The Deep 3 Podcast - Predicting The Winners Of The NBA Conference Finals! | TD3 Live

Episode Date: May 20, 2024

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

We are live. Live! Where do we're a reader's at? We got a hundred or seven people already loaded in before the stream even started. Let's see how many people coming in their first few minutes. Love that. Late span like always, whatever. TG3 tradition, I guess.

Quiet, be quiet. Quiet. Yappers. No, pie down. Man, man, man, we have a stream today. Last night, Mo texts in the group chat. He was like, I can't wait to stream. He's been excited for the past 12 hours.

Lots to talk about. This was what my day was supposed to be circled around. This is what I woke up for. Without this stream, I wouldn't be up. If you were my close to your mouth, he'll be a little quiet. Yeah, man. Very exciting series to talk about. I see everybody spam in the chat, talking about my team.

We're going to get to every single team because we're going to talk about the three playoffs series. that ended we've got to go one by one since the last time we talked and then we have to do our conference finals previews so donovan do you want to start with your pain or my pain you know we start with your pain a lot because we we start with the lakers all the time so come on let's let's talk about what do we want to talk about do we want to talk about we are going to talk about tyrese halliburton and the indiana pacers getting the nicks the fuck up out of here beating them in game seven in new york wearing the reggie miller hood

a lot of trash talkins front running on some on Twitter might say a whole lot of interesting stuff going into it but the main topic is your team lost time about how you feel about it quick before we get to the next perspective you want to start with Tyrese real quick start with whatever you want let me hear your thoughts it's your bag first thing

Tyrese didn't wear the hoodie coming into the arena he had it packed in his bag ready for ready for post game right yawn i'm not saying that he's a frontrunner but you're not beating frontrunner allegations by doing that right you got to walk in seven do wearing that hoodie there's there's my thing on that i don't really care too much the pacers shout out to them if you're going to shoot 70% from the field hey man like i don't i don't know what to tell you about that and then two either you trying to come at me on twitter i saw you right i don't know dude the people want to know no you were

trying to set me up uh what did he say you specifically i have to i have to find the the tweet but oh somebody clipped out a video post uh post game six of the six series and i was like you know what i feel pretty confident we'll see you guys in the eastern conference finals right and obviously they lost and i was like quoted the video and was like how will you respond and i was like mind you i said this before three more before three more nix died on the floor. When people asked, I furthered the message because they tagged me and not you. It's not my fault.

They came to me instead of coming to you directly because they didn't have the balls to tell you that. I had to be the messenger. It's not my fault. You tried to set me up. You tried to ruin my day. Tom Tippetto tried to set you up. Tom Tippetto threw a lob and they're dunking it on your head. It's not my fault.

Listen, it is what it is. And although everybody got hurt and it's fitting that Jaylen broke his hand in the last game, right? Just one more injury going into the offseason, right? One more for the road. I love this team to death. And I'm like, I'm just, I'm proud that we even were here. I told, I said after game two,

I'd be shocked if we won any more games. I was surprised that they won game five. I kind of was expecting a game six win, but that didn't happen. But it is what it is. Like, you just can't, you can't expect a team that has six and a half players with three of them being non-term. shooters to win a series in the Pacers like they might be the fastest team of all time i've never seen i even on the highlights of peak phoenix suns i've never seen the team run as fast as they do i've never seen the team push t j macano is a he's a white monster

he's ridiculous i it's yeah yesterday was wild and like it it sucks it sucks that we didn't make it shout out to the pacers everybody every also everybody was like is this the start of like the anti-Tirese agenda, like, do you hate Tyrese? No, I don't hate Tyrese Halliburton. He was kind of corny this entire series. Like, it is what it is, but like, hey, shout out to them. Shout out to them. Chad, let me know how you guys feel, Chad.

Is this season of success for the Knicks? You know, Jalen Brunce was asked it after the game. He was just, no, he was pissed off. Let me know what you think, Chad. Do you feel happy with the next season if you're a Knicks fan? What do you think, Mo? Obviously, you should feel happy. You know, that's a rhetorical question because this is the best next next season.

and how long i couldn't even tell you bro certainly over the last 10 15 whatever years you know to come into the season and to have like lofty expectation that the nicks would be or for anyone to say that the nicks would be the number two overall seed and also be like teetering to the eastern conference finals everyone would call you a damn fool you know um but at the same time you have to this is like the most maximized team that i've seen in a long as time considering all the stuff that they've been through of course julius ran up we haven't seen him play since like january or so something crazy like that him going down and then going through the old janunobi like regular injury that he's gone through throughout his career sucks you know we all saw him get shot up what people are saying a horse tranquilizer and he's just like looking funny running that that was crazy that was crazy that was crazy that he shouldn't have played he should not have played and i think he'll how many minutes did he play that he played the yeah he played the first five four or five minutes of the game. Knocked down two threes,

which is crazy, but, like, he should have been out there. You could tell from the opening tip that he cannot run. And, but again, shout to him for trying, shout to him for trying,

but no. Shout out to Oji Anobi and shout out to Philly loving Ginger for once again, seems like a weekly basis, donating $100. Listen, he's passing up Kevin Golicke

as our most consistent donor. We appreciate you, man. Kevin Gillic. Kevin Glii. He'll call in from Bora, bore right now with the $200 donation. How would you would you

respond. Shout out to Joseph 12 basketball for tipping one dollar. Shout out to Royal Dumbass for tipping $5. Appreciate y'all. He said great greetings from Finland. Shout out Finland. And shout out to Joaquin 37 for donating $7. Appreciate all y'all.

Thank you, thank you. Nice, nice, guys. Isaac, when you saw this overall, like high level, what are your thoughts about this series? Well, I mean, it's as simple as the Knicks got injured and couldn't finish it out, We know they're a different team when they have O.G. Anobie and when they don't. They were the worst defense in the playoffs, the series. I think for the whole playoffs, actually. They had an atrocious defense.

It'd be like that when you lose Ogen and Ovi. You know, they weren't good even when they had him because they were just missing a lot of bodies. They played first, Joel Embed, and then the Pacers, the second best offense in the league most of the season behind the Boston Celtics. So it was going to be tough sledding to keep up with that. And when you just lose this many bodies, when everybody wears down over time, Donovan said it seemed like they, you. What did you say, Donovan? Think people died of battle wounds or something like that? Yeah, three people died in battle. Exactly. That's what it is, right? Like, shout out to Pacers. They did their job. They took advantage of the situation they had. They played their own game and won the War of Atrition. But it was war of attrition, right? I don't think anybody thinks this team was necessarily better. They were healthier, and that matters a lot in a playoff setting. And that's what happens when you have the depth of the Pacers. You don't have to play people with 42 minutes a game, 48 minutes a game like Tom Tipto has been doing. And the healthy team won, as they tend to do. that happened to them two series in a row.

I don't know if it's going to continue against the Celtics. But other than that, it really comes down to that, I think. We can talk about other stuff that they did well. T.J. McConnell taken over and destroying the entire New York next bench. We could talk about the up and downness. Neesman, his elite defense. Yeah, Aaron Neesman did the same thing. Pascal Seacom started this game, like 5 or 5.

He wasn't missing. Miles Turner was really, he was massive with timely threes, specifically down the second half of the stretch. If you want to talk about crazy luck, you go back to game three, the shot that the Nemhart had, right? Like, if that series ends up going 3-0 rather than 2-1, it's a completely different series,

but the Pacers were able to hit timely shots when they needed to. Again, you don't need to win seven games to win these series. You just got to get four, and they did what they had to do four times, and now they're moving on. and low key and we'll talk about it more but like they the way that they played and the way that they were able to get certain timely stops obviously it's going to be different against a much more offensively talented team like Boston but they have the tools and they have the play

style to give Boston just a little test right as as much of a test as as possible I think I think they might be able to to do some stuff in the next row when I hear that I think maybe they'll win two games instead of one like the calves i don't i don't know what do you think about do you think they have a chance no yeah when i hear a test i just hear like maybe they might they might steal a game absolute max too because i just feel like defensively offensively this team just lapsed the boston or the indiana pacers across like every certain aspect but um it'll be interesting to see how tyrese is able to navigate through the best perimeter arguably the best perimeter defense in the entire NBA, but I don't really know they have a chance

against itself. People are spamming in the chat that right now Moe looks like campaign. Is this because of the hat, or what are they talking about? I don't know. That's a wild allegation. When I think of a campaign, all I think about is his, the picture of him, like, with his head side. Or something or whatever. Yeah. He looks like Phineas, where his head is just mad, like, triangular. Yeah, I mean,

Okay, so what's the, for giving the postseason, like, referendum on the Nix, giving them their farewell speech, putting their grave into the ground? What do we say about the season for the Nix? You say that this season, you said that this season was, one, the most fun and encouraging season of Nix basketball in 25 years. You say that Jalen Brunson has ascended into New York royalty, and he is proven that he is the piece that you can build around and that now you are now into that next step of your quote unquote rebuild and you have to find the pieces all the pieces around jana brunton that work

and you need to find another creator and three there needs to be a conversation in the back back room not a lot of people no cameras nothing and you have to think in two years is Tom, is Tibbs going to be the coach? Whoa. Because as, again, nobody, nobody knows. Nobody's ever going to report this. But this is now, and I tried to, going through the series, I stood up for Tibbs a little bit because I don't think that he had much of an

option to play these guys 42, 45 minutes, because you're in the playoffs now. Like, this is what you save all of your rest for, right? You save it so that your key players can play big minutes in the playoffs. but this is now three teams that tips is coached that players have died in battle and if you're the Knicks and you

have a whole bunch of not only the talent but you have great contracts in Brunson and Dante and Deuce you have flexibility right now this is going to be the window you have to ask like are we going to go through this again next year

and are like are we going to be able to get to the second round, but have seven people left because we ran guys into the ground. Yeah. I'm glad you said this. That's the, that's the big question. Pull up this tweet. That's awesome. We can talk about that. The Tibbs era has a cycle of these 10 stages. One, he changes the culture. Players embrace hardworking. Two, these players perform beyond expectations, i.e. Jalen Brunson, Josh, Hart this year. Three, a star is born or brought over. Jatham Brunson. Four, expectations now form. People were saying they should make the conference finals, right? That's kind of what was expected

because they were playing so well. Five, a deep playoff run is expected. I guess the same thing is four. Six, freak injuries. Whole team died. All of them. One by one, dominoes. It was like the grisies early in this season. Just dead, dead, dead, dead. It was a kill streak. After that, fans defend Tibbs hard.

Eight, same players aren't the same next year. We'll see if Josh Hart continues to play like that. Fans turn on Tibbs, and then he's fired. We're precisely halfway through this bitch. make it sense to me yeah it again it's the it's the cycle and you just you have to one you have a lot there's a lot of decisions to make because on one hand you look at the nix and if this was like the regular team and you just had like the 10 players that they started the playoffs with then

you would say okay yeah like we're right on schedule and everyone's like oh like how the nix gonna get better where are they going to do what if you add a guy that's 24 and 9 and an all-star caliber player, like having $30 million on the bench and not available to you does hamstring you a lot. If you add Randall back into this mix, I think that that's good. If you decide to trade for not even like Devin Booker or Joel Embed or whatever that is, if you decide to trade for like Mikhail Bridges, how much of the depth are you going to give up, right? The depth that this entire city and this entire fan base loves, how much of that goes away for a team that is now, okay, we made the move. We're supposed to

when the Eastern Conference finals were supposed to go to the finals, what's that looking like? So it's tough. Well, how did you feel? Mo, I fully expect them to be a one or two seat next year. I think everything Donovan is saying, adding in Randall,

getting all these guys healthy, having Bowie on for a full season, which I don't think he's a free agent, is he? I don't remember. Regardless, getting all these guys back and having Randall, I think there'll be a one or two seat next year. Do you think they can repeat this, Mo?

That tweet that you showed is very scary because, you know, like you said, we're right on time with everything And at the end of the season, like, we all have these high expectations considering, like, all the mood that could be made, whether it be like players just being healthy or, you know, like maneuvering some things tweaking the roster here and there. And maybe they end up getting, like, run into another second option is more consistent and whatnot. But overall, like, I am just going to stand pat. I can't be here. I can't sit here and, like, watch basketball for a little.

over the last, like, 10, 12 years, real basketball and, like, actually having thoughts about it and see a team like New York Knicks have the most success that they've had, like you said, 20, 25 years or whatever it is, Donovan, it immediately called tips into question. Like, at this point in time, like, this is the time to quite literally rejoice, you know, and just be happy for what you have now. And at this point in time, like, you know, once you guys do fail and all those things come across your face at that point in time, then, Sure, like adjust it, understand that all the information you've gathered over the last two years.

But if I'm a fan, like, I'm lit right now, so I don't, I don't understand it. It's got to be an encouraging season. There's nothing. For sure. There's no real downside, right? They perform better in expectations. They have an opportunity to add a big star or more pieces, whatever may be. They're not done.

They continue to have assets. You know, we talk about plit teams not getting back to this point. That's implying like they made a finals run or something. The Knicks aren't at their point yet. They're still building up to when they can find them. make a legit run, waiting for that domino drop that makes it possible. And I think this year proved that they're a lot closer than we might have expected. Because I think early in the season, we're all saying if they're cooled or good,

but nobody's expecting them to be like an elite team. And I fully expect like going to next year. Like whatever our predictions lie next season, they'll be high up on that list. I agree. In the NBA, something that I think we get wrong or we take for granted is that once a team performs in the playoffs, they have an encouraging year, we're like, oh, wow, like this team is going to be around for, you know, seven, eight years. Like, the windows open. The time is now. And a lot of times, things can close very quickly, right? Things can turn around. Like,

the Memphis Grizzlies. After last year, we were all like, okay, like, yeah, you lost it to the Lakers, but everybody is, you know, you're coming into next year, you have high expectations. And all of a sudden, boom, jaw, suspended, hurt, Desmond Bain, hurt. Like, everybody just just hurt, her, hurt, and your season's over. And, next thing you know you're picking in the lottery like you these things are not like guaranteed and for tibs um i'll say i do think that tibs should be the coach and he is a good coach i will say this one thing in terms of like striking while the iron's high tibs made the conference finals as the coach of the bulls in year one when they had MVP derrick rose since then he has not coached the team back to the conference

finals they have not he his teams have not made it back to that point regardless whether the reason are talent, him running people into the ground, all the other stuff. It's been 13 years since Tom, since Tibbs has coached a team to the conference finals. So now, like, you got to start beating allegations and strike while the eye is hot and start doing stuff this offseason. Yeah. I mean, that is true, but at the same time, it's also been, like, 13 years since he's had a player or team as good as the one that he has now and as cohesive, you know?

Like, other than, I don't know, the Minnesota days, which was just like, straight of chaos and terror and a lot of people just almost wish that that didn't happen there's never been a real opportunity for tips to go ahead and do what he's done now and now that he has that opportunity i don't know if i if i'm a nick fan i feel really comfortable where you're at considering like just a couple months ago there were people like becky becky hammond who was like yeah no this team can not get so far at all with your first player being or your number going to have. I was going back to her. And she popped, I mean, she popped champagne yesterday. Like, yeah, Jaylon Brunton had several bad games in this series that I'm not going to say it's

100% because he's small, but you see players like Tatum and aunt and bigger guys. And a lot of the stuff that people are throwing at, Brunton is just like, hey, let's just put a tall guy on him and just make them work. Whereas for other guys who are, you know, six, three, six, four and above, that's not the immediate solution to guarding him to guarding him the way it is for brunson so like you know like she she was onto something and also and again like people were also just ridiculous because it's not like that it's not like she said something that nobody else has said in the last 50 years of the NBA you know like she didn't say anything wild that anybody else honestly disagreed with she just happened to be a woman and everyone was like she doesn't

know ball like this this really just it yeah let's let me We can move on. We talk enough about the Knicks. That's 20 minutes on Nick's talk. Whatever. Let's talk about the other team that got cooking in Game 7. Before we get to that other game 7, y'all, we've got 240 likes on the stream. Almost 1,200 being here, do me a favor. Run that up to 500 likes for us. Because now is the time that everybody on Twitter has been harassing me about.

Time we've been waiting for. We've got to talk about Nuggets v. Timberwolves. We got a lot. Everybody asked my guys this hat like this right now, and it's because of... No, you're a month for that. and you should you ask all the time what happened to shame what happened to your shame you i've been wearing my hat like this since like 2016 this is just my first time wearing it like this on on this platform but continue i think i think tell the people what happen keep going so as you guys

know the Nuggets versus Timberwolves was the matchup of the playoffs right this is these are the two best teams in the west this felt like the conference finals maybe even the finals depending how you feel about the Celtics and it was crazy first two games the Timberwolves the Timberwolves rules beat the fuck out of defending champions everybody in the media went up into their shows their podcast and was like oh my god tim connolly did it he made the yokech stopper team rudigobers vindicated anthony edwards is jordan holy shit and then the nuggets won three straight games and we were like man yokech is inevitable why do we overreact three games in a row's a lot of games looking like they're going to win i don't know we recorded the last episode after those

three games before the last two and i was like oh my god yok is unstoppable i don't know what's happen, but it's feeling good for as a Nuggets slash Yokish fan. Eater. And then the Timberwolves proceed to win the next two games. A blowout. And then, the best comeback I've ever seen in the last five to seven years of NBA playoffs, I don't even know.

They came back from down 20 in a game seven. That has almost never happened. This was one of the best team defense performances I've ever seen, especially off of a first half where the Timberwolves looked like shit that were lackadaisical. Anthony Edwards was getting double-teamed and looked like he

never seen a double team a day in his life he looked like Devin Booker in an open gym like he was about to start complaining about it because he's getting pissed he didn't know what to do

cat didn't look great Gobert looked like he was had the coordination of a baby giraffe it was terrible and that second half man I've never seen a team flip a switch like that

they locked the fuck in Ant's shot wasn't falling but he was defending his ass off you know there's a lot of Michael Jordan comparisons which are usually pretty lazy he was defending like Michael Jordan the way he was reaching around

poking the ball making Jamal Murray go through hell even bring the ball past half court that was all-time defensive stuff even though his shot wasn't falling he found a way to impact the team keeps energy high

gnaz fucking Reed won them the game in the fourth quarter it was just everything came together that you would expect from a Minnesota Timberwell's victory all you can say is this team is amazing right my question is

what did we not see to come together for the Denver Nuggets how did they just go ahead and just blow up a 20 point lead in the third quarter Michael Porter Jr. money laundering KCP point shaving. Aaron Gordon

playing with his hands behind his back. They had two 30 point scores in this game and then everybody else in single digits. The Wool's defense locked all the role players down and that made the difference. In those three games, we saw the Nuggets win three in a row. Aaron Gordon was a difference in loud of these games. Markleport Jr. didn't play good the whole series,

but we saw Aaron Gordon be the difference a lot of times and win them some games. We saw these motherfuckers lose them this game this time because they got no help aside the big two. Yolich played great. Murray played great. Outside of that, you can't really say. by anybody else.

I would have liked to see Yokic hit a three earlier. If we're nipping, I'm just saying. I'm just saying. That's a decided factor. I would have, I would have, I just would have like to see it. I would like to see MPJ hit a three earlier. I would like to see him hit several threes earlier. Listen, it's top-down economics when it comes to NBA basketball.

I need your best player to do it. No, I mean, yo, I seriously considered getting a tax. That's you right here that said, Nasreeb, period. He's so good. Yo, he was hooping. He was hooping. The putback dunk that he had at the end of the game to basically, like, that was the dagger.

I know, like, Ants 3 really, really, like, ended the game. But the Nasreeb putback dunk is where I was like, oh, no. Like, they're going to do this. I don't think Denver has another run in them. Yo, I'm still speeches. I still can't believe that we actually saw a team go into Denham. and out execute the nuggets in the in the fourth quarter and I mean there was it was times like nods reed have blocked yokech down low like they like they were playing one-on-one like yo

everything that minnesota did swarming bro was exactly what you saw in the first two games and for denver this is what happens when obviously mpj like like i just said mpj and erring gordon don't play well but also you don't have the the bruce brown guy who can come in and randomly score 20 points off the bench. You see all the time in championship runs and long playoff runs, guys come off the bench and they'll have a random 17-point game. And you look at them and you're like, I ain't never ever seen you act like this before. And the Nuggets don't have that guy on the bench, whereas the Timberwolves,

Andy Edwards also has that level where it's like, I've never seen you play like this before. Carl Anthony Towns has gone to, he's played at a level that we've never seen him play at. Nasreid has elevated himself. Gobert is arguably the best version of himself right now. Jada McDaniels in the first series had 25, 28 points because he was knocking down every three. Everybody has elevated and has gone to a point where they are the best version of themselves. And their coach isn't even there on the sideline. Like he's in crutches.

Like they're overcoming so much and they're performing at a high level. It's insane. if you would have told me that Anthony Edwards would have shot 6 for 24 in this game. Mike Conley would have shot 3 for 10 in this game. Rudy Gobert, 3 for 7 as a center. That's unbelievably trash. It would have came in and shot that in Denver. And somehow Denver wins this game by 8, 10 points.

I would have looked at you in the face and called you a damn lie, especially knowing that Jamal, Marie, and Yokic both gave him about 35 pieces. is each that is ridiculous and it not it tells you two things tells you how trash yokits his team is around him outside of like jamal murray um i don't think i don't know i wouldn't say a lot of phrase it that way i want to phrase it that way they played like it yeah they got locked down for sure to say but i think it's more about and i would mostly go ahead and give the kudos the timbreels and their game plan and how they were guarding nikola yokits forcing him to go ahead and put up like nine, ten threes, that's almost unheard of.

Like, he's super comfortable with doing it. He's never been, throughout his career, he's been known as a very respectable three-point shooter. But for that, for him to take that many screams, just how shaken up he had, or they had, Minnesota had Denver's offense. We haven't seen that before, ever throughout the, like, the Yokic era that we're in right now. Yeah, and it just can't, Donovan, you mentioned the deaf thing. People like to underplay depth.

days because at some point, some analysts pointed out that teams shorten the rotations in the playoffs. So all these NBA fans that are fans of teams with shitty depth are like, it doesn't really matter. Your top five or six players got to win in the playoffs. So depth doesn't matter now. Absolutely bullshit. Because whenever Michael Porter Jr. or KCP aren't making their shots, Peyton Watson wasn't playable in this series. Brown, as good as he is, isn't going to be that scoring punch. And Holiday is just holiday, right? They don't have somebody that can replace that and give them an X factor off the bench, which matters, because like you said,

they got Nas Reid, they got on to kill Alexander Walker, and that was a difference in the series. You know, there's a lot of, Mo, I know you tweeted, you tweeted, what are the Nuggets do next in the off season,

you know, after this loss? And that was obviously the next talk on the timeline, right? It's like, what were wrong with this team? What's their flaw? What do we go from here, right? What do we think about this team and their championship,

now that we know they couldn't repeat? I don't think you shit, right? I think it was just two great teams, one of which had advanced. advantages, the other one had advantages, one not executing the end, right? You came down to a game seven comeback, simply two great teams, one has to win, and I think that's what we saw, is that one team ended up performing better on that day, which is all that really matters in the game seven. Yeah. And also, like, you, in the regular season,

the Nuggets had a little bit of that. Like, they, like, Reggie Jackson was solid. He was a solid, you know, back and point guard. He was averaging 10 points a game, which is good for somebody coming off the bench. He average 3.5. in the playoffs. He was shooting, I guess, for, again, for backup, 43% from the field in the regular season. Shoots 33% from the field in the playoffs. Those seven points are the difference in these matchups,

because as we see all the time with stars, the number one thing that you talk about with them in the playoffs is, hey, they're actually a positive when they're on the court, but can the team survive nine yoke each minutes? Can the Timberwolves survive non-Anthony Edwards minutes? Can the Knicks survive, you know, Bruns a minute, so on and so on? And if you don't have a bench that can either stay equal or minimize that damage to where if you're up eight whenever Yokic goes out

and then he comes back in and all of a sudden you guys are down seven and now you have to make a run to get back into the game, that's not okay and that's not a winning formula. It's the reason why the six just got bounced from the, from the in the first round because mb was dominating right he was dominating in the in the first three quarters he also couldn't make stuff in the fourth quarter but they but they were allowing the nick to stay in the game because they couldn't finish when it when he was off the four so yeah that is that is priority number one is they're going to have to find another

bench guy to help that unit out that's true you say they the Denver nuggets just need to figure out a way to survive the non yokeach mo minutes which is like Like, in general, true, just for every single team that's led by one of the best players in the NBA, for sure. But in this game specifically, like, it's just in one of those scenarios where it's like, it doesn't matter what you do because they're just simply better and they're built to go ahead and destroy you. There was no Yokic minutes that needed to be survived because he played like 47 minutes, fairly sat and the lead was smoked in the third quarter while he was in the game. So it's like at that point in time, like you said, also Donovan. it falls back on the other guys the reggie jacksons of the world the christian bronze who's like a really good player talented player but he's incredibly too passive in year three you look for someone like him

to go ahead and hit that next step in development this is the reason why he was drafted to replace the brun brown the bruce brown that he did i said broom brown's hilarious but yeah like you cannot afford to go ahead yeah to go ahead and just like put up duds across the board from three pivotal role players, bro, especially when you have, you know, a very suspect bench, which a lot of Nuggets fans called out before the season. Yeah, yeah, it's not terribly shocking in that way. And, yeah, I mean, the problem, you said there's not a lot of non-yokish minutes.

And that's the problem, right? He had to play 47 minutes. And in the fourth quarter of this game, there was a lot of plays where he was not chasing down rebounds like he normally would. He was getting out hustled by Rudy Gobert. And they got in the bonus for the early because he was drawing a lot of fouls on those rebounds where they were trying to force his way to get to it. and Gobert is just huge

and got foul because of it. Stuff like that is where you really saw that Yokic contained to Squarwell going to the fourth quarter despite playing every fucking minute. But you saw he was tired, right? Like you can't play 47 minutes without being tired in the end.

And everybody on the Nuggett, on the wolves, they were fresh. They had a rotation going on. They could actually keep their legs under them. And that fourth quarter you saw, Yokish was really aggressive. I thought it was really impressive seeing him go into like,

I got to get a bucket mode. And they were like chipping away, but it just didn't matter because they were doing this aggressive defense, putting him to him the ball, forcing Anthony Edwards to pass the ball. And that led to a lot of guys being opened in the perimeter, crashing the boards.

And we had two clutch putback dunks, one from Nazaree, one from Kat. And that's just exactly the type of reasons of why you can look at this game and realize that this team was fresh. This team had hustle in the fourth quarter. And it was all the difference. Absolutely. Do you know how demoralizing it is to have Rudy Gobert?

The most, feels like the best and the most clutziest, clumsiest center in the entire NBA. go ahead and hit a turnaround fading two heavily contested smothered by Nicola Yolkich and have a cash go win, barely touch the net. That's demoralizing. That's when you knew.

You saw that and you're like, all right, they got it. It's over. If Rudy Gobert is hitting turnaround faders at the end of the buzzer, it's kind of done. And also, he really wasn't going to make that. because Yokic hits his hand on the on the jumper and you can kind of see Rudy's Rudy's hand like a just and it loki felt like Yokic helped Rudy go bear on that jumper by making contact with his hand and help the ball go in it was just it was part of that was

I look at a game seven and half of it or not half of it but like a good part I'm like all right if that's if that's going to happen maybe it was just predetermined right that like that the wolves are going to win this game but then there's all the other reasons that we talk about where the bench depth, right, the hustle, all that type of stuff. And the Edwards finding a way to still impact the team, still have, still be able to be ready when his number is caught, when his number is called on and hit the dagger to fully ice the game to go up to go up 10. They look complete.

And right now, sports book-wise, the Celtics are still the favorites. In the final four, I think everybody should be looking at Minnesota and think that they are the ones who are the hunters. They are the ones that everybody should be worried about. Real quick. Got some don't know us to read off. Shout out to Kevin Gulicki for coming back in, donating $50. You said, let's fucking go.

The Celtics are 100% winning it all now that Denver and the Knicks are done. Give Tatum and Brown their first ring. Also, Isaac, how did you not have one Celtic in your top 10? Do you guys, listen, do you guys think that the Celtics are going to get it now? Because we all said all year that Denver was the one reason we don't really feel strong about the Celtics because we didn't think they could stop Yolkitch. There's no Denver anymore. nah the Boston Celtics

when to ring I might have to just like put in my two weeks on this pod and find your replacement because I can't do it I couldn't survive on the internet and fucking Jason Thadam when I'm just kidding but I mean you have to even feel very comfortable

as a Celtics fan of course and confident but at the end of the day still like bro the Minnesota Timberals are incredibly good and it's hard to envision the offense that could go ahead and counteract and like put up a chance against

the boss against the Minnesota Timbles but if anyone can it's 110% has to be the something so if that's the case that's the case but let's not speak too soon shout out to Nick for tipping $5 he said damn I might get that nausea tattoo as well it's hard I respect it you might have to it's very clean

it's very clean and it's very clean shout to Elena for tipping $5 said Isaac how mad are you that the Serbian king lost I'm not happy about it you know wasn't excited but you know now I stopped on it now I'm like okay looking forward I do think the Timberwolves have a pretty great chance of making the finals now we're gonna talk about

the conference finals coming up after we talk about one more series this team is good so like I was reading against them for fun to talk you know just talk shit not for fun we're starting race wars over here race wars it was fun to like root against them and want them to lose so badly but they're a great fucking team like it is kind of crazy that They blew such a bad lead, and nobody's like, oh, my God, what a choke job. But I think it's just goes to show that Timberwolves, it wasn't that Nuggets choking, or to some extent, they weren't making shots. But we saw a team that just, like, wanted it more, and defended, out-executed, and stole the win

rather than the Nuggets losing it, right? Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, bro, what are you supposed to do when Zeta McDaniels is out here, like, playing the elite defense that he's already, like, known to do? And also at the same time, put up 21 or 20 points on the other end and smack three three is in your face as well making clutch play after clutch play and then anthony edwards like although he wasn't spectacular on the offensive end like he made a pre-dagger

in the third quarter at the end of the third quarter he hit a tough uh tough three point on the left wing i forget who's face probably erin gordon or some sort like that and then he hit another three to really seal the deal that was an assist i believe off of uh naz rita the corner like he just having that superstar to just help like shut shit down whenever you feel the lead you know feeling a little bit shaky and also like something else too that's so hilarious that would have like then it would have exploded if the minnesota timber was found a way to lose you guys remember that play when car anthony towns he was trying to throw in the ball and he i think he threw it just like right straight up out of balance or whatever ridiculous bro they're able

they have the greatest insurance for car on Anthony Towns ever, and that is called Nazaree, bro. Everyone needs that type of insurance in their life. Everybody's a six man like that. Shout to Kevin Gluckie for once again donating $60 this time. He said, the reason you all hate the Celtics is because we've been dogging your favorite team since there were whites-only restaurants.

Wow. Wow. How much have they been dogging the last 40 years? I don't think they haven't done. much since those restaurants gone away exactly one right since then. As soon as other people began to drink from the water fountain. You couldn't win anymore.

How many rings they have post Jackie Robinson? No one near 17. I'll tell you that. Shit. Donovan's all fucking frozen. Look at this trash ass internet. Look at them go. Look at them not moving. Bozo. That is hilarious.

Chat spam. L internet. Look at Donald's frozen. and ass. You're screaming him because his Wi-Fi? Look at him. There you go. If you're going to, let me disconnect to him. Oh, bro.

He's back. I think. There we go. There he is. He's back. W. Internet. They said you got McDonald's Wi-Fi. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

It happens. It's the best of us. I guess I do. I guess I do. You just got to be better. It's fine. Chat. We're out 448.

likes, spam it up for us. Can we get to $1,000 before we get to the conference finals previews? Maybe we got one more series to talk about. Come on, man. We have one more series to talk about. And that is the Dallas Mavericks beating the Oklahoma City Thunder in six games, which was like this game, an incredible finish. It felt like game seven, but it was obviously the forcing game seven.

But the way it was going back and forth, and before the series, we said, I said this series is like too close to call. I thought it was going seven. I was like, I leaned thunder because Lucas is not fully healthy and Max Cleeba isn't there, but I don't feel good about it. But it's going seven. It didn't go seven because the fucking Dallas Mavericks did something. They hit up Miami Heat, they hit a Pat Riley.

And so whatever you got, whatever you gave to Gabe Vincent, whatever you gave to Max Drews, all these guys to get them to turn into gods come play out time, give PJ Washington all of it. And he got it all and he became a star and won them two games with great three-point shooting, great defense, a clutch put back layup he was everything and he was a huge deciding factor

for the series I was so hurt watching this game it was incredible it was incredible it really was the last four or five minutes was awesome everybody was going back and forth

and it looked like you know it looked like the mabs were going to self-destruck they had like a stupid foul that let the let the thunder get a free free throw it looked like Shea was going to pull it off he was hitting clutch shot after clutch shot

and I mean listen Luca did what Luca does oh man this guy this guy Lucas is crazy I and I'll say this so everybody knows

I personally am not a massive Luca guy but he is undeniable in his greatness What do you mean you're not a Luca guy what does that mean? I'm not a fan of his Like, if I was, like, if I was 15 and I had posters of, like, my favorite players, I would not have a Luca poster on my wall.

Okay. Right. But, but, um, but I mean, what? Just because I don't like him, that doesn't mean that he's not dropping 30, 10, and 10 every other game. Like, he's still crazy. He's still dangerous. But, like, also, no, I love Yokic. Yolkish is fire.

So, like, we're not playing. Exactly. Yeah. Some of the chat. Dave made in the chat. So Donovan doesn't like Yokish or Luca. Yeah, he's racist. no no i like yohitch a lot um but not man like the the foul on she so okay so now that we've

had time to think how do you guys think how do you guys feel about it because obviously like he he shouldn't have jumped but like you i don't know like he felt him i don't know he admitted it to himself like this is a stupid foul the scale of one to 10 like how dumb would you rate that play from shape like how much of a meant to fucking very it lost in the game fucking very dumb i mean he tried someone yeah i mean yeah yeah but he tried like he did what he was supposed to do but at the end of day like he ladling huh some some radlin

is that me though is that you i don't know who did it's all good yeah i have no idea but regardless of the fact though like i think you were talking about actually at dinner donovan that night You literally, you're so mad at watching P.J. Tucker just go off. I think that entirety of the game, he wasn't going off at it. He wasn't doing much at all until the fourth quarter. I believe he finished that game with like seven or nine points or something obscure like that.

And seeing, having your role players like him just show up and answer the door when it needs to be answered on a consistent basis. It just means so much. And when I read this game, like kudos to, okay, C.D. did their thing. I never had them going to the Western Conference finals because of, you know, side issues or whatever in youth, which like both did show at times throughout the series. But

they did what they were supposed to do. I can't, you can't be too upset. There's nothing surprising or shocking that scream to you, oh my God, this is the issue, or X, Y, Z player is not built for the moment. There's no new information that you got from that series from Oklahoma City Thunder. Other than, the only real

thing you can, what are you going to say? J-Dub hasn't get better. We talked about that in the last episode. Jado wasn't Jadob. Yeah, he has to improve. There is something to they need another big. That's overblown as like the one deciding factor because, you know, they clearly

are making the trade-off to be smaller, agile, faster, better shooting in place of size and rebounding. Some of that is a thing right. But, you know, it would be nice if they had somebody besides Jaylon Williams in those minutes where Chet sits. But the biggest thing is they need a big forward. I think that's a true thing we see from them. They need their

version of PJ Washington, their version of of Aaron Gordon, whatever they may be, a little bit more size in the wing specifically because they are too small but I don't think it's necessarily because they need

an Andre Drummond type but they need more size their defensively. That puts a little bit less pressure on Chad Holmgren-down-low. Size, absolutely. I agree. In my mind, it really doesn't matter

where you place it, you just need it somewhere because trading for Aaron Gordon and getting rid of a pretty nice player like Terrence Mann and having Aaron Gordon or Gordon Hayward

Go ahead and play 46 minutes up the entirety of the playoffs And put up like zero points or whatever It's this fucking crazy As a Gordon Hayward's ass Has a nerve to go to the media And complain about his role And complain that he thought

He would get a little more Than what he was brought there for If this motherfucker was doing cardio He had a lot of minutes He didn't score a lot of points And eventually those minutes went down I wonder fucking why It would have been real nice

For him to do well in that series I'm sure that the front office OkayC wanted the same thing from him. It was hilarious to see that quote after the game. The Thunder had a legitimate hole at their three spot. Everybody has been saying for months that Josh Giddy is going to be unplayable in the playoffs.

And they said, Gordon Hayward, do you want a chance to be playable? Right. Do you want an opportunity? We have guys on our team. They had Isaiah Joe. They had Kays and Wallace. They had options that they really, that they realistically could have said in the moment.

You know what? We're going to replace Josh Ging. with one of the guys in-house. But they called Gordon Hayward and said, nah, the job is yours and you, sir, played like the bum. You, sir, you, sir, could not play on the floor when the bar is

being better than Josh Giddy. Come on now. Come on now. So that's the thing. We knew the Josh Gitty thing would happen. It was the most predictable issue ever that was entirely because of politics, whatever may be,

maybe they want to preserve his value, want to preserve the rotation, instill confidence in him so hopefully he can get something out of him whatever the mysterious fucking reason is for him to continue starting games it was very predictable from the jump that this would be an issue

I think the unpredictable thing that came out of this well, let me know what you guys think you can let me know if this is unpredictable or not they went from being the best two-point shooting team in the league to having a lot of guys not shoot as well and that was kind of their downfall in the end right

they played their style of game for better or worse and that style is very predicated on them being an elite three-point shooting team with their driving kick stuff the drivers weren't driving like they were before the kicks weren't kicking

like hey do you guys think it was some kind of small sample size or do you think this is because the Dallas Mavericks defense being so good because I think it might be the latter

both I think actually a little bit of both so weird to say out loud but I think Jason Kidd out coached Mark Dagnall the coach of the year and it's so awkward to say that

and it's like kind of wasn't even close considering, like, the whole Josh Giddy stuff, inexcusable, inexcusable completely considering, like, the outcomes that would happen or whatever. But when I do see this, seeing how they got outplayed does, like, cause you to raise some questions and whatnot.

But I just solely believe, like, if you have, if you're the second best player on the team, which a lot of people assume is J-dub, if he goes ahead and he plays, like, his normal self and scores in a variety of ways that we know he can whether it be like maybe he needs to be be utilized his size a little bit more and be in the post and whatnot or whatever or add whatever else tools in his back other than just strictly trying to go downhill like if he is his normal self or at least like next season

works on these other uh holes and minor flaws in his game i think their play style would lead would lead me to believe that they're just fine i do think they would like a little bit of variance would help, of course, but I don't think their play style necessarily is a real issue for me. Yeah, I think their play style isn't an issue, but yeah, variance is what they need. They're so predicated on Shay and J-Dub drives and kickouts, and the

Mads defense did a great job having the perimeter defenders play up tight, run them off the line, with PJ Washington and Derek Jones, who were incredible. And you got Derek lively back there locking the paint down. He was incredible on both sides of the ball. It was just a really well-executed scheme. Like, shout Jason Kidd. Most of the time, he's kind of ass,

but he coached his ass off in the series. Really, this whole run. Since the deadline, he's constructed an elite defense. They've done extremely well. We've criticized him in the past for doing this aggressive defensive approach, and it hasn't worked many times. It seems like it's the personnel, whether he has it or he doesn't, and maybe that's a flaw is that when he doesn't have it,

he doesn't adjust well. But God damn, he has it right now, and it's working excellently, just like I did a few years ago that made the conference finals. Have an elite defense, then you have Luke and Kyrie to close the game. It's a winning formula. Especially, dude, Derek lively is so good. Like, that is going to be incredible. Talk about it.

We were at dinner a couple of the other night we were watching this game when we were in Chicago and I asked Donovan, I was like, can he be an All-Star one day? Like, what's his ceiling? Like, is he just the new age DeAndre Jordan? Like, he's a rookie

and he's this good, this disciplined, this good of a passer. Everything about him is so far beyond his years. They were like plus 48 with him on the court and like minus 40 with Daniel Gafford. It was such a gigantic difference of defensive presence.

Yeah. And he's playing with Luca, who's going to elevate him even further. Like, you're going to be able to get all the shine in the world if you just come in and play your role. But I'm trying not to have this come off as hate. Yo, PJ Washington turned into Steph Curry. Like, like, and it's not even from, it's not even from, like, regular season and playoffs. He sucked in the first round. He, PJ Washington shot 31% from three in the first round against the clippers and shot 47% from downtown against the thunder.

If you are going to shoot nearly 20% better than you do all the time since he got to Dallas, he shot 31%. Like I'm very curious to see against the Timberwolves, is he going to be able to knock down shots? Because if he is, then I think that everything we're talking about Dallas is going to make sense. If he is not, and they have to figure out another way to create offense and to get those, like, very timely threes, then I do think that Minnesota has kind of like a wide open path. You know what I'm saying? Yeah.

But also, like, Luca's, Luca is going to be the best player in the series coming in. So that's also, like, a massive equalizer. I mean, he's the best player in his series, but he's not healthy. Has he been better than that in this playoff run? like that's okay so let's transition this let's transition this let's get into the conference finals let's preview then and we can start with the lessons we're already on the topic I'll say this first I'm picking Timberwolves in six games and I thought about this all night I decided this morning I really believe in the Mavs for all the reasons we talk about right

why they're able to expose the thunder and all this stuff Luke is not healthy yet he did great this game the consistency hasn't been there quite as much with the scoring and the efficiency see there just because we know every fucking muscle in his body is slowly being torn apart shred by shred he's hurt everywhere max acliba isn't there you know lack loses some versatility in their line of combinations there he's been really big there daniel gaffords and pretty terrible in terms of on-off numbers and how he's been able to impact the game they need max and cleba's presence there to be able to deal with the size of the minnesota timber wolves and be able to out shoot them i don't know if he's gonna come back or not let's assume not they beat the

Timberwolves, I mean, they beat the Thunder because they were bigger than them, and it started to down low, and out physical them. You are not going to be bigger, stronger, or more physical than the Minnesota Timberwolves. If Lucas is not healthy, having Anthony Edwards and Jada McDaniels and to kill Alexander Walker breathing down his throat, not great. You said Kyrie Irving didn't look great in the series because he was in the torture chamber among all the other good perimeter defenders there. Anthony Edwards defends him well. I don't know what advantages they have outside of Luca turning into a god, or PJ Washington turned into clay. I mean, High level, I agree with you.

I would personally lean the Minnesota Timberwells just because it just the advantage. The only advantage that you have is that you have the right now, in my opinion, but still the best player or the best player now and NBA still in the playoffs. But him not being at 100% hurts and seeing the demons that they could unleash towards Luca Dodgers, whether it be like a Jane McDaniels or Anthony Edwards or whether it be to kill. Alexander Walker off the bench. Like, there's just so much he has to overcome. If you thought he and Kay were given hell by the Oklahoma City Thunder,

you thought the Minnesota Timberals are an entirely different beast. Now, what sucks about this series and what makes us so interesting is that we haven't seen this new iteration of the Dallas Mavericks play this Minnesota Timberl's team. Like, all three or four times they play throughout the regular season, don't even pay no goddamn minds to those matches because. Luca hasn't played in some of them. Jay and Hardy was playing in some of them as well. Like, there's no real reference.

And the only reference that you can make out of this series is seeing what they've done in the past. And like you said, Isaac, I agree with you. Like, you can't out physical the Minnesota Timberwolves and on the Timberwell side of things, like, they're just perfect. This is the perfect NBA defense right now as you speak. And you have a superstar like Anthony Edwards who, clear as they can respond to every moment, I'm going to lean the Minnesota.

The thing is, so I guess the Mavs, they haven't really defense as well, so they can go defense to defense with them, right? We believe the Timberliss has a stronger defense for all obvious reasons, but the Mavs are no sloucher there. I guess it comes down to, do you believe they can out shoot them enough and spread out the Timberwolves enough that they can make them pay more than the Nuggets did? Because the Nuggets are a really interior passing type of team, right? We know about the Yokish to Aaron Gordon, Lobbs, and the shooters of the Nuggets weren't shooting very well, being KCP and Michael Porter Jr. I guess the only the way you could give the maps and credit is if those perimeter shooters and Derek Jones Jr. Tim Hardaway, Kyrie, PJ Washington, all these guys can really be firing from three. That's a little bit of a different, you know, geometry question that you put on

the Timberwolves that the Nugs couldn't really do. Do you see that happening? No. I don't. It's hard. Because I do, I want to give Dallas credit for everything. thing that they've done and I sometimes people just get hot and they start like they just go on a crazy streak so maybe we're in the middle of that for PJ Washington and he's going to keep going crazy but for everything that that you said I thought that like the main weakness for like the main two things for the thunder that got exposed were the fact that Dallas could you know go big and be able to finish possessions and get rebounds and be more physical at the room than them and and you know the Josh Giddy thing Minnesota doesn't have a Josh Giddy right

they and they're able to put two seven footers out on the floor all the time I think sometimes three yeah I think I think I'm also picking Minnesota this is bad because we're all on the same page I have Minnesota and six I just don't see yeah I just I just don't see Dallas replicating it against this defense that a week and a half ago, everyone was like, this is the 2004 pistons. This is one of the best defenses we've ever seen. Yeah, they still are one of the best defenses in the last five, ten years. And they lost three straight.

Guess what? That's because Nicoliokic was on the other side. And as great as Luca is, he's not a, him right now is not Nicole. The mass fans are crying in the comments. I didn't know that many Mazz fans too Oh there's a lot One Dallas you know is a big market People sleep on the fact

The top five biggest market Plus the European fans are huge As a whole country Mazz have a lot of fans And tell you all you are crying in the chat Shut up We don't hate the Mavs They're very good

We're not sleeping on them It's just two great teams Somebody has to win Like both these teams are fantastic Should be here They both belong to be here It's not a disservice to the Mavs No one thinks they're trash

We're saying it's gonna be six I can see even see it going seven it's just, you know, when two great teams play, only one can win. It's not going to be a blowout by any means. One way that I was, I would say I have several friends from Dallas. I do want them to be unhappy. So I'm rooted for Minnesota because of that.

He is actively playing on their downfall. A hundred percent. The Rangers just won the World Series. Dallas cannot have, as somebody who is from Houston, that Dallas cannot have this much success in one calendar year. I can't see it. Yeah, I do think the shooting can be a big difference. It really

comes down to that shooting level, which I think the Mavericks are, I believe they'll shoot well, so that's why I think it'll be a hard-fought series. And I think Kyrie is also a big swing factor. I think Clippers Kyrie was godly, and if that comes out, and he can really force the defense to stretch out with his

off the dribble threys, that can be a big difference. But I feel safe, assuming, that he's going to struggle with Anthony Edwards and to kill Alexander Walker as his primary defenders. Not safe as soon he's in struggles, let me not say yet, but I find it very likely that that could be a, you know, a big issue for them. And Jamie

McDaniels is as good as the Luca defenders you're going to find, right? 100%. Absolutely. And if I think I was listening to the low post and he mentioned that, let's see, if you started with an possession with Aunt on Kyrie and Jada McDaniels on Luca, and you run, inverted pick and roll, do the two-man action that Luke and Kyrie like to do,

they switch that and you still got an elite defender on both of your guards, that's tough. And the same way, you have PJ Washington and Derek Jones Jr. That can give ant hell. Whichever team's elite defenders can really slow down the team stars is going to be a big deciding factor of the series. Yeah, I absolutely agree. So in the two games that Kyrie has played against the Minnesota Timbreu...

There are some Kyrie dick riders in the chat right now. Well, let me go ahead and back those eaters up because he did put a 35 and 37. which is impressive. Yeah. Yeah, great. But at the same time, like, there's just so much that's changed since then. It was so long ago, bro.

That was like in December and also in January. And I would say this Mavs team is obviously different and they thrive in so many different ways. But this Timberluse team is also different. Well, so, man, that's why I'm picking their Timberwolves. Statistically speaking in the playoffs, Mavs has a better defense and better second panchoints, second chance point conversions

so I have no clue how you overhike this Minnesota defense bias takes to think that we are biased towards the Timberwolves is hilarious you must have just started hearing about us today of anything we've been biased against the Timberwolves for nine months that's hilarious

longer than that a year to have in 18 months they were listen they were the one seat they were the one seat early on in the year even halfway into the year and I was like please lose 10 games in a row I need my pick to be right Like, I have been waiting for them to be exposed, and it just hasn't happened. And so maybe at a certain point, you're just like, hey, this team is actually really good,

everything that they thought that they were last year, and they didn't necessarily get a chance to prove it because people were hurt, maybe that's who they should have been the entire time. And this is everything that you have on top of Anthony Edwards ascending into the upper echelon of NBA players that's that's what they're that's what's happening right now yeah i think uh i think the timber was a win i don't think i feel quite as confident about as you guys do i'm not going to be horribly shocked with the mabs win but we all we all pick wolves and six yeah but i'm like i think that but i also obviously we learn a lot of game one and two like we always do i can definitely see we're over the mabs win so i'm not i hear like they're cooked

you know who i am saying it's cooked why i do feel very confident about The Indiana Pacers are getting beaten five. The Celtics are going to blow their fucking doors off. I think there's been a lot of rush to say, like, oh, the Celtics are actually frauds, their aisle. Maybe the Pacers can give them some trouble. I think they will blitz them and beat the fuck out of them. I will be so shocked if the series go seven.

Seven? Yes, I will be shocked. This series is going six games. I can see six. Because KP's out. I'm going to go Celtics in five, but if KP misses extended time, that can very well be six.

You know, it's a small margin for. but yeah I'm with you yeah I honestly want to if it's not going to be a sleep not going to be a sleep that's kind of crazy it should be in five games

the Boston Stozoics have been prone to lose the second game at every single series so far and I think it's fair to believe that they'll go ahead and let one slip by again just like any old regular team would you know but I think they're going to get handled their business I don't imagine a world in where the

Indiana Pacers in Tyrese was in Tyrese Halliburton can find enough offense within himself in such different ways and just adding that much variance into his game so quickly just not his not his season not their time just yet uh so yeah yeah i think so celtics and five if kp misses two games if it's extended he misses like four or five maybe the whole series then i can understand selthics and six but that's i i think it won't be that hard i think listen the the the Celtics should win it five games. However, we have seen over, we've seen over the last two years, whatever you think

the Celtics are going to do, give them an extra loss and then they'll get it done. So, so I think, I think that they should win in five, which means that they're going to give up two games and they'll win in six. I think that Indiana also Celtics math right there. Yeah, and also like their play style, like them going up and down, they showed not only in game seven, but in game, four, if we're going up and down and we're shooting threes all day long, the Pacers do have the capability of getting hot as well. And so what we've seen for two series where the heat set a franchise record, right? Or the subjects go cold in game two against the cabs.

That 100% can happen. And I think that with Tyree Taliburton starting to get back to where he was, he's looking more aggressive as a score, I think Indiana can win two games. Okay. I, first of all, let me read some donations real quick. Shout out to Zach Carlson for tipping $1. Appreciate you. Shout to Atlanta for tipping another dollar.

She said, we were horrible for 20 years. How can you be biased for us? True. Shout out to Sick Harlow for donating $5. He asked why was John Stockton out on the Mount Rushmore Point Guards? Oh, real quick, let me address this shit. We get so many comments. And sure, it's tongue is you disrespect John Stockton.

We don't know ball because we underrate them. Yada, yada, yada. John Stockton is so fucking overrated. I don't know. Okay, I do understand why. Assist record, steals record. People see that. He's a goat.

He's underrated. No, he is not. That is a longevity merchant. That man is a nasty man merchant. I almost said the name. He is great. Did a lot of good things. Obviously not to score and punch that many of the other top point guards of all time are.

Defender, he is a good playmaker, good steals guy You know goddamn well He's not as strong as a defender As a truly lead defender given his eyes And his passing obviously being great Is not so good that it makes up for the scoring avenge That some other point guards have above him So to think that he's like a lock top three point guard of all time

Because ooh he played for 20 years has a lot of assists Shut up! Shut the fuck up, please I don't understand why John Sautzen has so many ears like out there I mean I understand it I get it I get it. I get it. I get it. And you get, you got to give him kudos. You got to give him kudos. You got to give him props. He was the savior for a lot of Utah kids back then growing up. And he was also like on top of that, on top of like, you know, he could make some solid passes back then or whatever. And he was like,

solid passes. Yeah. And he was, let's keep you where he was a longevity merchant. But that's, it's great. No one, not a lot of NBA pairs go found it to his level up until, age, like, 39 or 40 or however what he was. And also, he was a pretty good, decent shooter as well. But at the same time, I can name so many point guards that I can slap in that air and tell him to do exactly what John Stockton did. And they would do that with absolute ease. Steve Nash better.

Steve Nash. Oh, is that a real conversation? Some of the chat, as people are talking about the chat right now, Steve Nash is how much better? It's not close. It's literally not close at all. Yeah, and I get it If somebody's saying I hate box score watchers

It transcends box score watchers It's like just like raw number watchers Because it's not even necessarily an impressive box score It's just like a ooh, a large number over a large year It's totals Yeah, total score watchers, get out of here What are we talking about? Anyways

Back to, let me see dead, I miss any more donations real quick before we move on Oh, we missed a Kevin Glickie $40 bomb Sorry Kevin, another 40 from him He said My God. Selfish propaganda. Whatever. Anon tip $10. He said he stands with Kevin G and his Celtics Propaganda. Appreciate you anon. Put your name on it next time. Shout out to Space Jesus for $4.34 and $34.00. And shout out to Nick. You keep tipping $1. I'm not reading it.

Fuck off. He knows what he said. Back to Celtics versus Pacers. Moe. What do you think? I don't think you got to get your piece in. What do you think? No, the series is going to be over in like five. Absolutely X-6. This is a good series for Jason Tate when you go ahead and continue to get his reps in on this series. Show everyone why you are a top five player like many people believe him to be. Do I believe it?

No. But, you know, like, what? Someone said just hopped on the stream. The first thing they're talking about is John Stockton in all caps. That's so gross. That's the craziest shit ever, bro. You got to put this out afterwards. No, we don't.

We got us not talking about John fucking Stockton. his crazy ass. He's insane. That is disgusting. Oh, that keep going. But not, like I was saying, keeping it short. This is going to be a great series for Tatum. At times it's going to be overtaxed because Pascal Seaccom and Miles Turner is genuinely just a lot to deal with for someone his age and they don't have as many bodies up front.

And so, yeah, this has to be an elite Tatum series. If it is an elite Tatum series, this is going to be over five. I don't even think it has to be. I think the Pacers beat the Knicks because, they had more offensive firepower, because we know all the Knicks died, RIP, and they were running up and down the court, beat them with speed, numbers, just making the most, having the better three-point variance, everything, you know, playing Pacers basketball, and against most teams, that gives them an advantage.

They were the top two or three offense for the entire season. The Celtics are top one. They also play like that. They also have the same style, have a better star leading it, have a better supporting cast, leading it, and they happen to have a top three defense while the Pacers are mid at best. I think the Pacers have success because they play their way and most teams fall victim to that over time

can chip the way. Self-Dowth can play your way and be so much better at it than you. I think it can be another series where Jason Tatum has a casual 22 points per game and everyone's like, oh, he's getting carried and it doesn't matter because they just are better in every way.

Such a Mickey Mouse series. It's going to be the easiest path in the playoffs that the Celtics could ever imagine. And listen, it's not their fault. They play who's in front of them but it's going to be a breeze, I think. it's not close man they better wrap it up easy man that's don't don't give people the opportunity to play with you i hope that after two rounds they come in locked in and i i really do hope

i will be rooting for them if they win game one i will be rooting for them in game two because i want to see this team be at home and take care of business i want to see it happen yeah Kevin Gluckie donated another $70 he said will you ever do more episodes a week also you can't silence the proud Celtics fans I will try my hardest to silence you guys but I mean this is basically the second episode a week right like we cheat the streams I guess the second episode

so we're kind of like two a week I like it yeah exactly we obviously talked about doing two episodes a week plenty of times before but this just feels like a good mix and bounce between the both of them streams are a different feel but obviously like we cover the same

stuff just in different ways yeah and uh i like that i like having one episode a week and kind of like making you guys want more i don't like people like oversaturated too much it's spam content because like at least people i watch if it's too much to keep up with it makes you want to keep up with it less whereas shows there are once a week i'm like oh me look forward to the next episode you know i kind of want to keep that yeah yeah exactly we like to drive you crown you're crazy can you imagine you know what they want they just want two tic ticot ticot times a week and We even talked about that before, y'all. It's not happening.

Yeah, that thought about it. Yeah, I can't give you too much of a good thing. That's not only like that good. Exactly. But, okay. No, let's, listen, we know the Celtics are winning this series. We don't know who's winning the Western Conference. Let's look forward to different finals matchups.

Let's talk about that before we get out of here. Who, which, okay, do you think the Timberwells can beat the Celtics? Yes, I think they can beat them. Why? Well, first, I'll say, I think anybody can be anybody in the Final Four, outside of the Pacers. Yes, outside of the Pacers. But, like, those, the top three, you can do a roulette out of all that. I 100% agree.

Yes, we got debate in the day coming. I see the comments. It's coming, trust me. Yes. So, but I, yeah, so I think Minnesota can beat Boston because the same reason why they can be Dallas. They have these insane perimeter defenders. They have these twin towers that can dominate down low and really force Boston to kind of pick a style to play with and limit their versatility, which is how they dominate a whole bunch of people. They're able to go with all of these looks and do a whole bunch of different things, whereas certain teams can only do one thing at a time.

Boston can really do it all. But I think that Minnesota is perfectly equipped to match all of that. And if Anthony Edwards and Jason Tatum is kind of, you know, the level of Jason Tatum that we've been seeing and not, does it match him? If they don't go ban for ban, I can see Minnesota winning this series. Yeah. Uh, I think it would come down to does this size mismatch and size advantage that we've seen disrupt a lot of other teams? Does it disrupt Boston like that? Does Boston start Al Horford and KP together?

Do they try to match it? It would just be, are we going to be surprised by? the type of advantages that are created there that we didn't see coming that could be a deciding factor but i feel like if both play their game and go as we expect on paper it's hard for me to not pick boston given everything we said about them all year right they're so dominant that we kind of take it for granted 100% yeah it would make logically to me it would just make more sense to lean towards the Celtics way because like imagine car anthony town like he did a okay job guarding kevin ran last series it wasn't like anything spectacular or

world moving like he so did a solid thumbs up but then having gone from that to ask from the guard jason tatum and being switched on to jail around and shit like that like i don't know that that makes you a little bit uncomfortable but with that being said like really go bear and car and the size overall that they can lean towards at all times of the game is very discomforty because there was going to be times where, like, Al Horford or Kevin, I said Kevin, Chris House of Brazilians goes ahead and gets into foul trouble, you know, and you're going to have to be calling on Luke Cornette off of the bench or Sam Houser or something like that. That is very, very nasty, and that is an absolute nightmare, and that is why a lot of Celtics fans and me, me, even us, like in the past,

would be like, yo, if there's one thing that the Celtics could use, it's a physical center just to call off the bench here and there once in a while. sooner to like, you know, a raw Williams, which they gave away. That's the only this is where I'm like, okay. Like, they might actually be...

Epic gaming plays in the chat. I guess you missed a donation. He said, you haven't talked about the fact that Yokic hasn't won against a 50 plus win team. That's because that is stupid. And because the 2020 season was shortened

and the clippers never got to 50 wins because nobody did really because the season got shortened, but they obviously would have been a 50-win team. So it's a funny talking point for jokes on Twitter, but it's not anything actually, like, substantial. People who are, Something that I realize, like I've always known, like basketball, the NBA specifically is just a fun sport to talk about because there's so much more than the actual, like, things on the court that happens.

We all like to get our narratives off, and of course, it's fun. But to see how quickly some of these people jump into this narrative talk is disgusting nowadays because a lot of it doesn't even make any sense, and it's literally not fun. Who's ever talked about 50 win teams is like a parameter of how tough things are? Like, who gives us shit? If we're going to hate, get back in the hating last. admin be better at fucking being this is disgusting you're like you can hate field right there's so much funnier stuff you could do than a random 50 win arbitrary number it means absolutely nothing trying to minimize his wins like that like get the fuck out of here that makes no sense

okay so the timber woods you guys think I have a chance I feel like the mavs have a better chance get the cellics and they do the timber wolves I feel like the mabs match a little bit better there do you see that as a thing I would agree yeah I would agree to that for sure Simple because, like, Derek Glyly and PJ Washington are more... Actually, I don't know. I don't know, actually, now than to think about it. I don't know. I feel like the Celtics might just win the finals.

I don't know. I feel like we're dancing around it. No. I think the Celtics are in the finals. I'm sorry. I think we're there. They should. They should, they should, right?

I pick them at the start of the year to win the title. I need to see it. I'm still at a point with the Celtics where I think that you guys should do it, right? You obviously have all the talent. Not sure if everybody's going to rise to vacation and it's all going to click at one time. But on paper they should.

We treat them like they have the expectations of the 96 Bulls. Every time they lose one game, we're like, oh, this guy's falling. They've just been so good all year. And I know past years, different things have happened. But this is this year, obviously, with KP, with Drew Holiday. and they did nothing but be amazing I know that we do have a track record

of knowing because these guys play in the playoffs so it's not nothing but I just feel like of all year we said we pointed to the Nuggets as the one reason why they aren't going to win the championship and now they're out of the paint it's like I don't know what to say anymore I do think the Timberwolves

if the Timberwolves can beat the Nuggets they can beat the Celtics so clearly they have a chance right it's not like it's cooked the Celtics are going to breeze the way through that'll be a tough series because they clearly are better than we all expected but I feel like I'd be

disingenuous if I didn't say the Celtics should be number one right now. I think you're absolutely right. Like the Celtics should win the NBA championship. It makes 110% sense that they would go ahead and do such things. But at the same time, you're right. Like, we do put two high expectations on them, treat them like the 96 Bulls or 17 Warriors or whatever. But at the same time, like, the decision making has been a consistent issue throughout

this new era Celtics that we've seen. and been a part of, you know? And this, we don't see or have any of those issues when it comes to the Dallas Matters because they have the best, arguably the best, taken best decision-making, the NBA and Lupid Donchich, also Kyrie Irving, too. And then the Timberwolves have guys like Mike Conley and Anthony Edwards, who's matured in so many different ways on the court when it comes to decision-making and shit like that, too.

So I think those are real, real things that I have in my mind that may cause me not to pick the Celtics, but legit. Logically speaking, the sellers have every advantage. They should have every advantage. Yeah. It just makes sense. All right. Donovan, what is our debate of the day?

Before we get out of here, what's debate of the day? I have two things. One is half a debate, except I just don't care about what the other side has to say. I love that. Front running, the idea of, like, somebody being a front runner, 95% of you have no idea what you're talking about whenever you say that guy is a frontrunner and you don't actually want somebody

to be the person that is not a frontrunner. I have a picture to show you my proof. This is Austin Echler celebrating when his team is down 63 to 7 and Austin Echler gets clown all the time because he celebrated down 56, the complete opposite of a front runner. And everyone's like,

look how stupid look at the scoreboard for all the stuff that everybody was given to Tyree Taliburton what did you want him to do do do you want people to just be smiling and just be like oh ha ha everything is good you suck and then you're like yeah but look you're down 20 like what do you actually mean when you say frontrunner and what do you actually want I am so fucking glad you said this before you answer that fully Isaac what is a front runner you can get into your thought I'm asking you a question what is a front runner a front runner is somebody who only talk shit when they're up or somebody who is very loud when they're up and quiet when they're down in itself a stupid fucking concept why would you not be louder

when you're winning why why do people okay so here's the thing for a lot of years people said that the new modern NBA is soft nobody talks shit anymore everybody wants to be friends there's no rivalries none of this and they pointed to like in the 90s michael jorren would never be best friends with so and so like we see these guys be friends off the court, right? That was the talking point for a long time. But now when people talk shit, when Devin Booker talks shit, you're like, oh, get this annoying motherfucker out of here. When Tyree's Halliburton talks shit, get this annoying motherfucker out of here. Y'all don't want people to talk shit. Nobody wants it anymore. We are a culture that does not want it at all. And people pretend they do. They don't. When they do it when they're winning, they're front runners, which is a ridiculous concept in it of itself. When they do it when they're down, they're loud and need to check the scoreboard like Donovan said. It really comes down to do you. like a player or do you not, if you do like them, you will be okay with it. If you don't like them, you'll find a reason and a name to call them to make it so they shouldn't be allowed to talk shit. Example, Anthony Edwards, Tyree Salliburton. That's Anthony, Anthony Edwards has been

talking the entire playoffs and everyone's like, he's Michael Jordan. Look at his or. It's just awesome. Oh my gosh. Exactly. This is what the league needs. And then Tyree Taliburton goes into Madison Square Garden in honestly the loudest, I ever heard that building and they run the nicks off the floor he has an amazing game he's yo the shot the shots he was making yesterday was crazy and he's silencing the whole crowd like that is exactly what people what people want and the truth is you're soft you don't like it it hurts you exactly it hurts your feeling seeing somebody talk about because you don't want somebody to do that to you and you can't take it so that's the chat look in the chat look in the chat

He's a frontrunner because he talks trash about injured teams. Is that his fault he's playing injured teams? He can't talk trash to a healthy team because he's not playing them. What do you want from him? Yeah, that's not, that's not on him. The only, and I said it earlier, the only thing that I would have liked, if you had the hoodie packed, where the hoodie coming into, coming into the arena, right? That won't, that would help you beat the allegations.

But in terms of on court trash talking, that's a stupid, that's a stupid talking point. it's very it's very dope so that's the first thing where i don't care where anybody else has to say about that the second thing that we're going to that we're going to talk about it and i'm i'm glad i'm glad mo's here mo can you put that hat back on absolutely you ain't got to say it twice just for a second i got to ask you another alina high got delivered like literally today the hat over the headphones is diabolical it's wild this is like this is like 2004 t i fashion Like, this is, this is crazy. It's Atlanta, what I say.

Anyways, I need the, I need the entire chat to weigh in on this. I do not think that Mo is allowed to claim Anthony Edwards and rep, and rep him as hard as he is, just because they are both from Atlanta. When Anthony Edwards plays for the Minnesota Timberwolves and you are wearing an Atlanta Braves hat, there is no reason why you should be Mr. Anthony Edwards right now. You cannot claim him. Your team has the number one pick, good for you guys. You can't say Anthony Edwards is one of us because he's not, because he's not.

You know what you sound like? You sound like some who just got dead ass bounced out of the playoffs. You sound like someone who is a little bit upset because Atlanta finally runs the league. Any opportunity, any second, any moment that Anthony Edwards has to remind you where he's from, he's going to let you know about it with the way he's talking, with the hat that he's wearing. out of the locker room in the press conferences, bro, with the charity events that he's doing within the city. You don't know about these Atlanta streets.

Pop off, back off. And seeing someone like him thrive who had disgusting allegations, and people were saying, oh, he doesn't like football. Like, don't hopefully, Atlanta, if don't get the number of an overall pick back in pre-draft lottery days or whatever, because folks were saying he needs to be out of Atlanta, out of the, just disgusting, just honestly, racist talk. See him be in Minnesota and just thrive.

makes me so happy because there's so many other little kids who want to be like Anthony Edwards and the two little kids who's watching this right now you can be the next Anthony Edward just make sure you force away to Atlanta eventually and do the right. I'm done.

You can't claim them. You're munching. Are you done? Thank you. Are you done? Hey, this was for the streets of Atlanta. Get out of here. Anything else to add?

I'm full. I know you're full. I know. And you mean your film. How do you feel? Can Moe claim it? Of course they can. I was asking.

That's Isaac. Can he? Yes. Should he? No. Has some shame. Thank you. Thank you.

That's the real question. You should not be doing that. Take the head off. Take the head off. Listen, I'm worried. I think you should be honest. I think you should be an honest guy. I think you should say you think he's hot.

Not that he's from Atlanta. Because that's what it all comes down to. First and foremost, I think 25 episodes in to this podcast. I said he looked like Frankenstein. I don't think he's hot at all. Now, it's his swag. Now he's overcomposing. Now he's overcomposing.

Frankenstein, come on. You just rate them high in the ORA list. I said that. It's on record. What do you mean? You don't have to necessarily look literally good to have ORA. A child's not a man about ORA. right there. Chad is spamming.

Shame. Way more than just how you look. Shame. You think, listen, you think that Anthony Edwards is not playing fair right now. Like, that is, that is where, that is where you are at. And the fact that the Hawks are not good. Wait, and you want to. Do you think he's playing fair?

What? Do you think he's playing fair? I think Andy Edwards is playing basketball. You agree with me. All right. someone in the chat said we should start spamming shame with every bad take now yes please start publicly shaming we need more shame I didn't have a bad take at all what do you mean

what did I say that I was wrong about Anthony Edwards in Atlanta so much of the industry so you were in a hat over headphones right now like this is how down bad this is come on stand up crazy shout to Mo for tip of $1 he said why does it flood the media hates Luca Donchich or at least disregard him like he hasn't proven himself I think you choose to believe, you choose to see what you want to see. There's plenty of Luca love and plenty of Luca slander. It comes to the territory being the next young, great player.

You can focus on what you want to focus on, but I think both are very much there for Luka. Do you mean the guy who was a finalist for MVP, doesn't get enough love? Shut up. Who needs to Luca? That's weird. Shout out to Fadi for dipping $5. So I can't wait to see Bronte on the pod. Very proud of you guys.

Coming soon. Appreciate it. He told me to pronounce, he told me to change the way I pronounce, Hilarious. Hilarious. You see that must be fine. The one thing that you, that you like, like, Isaac. Shout out to Sakharna for $1.00.

He said, y'all people, is beautiful, nice and purdy. Shout out to Elena for tipping $2. Is it a hot take to have KG over Dirk? I feel like when the 2011 finals run was super impressive, people overrated so much. KG is Dirk with better offense? Ooh. Isaac? Wait, what?

Say one. You mean what better?