The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - LIVE: Game 1 Upsets: Nuggets Go Up 1-0 on Thunder, Knicks Go Up 1-0 on Celtics

Episode Date: May 6, 2025

Jason reacts to Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, and the Denver Nuggets getting an upset win in Game 1 of their first round series against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunde...r. Then he discusses Jalen Brunson, OG Anunoby, and Mikal Bridges leading the Knicks to a big comeback win over Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and the Boston Celtics.    Follow the show on Playback for future “Aftershow” content: https://www.playback.tv/hoopstonight  #Volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. 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.
Starting point is 00:00:12 We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first 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.
Starting point is 00:00:26 Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you. 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 homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the ice.
Starting point is 00:01:00 Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? 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 crying.
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Starting point is 00:04:24 Good hoops tonight here at the volume. Happy Monday everybody. Hope all of you guys are having a great start to your week. Well, the NBA playoffs just delivered us an unbelievable night with two completely absurd games as the Knicks go down 20 in the second half and come all the way back to beat the Celtics in overtime riding a 53 to 30 run with some really interesting basketball on both ends of the floor and then our nightcap the Oklahoma City Thunder throw a fantastic punch against the Denver Nuggets showing so much of what has made
Starting point is 00:05:05 them so good all season long but all night long the Nuggets just kept scoring the basketball and keeping things close. And then at the end of the game, scoring every single time down the floor as they methodically work their way into one of the most outrageous thefts that I can remember in my time as an NBA fan. I was getting ready to come out of that game thing
Starting point is 00:05:28 and oh, a lot of encouraging stuff for Denver, but obviously they're going to lose this game. Now Denver's up 1-0 and the series has a completely different feel. We're going to be breaking down both games from the perspective of both teams. You guys know the drill before we get started. Subscribe to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channel
Starting point is 00:05:44 so you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter underscore Jason LT so you guys don't miss show announcements. Don't forget about our podcast fee wherever you get your podcast under Hoops tonight. It's also super helpful if you leave a rating and a review on that front. Jackson's doing great work on our social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Make sure you guys follow us there. And last but at least, keep dropping mailbag questions and those YouTube comments. We will also, when we are done here tonight, we will be heading over to playback.
Starting point is 00:06:07 On playback, we have callers up on stage. we take questions from the chat, we watch film, we just hang out and talk basketball for an extra 45 minutes at the end of each show. So make sure there's a link in the description here. Make sure when we're done here, you guys follow us over to playback for the after show. So, as I said before the series, I didn't pick the nuggets to win.
Starting point is 00:06:29 I picked the Thunder to win. The Thunder were a minus 700 favorite. I thought that was a little too extreme. I said that that should be somewhere more around the minus 300 minus 350 side of things. in that Oklahoma City is clearly the better team. They are healthy and more well-rested. They have home court advantage. They demonstrated a lot of things this year that show them as one of the great teams in NBA history. Everything you heard about Boston last year, the Thunder were basically a better version of that this year playing against a substantially tougher
Starting point is 00:06:57 schedule. This is a very, very, very good team. But one of the reasons why I anticipated it being a closer series, a series where Denver would win multiple games centered around the fact that Denver scored against these guys in the regular season. And this is the beautiful thing about having Nicola Yokic. We've been talking so much on this show over the course of the last week about the concept of superstar players and how valuable they are in the NBA playoffs and how there's been kind of a new light that's been shined on depth of role player talent. And while I have always felt that that's important and yeah, you could argue that as the league
Starting point is 00:07:34 has become more transition based and there's more possessions and there's a lot more, you know, advanced defensive schemes that force your stars to give up the ball, that, yes, having a depth of talent is more important than it used to be. But ultimately, time and time again, I saw in the first round, it was the stars that were doing the heavy lifting. You want to know why Denver beat the clippers, even though everybody, including myself, beat the clippers, because Yokich was so much better than James Hardin and Kauai Leonard was. You want to know why Jalen Brunson was able to dispatch of the pistons because he specifically outplayed Kade down the stretch of those games. Anthony Edwards out playing Luca,
Starting point is 00:08:11 Steph out playing Fred Van Vleet and Alper and Shangoon. I can go down the line over and over again. The stars ultimately are the one guy on the floor that has the ability to transcend all the surrounding circumstances and to get the job done. Nicole Yokic just played one of the best playoff games you will ever see a player play. 42 points, 22 rebounds, 6 assists.
Starting point is 00:08:35 He was getting absolutely mauled all over the place. through an excellent defensive punch in this game, really catching the nuggets off guard with their ball pursuit, specifically when guys would turn their head. Turnovers and getting out and transition off of turnovers was a huge part of this specific game. That was actually one of the big ways that Oklahoma City built as much margin as they did throughout the game.
Starting point is 00:08:58 In the half court, both teams actually struggled to score relative to their typical efficiency. Oklahoma City logged an 87 offensive rating in the half court. That's pretty low. Denver logged an 83 offensive rating in the half court. That's pretty low. They were able to control things with Oklahoma City and their
Starting point is 00:09:15 offense when they were in the half court. There was just the turnovers and the getting out in transition over and over and over again. But one of the things that started to come to fruition towards the tail end of the game was Denver stopped turning the ball over and their offense can generate quality shots against this team. And one of the things is
Starting point is 00:09:35 if you've got an elite unit, if you've got one singular, thing that you do as a basketball team that the other team can't handle, then you will have stretches of games where you're in control. And every time Oklahoma City built that lead up to 12, 13, 14 points, the Nuggets would score two, three times in a row and get the lead back down to six or seven points. When you watch this game, yeah, there were guys who contributed. Obviously, Aaron Gordon hits the shot of a lifetime in his second game winner in this playoff run. He's have one hell of a playoff run. You had Russell Westbrook in his first shift
Starting point is 00:10:10 doing all the work that he was doing on the ball. Jamal hit a couple big shots in this game. But over and over again, it was Nicola Yokic who was the superpower. He was the guy that no matter what Oklahoma City did, no matter how many bodies they threw at him, how many times in that crunch time did you see him literally rumble down the lane against like three,
Starting point is 00:10:29 four different thunder defenders on one single possession and just work his way through them and get to where he needed to go. Just an unbelievable performance from Nicola Yokic in this particular game. Like the sheer degree of difficulty, you're watching Lou Doord every time he gets a switch, just chucking him like he's a football sled at the foul line, getting hacked and grabbed. Chad Holmgren did a wonderful job in this game of bringing physicality to Yokic,
Starting point is 00:10:58 especially early. And that caused them a lot of problems. Throughout the game, Denver was struggling as soon as they turned their head, whether it was Alex Crusoe or someone else, someone would come flying in from behind and poke the ball away or block the shot from behind. Denver's going to have a lot of opportunity to look at tape and see opportunities where they just weren't prepared for the things that Oklahoma City did defensively.
Starting point is 00:11:19 But ultimately, in the third quarter, Denver scored 35 points. In the fourth quarter, Denver scored 31 points, 66 points on the road against the best defense, not just in this individual season, but relative to NBA. history in the rest of the league's defensive ratings, this is an all-time great defense that Oklahoma City has statistically. And Denver is able to score against them. If you take anything away from this game, look, this series now has a very different feel now, right? The series, once you steal
Starting point is 00:11:54 home court advantage, Denver is in a substantially better position to try to steal this series. I never overreact to game one. I'm not going to change my pick or anything like that. But I went from feeling like this was a series where Denver might get a couple of games, maybe three games, to now Denver has a legitimate chance to win this series. By stealing game one, they have changed the entire tone and tenor of this entire series. And it was Nicole Yokish, time and time again, just being the indomitable force on offense in a way that Oklahoma City simply could not match up with him. 42 and 22. It's a seventh time in his career. He's had a 2020 game in the playoffs. I just thought he was absolutely unbelievable tonight.
Starting point is 00:12:39 I always talk about adversity in how it brings the absolute best out of basketball players. And I used to complain about this in the past, specifically with Kevin Durant when he went to the Warriors back when I was a younger fan who was very upset about how my LeBron James, like Cleveland Cavaliers, were being basically put into a position where they couldn't win because the second best player, third best player in the league joined a 73 win team. And I'm watching them. and I'm watching them win 15 straight playoff games. And I'm watching KD get easy dunks driving down the lane while Cavs are running to Steph Curry on the left wing in transition. And I'm sitting there and I'm thinking, like,
Starting point is 00:13:19 this is not the best basketball I've seen KD play. Because I've seen KD when the shit hits the fan, like 2021 in Brooklyn against the bucks. I've seen him rise to the occasion when the circumstances, has demanded more out of him than he had ever provided in his career. And he put together a game in that was a game five or game six against the bucks. That was one of the best games you'll ever see a player play. Because the adversity brought it out of him.
Starting point is 00:13:50 This was a game. Yokic was frustrated with Michael Porter Jr. He's frustrated with the teams rebounding, frustrated with the mistakes that were being made. You could see him just like rubbing his temples during the game, like working his way through emotionally what he was dealing with. He just wants to win. badly, but he knows his team is just up against it. But he never gave up and just kept attacking
Starting point is 00:14:11 and just kept getting buckets and kept generating offense. And as a result, he puts forth one of the craziest stat lines that you'll see in the history of the NBA playoffs. I just was amazed by Nicola Yokic tonight. He deserves all the flowers that he's going to get. He just single-handedly Superman backpacked a win for his team on a night when they were not playing well. Jamal Murray six for six for 16 Michael Porter Jr. one for eight. This was a game where he needed to do it all and he did and he reached a level that we haven't seen in a very long time and Denver gets out of here with the win. Lots of interesting stuff to look forward to in the series.
Starting point is 00:14:52 You saw over the course of that of that second half that Denver was able to kind of pack the paint and gear Oklahoma City's shot selection towards weak side shot. four guys like Chet Holmgren, four guys like Alex Caruso. Shout it to Alex Caruso, by the way. I thought this game winner from Aaron Gordon overshadowed one of the better role player games that you'll ever see. He had 20 points, six rebounds, or excuse me, 20 points, six assists and five steals. It was just an absolute wrecking ball.
Starting point is 00:15:21 From the minute he checked into the game, because Denver was kind of hanging tough, from the minute Alex checked into the game, he was just an absolute wrecking ball. Over and over again, knocking down, catch and shoot threes. I thought it was interesting that Mark Dagenal actually started him the second half. Mark Dagenal was coaching this like it was an important game you wanted to win. And by the way, I saw some criticism. And I understand that after the fact it's easy to just be like, oh, well, they should have done this. They should have done that. If they hit a game tying three and
Starting point is 00:15:45 they go to overtime and lose, everyone's complaining that they didn't foul because they're up three. Like I get it. There are some different circumstances. Like there was one where Yokic was literally off the floor. But ultimately that scheme, that idea of fouling, intentionally fouling down the stretch when you're up three works if you make your damn free throws. And so if there's any bit of criticism, it's that either Mark Dagenal and the coaching staff did trust Chet and Chet just happened to miss a couple of free throws or there needs to be an adjustment with your coaching staff based on the fact that you don't have the requisite free throw shooting on the floor to get away with that sort of situation. But there are problems that both teams can't handle in this
Starting point is 00:16:24 matchup. I don't think that I don't think that Jamal Murray is going to have a super efficient scoring series. He'll have a game or two in this series where he shoots the ball really well, probably in Denver, where he, you know, has 30 something and, and, you know, goes 12 for 18 from the field. But like, this is a matchup that's going to be tough for him. I don't think Michael Porter Jr. is going to have a really super efficient high volume, high efficiency scoring series because there's just so much athleticism on the floor for OKC. You can see Denver rushing. A lot of these turnovers, one of the things that's happening is they are sped up. They are making mistakes in the open floor and getting swarmed and just not reading the play
Starting point is 00:17:01 as it's developing around them. But there's one problem that Oklahoma City cannot solve with Denver, and that's Nicole Yokic, and that problem is not going away. And that is the big reason why I predicted this to be a longer series. It stems from the simple fact that Yokic is going to be able to consistently and comfortably generate offense for this team. And they can do better than they did. they ended up turning the ball over eight times for 23 points off of turnovers that can't be correct ESPN's
Starting point is 00:17:33 website is really struggling with the statistics I'll have to pull that up on a different uh I'll pull that up on playback later tonight but they gave up a million points off of turnovers it was the difference in the game and and that that's stuff that they're going to have to clean up in game two if they want to have any sort of sustained success in this series but you can see the pathway for okoma city the pathway for Oklahoma City is forcing those turnovers getting out in transition in the half court guys knocking down those threes on the weak side. Shea was able to get some clean looks in the middle of the floor against drop coverage late in the game, including drawing some boughs there. You did see some of the problem that Oklahoma City has on the defensive glass. They gave up a considerable
Starting point is 00:18:08 amount of second chance opportunities, especially during that second half run that Denver was on. We're going to get into this in a lot more detail in a film session tomorrow morning, but that was just an unbelievable wild game to start this series. And you got to see. a lot of what both teams can do to make each other uncomfortable. Again, we will get deeper into that series later on tonight on playback. We'll do some more on film tomorrow morning. I want to get to Nick Celtics now for a little bit. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers.
Starting point is 00:18:37 And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, huge news? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to our first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts.
Starting point is 00:18:51 We're starting a trend. 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
Starting point is 00:19:08 before Jonas Brothers. 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 where people could call in and say, hey Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad
Starting point is 00:19:21 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.
Starting point is 00:19:39 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 acapella band, with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes.
Starting point is 00:19:56 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. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis, and I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs, and on the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris.
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Starting point is 00:20:37 Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat 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. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.
Starting point is 00:21:02 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 IHart Radio app. Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I actually thought the Knicks came out and played a pretty quality game early.
Starting point is 00:21:30 They were competing on defense. Kat was in a great rhythm on offense. But then Kat got a couple of bullshit calls, two that I didn't like. One on Tatum, the textbook like Pumpfake, and then he leaves his feet kind of foul. But if you watch it, like, there was still quite a bit of space between Kat and Tatum. Kat did not come up into his landing area at all. And Tatum jumped way forward. I thought it was a bad call.
Starting point is 00:21:52 And then there was another one where Jaylen Brown was driving. And Jaylen Brown had been driving on Kat and like flopping almost every time he got into the basket area, just kind of flailing his arms and throwing up bad shots. And he finally ended up getting a call on one where if you watch, Kat just like barely bumps him on the hip a little bit. And it's just in a series as physical as, well, I should say in the playoffs as physical as this has been. The refs were very nitpicky in this particular game. But Kat gets a couple of fouls.
Starting point is 00:22:17 He goes off the floor. Then Joe Missoula furthers the damage by smartly deploying a half. of Robinson strategy in the second quarter that helped the Celtics gain control. And then they went on a nice little burst to start the third quarter and they actually pushed the lead all the way up to 20 points. But from there, all hell broke loose. And we saw a lot of New York's upside and Boston's downside as the Knicks closed the game on a 53 to 30 run to steal game one in overtime. It started with OGN and Obey hitting a couple of threes. One on a skip pass where Jalen Brown got caught with his back turned he wasn't paying attention and by the way that's going to be a recurring theme with jalen brown
Starting point is 00:22:54 and jason tatum if you guys dig into the film on that in that particular game the other one was kind of a weird near turnover where the ball just kind of pinballed around and landed right in ogena nobys hands on the right wing and he knocked down a three but it's two threes in like less than a minute that cuts the lead all the way down from 20 to 14 and that changed the tone of the game it just completely changed the way the game felt it felt all of a sudden like a more competitive game instead of a game that was teetering on a blowout. And from there, from that 14-point lead, the Knicks just like flat out badly outplayed the Celtics. Boston played one of the dumbest halves of basketball. I've seen them play in Tatum's entire tenure as a Celtic. We'll talk about that in a minute. But the
Starting point is 00:23:33 Knicks played about as well as they could. Starting on defense, they did a lot more switching with Kat and Brunson. This was something we talked about in the series preview, trying to avoid the clear easy reads for Boston as you hedge and recover with Brunson or as you run some very of a drop coverage with cat. There is still some of that stuff mixed in, like the Drew Holiday layup that tied the game and sent it to overtime was a textbook hedge and recover from Brunson
Starting point is 00:23:58 where Drew just slipped out of it towards the basket. And that's one of those things where, like, I think New York needs to avoid those sequences as much as possible. Like Brunson did get stops against Tatum. And here's the thing, if Brunson gets on an island against Tatum and Tatum hits a 15-foot jump shot over him,
Starting point is 00:24:13 or even if Tatum drives to the basket and gets a layup, or drives to the basket and drives to the basket and draws help there for a kickout for a three, at least you made Boston run good offense to get what they wanted. When you run those hedge and recover type of schemes or that high drop with Kat and you make it just like a simple passing read where Jaylen Brown, excuse me, or Jason Tatum don't even have to put their head down and try to get closer to the basket.
Starting point is 00:24:40 You're making their job too easy for them. But they did overall do more switching with Kat and Brunson down the stretch. they did after that layup for Drew that he got right to send the game to overtime. They did not hedge and recover with Brunson a single time and overtime. They just tried switching. That's got to be their scheme moving forward. But that kind of prevented the easy stuff that Boston was getting just by simply bringing the ball up the floor and bringing Brunson into action.
Starting point is 00:25:05 But the rest of the defense is where I want to call attention to. O.G. and Anobi, Josh Hart, and Mikhail Bridges. Those guys were put in a lot of help and recover situations because of the fact that Cat and Brunson were getting attacked in space. For example, Brunson got caught on a Horford postup late in the game on the block. Or Tatum had Cat on a switch in overtime where he got dribble penetration towards the right, like got cleanly beat Cat off the dribble off the top of the key. That stuff's going to happen when you switch with Brunson and Kat.
Starting point is 00:25:38 So those three guys were constantly asked to help and recover to shooters to dig down, get back out. and those guys did a great job of rushing Boston shooters off of their spots. I tweeted out four examples on my Twitter feed. You guys can find it at underscore Jason LT. We'll get into more examples when we get into playback later tonight. But those guys were great. And they didn't just chase guys off the three-point line. They also forced a bunch of turnovers.
Starting point is 00:26:03 And then they were flying up the floor and transition off of those misses and turnovers. The Knicks held the Celtics to a 64 offensive rating in the half court in the second half of this game. 64. Again, Boston's process played a big role. We'll talk about that in a little bit, but the Knicks deserved some credit. And then on offense, O.G. and O.B. was incredible, obviously beginning the run with those two threes, but he also hit a stepback three over Luke Cornett that cut the lead to one. He was transition runouts were big. He had a runout dunk off of a steel. He had another dunk in transition in overtime where he kind of snuck behind Jason Tatum. Another example of one of the J's just being lazy off ball as he let OG just cut right
Starting point is 00:26:43 behind him. McHale Bridges hit a huge kickout three in the left corner on another play where Jalen Brown was sleeping and not paying attention off ball and left McAil open. But it was a huge shot for Mikael after he'd struggle all night. And then Kat, who had a rough night after he had his foul trouble, had two big offensive rebound putbacks during the Knicks run, including a tap-in over Tatum in overtime. That was a big deal. Once again, Tatum not doing his job off ball. He was a really non-physical boxout and just catches went right over the top of him and tapped it in. The Js were just, they were every bit of as. bad on defense and offball in general as they were on offense down the stretch of this game.
Starting point is 00:27:18 That was a whole other thing. But I thought the obvious storyline for the Knicks. It's something that you can take ahead towards game two in this series was the work that Brunson did on Al Horford. We talked about this in the series preview. It really started to show in their last regular season matchup where Brunson was doing most of his damage versus Porzingis. Brunson feels comfortable against Boston's bigs. That's where he gets good shots. And he was able to hit a couple of threes over Horford and then start to draw double teams.
Starting point is 00:27:50 Boston tried a bunch of different things. They tried pre-switching, like sending a different guy instead of Horford up to the screen with the screener. And New York was just really good about quickly switching their screeners. So the screeners would identify like, oh, this guy's pre-switching and now Horford's switching on to me. That means I need to run up and set the screen. They were just relentless of getting at getting Horford back up into the action.
Starting point is 00:28:10 Drew was really hesitant to give up that switch. So Brunson was actually able to beat him rejecting the screen once. That was a big kickout three to OG and an OB in the left corner. I think that was the one that put them up 100 to 98 towards the end of regulation. He just rejected the screen against Drew and got right downhill. But that's something that is legitimately valuable to take forward for the Knicks. Like, it's abundantly clear that if the Knicks can get into a close game late against the Celtics, they have a good chance to win that game.
Starting point is 00:28:40 Last night on playback, I apologize if, I'm misremembering the name. I believe his name was Matthew, but it was a Celtics fan who came on the show. And he talked about Tatum's inconsistency as a jump shooter, which he asked, you know, me if I thought Tatum would keep hitting shots. And I said he would. And clearly he did not tonight. So I'm sure he's been thinking about that. But the second piece was he talked about the idea that he thought Jalen Brunson was a better basketball player than Jason Tatum and that it could be a problem in late game situations. I disagreed with him based on the premise that Tatum is just so much more versatile with all the other little things that he can do.
Starting point is 00:29:16 But one of the things that I did say is I was like, yeah, if it's like three minutes left and the entire game is going to come down to like six offensive possessions for either team and the game is tied, I absolutely think that Jalen Brunson is a better late game crunch time, I mean, he's arguably the best at it in the NBA because time and time and time again in this playoff run, he just keeps coming through for his team in the final minutes. And so if there's one thing that Jalen Brunson can be the. best player in the series with, it's these sorts of late game sequences and that came to fruition in game one tonight. But the bottom line is Boston is talented enough to avoid that
Starting point is 00:29:54 situation entirely. They should be able to build multiple 20-point leads in this series and not have to worry about out-executing Brunson down the stretch. And this is where we have to talk about their offense. Now, before we get any further, the Celtics absolutely had an uncharacteristically poor shooting night. They generated 25 unguarded catch-and-shoot threes and made seven of them. They're obviously going to shoot much better on those throughout the rest of the series. But they also took 71 jump shots in this game out of the 97 field goal attempts that they had. So if you do the math, that means they took 46 guarded catch-and-shoot jumpers
Starting point is 00:30:39 or off-the-dribble jumpers. and it looked every bit that bad on tape. Drew Holiday took a few of the worst threes I've ever seen a player take. He took this one in the left corner off of like an offensive rebound where it got kicked out to him and he had to turn his body and he was contested and he was leaning out of bounds and there was a defender in his face. It was like 14 on the shot clock that he took.
Starting point is 00:31:05 Derek White took like a super rushed catch and shoot off of a swing pass against a contest and transition out of the left corner. There were so many examples. Jalen Brown took a really bad catch and shoot three off of a swing pass from Tatum with like 10 seconds on the shot clock in overtime. There were just so many examples of just really, really bad shots. But I want to focus on Jason Tatum here because he's the leader of this team. And this is a player that I've spoken very highly of this year as I think he's taken a leap
Starting point is 00:31:33 in a couple of key areas as a shot maker and as a half court surgeon. Emphasis on that last part, the half court decision maker. he's the leader of this team, and I thought he was absolutely awful. He was the leader on the floor. He was the guy on the floor during the beginning of the Knicks run. There was a stretch to end the third quarter. I rewatched the entire second half during the commercial breaks of that Denver, Oklahoma City game. There was a stretch to end the third quarter where on their last 10 possessions,
Starting point is 00:32:03 in seven of those possessions, the Celtics never even got the ball inside the three-point line. Not the paint, not like to the rim, to the three-point line. They never got the ball inside the three-point line on seven of their last ten possessions. And some of those threes went in, which is why you know it's fools gold. It was just them passing the ball around and just taking bad shots and some of them went in. But on the other three where Tatum actually looked to drives, two were Tatum looked to drive and one where Pritchard looked to drive. On the ones where Tatum looked to drive, they generated wide open catch and two threes. in the fourth quarter over and over again versus switches
Starting point is 00:32:41 Tatum settled for garbage pull-up jump shots even though his shot was clearly off like they were they were bricks guys they were outside the rim misses some of them went off the backboard first these were not like he's this close and the next one's going to go in he was clearly out of rhythm and he just kept taking bad shots
Starting point is 00:32:58 he did not do his job his job is to control the flow of the offense to make sure they're getting the right shots again, we will take a closer look at Boston's offensive process on playback later tonight. But I have a message for the Celtics because I think they're playing with some fire here. I do think the Celtics have the best team in the NBA. They have the best combination of two-way talent, meaning guys that can play on both ends of the floor at a high level. Superstar play.
Starting point is 00:33:25 I think Tatum is a legitimate top-tier superstar in a way that he wasn't in years past. And overall veteran playoff experience. These are all guys that have been in a ton of big game. games. Horford's been in a ton of big games. Drew Holiday's been a ton of big games. Drew and Jason have been in a ton of big games. Derek White's been in a ton of big games. This is a savvy veteran playoff roster. But I have been consistent. Even though I think the Celtics are the best team in the league, I do not think this is an all-time great team. I heard a lot of Celtics fans saying that. I don't think they're all-time great. I think they're just great. What that
Starting point is 00:34:02 means is they are not so supremely talented that they can ease their way through this playoff run. Whoever wins in that Indiana Cleveland series, Indiana is playing at an insanely high level. And Cleveland had a bad night, but they were at an insanely high level in the first round. Whoever comes out of that series is going to be a substantially better team than anybody Boston played in the Eastern Conference last year. in Oklahoma City literally won 68 games this year.
Starting point is 00:34:32 They're a better version of what you were last year, against a better schedule. They are amazing, and they are likely going to be waiting for you when you get out. They are substantially better than anyone you faced last year, including Dallas. The Celtics need to wake up. Tatum and Brown were both entirely too unfocused on both ends of the floor tonight. And then you juxtapose it with some of the other stars in the league who are literally coming for their crown.
Starting point is 00:35:01 They need to feel the urgency of this situation here. This next series is another opportunity for them to polish things up, to prepare for the tougher challenges that are ahead of them. And instead, they spent tonight practicing playing bad basketball. That's some of the worst they've looked in the last several seasons. Just not going to be good enough. I'm looking for a major response game from the Celtics in game too. They need to, they are just operating well below the level where they need to be in order to get this deal done.
Starting point is 00:35:38 And, and man, I just, I, I have, I've put my vote of confidence behind this team and I was so, so, so disappointed in the way they played tonight. All right, guys, that's all we have for YouTube tonight. We're going to be heading over to Playback to do some fan callers. We're also going to watch some film, just kind of hang out for a little while. Make sure you guys click the link in the description here. We'll see you guys over on Playback here in just. a few minutes. What's up, guys? As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting hoops tonight. It would actually be really helpful for us if you guys would take a second and leave a rating
Starting point is 00:36:08 and a review. As always, I appreciate you guys, you guys, I appreciate it. I'm The Volume. 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. 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. 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 Smigel and
Starting point is 00:36:55 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 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 I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Starting point is 00:37:20 What's up, fam? 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 months. If we didn't talk ever again, I was funny. You just understood.
Starting point is 00:37:35 That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis come in to you, 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. Your husband is not who you think he is.
Starting point is 00:37:52 Your body is not what you thought it was. Your identity is formed by a secret history. I'm Danny Shapiro. And these are just a few of the stunning, stories I'll be exploring on the 14th season of Family Secrets. He kind of shoved me out of the way and said, move. And he went out the front door and he jumped in a car and drove off. And that was the last time I saw him.
Starting point is 00:38:12 Listen to Season 14 of Family Secrets on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.

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