The Deep 3 Podcast - Predicting Every NBA Playoff Series If The Season Ended Today | TD3 Live

Episode Date: February 26, 2025

Which NBA players have won the deadline 1 week in? #nba Support the stream: https://streamlabs.com/thedeep3pod Today we react to all the latest NBA news! Check out the TD3 merch: https://the-deep-3-shop.fourthwall.com/ Join the TD3 discord!: https://discord.gg/RUkjpMPp7E Listen on Spotify!: https://open.spotify.com/show/3elbbqVumwqz8wlIdknsLW Listen on Apple Podcasts!: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-deep-3-podcast/id1657940794 Follow us on TikTok!: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedeepthree Follow us on Instagram!: https://www.instagram.com/thedeep3podcast/ Isaac's twitter: https://twitter.com/byisaacg Muhamed's twitter: https://twitter.com/Mojo99_ Donnavan's twitter: https://twitter.com/Dsmoot3D Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

y'all we are back here i know we missed last week i know that happened listen it was post all-star weekend we're traveling in san francisco give us a break we needed a little bit time off after a crazy travel week but we're here me donovan mo all three of us on the screen right now with you to talk on this fine td3 tuesday how you guys doing i'm doing i'm doing i'm doing great mo i think you know what i'm saying i think we're all going to get in a lot of words today i think we're all going to have an equal amount of words per minute spoken. So I think it's going to be, you know, overall, just a team effort, you know, to, to finish the stream.

So I'm very excited. Yeah. And we were talking before this started. And, you know, you were telling me you had a lot to talk about. Mo told me there's a lot on his mind. So we're all going to, you know, get all of our thoughts off, all the things that we have in our dome. Yeah.

Seems because I think he always has, you know, a lot of stuff on his, on his mind. Yeah, just a real dorm. Yeah, I'm excited to see what he has to say to this. Someone said Mo is extremely late. Apparently, we're all late. Listen, normally I like to reject the late allegations you guys bring us. But, you know, in a week in which we miss a live stream, I think it's only fair. You guys can get your shit off.

I understand. A lot of times whenever we miss, most likely it is just because we're coming back to someplace. Yeah, yeah. Normally it's just prior obligations. Yeah, that's probably either we're coming back for something that we had to do or we're going to do something. That people told us to do so. Chill out, chill out, chill out. We will never go a single week of missing a full episode.

I can promise you that we'll never happen. Listen, there are opportunities on the board. We're going to miss a live stream or two. It's going to happen. And I'm here to tell you it's going to happen again. Because the reason we miss this live stream, as you guys know, if you watch the channel, we had a very special episode. Let me pull up right here.

We interviewed Darius Garland and Trey Murphy. This came out right here. Episode 129 is out right now. I will miss as many live streams as necessary. get a Darius Garland. I won't lie to you. I'll miss six in a row if it means I get to talk to Darius Garland. I understand. We're now the preeminent experts on the meetoff. That's the, that's the lane that we have, that we have, like, you know, put ourselves into. People legitimately have already made Donovan Mitchell edits with the Darius Garland interview using us.

They really have. Like, listen, that's what I'm saying. Like, we're part of, we're part of, we're part of NBA tick time. We're part of edits. We're part of the meet-off lore. Yes, once again, if we get to be a part of meet-off lore, I'm not seeing you guys on TV. I'm not showing up. I'm not showing.

I'm sorry. It's going to happen again, I promise. But shout out everybody here right now. I know a lot of times we miss a week. The next week is a little slower because you guys are, you know, we gave you a reason not to tune in. So I understand. Appreciate all you that came in after missing a week.

Let's get started. Let's talk about our first story. the week. We have more news on the Joelle and Beed front. Sad to say it is not good news. So this was fucking crazy. Joel and Beed could undergo a meniscus replacement procedure

or a procedure where doctors break a bone in the hip to realign the joint and alleviate pressure. I've never heard of it. As you know, that's not true. But again, I don't know how true it is that I was told stories, right?

That when my father was born, he was like knocking me. so they had to break a bone in his legs so that it grew correctly. What the fuck? Again, I don't know if the story is correct. I just know what I was told as a young man. However, I've never heard of an adult having to go through this. I've never heard of a professional athlete having to get a bone broken so that everything is aligned

and, you know, where it's supposed to be. And like you, like I said, whenever you first introduced this, when is it ever good news that we are getting Joelle and B. injury updates, Joelle Embedde lower leg updates throughout the season. Like, I would much rather

us not hear anything because that would probably mean that he's healthy but at this point, it's, it's wraps. It's 100,000. I just feels bad, man. We've talked a lot over the years

about how I feel about Joel and Bede and how you feel about about Juel Mbide. I am a lot more sympathetic to the things he's gone through and the narratives around him and I've just hated

the way that his reputation has evolved over the years for some good, some bad reasons. It just feels like it's all over, like you said. I said this beginning of the season that when he first got announced that he's going to miss time with his knee issues and they announced it by saying there's no new injury. He just can't contain the swelling and discomfort that is from the last rehab. That's still lingering around. I was like, oh, so it's over, right? Like, it's cooked. Like,

this is the end of the reign of being an MVP level player. We've seen the story many times with many athletes, especially in other sports like football where it's a lot of physical toll put on these guys' bodies and sometimes a flip, the switch just flips and you're cooked. It's over, that's kind of how it feels now. We're at the point where we're thinking maybe we have to try experimental surgeries and what you break the motherfucker's hip to think it heals the right way. Like, it's unreaching

new levels of it's cooked. But I think the most interesting part about this entire thing is that the entire Joelle Embed story worked out exactly how you would have thought it in 2020. When you got drafted, yeah.

The exact way. Like you... The only reason why he didn't go, and again, Andrew Wiggins was fantastic. But a lot of people were saying, Joel and Vita is the best player in this class. He's just not going number one overall because he has a lot of, you know, injury stuff. And so he comes in, he doesn't play. He rises, becomes an MVP, has one of the best going seasons, you know, statistically that we've ever seen.

He's led the Sixers to a number one overall seed. Like, he has culminated in the process and the sixes being back in all of this stuff and on the flip side now we're at the end of his career where all of the injury concerns that you thought that that you thought he had when you when you drafted him 10 11 years ago that has come to fruition yeah best and worst case of joel and bead has happened so this is the this is literally the joel and beat story in its fullness and so it's so interesting that like that we're here and it just sucks to see you never want to see anybody go out sad like this and it's not even like it's not like this

specifically is not on his fault for going outside. His body's just breaking down. Yeah, exactly. That's the tough part about it. And obviously, Dwell and B has become one of the most hated stars in probably NBA history in terms of like non-criminales and stuff,

but just like players who get slanted a lot. He's one of the most extremely judged players ever for a lot of the reasons you're describing it's all based around the injury stuff at the end of the day. And, you know, Nick's fans are taking the opportunity to be like, fuck you shouldn't hurt Mitchell Robinson's ankle and all this stuff. People are punching down at them for being cooked

because Sixers fans are a fan base that you can clown on, right? That's like a common sentiment right now. I just feel bad. It just sucks to see this happen, like you said. Like, it's a guy who, like you mentioned, this is the story of his career, insane talent could never put together because of injuries. It just sucks to know that we probably won't ever get that one thing we all look forward to, which is like, the one day we get a Jewel and beat healthy run,

he's going to finally cement his legacy as clearly being probably one of the 15 or 20 most talented players in NBA history. we just need that one year kind of sucks so we just might never get that. Yeah. And I'm like now that we have fully gotten to the point

where we know like Joel and Bid is never going to be MVP level Joel and Bid that's not happening again. The interesting part to me is how long are the Sixers going to ride this way

because you've seen teams before do this where you have your star and whether they are homegrown or they've been there for a long time they have their major injury and you stick with them because that's, you know, that's the right thing to do. You're being lawyer.

You want to see if you can catch one year of them getting back to their peak. I'm not sure what the Sixers are going to do, especially if they get their, if they get a top pick this year and they get a top five pick, then everything becomes really, really interesting because then it's like, okay, do we instantly flip the switch, see whatever we can get for Joel and B, tear it all down and start over? and that's the that's the question right now and like obviously we're not going to know until may but i'm very curious to see what happens there yeah well i think the answer there is you can't get a fucking thing for joel and b right like what team out there what do you need to go right for you to trade for droll and beater now if you're a contender that means you have star players in your roster and you want to find out to start a pair them with you damn sure don't want to look at your star and say let's go pair the guy who can't play five games in a row because his knees can't

hold up so that's not going to happen if you're a middle ground team you want to find a guy to lead your team. If Joelle and B could lead a middle ground team right now, he'd be leading the Sixers. Like, you know, like no matter what scenario you need, I don't think another team is going to want to pay Joelle and Bude right now just because of the, all the question marks around his health. So I kind of think they have to just hope they can do both, right? They have the hope they can ride out with Joel and get what they can't from every year and hope the crazy procedures are going to try work and they can magically pull something out at the end of his career and hope they have young guys that can kind of transition. Dude, is there anything that can happen?

like I now and as like as we're having this conversation every time you say something something like more interesting comes to mind where it's like why would the sixers do the extension like you would think that as as the sixers as a team who obviously knows everything that has gone on with joel and b having an inside track on all his medicals on all his health coming into the season why would you do that deal and also why would you not and also why would you not you know kind of step in the way that like the clippers did you know allegedly and send the black SUVs to paris and be like no like you just can't play in the Olympics yeah well i think clearly they didn't foresee this happening right i guess clearly they thought well okay i guess this is a bit bigger conversation about how the 76ers have handled well in beat's career because last year you know he came back early from that injury to make that playoff run and elected to do a procedure the same one that shortened during waist prime and kind of ended his career that made him be able to come back shorter sooner but at the expense of long-term healing they elected to do that and then letting him playing

the Olympics I think it's pretty clear they misdiagnosed the level of which this need would bother him you know to be to be polite and save a bigger conversation for another fucking day I think they misdiagnosed the injury here so I simply put they paid him because they probably thought it was smart and now they're seeing oh fuck maybe it wasn't yeah and that the de-way stuff is is crazy, too, because D. Wade's fall off, it felt not like, not, not this bad, but, like, Dwayne Wade also had to be load managed. Like, Dwayne Wade wasn't playing back to backs. Dwayne Wade wasn't going, going all out.

You saw the offense go even more into, like, LeBron's hands, bringing Chris Bosh even more into the fold once you get to, like, 2013, 2014. But, and you saw it, you saw it at the end of 2014. You saw it in the finals, but, like, there was a very, very, clear point of like, oh, Dwayne Wade is just not flash anymore. He's just not that. And you probably, not, not probably, you will not see that version of Joelle and Veed again. And that's how he's now. He's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not him anymore. Which is unfortunate. And he taught, no, he really interesting conversation. Uh, I mean, really interesting

quote. He said a few days ago that he can give you three quarters, but he just can't give you four anymore. Like, in a course of a game, he can't hold up. That make sense to me because you know we think back to last year's playoffs when he came back earlier from his injury what happened in the next series there's games where he had one game he had fucking 50 points but in the fourth quarter everybody somebody up here was like

you can't show up in the fourth what are you doing you're still a choker I think we now see which is was obvious the time but now assuming of it that his body couldn't hold up for four quarters stop it stop it stop stop it stop stop give context to that because what I was what I was

specifically critiqued specifically critiquing was a decision that he made, right? It was a decision that he made to not only not take the jumper, but to try and make the more athletic play. He tried to do the thing on his knee because apparently for whatever reason

he trusted the knee and tried to go to the basket. He had a wide open jumper. My critique was that you have the shot to go and do that in the fourth quarter. You chose not to do that. That was my specific critique about showing up to the fourth and doing all that. Nevertheless, it was. If you're going to go and do that.

There was a much bigger conversation than that one play. It was the whole series. I don't see you perform in the fourth quarter. You're losing all these close games. Now we see, surprise, surprise. He just couldn't hold up for four quarters. And he still can't now. That's probably going to be the running theme forever.

And that's really hard to build your team around when your star player physically cannot perform in the fourth quarter. Well, he was showed up in the fourth quarter against Serbia. He was giving, he was giving, he was giving, there's, there's points throughout of, of his entire career where very close to each other, where both of, both of the things that we're saying are correct. There are times, there, there are times where he has not been able, like his body, it just has not been able to hold up. You've seen, like, his energy go down. You've seen his, his cardio, he just hasn't been in shape. That's been true. You've also seen within either the same.

game or the next game, you've seen the exact same Joellen v. So whether, so whether you want to make the argument of like over two weeks, over two playoff series, maybe you can't expect that, that's fine. But even on a game to game basis, especially as soon as you've shown the ability to do something and you are as great and like your baseline level of talent is at a certain level, there is still a certain level of expectations. I know what you're saying. I know what you're saying. I think it's a bit silly to say this game went good. So this game. clearly is able to go good too. I think the reality of injuries

that it's inconsistent and it's up and downs. There's good days. Some of those good days, he probably was equally feeling terrible and hard to run. The jump shot was just falling in a way they compensated.

Like, I think it's a little unfair to be like, you did it in game two. Why can't you do it in game four? Because the need isn't, it responds in different ways every game, just different contexts involved.

But you can still have, but you can still have, if he wasn't like, if the play within the same game and I this is where I'm like the difference between having it having a so like stark difference between minute 26 and minute 27 that is that is the point where I'm like okay like come like you're trying to rationalize it and it's not something rational is your knee you just know I'm going to respond that's also that's also a a stretch though of defense in on your

side to be like, oh, yeah, like, just because he was good in his 27th minute, doesn't mean that he's going to be good in his 28th minute, where it's like, he's still on the floor. He's not taking any breaks. He's there. He's there performing. And whatever good that he did in minute 26, you would have pointed to that and be like, oh, look at Joel and B doing all this great stuff. Whereas 30 seconds later, he can't, he's not, he's not doing that. Where clearly he has shown you that on this day, he has the ability to do that. And I think that it's, I think that it's unfair to only. look at the to only to only take away the positives and to dissolve him of any critiques in that series. I think that's untrained to him on that side. Nothing's to be gained by saying

yeah, your injury, your legs fucked. I don't think it's quite as fucked. I think we should care a little bit. Someone's so like whatever. Either way, he's hobbled and we're, it makes sense that what we saw now was part of what we saw in the playoffs and we didn't have the full contextual understanding that we do now. And it's clear that that level of play was clearly, linked to what we're seeing now. You can hob on where the line is if you want, but it doesn't really matter. What?

Okay. Either way, on the same story, we have another quote that the chat is asking us to respond to. Paul George says, we've shown no signs of a team that will compete. We just don't have the habits of a champion or a playoff contending team or a playoff contending team would have.

To be honest, right now it's a little far-fetched. All we can do is work hard and just keep going. How do you feel about this? Because some people were like on his asses. for saying this as a leader of a team and saying this was like he's a bad locker room guy that no team he's going to be on ever have good chemistry because of stuff like this like there was more backlash than I expected for him kind of saying like we're playing like bitches right now which I feel like other players that are more like and have more

reputation for being honest would say this and nobody would care like if Kevin Garnett said this and we're like we're out there playing like sissies like I don't think it would be responded to quite as harshly yeah Andy Edwards has said this this season unlike multiple occasions where he's like yeah like we just don't got it we're just not together all that stuff however um and so he said this he said this on podcast speak correct no he said this in the locker room in a scrum he said this to the reporters oh then yeah then i don't i was going to make a completely a different point no this is this is fine this is fine i really think like i'm trying to listen i'm trying to be nice i'm trying to see the game trying to be more open you know what i'm saying

be more fair like people just don't like paul george and so it's like yeah that's what it is you know that that's that's all it is just like okay if it comes out of your mouth we're gonna slant we're gonna slander you if tyrese had said this what a leader everyone would have been like everyone would have been how dare you push tyrese maxi to the point where he's saying that you guys aren't camping the team sucks everybody's been saying the team sucks for three months now he's just saying what everybody else is saying so look at tyrese holding his teammates accountable Look at I'm setting the tone for accountability. Thanks.

At this point of the season, anybody on that team can say anything. And I would be like, you know what? That's warranted. That's warranted. It has been such a season from hell that I don't think that it's fair to see anybody critique anything that's going on with this team and be like, oh, you shouldn't say that. Imagine showing up to work every single day for six months, knowing that you're just just going to suck that day. There's nothing that you can do, but you are not going to achieve

whatever goal that you set out to accomplish. Every day, in and out, and you have one of the most annoying fan bases behind you, booing you every single moment. It's like, it's impossible to cope that way. So it's, it is what it is. Yeah. It's also a big part that Paul George is currently playing very poorly for his standards and what they expect him when they paid him. So you're already out there pissing people off by not playing as they expecting when they gave you a gigantic contract and they hear this out of your mouth, which they view as like, oh, this motherfucker's not talking

right now. It's just going to rub people the wrong way. Which, which, if we go back to the other side, messaging and packaging counts for something like it. It matters in a way where, like, yeah, you know, if you put something in a nice package, it might be received in a different light and

that's just what it is. Paul George is just rarely the package that anybody would want to hear the message come out of and it's just that yeah that's just the fact of of the matter that sometimes a messenger gets shot is what it is sometimes sometimes it matters who it comes from and people aren't trying to hear right now doesn't mean paul george is wrong i don't particularly care but i'm also not a 76ers fan that currently hates his guts and has to do with watching a terrible team every night that you expect to be a contender they got a lot of emotions brewing that i can't relate to so maybe tempers are hot in Philadelphia.

Like three more years of this? Oh my God. We're not going back. Next new story. I have 20 minutes of 76ers talk. Zion Williamson now weighs 264 pounds, his lightest weight since being drafted by the Pelicans. I don't know how much Pelicans basketball you watch over the last several weeks.

Not a lot of reason to. All they do is goddamn lose. He looks good. he looks incredible on the court he had a stretch over his last i think it was 12 games or so he's averaging like 27 points and 26 minutes he is going fucking bananas he looks in shape he looks as good as he's ever looked as a score the season lost this is a silver lining it's good to see i will be tuning back into pelicans basketball in october that that is when i will be concerned heavily about what Zion Williamson is doing on the court.

This is very, very good to see. And I do agree with you on that. Because the same way that, like, Sixers fans are like, man, Paul, like, you can't talk. You're playing like that. Zion Williamson is also in that boat where if you are going to be on the court, I don't care if we're down by 50. If you are here, you have to live up to our expectations. And I think that everybody has already

changed their expectations of oh, this could be the best player in the lead. This could be the MVP of the league. You just have to look like an all-star. And so like for Zion, yes, for all the fans who are paying $9 a day to go watch you play, you have to show up.

And then transfer this over to October when everybody's healthy, when Herb Jones is back, we'll see what happens with DeJante when whatever moves in the offseason happened. And now, ever it counts and it's an even playing field i better see you because it's going to be it's going to be such nasty dialogue if we get to like august and september and there's a report

and it's like zion's back to 280 oh my goodness like it's going to be terrible which even if he is like it's like it's fluctuation happens with athletes but with him like he has so little room to fluctuate because it clearly has a big effect on his play because he's writing such a fine line with that body type that like you're not rewarded the you're not rewarded the you're not rewarded the normal leeway most athletes are because you're fucking gigantic so at a certain point you got to just like be you got to be twice as good to get half as much credit with his body who else in the league has has a body weight tracker in season there's nobody there's nobody I think only it's only been like Zion and maybe joel and b or I guess Luca right but that was

because they were trying to you know tarnishes his whole persona but nobody else in my am I getting, oh, LeBron is to whatever in February. They don't care of LeBron ways. Yeah, like nobody does that. It's only for Zion, and he's the only one with a magnifying glass. And everybody is, you know, somehow connected to his smart scale. And so every morning we're just, we're getting updates on like what his weight is and how he's performing.

And that's honestly the more, not even like interesting, but just like weird part of it is that nobody gives a damn about. about how he's played in terms of like the national media. I bet you if you ask a bunch of NBA, a bunch of like NBA fans, oh, how has Zion been playing? They don't care, but they do know, oh, he's down to 264 right now. Yeah, they see the pictures. They see, they see the belly with what it's looking like right now.

Yeah. But, you know, early in the season, we were extremely frustrated as Zion fans. I'm a huge island defender. And I said, like, I'm just out. I can't deal with this anymore. I'm like over the experience of rooting for him and expecting him to be this like elite elite, elite player. I'm back.

Stop it. Stop. I can't put down the cup. I can't put down the Zion Cup, but I never will. It's not even a cup. It's a pipe at this. I can't put down the bucket.

I can't do it. It's like, no matter what, I see a stretch of good play. And I'm like, oh, he's so here. This is exactly what I've always envisioned. And you said you don't care about

what happens the rest of the season. You'll check back in October. No, I care a lot. I care an extreme amount of what happens. He's like, get the spoons. I need to see 40 games a healthy Zion. I need him to play every single game. I care so much that he shows us he can stay available for an extended period of time. Like, I'm going to be watching closely. I need to

see it. So in the chat said, Isaac, don't relapse. I've been relapse off that Zion. No, he's gone. I've been off the Zion pack. My family, I think they can't do it. Yeah, I'm, I'm out. I'm out at this point. I've been out and I will bring you to whatever, you know, AA meetings, ZW meetings that we have to go to to get you right because until zion until zion has an entire season where he can look like this and be available and do all this and do all this stuff there's this again there's just not a reason to live like this you don't have to do this to yourself it it ultimately is a choice you know i see you keep saying donovan's quiet raise his voice i raise his voice twice so i just lowered mine a good amount let me know if i lowered it too much no i i'm adjusting levels on my end

they keep telling me you're quiet and I keep making you higher I lowered mine a good amount so hopefully that kind of compensates let me know but um yeah I'm never putting down the cup don't expect me to it's never going to happen no no no no no no please please I remember like what is it maybe like a year and a half ago you were saying that you were still in on on Ben Simmons

I feel like that was more hope than it was me really believing it I really believe in Zion still Ben Simmons thing was like give him a chance I want to believe zahn like i believe he is this good still and i will never stop no yeah i'm over it someone said uh isaac as long as you don't relapse on the aton experience i'm close don't tell me no i think he has a better ass of late not going to lie but i'm not i don't care to die on that hill anymore someone said isaac you're going to get proved wrong about the rockets in the playoffs buddy. I hope so. I hope the Rock is putting me wrong and I hope their halfboard offense

goes from 29th to like pass a ball in the playoffs. I hope you're right. I'm not preying on their downfall but I'm not excited about them in the playoffs. Well, you kind of should be because you know who they're matched up against right now. They're in that four or five with the Lakers. Oh, well that's obviously in that case they're getting fucking swept. So that that's different. In any other circumstance

I think I'd be okay with him doing well. Someone said Isaac seek help. There's hotlines for this. Okay, next new story. Let's talk about something that Donovan needs to seek help with. We'll talk about the cup Donovan can't put down.

The New York Knicks are 0 and 7 versus the top three teams in the NBA. This is coming off the heels and getting another spanking by the Boston Celtics and a game that really wasn't even competitive for a single seconds.

And this is interesting to me and talk about it. There was like a 20 second stretch where we had the game within three, right? It was very, very close. And then it went back to being what it was seen. Fake runs happened.

but i bring this up to say that not to just laugh at you for your team sucking and just like being way worse in mind these days which is a funny turnaround but um i this this feels real to me you know a lot of times when people cherry pick stats of like versus certain opponents or whatever you know small sample sizes the second they trade for cat we came up here on this emergency episode and said i think they'll be better i think there's no world in any NBA simulation in which you're going to be a serious team that can beat other contenders with Kat and Jalen Brunson

as like your two building blocks for fit reasons, right? The fact that it's gone exactly that way and they literally do not beat the best to use is fucking hilarious. I don't think it's funny. That's the thing. You're laughing.

And like I think that for me my expectations have been tempered and night one you filmed me at my lowest and put it all over the internet and so everybody sees

everybody saw just how hard I was taking it because in that moment I had spent all offseason from the moment the trade guy happened to that opening night saying like oh we can we can compete with Boston we can absolutely do this and the moment they stepped on the same floor

where the Knicks are healthy, Celtics are heavy, are healthy, everything. The Celtics were one three away from setting an NBA record in three. And you're just like, oh, this team is just like, they're just not going to do it. They just don't have the capabilities to be a Boston Celtics team when they are at their best. And then even early on in the season, you saw it last night too, like the calves have taken that leap forward and the Knicks can't match it. The Knicks have had games against the Thunder where they've been up on Oklahoma City, too, can't finish the deal. Why, in every single one of these cases where they've either had the lead or just gotten their backs blown out from the start of the game, the defense just can't hold up. And whether they score 120, it doesn't matter.

The other team is going to score 140. Yeah. And it's tough, man. It's awful. I also, we were just fully right about the cat experience and that he's going to get his props for, really good offensive because he's playing center again and not power forward next to to go bear so he's back in his environment where he can thrive and he has the best offensive supporting cast he's ever had honestly playing off with jalen brunson so he's going

be even more efficient than we saw him play at his peak as a center in minnesota that's gone according to plan he is amazing offensive this year he has like a 64% true shooting he's been an amazing score the defense is switch cheese like he just is not a good rim protector and you were sold the vision of mackale bridge is coming in and giving you enough defense next hand OG Ananoi that it makes sense to overpay for him he is objectively not worth six first round picks but you say we're so close to making a run that it's okay to overpay for the final piece right he just hasn't been that level of defender and i think offensively while it is great they have these guys it's not enough to overcome the defensive deficiencies and i also think at times their offense while being good i don't feel like tibs has done the most amazing job in the world at maximizing the guys there i feel sometimes they go out there and just hoop and sometimes it's like we need a little organization it very much is that if there are a hundred percent times where you are playing jalen brunson ball and just hoping that like okay jalen's going to go and he's and he's going to get his shot and if you have a picker roll where it's jalen

and somebody else and they you know they get the ball out of jalen's hands now especially if like if cat isn't on the floor now the ball is going over to o g who isn't like he can do stuff with the ball but he's not a creator in that way yeah josh hart is awesome as a connective piece unless it's like the last five seconds of the shot clock he's not creating in that way and so like you have a lot of guys who are looking to make the extra pass and now the offense gets kind of stale because nobody is you know stepping up and being a really a one-on-one threat to where they can attack their man you can draw two to somebody else and then we keep this thing going and so like that's the that's the best part about having jay

Jaylen and Cat on the floor at the same time is that Kat can attack mismatches. Jalen is an automatic bucket and then you kind of go from there. But McKell, for being a guy who was the number one option in Brooklyn, for being a guy that you trade all these first-round picks for, you kind of need like Brooklyn Nets offensive. You need McKell Bridges to be Co-Wi Leonard. You need him to score 26 points a night while also being one of the best perimeter defenders in the league and that is just unreasonable to ask i don't know the pulse i don't know the

pulse of this amongst nix fans but it kind of feels to me and i know that i'm not i'm about to get very specific with the pulse i don't know i don't know what their pulse is on this specific man but it feels to me like a tips firing the summer might make the most sense for this team oh 100%. Like i don't know with how people react to that because i don't know if he's like super respected and loved right now but you're locked in with this team I don't even necessarily think they should make a big trade because it's a good group and you can only not much you can do to get better

besides death which they can naturally acquire over time with like middle level exceptions and stuff if things go well and they draft well but like you're not going to trade cat you're not going to trade O.G you're not going to trade Jaylon Brunson like there's not a lot of player moves available outside of death so I kind of feel like you kind of just need to get a better

offensive mind in that can really make the most of what they have and like try to fully outgun people because the defensive stuff of Tibbs isn't necessarily going to, you're not going to read the benefits of that with this unit either way. So I feel like you should probably get an offensive slanted coach. The tips thing is, the tip thing is 100% correct because, like you said,

that's kind of the only move that you have to make. Yeah. Right? Like you don't, you don't, you gave up all of your first round picture in McKell, where there's not a lot of flexibility. You're about to go into the second apron. And I remember I saw,

I can't remember who tweeted it out, if I saw the graphic before the season, starts where you have the tib cycle where the tip cycle nice like buddy healed yeah yeah so like tips comes in and like installs the defense team overperforms right then or i forget anyways the team overperforms and as soon as it overperforms now you get expectations and as soon as expectations goes then defense doesn't live up and you get back to this place where all the fans are turning on tibs and asking for him to be fired and we are clearly in that stage of of, okay, we came into the year, Knicks fans are like Eastern Conference Finals minimum.

It's going to be us in Boston, seven game series with a trip to the finals on the line, and we have to go beat them. And this is the first time in what, like 25 years that Nick's fans have probably had that much confidence, that much, that many expectations for a team, and it's not going to happen. And through all of this, right, some people like it, some people don't. If you are going to play this way, a whole bunch of people are like, hey, at least, you know, don't run the guys into the ground and play them 42 minutes a night, especially in games where you know for sure that you're going to lose. And so that's probably the next step where, like, you bring in another coach and then you try to figure out your depth a little bit more. You try to develop a little bit more while not having your starting five be five of like this.

the top seven guys in minutes played throughout the season. Yeah. Yeah, I also hate that part of it. Like, I hate that, Tibbs. Just, like, basketball ideology of playing your five, like insane minutes. Like, I dislike so much of how I was going this year, and I just feel like coaching will give you a new look. And I don't know.

Tips should get to the job. He's a good coach, but I don't know. The fit talent-wise doesn't necessarily make sense for him. It's, yes, it doesn't make sense. I also don't know. And this may be sure. side in, this may be because I am disappointed in how this year has gone, I don't know if another coach can come in and take the next to the next level because...

Oh yeah, they probably can't. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, like, that's what I'm saying. But even, like, looking different, as long as you have Jalen Brunson and Kat there, defense, unless Mitch Robinson comes back and it's like, oh my goodness. Yeah. Instantly click, this is exactly what we needed, unless Mitch Robinson is the absolute perfect missing piece, which he could be.

this could happen we could sound stupid in two weeks they could but it is asking a lot though right because you're still putting your trust into this guy who's never there like Mitch came back for the playoff series did a great job on joel and b got hurt right and so like obviously and b did did whatever he did but like robinson was also kind of banged up before that too so i don't i don't know where the nicks can go and that's why at the deadline it was kind of frustrated seeing them not necessarily make a move once you're here once you're in the second apron discussions you know that you're going to be it you just have to you have to die on that sword you have to die on aggression you know chat you all keep asking chat keeps asking where is mo are you all

fucking blind he is right there like i i don't know if y'all can't see him or not but he's on the screen like he's no facts i don't know what y'all are on about like there's so much talk about mo can we talk about basketball please mo's right in front of you that's what i'm trying to say people man people next story if nazreed doesn't remain with the timber wolves and the san an Antonio Spurs are currently the favorites to land him per Bovada. So these betting odds don't mean a jack the fucking thing right now at this point of the year. It means jack shit.

But I do bring this up because I'm very curious, what do you think will happen and what do you want to see happen with the Timberwell's office season situation? Obviously, they have Julius Randall who's a player option. Timberwold's have kind of convinced himself he's going to opt out. I don't fucking see why he would because I don't know if he has suitors. I want to give him multi-year deal. And if he opts in and they have him taking up that much money and then Nas Reed and to kill Alexander Walker as free agents.

The general sentiment is that we'll probably pay one and lose one. How do you want to see them handle that? I would like to see them handle it, paying Nas Reid, trading away Julius Randolph for whatever you can get. However, we have seen this new regime come in and say like, yeah, we're going to be watching the books here. And so if Randall has that player option, he's in control there. Now's Reed is the one where you not even have like flexibility,

but that's going to be the area where if you were going to caught cuss, cut costs. Wow. If you were going to cut costs. That would be the area that it would be because you can't even really get off of the Rudy Gaubert deal with the decline that he's taken. So Nodz read is the one where it's probably going to have to go. And that sucks. That sucks. That's, for Minnesota. I think they keep Nasreed. I think no matter what they're going to keep Nasreid. There's a lot of talking about this.

Warriors fans are like, listen, future warrior, you be the perfect fit next to Draymond. You fucking wish. I think there's no world in which they let Nasreid walk. I think the only reason they felt comfortable letting go of cat

because they know they have Nasree for the foreseeable future. I think he's a T-Wolf, not for life, but for the foreseeable future. I think to kill Alexander Walker is as good as gone. I think that's what's going to happen because they have Donnie-Side-Fenzo.

Well, a lot of Lakers fans are saying that's the person they want to see, like, LeBron take a pay cut for it because I'm sure LeBron will be open to that again, like it was last year for the right names. And if they do that, which I think is very realistic, they can give him the full mid-level exception, which could be like a three-year, 12 and a half million a year or four-year, I think as a max he can do for mid-level. I bet they pursue that. I kind of think Nikola is under Walker might closer to $20 million, though. And he might price himself out of even the Lakers range. And I don't see him taking a payout for anybody because this is one big payday. so he's not going to take $8 million less a year to go to the Lakers. Yeah, that's ridiculous.

The question is whoever he wants to go to will might get him because he is going to be in demand as one of the best three and D, like, wing guard defenders in the league. Man, this is such a, I feel very bad for Andy Edwards and for Wolves fans because you had it so good. Just 10 months ago, you were at the top of the world. You know, these guys. Yeah, and now your whole franchise is now, it's in limbo.

You have no idea what's going to happen. I hope, I hope that they can move on from Julius Randall because even though that there has been some success as of late, it's just so abundantly crystal clear. He is not the fit there. You are not going to have a championship ceiling with Anthony Edwards and Julius Randall and Rudy Gobert there, especially with Gobert now taking steps back.

back and you can't like make up for everything that's the that's the thing where he is the piece that you have to move and you have to figure out how to how to do it and obviously you traded away cap and you trade away a franchise legend you don't want to get pennies on a dollar for trading away julius randle and then you're like dang i guess we actually ended up trading carothy towns for really nothing but you're kind of in the situation and you have to maximize anti-edwards right You made that decision. That's where you have to keep moving forward in. And so if Julie's render has to go to save Knows Reed

and to potentially save Alexander Walker, that's where you're going to have to do. Yep, yep, yep. Tragic. But our man, that's a little new stories I want to talk about today. I think now that we can move on to the main topic of this episode. We're going to go through the entire standings right now and do early playoff predictions for if the season ended today,

who would win each series. Talk to me. It's not what we expect to happen by the end of the year. It's like, you know, based on the standings as of today, just as a way to talk about matchups and kind of like how various teams would look in the setting today. So not reflective of what will really happen, but it's a fun thought experiment.

You want to start in the east or west? We'll start in the east. Okay, let's start with the less interesting one. I think, let's do you. Let's talk about the playing tournament first. If we look at the playing range, right now, seven we have the magic, eight we have the hawks, nine we have the heat,

10, we have the bulls. We'll fly through this. 7-8 matchup, do you want to say... I'm going to talk there. Yeah, yeah, I'm just staying with Chalk. I'm not betting on Miami to win a playing to win them again. I for sure am not banking on the Chicago Bulls to win two games from the 10th spot. So we'll go Orlando and Atlanta.

Okay, we'll go Chalk with playing tournament on both sides just for simplicity. Let's start with the 1-8. So 1-8, this would happen. We have the Cleveland Cavaliers versus the Atlanta Hawks. The question here is, do you think we can change the rules to allow the Cavs to win in three, or do you think the NBA is going to make them play all four games and beat them by 30 every time? Honestly, can we just not play the series because we've seen that it'll be a bloodbath?

I think the Cavs can get it in two because if they, because they'll go out in the first two games and they'll win by 30 each and then you can kind of spread that across four and then it'll be like you won every game by 15. Transitive property. Yeah, so I think the Cavs can win the series in two and do that. So I'm going to take Cleveland, hot take, and yeah, I'm a roll like that. And shout, we're on polls for every series that matters. This one, we will not be.

Obviously, the Cavaliers, we're going to be the living shit of the Atlanta Hawks, because they don't have Jaylon Johnson. Shout out George's Nyang. Your shooting has been dope. Shout out Karas Lever, you fit well. Mo talked along. Now, George's Neyang pissed me off this week, man. And it's not even George's Neyang.

Oh, because he cooked your work? No, no, no, no. See, that's what pisses me off That's what pisses me off He was funny He cooked them It was funny He effectively cooked them

It's just sit-talk It was funny Jordan's Nying Isn't even allowed To take mid-range jumpers All right He gets on teams He can't even do it

And I I'm so Oh my goodness Look at you shoot the messenger Again You love shooting the messenger No it hurt me And it wasn't even about

About Nying It was about the discourse about like oh yeah he cooked him shut up you dwebs oh my goodness i i was so i was so frustrated you took it the wrong way you took it the wrong way you took it as to say you took it as to say mid rangers bad and that wasn't the point

the point was palo can't make a fucking midranger right now and he keeps trying so it's funny for a player to be like keep shooting that i dare you that's hilarious he's been a brick from there so if you're a player and you're talking shit with him i'm gonna say by pleasure keep going like it's a funny joke No, no. The fact that he specifically singled out the mid-range out, and everyone's like, oh, yes.

Because he keeps taking them. He keeps taking them. And he shoot 37%. It's funny. No, no, no, no, no. Even George's Niyang knows that Palo needs to get his ass in the paint and attack that room. Everybody knows it.

Even George's Nying. And what did Palo said? You saw last year? You saw last year in the playoffs. You saw what happened. Which is funny because they lost. Like, I get his point. He went off.

They fucking lost. but I cooked you you know what I'm saying you know what happened yeah listen not the best exchange of words for Paula Vancaro I'll say that but it was funny

it was funny but okay obviously we're saying the Hawks now I'm a chance of the Cavaliers Yes 2 7 series Orlando Magic versus Celtics so let's do it off of

as they're playing today not projecting I'm not going to say anything I'm not going to say anything. I wish this was the agenda that you could rub my face as being wrong. I want the match to play well so bad. I really want to be wrong about the currency of the bad. I was so hyped for the second half run and they can't make anything.

They can't make a shot. I'm so frustrated with how the second half is played out. However, as a magic fan and supporter, I'm giving them one game. One game. I'm going South 6 and 5. South 6 and 5. Okay. I don't even know how to begin talking about this

because I think the version we're seeing of the magic, I feel like is going to be not the version we've seen in the playoffs. But if we're just doing today, they don't stand a fucking chance because they're playing horrible. I saw a good breakdown of Palo Ban Kiara right now and why the rim defense might be, I mean, the rim scoring might be such an issue. And it was a really in-depth breakdown about the type of gathers he does

when attacking the rim. And long story short, he lifts his head when he gathers. and he runs through people. That's the short version. And you know, your oblique, you lift your arms up. That's stretching the area that was injured. So if that is the case and that analysis of his movement patterns is to be, you know, correct,

I can see a world in which his scoring looks a little bit better when he's not, you know, so close to the injury. Grant, it has been like 16 games, so I don't know how much longer I can give him that. But I could imagine it's going to be pretty decently better. Is that the lie? I don't know, but it's been a while and it hasn't gotten better. I don't know the line is what I'm saying I have no clue the line is but it's been a while so I don't know because we've had this conversation multiple times and every time I walk away and I'm like like I understand it's been 15 20 games on one hand that is a lot of games

on the other hand but it's also not I don't know best one I'm saying on the other hand it's like it's like it's like it's fine you know like yeah I don't know to gauge I just don't want to be a hater because everyone thinks I hate them and I don't but I you actually do you I I'm just like, I hate the expectations we set for every young player because they're young. You've texted me before. I hate Pallelman. Oh, shut the fuck up.

But I definitely hate the way he's playing right now. I think I did text you that. I was like, I hate watching this guy right now when he came back. It's because it pisses me off because I know he can be so much better. And I want to give him grace because he is coming off an injury

and I give everybody grace in that way. So I don't want to just like run the victory lap. 20 games. I think at that point we had to be like maybe this is going to linger for the rest of the year. I don't know what the line is, but something like that. But I say,

I think he'll be better. right now would be a swift sweep with the way that he and fronds are playing five games i'm going five games that's it okay next series we got the three six this is quite interesting no it actually is we have the new york nix versus the detroit pistons going off seven straight victories i will say who was winning i was in the first round in the first round we're beating the crap out of the Pistons I don't know I'm letting you know that right now

if we did play the Pistons I do think that the Nix would win in six six okay okay so what advantage do they have over the Pistons but it would wait but it would be a scenario where we were of 3-1 didn't close it out in game 5

and then close it out in game 6 in the road I think you're going on 3-1 okay so the Pistons are really good because Cade is really good this year are handling a big load he's the go-to scoring option and his playmaking has been elite and they have enough shooting that he can really be the engine despite not being like the most efficient score in the world he can just be a consistent advantage creator and they have enough

professionals malik beasley tim hardaway tobias harris etc that keeps things afloat and they have a saar they have some other wings that have been you know middle-to-packed defensively because of them i don't know like what that looks like in the playoffs like i generally have no fucking clue how to project that, especially against a team like the Knicks, who are so uneven in their approach, you know, like, can they make the Knicks sweat with their offense? Is it good enough to really expose them? Like, we know Boston and we know Cleveland and we know OKC, how what it takes to really make their defense look like Swiss cheese. Is Kate like that to the point where he can really like eviscerate the Knicks defense? Yes, he's done it before. Yeah, yeah, but for seven games

is a different. I will say, and surprise, surprise, a story about the playoffs is going to be three-point shooting variance. Yeah, yeah. It's really much, like, it's going to come down to that because you're going to have, you're going to have guys like Tim Hardaway Jr. You're going to have guys like Tobias Harris out on the wing where when K drives and collapse, they're going to be the ones task, right? Like, they're going to, they're going to have to have to knock stuff down. Malik Beasley has been very, very good for them as well. he's going to be on top of that. So between those three guys, that's where a lot of this shooting is come from.

Because you know, like, Assar is not taking those, those three in the playoffs. Like, those aren't, those aren't coming from him. The rest of their guys, they're not coming from him. I do think that the two games, the two games that the Pistons will win, they're going, they're going to look fantastic in them. Yeah. Like, it's, you are going to walk away from those games being like, yo, the Knicks are like, they're really in trouble because Kay was able to get down

hill and when these guys are shooting like it's going to look great i do think that still yes the nicks can't beat the celtics they can't beat the calves they can't beat the the thunder you take that away they have like 12 losses on the season they can beat everybody else yeah right the offense is really tough they can beat everybody else this will be a shootout and in the day these are both offensive exclusive slanted teams and the nicks defense is better than the pistons you know we're not going to we don't trust the cat led defense against top tier competition we damn sure don't trust that Jalen Duren

led defense either and Cade might look like the best player in the series in a lot of nights he might be the best player in the series

by the time the playoffs are over and the PR changes with that being said I trust Jalen Brunson scoring impacting the playoff series above almost

anybody in the league right now until proven otherwise because he's done nothing but rise so you know in a shootout

I think the Knicks are able to win their own game yeah I'm going again I'm going I'm going Nixon 6 and I think

like and you've seen it You've seen there a couple of times, like the pistons have had some really good, like, late game execution stuff where there are, there are times where they look really, really competent. There's also times where you can kind of see the fact that they are, you know, like a 60, their team finding, finding themselves and finding their identity and in late game situations, if Jade isn't 100% or if Kate isn't making tough shots and tough floaters, it's not, it's not all the way there. And like you said, you have, you have J-Layor on the other side that is just amazing in late-game situations. late game executing his own bucket so if it's close i'm going with the nicks yeah yeah this is a fair one the nicks are being tested it's like the nicks are trending downward after the bad PR the Celtics game and the pistons are on top of the world so i understand hesitation to want to be like

low key low key but we don't got to overthinking it we can go at the nix that's what i'm saying i'm bringing the belt though but listen any more leeway either way i'm like these these are really really getting close in the way they're trending have these they played they play cleveland in boston back-to-back night it was like a three games in four nights type of situation listen there's four and a half five and a half games behind the next there's a lot of their body they were tired okay they were sleepy okay last series out like one in the afternoon dude gonna get proper rest give them a break four or five in the east we have the bucks versus the Pacers.

This is quite interesting. They're both six and four in the last 10. The bucks are coming out four straight wins since the deadline. Kuzma is continuing to shoot poorly, which is the biggest issue, why they shoot the trade. But you're seeing the reasons why they trade for him, right? He's big.

He can rebound. He can slash. They're getting all that they hoped. I think their equation was that the shooting is bound to come around when the shot quality going up, that all the other stuff is like worth it, right? As it is. And if the shooting comes, it'll be extremely worth it.

could happen so I think that's not a bad move currently Kevin Porter Jr. has given them the best stretch of his goddamn career he's had several really good games and they have you ask bucks fans it's real he is gonna shoot 55% from the field and he is the backup point guard that was promised you can you can decide how much you believe in the Kevin Porter Jr's hot stretch

but it's going decently well Pacers how do you feel about them right now just honestly the same that I always do about the about the Pacer actually no that's not that true because I was I was very very down on them earlier in the season and they have proven themselves to be exactly what they are five seed in the five seed in out east a good team right like they kind of have rounded into form and know know their identity I think last year's

series was obviously really different because Janus wasn't there yeah if Janus plays yeah if Janus plays I'm taking Milwaukee oh sorry I'll do the poll I'll do the poll now Do it. Yeah, if Yannis plays out, I'm taking Milwaukee. But I do think that, I think the series would go seven, because I do think that Indiana offensively has, has enough to push Milwaukee. And you're going to, Milwaukee's going to have to rely on some guys

that you probably wouldn't want them to rely on in other senses. but Indiana feels better right now. Yeah, people aren't really paying attention to Indiana like that. So I think the natural reaction to the chat is going to be like bucks sweep, obviously. They're four in a row. They're going to beat their shit out of them because fans are reactionary. I think the pay, I probably agree the bucks will win. But chat, I think the Pacers deserve a little more than you're probably willing to give them.

They've been just legitimately a good team since Andrew Namhart came back. They've been a lot better defensively. He is the piece that brings it all together very clearly. And, you know, Passos Yakima made the All-Star game. He is having an underrated season. I don't know. How do you feel about the Buck's defense? You know, they're younger and faster now with Jericho Sims, Kyle Pusma, and Kevin Porter, Jr.

They're not quite a geriatric. They don't have Chris Minworth and hobbling around anymore trying to rely on his health. You got to be pretty spry to keep up with the Pacers. Do you feel like their defense can lock in and like, is that going to give them fits? Yes. I'm not expecting Because you have Janice and Dave That's what I'm saying

Like I'm not expecting Milwaukee To put on some like Defensive Masterclass Against Indiana In the first round I don't I think Indiana

I think Indiana presents Too many problems offensive What's up So is it Isaac Trying to gas a player Who's best Trying to gas a team Whose best player is Halliburton

Leave Hallie alone He's been better as of late Their team defense is good No he really has Yeah like It's not November Hallibur and he's solid again and for that reason that's why I think I think Milwaukee's going to have a lot of challenges offensively and uh or or deep defensively I just think that

you probably will have like you're going to have the best player in the series in yannis game versus yeah you got both you know like how much does that matter to you and the fact that like you can you can kind of play fast you know like obviously like you aren't going to play as fast as as indiana uh potentially can but Milwaukee if you have yonis out there can can create problems for them in transition that i think will ultimately balance out any defensive issues that they have yeah i'm going to like to go towards Milwaukee we haven't seen it yet with dame and yonis in a playoff series i again it's probably mostly priors

and just me holding on to the fact of like these two guys are so good in the playoffs play a style of play that he's like rewarded in the playoff setting and like what we know what kind of pattern is the lead to playoff success

I'm just gonna hold on to that for at least the first round that I truly believe this team's just gonna be a handful to deal with. We haven't like we haven't seen we haven't seen we haven't seen Yonis in the playoffs

in two years. I know yeah so he's gonna be ready. Chad did 78% chat did 78% Milwaukee and you know that's the percentage isn't indicative of how close people think the series is going to be it could be 78% of people think it'll be in seven so that's not to say it's going to be a blowout per chat but i think if there's going to be an upset and anything we said this would be the one that i wouldn't be shocked if it went the other way yeah you can get you can get some some bad shooting from from Milwaukee like if you have you have a couple games where it's just it's not falling and you have you know like the kakaku my experience. KPJ goes back down to what he's doing. I say, you know, AJ Green doesn't have a dairy bird kind of game. Yeah. It only, it takes one of those to kind of, you know, flip everything

around. And so I do think, I do think the series will go seven if it started right now. And I would take Milwaukee, especially with that seventh game being in Milwaukee. Yeah. Okay. Let's move over to the Western Conference now. We did all four series in the East. So right now on the playing tournament, we have the Timberwolves, Mavericks, Warriors, Warriors, Warriors, will get out of that. Okay, cool. That's the most fun option as well, and that's what I was going to ask for. Not even that was fun.

I mean, we don't know if Andy Davis is going to play again this season. They kind of like soft launch that it's looking scary and they don't want to put a timeline on it, but like there's reports in the air that maybe he's done for the year. If he comes back in any reasonable amount of time, the Mavericks can be absolutely terrifying. They could be easily a team that gets the top six. We just don't fucking know what that's going to look like. So I'm going to assume the Warriors win that first game and get to the eight seed.

And we can assume the Timberwolves keep the seven seed. They've been playing pretty well as of late. Okay. I don't feel the need to give the Kings any way. The Kings are the Kings. I'm not doing that at all. Not even on my radar. No.

So now, 1-8. We have the interesting series that is on the thumbnail. Thunder versus Warriors. The Warriors have like goddamn good since the God to be Butler. it looks quite incredible actually having essentially two Draymond Greens on defense that can diagnose a play

and just terrorize you and what you want to accomplish offensively Curry's looked better with Jimmy Butler Jimmy Butler's been a great cutter Kaminga's still going to come back and now he's going to come back playing off of Jimmy Butler

who's one more creator take the pressure off of him and he's going to come back to Quentin Post being established which gives you a stretch 5 in lineups with Cominga so I think what might see the best stretch at Cumigua's career

if he's healthy I'm quite optimistic about the Warriors but that being said they're playing the thunder how do you feel i'm i'm taking okayc i think i think this is like you you see these you see these kinds of series all the time throughout throughout the NBA where you have kind of like an aging team that's either right after like their final run or like trying to put the pieces all all back together and you know like people are going to people are going to go into this series

and say, oh, well, you know, the Warriors have championship DNA, and OKC hasn't even been to the conference finals, and they have to prove them. This is the youngest team in the NBA. There's always a series that's like a changing of the guard. Yep, yep, yeah. And so I think for a lot of people, this is going to be their moment where they finally see OKC is like, oh, are they actually real?

And because I think they beat the Warriors in five games. Yeah, Belt to ask for sure. I'm also going to Thunder. I really wish that the Warriors, I think, think they will. I really hope the Warriors get to a position where they can be like the three, six game against the Grizzlies or four or five against the Grizzlies if the Lakers pass them. If the Warriors can place, um, face against the Rockets or the Grizzlies in the first round, I will so easily pick the Warriors. I will immediately pick the Warriors. I think the

Warriors are legit. I think they're the fourth best team in the conference right now. Okay, see, sleep well at night. You're being the piss out of them and pretty much everybody else. Lakers, Nuggets, you can sleep decent. I think you're better than the, than the Warriors. It's not, easy task. It won't be belt to ask, but I think you can beat them. After that, don't sleep. Eyes wide open. Look out the window everywhere you go because Jimmy Buller is outside with the goddamn Glock and you are not safe. I think the Warriors be anybody else. That's fair. Okay. I's fair. Yeah, I'm with that. I'm with that. But yeah, if they do play OKC, it's over. It's a lot. Yeah, spoiler. I think OKC would be to piss out of anybody on this

list so it's not it's not fair to the warriors and the discourse they deserve right now but this is not a conversation to me trash but i've also just put all my fucking all my credibility bag into the thunder winning the finals so what else am i going to say i've put my credibility i put my monetary bag i put everything into the thunder winning the finals so it's gonna happen anytime i touch a mic or i talk to them about basketball i'm like trust and believe the okay c t thunder are gonna win the championship they don't you can punch me in the nose like i'm just like so confident And very well, it could bite me, but I feel so good about them. Thanks.

Okay. Two-seven now. Denver Nuggets versus Minnesota Timberwolves rematch from last year. One less Carlinthetowns. One more Russell Westbrook. How are you feeling about this series? I feel like the Nuggets might sweep them. What?

Oh, wait, you said Nuggets. My bad. I thought you said Timber Bulls. No, no, no. No, I think the Nuggets might sweep it. Okay. Okay, so let's, that's assuming Julius Randall is there and playing poorly. Are you that, you're low on him in that way?

I think even if Julius Randall is there, I'm playing decent. I think that they're, I don't, I don't think that there's, one, there's nobody on the planet, on the planet that can stop Yokic. Like, you are going to have to put three guys on Yokin's, four guys on Yokis to slow him down. I think that, I think that obviously everything that comes with the normal Yokic game, amazing playmaking, him being able to turn up and go into Rudy Goberra's chest at any given moment or Nasri's chest at any moment or Julius Randall and give him an elbow and do whatever he wants. I think Nicole Yokic is going to, honestly, might have one of the five, might have one of the three

best series that he's ever had against this specific Timberwolves team. The fact that they don't have this formula of like two dominant, not even dominant, of just two seven footers and just bodies that you can throw at him, that is exactly what you built your team off of last year to go and beat Yokic. That strategy is out the window. I think Yolk is going to dominate. I think that the way that Rux of Westbrook has obviously come into a hold is fine. Jamal Murray is finally playing the way that we think, Jamal Murray should be playing. They are going to, they're going to beat them. and it's going to be pretty, pretty handy.

Yeah, and so much is made of them having the two seven-footers to guard Yokish last year. Some of the chat just said they could still run Gobert and Nas Reid. That part was overstated, I think, to why they won. Like, yes, it mattered to help. They did a better job against Yokic than most people do because most people just get fucking eviscerated because he has advantage to, like, keep the chains moving for everybody offensively, not just his own, like, generated buckets.

They clamped the shit out of Jamal Murray last year, and Michael Porr Jr. didn't shoot super well. everybody else around Yokic really, really, really shrunk under the moment. You know, they blew that gigantic lead in the closeout game in an embarrassing fashion. They're up like 25. And I don't know if that's going to happen again. You know, like I don't know if you can predict Jamal Murray disaster class. I don't know if you can predict worst case scenario for everybody else to not name Nicole Yokic.

That to me matters a lot more than anything. Like if they play at the regular level and Jamal doesn't play absolutely horrendously, and I think he was doing with injury at the time too. So if he's healthy, that's a difference to me more than anything. I think that the Timberwolves would have to, like, the way that the Timberwolves are constructed right now, it feels very much the way that they felt two years ago before, like, when Cat was hurt for a majority of the year, and they played the Nuggets in the first round, and it was a five-game series. And, like, the wolves, like, they had opportunities at the end of games, but they just couldn't execute against Denver.

Denver just they walked them down every single time and it got to the last you know five minutes three minutes or whatever and Denver's like okay well we're just going to we're going to run this play yoke's just going to get to where he wants we're going to run this bigger world with him and jamal murray and we're going to get whatever look that we want to and i think that Denver is still able to do that and the fact we can't guys we can't say it enough there is a seven foot Serbian man who is shooting 45% from three he cashing greening every single shot that he puts up he is dangerous and there's just no way that that you're going to tell me that anybody on that team is going to stop him

I like this is really going to be one of those series where he can do whatever he wants and it's going to be easy and so I'm going to take Denver 10 times out of 10 in the series. Yeah and Gobert is not quite as dominant defensively as he was even last year. I feel like there's been a little bit of drop off there.

Everything's a little bit worse. Even though this big, he's getting cooked. Sure, I just been compared to last year when they lock him down or whatever the fucking narrative is. Like, even he's worse. So even their best advantage is already cut in half by no cat. And the other half that really carried it also wasn't quite as sharp. So I don't feel any reason to go against the nuggets.

Yeah. Now with that being said, three six, we have the Grizzlies versus the Clippers. The Clippers have 4 and 6 over the last 10 games Kauai's been available in and out He's been missing games still You know doing low management stuff When he's there He's been goodish

But I mean he's like He's shooting efficiencies down like 7% From every area on the court I think he has like a 51% effective focal percentage right now So it's better than not having Kauai But he definitely doesn't look like Peak Kauai or healthy Kauai Or whatever verb would you want to use

To describe them at their best Guess what I actually don't care about that. I think I would actually still take the clippers. Oh, are you that? You're that low on John Moran and the way the grisies look right now? Kind of.

I like, and I've been very, very high on Memphis and not even high, but like, giving them as much grace as possible. The fact, and over the last couple weeks, it really started to set in with me, the fact that John Morant doesn't play four games in a row bothers me, a lot and I think that like obviously if you're talking about the the clippers yes you have

kawai and he's going to be in and out the clippers have done this for the last three years of having kawai there not having kawai there they've been dangerous they've been spunky and i know that jaron jackson junior has taken a leap offensively i know that the rest of the team offensively plays very very well together whether jah's there or whether jah's not there but I think that the clippers would have a coaching advantage and I think that I think that their playstyle I think their play style would actually match up pretty well against against the against the clippers especially what they do defensively so I think I would take them I feel like which is weird that I'm trusting James Harden in a playoff series but like

it's like but also the times previously where I'm like oh James Hardy isn't going to do this he's been good or solid in the regular season and then dropped off. James Harding. Some of you spam things in the chat that's like not funny. Like y'all just like spam bullshit and I'm like I get spamming trying to get a laugh

but sometimes you're just like not funny and I'm like, what's to be gained here? Like it's terrible ass joke. You want to get it off that many times? Like that moved you? You thought that was the one? It's crazy. It was some lame-ass jawed gun joke.

I was like, that's worth you getting off 10 times in a row in 30 seconds? All right, man. Funny guy. Good one. But I'm having like internal battles right now where I hate myself for how I feel about the Memphis Grizzlies

because all summer as soon as the season ended and we saw where they were in the draft I was banging the goddamn drum get ready for the Grizzlies to be fantastic next year. And then that happened. They are really, really good.

But for different reasons than I thought because I didn't know they were going to completely revamped their offense like this and do this zero ball. All screen, 2014 Spurs-esque style of play without Tim Duncan, without Monty, whatnot. But in terms of the way they want to attack the court,

it feels beautiful game-ish at times. I didn't know they were going to completely neuter John Morant and completely take away the main areas he thrives as a pick-and-roll score leading the game. And I didn't know we get this like B-minus version of Jha that you don't feel good about in the regular season setting. God forbid a playoff setting where his skill set already doesn't quite transit as well,

but usually he rises. I kind of doubt his ability to rise in the playoffs this year when they play this way. Well, let's say dramatically change their approach and, like, get more out of them. So I can't, I don't want to say this because it makes me sad, but I kind of feel like they're a disappointing

first-round exit because all this cute shit they do offensively just does not scream to me what work in the playoffs. I don't even, I feel like it's unfair, though, to be like, oh, it's all this, like, you know, just like smoke and mirrors and it's cute or whatever. Because it works, right? Like basketball is basketball, so I don't want to be like, Michelle,

but I do feel that way, like X's and those wise. But they kind of had to do this, though. They kind of had to, had, they were forced into this because of their availability of their star. Like if John Morant is there every single night, or if he's playing 60 to 62 games a night, getting, getting what he normally does and Jaws averaging 26 and 7, and he's dunking over, people and he's you know having the most amazing blocks that we've ever seen do the grisdys feel the need to completely switch up their offense probably not right like i think i so i think that like it's all of this is it's an adaptation that they were forced into and it's not necessarily

their their fault but maybe and we've had this conversation multiple times and maybe you know if they do end up going out in the first round we will have the big you know job marat referendum conversation as soon as the off-season starts. But right now, it's like we have to do what we have to do to get by now. Yeah. Again, this is kind of like the magic thing, why I just really wish I was wrong because I've been banging this drum, second time I use that turn and phrase, God damn. I've been saying this for like three months now that I'm like,

why is nobody talking about the fact that John Moran is not playing super well? And why is nobody talking about the fact that it's clearly because the offensive changes they decided to make and has made him worse because they're not built around him. nobody wants to talk about it and now people do talk about it because everyone's hard to notice but like I just really wish they turn it around

because I want this team to be good and I feel like I'm being unfair to them by not believing in them for the reasons I don't believe in them but I don't know I think we'll be right I think they're probably going to lose which is wild

clippers are like the opposite of this conversation where no matter what you don't want to believe in the clippers they always get shit done so like nobody in this chat right now is going to vote

clippers in the poll because they are unsexy they're uninteresting they're not on your radar and in regular season especially you're going to pick the higher seat right now because why wouldn't you you're not in the mindset of upsets the clippers always get shit done in the playoff series they are always better than you expect even regular season wise nobody in this chat thought they're going to be

the six seed so I don't know like it feels easy to doubt them but guess what I don't think we can I think I'm going with the clippers in this matchup I don't blame you I'm one to picking us the Grizzlies in most circumstances so I'll go with you here We'll go out the Clippers

Because not all these can be chalk We've gone chalked on every single series I can't have it 100%. That's true That's true So we have a quota to fill We had to pick an upset This is gonna be the one

Okay But that being said chat Went 59% Memphis Grizzlies That's so close than what I thought 58% They switched the last second Okay

And I can understand that again Would I be shocked The Grizzies be the Clippers Fuck no They probably should I'm just not feeling good about them currently but they can prove us wrong in next month. Yeah.

Last series, the 4-5 matchup, the Los Angeles Lakers versus the Houston Rockets. This is an interesting one because I'm obviously going to come up here and I'm going to tell you the Lakers in five, whatever. Like, I think it's easy. A lot of people currently still are like, the Lakers defense sucks.

They're not doing shit this year. You quit gas in this mid, yada, yada. I think they're clearly really good. What do you think? I think Houston Rockets, NASA Rockets, Johnny Rockets, Lakers in five. Like, you know, like I, I've been on this wave kind of against the Rockets this whole time, even whenever they were the two-seat-in, it's just because I don't think that they can score in late-game situations. I know they can't.

fucking fact they can't. That's the point. There's no I think. Half court offense sucks. And one thing about me, I've seen playoff basketball and I know half court offense matters a lot. So like I fully appreciate what they've accomplished. I fully appreciate the uniqueness to which they win. I love watching them play volleyball and just dominate the offensive glass and do this unique style of play that clearly has led the wins and deserves recognition. I'm a Yudoka. You've gotten so much at the talent you have. But I would be delusional to tell you I think a team can make it far with the 29th best half-court offense in the league. And on the other side is Luba Donchips.

Exactly. Like, I don't know how to do anything other than, say, Lakers in Five. And it's like, okay, well, all Sangoon is going to eat. Like, like, I guess, I guess, like, you know, like, if that, if that happens, that's, that's okay. There's no, there's no world where I see the Rockets being able to win four games against Luca and LeBron and then being able to out, you know, out-execute everybody. The fact that the Lakers, they have three guys offensively that can, that can not only create for themselves, but can create for others.

And I think that JJ has shown throughout this, throughout this year, he's a, he's a good coach. Yeah, fantastic. And so, like, and so, like, I think that the Lakers will be able to make all the adjustments needed on a game-to-game basis that they will need. So I'm going with the Lakers because also quietly, and you've talked about it for a while, you know, before they got Luca, but their defense was coming along. And even now, even after AD, like, they still have, their defense is still impressive. It's not just impressive.

It's like number three in the league over the last 18 games. Like, it's been amazing. Well, yeah, well, I'm saying it's impressive because. because you have, yeah, I'm saying it's impressive because you, like the one thing that you would say, you're picking it against the Lakers. And I guess one of the reasons why I don't think that they're going to win the titles, because whenever you get to the second round conference finals and you play like actual, you know, proven teams with a lot of options, you're going to be able to go at Luca defensively. You're going to be able to go at Reeves defensively.

We're going to be at that point a month into extra basketball. playing every other night are you going to be able to get at lebron at a couple possessions once he's played you know high intensity basketball for another for another month all those three things is where it's like okay and play a basketball we can kind of pick our matchups i don't think houston has the ability to be like okay you you you come here you come here we're going to cook you one-on-one you can't do that so i don't i like i don't see where houston has a lot of advantages in this in the series so i'm going with the lake The talking point is so lazy that the Lakers are just like incapable of playing defense.

People are treating them like they've just been turnstiles for three months that can't defend anybody. Then they trade Anthony Davis. They're sure they're going to be worse now. You're already a turnstile. Now you're just a fucking piss. Last 15 games, they're number one in defensive rating 106. I don't think this is real. I don't think they're going to be the best defense in the league.

But I think we just saw a great game plan from a great coach where they did an amazing job against a Nuggets offense. after having a good long stretch of good defense against a mixture of opponent levels, which you're supposed to beat the shit out of bad teams and they've locked down most of them. It doesn't surprise me that they're going to be like, if they tell me they're the 11th best defense in the league and they're better than people think,

would that be a huge shock? No. I think a lot of it is like lazy assumption and not necessarily based on how they've been playing since they got Doring Finney Smith, since Vanderbilt's come back, since the whole team has had more time to gel with JJ Reddick's new switch-all scheme.

like they have more evidence of being decent defensively than they do being terrible and obviously that comes down to how Luca continues to play as his offensive workload goes up if he becomes a problem if he's healthy or not

there's ways it can go poorly especially in the playoffs most of the reasons to say they're this untenable terrible defense is based in fiction however whenever we get to the second round so if they win

and then they would end up playing the thunder Shay's going to be like all right Luca come on Yeah, yeah, I'm not saying it's perfect. Yeah, that's one thing. Like, that's the area where then you, then everything that everybody says, while you may have gotten to that point in a lazy way,

that is the area where now everything that you say starts to have a little bit more credence. But that is, but that's not, but that's not because of the Lakers. That's just because every other team is good, you know? Yeah, and like, yeah, they're not going to be able to defend Shea one on one. Congrats. Nobody goddamn can. Like, that's not the basis to me. Like, can you defend the MVP of the league?

Can you slow down the best score of the last three years besides Joel Embed? No, probably not. And I don't think you were going to do that with or without Anthony Davis. So that won't color my decision on how I feel about this team's playoff hopes. I think in most circumstances, their defense won't be something that sinks them and the offense will be something that elevates them. So I think it'll be perfectly fine. Yeah, so once again, maybe the Rockets can get one game.

Maybe, but that game. they would have to win by like 10 and they would just have to have one of the greatest defensive performances of all the top. Like they would have to get like seven blocks in 10 steals and it would just have to be everybody slapping the court at half court

pulling the short sub, biting their jersey, all the things. They would have to have one of those nights in Houston. Outside of that, they can't do anything. They're not going to beat the Lakers. So I'm going to Lakers and five.

So they're overreacting to the Nuggets game. As a fool would do, they're going to lose tonight to the Mavs. They might lose to the Mavs. Shit happens. There's a lot of games. I don't know. But to say it's overreacting the Nuggets game is hilarious. They're not loose to the Mabs.

I hope not. It'd be annoying narrative-wise. But, like, they're fifth in the West. This team isn't just, like, horrendous. Like, they're being treated like they just traded away everybody to get Luka and they, like, should be treated like a blank slate. Anthony Davis missed a good amount of games before they traded Luka, and we have a sample size of what they were playing.

And so much of this is people not actually watching and just making assumptions based off of like, ooh, new team, ooh, only four games matter. They played a lot of games before they got Luca. They beat the Knicks in New York without Anthony Davis the night they made the trade. Yeah, like this is a decent team. Like, you know what?

You know what it is. It's because Max Christie has been hooping and this is the first time that people actually like care about Max Xercy because he was involved in the trade. And they're like, oh, they gave up a good one They lost the trade. Someone said, but it low-key felt like a full reset.

I understand why it feels that way. In some, big picture-wise, it is a full reset, like in the terms of like the timeline of where the Lakers are. They're not necessarily playing like a new team. They're integrating Luca in a good way.

I think JJ Redick is on a good job. He's playing more off-wall than he ever has. He fits glove and hand to what they already wanted to do. Luca fits into a switching defense already what JJ Redick wanted to do. Luca kind of plays a lot like Austin Reeves Reeves in terms of the areas of court the occupy. they just kind of take turns doing that and it's worked really well

because they're brilliant offensively it hasn't been a hugely different style of offense it's just been like a lot more effective and also if you think that if you think that we're going to get to April, May and potentially June and the ball's not going to be in Lucas' hands or he's going to just you know

all of a sudden be a completely different player they are building this up so that Luca can be Luca Donchage come playoff time. Yeah. Like you have the last. last 25 games or whatever it is to finish out the regular season. All this is practice for them, right?

Also, for the first time since, what, since the bubble year, the Lakers aren't going to be in the plan, right? I guess like barring something crazy. Knock on goddamn wood, please. Yeah, barring something crazy. But this is the first time that the Lakers have been like in that tier, in that second tier of the West of like, oh, no, like they are a good team. and they are like low-key proven and the one thing that everybody always comes back to in all the

playoff series and we talked about it earlier in milwaukee and indiana where it's like yeah indiana is a really good team they could prevent they can present some some uh some problems from from Milwaukee but you go down the line who's the best player in the series luka who's the second best player lebron like you start to go down the down the list and the lakers they just have they have one of the three best players on the planet. Yeah. And someone said in the chat, and so it's going to work.

A Rockets fan who's defending his team, as you should, not to slight the Rockets fans, you should go to back for your team. So I'm not saying, not to call you an idiot or anything, but he was like, compare the Rossas up and down.

You'll see just how much better we are. Bro. No. Having Luca and LeBron is so much bigger of an advantage than the Rockets having, like, some advantage in like three through six or whatever.

The advantage isn't even that large. Like, the Lakers have a good team. And you may not even get three. Because, like, Austin Reeves over Alpe? Is that where you're going? I'm just saying. I'm just saying, I'm not saying definitively, but maybe, right? Maybe on certain nights.

You're halfway joking. But on, look, Alperin Sangoon is a very good player. Defensively, he's improved a lot. He is not having a good scoring season. Like, Rockets fans will be the first to tell you his interior touch has fucking evaporated for some reason and is pissing them off a lot because as soon as his defense kind of got out of the gutter and has been a pretty good strength of his this year. he's like positionally he's moving his feet a lot better as soon as that happened the

motherfucker forgot how to shoot layups and he isn't he hasn't put together like the two-way play yet so with that being the case i could understand someone said alprin sangoon is going to destroy dFS if you think i'm going to watch my team have lebron james and luca danchich making late game decisions and i'm going to be scared of alprin sangoon postups against dorian finney smith to go ban for ban with him you've lost your goddamn mind that is the most that is the least threatening solution to lakers offense i could imagine so yeah that's one that's that's that's my whole point is that all right cool you got four through 10 good job even though it's not that big of a four through 10 jump like they're better there

but it's not like it's leaps and bounds it's not the okayc thunder like we're not talking about a powerhouse and if we're just talking about road players right if you if we're just talking about role players. Dorey Fennie Smith is up there with anybody. You know, it's like what? I'm, oh, I'm going to try Dylan Brooks over Doreenny Smith. Don't make me pull up the Jackson Hayes advanced stats. They're quite favorable.

All right, I'm just kidding. They are, though. It's kind of funny that he is grading out like amazingly this year. He's weirdly playing really good defense. It's kind of strange, but I'll think it. Who's jumping with Jackson Hayes? Right? Who's jumping with Jackson Hayes?

And before you say, before you say all the athletes that you have, understand, they're only going to have 0.2 seconds to make that decision before Luca throws the lob at the end of the shot clock. So again, who's jumping with him? I don't know. Yeah, it's very hard for me to find overwhelming advantages for the Rockets in terms of like, we're getting four of these games in round one. And you might not even have. And you might not even have home court advantage.

You're going to have to go on the road for games one and two and a game seven, pretend to me. Stop it. It's not happening. Yep. Shout out of avocado for tipping $12. We appreciate you. Shadow I love Mo's Toes for tipping $6 and $90.

We appreciate you both. Yo. And with that being said, that's every playoff series. And I believe that's the end of the stream. Appreciate all you all coming through. Appreciate you guys hearing me slander the rockets. I don't hate the rockets, y'all. They're just playing the Lakers.

and you're going to get butt-blasted. It is what it is. But I hope they play somebody as not the Lakers and they have a good, just fortuitous first-round series. Just don't let it be against Luke Wondonche,

just all I'm saying. Rockets and Grizzlies. So you take it. Oh, my God. Don't put me to that, don't put me to that fire. Probably the Grizzlies, but I don't know.

Someone said, Isaac, live tweet the game, please. If they win, I will live tweet. If they're losing, I will be putting my phone on my pocket. What I do, too. and we'll see y'all on Thursday for this episode another very special episode we'll see you all later