Jason reacts live after the Indiana Pacers force Game 7 with a big Game 6 win in the NBA Finals over the Oklahoma City Thunder. He discusses Pascal Siakam’s continued dominance, Tyrese Haliburton playing through a calf injury, TJ McConnell with another big game, and more. He also breaks down Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s up and down game, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren not having enough in an OKC loss. Finally, he gives his thoughts on the report that the Buss family is selling the majority stake in the Los Angeles Lakers for $10 million and how that could impact the team building around LeBron James and Luka Doncic.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
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(02:00):
All right, welcome to him tonight here at the volume
heavy Thursday.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Everybody, holp, all of you guys are having a great week.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Well. The past NBA finals since the twenty twenty two
series between the Warriors and the Celtics continues to give
as the Pacers tonight beat the shit out of the
Oklahoma City Thunder their most impressive performance on several levels
is they tie the series at three. We have Game
seven on Sunday. I I'm going to be getting into
(02:25):
Tonight's game from a bunch of different angles, talking about
some specific things to look for in Game seven on Sunday,
some things that need to go right for Indiana they're
gonna have a chance to win that game. The reality
of the test, this final test that Oklahoma City has
presented to every opponent to this point that no one's
been able to solve, which we'll get into at the
tail end of the show today. The Los Angeles Lakers
(02:48):
got sold since Game five in Game six of the
NBA Finals, I'm yet to talk at all about that.
So we're going to have a little bit of a
breakdown just kind of for those of you guys who
have been paying too close of attention, just break down
to some of the details that are going on in
that transaction, some of the ways it's going to change
things for the Lakers moving forward. So a little bit
of Lakers talk at the tail end of the show,
and then when we're done there, we're gonna take some
(03:08):
questions from the chat. So subscribe to the channel, drop
your questions in the chat. Jackson's gonna come on the show.
We'll take ten to fifteen minutes worth of questions, and
then when we wrap up here on YouTube tonight, we're
headed over to playback. That's playback dot tv slash Oops tonight.
We're gonna be taking callers, just hanging out. It's like
a kind of an informal basketball hour. It's a ton
(03:28):
of fun. We've been doing it throughout this entire postseason.
If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend you
guys go.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Check it out.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
You guys know the job before we get started. Subscribe
to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channels. You don't miss any
more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter and underscore JSONLTC.
You guys don't miss you announcement. So forget about a
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It's also super helpful if you leave a rating and
review on that front. Jackson's doing great work on our
social media feeds Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. And then,
last but not least, keep dropping those mail back questions
in the chat. For the tail end of the show.
(03:57):
All right, let's talk some basketball. So the oh of
playoff series has always been super fascinating to me. I
was doing a radio hit in South Carolina on Wednesday
with a buddy of mine name Richmond Weaver, and we
were discussing the realities of the difference between single elimination
and a playoff series. There is this kind of pathway
that takes place, right There's this learning phase at the
(04:20):
beginning of the series. You're feeling each other out right.
You're finding out which guys do the best job guarding
which guys, which actions work, which actions don't work. Can
we capitalize on this mismatch, can we prevent them from
capitalizing on that mismatch. It's all of this feeling out right,
and then usually by about game four, both teams have
figured out they're best coverages that work and their best
(04:40):
actions that they can run to try to score when
things slow down, and from that point forward in the series,
everything switches to execution. There's no magic adjustment you can make.
There's no sort of like dynamic change in your approach
that can shift the outcome. It just comes down to
your guys doing their best ability to execute the specific
(05:01):
game plan that.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
You've landed on.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
By that you know Game three, Game four part of
the series, and one of the biggest problems for Indiana
in this series has been their inability to establish anything
that is consistently effective in the half court. Like when
things really bogged down for them on offense, they don't
really have a reliable action. I'd argue their most reliable
action at this point in the series.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
It like slow down.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Half court basketball has literally just been TJ McConnell driving
at smaller Oklahoma City guards. He's the one guy in
a Pacers jersey who's been able to consistently gouge the
OKC defense in the half court collapse them, creates spot
up opportunities and layups for himself, and then Siakam can
get to a little right shoulder fade, but he's not
(05:44):
able to get all the way to the rim in
the half court very much. But TJ's really the only
guy who can gouge them in that way. On the
other side of the floor, like Shay and Jay Dubb
have been able to pretty consistently get into the teeth
of the defense for Indiana. Now, whether or not they
process correctly when they get there and make kickouts things
along those lines. That has kind of shifted from game
to game. Shane JDub both were rough again tonight, But
(06:05):
that is the dynamic ap play in the series is
one thing slowed down in the half court. Oklahoma City's
athleticism can really become a problem for Indiana, But Indiana
all season long has had an engine, an engine that
generates offense outside of the half court. When they defend
and when they get stops and when they force turnovers,
they can get out and run. And when they get
(06:25):
out and run, they have a lot more advantage situations,
meaning where you have an easy kickout or an easy
drop off to a guy who's unguarded and is going
to have a defender sprinting out at him. And I
would argue, if you wanted to point to one thing
about this Pacers team where they're clearly better than OKSE,
one thing that like, if we're putting green check marks
(06:47):
underneath each team as and who's got the strength in
this matchup, If there's one thing the Pacers are clearly
better at, it's their aggregate offensive skill down the roster.
When the Pacers have advantages, they can pass through those
advantages and finish plays at a higher level than ok see,
(07:07):
that's their advantage. That's the push and pull of this series.
When Indiana can get stops, they can usually get out
in transition. When they get out in transition, they have
the advantages they need to succeed. They start to catch
a rhythm, a bunch of guys get going, and they
can get really tough to beat. Right, But if they
(07:30):
can struggle to get stops, if they struggle to get
out in transition, even as recently as the fourth quarter
of Game five, we've seen them have serious problems just
getting past that initial layer of Oklahoma City's defense. We
talked about it in We talked about it in our
show after Game five. It kind of had this weird
optical dynamic in the half court where for the Pacers,
(07:52):
it kind of feels like a bunch of dribble handoffs
and interchanges out above the break, but no one's turning
the corner, no one's downhill, or if they do, someone
finally messes up for Oklahoma City and they get some
rim pressure at some point later in the possession. For
Oklahoma City, they pretty consistently gouged into the teeth of
Indiana's defense in that half court setting, right, So that's
(08:14):
the dynamic. If Indiana has to dribble up against Okac's
like set half court defense, it's gonna be a problem.
I thought Indiana's defense was fantastic from the jump tonight
and that allowed them to avoid that half court situation
for the majority of the night. And it really starts
with dem Hard and Nie Smith. I thought Aaron Nei
Smith had his best game of the series defensively by far.
(08:38):
He struggled consistently in the JDub matchup. He's been bullied,
he's been undisciplined on Shay, picking up silly fouls here
and there. This was his best game navigating screens, keeping
the ball in front. Nem Hart has done a great
job in the entire series, but that's where it starts,
at the point of attack. This is the biggest push
and pull in all NBA games. We talked about this
with Colin the other day. In the same way that
(08:58):
in the NFL, there's a lot that kind of dictates
every possession. If your offensive line can't get a push,
your un game's not gonna work. And if your offensive
line can't stop the rush, you're not gonna have any
time for your quarterback to throw or no time for
your receivers to get open. It's like this unseen thing
that takes place right in front of our eyes that
gets misconstrued, and we're always just looking at completion percentages
(09:21):
and blaming quarterbacks and doing all that sort of stuff,
when it's clearly the line that is controlling the dynamic
of the game. Similarly, in basketball, that is the dynamic
that swings everything in the game. If you get bludgeoned
at the point of attack, everyone's got a hard help.
If everyone's got a hard help, all of a sudden,
there's easy kickout reads. If there's easy kickout reads, any
(09:42):
NBA player is gonna find a rhythm. And in this series,
when Shay has gotten through the first layer of the
defense and made those kickouts early and often in the game,
like Game two, in Game five, the thunder have been
able to knock down shots and they've been in really
good shape.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
But if you can.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Start to flatten those drives and make it a little
bit harder for them to get those hard dribble penetration moments,
all of a sudden, your off ball guys can do
more digging down and recovery kind of stunting at the
ball rather than fully committing to the ball. All of
a sudden, those kickouts turn from wide open threes to
(10:20):
rushed threes or other opportunities for the gap between Indiana
and Oklahoma City's off ball processing and off ball play
finishing to manifest itself. And on many occasions in the series,
when the Pacers have really dug in defensively at home,
they've been able to play Oklahoma City into some really
rough shooting games.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
But that's where it starts.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
When Oklahoma City gets eighteen unguarded catch and shoot threes
like they did in Game five, because Shay and Jay
Dubb are just consistently beating the man in front of
them and making the kickouts, that's where it becomes really,
really difficult to win that tug of war. And I
thought Ni Smith and Nemhart in particular just did an
incredible job tonight. From there that the Pacers had their
(11:01):
best game of the series in terms of help and
recover situations, constantly stunting and digging at ball handlers, showing
help and getting.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
Out the shooters.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
That's how it causes turnovers. Very simple fact is that
if you hard drive and everyone collapses, it's pretty easy
to make those kickout rates. But if you are on
the defender, if the defender's got you on his hip
and he's staying attached, and the guys that are off
ball instead of hard helping are staying in the passing lane,
(11:31):
that's where turnovers happen. Or when the ball handlers dribbling
against one guy but he doesn't have him fully beat,
so he doesn't see because he's engaged in hand fighting
and trying to fight through the contact, that second defender
comes over and that guy ends up turning the ball over.
That happened like three or four times tonight, where the
second defender came from behind when the guy wasn't looking
(11:52):
and they were unable to see it coming and ended
up giving up a turnover twenty one turnovers for the
Thunder tonighteen points off of him. The Pacers got out
in transition all throughout the game twenty two fast break points.
When we get to the mail bag at the tail
end of the show, I'll pull up on synergy the
full blown like transition numbers. But it just their defense
(12:13):
allowed them to operate with advantages most of the night,
and as a result of that, a bunch of guys
were able to catch a rhythm and they looked fantastic.
And that's how you end up with six dudes in
double figures and lots of people contributing in all these
various different ways. Pascal was great all night. He's been
great in the entire series. I think get the series
ends today, and if the series ends on Sunday and
(12:33):
the Pacers win, you probably got to vote Pascal Siakam
for Finals MVP with how consistent he's been with his production.
Nie Smith his best game of the series in my
opinion in terms of two way play. I thought he
was awesome on defense in this game. Andrew Nemhart early
aggression in this game, knocking down that big corner three again.
This is if there's something you're going to look at
as an area of optimism looking forward in the series
(12:56):
for the Pacers, Nie Smith and Nemhard were like completely
in the upside down. After Game five. Nie Smith had
two or three nasty turnovers down the stretch, had kind
of lost control of his shot. Nie Smith has been
getting cooked defensively all series and hasn't been able to
knock down shots. Those two guys go five for eleven
from three tonight and have their best defensive game of
(13:19):
the series. That is a huge bit of positive momentum
that you're carrying into Game seven. Obi Toppin, who has
been has had all sorts of blitzes of scoring in
this series, big time catch and shoot threes in tonight's game.
TJ McConnell, who's consistently, like I mentioned earlier, been the
best guy on the Pacers at gouging Oklahoma City's defense,
(13:42):
which has caused all sorts of positives. They're plus ten
again tonight in his twenty four minutes. That is the
push and pull and that's what we have to look
for for Game seven. As we look into Game seven,
which team's going to control that tug of war? No
team has been able ton one specific demon with Oklahoma
(14:02):
City so far, which is that when the series is
hanging in the balance, in the big pivotal games, nobody
can score on them. So, for instance, you're gonna go
down two to zero at home, that's series over. It's
just too much to overcome that. Gotta win Game two.
(14:22):
They strangle the Pacers in that game. Game four, Pacers
have a lead going into the fourth quarter. I think
they were up seven they strangle the life out of
the Pacers. They literally can't score down the stretch. Even
in Game five, like the Pacers go on a run,
Siakam gets an offensive rebound, hits a three off the
left wing. It's ninety five to ninety three. Looks like
(14:43):
they're right there. All of a sudden, Oklahoma City tightens
the screws and the Pacers turn the ball over four
consecutive possessions. And it's not just the Pacers. You go
back to Minnesota, exact same thing happened in game four
of that series. You go back to Denver in game four,
and in game five, and in games seven of that series.
They have strangled the life out of the team. They've
(15:04):
had their moments where they look bad. Minnesota beat the
shit out of Oklahoma City in game three. Denver had
a several controlling they had a big controlling win in
Game three and another one in Game six. Memphis, with
without like before John Muran got injured, was beating the
shit out of Oklahoma City at home in game three. Like,
they've shown their cracks. They're a young team. They struggle
(15:26):
on the road, they've had their issues, but ultimately, when
everything is actually on the line when they're back is
truly against the wall. It's like that meme with the
dude sitting back with the controller and then he leans
forward when it's go time, like Oklahoma City tightens the
screws and everyone falls apart. That is the challenge, No, no,
If Indiana is gonna win in game seven, that's the
(15:49):
demon they have to conquer right out the gates. They
have to not turn the ball over, they have to
get the ball through Oklahoma City's defense. They have to
knock down the show are available to them. Was talked
about Nie Smith and Nemhard getting going tonight. That's huge.
Miles Turner is another big guy I have my eye on.
He keeps getting wide open threes in this series and
(16:11):
he just can't hit them. And I talked about before
the series that he was one of the biggest swing factors,
specifically because his ability to be on the other side
of switches against guards in the post, and because of
pick and pop and Chet's willingness to help at the
rim and Isaiah's willingness to help at the rim. He's
going to get catch and shoot looks and he's got
to knock him down. That's the step on that side
(16:32):
of the floor. But Indiana has a pathway to avoid that,
and that's by getting stops. And so Indiana has to
in that game contain the ball, force kickouts to mediocre
shooters for contested shots, not for open shots. They need
to force long rebounds and turnovers and get out and
transition as much as possible in order to avoid that
(16:55):
half court setting. Again, it's not a good sign that
in gains five, when you had a chance that you
turn the ball over four consecutive times, all against the
first two layers of Oklahoma City's defense, like just on
ball pressure in high post entry denial and stuff like that.
That is something that they cannot afford to do in
(17:15):
game seven. If they do that in game seven, they're
dead on arrival and they're gonna get blown out.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
But if they can.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Contain the ball, if they can force missus and turnovers,
if they can get out in transition, that is their
best chance. And for Oklahoma City, it's the same thing
that they did down the stretch in these key moments.
If they can heighten the screws on this Indiana defense,
they can force turnovers, they can get out in transition.
Because again, as we talked about if Oklahoma City has
(17:43):
a weakness, it's that their offense can be a little shaken.
You can shake the foundation of Oklahoma City's offense. They
had just thirty five points in the second and third
quarters tonight, and so for them, that's their breaking point.
But they also have a turnover to transition element to
their game, and in the big spots they've been able
(18:04):
to get to that part of their game and close
teams out big time. In Game seven against Denver, like
get Game seven against Denver, they just decided they weren't
gonna let Yokic catch the ball and it just completely
decomposed for Denver. Right, so that's gonna be the tug
of war in Game seven. The danger for Oklahoma City
and letting a game like this happen where they get
(18:25):
their butts kicked, is it gives rhythm and confidence to
the Pacers. They have a real pathway to get it done.
Very very excited for Game seven. Not sure if Colin's
gonna be with us for Game seven, but we will
certainly have a live show after the final buzzer there.
I'm looking forward to that.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
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Speaker 2 (19:12):
We're going to take some mailback questions on this game,
but really quickly, I want to spend a few minutes
talking about g Bus in the Bus family selling the
Lakers for a valuation, a record valuation of ten billion dollars. Now,
from what I understand, and again this is important for
me to disclose, I am far from an expert on
this side of the business. I'm a basketball guy. I'm
(19:33):
trying to learn about this side of the business. Each
year I get a little bit better at it. But
it's taken some time. But my rough understanding of it
is that the Bus family owned about sixty six percent
of the team. This Mark Walter Gentleman runs a massive
investment firm that owns many things, including the Los Angeles Dodgers,
and they already had something like around twenty to twenty
five percent of the Lakers. Roughly fifty percent of that
(19:58):
sixty six percent that the Bus family owns will be
shifting over to Mark Walter. So mark'scroup would now own
a massive controlling interest in the Lakers. The Bus family
is keeping fifteen percent, which I believe is the mandatory
minimum for someone to actually remain governor of the team,
which Genie Bus will remain for now. And so now
the relatively cash poor Bus family cash is in at
(20:18):
like five billion dollars if I'm doing my math right,
and the Lakers are now effectively owned by Mark Walter.
Now there's some details that are interesting, right, So for instance,
Genie Bus is continuing to serve as the governor of
the team. This is interesting because the Lakers issues don't
only come down to money. We're gonna talk a lot
about money. That's not the only issues. Those aren't the
(20:38):
only issues that the Lakers have. They also have a
leadership problem. The Lakers have just pulled off the largest
valuation in a sale in the history of professional sports,
but they are literally run like a small local family business.
Talk to anyone who has spent time around the Lakers.
There are members of the family and close friends of
(20:59):
the family all over the organization and positions of power.
There's no clear decision making hierarchy. If Genie stays on
as governor and the team continues to operate in that way,
it will continue to hold the team back in some way,
shape or form. God said, we do have a recent example,
relatively recent example, with Mark Cuban after he sold the MAVs,
(21:21):
staying on as governor but then eventually being removed from power.
My guess is Genie is more of a placeholder than
anything else, and I would imagine that she eventually gets replaced,
but before we get to anything with money. This is
an aspect that I'm keeping an eye on turnover with
executives up high in the organization. Luka Dancis has one
(21:41):
year left on his contract before a player option that
he'll almost certainly opt out of in pursuit of a
new deal. And if you're gonna keep Luca around for
one more contract or hopefully for two more contracts, you
may have to be willing to fire some people. So
like if rob Polinka isn't up to the task. If
he fails this summer in building a team around Luka Doncic,
(22:04):
you cannot afford to wait and lose Luka Doncic in
the process.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Luca is the future.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Things were looking extremely bleak for the Lakers after like
in that middle early middle portion of the season when
they were struggling. You got an old Lebron you got
an Anthony Davis who's on the decline. They didn't have
any sort of massive asset trove or anything to fall
back on. Luca is the guy that came in through
(22:31):
great fortune and has turned around the prospects for this
franchise moving forward. You have to be willing to clean
house quickly if incompetent steps in. But by far the
biggest aspect to this move and how it will affect
the Lakers, at least in the short term for the
next couple of years, things that we'll notice almost immediately
(22:53):
is the change in financial resources available for the team.
And I'm not I'm not treading any new ground here.
This has been the main major talking point in the
NBA for over twenty.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
Four hours now.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
But the Lakers were famously cheap the most The most
obvious example was the decision to let Alex Crusoe walk
for an average annual salary of a little over nine
million dollars to the Chicago Bulls. The Lakers had already
offered him six million, and by the way, this has
been laid out by Alex in the past, the Lakers
were willing to pay him six million a year. Alex
came back and was like, Hey, the Bulls are going
(23:25):
to give me nine will you guys match that? And
the Lakers literally said no, which is damning on both
fronts because it's damning on the Rob Blink upfront because
it shows a scary lack of understanding of what wins
basketball games in the NBA. And then it's damming on
the bus family front because we're talking about a gap
of about nine million dollars per year in salary between
(23:46):
in salary and tax.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
Between that six million.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Dollar number annually and the nine million dollar number one
you add in luxury tax, that was enough to scare
them out of retaining a player that literally started an
NBA Finals game for them in twenty twenty. But the
Lakers cheapness went far further than just the Caruso deal.
They openly disrespected a championship coach in Tylu when he
(24:10):
just asked to be paid like a championship coach and
the Bus family offered him entry level coach money. It
was insulting and he walked away. They spend far below
the top teams in the league on stuff like scouting staff,
analytics staff, other support staff. That is like a legitimate
competitive advantage in this league. I saw a story yesterday
(24:31):
about them literally forcing an assistant coach to stay in
a different hotel than a player he was working out
because they didn't want to spend a little bit more
on a hotel room. So this news can be can't
be interpreted in any way other than a massive positive
because all indications from Mark Walters Group and the way
they manage the Dodgers should lead us to believe that
(24:52):
the Lakers will finally be a big spending team. That
means they won't ever miss out on a hire because
the Bus families ego or unwillingness to pay market value
steps into the equation. They should be a top five
luxury tax spending team, which they were not under Genie Bus.
They should undergo a massive investment over the next few
off seasons and upgrading their support staff at every level,
(25:17):
and they should finally be run like the biggest sports
franchise in the world. If you're going to be valued
like that, if that's the investment you're in charge of,
it needs to be invested in properly, and now I
expect them to be.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
It's not gonna happen overnight.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Could be a rocky transition, especially with rob and Genie
still carrying some power. There's a lot of urgency surrounding
the situation with Luca. The Lakers desperately need to get
a starting center this summer, a starting caliber center. They
desperately need to anchor Lebron and Luca with a ton
of athleticism. If you're gonna build a team around Luca,
like I hope he comes into camp in better shape,
(25:53):
but he's notoriously a poorly conditioned athlete. Austin Reeves, who's
a below average NBA athlete. Lebron James is to be
forty one by the time you reach the playoffs. You've
got to anchor them with just a shit ton of athleticism.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
There is a lot of work that needs to.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
Be done over the course of this offseason and next
season before the trade deadline, but I am expecting big
changes and the overall level of competence within the Lakers
in the coming years. I was taxting with Logan Swayin.
He's a buddy of mine who is the head of
content here at the Volume Sports Laker Fan. Him and
I always are talking to each other throughout the Lakers season,
(26:29):
and we were talking today about how or yesterday about
how it's kind of a little bittersweet in the sense that,
like I kind of felt like the Lebron James Anthony
Davis era was just just marred by underachieving efforts from
people in the upper levels of the Lakers organization. And
there'll always be a part of me that kind of
is like kind of annoyed that now, finally after Lebron
(26:50):
spent like, god, how many seasons has it been, now
like seven or eight seasons with the Lakers, with how
much time he's been with the Lakers, that it took
this long for the the team to sell to somebody
with some real financial power. But it is what it is,
and it's going to be exciting at least for the
Luca era. And you know, if there was any chance,
If there's any chance to squeeze the title out of
these guys, it was going to happen with some more
(27:13):
competent leadership, and this should be the first step in
that direction. All right, let's bring Jackson and we're gonna
take some questions from the chat.
Speaker 4 (27:21):
Let's do it.
Speaker 5 (27:23):
First question, Hey, Jason, we've seen enough of TJ McConnell
to know it's not a fluke anymore. But why is
it still so hard for the thunder to adjust when
it comes in the game.
Speaker 4 (27:32):
How are they not ready for this?
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Well, it's the same. It's not about being ready.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
It's the same thing that it's the same thing that
Indiana's dealing with on the other end of the floor
with Shay and with Jadab. The reality is is that
TJ McConnell can beat the man in front of him
one on one. That that is this singular thing that
can break an NBA defense and e lead NBA defense.
And on the other end of the floor, like the
Pacers have been a very good defense for the last
(27:58):
like you know, four or five months, and they've been
doing it in large part by containing the ball. And
they can't contain the ball against these guys like Shay
and Jay Dubb can consistently get into the TV the defense.
There's no scheme. We talked about this in the show.
There's no like magical schematic adjustment. It's about sliding your
damn feet and keeping your chest in front of the ball.
And TJ has a superpower. Like I think TJ is
one of the most underrated athletes in the league. He
(28:19):
is a very powerful guard well a ton of straight
line speed and the ability to change direction with some
basic moves and counter moves that make him very, very
difficult to handle. And like his individual greatness is breaking
the Oklahoma City defense and he's going to need to
do it again on Sunday.
Speaker 5 (28:33):
Yeah, I feel like we're reaching the point where he
is straight up been over the course of the series,
the second most impactful offensive player for the Pacers. I mean,
Siakama is obviously I think at this point the finals MVP,
if the Pacers were to win, and it's and that's
sort of part of the Pacers magic, and it's much
more of an aggregate, you know, collection of talent on
both ens with the floor, you know, and nem Hard
(28:55):
and Eisman, they're doing a lot of work defensively, but
it does feel like McConnell has been their second best
offensive player this series.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
Yeah, you can't give him finals MVP if Indiana wins
because his minutes have been too low and like Siakam
has just been on the floor more, doing more. But like, yeah,
I would argue if like, let's say that the game
was tied and there's seven seconds left and they're coming
out of a timeout, I would be strongly encouraged to
put TJ in the game and run a one to
four low well like or like a four out one
(29:22):
in and have him attack off the wing. Like he
is a problem for Oklahoma City because he's too big
and fast and strong for Oklahoma City's guards, which is crazy,
but that's just like he is consistently getting past his man.
Speaker 3 (29:33):
It's crazy.
Speaker 5 (29:34):
It's so crazy, especially when we've talked all season about
how many unbelievable defenders they're putting. Put Alics Caruso on
him today. Als Caruso, who were like, he is the
world beating defensive skeleton key right now after the Jogis performance,
they're like guard TJ McConney crazy anyway, Speaking of the
Denver series, Denver starters. They when they when they had
a Game seven against the thunder Denver starters got off
(29:55):
to a good start, but as soon as their bench
came in, it was it was basically over.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
While the pacer bench is exponentially better.
Speaker 5 (30:01):
Thoughts on that sort of heading dynamic heading into Game
seven the finals.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
So it's complicated because if you remember Oklahoma City's bench
game in the game too, and one of those guys
happened to be Alex Crusoe, and that guy decided he
was going to front the post against Nikolajokic, and Nikoliokich
was out there during the start of the the thunder
onslought that occurred there towards the end of the first quarter. Now, yes,
there was a Jokic less group in the start of
the second quarter that just completely decomposed. But the it's
(30:29):
it to me, it's uh, it's the bench for Indiana
to me, doesn't make as much of a difference in
terms of like traditional bench starter dynamics because Carlisle is
just gonna go with who's playing.
Speaker 4 (30:42):
Well.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
What I mean by that is like there.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Have been multiple stretches in this series where it's like
a key like, oh, it's the late second quarter and
this is usually a starting group, but we've got TJ.
McConnell and Ben Sheppard on the floor, you know, stuff
like that. So like, to me, Carlisle is gonna pick
the dudes that he thinks are playing the best in
that moment to be out on the floor. To me,
it's when Oklahoma City starts to leverage, Like when they
(31:03):
start with Hartenstein and Chet, they're a little bit slower,
they're not as good with their ball pressure when they
bring in case On Wallace, when they bring in Alex Cruso,
when they really start swarming and pressuring like crazy. It's
just about Oklahoma City not soiling themselves the way they did.
They had eight turnovers in the fourth quarter of Game five,
And that's what you got to be prepared for is
Oklahoma City is gonna bring just the most hillatious defensive
punch that you can possibly imagine in Game seven, and
(31:25):
they have to not get rattled. And to me, an
easy way to counter that is they've got to bring
their hilacious defensive punch and they got to try to
rattle Oklahoma City's the offense enough to get out in transition.
Speaker 5 (31:37):
Will be really interesting to see if they start Cruise
or not like they started them in the second half today.
They've done that times in the playoff series. In the playoffs,
it'll be interesting if they start.
Speaker 4 (31:44):
Him to start the game.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
I would. I would.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
It's not fucking around time anymore. Like you were officially
in single elimination territory in the trophy. You could lose
the trophy. You got to start your best five, and
Cruiss clearly the their best fifth guy in this series.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
I think. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (31:59):
Next question, if OKC loses, would you consider it a
big choke job or would you I guess a better
way to phrase it is, would you think of it
more as a big choke job from OKAC or as
a sort of superhuman valiant effort from the Pacers front.
Speaker 4 (32:14):
It's obviously a combination of those.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Yeah, it's you know, on its face. Very simply, if
a minus seven hundred favorite before a series loses, it
can't be anything other than a giant choke job, especially
when you look back to what happened at the end
of Game one, when you had a substantial lead and
you end up blowing that game. I think it's a
(32:37):
little bit more complicated for me because everyone on the
roster is so young. So for instance, like, let's use
the most iconic choke job in the history of the NBA,
the twenty eleven Heat, Like they had vets on the roster. Yeah,
it was a clunky, clunky roster and they hadn't really
figured out how to like space the floor. And they're
playing two bigs and Lebron's playing the three and it
(32:58):
won perfect by any stretch the imagination. But what happened
in that series is Lebron decomposed and Dirk hit a
level that was crazy and it ended up leading to
one of the biggest upsets. Shay has had his downs
in this series, but he's also had some massive ups
and I think Shay's been particularly good in the pivotal moments.
You lose Game two, you lose the series.
Speaker 3 (33:19):
He was awesome.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
You lose the final minutes of Game four, you lose
the series, he was awesome. You lose, you lose Game five,
you lose the series, he was awesome. So, like, to
Shay's credit, he hasn't had like that type of thing.
To me, what's happening in this series on the Oklahoma
City front is more testament to just the stuff I've
been preaching about all season. Every time I've talked about
the Thunder all season, I've said the same damn things
(33:42):
every damn time, which is, they have this obvious upside.
The metrics are there, everything looks great. All of your
conventional wisdom would lead you to believe this is the
NBA champion, But there are a bunch of kids relative
to NBA players, relative to other NBA championship teams in
NBA history, story tells us this team loses. They have
(34:04):
overcome that to this point. But to me, they're inconsistencies
and their inability to kind of like play to their potential,
so to speak, because like they should have beat Indiana
in five or six games, They should have beat Denver
in five games, and they didn't. They beat Denver in seven,
and they're in danger of potentially losing to Indiana and seven.
(34:24):
And to me, that's come down to their inexperience and
what all of the downsides the things that have happened.
It's been consistent, like what is Oklahoma City look like
when they're bad? Shay's chucking shots or the guy the
role players are not able to knock down the open
shots that are available they get super super sweaty palmed
on offense and they can't score and that ends up
(34:46):
being the difference. And that's happened to them periodically throughout
the season at various points, and none of it matters.
If they hoist the trophy, go win on Sunday, no
one's gonna care. But like the threat was always there,
this Oklahoma City team was beatable, and they were beatable
because of their you and I do think that that
has shown at various points in this postseason to.
Speaker 5 (35:05):
That point, we have another question. The Thunder officially are
gonna be.
Speaker 4 (35:08):
Four and five on the road in this playoff run, and.
Speaker 5 (35:10):
Now they're gonna have a losing playoff record during their
playoff run. This has happened before an NBA history. Wouldn't
be the first time a champion as a losing playoff record,
but it doesn't happen that often. Would and that's you know,
certainly speaks to their youth. Would that if they on
the flip side of this sort of conversation we talked
about if the Patriots win, if the Thunder winning Game seven,
would that losing playoff record be a blemish as we
(35:31):
think about them as one of their You know, we
talked a lot of during the regular season, is this
one of the great teams in NBA history?
Speaker 4 (35:37):
Would that be a blemish to you? To you for
their playoff.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
Run, I wouldn't call it a blemish to me. It's
it's especially for a team that's one of the great teams,
it is always a little clunky in that first playoff run,
your first like really deep playoff run. So for instance,
like even for Boston in twenty twenty two, for example,
which I qualify as their first big playoff run, right,
(36:02):
I theoretically not because they had other conference finals runs,
but just let's focus in on that one in particular,
Like you have the shakiness against Milwaukee, you have the
shakiness against Golden State, and you end up eventually losing
against Golden State. Like typically in those first few runs,
a lot of your youth shows, your inconsistencies show I've
(36:24):
been saying all year, this is the year to beat
Oklahoma City because all all that's gonna happen is Chet's
gonna get better and Jadubb's gonna get better. And I
think even Shay has learned a lot of valuable lessons
in this series and there's been these obvious, like differences
in approach from Shay and his good games and in
his bad games throughout this entire playoff run. And like
(36:45):
like any young basketball player, he's just taking in data
and he's learning, and he's gonna learn how to like
repeat the stuff that works and avoid the stuff that doesn't.
And so to me, like in the same way that
we look back on the Warriors, even though they were
shaking in twenty fifteen, you know, they fall down two
one to Memphis. They I think they were down they
were down two one to Memphis. They were down two
(37:06):
one to Cleveland. I think that was the only two
series they trailed in. But like they it didn't look
like the most dominant playoff run for a team that
won what sixty seven regular season games the way they did, right, So, Like,
I mean they won one fewer game than Oklahoma City did, right,
And what that look, what do we look back at
as that that team, as we look at that as
the young Warriors? That was the one they stole, right, Like,
(37:27):
that was the one that like I think a lot
of people think, like if the Calves were healthy, like,
maybe that ends up being a different series.
Speaker 3 (37:32):
That one maybe, but.
Speaker 2 (37:34):
Or later on as they got older, as they got
more experience, It's like, all of a sudden, they were
the team that was beating the sixty eight or sixty
five win rockets and beating the more the more electric
regular season teams, because all of a sudden, they were
the savvy vets who had been in all these big
moments and they're just more comfortable in those spots. And
so to me, I think we'll look back like if
(37:55):
Okahoma City wins on Sunday, which I believe they will.
If Oklahoma City wins on Sunday, it's just to be
their first title. And yeah, if they have a dominant
one after, Like if they go back next year and
they go sixteen and three, no one's gonna care that
they had a tough playoff run in twenty twenty five.
As is always the case, you can legitimize your success
with repeated titles. Celtics fans will always cling to the
(38:18):
twenty twenty four title as one of the as as
like an all time great team. But if you're gonna
convince the masses of anything, it's multiple titles. And that
is ultimately the unassailable thing that okayc needs to accomplish.
Speaker 4 (38:32):
Last question before we go over to playback.
Speaker 5 (38:34):
You sort of just touched on it, but DraftKings has
the Thunder as an eight and a half point favorite
in game set.
Speaker 4 (38:41):
How would you lean that, I.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
Yeah, I would bet. I would take Oklahoma City and
the spread. I think Oklahoma City is gonna win big.
I think Oklahoma's city. I think Oklahoma City will be
celebrating the championship the entire fourth quarter.
Speaker 3 (38:57):
For the record, I got I hope.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
That doesn't happen. And this extends beyond like hoping for
an interesting thing for the job. I've talked about this
on the show before, but like just speaking authentically as
a basketball fan, I like this Pacers team more. I
think they play a more likable brand of basketball. I
think they're more fun to watch, and I'm actively rooting
for them just as a basketball fan. And so I
don't want that to happen on Sunday. I want Indiana
(39:21):
to win. But I believe in this Oklahoma City defense.
I believe that they can reach a level that is
transcendent compared to even other great NBA defenses in the
history of the league. So I think Oklahoma City I
think Oklahoma City controls Sunday throughout and it's relatively boring,
which is not what I'm hoping for, but again, that's
(39:41):
what I think will happen. Well, what's your guests? If
you had to guess, you're more optimistic, So why don't
you pitch the case?
Speaker 3 (39:46):
Let's hear it.
Speaker 5 (39:48):
I mean, I think I do feel like the spread
is kind of an interesting number at eight and a
half because it does feel like the Thunder have a
very good chance to win by fifteen twelve to fifteen.
Speaker 4 (39:59):
And also like if the Pacers are.
Speaker 5 (40:00):
Gonna win, I don't think they're winning by eight, you
know what I mean, Like, I don't think that that
number is gonna come into play all that much. I
feel like it's either going to be a Thunder cruise
or a Pacers like three to.
Speaker 4 (40:10):
Four point win. But I don't know.
Speaker 5 (40:13):
I mean, I think today's game is a is a
bad time to have a true stinker, you know, like
it definitely feels like something a veteran team would do
more than a young team, maybe like punt the game,
but you know you're not punting any games in the
NBA Finals, right Like this is it's the NBA Finals
time you have a chance to close that on the
road there's no and the Pacers building the kind of
(40:34):
confidence then them hard and Nee Smith offensive performances and
I are definitely really you know, it's a sign of
it's a positive sign for the Pacers. I don't I
think that if I was gonna have to pick, and
I had to make a pick, I would pick the
Thunder and I would pick them to win by eleven probably.
But I do feel like the Pacers winning is very
within the realm despite all the Thunder factors.
Speaker 3 (40:54):
It's absolutely on the table. Couldn't agree more.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
It's just it to me, is very clearly the less
likely outcome, and it the weird thing is it's a
it's a fucking eternity until Sunday again. Like this schedule
has been so bizarre. I was joking with my wife earlier.
I was like, this is the longest season we've worked
because we had the Warriors series in twenty twenty two
that went six games, but then we've had back to
(41:19):
back five game finals, Like we're working deep into the
month of June or we're going on the what is
it the twenty second right, So like it's and it's
like it's just another all like every every sequence has
felt the same to me, where Like on that second
full day off after the finals, I'm like, I cannot
believe there's not a game tonight, Like we're waiting again,
We're doing this tomorrow night, and so like it's an
(41:41):
eternity to wait, and like if there's one other thing
to cling to if your Pacers fan, game sevens are
notoriously nerve wracking, so there's a certain element to where
like you can hope that Oklahoma City succumbs to that
a little bit. The only thing that always worries me
in a situation like that is there's one thing that
is dependably consistent every single night, no matter what, when
(42:03):
a team is playing hard in that's defense. And that's
the calling card for the Oklahoma City team, and that's
what makes them the safer bet. That's why they're the
safer bet. But that doesn't mean that Indiana can't win.
All right, guys, that's all we have for tonight, as
always been. Sincerely appreciate you guys for supporing us in
supporting the show. Remember heading over to playback so playback
dot tv slash Oops. Tonight will be taking callers and
just hanging out and talking OOPS for about an hour.
Speaker 3 (42:23):
We'll see you guys over there. What's up guys.
Speaker 2 (42:25):
As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting
OOPS tonight. They would actually be really helpful for us
if you guys would take a second.
Speaker 3 (42:31):
And leave a rating and a review.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
As always, I appreciate you guys supporting us, but if
you could take a minute to do that, I really
appreciate it. The volume
The volume.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
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(02:00):
All right, welcome to him tonight here at the volume
heavy Thursday.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Everybody, holp, all of you guys are having a great week.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Well. The past NBA finals since the twenty twenty two
series between the Warriors and the Celtics continues to give
as the Pacers tonight beat the shit out of the
Oklahoma City Thunder their most impressive performance on several levels
is they tie the series at three. We have Game
seven on Sunday. I I'm going to be getting into
(02:25):
Tonight's game from a bunch of different angles, talking about
some specific things to look for in Game seven on Sunday,
some things that need to go right for Indiana they're
gonna have a chance to win that game. The reality
of the test, this final test that Oklahoma City has
presented to every opponent to this point that no one's
been able to solve, which we'll get into at the
tail end of the show today. The Los Angeles Lakers
(02:48):
got sold since Game five in Game six of the
NBA Finals, I'm yet to talk at all about that.
So we're going to have a little bit of a
breakdown just kind of for those of you guys who
have been paying too close of attention, just break down
to some of the details that are going on in
that transaction, some of the ways it's going to change
things for the Lakers moving forward. So a little bit
of Lakers talk at the tail end of the show,
and then when we're done there, we're gonna take some
(03:08):
questions from the chat. So subscribe to the channel, drop
your questions in the chat. Jackson's gonna come on the show.
We'll take ten to fifteen minutes worth of questions, and
then when we wrap up here on YouTube tonight, we're
headed over to playback. That's playback dot tv slash Oops tonight.
We're gonna be taking callers, just hanging out. It's like
a kind of an informal basketball hour. It's a ton
(03:28):
of fun. We've been doing it throughout this entire postseason.
If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend you
guys go.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Check it out.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
You guys know the job before we get started. Subscribe
to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channels. You don't miss any
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You guys don't miss you announcement. So forget about a
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It's also super helpful if you leave a rating and
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social media feeds Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. And then,
last but not least, keep dropping those mail back questions
in the chat. For the tail end of the show.
(03:57):
All right, let's talk some basketball. So the oh of
playoff series has always been super fascinating to me. I
was doing a radio hit in South Carolina on Wednesday
with a buddy of mine name Richmond Weaver, and we
were discussing the realities of the difference between single elimination
and a playoff series. There is this kind of pathway
that takes place, right There's this learning phase at the
(04:20):
beginning of the series. You're feeling each other out right.
You're finding out which guys do the best job guarding
which guys, which actions work, which actions don't work. Can
we capitalize on this mismatch, can we prevent them from
capitalizing on that mismatch. It's all of this feeling out right,
and then usually by about game four, both teams have
figured out they're best coverages that work and their best
(04:40):
actions that they can run to try to score when
things slow down, and from that point forward in the series,
everything switches to execution. There's no magic adjustment you can make.
There's no sort of like dynamic change in your approach
that can shift the outcome. It just comes down to
your guys doing their best ability to execute the specific
(05:01):
game plan that.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
You've landed on.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
By that you know Game three, Game four part of
the series, and one of the biggest problems for Indiana
in this series has been their inability to establish anything
that is consistently effective in the half court. Like when
things really bogged down for them on offense, they don't
really have a reliable action. I'd argue their most reliable
action at this point in the series.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
It like slow down.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Half court basketball has literally just been TJ McConnell driving
at smaller Oklahoma City guards. He's the one guy in
a Pacers jersey who's been able to consistently gouge the
OKC defense in the half court collapse them, creates spot
up opportunities and layups for himself, and then Siakam can
get to a little right shoulder fade, but he's not
(05:44):
able to get all the way to the rim in
the half court very much. But TJ's really the only
guy who can gouge them in that way. On the
other side of the floor, like Shay and Jay Dubb
have been able to pretty consistently get into the teeth
of the defense for Indiana. Now, whether or not they
process correctly when they get there and make kickouts things
along those lines. That has kind of shifted from game
to game. Shane JDub both were rough again tonight, But
(06:05):
that is the dynamic ap play in the series is
one thing slowed down in the half court. Oklahoma City's
athleticism can really become a problem for Indiana, But Indiana
all season long has had an engine, an engine that
generates offense outside of the half court. When they defend
and when they get stops and when they force turnovers,
they can get out and run. And when they get
(06:25):
out and run, they have a lot more advantage situations,
meaning where you have an easy kickout or an easy
drop off to a guy who's unguarded and is going
to have a defender sprinting out at him. And I
would argue, if you wanted to point to one thing
about this Pacers team where they're clearly better than OKSE,
one thing that like, if we're putting green check marks
(06:47):
underneath each team as and who's got the strength in
this matchup, If there's one thing the Pacers are clearly
better at, it's their aggregate offensive skill down the roster.
When the Pacers have advantages, they can pass through those
advantages and finish plays at a higher level than ok see,
(07:07):
that's their advantage. That's the push and pull of this series.
When Indiana can get stops, they can usually get out
in transition. When they get out in transition, they have
the advantages they need to succeed. They start to catch
a rhythm, a bunch of guys get going, and they
can get really tough to beat. Right, But if they
(07:30):
can struggle to get stops, if they struggle to get
out in transition, even as recently as the fourth quarter
of Game five, we've seen them have serious problems just
getting past that initial layer of Oklahoma City's defense. We
talked about it in We talked about it in our
show after Game five. It kind of had this weird
optical dynamic in the half court where for the Pacers,
(07:52):
it kind of feels like a bunch of dribble handoffs
and interchanges out above the break, but no one's turning
the corner, no one's downhill, or if they do, someone
finally messes up for Oklahoma City and they get some
rim pressure at some point later in the possession. For
Oklahoma City, they pretty consistently gouged into the teeth of
Indiana's defense in that half court setting, right, So that's
(08:14):
the dynamic. If Indiana has to dribble up against Okac's
like set half court defense, it's gonna be a problem.
I thought Indiana's defense was fantastic from the jump tonight
and that allowed them to avoid that half court situation
for the majority of the night. And it really starts
with dem Hard and Nie Smith. I thought Aaron Nei
Smith had his best game of the series defensively by far.
(08:38):
He struggled consistently in the JDub matchup. He's been bullied,
he's been undisciplined on Shay, picking up silly fouls here
and there. This was his best game navigating screens, keeping
the ball in front. Nem Hart has done a great
job in the entire series, but that's where it starts,
at the point of attack. This is the biggest push
and pull in all NBA games. We talked about this
with Colin the other day. In the same way that
(08:58):
in the NFL, there's a lot that kind of dictates
every possession. If your offensive line can't get a push,
your un game's not gonna work. And if your offensive
line can't stop the rush, you're not gonna have any
time for your quarterback to throw or no time for
your receivers to get open. It's like this unseen thing
that takes place right in front of our eyes that
gets misconstrued, and we're always just looking at completion percentages
(09:21):
and blaming quarterbacks and doing all that sort of stuff,
when it's clearly the line that is controlling the dynamic
of the game. Similarly, in basketball, that is the dynamic
that swings everything in the game. If you get bludgeoned
at the point of attack, everyone's got a hard help.
If everyone's got a hard help, all of a sudden,
there's easy kickout reads. If there's easy kickout reads, any
(09:42):
NBA player is gonna find a rhythm. And in this series,
when Shay has gotten through the first layer of the
defense and made those kickouts early and often in the game,
like Game two, in Game five, the thunder have been
able to knock down shots and they've been in really
good shape.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
But if you can.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Start to flatten those drives and make it a little
bit harder for them to get those hard dribble penetration moments,
all of a sudden, your off ball guys can do
more digging down and recovery kind of stunting at the
ball rather than fully committing to the ball. All of
a sudden, those kickouts turn from wide open threes to
(10:20):
rushed threes or other opportunities for the gap between Indiana
and Oklahoma City's off ball processing and off ball play
finishing to manifest itself. And on many occasions in the series,
when the Pacers have really dug in defensively at home,
they've been able to play Oklahoma City into some really
rough shooting games.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
But that's where it starts.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
When Oklahoma City gets eighteen unguarded catch and shoot threes
like they did in Game five, because Shay and Jay
Dubb are just consistently beating the man in front of
them and making the kickouts, that's where it becomes really,
really difficult to win that tug of war. And I
thought Ni Smith and Nemhart in particular just did an
incredible job tonight. From there that the Pacers had their
(11:01):
best game of the series in terms of help and
recover situations, constantly stunting and digging at ball handlers, showing
help and getting.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
Out the shooters.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
That's how it causes turnovers. Very simple fact is that
if you hard drive and everyone collapses, it's pretty easy
to make those kickout rates. But if you are on
the defender, if the defender's got you on his hip
and he's staying attached, and the guys that are off
ball instead of hard helping are staying in the passing lane,
(11:31):
that's where turnovers happen. Or when the ball handlers dribbling
against one guy but he doesn't have him fully beat,
so he doesn't see because he's engaged in hand fighting
and trying to fight through the contact, that second defender
comes over and that guy ends up turning the ball over.
That happened like three or four times tonight, where the
second defender came from behind when the guy wasn't looking
(11:52):
and they were unable to see it coming and ended
up giving up a turnover twenty one turnovers for the
Thunder tonighteen points off of him. The Pacers got out
in transition all throughout the game twenty two fast break points.
When we get to the mail bag at the tail
end of the show, I'll pull up on synergy the
full blown like transition numbers. But it just their defense
(12:13):
allowed them to operate with advantages most of the night,
and as a result of that, a bunch of guys
were able to catch a rhythm and they looked fantastic.
And that's how you end up with six dudes in
double figures and lots of people contributing in all these
various different ways. Pascal was great all night. He's been
great in the entire series. I think get the series
ends today, and if the series ends on Sunday and
(12:33):
the Pacers win, you probably got to vote Pascal Siakam
for Finals MVP with how consistent he's been with his production.
Nie Smith his best game of the series in my
opinion in terms of two way play. I thought he
was awesome on defense in this game. Andrew Nemhart early
aggression in this game, knocking down that big corner three again.
This is if there's something you're going to look at
as an area of optimism looking forward in the series
(12:56):
for the Pacers, Nie Smith and Nemhard were like completely
in the upside down. After Game five. Nie Smith had
two or three nasty turnovers down the stretch, had kind
of lost control of his shot. Nie Smith has been
getting cooked defensively all series and hasn't been able to
knock down shots. Those two guys go five for eleven
from three tonight and have their best defensive game of
(13:19):
the series. That is a huge bit of positive momentum
that you're carrying into Game seven. Obi Toppin, who has
been has had all sorts of blitzes of scoring in
this series, big time catch and shoot threes in tonight's game.
TJ McConnell, who's consistently, like I mentioned earlier, been the
best guy on the Pacers at gouging Oklahoma City's defense,
(13:42):
which has caused all sorts of positives. They're plus ten
again tonight in his twenty four minutes. That is the
push and pull and that's what we have to look
for for Game seven. As we look into Game seven,
which team's going to control that tug of war? No
team has been able ton one specific demon with Oklahoma
(14:02):
City so far, which is that when the series is
hanging in the balance, in the big pivotal games, nobody
can score on them. So, for instance, you're gonna go
down two to zero at home, that's series over. It's
just too much to overcome that. Gotta win Game two.
(14:22):
They strangle the Pacers in that game. Game four, Pacers
have a lead going into the fourth quarter. I think
they were up seven they strangle the life out of
the Pacers. They literally can't score down the stretch. Even
in Game five, like the Pacers go on a run,
Siakam gets an offensive rebound, hits a three off the
left wing. It's ninety five to ninety three. Looks like
(14:43):
they're right there. All of a sudden, Oklahoma City tightens
the screws and the Pacers turn the ball over four
consecutive possessions. And it's not just the Pacers. You go
back to Minnesota, exact same thing happened in game four
of that series. You go back to Denver in game four,
and in game five, and in games seven of that series.
They have strangled the life out of the team. They've
(15:04):
had their moments where they look bad. Minnesota beat the
shit out of Oklahoma City in game three. Denver had
a several controlling they had a big controlling win in
Game three and another one in Game six. Memphis, with
without like before John Muran got injured, was beating the
shit out of Oklahoma City at home in game three. Like,
they've shown their cracks. They're a young team. They struggle
(15:26):
on the road, they've had their issues, but ultimately, when
everything is actually on the line when they're back is
truly against the wall. It's like that meme with the
dude sitting back with the controller and then he leans
forward when it's go time, like Oklahoma City tightens the
screws and everyone falls apart. That is the challenge, No, no,
If Indiana is gonna win in game seven, that's the
(15:49):
demon they have to conquer right out the gates. They
have to not turn the ball over, they have to
get the ball through Oklahoma City's defense. They have to
knock down the show are available to them. Was talked
about Nie Smith and Nemhard getting going tonight. That's huge.
Miles Turner is another big guy I have my eye on.
He keeps getting wide open threes in this series and
(16:11):
he just can't hit them. And I talked about before
the series that he was one of the biggest swing factors,
specifically because his ability to be on the other side
of switches against guards in the post, and because of
pick and pop and Chet's willingness to help at the
rim and Isaiah's willingness to help at the rim. He's
going to get catch and shoot looks and he's got
to knock him down. That's the step on that side
(16:32):
of the floor. But Indiana has a pathway to avoid that,
and that's by getting stops. And so Indiana has to
in that game contain the ball, force kickouts to mediocre
shooters for contested shots, not for open shots. They need
to force long rebounds and turnovers and get out and
transition as much as possible in order to avoid that
(16:55):
half court setting. Again, it's not a good sign that
in gains five, when you had a chance that you
turn the ball over four consecutive times, all against the
first two layers of Oklahoma City's defense, like just on
ball pressure in high post entry denial and stuff like that.
That is something that they cannot afford to do in
(17:15):
game seven. If they do that in game seven, they're
dead on arrival and they're gonna get blown out.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
But if they can.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Contain the ball, if they can force missus and turnovers,
if they can get out in transition, that is their
best chance. And for Oklahoma City, it's the same thing
that they did down the stretch in these key moments.
If they can heighten the screws on this Indiana defense,
they can force turnovers, they can get out in transition.
Because again, as we talked about if Oklahoma City has
(17:43):
a weakness, it's that their offense can be a little shaken.
You can shake the foundation of Oklahoma City's offense. They
had just thirty five points in the second and third
quarters tonight, and so for them, that's their breaking point.
But they also have a turnover to transition element to
their game, and in the big spots they've been able
(18:04):
to get to that part of their game and close
teams out big time. In Game seven against Denver, like
get Game seven against Denver, they just decided they weren't
gonna let Yokic catch the ball and it just completely
decomposed for Denver. Right, so that's gonna be the tug
of war in Game seven. The danger for Oklahoma City
and letting a game like this happen where they get
(18:25):
their butts kicked, is it gives rhythm and confidence to
the Pacers. They have a real pathway to get it done.
Very very excited for Game seven. Not sure if Colin's
gonna be with us for Game seven, but we will
certainly have a live show after the final buzzer there.
I'm looking forward to that.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
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(19:01):
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Speaker 2 (19:12):
We're going to take some mailback questions on this game,
but really quickly, I want to spend a few minutes
talking about g Bus in the Bus family selling the
Lakers for a valuation, a record valuation of ten billion dollars. Now,
from what I understand, and again this is important for
me to disclose, I am far from an expert on
this side of the business. I'm a basketball guy. I'm
(19:33):
trying to learn about this side of the business. Each
year I get a little bit better at it. But
it's taken some time. But my rough understanding of it
is that the Bus family owned about sixty six percent
of the team. This Mark Walter Gentleman runs a massive
investment firm that owns many things, including the Los Angeles Dodgers,
and they already had something like around twenty to twenty
five percent of the Lakers. Roughly fifty percent of that
(19:58):
sixty six percent that the Bus family owns will be
shifting over to Mark Walter. So mark'scroup would now own
a massive controlling interest in the Lakers. The Bus family
is keeping fifteen percent, which I believe is the mandatory
minimum for someone to actually remain governor of the team,
which Genie Bus will remain for now. And so now
the relatively cash poor Bus family cash is in at
(20:18):
like five billion dollars if I'm doing my math right,
and the Lakers are now effectively owned by Mark Walter.
Now there's some details that are interesting, right, So for instance,
Genie Bus is continuing to serve as the governor of
the team. This is interesting because the Lakers issues don't
only come down to money. We're gonna talk a lot
about money. That's not the only issues. Those aren't the
(20:38):
only issues that the Lakers have. They also have a
leadership problem. The Lakers have just pulled off the largest
valuation in a sale in the history of professional sports,
but they are literally run like a small local family business.
Talk to anyone who has spent time around the Lakers.
There are members of the family and close friends of
(20:59):
the family all over the organization and positions of power.
There's no clear decision making hierarchy. If Genie stays on
as governor and the team continues to operate in that way,
it will continue to hold the team back in some way,
shape or form. God said, we do have a recent example,
relatively recent example, with Mark Cuban after he sold the MAVs,
(21:21):
staying on as governor but then eventually being removed from power.
My guess is Genie is more of a placeholder than
anything else, and I would imagine that she eventually gets replaced,
but before we get to anything with money. This is
an aspect that I'm keeping an eye on turnover with
executives up high in the organization. Luka Dancis has one
(21:41):
year left on his contract before a player option that
he'll almost certainly opt out of in pursuit of a
new deal. And if you're gonna keep Luca around for
one more contract or hopefully for two more contracts, you
may have to be willing to fire some people. So
like if rob Polinka isn't up to the task. If
he fails this summer in building a team around Luka Doncic,
(22:04):
you cannot afford to wait and lose Luka Doncic in
the process.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Luca is the future.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Things were looking extremely bleak for the Lakers after like
in that middle early middle portion of the season when
they were struggling. You got an old Lebron you got
an Anthony Davis who's on the decline. They didn't have
any sort of massive asset trove or anything to fall
back on. Luca is the guy that came in through
(22:31):
great fortune and has turned around the prospects for this
franchise moving forward. You have to be willing to clean
house quickly if incompetent steps in. But by far the
biggest aspect to this move and how it will affect
the Lakers, at least in the short term for the
next couple of years, things that we'll notice almost immediately
(22:53):
is the change in financial resources available for the team.
And I'm not I'm not treading any new ground here.
This has been the main major talking point in the
NBA for over twenty.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
Four hours now.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
But the Lakers were famously cheap the most The most
obvious example was the decision to let Alex Crusoe walk
for an average annual salary of a little over nine
million dollars to the Chicago Bulls. The Lakers had already
offered him six million, and by the way, this has
been laid out by Alex in the past, the Lakers
were willing to pay him six million a year. Alex
came back and was like, Hey, the Bulls are going
(23:25):
to give me nine will you guys match that? And
the Lakers literally said no, which is damning on both
fronts because it's damning on the Rob Blink upfront because
it shows a scary lack of understanding of what wins
basketball games in the NBA. And then it's damming on
the bus family front because we're talking about a gap
of about nine million dollars per year in salary between
(23:46):
in salary and tax.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
Between that six million.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Dollar number annually and the nine million dollar number one
you add in luxury tax, that was enough to scare
them out of retaining a player that literally started an
NBA Finals game for them in twenty twenty. But the
Lakers cheapness went far further than just the Caruso deal.
They openly disrespected a championship coach in Tylu when he
(24:10):
just asked to be paid like a championship coach and
the Bus family offered him entry level coach money. It
was insulting and he walked away. They spend far below
the top teams in the league on stuff like scouting staff,
analytics staff, other support staff. That is like a legitimate
competitive advantage in this league. I saw a story yesterday
(24:31):
about them literally forcing an assistant coach to stay in
a different hotel than a player he was working out
because they didn't want to spend a little bit more
on a hotel room. So this news can be can't
be interpreted in any way other than a massive positive
because all indications from Mark Walters Group and the way
they manage the Dodgers should lead us to believe that
(24:52):
the Lakers will finally be a big spending team. That
means they won't ever miss out on a hire because
the Bus families ego or unwillingness to pay market value
steps into the equation. They should be a top five
luxury tax spending team, which they were not under Genie Bus.
They should undergo a massive investment over the next few
off seasons and upgrading their support staff at every level,
(25:17):
and they should finally be run like the biggest sports
franchise in the world. If you're going to be valued
like that, if that's the investment you're in charge of,
it needs to be invested in properly, and now I
expect them to be.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
It's not gonna happen overnight.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Could be a rocky transition, especially with rob and Genie
still carrying some power. There's a lot of urgency surrounding
the situation with Luca. The Lakers desperately need to get
a starting center this summer, a starting caliber center. They
desperately need to anchor Lebron and Luca with a ton
of athleticism. If you're gonna build a team around Luca,
like I hope he comes into camp in better shape,
(25:53):
but he's notoriously a poorly conditioned athlete. Austin Reeves, who's
a below average NBA athlete. Lebron James is to be
forty one by the time you reach the playoffs. You've
got to anchor them with just a shit ton of athleticism.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
There is a lot of work that needs to.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
Be done over the course of this offseason and next
season before the trade deadline, but I am expecting big
changes and the overall level of competence within the Lakers
in the coming years. I was taxting with Logan Swayin.
He's a buddy of mine who is the head of
content here at the Volume Sports Laker Fan. Him and
I always are talking to each other throughout the Lakers season,
(26:29):
and we were talking today about how or yesterday about
how it's kind of a little bittersweet in the sense that,
like I kind of felt like the Lebron James Anthony
Davis era was just just marred by underachieving efforts from
people in the upper levels of the Lakers organization. And
there'll always be a part of me that kind of
is like kind of annoyed that now, finally after Lebron
(26:50):
spent like, god, how many seasons has it been, now
like seven or eight seasons with the Lakers, with how
much time he's been with the Lakers, that it took
this long for the the team to sell to somebody
with some real financial power. But it is what it is,
and it's going to be exciting at least for the
Luca era. And you know, if there was any chance,
If there's any chance to squeeze the title out of
these guys, it was going to happen with some more
(27:13):
competent leadership, and this should be the first step in
that direction. All right, let's bring Jackson and we're gonna
take some questions from the chat.
Speaker 4 (27:21):
Let's do it.
Speaker 5 (27:23):
First question, Hey, Jason, we've seen enough of TJ McConnell
to know it's not a fluke anymore. But why is
it still so hard for the thunder to adjust when
it comes in the game.
Speaker 4 (27:32):
How are they not ready for this?
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Well, it's the same. It's not about being ready.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
It's the same thing that it's the same thing that
Indiana's dealing with on the other end of the floor
with Shay and with Jadab. The reality is is that
TJ McConnell can beat the man in front of him
one on one. That that is this singular thing that
can break an NBA defense and e lead NBA defense.
And on the other end of the floor, like the
Pacers have been a very good defense for the last
(27:58):
like you know, four or five months, and they've been
doing it in large part by containing the ball. And
they can't contain the ball against these guys like Shay
and Jay Dubb can consistently get into the TV the defense.
There's no scheme. We talked about this in the show.
There's no like magical schematic adjustment. It's about sliding your
damn feet and keeping your chest in front of the ball.
And TJ has a superpower. Like I think TJ is
one of the most underrated athletes in the league. He
(28:19):
is a very powerful guard well a ton of straight
line speed and the ability to change direction with some
basic moves and counter moves that make him very, very
difficult to handle. And like his individual greatness is breaking
the Oklahoma City defense and he's going to need to
do it again on Sunday.
Speaker 5 (28:33):
Yeah, I feel like we're reaching the point where he
is straight up been over the course of the series,
the second most impactful offensive player for the Pacers. I mean,
Siakama is obviously I think at this point the finals MVP,
if the Pacers were to win, and it's and that's
sort of part of the Pacers magic, and it's much
more of an aggregate, you know, collection of talent on
both ens with the floor, you know, and nem Hard
(28:55):
and Eisman, they're doing a lot of work defensively, but
it does feel like McConnell has been their second best
offensive player this series.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
Yeah, you can't give him finals MVP if Indiana wins
because his minutes have been too low and like Siakam
has just been on the floor more, doing more. But like, yeah,
I would argue if like, let's say that the game
was tied and there's seven seconds left and they're coming
out of a timeout, I would be strongly encouraged to
put TJ in the game and run a one to
four low well like or like a four out one
(29:22):
in and have him attack off the wing. Like he
is a problem for Oklahoma City because he's too big
and fast and strong for Oklahoma City's guards, which is crazy,
but that's just like he is consistently getting past his man.
Speaker 3 (29:33):
It's crazy.
Speaker 5 (29:34):
It's so crazy, especially when we've talked all season about
how many unbelievable defenders they're putting. Put Alics Caruso on
him today. Als Caruso, who were like, he is the
world beating defensive skeleton key right now after the Jogis performance,
they're like guard TJ McConney crazy anyway, Speaking of the
Denver series, Denver starters. They when they when they had
a Game seven against the thunder Denver starters got off
(29:55):
to a good start, but as soon as their bench
came in, it was it was basically over.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
While the pacer bench is exponentially better.
Speaker 5 (30:01):
Thoughts on that sort of heading dynamic heading into Game
seven the finals.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
So it's complicated because if you remember Oklahoma City's bench
game in the game too, and one of those guys
happened to be Alex Crusoe, and that guy decided he
was going to front the post against Nikolajokic, and Nikoliokich
was out there during the start of the the thunder
onslought that occurred there towards the end of the first quarter. Now, yes,
there was a Jokic less group in the start of
the second quarter that just completely decomposed. But the it's
(30:29):
it to me, it's uh, it's the bench for Indiana
to me, doesn't make as much of a difference in
terms of like traditional bench starter dynamics because Carlisle is
just gonna go with who's playing.
Speaker 4 (30:42):
Well.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
What I mean by that is like there.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Have been multiple stretches in this series where it's like
a key like, oh, it's the late second quarter and
this is usually a starting group, but we've got TJ.
McConnell and Ben Sheppard on the floor, you know, stuff
like that. So like, to me, Carlisle is gonna pick
the dudes that he thinks are playing the best in
that moment to be out on the floor. To me,
it's when Oklahoma City starts to leverage, Like when they
(31:03):
start with Hartenstein and Chet, they're a little bit slower,
they're not as good with their ball pressure when they
bring in case On Wallace, when they bring in Alex Cruso,
when they really start swarming and pressuring like crazy. It's
just about Oklahoma City not soiling themselves the way they did.
They had eight turnovers in the fourth quarter of Game five,
And that's what you got to be prepared for is
Oklahoma City is gonna bring just the most hillatious defensive
punch that you can possibly imagine in Game seven, and
(31:25):
they have to not get rattled. And to me, an
easy way to counter that is they've got to bring
their hilacious defensive punch and they got to try to
rattle Oklahoma City's the offense enough to get out in transition.
Speaker 5 (31:37):
Will be really interesting to see if they start Cruise
or not like they started them in the second half today.
They've done that times in the playoff series. In the playoffs,
it'll be interesting if they start.
Speaker 4 (31:44):
Him to start the game.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
I would. I would.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
It's not fucking around time anymore. Like you were officially
in single elimination territory in the trophy. You could lose
the trophy. You got to start your best five, and
Cruiss clearly the their best fifth guy in this series.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
I think. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (31:59):
Next question, if OKC loses, would you consider it a
big choke job or would you I guess a better
way to phrase it is, would you think of it
more as a big choke job from OKAC or as
a sort of superhuman valiant effort from the Pacers front.
Speaker 4 (32:14):
It's obviously a combination of those.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Yeah, it's you know, on its face. Very simply, if
a minus seven hundred favorite before a series loses, it
can't be anything other than a giant choke job, especially
when you look back to what happened at the end
of Game one, when you had a substantial lead and
you end up blowing that game. I think it's a
(32:37):
little bit more complicated for me because everyone on the
roster is so young. So for instance, like, let's use
the most iconic choke job in the history of the NBA,
the twenty eleven Heat, Like they had vets on the roster. Yeah,
it was a clunky, clunky roster and they hadn't really
figured out how to like space the floor. And they're
playing two bigs and Lebron's playing the three and it
(32:58):
won perfect by any stretch the imagination. But what happened
in that series is Lebron decomposed and Dirk hit a
level that was crazy and it ended up leading to
one of the biggest upsets. Shay has had his downs
in this series, but he's also had some massive ups
and I think Shay's been particularly good in the pivotal moments.
You lose Game two, you lose the series.
Speaker 3 (33:19):
He was awesome.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
You lose the final minutes of Game four, you lose
the series, he was awesome. You lose, you lose Game five,
you lose the series, he was awesome. So, like, to
Shay's credit, he hasn't had like that type of thing.
To me, what's happening in this series on the Oklahoma
City front is more testament to just the stuff I've
been preaching about all season. Every time I've talked about
the Thunder all season, I've said the same damn things
(33:42):
every damn time, which is, they have this obvious upside.
The metrics are there, everything looks great. All of your
conventional wisdom would lead you to believe this is the
NBA champion, But there are a bunch of kids relative
to NBA players, relative to other NBA championship teams in
NBA history, story tells us this team loses. They have
(34:04):
overcome that to this point. But to me, they're inconsistencies
and their inability to kind of like play to their potential,
so to speak, because like they should have beat Indiana
in five or six games, They should have beat Denver
in five games, and they didn't. They beat Denver in seven,
and they're in danger of potentially losing to Indiana and seven.
(34:24):
And to me, that's come down to their inexperience and
what all of the downsides the things that have happened.
It's been consistent, like what is Oklahoma City look like
when they're bad? Shay's chucking shots or the guy the
role players are not able to knock down the open
shots that are available they get super super sweaty palmed
on offense and they can't score and that ends up
(34:46):
being the difference. And that's happened to them periodically throughout
the season at various points, and none of it matters.
If they hoist the trophy, go win on Sunday, no
one's gonna care. But like the threat was always there,
this Oklahoma City team was beatable, and they were beatable
because of their you and I do think that that
has shown at various points in this postseason to.
Speaker 5 (35:05):
That point, we have another question. The Thunder officially are
gonna be.
Speaker 4 (35:08):
Four and five on the road in this playoff run, and.
Speaker 5 (35:10):
Now they're gonna have a losing playoff record during their
playoff run. This has happened before an NBA history. Wouldn't
be the first time a champion as a losing playoff record,
but it doesn't happen that often. Would and that's you know,
certainly speaks to their youth. Would that if they on
the flip side of this sort of conversation we talked
about if the Patriots win, if the Thunder winning Game seven,
would that losing playoff record be a blemish as we
(35:31):
think about them as one of their You know, we
talked a lot of during the regular season, is this
one of the great teams in NBA history?
Speaker 4 (35:37):
Would that be a blemish to you? To you for
their playoff.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
Run, I wouldn't call it a blemish to me. It's
it's especially for a team that's one of the great teams,
it is always a little clunky in that first playoff run,
your first like really deep playoff run. So for instance,
like even for Boston in twenty twenty two, for example,
which I qualify as their first big playoff run, right,
(36:02):
I theoretically not because they had other conference finals runs,
but just let's focus in on that one in particular,
Like you have the shakiness against Milwaukee, you have the
shakiness against Golden State, and you end up eventually losing
against Golden State. Like typically in those first few runs,
a lot of your youth shows, your inconsistencies show I've
(36:24):
been saying all year, this is the year to beat
Oklahoma City because all all that's gonna happen is Chet's
gonna get better and Jadubb's gonna get better. And I
think even Shay has learned a lot of valuable lessons
in this series and there's been these obvious, like differences
in approach from Shay and his good games and in
his bad games throughout this entire playoff run. And like
(36:45):
like any young basketball player, he's just taking in data
and he's learning, and he's gonna learn how to like
repeat the stuff that works and avoid the stuff that doesn't.
And so to me, like in the same way that
we look back on the Warriors, even though they were
shaking in twenty fifteen, you know, they fall down two
one to Memphis. They I think they were down they
were down two one to Memphis. They were down two
(37:06):
one to Cleveland. I think that was the only two
series they trailed in. But like they it didn't look
like the most dominant playoff run for a team that
won what sixty seven regular season games the way they did, right, So, Like,
I mean they won one fewer game than Oklahoma City did, right,
And what that look, what do we look back at
as that that team, as we look at that as
the young Warriors? That was the one they stole, right, Like,
(37:27):
that was the one that like I think a lot
of people think, like if the Calves were healthy, like,
maybe that ends up being a different series.
Speaker 3 (37:32):
That one maybe, but.
Speaker 2 (37:34):
Or later on as they got older, as they got
more experience, It's like, all of a sudden, they were
the team that was beating the sixty eight or sixty
five win rockets and beating the more the more electric
regular season teams, because all of a sudden, they were
the savvy vets who had been in all these big
moments and they're just more comfortable in those spots. And
so to me, I think we'll look back like if
(37:55):
Okahoma City wins on Sunday, which I believe they will.
If Oklahoma City wins on Sunday, it's just to be
their first title. And yeah, if they have a dominant
one after, Like if they go back next year and
they go sixteen and three, no one's gonna care that
they had a tough playoff run in twenty twenty five.
As is always the case, you can legitimize your success
with repeated titles. Celtics fans will always cling to the
(38:18):
twenty twenty four title as one of the as as
like an all time great team. But if you're gonna
convince the masses of anything, it's multiple titles. And that
is ultimately the unassailable thing that okayc needs to accomplish.
Speaker 4 (38:32):
Last question before we go over to playback.
Speaker 5 (38:34):
You sort of just touched on it, but DraftKings has
the Thunder as an eight and a half point favorite
in game set.
Speaker 4 (38:41):
How would you lean that, I.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
Yeah, I would bet. I would take Oklahoma City and
the spread. I think Oklahoma City is gonna win big.
I think Oklahoma's city. I think Oklahoma City will be
celebrating the championship the entire fourth quarter.
Speaker 3 (38:57):
For the record, I got I hope.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
That doesn't happen. And this extends beyond like hoping for
an interesting thing for the job. I've talked about this
on the show before, but like just speaking authentically as
a basketball fan, I like this Pacers team more. I
think they play a more likable brand of basketball. I
think they're more fun to watch, and I'm actively rooting
for them just as a basketball fan. And so I
don't want that to happen on Sunday. I want Indiana
(39:21):
to win. But I believe in this Oklahoma City defense.
I believe that they can reach a level that is
transcendent compared to even other great NBA defenses in the
history of the league. So I think Oklahoma City I
think Oklahoma City controls Sunday throughout and it's relatively boring,
which is not what I'm hoping for, but again, that's
(39:41):
what I think will happen. Well, what's your guests? If
you had to guess, you're more optimistic, So why don't
you pitch the case?
Speaker 3 (39:46):
Let's hear it.
Speaker 5 (39:48):
I mean, I think I do feel like the spread
is kind of an interesting number at eight and a
half because it does feel like the Thunder have a
very good chance to win by fifteen twelve to fifteen.
Speaker 4 (39:59):
And also like if the Pacers are.
Speaker 5 (40:00):
Gonna win, I don't think they're winning by eight, you
know what I mean, Like, I don't think that that
number is gonna come into play all that much. I
feel like it's either going to be a Thunder cruise
or a Pacers like three to.
Speaker 4 (40:10):
Four point win. But I don't know.
Speaker 5 (40:13):
I mean, I think today's game is a is a
bad time to have a true stinker, you know, like
it definitely feels like something a veteran team would do
more than a young team, maybe like punt the game,
but you know you're not punting any games in the
NBA Finals, right Like this is it's the NBA Finals
time you have a chance to close that on the
road there's no and the Pacers building the kind of
(40:34):
confidence then them hard and Nee Smith offensive performances and
I are definitely really you know, it's a sign of
it's a positive sign for the Pacers. I don't I
think that if I was gonna have to pick, and
I had to make a pick, I would pick the
Thunder and I would pick them to win by eleven probably.
But I do feel like the Pacers winning is very
within the realm despite all the Thunder factors.
Speaker 3 (40:54):
It's absolutely on the table. Couldn't agree more.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
It's just it to me, is very clearly the less
likely outcome, and it the weird thing is it's a
it's a fucking eternity until Sunday again. Like this schedule
has been so bizarre. I was joking with my wife earlier.
I was like, this is the longest season we've worked
because we had the Warriors series in twenty twenty two
that went six games, but then we've had back to
(41:19):
back five game finals, Like we're working deep into the
month of June or we're going on the what is
it the twenty second right, So like it's and it's
like it's just another all like every every sequence has
felt the same to me, where Like on that second
full day off after the finals, I'm like, I cannot
believe there's not a game tonight, Like we're waiting again,
We're doing this tomorrow night, and so like it's an
(41:41):
eternity to wait, and like if there's one other thing
to cling to if your Pacers fan, game sevens are
notoriously nerve wracking, so there's a certain element to where
like you can hope that Oklahoma City succumbs to that
a little bit. The only thing that always worries me
in a situation like that is there's one thing that
is dependably consistent every single night, no matter what, when
(42:03):
a team is playing hard in that's defense. And that's
the calling card for the Oklahoma City team, and that's
what makes them the safer bet. That's why they're the
safer bet. But that doesn't mean that Indiana can't win.
All right, guys, that's all we have for tonight, as
always been. Sincerely appreciate you guys for supporing us in
supporting the show. Remember heading over to playback so playback
dot tv slash Oops. Tonight will be taking callers and
just hanging out and talking OOPS for about an hour.
Speaker 3 (42:23):
We'll see you guys over there. What's up guys.
Speaker 2 (42:25):
As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting
OOPS tonight. They would actually be really helpful for us
if you guys would take a second.
Speaker 3 (42:31):
And leave a rating and a review.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
As always, I appreciate you guys supporting us, but if
you could take a minute to do that, I really
appreciate it. The volume
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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