The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd Podcast - Steph Sensational As Warriors Steal Game 1, Lakers Lay An Egg, Nuggets/Clippers Is “Grown Up” Basketball

Episode Date: April 21, 2025

Colin’s joined by Jason Timpf, host of “Hoops Tonight” to break down all the NBA playoff action. They start with the Warriors stealing game one on the road from the Rockets, and why their playoff experience was able to negate the Rockets athletic advantage (4:00). They break down why this was one of Steph Curry’s most impressive playoff performances (8:30), why Steve Kerr is incredible at finding the right “winning” players to surround their stars (11:30) and why Jimmy Butler is the perfect “get a bucket” guy they needed (13:30). They pivot to the Lakers laying an egg in game 1 against the Timberwolves and Colin criticizes LeBron, Luka and co for their lack of intensity and energy (25:30). They give kudos to the Wolves for throwing a great opening round punch, and contrast Ant Edwards improvement to Ja Morant’s regression (31:00). They move on to the Nuggets and why Denver’s reliance on Jokic to run the entire offense hamstrings his ability to be effective on defense, and Jason emphasizes why the Nuggets don’t have a choice to do it any other way (34:15). They point out the issues with the Clippers disjointed playmaking (36:15) and give credit to Russell Westbrook for the energy he brings to the floor(38:45) Colin highlights all the seasoned veterans on both squads and why it’s going to make for an incredible, physical series (48:00)! Finally, they predict a couple series sweeps (56:00), Colin offers some optimism about the Orlando Magic, and looks at a Houston/Kevin Durant pairing as a potential match made in heaven (1:00:30). (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.) ‘THE GRUDGE with Will Compton’ airs Wednesdays at 10 PM ET — only on VICE TV. Find your channel here: https://www.vicetv.com/en_us/channel-finder Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates!  #Volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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That's the Warriors. The other is big, long athletic and struggles. sometimes when you take away the transition baskets for the rockets and you take their athleticism and you mute it to some degree in the playoffs because you're not going to get freebies. You know, you'll get them on a Tuesday night in Orlando. You're not getting them against a veteran NBA playoff team. The Warriors played really good defense and Houston couldn't shoot. So I know what the series is.

Youth and experience athletic ability length against this old veteran team that's incredibly well coached with Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler. But I've got to be honest, they showed a stat at the end of the year where Jalen Green wasn't scoring. And Jalen Green's fascinating. He's almost a case study for me. So I think everybody should go to college, at least for a year, probably too. But he goes to the G League.

I watch his game. He can't play pure point, can't really shoot, super athletic and long. But sometimes you kind of leans on that athletic ability around the basket and puts up wild shots was invisible in this game. I mean, he was just invisible. And they have more than enough size and athletic ability. And I'm looking at this guy's career. He's obviously a absolutely dynamic player.

But I feel like when I watched him tonight, it's like, okay, in playoff basketball, you have to sort of define your offense. You just can't come down and wing it, right? You can't just have, you see this in college basketball, Jason, all the time, where you just have lost possessions. In college, you'll have eight or nine in a row. And I felt a lot of. of times, I didn't know what Houston was doing in the half court set when you took away

the transition baskets. Yeah, that's half the battle. You've got to have a pet action or preferably multiple pet actions that you trust to at least either get you a good shot or get a close out for somebody so you can start the tick-tac-toe of trying to break a defense down. And honestly, I'm glad you love to Jalen Green because I thought that was the difference in tonight's game. This has been a recurring theme for the rockets throughout the season. It kind of, of stems around Fred and Jalen. When the two of them are both great, they're basically impossible to beat.

When one of them is great, they almost always win. As a matter of fact, one of the craziest stats I encountered as I was prepping for the series, is that when Jalen Green scores at least 30 points, the Rockets worth 13 and won this season. Like, they just win when they get scoring. So first of all, we should take that little note and just file it away

in case the Rockets get Kevin Durant this summer. Yeah. Because that's where it could get really scary is if they have that reliable type of scoring. But Jalen, as you put, is just so inconsistent. He's just as likely to go for seven points in a game and be mostly ineffective as he is to be effective. As a matter of fact, it kind of comes down to,

he's very athletic getting to the basket, and he's a very capable pull-up shooter. But if those two things aren't going, it's going to be a lot of him forcing the action. Yes. It's looking really ugly. Honestly, Udoca has bailed on him often this year. Yeah.

And I wouldn't be surprised. if he bails on him over the course of the series if you can't show more. If you and I talked, if you and I, you know, it's the close your eyes test. Jordan, Kobe, Bird, Yokic, LeBron. Take great offensive players.

I'll go back to my day of George Gervyn, Alex English. When you think of really profound scores, you can close your eyes and you can picture their best move. There's certain stock foundational. moves Michael went to. He had about four. And, you know, it's just like he could get 26 in his sleep. Kobe was more creative with fewer stock moves. He was more creative than Michael with better range. But there were certain things Kobe liked to do. Jalen Green's athletic. Like, I feel like he has to develop two or three foundational moves that he just uses. And it's not a knock. Steph,

Chris Paul. I mean, like Chris Paul has just that behind the back, the leg, you know, right angle of the free throw line. I can close my eyes and see it in my sleep. He scored 8,000 points on one move. And I just feel like with Jalen Green, I'm like, bro, it's not, you got to get past athletic ability. Like you have to create some absolute guarantees. The other thing here, listen, offensive rebounding, Houston's going to dominate. They're so damn big. I thought down the stretch, the Warriors, offensive rebounding, they were just getting second looks. A lot of it was effort. down the stretch. I thought Houston looked like a beaten team with about four to five minutes left.

I thought Golden State, the old guys outworked them. Yeah, it was super interesting to see the flow of the game as Steph. We've talked about how Jalen and Fred weren't producing anything on offense. So that that was really the difference. Like you get 17 combined points on 34 shots from Fred and Jalen. So literally a half of a point of shot, right? On the other side, you get 31 from Steph on 19 shots. And just, I thought Steph was absolutely amazing tonight. I thought I'd have to really think and start ranking. But when you factor in the degree of difficulty,

that was one of his more impressive playoff games that I've watched. He was really special. He was smothered all over the place and he kept making it work. But like honestly, to bring it back to Jalen Green, like what I thought was fascinating was Steph found Jalen to be his favorite target on the other end. That's really the issue with Jalen is that when he doesn't have anything going offensively, he's a weak defensive player when he should be better for being a great athlete.

And then on offense, he doesn't have the read and react game to make up for it. But it was funny seeing the flow of the game. Steph is carrying the offense there, but you see Houston just slowly chip away. And there's nothing else going for Golden State. But ironically, it was everybody else in the starting lineup that kind of stepped up down the stretch. I thought Pods was fantastic. Yes. Yes. I thought Moody was fantastic. Moody hit two massive jump shots. That step back at the end of the shot clock, that little Midranger, that was a big shot. The huge shot he hit in the left corner right after Fred Van Vleet hit his shot. They just had a response for everything. Jimmy Butler did some beautiful matchup

attacking down the stretch. They were brilliant defensively. You saw a really cohesive warrior starting unit down the stretch. And honestly, if there's one thing to take away from the Jimmy Butler trade, it really just lined up their best five perfectly. They know who their five is and it just crystallized all of that. It ended up working out. I actually thought it was interesting that they didn't try Cominga tonight, especially considering how poorly they were rebounding for stretches. But at the same time, you got steady mistake-free basketball down the roster, which I think is what Steve Kerr was shooting for to avoid Houston getting out in transition. I mean, you could argue if you combine these two rosters, the most athletic guys are Jalen Green, Amon Thompson,

and Jonathan Cominga. None of them did anything tonight because, I mean, seriously, Jason, because that's playoff basketball. You don't get the easy transition back. You're going to play the same team over and over. You get the best coaches. So you don't get cheap points, which, listen, we've always known this. They were talking about this on the broadcast tonight is that they're not going to blow the whistle. It gets very physical. I mean, you could see the warriors late in the game, pushy, chippy.

And the three most athletic guys in these two, you could argue the three most athletic guys didn't do anything tonight. I did think Pods, you know, again, he's not a kid, played a couple years in college. Now, I think this is his second year in the NBA. So, you know, he's a classic example where, you know, he's not this five-star recruit who they rush through a G-League or rushes. And what does that mean? He really has a place. Pods really has a place in this offense from what I can see.

Yeah, I was talking with my buddy Samis Fondiari about this over the course. so last week because we've been amazed to just see over the years how often Steve Kerr has been right about who is a winning basketball player. Like for instance, like Ty Jerome, who was incredible today for the Cavs. Like that was a guy that Steve Kerr had a lot of trust in. Brandon Pajamsky, there were some downs, Colin, over the last couple of years where Warriors fans really wanted to bail on Brandon Pajemski and Steve Kerr just never gave up on him because he believed in him as a winning player. The reverse happened with Kaminga. There were stretches where there was a stretch last year.

It was like a half dozen games in a rover. Camingo went for 20 plus. And it was like, oh, man, we might have a future All-Star on our hands. But Steve Kerr saw through it and was like, there's not a lot of replicable winning basketball that I'm getting out of this. There's just so much,

there's so much emphasis in that organization on bringing in like the right types of dudes. And like, Pods, the way he impacted winning down the stretch was actually really fascinating because it wasn't through any sort of, you know, super talent based type of play. It was just smart basketball.

He beats a close out against Jabari Smith on the left wing, traps him on his backside, baits Stephen Adams into stepping up and throws a perfect bounce pass to Gary Payton, who gets the easy layup under the basket. The player Jimmy Butler got the put back, or I think it was Draymond actually got to put back. Pods didn't even get the putback. He just came flying in and hit the basketball, but he kept it alive long enough for it to pop right into Draymond's hands and to go into the basket. He just does the right thing every single time,

which creates an environment of factors that Steve Kerr can depend on, to elevate the situation for his stars to carry him over the top. I think they just always seem to find these guys, Colin. It's crazy. It's an organizational thing for them. Well, I was thinking about Jimmy Butler, who finished 42 minutes, 25 points, 42 minutes, fricking, and he plays both ends. And I was thinking about this watching Jimmy Butler is that he's a very intentional basketball player.

Like, you remember his points. And I always said this about Andrew Wiggins. Like, he'd score 26. I didn't remember a bucket. And, like, Jimmy Butler can score 16. I remember all of them. You know, it's like he's just an intentional player. And there were a couple of times tonight where, you know, they were in the control of the game.

I mean, this, this, well, you could, after that, that second quarter of basketball is like, oh, Houston's in trouble. Like, they're, they're completely out of rhythm, which the Lakers were, we'll get to in a few minutes. But the difference is the Lakers, you, you kept thinking, oh, I've seen them in rhythm. They'll be good in the half court. They never were. Whereas with Houston, you're like, oh, this is. is a problem. Like they're just not. They're young, they're long. Jalen Green is lost and now he's a little panicky. But Butler, you know, this is where I love analytics, but sometimes I just need a bucket.

And there were about three to four times tonight with Jimmy Butler. And it's like, no, he's not going to shoot a three. He's just going to work a guy and give you that right angle, free throw line. He's And in playoff games, so much of it is the games are sold out. The crowds are lubricated and completely into it. This is not people arriving from work late on a Wednesday or Thursday. These are Saturday, Sunday games. Everybody is there. It's almost like tailgating in the lounge.

You go to your seat. They're loud. And those 10-point lead go down to four really fast. And Butler just ends. He just gets you. He's got that Kauai thing. It's not about three. Sometimes you just need a basket to quiet the crowd.

And when I watch him, I'm like, that's just playoff basketball. He's just, you know, he really senses, oh, shit, the crowd's back into it. This is a really big possession. And I think Draymond does that. And Steph feels that. And I saw the Warriors do that half a dozen times in the second half tonight. You could just sense, hey, guys, This is a huge possession, even though we leave by eight.

To your point, every single time Houston got it to four, got it to three, the warriors would go like stop bucket, stop bucket, and it would be back up to eight. Like they just, they always were able to regain control of the situation. You were talking about go-to moves earlier with Jalen Green. That is like Jimmy's patented go-to move, is the hard in and out dribble with the right hand to step back towards his right hand side. He added that back in Minnesota. and I remember that was the reason Philly traded for him. They were like, we need a guy to get us a bucket. And then like it was like the first or second game after he got traded there.

He hit a game winner on that exact same move off the right wing. That's Jimmy's go-to move is he can just do a hard in and out with that right hand to get some separation. And again, to your point, you practice that shot so much. And then when you end up in these situations where it's like you've got to create something out of nothing, it's great to have a staple, something that you can depend on that's going to give you a decent shot at knocking something down. And you talked about the three versus midrange thing. You know, when you get into a large sample, that extra point matters. Because you're, you know, over the course of 100 shots, if you get an extra point,

then, you know, that can make a huge difference, right? But at the end of a game, no one cares what your per 100 efficiency is. It's about that possession. You got to get a bucket on that possession. Yep. And if Jimmy can hit that step back at 50%, that's actually a better shot in that situation. then even like even a step three that's 39% right because there's a 61% chance that it's going to miss and so it's really nice to have a big forward for them that they can go to in those situations that can create a shot that has a little bit less variance closer to the basket so i picked um i think i picked the rockets in seven in this one and i don't want to overreact but there were just were things i saw tonight like ima duco will obviously i mean this is the playoffs the Lakers, obviously, you're going to get a much more physical, intense Laker team in game two.

But there are some things I'm not sure they're correctable. I think the Rocket staff has lost confidence in Jalen Green, and that's a problem. Nobody in L.A. has lost confidence in Austin Reeves because it didn't play particularly well. So, I mean, I don't know. I just watched that game tonight, and I'm like, man, Jalen Green is a non-factor and is a little bit wild now. and like he had a couple open looks in the second half. You're like, oh, no, he didn't want to shoot. Like, he doesn't trust this at all.

It's hard to snap out of that in a series. So I'm going to watch one more game, but I think I was on the wrong side of this. Do you still like the Warriors? I still like the Warriors. I want to say this, though, Colin. I think if you're a Rockets fan, you could be sitting here and saying

the guard battle could not have gone worse in our favor. like Fred and Jalen laid absolute stinkers. And Steph played like we talked about earlier, one of the better playoff games of his career. And it was a three point game with a few minutes left. And so there is a lot of potential for Steph to have a little bit more variance and have a poor shooting night for Jalen Green to have those great nights. I talked about him going 13 and 1.

He did that against a lot of good teams too. There were nights in the regular season where Houston played a good team. And Jalen was good and they won. So like there's a lot of variance. That's why I still think there's a good chance this series goes longer. Like it goes a solid six games. But yeah, it's just, it's really difficult for me to imagine a scenario where the rockets out execute the warriors in the half court or in the offense part of the part of their attack for four times in two weeks. Like it just seems too unlikely to me.

The NBA 82 game grind is done. Now the real fun begins. The NBA playoffs. Love them. They're here. Time for drama. Clutch moments. Steph Curry, LeBron, jaw-dropping plays, I can't wait.

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What's the news, Nick? news. We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast. Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how did we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. And we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas. brothers.

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to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. All right, the Lakers, let's talk about that, laid an egg. This was a pretty easy game to watch. I kept waiting for them to snap out of it. Timberwolves were much more physical, and they're a physical team. And you knew they were going to ugly it up.

That was, I mean, it was just like, guys, we're not winning artistic matchups with this team. We're not going to be pretty. And they have players who can play ugly. Nazreid, Julius Randall, Gobert. They can play that game. And I'll get to Ant in a second because I think he's really getting to be a really refined, really smart player. But I was really shocked by the lack of energy. energy. A little criticism to JJ Redick, I kept thinking, they played with a little bit more energy in the second half, I thought, for spurts. But, I mean, this was in football terminology, this was kind of a butt kicking, like physicality, intensity. I mean, Minnesota took it to the Lakers. They just were a much more energized team. And little surprised, the Lakers didn't shift into a

gear. I really never felt they were the more physical team. They didn't even fake it. Were you surprised by that? I was super surprised. This Lakers team has always had a little bit of a tendency to have, you know, inconsistent intensity from game to game. But I've always felt like championship teams know when it's time to go. And I would be lying to you if I'm not, if I said I wasn't super discouraged that like, you look at a team like okay C that is just like we're going to come out and we're going to embarrass Memphis today because this is step one of this two month long journey where we're trying to get the trophy and there were three teams I watched yesterday or I should say over the weekend that looks like really unprepared for playoff intensity and it was the bucks the

grizzlies and the Lakers they look just really unprepared for the intensity stretching even down to LeBron and Austin and so I want to start here I want to give credit to Minnesota I thought they threw an incredible punch yesterday. I thought Ant was super measured and didn't play into the game plan, making stupid forced decisions around the rim. He took the kickout opportunities that were there. Everyone defended Julius Randall did a wonderful job defending both Luca and LeBron. The Biggs did really good on switches against everybody but Luca.

I thought they, their spot up shooters shot really confidently from all over the floor. As things got tighter late, Julius Randall and Aunt both showed really high level. tough shot making. Yeah. Minnesota threw a great punch. But when I went to watch the film this morning, and for anybody listening, there's a film session on our YouTube channel that you guys can check out.

In that film session, I came away feeling a little better in the sense that there were just so many obvious things that the Lakers could do better. That said, I also think there's a version of this call in where the Lakers bring a more intense effort and it's not enough. And so that's what I'm really curious about with game two. I feel relatively certain that they're going to come out

on Tuesday ready to fight and they're going to be ready. And I'll have my eyes on that first quarter because if the Lakers come out and they control things and it's like here we go, this is our team. This is what we look like when we're engaged and we're better than these guys and we can show it. I'll feel better about kind of chalking up what happens Saturday night is a lack of intensity, a lack of being ready. But if it's half time, Colin and Minnesota's up by like three and LeBron and Austin are still struggling, that's where I'm going to be sitting there like the Lakers are in a world. of trouble because this is, as we saw in the Denver series last year, the Minnesota

physicality never lets up. It just keeps coming until the end of game seven. And you have to find a way to survive it. Yeah, I mean, listen, Denver didn't have a good first half. Boston didn't have a good first half. The Knicks did not have a good first half. Like, it happens where the favorite comes in or a team that's, you know, got a ring and Denver comes in. And, you know, the Clippers outplayed them and the Pistons outplayed the Knicks early in Orlando, you know, Ben Carroll's a great player. Yeah, just a great player. Now, he, by the way, has a couple of stock moves. Like, there are things he does consistently every time I watch him play. And half court, he's a really good player.

Also went to Duke, had great coaching, you know, briefly, but great coaching. But I just kept waiting for the Lakers. And let's throw this out there. Those are JJ Redick's first playoff coaching game. And Chris Finch is a veteran. And Chris Finch is a veteran. And Chris Finch is a really smart. guy. And I said this yesterday on my postgame that Minnesota is a highly functional and well-coached Memphis, where you've got a defensive presence at the rim, Zach Edie and Gobert. You have a hyper-athletic star in John Morant. And an aunt, aunt now is separated, I think, of the two players, much more mature. Then you have kind of a physicality with length. You have kind of a tough guy in Julius Randall. You know, Memphis has a couple of tough guys, Bain, you know, a physical presence. And the difference is Minnesota's more mature and they're better coached. And I think ants really become a refined player. Like, you know,

it was funny, they led by 11 at half. He had eight. And it was just like, I thought the word you used. He let the game come to him. He's a very measured player now. And it's like, and I think that's really hard. I think that's hard when you're in that, you know, you're in those prime early show off years where you can do a lot of things. Your energy is through the roof compared to half the guys, the veterans you play. And I think that comes down to a kid. Every time I watch Ant, every year, Jason, I see a better player. And I don't with John Morant. Like I, like, okay, I know you're athletic, bro, but your shooting's getting worse. I think Ant's really becoming, I guess this is the way I would put it. I can see the work Ant puts into his game.

And I can see what the staff, the work they put into Ant in the office. I can see it. To your point, these two guys faced off in a playoff series in 2022, where Jha looked like the better player and what has happened since then. Ant has demonstrably, massively improved year over year. And Jha, I'd argue, was worse than the player he was in 2020. Like, he's not able to inflict himself on the game the way he used to. Again, the Grizzlies are a whole other thing.

I have so many thoughts they're calling. We can have a fun conversation about them at some point in the future. But like with Ant, I want to credit him for pushing through some of the reps that he had to work through. Like, I don't know if you know this Colin, but Ant was the most blitzed player in the NBA this year. And what that means is every time he went into pick and roll,

the guy who was screening him, his defender would double team Ant as he was coming off of the screen. So one of the reasons why they're not blitzing him for the reason you blitzed Steph Curry. You blitz Steph Curry because you don't want Steph to get three coming off the screen. They're blitzing ant because they don't think he can pass, Colin. They're double teaming aunt at the end of games because they don't think he can pass. It was the narrative all season coming into this series. It was all everybody would talk about.

And so I want to, I want to give Chris Finch some credit here too because I think him and his staff literally went up to aunt and they were like, you cannot shoot your way through this series. You have to pass your way through the series. And I thought he did a wonderful job letting the game come to him. He like wouldn't take a three early in the game. He was like letting the game come him. But then all of a sudden in that second quarter run, he starts, or in the third quarter run, he starts letting it fly in transition as the momentum is going. He started to get aggressive when the game called for it, but he just took what was coming to him there in the first half. And I just thought he's, you know, we've talked a lot about where ain't rakes in the league.

And at the beginning of the season, I put him at number five. And that might have been too high at the time. But really, Colin, is he not the fifth best player in the league now? I mean, you know, Tatum and Yanis and Luka and Tatum and Yonis and SGA and Yokic are the top four. Luca hasn't really been able to regain his footing since he got hurt earlier this year. I don't know of a player who's playing better basketball other than maybe Steph. Like there's ants, ants crawled right back up that list after getting kind of like, you know, criticized all year for not managing those double teams very well. Yeah.

It was, it was such a strange game because it, you know, it just lacked. You know, you watch. And let's talk about the Nuggets and Clippers. That game was great. And I mean, the intensity of that game from the first minute was just insane. And I really thought the Clippers, I picked the Clippers, I think, in six or seven games in this series. Better Coach, better defense. I thought they'd – and by the way, I think I still like the Clippers.

But I thought the last – you know, it's funny about Yokic. He's not a very good defender. But I was thinking about this. I went on a long walk today, and I was thinking about that series in the game, is that historically, it's not just that he scores. He rebounds. He's got the ball in his hands. You cannot ask a seven-foot guy that's 265 to honestly carry the offense, including the

ball handling and the passing. You know, Kareem could score 30. He wasn't handling the ball, right? And so it's like, Yokic isn't. He doesn't put a lot of effort. I mean, Harden blew past him about six times in the first half. But I will say this. In the last five minutes, he does lock in.

He's not a great defender. But the last five minutes of the game, everybody on the Nuggets was playing real defense. They were locking in. He was putting bodies on people. But as I watched Yokos, I'm like, listen, man, look at the size of him. nobody asked Kareem or Shaq or Akeem to bring the ball up, set the screens, direct traffic. I almost give him a pass defensively because I do think late in games, he's much more engaged on that end. I thought he was pretty great on defense for the entire second half of that game in most of the second part of the second quarter.

There was a timeout right when the Clippers went up, I think, 51.36. and Yokic came out right out of the timeout and just started pressure in the heck out of zoo and was just flying around making extra efforts. And he was brilliant in his pick and roll defense in the second half, getting deflections, forcing turnovers. And while I agree with you, Colin, that it's ridiculous to ask Nicola Yokic to be the most high usage player that we've seen really in recent NBA history while also having to be such an important part of their defense, it is a lot to ask. and I totally agree with you, but the Nuggets need him to be if they're going to win. And to his credit, that's what he was. It's what he became in the second half of that game. And like, I also thought he did a really nice job of just taking what the defense was giving him at late in the game.

Like, he was trusting Russell Westbrook repeatedly over and over again on these kickouts and on these cuts to be the guy that can make the defense pay for ignoring him. And I just thought, I just thought Yokic was amazing. And honestly, Colin, like, I will never change my pick after one game. I'm with you. You need to get two games worth of evidence. But I was really disappointed in the clippers and their overall just kind of like connective playmaking. You know, Kawhi Leonard is amazing as he is, it can be a robotically efficient score. But he's never been good at managing double teams.

He's never been a very good passer. No. I remember for the first like decade of his career, or not quite, it was like the first like seven or eight years of his career. He never logged a single game with seven assists. Like he just struggled to generate shots first. he averaged one or two for several years. Yeah, like he's never been a great playmaker. The connective playmakers like Chris Dunn,

an elite defensive player, a guy that can knock down those shots in the corner, but you start making him make decisions that could get tough. There was plays where Nick Patum was fumbling the ball around. Even Zoo a little bit, the read and react stuff can slow down. And so honestly, like Denver,

I think has a more realistic pathway to win this series than people think, because I don't think they have to be that great deal. defensively to slow down this Clippers team. They just have to be good enough to prey on that indecision that they have to prey on those mistakes. Like you can double Kauai, Colin. You can double Kauai. And he's going to make some mistakes. And so I do think they have some advantages here. And I came away from that game feeling like Denver had a better chance to win the series than I thought beforehand. You know, it's really interesting. So I've never been a huge fan of Westbrook. And I say this, I'm not a huge fan of basketball players that are hyperathletics, six four and under,

and can't shoot. Because without the hand check, they will get to the basket and eventually get hurt. Derek Rose, John Wall, John Morant. Like, it's just a cliche. You can't stand in front of these guys.

They get to the basket and just get clobbered. And that's why guys like Steve Nash or Curry can last longer because they can pull up and they don't have to always finish at the rim. And Westbrook, when they put him in late in the game, where the announcer said, you know, it's the full experience with Russell Westbrook. And he did not shoot well. He hit a big three. But I got to tell you something, his, the one thing I will defend him forever. When he's on the floor, you know he's on the floor. He jumps. His energy is profound.

I mean, he is a tremendous rebounder for his size. Like a tremendous. He plays way bigger than his size. And I was, I came out of that and I'm like, listen, man, he didn't shoot well. He had one big three. He was a big deal down the stretch. He, it's, he just, he's just going so fast. You know, he doesn't have a ton of self-awareness. I mean, he's kind of like blinders on going to the basket. And you're like, Russ, no, no, no, no, no. Situationally, sometimes he can drive me crazy. I thought he was so important down the stretch for them. The, the biggest weakness that Russ has had in his career, he only has one speed. And that's like just balls to the walls,

like at like 100% intensity, he doesn't know how to play any other way. And so that just manifests in a lot of mistake making, but it also can manifest in a lot of playmaking. Yes. Like, like, I thought like, you know, there's always this scale with Russ where it's like, will the damaging plays outweigh

the good plays that he makes? And last, that game yesterday was such a perfect example of what happens when the good badly or greatly outweighs the bad. Like, he was fantastic down the stretch of that game. He, like, straight up bullied Kauai Leonard one-on-one and got an offensive rebound putback. He had the big steal at the end when the clippers cut it to three and they had a chance to tie the game at the end. It's the big three in the left corner repeatedly found himself available as a cutter under the basket with Yokic.

You mentioned the rebounding. Like, I think Russ is one of the better defensive playmakers in the NBA. He is not a disciplined defender. He will make a lot of mistakes. and he'll gamble a lot. But if he gambles and gets right a couple times in a row, they can be massive momentum swings. And dating all the way back,

I mean, Colin, that first year that he went from the Lakers to the Clippers, before Kauai got hurt, if you remember in that first couple of games, the Clippers looked really good against the Sons. Kaui was like kicking KD's butt head to head. And Russ was amazing. He was a wrecking ball in the early part of that series,

did an amazing job defending Devin Booker because he's just this big, athlete that just never has an off button. And he can be a devastating playmaker. The key is keeping him in a very small role. And that's the beauty of what the Nuggets can do with him is they can keep him in a very small role. They could even be like, hey, Russ's head is not in it tonight. Sit him bring in Michael Porter Jr. Like they can, they have the ability to play Russ when he's hot and to pull him when he's not. And that's the flexibility you need to benefit from that playmaking. All right, baseball seasons in full swing and game time makes getting tickets really fast and really easy.

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We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas? guys. I honestly don't remember.

I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking, I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers was This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this.

We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. 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 home. 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. Last night, a blown call changed a game.

This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear.

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there were so many years in the NBA. I mean, Harden and Kauai. I mean, that center for the Clippers, 10 years, I think, isn't it? For Zubout? For Zoo? Yeah, it's 10 years. Yeah, he's been in the league for a while.

Yeah, Lakers, Clippers. You know, Jamal Murray, Yokic, Michael Porter's been around. I mean, Christian Brown's, a young guy, obviously. Batum's been around forever. And it was really cool. It was a veteran NBA Tugavore. Both rosters knew.

they're going to let us play. They're going to let us play. You know, like, some of these young teams, like, they're like, whoa, there's no, there's no whistles. Like, it's like, I mean, it's just a whole different ball game. I mean, you and I have discussed this. Like, they're just going to let guys play. And the further you go. But it was like the Clippers and the Nuggets was like, that was grown up men's basketball.

First, everybody knew they could push a little more and they could lean on you a little bit more. and the physicality just, I was just sitting there. I didn't miss a second. I thought, this is great basketball. And I said this, I don't, you have to understand, in football or hockey, you can't take, you can't take a playoff, you can get hurt. In baseball, it's pitcher against batter. Nobody wants to be embarrassed.

There's an intensity that's guaranteed between the pitcher and the batter. But in basketball, there's a lot of games, and these are big bodies. And if you've ever seen a retired six, foot 10 NBA player. You know, they looked like they got tackled. I mean, they're just walking. They have bad backs. And it's like you cannot expect these guys to play 38 to 44 minutes, 82 games in the

regular season and play with this kind of intensity. They're traveling constantly. But you get into the playoffs. And Denver and the Clippers was like, oh, snap. First possession. And it's like, I think it has the makings of an incredible series. just all these veteran players. I don't know.

I just sat there and I was like, damn, this is great basketball. We know how everybody plays. Like, we know Kauai's games so well now. We know James Hardin's game so well now. We know what the Murray Yokic two-man game looks like.

Aaron Gordon, what he can do. I think the most fascinating chess match, so to speak, of this series or like kind of subplot of the series. I do think the clippers are more talented. I think they're top. or when you when you factor in all that stuff.

I think that the Nuggets looked like the smarter team in that game. Now, this is an interesting example of how it can come down to the players because David Adelman, obviously a rookie coach getting his first opportunity. We have Ty Loo, who's a championship winning coach, who's well respected as a top five coach in this league. But you get into the game and it's like Aaron Gordon has James Hardin on him and he just knows all these little ways to punish James Hardin for not having the size. and the Nuggets know when Aaron Gordon has that type of matchup,

how they can capitalize on it with his offensive rebounding or in two-man game with Yokic. They know, like, even Jamal Murray, it's like, oh, his mid-range jump shot was just terrible in that game. He could not buy a mid-ranger. Right in clutch time, he just switches to taking threes and hits two massive threes down the stretch. The two-man game with Yokich and Murray was so effective down the stretch that the clipper started triple teaming it. They brought a third defender over every single time. They knew how to get the ball to Christian Brown.

They knew how to get the ball to Russell Westbrook. The nuggets are just so sure of how they want to play every single possession. They are just more reliably going to get to their ceiling than the clippers who I think can suffer from a little bit of inconsistent basketball IQ on the roster. And they can have more variance in their performance. And there will be games where the clippers just look like they outgun them. Because it's like Zoo has 25, Hardin has 27, Kauaias 30 and Norman Powell pours in 18 on, you know, six for six from three.

They'll have games like that, but I think that they'll have more variance throughout the series because the nuggets, I think, are a little bit smarter. Well, I also think there's an advantage, Jason, like when you have an elite score, Yokic, SGA, Jason Tatum this year, like Luca, the advantage is if a play gets loose, if it's a possession, the ball gets kicked around, you know who gets the ball. You know who get the ball to. Like the Warriors had a couple of bad possessions, you know, and here comes Houston back. It's like, okay, every guy, run up the court. It's like, let's get it to Steph. Let's get it to Jimmy. And like, Houston is just athletic. And it's like, well, Fred Van Viet, it's not playing well. And Jalen Green's lost. Now, obviously they're big. He from Turkey is just a fantastic player. Sangoon is a fascinating player to me because, first of all, very highly skilled. He's got a beautiful touch.

I mean, it's just crazy how easy he makes the game look from like eight feet in. It's just both hands. It's like, God damn, that guy. And he was like the 16th pick or something. He was like middle of the first round. But I guess going back to the point is I think the reason Denver, when you have Yokic or Oklahoma City with SGA, it's like. Like, anytime you're kind of sputtering, it's just, okay, everybody walking the ball up the floor knows where you're going.

And I thought Houston was kind of paralyzed by, they didn't trust their back court. Like, who's taking shots? And you just watch, it's almost a panic when I watched Houston late in this game. It's like they're not sure who to go to. And I thought Denver down the stretch really knew who to run the offense through. Yeah, that's been steady for them forever. and, you know, to your point, that's, that's the organizational, you know, a thing that Houston is missing. It's just that overall decision-making IQ.

You cut the lead down to four and then Jalen Green tries to shoot a layup through five guys, which goes exactly how you would have expected it would go. A man Thompson shot a layup into the bottom of the rim. Like literally threw it up into the bottom of the rim. Like, like, there's a, there's this ruthless execution you get with the good teams where it's like, if you're going to beat the Warriors, you're going to have to hope that Jimmy and Steph miss, basically. Like, they're going to make sure that they get the ball to their best players

and that they get stuff that they like. Like, they're not going to, they're not going to bail a possession where a men Thompson's looking around. It's like, no one wants the ball. Wait, so you guys want me to do it? Oh, yeah. All right. Okay, then I'll go do it.

You know, and it's like, there was a bunch of those. He took a shot over Steph that he made a little post-up shot. Like, there's no, like, rhyme or reason to, the offensive process for you. And by the way, continuity does play a role there. Denver's been playing with roughly the same group of guys forever. They just know how they want to play. There's no, there's no indecision in that organization. Yeah, no, I think that's perfectly put. You just forget how many possessions in the fourth quarter with four minutes to go, Denver has had over the last eight years with Stefan Draymond on the floor. And now Moody's got a lot of

games involved in it. Like you've got your new guys, you've got Jimmy and Post, and there's some new guys. But you're just watching them, and it's like you watched, I mean, the Knicks, you know, when you've got veteran players, Jalen Brunson and Kat, they had a really good last eight minutes. The Celtics in the second half, there's a lot of guys, they've had a lot of practices and a lot of reps. They know where the ball's going. By the way, Jason Tatum kind of fell on his wrist, but he came back and played. They're going to win this series. They're probably going to sweep the series.

Okay, see, looks like they'll definitely probably sweep the series. I watched Orlando, and I thought to myself, they're the kind of team that athletically, like, they've got a couple of players where they come down, they get really good looks. They got, they get, in that game a couple of times, I'm like, they may not be as long as as athletic as Houston, but I felt Orlando came down and got really good. good looks against a very good Boston team. Is it coaching? Maybe it's just Bencaro, Wagner.

But I don't know. I look at Orlando and I'm like, it feels like they're just missing a piece. You think they win a game in this series? You know, I came away. I picked a sweep in that one because it's like exactly like the Rockets Warriors series where Orlando,

Orlando has been so far in a way the worst jump shooting team in the league that out of a hundred Orlando Magic jump shots, they are five points worse than the 29th ranked team. Like, they are 5% worse jump shooting than the worst team in the league above them. Like, they cannot shoot. So I thought for sure they would have just a really hard time scoring in this series. But what Orlando presents to Boston that makes things really difficult for them is they can switch their screening actions and they're really big and physical.

So Tatum and Brown can't just bully their way to the basket against them. like they can against some other teams. And so they can keep the ball in front and bait Tatum and Brown into really tough shot making, which they more or less did. It was Derek White that kind of blew the lid off of the arena. And in Peyton Pritchard, all those Derek White threes were so difficult too. It's like, they got to feel like a shotgun blast to the chest when you're an Orlando Magic fan.

When Derek White just hits a contested 27 footer at the end of the shot clock. But, you know, honestly, Colin, like they have a bright future because Franz and Palo are getting better and better every year. Jalen Suggs is out of the lineup right now with an injury. Jalen Suggs, when healthy, is the best guard defender in the league and a guy that is a very effective two-man game partner with Palo and Carrow setting inverted ball screens and slipping out of it. Imagine him as like a combination of KCP and Christian Brown, like a really, really good movement shooter, but also like a big, strong athlete at the position. And he's the guy that ties it all together for them. because when you put him and Jonathan Isaac and Franz and Palo with Wendell Carter out there,

they can switch one through five. They're massive. They've got plenty of offensive talent. That's the group where, like, I could see in a year or two being a major upset threat for some of these top teams in the Eastern Conference. Yeah, that's how I felt. I just watched them and I thought, this is a real team. These guys have, they're big, they're strong. Bencaro's a tremendous player.

He's just going to get you buckets. Yeah. Really quick, Colin. We talked about this on Wednesday, if you remember, the big dudes who have some skill are really crushing in the modern NBA. Shangoon's a great example. Palo's a great example. Yeah, Shangoon is, God, it's just watching him.

He was an all-star this year, wasn't he? I believe so, yes. Yeah, yeah, he was an all-star. And it's like, when you watch him, you're like, his game can be pretty. I mean, he can bounce. He and Draymond on her bouncing back and forth, and he wouldn't play into Drey, Damon's green. Draymond was hooking him and just trying to irritate him.

And he was just like, what are you doing? But man, there is something, you know, these international bigs, man, they're pretty. He's got a beautiful touch around the basket. And he's not jumping over people. He's not, he's just, I watch his game and I'm like, it's just, he's a, he's the classic guy that you luck up and you're like, oh, yeah, he had 23 points again. It's just pretty. And again, with guard play being awful, like, he was really the offense for most of the game for Houston.

Like, he was it. So, well, I thought it was a really fun first weekend. I'm going to watch one more Rockets Warriors game, but that was an eye opener. Holy crap, was that an eye opener? Sometimes you see things and you're like, like the Lakers, you're like, they'll make adjustments. They'll be more physical. They kind of were lost. And it was JJ Reddick's first playoff game against a really good coach and Chris Finch.

And Chris, you know, they had a more obvious game plan. I'm not sure what the gear is because I don't think in a half-court offense, I don't know what I get from Houston. But I'll tell you, athletes, like, again, they could get KD easily. I mean, they could move off guys and with draft picks easily and not lose a lot of their athleticism. Seriously. I mean, they've got so much length and athleticism. If, you know, if the Knicks make a move, what do the Knicks have that Phoenix wants? What they have is what the Knicks don't want to surrender. But God, I mean, Houston is just, I mean, like one through nine,

they're just dudes, athletes everywhere. That Katie to Houston feels like a real thing. When you, when you watch them in this game, you're like, dude, they got to have a bucket. They need a second bucket on this offense. And so you can't rely on Jalen Green. So as I'm watching this game, I'm thinking, yeah, KD, Miami could use him and Houston could use him. That's what it feels like to me. I hope that KD has learned from what happened in Brooklyn and what happened in Phoenix,

which is that he does not need to surround himself with guys like him. He needs to surround himself with guys that do the stuff that. helps you win games and allows his greatness to lift them over the top. And so honestly, that's why I'm hoping that Katie looks at the situation in Houston and goes, this is the place where I can have a renaissance in my career. Because frankly, they have the setup to do it. They've got the assets. Jalen Green is a perfect little salary filler piece to try to make that sort of deal happen. And he would be a force multiplier for their defense. Because as you saw, Jabari Smith Jr., he's the guy that has the length for them on the

wing. KD. is a guy that could be a guy next to Shangoon that makes him better defensively. He's a guy that is an underrated playmaker over the years dating back to his Brooklyn days. KD. was really good at just generating offense by coming off of ball screens and making passes out of it.

I think KD is like the obvious ceiling raising move for Houston. Yeah. And I think the numbers pretty clearly state that they can like, Colin, like there's a lot of basketball left in this series. Houston's athleticism does travel. They're not a team that's going to go on the road and come out flat because they're older veterans.

Like they're going to come out in game three, even if they're down two oh and be like, we're beating the Warriors tonight. Like that, that's going to be their attitude. This is going to be a long chore of a series. And can you just imagine that leveraged to another level with a player as polished offensively as Kevin Iran? And talk about like having no if, if ands or butts about where the ball is going to go. You give it to him every damn time and get the hell out of the way. So like I think, I think it's the kind of thing that I think would be really exciting for that team. Jason Timph hoops tonight. He's going to be all over these playoffs. All right. That's a good first Sunday under playoff action. I had a lot of fun watching it.

I'll still take the clippers over the Nuggets, but I need to watch Game 2 Warriors and the Rockets. Good talking you, bud. Good to see you, Colin. Until next time. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We get to ask other people to do podcasts.

We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but, you know. Tired and sick. Tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. on Humor Me with Robert Smygel and Friends, me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman

help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L'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. Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and IHeart Podcasts presents soccer moms. So I'm Leanne. Yeah. This is my best friend, Janet. Hey.

And we have been joined at the hips since high school. Absolutely. A redacted amount of years later, we're still joined at the hip. Just a little bit bigger hips. This is a podcast. We're recording it as we tailgate our youth soccer games in the back of my Honda Odyssey. With all the snacks and drinks. Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer?

Oh, they hit a bogo. Well, then you got it. Listen to soccer moms on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fans? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast, Point Game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season.

And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was hungry. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis come until he's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs.

This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.