hope Bibbs doesn't only use that when
they're in foul tra but I really hope he consistently
goes to that. And Andrew Shamick got some minutes. He
didn't really do much, but he got some minutes. So
they're playing guys off the bench now. Jalen Brunson's ankle
with one day rest, it could be a concern, But Jim,

(11:40):
we've also seen Jilen Brunson's start series out slow in general,
and he was phenomenal in that fourth quarter, but he
really struggled in the first half and it wasn't he
had some bunnies that he missed around the rim. But
of course the Pistons plan was to be ultra physical
with him, and when you get those bumps and bruises
going to the baskets harder to actually finish around the
rim once you get there, So that was their plan.

(12:01):
I just I just think Jalen Brunson is the best
player in the series. The Knicks are the way more
talented group and they can match We've sold them they
can match the Pistons physicality, their defensive intensity and if
the Knicks continues show up, especially back at home. I
think the Knicks win tonight, and like I said, I
think this is a five game series.

Speaker 1 (12:18):
Yeah, all right, well we will see. I do think
I would not shock me if the next win again tonight.
I do think when this series gets to Detroit that
it gets evened up. That I think it goes to
too and then it becomes a series from there.

Speaker 3 (12:28):
But you think it's two two going in the game five.

Speaker 2 (12:31):
I do, I think.

Speaker 1 (12:32):
I think, honestly, my prediction is nixt win tonight and
then Detroit takes both back home and then we got
a three game series, is what I'm thinking. Wow, all right,
all right, well, well we will say ultimate time will tell,
so we'll keep it rolling a little bit and not
bogged down too much on any series. I did want
to throw out, just aside from a team purely individual
player best performance that you saw, because mine does have
to involve this game.

Speaker 3 (12:54):
I think, So can I throw out nominees?

Speaker 4 (12:56):
Let me throw out four nomin and feel free to add, okay,
and then you can you can you can pick or add.
So jaylen Brunson, considering considering the fact that he really
started out struggling and was really inefficient around the rim,
but he and he hurt his ankle and then was
a hero in the fourth quarters. Phenomenal, most clutch player

(13:17):
in the NBA did his thing at what we've seen
time and time again in the fourth quarter. So I
thought that was a phenomenal performance with him Curry. I mean,
we'll get to the Rockets Warriors game, but Curry was
phenomenal last night, answered every run. James Harden and a loss, yeah,
I thought was awesome. And then also Paulo Banco, I
thought in a loss. So those are my fore nominees
for best performance of the weekend.

Speaker 2 (13:39):
I like it.

Speaker 1 (13:40):
I looked at it as kind of an exceeding my expectations.
Which guy changed the series in a way that I
did not think was possible. And I'm giving it to
my guy, Terry Johnson campaign for it stepping up in delivery.
And I do think like he completely spun that game
and that's what he does.

Speaker 2 (13:53):
Man.

Speaker 1 (13:53):
He had this quote from back during his time in
Philadelphia that still kind of sits with me. After he
did turn a game for the Sixers, he just said
energy costs nothing, and that's how he lives life.

Speaker 2 (14:03):
Man. He completely changed that game. As far as like
the stats of it.

Speaker 1 (14:07):
What he ended with off the bench in fifteen or
fifteen minutes of play, had fourteen points, one assist one
Stale was a plus twenty three in a game that
they ended up winning by eleven.

Speaker 2 (14:16):
So shout out to you.

Speaker 3 (14:17):
Quick story.

Speaker 4 (14:17):
So I was I was at nickx Wizard's preseason game
back in October, sitting sitting behind the Knixt bench, and
I was with a friend there and we were just
we were just talking ball, and I was talking about
Campaign and I'm really not a fan of him as
a player throughout the regular season.

Speaker 3 (14:34):
I have to eat my words.

Speaker 4 (14:35):
When he's that good in the playoffs and he really
is an energizer body like, I see the value in that,
but I'm not a fan of him as a player overall.
So I was talking smack about Campaign to my friend,
just I didn't really like his game this and that,
Like he had a good playoff moment for the Sixers,
but whatever. And I realized right after his wife is
sitting directly behind me, like directly behind me, and she's

(14:58):
talking to her friend about him, and like the relationship whatever,
because they're sitting directly behind me, and I'm talking loudly
to my friend. It's like right behind the next bench
at a preseason game, and I was like, wow, that's unfortunate,
but look I would won him on my team in
a playoff run.

Speaker 3 (15:12):
I can't deny that.

Speaker 1 (15:13):
Yeah, there we go. How about we spin this the
other direction. So we started positive, let's get negative. Was
there anybody, and I think there is an obvious one
we will ultimately conclude on, but lay out some candidates
forrie who are the worst playoff performers in the opening game?

Speaker 4 (15:26):
Yeah, all right, so I'll give you five nominees here.
Of course, Number one is Kyle Kuzma.

Speaker 2 (15:30):
He did it. Tony Snell cloff.

Speaker 4 (15:32):
The twenty trillion, twenty trillion for our guy Cus Austin
Reeves I thought was really bad. We'll get to that series.
Kid Cunningham, I thought really really struggled. And we talked
about OG's incredible individual defensive performance and how we saw
different coverages when the Knicks were setting doubles, which they
didn't do in the regular season, just added extra defensive
attention in his.

Speaker 3 (15:52):
First playoff game.

Speaker 4 (15:53):
And another guy was in his first playoff game who
I have been hammering to fade this guy at all costs.
Jalen Green was just awful for the Rockets last night.
And then last one is Michael Porter Junior who was
also awful, finished with three points for the Nuggets and
was actually benched. Yeah, so those are my five candidates.

Speaker 1 (16:10):
Yeah, shout out to Adelman for a benching him too,
because a lot of coaches wouldn't there.

Speaker 2 (16:14):
He was brutal.

Speaker 1 (16:14):
Michael Porter drin Now, I do think like the honest
answer from as far as relative to expectation and how
much they much delivered to their team, I think Jalen
Green is the answer that I he's got to give
you something. And as far as like that matchup overall,
when you will you get to like, we'll dive into
it deeper in a second. But obviously the Rockets need
an offensive punch and he just has to be the
guy to provide it. To take it a step further

(16:35):
about Jalen Green, I think how the rest of this
series goes dictates whether or not he is with the
Rockets next year, whether or not he is a part
of this core. They're gonna have to make some pretty
significant decisions about that young talent.

Speaker 2 (16:46):
Not a strong start to the playoffs.

Speaker 1 (16:47):
Now, as I mentioned a couple of times, it is
a seven game series for a reason, So we'll dive
it deeper into that for a second. As far as
the Kyle KU's my outlook to set the table for
just how bad he was in Game one, the Bucks
were soon sixty two point eight points per one hundred
persessions better when Kyle Kuzma was off the court. Just
think about that for a second. That their net rating

(17:07):
with Kuzma on the court, it was an eighty seven
point two offensive rating, a one forty four point four
defensive rating. That's negative fifty seven point two net rating.
When he was off the court, the Bucks had a
one oh five point six offensive rating, a one hundred
defensive rating. That's a plus five point six net rating.
A sixty two point eight uh net rating swing is
absolutely absurd stuff, especially in a playoff game.

Speaker 2 (17:29):
So if you're the Bucks here, and by the way,
Doc rivers after the.

Speaker 3 (17:31):
Game, I was gonna go there.

Speaker 1 (17:32):
I was gonna go there talking about like a well,
he just didn't get the ball enough. It does amaze
me how often that man just seemingly forgets that he
is the head coach of the basketball team.

Speaker 2 (17:41):
That he's talking about. But talk about kus for a second.

Speaker 4 (17:44):
Yeah, he needs to be featuring in the offense more.
It's your it's your offense. Yeah, you are the coach
making you should be featuring aim more on the offense.

Speaker 3 (17:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (17:52):
I mean, look like Kuz is incredibly inconsistent player. I
do think he has value and he's an easy guy
to clown. I think because of his outfits, I think
recently because of his politics and for a lot of
different reasons, he's an easy guy to clown and family,
Like what's that family life? I think people are are
going to take advantage of that when when they see

(18:12):
the opportunity. But he was awful, like like you just
laid out those numbers in those on off stats.

Speaker 3 (18:18):
He was awful.

Speaker 4 (18:19):
And I but he's also and we'll talk about this
series a little later, but without Dame Lillard, and like
how much Giannis has to be featured in the offense
really has to carry. It's harder for for those shots
because Kyle Kusm doesn't create his own shots like guys
have to create shots for him. He needs a table
setter to create shots for him. And when Giannis and

(18:40):
that Dame pick and roll were really humming earlier this
season and after the trade deadline when KU's came around,
KU's had some really good performances, but like all those
were the the what that opened up for him when
Damon and Giannis were running pick and rolls, inverted pick
and rolls, all of it. It really opened up kuss
Kus's game. Now it's like without Dame there and how

(19:00):
much defensive attention is on Giannis, it's hard for Cups
to really create his own shots. And I mean, he
was just awful. He had no impact on the game,
like literally, Like the stats sometimes don't always tell the story.
And we'll talk about Draymond Green who didn't put up
a great stat line, but I thought it was phenomenal
last night. The stats do tell the story for this case,
like kuz had just had no impact on the game.

(19:20):
You barely even noticed he was out there on either end. Yeah,
it was just a classic bad Cups performance.

Speaker 1 (19:27):
And to give him full credit, not only was Zeros
across the board, he got to the free throw line
and missed both those as well. So shout out to
Kyle kuzman Man at his core, he needs to remember
like he's an energy guy as well, and I think
that gets lost in the shuffle when we see bad Kuzma,
when he starts feeling himself a little bit. You got
to be a dude that attacks the glass, creates extra possessions,
do the little things for the team. Will be interesting

(19:48):
to see what his level of opportunity is.

Speaker 4 (19:50):
In Game two there, I means had thirty six points.

Speaker 3 (19:53):
Do you know what the other four starters combined for
It was twelve, right, fourteen?

Speaker 4 (19:59):
That's the like two of them including Coups and Torrian
Prince had zero points. Like there's just it's impossible to
win basketball games. But when your starters contribute that that few,
they just don't contribute all.

Speaker 3 (20:12):
Like, really don't contribute all.

Speaker 4 (20:14):
And that's why they need Dame back to even compete
in the series.

Speaker 3 (20:17):
But we'll see where it goes.

Speaker 1 (20:18):
Any thoughts on the the chirping from Dame Lollard from
the bench picking up the technical They obviously need him
back on the floor. There seems to be some optimism.
Does Dame Lillard completely change this series for you?

Speaker 4 (20:28):
Oh? Absolutely, I mean absolutely, because like I said, he
opens up shots for other guys like like him, His
and Gianni's presence and those guys running the pick and roll,
which they ran a lot more this season than they
did last season, and it's really effective for for the Bucks.
It opens so many more shots for guys like Torrian Prince,
guys like Bobby Porters, guys like Kyle Kuzmo. So yeah,

(20:48):
I mean it's everything. COO's is a I mean, excuse me.
Damian Lillard is an awesome player. Defensively not so much.
I hope he comes back for game two. If he's
coming back for game throwing the down, oh two, it's
it's gonna be hard to come back. But I will
say I love the chirping from Dame, like he knows
he's coming back and he's ready to go. We know
Tyre's Halliburn is a front runner shirper like he talks

(21:09):
a lot of smack, but he is the ultimate front runner.
And he did this in a game where he only
scored ten points. It was ohver seven from three. It's
not like Tyre's Halliburn was carrying the Pacers offensively here
we had some great performance. He was chirping while his
team was carrying him, and he really struggled offensively in
that game. I mean, we know what he does as
a passer. As a playmaker, he twelve assists. We get
all that, but he struggled offensively for the most part

(21:31):
in this game, and he was still chirping dam I
love it, and I hope Dame comes back for game two.

Speaker 1 (21:36):
Yeah, I want all the smoke possible, So I love
all the charp. I thought we'd get a little bit
more of it in next opening game. I thought when
the Rockets Clipper or Rockets and Warriors, the would be
a little more. I thought Piston's next. There's obviously still
been some, but I think all these series are gonna
ratchet up a couple of notches as well.

Speaker 4 (21:50):
I think what you're seeing is there's teams that their
identity is their defensive physicality, and they were trying to
be enforcers. And what you saw from the Knicks yourself
from the Warriors is they kept incredible composure, like they
knew that was their plan and you can't let it
get to you. And like even when Malik Beasley shoved
Jaylen Brunson when the game was over with five seconds left,

(22:10):
it's like a ridiculous, unnecessary shot. Like Jalen Brunson has
the ultimate composure so to not overreact to that, Like
I thought, Draymond did a really good job with his
composure last night, and their whole plan is to try
to get in their heads and get the let the
physicality beat you. But that was their identity during the
regular season that won them.

Speaker 3 (22:26):
A lot of games.

Speaker 4 (22:27):
These other teams, who were actually better offensively can match
your physicality. In a playoff series, everyone's intensity just rises.
So I thought those two teams did a great great
job with their composure.

Speaker 1 (22:39):
Let's stick right there with this this last matchup here
last night between the Rockets and Warriors. So it definitely
ended ninety five to eighty five victory of the Warriors
over the Rockets. Here the lowest scoring matchup of the
entire opening round thus far. The Rockets held there just
thirteen points in the second quarter while the Warriors outscored
in twenty nine to thirteen. Where that game got a
little bit of a part there, but ultimately it was
a battle throughout there. So what were you What was

(23:00):
your biggest takeaway from last night's game? I thought a
pretty fitting end through the overall weekend thoughts on game one.

Speaker 4 (23:06):
Let's start with the backcourt, Like Jalen Green and Fred
Van Fleet were just horrible. They combined for seven for
thirty four from the field. That's twenty percent combined field
goal percentage for those two. I mean, you're not gonna
win games when your backcourt is that ineffective.

Speaker 3 (23:20):
And specifically Jalen Green, we talked about him.

Speaker 4 (23:23):
It was his playoff debut and he was awful, like
like it was just he's an ineficient player in general,
but he was couldn't even get to his spots. The
Warriors defense did a great job of forcing him into
difficult twoes time and time again, and he was just
bad all around. My problem was when the Warriors were
up twenty three to one point, the Rockets make a

(23:45):
huge run and started that fourth quarter into the middle
of the fourth quarter. That run came with Jalen Green
on the bench, and it was with their double big
lineup with Steven Adams and Alpern Sengoon. Like, if the
Rockets have a horrible half court offense, they just do.
Their half court offense is incredibly ineffective and they can't
they don't have enough creators and enough guys who can
beat people off the dribble to create shots for others.

(24:07):
So there, so there, half court offense is just bad.
How they were getting made that comeback was just crashing
the offensive boards. Like they dominated the offensive boards. I
believe they won the rebound in battle by sixteen and
they had twenty two offensive rebounds. That's how they get
their shots. That's how they made their comeback. But then
they they take Steven Adams out of the game and
put Jalen Green back in, and that's when their offense

(24:28):
just collapse in the clutch. I would have kept Steven
Adams in that game. I get Jalen Greens, you're leading,
you're one of your leading scorers, and you want you
want to you don't want to bench him in a
crunch time moment.

Speaker 3 (24:38):
But you're off. You're you made that comeback. You got
back in the game.

Speaker 4 (24:42):
With your double big lineup, and it was strictly because
your best chance to score is just shooting bad shots
and letting those guys crash the glass and creating second
chance opportunities.

Speaker 3 (24:51):
And that's how they got back in the game.

Speaker 4 (24:53):
But then Immy Udoka went completely away from that, like
he took Steven Adams out of the game, and then
they went back to their small lineup, which isn't necessarily
small but small alurb and Jalen Green was just awful
down the stretch like he was for most.

Speaker 2 (25:06):
Of the game.

Speaker 4 (25:07):
So I wanted them to continue with that double big
lineup and not bring Jalen Green back in the game.
That's how you came back in the game, and that's
your best offensive, best chances to score. At this point,
it's just crashing the glass because you can't create any
good looks in half court as we saw.

Speaker 1 (25:22):
Yeah, no, I'm in agreement with there that I think
they really found something really the entire second half of
the season, but especially of late and especially in this
matchup with the double big lineup with Steven Adams and Chingoon.
I know that the plus minus does not always tell
the story, but Steven Adams was the only member of
the Rockets to end with a positive plus minus last night.
He was a plus four in a game that they
lost by ten. He finished with twelve rebounds, five of

(25:43):
them being offensive, and by the way, he gets like
the backbreaking offensive rebounds, I'll describe it where he'll get
a back to back and all of a sudden, it's
a kickout settle. Everybody take a deep breath, you feel
the impact of this.

Speaker 4 (25:55):
And I didn't think the Warriors did a bad job
like boxing out a rebound. They were just tiny, but
they dreaming on the five. They're tiny, that there's.

Speaker 3 (26:00):
Nothing they can do where you have those double biggest
crashingly less.

Speaker 2 (26:04):
Yeah, no, I agree with it.

Speaker 1 (26:05):
I don't think it was anything specific, but that is
more of a reason to reinforce why you have to
go to this if you're Houston, if you're going to
beat this team. There is no world where the Rockets
can win this series if it is an offensive shootout.
The only world that they have to win this if
it is a mucket up play defense earn every single point,
and that has been the Rockets identity. Now, with all
that being said, there is no Steph Curry on this

(26:27):
Houston Rockets team, and that to me was really the
story of last night. Some of the shots that Steph hit,
he can't play any better defense than what Houston was doing.
And I will say what stood out to me in
this for the first time, it is too early in
the series to start seeing from Im and Thompson, specifically
the shoulders slump that how did he hit that? It's
already starting, and when you start to see that from
a team, which we've seen time and time again in

(26:49):
Steph Curry's career, that's a problem.

Speaker 2 (26:51):
I did not like seeing that in Game one.

Speaker 4 (26:52):
Look, I thought the Rockets did a really good job
early on Steph Curry started to ozh from three from
from three, and we saw that during the regular season
games where they were incredibly physical with it, pretty much
face guarding him, picking up almost ninety four feet. But
what really killed the Rocks on the first half is
their turnovers. They had eleven turnovers in the first half,
sixteen for the game. And that's the Rockets aren't a
team that aren't a team that typically turns the ball
over a lot, but the Warriors defense is incredible at

(27:15):
forcing turnovers. They were fourth in the regular season in
opponent turnover rate. So what that does when the Rockets
are turning the ball over is you're going to get
better looks for Steph Curry when they're in transition. It's
hard to locate Steph Curry and pick him up and
start face guarding him, be physical with him the second
he reaches half court when you're in transition, because that's
when the chaos is you're locating different guys, and that's

(27:36):
when Steph Curry kind of started to get going late
in that later in that first quarter into that second quarter,
because the Rockets were turning the ball over constantly and
the Warriors were getting good looks all in points in
transition for Curry, and that's really once he starts going,
sees a few go through, it's really over.

Speaker 1 (27:53):
Yeah, No, one hundred percent, And that's exactly what went
down there. I've after last night, like as far as
a result, that did mean something to me. My optimism
for Houston, like having a chance in this series kind
of went out the window that I don't see where
the Rockets come back in this I think like that
was more or less kind of how you want the
game script to go if you are going to have

(28:13):
a chance in this game, and it never felt like
they were able to really take control.

Speaker 2 (28:17):
Do you see that deffinitely?

Speaker 3 (28:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (28:19):
Not Differently, I'm kind of I'm kind of like in
the middle somewhere, because on the one hand, it's like,
if you're going to dominate the rebounding battle and get
them in the second chance opportunities, you don't expect your
guards to combine for your back order to combine for
seven for thirty four from the field. Again, like it's
almost impossible to be that bad again.

Speaker 1 (28:38):
But they like they've kind of been like this is
who Jalen Green and Fred van Fleet.

Speaker 2 (28:42):
It is have been? It is?

Speaker 4 (28:44):
It is that like like if they hit like three
more shots in that fourth quarter, they probably win the game.
And the other thing was the Rockets. The Rockets planned
defensively and the Warriors went zone defensively, which they really
hadn't done that much throughout the season regular season, but
that really hurt the Rockets. Rockets had no idea to
score against the Warriors zone. So you think with more adjustments,

(29:04):
with more time, they're gonna figure out what more ways
to score against the Warriors zone. Maybe they're again they're
not a great half court offense or offense in general,
so you don't know. But I will say say like
the part of the Rockets plan, especially in that fourth quarter,
was like let those the supporting cast beat you, like,
we're gonna load up on Curve, We're gonna load up
on Jimmy Butler, is Moses Moody, gonna hit shots who

(29:26):
had a huge clutch three late in that game, Miss
Brandon Pozemski gonna hit shots? Who had a bunch of
big shots? Yeah, I thought he played really well. He
had a bunch of big shots. Is Gary Payton. He
had a huge clutch three in the fourth quarter. So
so they're they're really letting those guys beat them or
those guys consistently. That supporting cast that a lot of
those guys are young and not a lot of playoff experience.
Are those guys consistently gonna hit those clutch shots? That's

(29:48):
what the Rockets are banking on throughout a seven game series.
I don't know how that's gonna go. But like, you're
right that everyone was talking about the Houston's physicality and
the Houston's defense. Over the last two months of the season,
the Warriors have been one of the best defensive teams
in the league. Like, yeah, they were a great defensive
team too.

Speaker 1 (30:04):
The first like I want to say, twenty games, they
were off the charts with their defensive rating and they
were like rotating in. Steve Kerr was playing everybody and
they just were finding ways. So, like the point being,
this Warriors team can play those cards in a way
that the Rockets can't play the other way. From Golden
State's perspective, once the lid fully comes off for the Warriors,
where their offense starts flowing, I don't see any answer
for this Rockets team. So I thought that was probably

(30:25):
the most discouraging loss for me last night.

Speaker 3 (30:27):
Yeah, I'm with you on that, But I want to
talk about.

Speaker 4 (30:30):
Dreymond Green for a second, who I don't have a
stat line in front of me, was like maybe two
or four points, like six boards, three.

Speaker 1 (30:36):
Assists, four point six boards, three assists, three steals in
a block in thirty seven minutes.

Speaker 3 (30:43):
Phenomenal defensively.

Speaker 4 (30:44):
I mean he he like read so many of the
Rockets plays, Like there was a clip where where the
Rockets had some horn set and men Thompson like slipped
the screen and Draymond Green just read it to perfection
and stole the ball easy bucking trins for the Warriors.
He was phenomenal defensive. And people might see that Duncan
Opera and Sengoon, which was a sick dunk. I mean

(31:06):
that was on Draymond's head, no doubt. But Draymond was phenomenal.
I thought as a rebounder, trying as much as possible
trying to limit Houston's size on the glass.

Speaker 3 (31:15):
I thought at boxing out.

Speaker 4 (31:18):
Just defensively as a whole, it was a phenomenal Draamond performance.

Speaker 3 (31:21):
I was really impressed.

Speaker 4 (31:22):
And also Jimmy Butler like are at the point where
I don't think jim Jimmy Butler is even a top forty,
maybe not even a top fifty regular season.

Speaker 3 (31:30):
Player, but he could be a top twelve to fifteen
playoff player.

Speaker 4 (31:34):
And when you have two of those, of course Kurt
Curry's top five or ten, whatever you want to say.
When you have two of those guys, it's like the Skys,
who are the limit for this team. I thought Jimmy
was awesome last night too.

Speaker 1 (31:45):
Yeah, and I think the gap between those two and
if you I mean Shanguan was clearly the best player
for the Rockets last night, and probably you have to
keep him there with the variants and Jalen Green and
the peak Jalen Green is still worth noting here, but
the point being the gap between where Jimmy Butler and
Steph Curry is massive for the best player on the
Rockets here, and there's its tough to overcome that there.
I do want to shift gears and bring up the

(32:06):
Clippers and Nuggets series here when talk about the biggest
missed opportunity, it's hard for me to not look at
the Los Angeles Clippers here. Now, granted, kwhy did not
play well? There is other things that did want I mean,
Jokic is who he is. But to me, this was
absolutely a chance for them to steal game one in
the opponent's arena. It went to overtime there and by
the way, it was a two point game. Wasn't as
close as it seemed as Norman Powd did hit a

(32:27):
three pointer. Very thankful for all those that I'm sure
we're betting the Clippers to cover as that did make
the difference there. But the Clippers led by as many
as fifteen. They jumped out to an early lead, Denver
was able to crawl their way back in and ultimately
hung around enough to steal it at the end. So
what were your biggest takeaways from this matchup and how
big of a deal is it?

Speaker 2 (32:44):
Do you think that Los Angeles dropped the first game?

Speaker 4 (32:47):
Yeah, it seems like it was Los Angeles to win. Yeah,
And so I was at the next game obviously, So
this game was hit before, so I had to rewatch
it yesterday, so I didn't even catch it live, but
everyone was texting like OMG, oh my god, Westbrook, Oh
my god, Westbrook. It's like you never know what that means,
Like I couldn't mean like Westbrook did something phenomenal or
did something really stupid.

Speaker 2 (33:05):
And turned down the clearest example of that.

Speaker 4 (33:08):
Yeah, and it's like, oh my god, Westbrook. It's like
when you see like, oh my god, Curry, like you
know what that means, Like, oh my god, Westbrook could
mean like anything. So I rewatched this game yesterday, and
of course it was a classic classic Westbrook game, like
a massive three where the rock where the Clippers were
just doubling off Westbrook completely leaving him wide open, which

(33:29):
I get the idea in principle, but when I watched
that back and they were doing a lot and overtime,
those double teams were so obvious, like they were doubling
to go to Jokic and to go to Jamal Murray
when when he was when he had the ball at
the top of the key, like it was there was
such obvious double teams that they could read and make
easy plays like you want to disguise your double teams

(33:50):
a little better. I get, in principle double teaving off
of Westbrook because he's obviously not a good shooter and
not a great score at this point of his career.
But if there was such obvious double teams, it felt
like they were really ineffective, and and Jokich and Jamal
Murray read them to a tea and Westbrook took advantage.
And that's what happened on that final or one of
those final plays when Westbrook hits those hits, that big three,

(34:10):
and then of course you have the final play of
regulation where Westbrook just he had a lot of the three,
turns it down, throws it off the guy, yeah, and
throws the ball off like with three seconds, like at
least shoot the ball, like why are you throwing it
off his his his foot. But so yeah, so I
do think the Clippers kind of blew that game. I'm

(34:31):
not really concerned because I had this series going Clippers
in seven, and you know, Game one is just one
of those games where you kind of it's kind of
a feel and then you make you make adjustments. I
think Tyler is as good of a playoff coach as
there is, even though I didn't love the doubling, but look,
I'm gonna I'm gonna trust Ty Luke's He's a phenomenal, proven,
proven winner. What was more interesting, not necessarily the Westbrook experience,

(34:53):
it was the fact that Westbrook was in the lineup
at all, because we talked about this earlier, but Michael
Border Junior was just benched. I mean, he was horrible,
three points in twenty four minutes, but he was benched
and he was not in that clutch time lineup. It
was Jokic, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, Christian Braun and Westbrook
and usually MPG would be in there over Westbrook. And
I don't know if that's gonna be a trend the
rest of the series, but the Nuggets are going to

(35:15):
need the supporting cast, including Michael Porter Junior and Jamal
Murray who had twenty one points but not an efficient
twenty one seven for twenty from the field. They're gonna
need those guys to step up in a major way.
And so it's it's pretty impressive that Jokic had a
classic yogic game but nothing special and the supporting cast
didn't step up and the Nuggets still won on the

(35:36):
Clipper side Kawhi had, like James Harden was phenomenal. Kawhi
has to be better, Like he has to just be
one of these guys who's scoring twenty five to thirty
even thirty plus a night. And I don't think he
was great in that game. He was fine, but I
don't think he was great, And the Nuggets were doubling
him a lot, and I don't I think he kind
of struggled reading those double teams and struggles to say
that yeah so so, yeah, I'm not I still think

(35:58):
the series going seven, I'm not gonna change off the Clippers,
but it was impressive the Nuggets pulled this out.

Speaker 1 (36:03):
Yeah, Kawhi struggling with the double teams. I kind of
think it was a big story of that game. And
that's not something you expect from a guy who's the
two times Finals MVP, who's been around as much as
he has, who should have seen it all.

Speaker 2 (36:12):
Now.

Speaker 1 (36:12):
I get like in theory and in practice are different things.
That obviously he knows how to break down the double
team and read a defense when they're throwing things, when
it is coming at you at that rate in that moment,
it's a difficult thing. To handle there, so I think
he'll be better than he was in Game one. I
Kawhi Leonard is still Kawhi Leonard, but very like surprising
to me that that was one of my bigger takeaways
that game, the Russell Westbrook experience.

Speaker 2 (36:34):
Man.

Speaker 1 (36:34):
I mean, thirty four minutes, he shot five of seventeen
from the field, that is, with fifteen points, eight rebounds,
three assists, two steals, was a plus seven in the win.
I also love like the final final play really of
kind of forcing the steel off Harden there. That to
me is like the Russell Westbrook But you got to
take the good with the bad, and we saw all
of it on full display here. I commend Adalman for

(36:55):
benching Michael Porter Jr. I don't know if I commend
him for giving the amount of that you did provide
to Russell Westbrook. Because he makes some good things happen,
he makes some bad things happen. And even on that
last play, what I thought was like a coaching decision
that does deserve criticism. When they ran the two man
set with Jokichen Murray, the obvious safety valve was Westbrook there,
Like that was the open play that can't be your

(37:17):
guy in that case, Like, if that is the design,
you're gonna run, and you should be, you know, have
enough common sense to think they might be throwing a
double team at one of these guys here. You gotta
have even how he's playing a Michael Porter Junior or
somebody that it's Christian Brawn, give me a capable shooter
that can make things happen, or I trust a little
bit more as a decision maker than Russ. That to
me was also a sort of a failure on the

(37:37):
coaching standpoint.

Speaker 4 (37:39):
Yeah, I'm one thousand percent with you, and they played
a night so quick turnaround. Yes, I think the Clippers
went pretty big. I just think they're gonna go back
watch the film and realize that they kind of blew
that game. I think they're gonna disguise double teams better.
And I don't know if the Nuggets are gonna keep
closing with Russell Westbrook. I mean, we saw obviously, like
you just outlined, we saw.

Speaker 3 (37:57):
The good with the bad.

Speaker 4 (37:58):
But I think you have to You're going to need
Michael Porter Junior in this series, so you have to
give him a longer leash. And look, he was horrible
in the Minnesota series last year and it's a big
reason why they lost. He shot thirty seven percent from
the field in that series and averaged ten points a game.
And that was a big reason why the Nuggets lost
to Minnesota in seven last year because again Yoki just helped.
Didn't show up and Jamal Murray wasn't great in that series. Either,

(38:19):
You're gonna need Michael Porter Junior in this series. You
just are easier third leading score throughout the season.

Speaker 3 (38:26):
You can't.

Speaker 4 (38:27):
You have to give him a longer leash. And look
if if he's not playing defense, and when he starts
not hitting shots, you see his effort kind of wins
a little bit and he's a little.

Speaker 2 (38:36):
Bit yeah and dedervingly.

Speaker 4 (38:38):
So yeah, and so you you if your effort goes down,
like the benching is warranted. But I think you're going
to need him in the series. But for tonight, I
think the Clippers win, not like huge, but I think
I could see them winning by h margin around ten.

Speaker 1 (38:51):
Yeah, I'm in agreement there. I do think that they
get their bounce back. This is gonna be a series. Man,
We've talked about it going in that I would be
pretty shocked if this was anything but seven. I think
this is gonna be one that goes back and forth
and we get the other side of things tonight. So
it is a one point spread. Clippers favored by one
minus one eighteen on the money line on DraftKings Sportsbook.
The over under set at two to seventeen and a half.
Would not be shocked if he goes under that. Either

(39:12):
it did go over because of that overtime period. They
were right around I forget what the exact number is,
but would have been comfortably under if it were not
for that only cleared it by like two points even.

Speaker 2 (39:21):
With overtime there.

Speaker 1 (39:22):
I did want to make sure we hit on the
Lakers a little bit here, so the Timberwolves ultimately producing
a one seventeen to ninety five victory, felt like Minnesota
hit every shot in existence in that game. Was this
a game that changed your opinion of the Lakers from
an overall playoff or series perspective here or just a
bad start?

Speaker 3 (39:40):
So I had Lakers in six.

Speaker 4 (39:42):
Originally I'm not gonna veer off the Lakers to win
the series, but I think it's in seven.

Speaker 2 (39:47):
Now, Okay.

Speaker 4 (39:48):
I was pretty surprised, how unprepared and just a lack
of intensity and focus and effort from the Lakers, Like
we knew the Wolves had the physicality and the size
of vantage, of course, because the Lakers primarily play Rui
at the five, and that's an incredibly small lineup, and
we know how big the Wolves are with goog Go

(40:08):
Bear at the five.

Speaker 3 (40:09):
So I was pretty So that wasn't that shocking.

Speaker 4 (40:12):
But like when you outline all the stats, like Minnesota's
bench outscoring Los Angeles by thirty.

Speaker 3 (40:16):
Minnesota had twelve more points.

Speaker 4 (40:18):
In the paint, they had nineteen more fast break points.
They had fourteen more assists, and that was a big thing.
It's like Luca Doncies only had one assist. Lakers were
playing a lot of a one on one basketball, weren't
moving the ball, and it wasn't not an awful moon.
It was a lot of guys just kind of standing
around watching Luka Doncicch do his thing, watching Austin Reeves
do his thing, even though he struggled a lot. So

(40:38):
I'm not convinced that the Minnesota's gonna win the series still,
but you're gonna see an energized Lakers group, because you know,
that's an ugly film session. They're about to go through
with JJ Reddick calling them out and he did postgame
with just their their physicality and their effort and like
you expect that when you have the size disadvantage, but
it was really just like an all around effort thing

(40:59):
for me, where it's like, this is game one of
the playoffs, and they didn't feel like they knew that
that this was actually the postseason.

Speaker 3 (41:04):
Not just one of the eighty two games in the
regular season.

Speaker 2 (41:07):
Yeah, and there's two ways to look at this.

Speaker 1 (41:09):
I kind of went into the series with the belief
that this would be a foot on the Gas mentality
of Lebron Luca, knowing the importance of if we can
win this series in as few games as possible, save
the legs, make it a run. I also think there's
a little bit of wear and tear from what a
push the second half of the season has been. It
has been an all gas, no breaks. Is they've fought
for playoff positioning, fault for seeding. Both these guys I'm

(41:29):
sure are banged up dealing with stuff. Lebron for sure
in that category here. So was surprised by the lack
of intensity and that's something I'm gonna have a close
eye on for the second game here also doing a
note like they pulled the plug on the Jackson Hayes
experience very quickly.

Speaker 2 (41:43):
He played just eight minutes in this game. I understand
Jackson reason.

Speaker 1 (41:47):
Yeah, I get it to an extent, but I also
I kind of think, like you just have to have
some somewhat of a real deal center body at least
for stretches in this game, so I would like and
again he played bad. He was a minus eleven in
eight minutes, add just one point in three rebounds.

Speaker 2 (42:02):
There.

Speaker 1 (42:03):
I think they need to go back to Jackson Hayes,
and he pertsonally has to be better for them to
like really think it's.

Speaker 4 (42:08):
A really tough decision, and they're in a really precarious
situation because again, like you said, they are really small
and the Wolves are just killing them with their size,
so you need to play a bigger guy like Jackson Hayes.
But let's just be honest, like Jackson Hayes is bad,
Like he's just a bad basketball player. I don't even
know if he's a backup in this league. If for
being honest with ourselves, like like the Lakers need him
for the rebounding and physicality against the Wolves bigger lineup,

(42:31):
but he can't, like, like, what is Jackson he's good at?
He's not good at a short role playmaker when guys
give him pocket passes. Yeah, he's not He can't really
treat he can't. Yeah, he can't really create in the
in the short role, which the Lakers could use a
guy to do that. And then he's not really that
great of a finisher, like we says a lot of
bet but he's not that great of a finisher around
the rim, and he's not some like special rebounder. So

(42:53):
it's like, yeah, they need him, but JJ Reddick obviously
sees that and doesn't trust him. So it's like, how
am I supposed to play him when he's that ineffective
when he's actually in the game.

Speaker 3 (43:02):
I want to talk about the other big for a
second though.

Speaker 4 (43:04):
Rudy Gobert, who I thought was I thought was gonna
be played off the floor in this series.

Speaker 3 (43:08):
I thought he was amazing.

Speaker 4 (43:09):
Luca Doncis took advantage of switches when Rudy Gobert switched
out on him, but other than that, he really stopped Lebron.
Lebron was not doing good job of attacking Rudy Gobert switches.
So I was impressed with him defensively, he did a
good job of guarding and space and forcing tough twos.
Even when he was in drop in a lot of
Austin Reeves ball screens, when he was in drop on

(43:30):
a lot of Lebron James ball screams. There was a
couple of times that we got caught in switches on
both those guys, and he forced tough twos and did
a good job guarding and space, which was the big concern,
like they consistently targeted him. I know he played around
twenty five minutes or so, but he I thought he
did a really good job guarding in space. So if
they're not going to take advantage and Luga Doncis is
the only one taking advantage of those switches and they
don't really play Rudy Gobert.

Speaker 3 (43:51):
Off the floor.

Speaker 4 (43:52):
Because I thought there was a possibility the Laker the
Wolves were going to match Lakers small ball line him
and say we can't put Rudy Gobert at the five.

Speaker 3 (44:00):
But they said no, like you have to match us.

Speaker 4 (44:02):
You have to match our size, our physicality or length,
and the Lakers couldn't do.

Speaker 3 (44:07):
That, and I was impressed with you to go beert.

Speaker 1 (44:09):
Yeah, Rudy's always a guy that people love the pile
on when things are going bad and doesn't necessarily get
his flowers when things are going good. So shout out
to him for stepping up and doing his job. I
did see a quote I'm forgetting where I got this from.
But as far as like analyzing talent from an NBA perspective,
speed creates, skill, capitalize, and size prevents, and out of

(44:29):
those three, that third one is the most difficult to
evaluate that having a guy that cuts things off more
than the impact has actually shown.

Speaker 2 (44:36):
That's go bear in a nutshell there.

Speaker 1 (44:38):
And I know people for years have spit out the
defensive metrics and what he provides from that angle there,
But I do think like at this point, to be
directly honest about it, Gobert gets a lot more hate
than he does the actual praise when he does get
the job.

Speaker 3 (44:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (44:50):
And to that point, it's like the Wolves are always
consistently good three point defense, and it's not necessarily because
of the perimeter defenders, even though they do. It's how
they can guard, and you can guard with a different
stock when you have such a great rim protector around
the hoop, it's like you can be more way more
aggressive guarding the three point line because you know, on
these drives you have a menace down there in Rudy Gobert.

(45:10):
So he deserves credit for three point defense, even though
he doesn't get that recognition to your point, with size prevents.

Speaker 3 (45:17):
But yeah, so I was impressed with him. Really, what
it comes down.

Speaker 4 (45:19):
To is like Austin Reeves has to be better like
him and Lebron didn't even score. Neither of them scored twenty.
They were combined thirteen for thirty one from the field.
Like the Lakers have the three of the four best
players in the series, but if two of those guys
don't consistently play like it on a nightly basis throughout
these seven games, they're not gonna win.

Speaker 3 (45:35):
And I thought Anthony Edwards.

Speaker 4 (45:37):
Was pretty He wasn't really efficient, but he was pretty
good attacking Austin Reeves because he struggled defensively a lot.
They tried to hide Luca, but they got put Luca
in a bunch of action too, and Anthony Edwards did
a good job attacking him. And so that's their whole
plan is getting those guys to guard because they have
weak perimeter defenders, and so this is gonna be interesting Matgic.
But like whatever JJ reddicks adjustments or whether it's just

(45:59):
like he even said it, there are no adjustments. During
the game, he had an interview said there are no adjustments.
We have to play harder and more physical. Like, yeah, obviously.

Speaker 3 (46:06):
They're going to make some adjustments, but that's what it
really came down to.

Speaker 2 (46:10):
Yeah, no, I do you think you're right about that?
And he's right about that.

Speaker 1 (46:13):
There Now the last question before we get fully wrapped
up here in regards to the blowout. So the Cavaliers
over the Heat one twenty one to one hundred, the
Celtics over the Magic one o three to eighty six,
which that is a game that the score was a
bit closer than the actual game itself, and then the
one that was as Drassica blow as you will really
ever see an NBA playoff perspective, the Thunder one thirty
one to eighty over the Grizzlies. Out of these three series,

(46:35):
does any of the team that got blown out have
a chance of picking themselves off the mat to win
a series or even a game.

Speaker 3 (46:41):
No, no, no, no chance. Uh, the Magic will get
a game.

Speaker 4 (46:47):
And I was pretty impressed with Pollo and the I
mean they were up at halftime, and just like the
their offense just won't be able to keep up with
the Celtics.

Speaker 3 (46:55):
But their defense is is we know what they are.

Speaker 4 (46:58):
How they just have great wings stoppers and you know
that's obviously what you need to stop the Celtics. A
lot of great one on one defenders and the Celtics
whole offensive beating guys off the dribble and creating driving
kick opportunities when when they get two on the ball,
and the Magic have great wing defenders and one on
one defenders to prevent a lot of those dribble dry penetrations.

(47:18):
But they just can't keep up offensively. I think the
Magic could get a game though, with just when the
Celtics go cold from three to one night. Yeah, Grizzlies
don't even deserve to be in the playoffs. As far
as I'm concerned.

Speaker 2 (47:27):
It might be more embarrassing to lose like that than
to miss the playoffs.

Speaker 4 (47:30):
One hundred percent. I would not even want to be
in the playoffs at that point. But again, like people
are complaining about that blowout. The Thunder based on the
regular season, are a historically great team, like this is
a historically great team and hung a team, yeah, against
the team with a sort of great team with a
lot to prove, like you just said, against a team

(47:51):
that's not really that good. So I think the Thunders
sweep there and the other one Cavs. He you know,
Eric spols is always good for one game, so I
could see that going five, but not a lot of
major takeaways. Those winners are all which is only three
series really where the winners are four gone conclusion.

Speaker 2 (48:05):
Yeah, no, I've in agreement there.

Speaker 1 (48:07):
I and my number one takeaway, I don't think Memphis
can sniff even competing in a game is sort of
my That was as dominant of a game that you
will see from an AL and the NBA playoff perspective there.

Speaker 2 (48:17):
So before we wrap up.

Speaker 1 (48:18):
Here to the two games tonight, you're on Clippers getting
their bounce back, and you think that the Knicks cover
of the minus six and a half.

Speaker 3 (48:23):
Yeah, I think the Knicks cover.

Speaker 4 (48:24):
I think the Clippers cover two of the best series
are two of those games. I'm glad we have that
quick turnaround. I want to see how Jalen at Brunson's
ankle responds. That's gonna be very interesting, how much, especially
later in the game when he takes a bunch of
falls and everything.

Speaker 3 (48:38):
That's what you saw in that fourth quarter.

Speaker 4 (48:40):
It's gonna be hard to get through a huge playoff run,
and not that many people expect them to get past
this round, but when he's playing on a bum ankle.
But he's obviously, like I said earlier, as tough as
they come in this league. So we'll see how that responds.
Let me ask you which team down oh one, are
you most confident if you had liked the Lakers.

Speaker 1 (48:59):
Yeahs will be my answer. Clipper is a close second.
But I certainly could see Denver winning that series. I
still think like it was a really bad game one
for the Lakers. To me, that is, they wash their hands,
pick themselves up, and they'll be fine moving forward. So
the least amount of panic and the Lakers.

Speaker 3 (49:12):
Lost for me, Yeah, I'm with you.

Speaker 4 (49:13):
I think the Clippers are actually the better team overall,
even though the Nuggets have the best players, So I'd
say Clippers one. But I'm with you that I'm pretty
convent Lakers are gonna respond. I think both those series
go seven. I also would throw the Bucks in there,
just because we expect game to come back, like maybe
Game two, probably Game three latest, So I think the
Bucks gonna make that series pretty competitive. Are there any
redos if you had to any team that you picked

(49:36):
to win a series that you would want us flip
right now?

Speaker 3 (49:38):
After game one?

Speaker 1 (49:39):
I think you're trying to pitch hol Me into my
Detroit Pistons take here, But I'm not going there yet.
I still feel I'm not going to overreact to over
one game for any of these series just yet. Still
feeling fine for the way I'm sitting on each of these.
But surprising, like I think probably the gaps are a
little bit wider than I expected with some of these
top end games. Like I think we're looking at like
the Memphis in Oklahoma City, Like that's probably like the

(50:02):
first and like like eighteenth best team in the NBA
or something around along those lines, So kind of crazy.
How big that is is probably my biggest takeaway.

Speaker 3 (50:09):
Yeah, I would say the pace.

Speaker 4 (50:11):
I obviously picked the Bucks to win the Pacers because
I just don't know exactly what, uh what Dame's gonna
be when he comes back. Yeah, his fitnessing is conditioning,
all that stuff, and when he's gonna come back, if
they're already in an O two hole, it's gonna be
hard to recover from.

Speaker 3 (50:25):
So if I had to flip right now in one series,
it would be the Pacers.

Speaker 4 (50:28):
I'm still confident the Clippers, still a good feeling about
the Lakers, but it would probably Paciers if I had
to flip on one.

Speaker 1 (50:35):
Pacers just got a lot of guys, man, the Nemhard's,
the nay Smiths, Like, these guys just come buzzing in
and make impacts. Ben Shephard, I love all. Like it's
a deep roster there. So yeah, Indiana is then the defend.

Speaker 4 (50:45):
Like this Pacers team last remember like they couldn't defend
it all. They've been the top ten defensive league of
the last two months. The Pacers actually defend.

Speaker 2 (50:52):
That, yeah, one hundred percent there.

Speaker 1 (50:54):
So any any other final thoughts from the opening round
before we get signed off here.

Speaker 4 (50:57):
I don't think so. I think this is as good
as the first round gets. We're gonna have a lot
of really competitive series throughout. Like I said, Clippers and
Knick tonight. But yeah, this is gonna be an awesome
next two weeks.

Speaker 1 (51:09):
Absolutely, so we're gonna be on top of all the
action right here on Fox Sports The Gambler, myself, Showman
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(51:30):
wherever you're listening.

Speaker 2 (51:30):
I'll be right back next time.