The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd Podcast - Lakers Gm 2 L, Draymond Suspension, Suns Achilles, Russ Revival w Jason Timpf

Episode Date: April 20, 2023

First, Colin explains why he has the same size concerns for Bryce Young in the NFL as oft-concussed Tua. Then ,Hoops Tonight host Jason Timpf joins Colin to discuss the Lakers abysmal Game 2 blowout loss to the Grizzlies, where Memphis is better without Ja Morant in the lineup, what to expect in Game 3,if Draymond Green’s Game 3 suspension was justified, what the Warriors need to do avoid an 0-3 hole without him, if KD and the Suns are title pretenders, and how Russell Westbrook has turned back the clock to become a difference maker in the series. Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates, and check out FanDuel for the best wagering and daily fantasy action! #Herd #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On The Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me.

I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people.

Listen to look back at it on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Volume. Hi, everybody, and welcome in to the Thursday morning podcast, my buddy Jason Timph. We're going to just talk about the Lakers Loss, talk about the Draymond Green suspension, and a host of other things about the NBA. Jason hoops tonight, podcaster at the volume, does a great job. Some really cool new stuff about the Volunt. coming up in about seven or eight days, too. So I saw the story where Tua, quarterback Miami Dolphins, acknowledged and admitted that he strongly

considered retirement this past year when he dealt with concussions. And that's something had it happened to me, it happened to a family member, you should consider retirement. You know, we get into these things in sports, these tunnels, where everybody's afraid to get canceled and called out. And so people don't acknowledge stuff, which is like obvious. And I felt like three or four years ago when I brought up that Kyler Marie was a little too small for my taste or that size mattered at quarterback.

I got a lot of pushback on this stuff. And it's like now can we all admit it that Bryce Young's size is a little concerning out of Alabama. And it should be that Tua is small. And Jalen Hertz is not ideal. although I wouldn't classify him as small. He's been dinged up. And that Baker Mayfield, for a number one pick,

Baker's six feet tall and not a great athlete. Tried to size up a safety after an interception, banged on his shoulder, got hurt, never the same quarterback. We have to be honest about this stuff, is that Mahomes and Herbert and Trevor Lawrence and Joe Burrow and Josh Allen, these are bigger than average men. It matters.

Go look at the list of Hall of Fame quarterbacks, your John Elways, your Brady's, your Peyton Mannings, your Big Benz, your Joe Montana's and Steve Young's. Not a lot of 5-10 guys there. So, and I think it's a real concern about Bryce Young. It's why there's a quarterback for Tennessee that may go in the second round, Hendon Hooker. The knock on him is that he had an ACL injury,

but he's a big, strong kid who throws a beautiful football. He may be your best bet. he may be your best bet in this draft. I don't know that to be true, but he is big, he's strong, he's got a big arm, and, you know, he's older. So he's a more mature kid, right, than your average 21, 22 year old quarterback coming in. He's, you know, he's been around a while. So this stuff with Tua is, you know, he's got an extension possibility coming up. I just, I couldn't give it to him.

I just couldn't. You know, the way I look at Tua, great kid, great high school and college career, limitation. at the pro level. And I said, we're to a point now where the media is not going to give you a pass on concussions. And not only are they not going to give you a pass, concussions, the opinions will be swift. They'll be punitive. And I think the Miami Dolphins, if Tua has a concussion, you can't plan for a month minimum. I mean, if third week of the year of September, concussion, if you plan before Thanksgiving,

you're going to get hammered by people. It's the one injury where the media is relentless and no company wants to get banged on by the media for eight to ten weeks. They don't. All right. So it's a bummer. Like some guys, you know, I've seen it at every position in the NFL. Some guys are built for high school and college. It's not quite built for the NFL.

And I don't know if Tua is. I mean, he has admitted before. Now he's admitting he thought about retirement and he's admitted before he struggles at times. to see over the offensive line. It's okay. We can acknowledge this, right? Like it's an adult conversation now. And it's why Sean Payton came on my show and said, be very, very careful about not going

prototype in the first 10 to 15 picks. Do not get an offensive tackle that's 6-2 or 6-3. They've got to be 6-5 and a half minimum. You know, don't take a small corner. Don't take a smaller quarterback. So I think the dolphins are in a really tricky situation. Two is a really good guy. they want to protect him, they should.

Tua also needs to be protected like most pro athletes from themselves because they're all competitors and all want to play. But that news that Tua considered retirement, how do you not consider that if you're the Miami Dolphins going forward? How do you not? The NBA playoffs are upon us. 20 teams get in all trying to get that one crown. For last minute, amazing deals.

To watch your favorite NBA team. It can be the Warriors, it could be the Kings, it could be the Sixers, it could be the Bucks. To get great last-minute deals on amazing tickets, check out Game Time, the fastest growing ticketing app in the United States. It's called Game Time. It doesn't stop, by the way, with the NBA. They've got NHL tickets, Major League Baseball tickets. They've also got concerts and comedy shows.

Game Time. Download the GameTime app and the redeem code is Colin, C-O-L-I-N, $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply, download the Game Time app, enter the code, Colin, C-O-L-I-N for $20 off. NBA playoffs, baseball season just starting here in April, NHL as well, no matter where you live, get out, have some fun this week and this year. the GameTime app last minute ticket deals lowest prices guaranteed ohlin how are you man well we saw i think any laker fans saw it coming like you got to win in memphis energy was low early and this team isn't you know they're not Sacramento young uh they're not you know they're one of those teams like they got to be engaged like because lebron

over the last two or three years really lets the game come to him. He didn't, I mean, the first quarter is for LeBron. It's like a boxer in the first three rounds. Like he feels the game out, right? He's basically hoping somebody else does the heavy lifting early. He's conserving energy. So when Anthony Davis can't hit shots and LeBron's sort of working his way into a game and it's like, oh, we trail by 15.

Okay. Like that's what the game became very quickly. Yeah, you put it perfectly. Every Laker fan saw this coming. This has been a, you know, this Lakers season has been such a bizarre journey, Colin, because everyone's going to focus on the fact that they've been really good since the deadline. And they have. And like, so good that they've deserved the attention that they've received in a way that they may not have deserved the attention they received in the previous year and a half.

It was more of just like everyone watching the ship crash and burn, you know. But there have been two really interesting stretches this season that I think are very, very under discussed, I should say, to get the Lakers where they were. There's a stretch where LeBron James missed extended time and Anthony Davis carried the team. Actually, two stretches like that, but the big one, the foot issue towards the end of the year. And then there was the stretch where Anthony Davis missed a ton of time

and LeBron James stepped in. And in each of those stretches, LeBron and AD, the one that was available, put forth incredibly desperate basketball playing at the absolute top of their games to drag the team to wins just to float things long enough until the trade deadline could.

happen or until LeBron James could return, right? And every single time there has been a return, they've collectively exhaled and they don't play well as the favorite, is basically what I'm saying. When LeBron James came back, they immediately lost to Chicago because they didn't think they had to play as hard as they did. They lost that desperation. And this game, textbook, they go out there in game one, they dominate that game. And it was, I heard a lot of people saying it wasn't as close as it looked. I agree. But did anybody think Memphis was winning game one or did it feel like the Lakers controlled it throughout. They controlled it throughout, right? But then after that game, they flipped from being a slight underdog in the series to being a slight favorite in the series. Then John Morant's out,

and LeBron James and Anthony Davis are two players that like to do the absolute bare minimum to win basketball games. They tried that tonight, and that's a young scrappy Memphis team. That's always played super well at home. They played super physical and really bothered the Lakers particularly around the rim, and they got a big win. Well, the other thing is they're a better defensive team, Memphis is, when Jaws not on the floor. And the ball moves better. And I've said this before. I said it today on FS1. I said flashy point guards are like sports cars.

They're not built for bad weather or a trip cross country. But God, they're fun. Really fun. Trey Young. I'll throw even Steph Curry in. Steph Curry. Trey Young, John Wall, John Morant, Derek Rose. They are players.

that get exposed defensively. They're usually a little, I mean, they're, they're all a little thin, a little light. Westbrook was more stocky. But again, he plays defense when he feels like it. But when you get these John Morant type players is they're exhilarating and you, ball movement slows down. You kind of stare. You kind of watch Derek Rose perform, watch John Wall.

And they're not great. They give you so much energy on the offensive end. They don't give you a ton on the defensive. in. Now, Steph Curry and the Warriors, they've built the team, Dram on Clay when he was a great defender. They bring in Gary Payton. They see his weaknesses and they build around him. But when I watch Memphis, and I've seen this now three years, Tyos Jones plays better defense. I've seen this the last, you know, 10 times that he's played. They're a better defensive team. He's not a great score, but the forwards and the wings move the ball really, really, really well. And by the way,

I remember John Wall years ago, missing games for the Wizards that they won like nine or 10 straight. It doesn't mean walls not great. But, you know, everybody then feels like when the flashy point guards out, hey, I'm going to get touches tonight. Like, I'm going to be included in this game plan. And you really want to play well showing the coaches, okay, when the guy comes back, I want touches. And I think Memphis tonight played a lot of energy, moved it really, really well.

Everybody, just the ball moves better. And it's not a knock on John Morant. He's exhilarating. But I see this sometimes even with the Warriors. Like sometimes if Draymond's not set in screens, it's a lot of guys watching Steph do his, you know, Harlem Globetrotter ball movement flying around. And I just,

I looked at Memphis tonight and I'm like, they're a good team without jaw. They're a different team, but they're a good team without him. The way you broke it down is perfect. Like it's, there's a, there's a baseline kind of like fundamental list of things

that if you do well as a basketball team, you have a chance to win no matter what. Right? Like even without a top-tier superstar, if you can protect the rim really well, if you compete really hard in all of the effort and energy parts of the game, like sliding your feet defensively on the perimeter, beating guys to the rim on help situations, crashing the offensive glass, crashing the defensive glass, just by playing super hard and having a couple of baseline pieces that you need, you can win in the NBA, especially since a lot of these NBA players are good. We spent a lot of time talking about role players and the shortcomings, but a lot of these guys were all conference dudes in college and guys who average 25, 30 points a game in high school. So if you give them closeout situations, even against good NBA defenses, they're going to be able to score.

And so if you don't guard the ball and you give up dribble penetration, and guys are attacking closeouts all night long, they're going to score. That's why, like, honestly, from a schematic standpoint, watching this game, I remain extremely confident that the Lakers are going to win the series. The only thing that really stood out to me schematically, was the Jared Vanderbilt problem. And it's not, it's twofold. Half of it is Jared Vanderbilt and the fact that he's such a non-threat

offensively that Memphis can stick Jared Jackson on him and just muck everything up underneath the basket. But the flip side of it is Rui Hachamura is ascending in front of us. This is something that has, we've seen the 220 point point game, the 220 plus point games in this series, but it actually extends backwards a few weeks now. His initial tenure with the Lakers went a little bit rough. He got moved to the bench after the trade. But Phil Handy's been working with him relentlessly before games

and in practice on polishing up some things in his skill set. He's been working with Darwin Ham really hard to find little areas of the game where he can impact the game defensively. He's become kind of a sneaky, solid help defender under the rim, blocking shots, grabbing contested rebounds. He's big. He's big. He's huge.

They're going to slide him into that starting lineup at some point in this playoff run, maybe even in game three of this series. And I think they're going to cut way back on Jared Vanderbilt's minutes. That was really the only schematic thing that bothered me or concerned me, I should say, about the Lakers. Yeah, but I will say they didn't play well, started slow, we're on the road, AD didn't give you much offensively. And they were in the game with two minutes to go. You know, I mean, when the Knicks play poorly, they get rolled. Miami, not even Janus on the Florida nights, getting rolled.

Lakers were on the road without or with John Morant. Memphis is a very upper echelon team, and they competed. And they really didn't play their best basketball. It was like, since the trade, I think they're a much more competitive team. I think they have more options. Like I watched the night and I thought, very early, it's like, it's not going to be their night. It's not going to be their night. But they competed.

They hung in the game. You know, it wasn't a blowout. They were, you know, there was a little brief moment with about four and a half, five left. You're like, oh, okay, we got to, it's six. So my takeaway is go back home, win both games. Jaws not going to be playing much in this series. And the faster you can close it out, the better, because this is, this is. LeBron James is old, and you can see it.

Like, he can't go seven-game series, or they'll pay for it next series. Yeah, I think the way you broke it down is perfect. Like, there's a competitiveness that you'd like to see when a team loses that shows them that they're just a victim of, victim's not even the right word, but just shows them that this is a natural ebb-in-flow in the series. From the point that the Grizzlies went up 66 to 46, they were up 20. This was the early third quarter.

I thought the Lakers really controlled the rest of that game. They just were a little bit too far away, especially with DeAngel Russell being incapable of making a shot. Anthony Davis was missing everything around the basket. They just didn't quite have the offensive firepower tonight to make up for the hole that they dug themselves. But once they locked in defensively in that second half, they got plenty of stops. Now, the problem is, and you just said this, and this is so important, this particular

Lakers team, rest is going to be key for them. And ending this series quickly is so. important because there will be long series ahead. The next series against Sacramento or Golden State, probably a longer series because the Lakers struggle with transition defense and the way that they run their coverage is going to leave some things open for the King's Guards and the Warriors Guards. In the conference finals against a team like Phoenix or the Clippers or Denver, they're going to be in for a long series. Whoever comes out of the West or East, that's a six or seven game series. So if they could buy little tiny chunks of like three or four days off here or there for

LeBron and Anthony Davis to rest. Huge. Ending this series in five would go a long way towards that. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all,

embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliford Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for Raw, Untiefer. filtered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations,

stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do a little Kim?

Well, you can find out on the Look Back at a podcast. I'm Sam Jette. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what? went down and tried to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the AIDS. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so y'all know.

I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack, so I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now, so. Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

So, Colin, everyone was accusing us of backing up our volume guy, which I think is ridiculous because it's just, I don't know what's gotten into everybody, Colin, because I feel like this is the most reasonable opinion in the world and everyone's, everyone's calling me immoral. You know how it goes. but I could see the case for the, I could see the case for the ejection. Now, I disagreed with it, but I could see the case. And the case was, Draymond's history. Fair. I thought the decision to suspend him was completely outrageous. Where did you land on that? The reality is if I went up and punched you and you punched me back and you knocked me out

and I just grazed you, you could say, well, he started it. And that's a real defense. If you broke into my house and I shot you and you had a terrible injury and maybe I didn't need to be as violent against you, I would say he broke into my house, right? Sabonis got a technical and initiated the circus. Draymond pulling out then added to it. But that's a real defense, which is, you know, he swung first or he broke in or he. He grabbed my leg. So to me, that's not why they threw him out for the next game.

I believe at my core because Subonis A started it and played the remaining seven and a half minutes. He was fine. And, you know, again, if there would have been an injury, then there's a different component. But I think, and I don't blame Adam Silver for this. Deep in the DNA of the NBA, the malice at the palace was their darkest moment. And when Draymond got up as a road player and started taunting the crowd and Adam Silver's in the building, I think that's a non-starter. If you're at Chase Center, it's different. But if you're on the road, Adam's there.

He hears those fans. He sees the double birds. He's like, no way. We're not going there. That even though I defended the players in Malice of the Palace. because if you went back and looked at the people and the fans involved, many of them had criminal records. They were just there to be trouble. I defended run our test.

I defended the players because I would have been terrified to be in an arena, an opposing arena. But it does matter what arena it is. You can't do that on the road in a hostile playoff environment. Jason, you just can't do it. You know, there's the old saying, you can't yell fire in a crowded theater. You can't. So I think Silver being there, because you know, when Draymond's doing that, Adam's hearing those fans. And he's seeing those double birds.

And he's like, I'm not going there. Repercussions. And again, Draymond's a veteran. He's not a rookie. Like you could see a rookie losing their shit. I mean, seriously, a 19-year-old kid gets worked up. This is a wise NBA sage. You know, Draymond's been of these wars forever.

So I think it's like resume, road, inciting, because I'm with you. If you do something first, you do have a right. A cheap shot to me, you do have a right to cheap shot back. And that would have easily been two technicals keep playing. But that crowd and that even somebody said it today on my show, I forget who it was. But it may have been Sam Amman. He just said, you know, if he just run through the tunnel, it would have felt different. Just, I'm out, out.

It was like 90 seconds of, come on, you want a piece of me? I didn't like it. Well, there are things that are debatable about this and there are things that are not debatable. Like the debatable side of it is, should he have been suspended? Sure, you know, like we can go back and forth about that. Here's what's not debatable. Draymond brought this on himself and his team. That goes, like, regardless of what the decision-making process was.

the risk was willingly took on by Draymond with this behavior. And especially what you're talking about after the timeout. Because again, and I think it's a complicated topic. And I know you've talked about this a little bit on your show early. But like the dynamic between the fans and players is super complicated because like you're heated. You're super competitive and you're riled up. And now some dudes saying some wildly disrespectful stuff to you like 20 feet away. And there's really like this barrier between you that extends beyond the.

distance. It's also like Adam Silver standing there between you because it could literally mess up your entire season and everything that you and your team are trying to build towards. But again, like there's a difference between, like, I think I personally would not have suspended him. That said, that's a debate. That's a fair debate. There's no question that Dremont brought it on himself, at least, at least through his decision-making process and knowing what kind of history he had. Now, with this series gets really interesting from here. I don't think it's over calling, and I'm still pretty confident that Golden State's going to win. I know it sounds crazy, but a couple of different things. They kind of started to figure out some stuff in game two that I

believe might have led them to a victory had Draymond been able to stay in the game. When Andrew Wiggins is on the floor and when Gary Payton is on the floor, they have straightforward matchups for Fox and Monk, and they are actually doing a decent job containing him there. Then they have to go to pick and roll to get rid of the on-ball defender, and Draymond is blowing all of that stuff up as the screen defender. At the end of the game, they had to go to Looney, and then they went to pick and roll, and Looney couldn't stop anybody at the rim. So that ended up being the problem. But functionally from the lineup, you can kind of see the two teams finding their five that works. The Kings are going with Davion Mitchell, because he can guard Steph credibly, right? And then they're going with

Malik Monk and Deer and Fox with Harrison Barnes and DeMontos. With the Warriors, It's Draymond with Andrew Wiggins, and then Gary Payton, Stefan, Clay. That's where they've got their lineups that are working. That's where these two teams are going to go down with the ship. If the Warriors can survive game three, which is totally possible with how well they play in front of their home crowd, even without Dremont, especially against the King's team that can not be overly physical sometimes. If they can survive game three, Dremon comes back for game four. I believe they will win that game.

on the road in game five, as long as they can stay in it long enough to get to their core lineup at the end. I think they have a really good chance to win this series. As bad as Golden State was on the road in Sacramento, expect Sacramento to look just as bad in Golden State, in my opinion. Well, what I worry about without Draymond, he's a great passer on the offensive end.

He's also a great screen setter. And he's, he, now they have plenty of smart players, but he does add an intellect. He's just got a real good sense. I mean, it's all this sort of, intellectual bandwidth, the Celtics play with. When you got four guys who were on the floor for six years, like the Celtics passing is excellent.

Whereas Atlanta's got a new GM, a new coach, a new system. I mean, it's just a bunch of new parts. And I think, I think when I watch the Warriors with Dremont, Steph,

Clay on the floor, man, there are times. It's just they can really read each other's minds. And that's the kind of capital that load management eats a way out. It's what, I mean, we've talked about.

this. It's why the clippers sometimes and a half-court set are painful to watch. There's no play together. So I, if they can get through this game, I agree with you. But man, sometimes without Draymond, the passing's not as crisp, the ball movement's not quite as good. You know, Clay's not a great ball handler, and now he's not a great defender. So you get two different versions of Clay. There's catch and shoot and he's hot at home, Clay. Great. And then there's on the road, struggling,

handling the ball, guys blowing by him. You used to kind of know with Clay that if he wasn't on, you got a great defender. Now when he's not on, you get a sometimes a suboptimal ball handler and defender.

So his game doesn't necessarily, you'd think because he's a catching and a shoot guy, his game would age well, but he's got to play better. He and Jordan Poole have got to help Steph. Jordan Poole's been awesome. awful in the series.

Awful. I agree. The Draymond thing is certainly a threat. And this is where I fundamentally disagree with the suspension. Like, make the Kings go earn the damn series. Make them go beat Golden State in Golden State. Make them beat them with Draymond. Like, especially on, like, especially, I'm getting on my soapbox again.

I didn't like that suspension at all. Like, because now if the Kings win the series, it's going to feel a little cheap. But it is what it is. You know, Jason, I've always felt I will always. give an athlete a pass in the moment. Tom Brady yelling at a coach. Peyton Manning barking, I'll always give an athlete.

They can leave their body. It's an out of body experience emotionally. I mean, your testosterone's going. You've been put. So the Draymond kick, it's like, I get it. That's his style.

He's the bouncer at the nightclub. He's a tough guy. It's the, okay, I've been ejected. Now I'm going to go and taunt the crowd. Come on, you're a mid-30-year-old player.

Like, like I have a right to be mad if I'm on the air and somebody doesn't roll the tape and I'm barking. But three minutes later, I've got to go, okay, we have a show to do. Take a deep breath. Get over yourself. Let's do the show. So that part, I'll defend Draymond on the moment.

Guy grabs your foot, you stomp him back. I'll defend him forever on that. But you got to know better as a 34 to 35 year old guy on the road to get that crowd riled up. Like, that's just not the play. I can't argue with anything you're saying, Colin. So I'm going to change my take. as a basketball fan, I'm annoyed that Dremont's not playing in game three. How about that?

Right. We'll just go with that. So I do still think, I think that if the Warriors can survive the Dremont suspension in game three, I think they still have a very good chance to win the series. So Clippers versus Sons, this is the series that I have been most wrong about in my pre-playoffs previews. I expected the Clippers to get swept. They very much did not as they went into Phoenix and stole game one. You know what's interesting about this series, Colin? The numbers coming out of the, like, kind of shot profile stuff does not look good for Phoenix.

This is wild. So the Sons have attempted just 17 shots, or excuse me, 19 shots in the restricted area in this series. And the Clippers have attempted 37. So like, almost double. And then in wide open threes, which by MBA.com is factored in as Defender at least. least six foot, six feet away. The clippers have also generated about twice as many as the Suns. The reason why the Suns won game two is what's the other shot that's available? So if you're not scoring at the rim and you're not making these kickout threes to guys that are wide open,

it's contested pull-up off-the-dribal long jump shots in the mid-range, right? What's crazy is the sun's shot 35% in effective field goal percentage on pull-up jump shots in game one, and they lost. They shot 61% effective field goal percentage on pull-up jump shots off the dribble in game two, and they won. And so everything for me for the Sons comes down to can they continue to knock down these tough, contested pull-up jump shots? And I'm just not, I believe they'll make enough to beat the Clippers, but I, after two games, feel less confident than ever that the Sons can get out of the conference because they're just not generating enough easy shots. Well, I feel these are opposite teams. The Clippers have depth but are missing a star. The Suns have stars and are missing depth.

And when they made the move to get KD, you had to give up McAil Bridges. That was the gem. But they gave up two other players. And one of those players had 28 the other night for Brooklyn against Philadelphia. And when I watched the Suns, I feel I said this on TV today. They're a guy shy. If I just said Norman Powell's on the Sons, I'm like, okay, they're a finals team. I almost think they're tentative defensively because they know they can't get into foul trouble.

Chris Paul's backup is hurt. And he may not play in game three. Booker doesn't really have a backup. They don't really have backups for their stars. And it almost makes them a little tentative defensively. Whereas the Clippers have depth play really hard defensive. Westbrook gets in foul trouble. You can throw in man, Norman Powell.

They've got depth. So I think it makes them play a little more tentative defensively. Monty Williams knows that. We can't go to the bench early. We just can't. And the other thing is Chris Paul's the one guy that needs a break. And until his backup comes in, who's been out, now he may play in game three.

But I think that's a big thing. Like Chris at this point in his career needs a spell. And so when I've been watching Chris Paul in the second half, his jumpers are short. He's just stuff that went in three years ago is just not there. And it's, I mean, it was the other night, he missed a couple, seven, eight photos. I'm like, that was a 70% shot three years ago. Like, just Chris didn't miss those.

So I feel like, I feel like to get Kevin Durant, they had to give away a bunch of picks and three dudes. If they give away two, they could be more. aggressive on the defensive end. You could rest guys. I mean, they're going to have to play Durant and Booker. They're going to have to play them 40 minutes. That's who they are now. That's who they are. Yeah, I said this before the playoffs, and I still feel very strongly about this. Like, I have no idea what's going to happen with this son's team. But I do know what's going to happen this summer. They're going to sign somebody. And it's going to be like, hey, listen, do you want to be the starting forward, like guaranteed starting spot alongside Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Chris, Paul Deontrayton.

They're going to be able to pitch that position like that using the mid-level exception or whatever contract they decide to offer. And they are going to get some massively underpaid forward that can play on both ends of the floor that wants to just go win a championship next to the two of them. They're going to get two or three more veteran minimum contracts that kind of follow a similar mold. And they're going to be awesome next year. I feel very strongly about that. This team is kind of playing with house money a little bit, because I think the expectations are a little lower on them because of that. The minutes thing is complicated because I'm less concerned about it on the offensive end because workload matters. Like splitting a heavy duty shot creation workload between

just Kyrie and LeBron, that can get a little fatiguing and you need an otherworldly athlete like LeBron to survive that. But like all of a sudden, you throw a third guy in there and it's like their hand they're splitting those duties three ways. It becomes a little more intuble. The defensive end is where you hit the nail on the head. You can't win a title in the NBA without playing elite defense. You can't play elite defense without committing to devote physical resources to it. And when you devote physical resources to it to the tune of 44 minutes a night, one of two things is going to happen. They're either going to not devote the necessary physical resources to it and coast and not reach the defensive seal.

they need to reach, or they're going to pour in the necessary effort for 44 minutes to get stops, and they're going to suffer on the offensive end when they're fatigued. So, like, that's where it gets difficult. And I don't really have a good answer for them. Kevin Durant famously said this after they lost to the bucks in that crazy game seven, the one where he took his toe was on the line. I don't know if you remember the turnaround jumper. He said this after the series.

He goes, everyone thinks if I was one inch further back, we would have won the championship. He's like, that was the second round. He's like, he's like, we had, he was like, James Hardin was playing on a bad hamstring. Kyrie was completely unavailable. I had to create every single shot. He's like, we weren't winning the title that year. Like, it's just too much to ask a guy to do that that much without any depth behind him. Yeah, I think if they get, is it, Payne, the backup to Chris Paul, I think if they get him back,

I think that helps, you know, like, there's like, I don't know what he plays, 18 minutes, 16 minutes, that helps a little bit. But to your point, they'll get a couple of mid-level exemptions, and they'll get a couple of veterans that want to win. You know, like the heat did when they went and grabbed like Ray Allen. You'll get a guy like that that's like, man, I just want a title when David West came to the Warriors. There's a guy out there that can give you like 12 really good minutes in the postseason.

Jay Crowder's bounced around and become kind of like that guy at the end of his career. And Jay Crowder got moved in that Brooklyn deal. So it's like, you know, McHale Bridges, yes. and then you start moving a couple other pieces. And you look up and it's like, oh, Cam Johnson dropped almost 30 against Philly. And you're like, they need that so bad. But, you know, interestingly, here's Denver playing tonight and nobody's watching. And we're all just like, oh, God.

And it's funny because the NBA knows by putting them on late at night, they're not going to get East Coast viewers. And I said, Denver reminds me of the Milwaukee team before they won a title. And NBA, they got on the noon NBA TV game during the beach. during the bubble. It's like the league's like, where can we hide them? And I feel like the NBA is doing the same with Denver. They're like, yeah, we know they're good.

Let's just wait until they play like the Warriors or Sun so we can get any audience. But I think they're like that Milwaukee team. They're kind of sitting in the weeds a little bit. Nobody believes in them. A lot of depth. They're winning in routes. You know, Denver may just come out of this thing after all.

They might. I mean, I will say in our defense, these top seeds, the one and two versus seven and eight matchups, with exception of the Lakers Grizzlies, have been so boring. And that Philly Net series has been really boring. That said, I think we'll all be rewarded in the second round. Because Denver versus Phoenix, you know, whoever comes out of those two Lakers Warrior series,

the Sixers versus Celtics is going to be an all-timer. I think whoever comes out of this next series. Oh, that'll be great. Yeah, whoever comes out of this next series will be an interesting challenge for Milwaukee. I do want, before we get out of here, I wanted to point out two things that I find very interesting, one of which, Colin, I think you might find interesting. The Kevin, Kawhi Leonard has soundly outplayed KD through two games. Now, it's not over, and Kevin Durant very well, I expect Kevin Durant to play better, and I expect the Sons to win this series.

But I think it's been a really interesting indicator of the way playoff basketball changes. And one of the biggest things that I've noticed over the last couple of years, and I wonder if you've noticed the same, thing. Strength seems to matter so much on this stage for two reasons. It's what allows you to play through uncalled fouls, which are occurring on every single possession in the NBA playoffs, like hand checking, grabbing, holding, chucking, all that stuff, playing through that requires strength. And then it allows you to inflict uncalled offensive fouls, you know, by using your off arm and bumping people off with your shoulder and things along those lines. Kauai Leonard is getting wherever he wants on the floor in this series.

And it's because he's throwing these dudes around like rag dolls. And KD, he's incredibly skilled and he's going to make shots. He made shots in game two. I expect him to make shots the rest of the series. I think KD's a better player than Kauai. But it's so interesting to me that Kauai's been more impactful so far through two games, and I think that strength plays a huge role in it. Kauai is a big time old school player.

I said this years ago and I believe it. And I haven't heard anybody else say it. So I'll give myself credit. I said if you'd never seen Michael Jordan play, people say, well, it was Kobe Bryant. And I'd be like, no, it's not. Kobe plus Kauai Leonard is Michael Jordan. Because Kobe wasn't as strong as Michael.

Like, if you look at the size of LeBron's hands and Kauai's hands, and Kauai's hands. Kobe doesn't have that. Kauai is country strong. You know, Mike, Mike North Carolina strong. You know, like,

well, you work on your own car, right? Like, that's different. Like, Kobe grows up in Italy. It's Kauai Leonard. If you gave Kobe Kauai Leonard's

hand size and strength, that's Michael Jordan. That's what Michael always had. Now, Kobe always had better range than Michael. And a better ball handler, I think. And I think he, Kobe could have been a great passer,

but he shot. But Kobe never had Michael's raw strength or his hand size to be able to palm the ball in the air. And I think if you gave, if you gave Kauai a little better ball handling skills and a little better range on his jumper,

a little quicker, slightly twitchier, he's Kobe. He's not as twitchy as Kobe without the range. And Kobe's not as strong with a hand size as Kauai. But Kauai is, I mean, I would have loved. Kauai is the kind of guy that if Kauai would have guarded Michael Jordan in his prime, Michael would have been like, yeah, that's a dog.

Because Michael, you know, Kauai is like a little bit like Ron Harper, where, because Ron on the Bulls became kind of a third, fourth score. Ron was a great score in Cleveland with the Clippers. Ron didn't have sort of that quite the hand size of Kauai. But Michael always respected Ron Harper because he knew he basically came, he gave up his offense to be Michael's partner, right, and be a defensive guy. I said a few years ago, and I believed it then Kauai sort of disappeared. Kauai four years ago in the NBA was the best, get a bucket, get a stop guy in the league.

If you just said, I just, I need a, I don't need a three. I need a bucket. about four years ago, I thought he was as good as the league had. I need a stop. I definitely felt he was the best in the league. So the only reason we've all kind of sold some stock on Kauai is just not available. It's not because his game's not great. Well, same thing with Anthony Davis.

Like we conflate these two issues, but like you don't judge a player by a ceiling. You judge him by his total contributions to your team throughout the entire NBA calendar. And that's where the issue has been. defensively, I think he's been every bit as good as he's ever been in this series. You can tell he's taking it personally. I want to, the last guy I want to shout out, and then we can get out of here. And I don't want to go through the whole, like, fit is part of it. There's no doubt that fit is part of it.

The Lakers fit was clunky. That goes without saying the Clippers fit is much more natural. But Russell Westbrook's commitment to the effort and energy plays in this game, his point of attack defense on both Kevin Durant and Devin Booker and what he's been doing on the glass. Here's the thing. It's for no reason other than he's finally devoting his entire effort and focus to it, which good for him. But that's why it's finally working out. That said, this is what all Laker fans were screaming for when he was in L.A. If he could have just done this, if he could have devoted his resources to the defensive end of the floor, trying to erase a player

from the game with his point of attack defense, push the pace and just make plays for his teammates and rein in his decision making. He could be this massive positive, player for the Lakers, and it just never happened because he didn't want to devote his resources towards those things. That said, as a basketball fan, it has been so much fun watching him in this series and watching him impact winning. I don't know if he saw that play where he tried to deflect the post-entry pass to KD, and he kind of got out of position. And KD took like two dribbles to the foul line. And Rush just went flying in off one like it just like a humiliating defensive play from Russell Westbrook. Like that's, he's always been capable of that. He could

have been the best defensive guard in the history of the league if he wanted to. It just because he's that type of athlete. It just, it's partially impressive to watch him in the series and partially disappointing that it took so long to see it. But shout out to Russell Westbrook. Well, when he first came to the Lakers, and I remember this during the summer, I said, I don't love him as a player, but with LeBron's age and the brittleness of AD, he'll give you 29 minutes of terror a night.

He'll just give you a production. He plays downhill. And for some reason, he was just an awful defensive player for the Lakers, totally disengaged with Darvin Ham. It's almost like Darwin pissed him off, asked him to play a certain role, and he's like, I'm out. And then Ty Loo, who was, you know, Ties confrontational is like, bro, you got to play defense here. And then he just said, okay, I'm going to play defense. Because for the Lakers, I mean, he just didn't want to play defensive. defense and you're like he's such a great athlete but i watch them the internet he's completely

disruptive he's like the guy in the ymca you don't want guarding you it's like dude you're sweating all over me he's in your grill you're just like he's just unconventional and he's just going a thousand miles an hour that's like oh those guys i mean oh god it's just relentless and kd's just you know patrick beverly did that before a couple years ago patrick beverly got into Remember when KD was a warrior and Patrick Beverly, the first couple of games just like, and KD's like, you know who I am, you know who I am.

Then he came out and averaged 41 for the rest of the series. But you can get in KD for a game or two and you can get him out of his rhythm. He'll come back and be fine. Oh yeah. For the record, everything I said, Kauai's been great, Russ has been great. KD. is the best player in the series. He's going to close the deal.

The volume. Make sure to check out the Dremon Green show. I brought Dremon Green into the volume because one of the more entertaining voices in sports, unique perspective, understands behind the rope, also chops up with guests like Gary Payton, Zach Levine, Tracy McGrady. Make sure download the Draymond Green Show wherever you get your podcast, only on the volume podcast network. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite, unhumor me with Robert Smygle

and friends, me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman, make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and headwriter, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. Eighty-four is big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick you here,

unpack what went down and try to make sense of how we survived it with our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. It was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast.

Guaranteed human.