Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - NBA Squad Show: Cavs Injuries Mount, Warriors-Wolves Odds, Playoff Predictions

Starting point is 00:00:05 All right, I'm just going to play one of these intro videos and hope that I don't get in trouble for it. Three, two, one. On today's Lockdown NBA Squad Show, could injuries derail the calves against the Pacers, and does Vegas have it all wrong when it comes to Warriors Timberwolves? You are talking ball with the NBA West Squad Show, sponsored by game time. From the Warriors to the Lakers, the Mavericks to the Nuggets, and everyone else in the West. The local experts of the Lockdown Podcast Network bring you all the scoops, breakdowns and the most comprehensive look at the Western Conference.

Starting point is 00:00:40 Trash talk and big takes included. No holding back, we're giving the green light. It's time to talk NBA West. We're talking to NBA West and NBA East. Welcome to the LockedonNBA Squad Show. I'm Wes Goldberg, host of Lockdown Heat. This is the squad show where we take over the feed of your favorite lockdown show, and it's an open invite for any host to join and talk about anything they want during these NBA playoffs.

Starting point is 00:01:05 Today's episode is brought to you by fans. Duel. Right now, new customers get $250 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. Joining me today is a slew of hosts from across the network. We got Rylan from Locked on Thunder, Andy from Locked on Lakers, also Brian from Lockedon Lakers. We got Matt from Locked on Nuggets. I'm just reading the bottom thing over here. Philip from Lockdown Magic, Danny from Lockdown, Kaz, and Jackson from Locked on Rockets. So a lot of teams in these playoffs, and unfortunately some not in these playoffs well represented here. But let's start with the big news coming out from Monday afternoon. We know that the calves already lost game one. Darius Garland

Starting point is 00:01:41 is day to day with a toe injury, but there's more injury news coming out of Cleveland. Danny, can you please fill us in? Yes. So DeAndre Hunter dislocated his right thumb, which obviously is his shooting hands thumb. So that's not great news for the calves. And then the other thing that came out of it is Evan Mobley has a sprained left ankle that he landed on Miles Turner when taking a hook shot in the Lane was very was limping around after that in game one. Didn't necessarily look the same over the final five or six minutes. I don't exactly remember how much time was left in the fourth quarter that game when it happened, but he wasn't the same player after that.

Starting point is 00:02:16 And Kenny Ackinson was pretty ticked off about neither of those fouls being called and the Cavs being in this position that they were in. They were a team that had for the most part really good health all year. And now we get to the point where their backs are really against the wall. They're dealing with adversity for the first time. And they might be down three of their five best players. Phillip, you know something about the overdog, the favorite complaining needlessly about playoff basketball? What are your thoughts?

Starting point is 00:02:45 Yeah, I mean, obviously injuries are injuries. And you can't do much about them. They're kind of out of your control. I mean, Cleveland would probably say that the last few years, the reason they weren't a higher seed was because of injuries. And so it just happens that these injuries are happening later in the series. But if you're a championship team, you find a way to get over. You know, Boston was dealing with injuries to Jalen Brown, to Jason Tatum, to Drew Holiday, was probably the biggest injury that they faced in that series.

Starting point is 00:03:12 And obviously, they weren't so serious that the guys weren't playing. Jalen Brown said he dislocated a finger in game three of the series against the magic, played through the rest of that game, played through the rest of the series. Obviously, that was his non-shooting hand, if I'm not mistaken. So it's a little bit different. But if you're a championship team, you find a way. And obviously, Donovan Mitchell is still there. They still have Jared Allen.

Starting point is 00:03:32 the Cavs still have plenty of firepower, they've got to find a way. They can't use that as an excuse. They can't pack it and say, oh, this season's lost because of injuries. We're going to do it again next year. This is their window. This is their opportunity.

Starting point is 00:03:44 And if they're a championship team, they're going to find a way against this Pacer's team. I mean, I think the important thing here for Atkinson is, you know, if he's got these injuries, he's got to make sure that he plays the absolute worst player to replace in the starting lineup if those guys are out. Like, if he can just find the worst players imaginable, what are you doing playing Sam,

Starting point is 00:04:02 What are you doing? Like the first play of the game was, oh God, Sam Merrill is winding up on a switch and Siakun gets an open three-pointer. He missed it. But I was like, what is happening? What is that game plan, Danny? Like, you talk about shot variance. And you're not wrong on the shot variant stuff, man. But, like, that definitely looked like a team that played the Miami Heat in the first round.

Starting point is 00:04:27 And then listened to Locked on Cavs about how impressive it was that they beat the Miami Heat in the first round by that much and then internalized all of that hubris. Good God, man. Yeah, that's not the direction I would have gone if I were Kenny. I think Sam made more sense against Miami just like from a matchup standpoint. I would have gone Dean Wade in the starting lineup and just played bigger, downshifted Max Trues to the two without Darius Garland available and gone at it that way. Like I think that is what would have made the most sense.

Starting point is 00:04:56 Kenny wants to lean into offense, which I don't think is necessarily the worst idea in this series against the Pacers. I do kind of think that there's going to have to be some, we have to outscore you. And I think both teams probably feel that way. But Sam is not the direction I would have gone. And they want to make Tyreys Haliburton work. And I suppose Sam is going to do that more than Dean Wade where he would just hide on him. And the Pacers early in that game didn't want Halliburton switching.

Starting point is 00:05:22 And it led to some wide open three-pointers for Sam Meryl that he just missed it. Like he needs to make if he's going to be in the game. It's not the direction I would have gone. but they want to lean into offense. They think that's what Sam provides there. Jackson was Sam Merrill, though we're starting shooting guard for a team on Sunday that lost? Unfortunately not.

Starting point is 00:05:40 Thanks for rubbing salt in the wound, Matt. I appreciate it very much. But isn't there a difference? I mean, going back to Phillips point, like the championships teams find a way, it's different when Boston beats Orlando or Cleveland beats Miami. I mean, this Pacer's team is really good.

Starting point is 00:05:55 They won game one. Do we think it was just because of the injuries that they won game one? in? No, I think it's more than just the injuries. Like the Pacers were the ones that dictated how this game went. And I thought the Cavs did a better job as the game went on of kind of dictating the style. But early on, they got punched first and they didn't, it took them too long to respond. And that's ultimately why they lost this game. Like they were outscored by 12 points in the first quarter and had to play catch up the entire time. And that's a really difficult thing to do in a

Starting point is 00:06:23 postseason game. But to Phillips point, and listen, Indiana is really, really good. They are a very good team. I think they're the third best team in the east behind Cleveland and Boston. Like they're better than New York. I don't have a question about that. But what I keep coming back to is Donovan Mitchell's probably going to finish fifth in MVP voting. He's probably going to make first team all NBA when that stuff is announced. The Cavs are dealt a bad hand right now because DeAndre Hunter probably not going to play. Evan Mowby probably not going to play. Like Kenny Akin said questionable. And then he said doubtful like 30 seconds later. as we record this, the injury report, the official one, not out,

Starting point is 00:06:58 but it just doesn't seem like those two are going to play. So Donovan's going to finish fifth and MVP. He's going to be first to me on all NBA. Okay, go win your team of playoff game. Like that is what Donovan Mitchell is in Cleveland to do. He has helped transform this team from a 44 win team before he got here to a 64 win team that has championship hopes. Go win a not necessarily a do or die playoff game,

Starting point is 00:07:18 but your backs against the wall. Go be the best player. And isn't this like the reason why they decreased his minutes so that he would have the fuel in the tank to take over a game if they needed into in the playoffs. Like this, this is literally what Cleveland playing their whole season for. Like they would have been happy being the two seed, you know, winning 57, 50, 50, 50 games. They didn't need to win all the games that they won. That was just a byproduct of them clicking, them being healthy, them working really well.

Starting point is 00:07:45 But this is the moment they play in their entire season for. And, you know, the fact that they tried to match Indiana's pace, no team is going to match Indiana's pace. That's their style. They want to get up and down the floor. They want to get up as many shots as they can. If you're trying to match Indiana's pace, you're going to lose that game. You got to play your style.

Starting point is 00:08:02 You got to play the way that you play. And Cleveland's, you know, Cleveland's obviously down guys now. They've got to double down on who they are and lean on their star to get them there. So I think the biggest issue I had with what Kenny Atkinson did in game one wasn't starting Sam Merrill. It wasn't, you know, some of the other things that they could have done better, I think. Donovan Mitchell only played 33 minutes in that game. And I understand it's game one of what the Cavs expect to, certainly at this point, be a long series.

Starting point is 00:08:30 But you need Donovan Mitchell to be playing 36, 37 minutes in that game, especially in a game where one, I didn't think Ty Drum was very good. And two, Darius Garland's not available. Like the load that he has to carry there. And he took 30 shots was not super efficient, was one of 11 from three. But he is the guy for you. At a certain point, you've got to play him a little bit more than they did. Like, he should have been in that game on Sunday night at 37 minutes for the calf. to have a chance. The fact that he only played 33, I do think was something that hurt him,

Starting point is 00:08:58 that hurt them. Danny, how did you feel about Donovan's shot profile with, again, 33 points, 30 shots? Did you kind of like his approach offensively or do you think he needs to step up as more of like a creator for this team? I think with Garland out, he has to be a little bit more of a creator. Like if Darius is back tonight and we're recording this before we know statuses on Monday, so like he could play Tuesday night and this conversation changes. Without Garland, he needs to be more of a creative type basketball player. And this is maybe not apples to apples because it was last season. But if you watched the Cavs last year in that stretch where they didn't have Evan

Starting point is 00:09:32 Mowgli and they didn't have Darius Garland because Mowgli had a knee surgery and Garland broke his jaw and they were out for like six weeks. And the cab went 17 and one. Donovan played point guard that whole time and he was fantastic. Like he was absolutely awesome as a distributor as a creator. And they need a little bit more of that. I do think a certain by a certain point it was and he didn't shoot the ball well from outside obviously.

Starting point is 00:09:52 But nobody did. I think he kind of felt like. like, okay, I just have to, I got to go do this. And you saw in the third quarter when the Cavs went on that run, it was Donovan getting to the rim over and over and over again and getting to the free throw line and really starting to play with, I think a level of force that the Cavs did not have in the first half of that game against the Pacers in game one. They had it better in the second half.

Starting point is 00:10:12 And I think they need to have that for like, I don't know, the full 48 minutes in game two on Tuesday night. But that's what I keep coming back to is, yeah, the shots weren't going down. Some of his threes were not good looks. a couple of the other ones that he missed are wide open looks that you would expect Donovan Mitchell to make far more often than he's going to miss that shot. So it's a little bit of both, but I do think that in the second half, he started getting downhill more, and that was kind of what this needs to be at least right now. So before we get out of this segment, I don't know if

Starting point is 00:10:41 anybody took the Pacers before the series started, but Indiana has a 1-0 lead. The injuries to Cleveland, three out of their top five players are hurt. Indiana only has to go 500 the next three games to win this series. Is anyone willing to go out there and actually pick the Pacers in this series, despite all the things that we just talked about with the Cavs? Sure. I'll do it. First of all, I'm not going to lose any credibility with my audience, Brian's audience. If I misread the Pacers Cavs series, none of them are going to give a bleep. But the reality is, yeah, Pacers are actually a good team. Like they finished strong at the end of this season. They got to the Eastern Conference finals last year. I know they got swept by Boston, but they still

Starting point is 00:11:20 got to the Eastern Conference finals. We've talked a lot over the course of the last few squad shows, if nothing else, about the importance of depth and how much this year depth has really started to show in the playoffs. In Indiana is a deep team. Andrew Nemhart becomes like a playoff legend, apparently every year once the postseason rolls around. But they're a good team.

Starting point is 00:11:48 So, yeah, I'll take them. Why not? And also, too, it's like if those guys aren't going to play, like, is the difference between Indiana and Cleveland so big that missing, you know, Garland, Mobley, potentially Hunter for like reasonable amount of time couldn't tighten that series up? I mean, that seems to make the argument for the calves. That's a good idea. I mean, I think the argument for the cabs is they still have the best player in this series in Donovan Mitchell. And like, they're not, they still have good players outside of those three. And I think a lot of this has to do with Darius Garland coming back.

Starting point is 00:12:22 Like if Garland is back and 85% of what he's been, I think the Cavs feel a lot better that they can survive. You know, Evan Mobley may be missing two games. Maybe Down Dry Hunter doesn't play in the rest of the series because I think a dislocated thumb on your shooting hand is probably a little bit more serious than an ankle sprain is at this point. And the calves still have, they still have the firepower to be able to do it. It's just their margin for air has evaporated incredibly quickly.

Starting point is 00:12:49 I just wonder if we're also kind of devaluing Halliburton a little bit in this like process. Like, you know, last, you know, kind of six months and ignoring what he's done lately and what he's capable of. He looked great in game one. I mean, he was he was the best player on the court in game one. You can argue. And defensively, what he did was a lot better than what he was doing in the regular season. In the Olympics, he got DNPCDs on a super team. So did Jason.

Starting point is 00:13:15 Somebody isn't going to play with that group. But like it's not it's not like he got DNPCDs for like this year's wizards or something. Like that team was really, really good. I will say I just think the biggest thing for me in game one goes back to Atkinson. That team was not ready for that. They were not ready for a team that played the Pacers. It wasn't just the intent. They did this at the Bucks too.

Starting point is 00:13:43 We're there. It's like you are like, all right, you're settling in. You're kind of like, okay, first possession. just kind of got, find my mat, boom, they're hitting you. They are in your chest going at you. And they just keep it up. It's not just the, if you look at the game yesterday, the pace actually wasn't that fast, but the tempo.

Starting point is 00:13:59 Like I'm sitting there clock in each pacer's possession. They're getting into first action, 18, 17 seconds. You have to be ready for that. And too often the calves were just kind of like, I mean, they genuinely looked like they had just played a team that didn't belong in the playoffs. So, you know, honestly, the real loser from. Cavs Pacers game one with the Miami Heat. All right, very good.

Starting point is 00:14:20 And piggybacking really, really quick onto what both Matt and Brian said. Last word on this, yeah. Insofar as the Pacers and one of their strengths in Halliburton, whenever you have a guy that is running your offense that much who makes so few mistakes, like I think this year he's got something like a 9 to 1 assist to turnover ratio.

Starting point is 00:14:40 That in and of itself gives you a big advantage. Just you don't put your team in bad positions with mistakes when you have the ball that much. We're going to shift gears to the Western Conference next. The Timberwolves are the betting favorites against the Warriors, but it feels like the public disagrees. We're going to talk about that next year on this Lockdown NBA Squad Show. Today's episode is brought to you by Fandual.

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Starting point is 00:16:12 Thanks for being an everydayer for your favorite locked on podcast network team show. Let's switch gears to the Western Conference. The Timberwolves are heavily favored to win their series against the Warriors. Fanduel has them at minus 178 on Fanduel's sportsbook. That's basically implying a 64% chance of them winning the series, which feels pretty heavy for a 6-7 series. We don't really see these very often, so I think it's tough to make a pick, but 64% chance for Minnesota to win this series. That's where Vegas is. Feels like a lot of the public is looking

Starting point is 00:16:46 at Golden State after their exciting win against the Rockets in round one. But I don't know. I don't know how you would pick this series. So I'm just going to leave it up to the group here. Does anybody have a strong feel for who should be favored in this? I still like the Lakers despite LeBron's injury. I feel like they can come through here. You know, you've got the power of Luca. AR is due for a, I'm sorry.

Starting point is 00:17:08 Did I get sidetracked? Yeah, I think you're living in the wrong world. Let's talk about the Matt Dala. Next, on ESPN. That's the third segment, Matt. Don't spoil it. I think, look, I really like the wolves in this series. I think that in the first round, the rockets tried to use their size to their advantage against this Warriors team.

Starting point is 00:17:28 And the Warriors really struggled with the rocket size at times with the double big lineup throwing out Stephen Adams, throwing out Alper and Shingoon, the length of Jabarisma Jr. Tari Easton out there at times. The problem is that rocket's like jumbo lineup isn't super like functional like at times offensively. There's not a lot of there's, you know, Stephen Adams is not a dynamic offensive player. Shingun is. But, you know, Jabari, Tari, their spot up three and D. role player guys, right? I think that the wolves, their size between, you know, Gobert leaves a lot on the table to be desired offensively,

Starting point is 00:17:59 but between Julius Randall, Nasreed, and just the overall size of the wolves, I think that's going to be a problem for the Warriors. And they're also coming out of, look, Warriors are an older team, they're a veteran team. They just went through a grueling seven game series against this rocket team, right? They got beat up across these seven games,

Starting point is 00:18:18 playing undersized, playing small ball for most of that series. They're going to be exhausted, stepping into playing Sunday in Houston and then flying out and having go straight to Minnesota to play game one Tuesday night against a very good wolves team. They're going to struggle in this series. And the biggest key factor for the wolves is they don't have Jalen Green on their team. So they're going to win. Ouch, babe.

Starting point is 00:18:41 Wow. I would agree with Jackson that the Timberwolves, I think, should be the favorites in this series. On top of everything that Jackson said, even if Golden State can get this to be a small ball type of game, I think that Minnesota has a great small ball lineup that they can combat with in this series. And to Jackson's point, I think that the Rockets did defensively enough to come out alive in that series. They just didn't have enough offense. And I think that Minnesota clearly, just like everyone else, including Eisenhower Middle School, has a better offense than Houston, that they can take advantage of a Golden State in that way.

Starting point is 00:19:13 What's the mascot to Eisenhower Middle School? The Vikings. Stephen Adams, in a way. I think when we look at these playoff series, a lot of us, you know, the old adage goes, if you have the best player in the series, you have the best chance to win. I think the difference between NBA people like us and maybe the betting public is, or not the betting public, but like the public themselves is they still think Steph Curry is the best player in this series. Anthony Edwards is the best player in this series.

Starting point is 00:19:45 And he is playing at a very, very high level right now. he is still he is you know kind of you know as much as he doesn't want to be the next face of the NBA he kind of is he beat he beat he beat LeBron he last year he beat LeBron he gets his chance of curry huh and the Lakers yeah beat the Lauren and the Leakey and the Lakers too I guess but you know but but we're talking about kind of the old guard passing the baton Anthony Edwards is going to be right now is in line to be the one that will have beaten all of the old guard kind of the the tens and the tens and aughts guys that are left in the NBA. Anthony Edwards is that guy.

Starting point is 00:20:22 And, but they were like, like Indiana in our last segment, the Timberwolves were in the conference finals last year. This isn't some like up-and-coming team. This is a team that has been there. They weren't scared of being to succeed. They're not scared of advancing to the conference finals to succeed. Their team that expects to win. Maybe they didn't have the season they wanted.

Starting point is 00:20:37 Maybe they're a little inconsistent. So maybe Golden State takes a game or two, takes a game more than they should. but Minnesota, I think they know what the end goal is. They know how to get there. And honestly, yeah, I think they have the best player in this series. I think Anthony Edwards is going to have a standout series. I want to send it back to Jackson here because the first time you said that, Jackson,

Starting point is 00:20:56 you made a face there. Do you think Steph is still the best player in the series? I do think Steph is still the best player in the series. And that's not to take anything away from Anthony Edwards. Nobody guards Anthony Edwards the way that teams have to try and guard Steph Curry on a possession to possession game by game. basis. Like you have to gear and it's and yeah like you still you're still slowing down and you're still dealing with that. The warriors will gladly live with you know one of Butler or GP2 or whoever just

Starting point is 00:21:25 guarding aunt in isolation and letting him try to cook and dance on the perimeter. Maybe he settles for a step back through you whatever. You can't do that with Steph. You can't. Your entire five man defense has to be geared to try and stop Steph Curry or he's going to cook you. Aunt isn't I'm not going to say aunt isn't to that level. He's very capable of doing that. But until I see a defense with all five guys geared to explicitly stop one player on the floor. Being Anthony Edwards, I'm not going to say he's the best player in the series. This is what I think. I think this is really, Jackson, you bring up a really interesting point about the wolves and

Starting point is 00:21:55 Ant and heading into, I know, the series against the Lakers where both Brian and I picked the Lakers to advance, but we both said the wolves are a really difficult team. And they are equipped in a lot of ways to hit at every single Lakers weakness, which, to be clear they did and then some. But one of the big questions heading into this series was Aunt and Julius Randall, I think the consensus two best players on the wolves. Decision making was a big question with both of them. And both of them made excellent decisions throughout this series. And I think both of them now have really good proof of concept. Like seriously, if you play this way and approach defenses this way,

Starting point is 00:22:41 and your decisions this way, you can both win and still dominate a series. Like both of them were so good. Like Randall completely turned around, at least for one series, a reputation of being a guy that's a liability in the playoffs. So if they can avoid some of what Jackson was talking about in terms of, you know, dancing in space and making good decisions, I think they actually are going to be too much for the Warriors to hand. handle on a bunch of different fronts.

Starting point is 00:23:13 My thing is, well, I just think the series is really fascinated from a matchup perspective because I start thinking about, okay, well, like the Warriors went really small against the rockets. Do you, can they afford to go small? Are they going to try and kill the wolves with five out spacing, which is what they did to the rockets in game seven because the rockets were, you know, use that crutch of the double big lineup for so much of that series? Or can you get another like Rudy Gobert's Superman game?

Starting point is 00:23:40 because what do you do you put do you put draymond on julius randle and then if so who's guarding rudy gobert jimmy butler do you start kevonne luni to deal with with ruddy go bear like what do you do matchup wise and then if you have jimmy on one of the on one of the wolves actual bigs then who the hell is guarding anthony edwards are you starting gp2 and then how much does that hurt the warriors offensively because gp2 was far in a way the the worst player for the warriors in their series against the rockets he was their worst plus minus player by far total plus minus and it was actually a blessing for the warriors that he was out with food poisoning in game seven like the food poisoning saved steve kerr from himself from playing gp2 in game seven against the rockets man i'm curious your thoughts from

Starting point is 00:24:21 that on a matchup perspective i made this argument today on another pod that if i were finch i would consider if they're good by draymond on julius park julius in the corner these 37% on spot up shots this season. That's good enough for you to get away with that. Like Julius, you don't feel terrible. It's not Russell Westbrook who shot really well in that Clipper series, but you feel better about him spotting up. And you make Draymond make that choice. Okay. If you help off, Julius Randall is going to be wide open. He can drive and he can shoot. Okay. If you're, if you don't do that, you stay home. Now, Wittledittle, Steph Curry at age 36 is going to actually have to play defense for once in his life.

Starting point is 00:25:01 and then Anthony Edwards is going to show why he is in fact a better player because aunt can play and does play excellent defense and can play with physicality. And now you got a very, very, very small lineup or having Kavanaugh-Luny, that's where Gobert is fine because then it's just like you're just going to run pick and roll four on four on the other side of the floor. Like you just isolate Draymond out and then you play on the other side of the floor and you're going to be in a much better situation to attack that defense. Like my big question here is just honestly like, are the warriors good?

Starting point is 00:25:29 like I'm asking, are the Warriors good? They watch that Rocket series and go, man, this Warriors team. Or did you just go, God, Houston, one of you make a shot? The latter. I've experienced that. Which one did you do, Matt? I just feel like the, I feel like Minnesota can beat the Warriors basically in the same way that they beat the Lakers. I just don't, I don't think the blueprint changes that much.

Starting point is 00:25:59 for them because, you know, obviously Steph can do different stuff and whatever. But the some of the basic weaknesses that the Warriors bring into the series aren't much different than what the Lakers brought in. And I think, you know, the Lakers, I don't know if the Warriors have enough versatility to, particularly given that they don't have home court, Minnesota does, to win. I think actually this could be a relatively, smooth series for for Minnesota so the most Matt you know the the betting trends better than I do but one of the most popular bets I guess is to take Minnesota at at least is there like an over under

Starting point is 00:26:43 one and a half games to win the series it feels like maybe like the the the smarter betters or whatever we want to call them are kind of heavily favoring the Timberwolves here yeah they took money early that's been the read is that they took they took money almost immediately on both the series pricing game one A lot of this is like your odds are obviously going to go up if you win game one. Teams coming off of a game seven with less than three days rest, facing an opponent with more than four days rest when the team coming off the game seven is on the road, are four and 19 straight up since 2003.

Starting point is 00:27:19 You get killed in these games. We're recording this on Monday. The nuggets are about to lose by 25. Like that's going to happen. And most likely the Warriors are going to get trucked in game one too. And then you're behind the eight ball with the you have then you have to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves four out of five times four out of six times with them having home court advantage. And it goes downhill from there. So yeah, there's like a series spread.

Starting point is 00:27:44 The shortest odds on that are wolves minus one and a half at plus one 26. So that's actually a really good price that I've met several times. Even though I made my argument earlier about Steph being the better player in the series, I just want to clarify like I've got wolves in like five maybe six games. I still think the wolves are going to truck the Warriors in the series, right? Again, Warriors are dead exhausted coming out of the series with the Rocket. So I'm right there with Matt on that, and the numbers back it up. This is how everyone feels like if they play the Warriors. We're like, God, Steph's amazing.

Starting point is 00:28:12 So much respect. The rest of that team, though, that's how everyone feels after playing the Warriors. All right, we're probably doing this a little too late, but I'm going to take a quick break here. And then I'm going to give everybody an opportunity to look really dumb after that. All right, so we've already hinted at it a couple times. We record this on Monday afternoons, and it doesn't come out and until Tuesday. And luckily for us, there are two NBA playoff games tonight. We have Knicks at Celtics Nuggets at Thunder. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to go around the horn

Starting point is 00:28:42 here. I want everybody to give me your prediction on the winners of these two games because then by the time people actually hear this, we'll know whether or not you are right or wrong. So I want the prediction and then something else, something that happens, maybe a high score. Just give me something else in addition to your prediction. Rylan, you're right next to me on the little YouTube thingy. So we're going to start with you. Yeah, I'm going to go Celtics skit game one. I think that they're going to have about a 15 point win over the next. Let's see if that can come true.

Starting point is 00:29:08 And then Thunder win game one as well because of the rest advantages. Matt, you have great stats on teams that have had to play a game seven and travel to game one where it's not looking great for Denver in that regard. The bold prediction, I guess, for game one would be that Aaron Wiggins has 17

Starting point is 00:29:24 points. Oh, I love that. That's 16, not 18. 17. We're not even setting overrunners. It's 17 points. many three-pointers. Andy, your prediction? I'm going to say Celtics over Knicks. The Celtics have a completely clean injury report right now. So I'm calling this as far as his triumphant return, the Drew Holiday game. I think Holiday is going to have 20 plus in his triumphant return against the New York Knicks. And I am agreeing with Matt that there's a trucking in store for Denver

Starting point is 00:30:01 excuse me yeah okay c versus Denver and in that game it's going to be a massive explosive showdown between Shay and Yokic where Yokic unfortunately comes out on the losing end

Starting point is 00:30:18 I'm doing this mostly for the content I'll take Knicks in the game in the first game so I think every indicator is like oh God the Celtics are going to kill them their Knicks have no chance and these are always the games where it's like what could possibly go wrong like i mean i listen to this podcast this week that was a crossover between the cleveland cavaliers pod and the indiana pacers pod and like

Starting point is 00:30:42 the cavaliers host was so confident because they beat the miami heat and then they walk in and lose the indiana shout out to danny who left us um i just think that basketball's random and sometimes those things will go the other way and i think that the market and the expectations like this is one of those typical like what games so i'll take the nix here I don't really believe it, but I'm going to go ahead and do that so I can victory lap later. Nuggets get trucked, rest advantage, Thunder are awesome. They're going to win this game by 25 plus. And then the two predictions are going to be Rylan will be overconfident after game one,

Starting point is 00:31:14 despite knowing this rest advantage on the post game show on Locked on Thunder. And then somehow in this game, Jalen Green is going to be a minus 18. I don't know how. Well, there's plenty of Jalens to pick for them to be minus or pluses in the box score. Can I make a secondary prediction? Russell Westbrook is going to get into it with a fan in his return to OKC, the first time I believe ever in the playoffs against the Thunder. And he's going to get too amped up, even though I think for the most part,

Starting point is 00:31:47 like 99% of Oklahoma City absolutely adores Ross. But it'll be one guy. He's going to find the one guy in that crowd. Even if that guy's like six decks up, he's going to find that guy and start screaming at him. So that's my prediction. Just to clarify his first time back in OKC in the playoffs, not his first time facing OK.

Starting point is 00:32:07 Yes. Yes. Okay. Yes. Yeah, we get it. You want a bubble series, Jackson. He's going to go find a baby to yell out again.

Starting point is 00:32:14 Okay. Let him do his thing. Jackson, go ahead. Give me your prediction. I'm going to take Nick's game one. I don't think Celtics, Celtics for a lot of the similar reasons that we talked about earlier with the calves

Starting point is 00:32:24 dealing with the heat in round one and then walking into like a much, much better opponent in round two. I think that the, the Knicks offense is going to surprise the Celtics a little bit. I think we're going to get a Jalen Brunson game winner in game one. That's my bold prediction there. And then I'm going to keep it vanilla though for the next game. Denver's going to get trucked.

Starting point is 00:32:42 And I've got no prediction other than they're going to get trucked. And I think Russ is just going to be awful in that game. He's going to be overly emotional. And yeah. So I am taking the Celtics in game one. I think that my bold prediction for that game is the Celtics will make 23s. Playing the Knicks defense after five games with the magic is going to be feeling like they're swinging a baseball bat after they warmed up with the donut on.

Starting point is 00:33:04 So I think their, their offense is going to come alive. I am also taking the thunder over the nuggets. And my bold prediction in that game is that the Dallas Mavericks will trade Luca Dantage to the Los Angeles like this. There is. Waiting for it. Got it in there.

Starting point is 00:33:17 Good job. I'll do. I know we're probably running along here. I will also, I'll take the Celtics to win game one. And I think the panic is going to be strong in New York afterwards. And of course, I'm with everybody else, OKC winning. Boldly will say that both games will be won on the strength of switching and robust true shooting percentages.

Starting point is 00:33:43 All right. Well, since I ask you to do it, I'll do it too. I'll take the Celtics in game one. I will take the Thunder. Yeah. I'll just do it. I'll take the nuggets. I'll take the nuggets despite the record.

Starting point is 00:33:57 I'll just do it. The thunder go cold from three point range. And the nuggets somehow. win by like five points. That's very plausible. Yeah, that's what we're going to do here. Content. Thanks for making us.

Starting point is 00:34:08 The Lockdown Podcast Network, your first listen today. For your second listen, check out the Lockdown NBA Game Night podcast. Every game, every night until NBA champion is crowned. Get local analysis on a national scale. Find NBA Game Night on YouTube or wherever you get your pods. Almost nailed it.

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