The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - LIVE: Warriors Lose Jimmy & to Rockets, Celtics Hold Against Magic, Donovan Mitchell Heats Up

Episode Date: April 24, 2025

Jason reacts to the Houston Rockets beating the Golden State Warriors in Game 2 behind a monster game from Jalen Green, besting Steph Curry who was without his running mate after Jimmy Butler got hurt early in the game. He also discuses standouts from the Boston Celtics win over the Orlando Magic, the Cleveland Cavaliers getting a clutch win over the Miami Heat, and answers some mailbag questions.  #Volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

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.

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Voided in Ontario, new customers only. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkng.c.c.o slash audio. I'm here at the volume. Happy Wednesday, everybody. Hope all of you guys are having a great, week. A quick show for you guys tonight. We're going to briefly touch on all three games. I want to do

a little bit more of like a mailbag forward type of show tonight since these results tonight were somewhat expected in terms of what we saw with Boston and Cleveland taking two O leads. And then just a really bizarre night in Houston as the Warriors have very much a Murphy's Law kind of game as everything goes wrong for them. And the rockets get themselves a big win. So if you're in the chat, subscribe to the channel, drop questions. We're going to do a solid 15. 20 minutes of questions at the tail end of the show after we briefly touch on the three games tonight. You guys know the joke before we get started. Subscribe to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channels.

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And last minute at least, keep dropping mailbag questions and YouTube comments for our mailbags throughout the remainder of the season. All right, let's talk some basketballs. As I mentioned off the top, kind of a Murphy's Law kind of game for the Warriors. Brandon Pajamsky gets food poisoning. Jimmy Butler gets undercut by Amen Thompson on this really weird play where a man and Dremont

kind of got their legs tangled up and a man just fell forward at literally the worst possible time as Jimmy was in the air underneath the basket. He gets a tailbone contusion. That keeps him out for the rest of the night. He's also getting an MRI tomorrow. so fingers crossed well wishes for Jimmy Butler that he ends up getting a positive result there. I'm sure everybody would rather see Rockets for years determined with both teams at full strength.

But as a result, we got a really weird game with some bizarre minute totals. Basic stat to demonstrate this. Quentin Post, Jonathan Caminga and Pat Spencer played a combined 12 minutes in game one. They played 63 minutes tight to those three guys. So 51 minutes that would typically go to starters on the warrior. and a star for the Warriors, Jimmy Butler and Brandon Pajemski ended up going to guys that were mostly out of the rotation or in very small roles in game one. So not a whole lot to take away from that. I also thought in general, the Warriors defensive energy pulled way back after Jimmy left

the game. That's to be expected as you start to feel like there's a little less belief in their ability to win. But the story of the game by far was Jalen Green. I talked before the series about Jalen Green scoring this season. He's obviously had a lot of great nights and a lot of bad nights. It's been very inconsistent. But when he scores at least 30 points, the Rockets are 13 and 1 this year. And as I mentioned in the series preview, it happened to great teams. It wasn't like he lit up the bad teams and they won those games. He did it to Minnesota. He did it to Denver. He did it to Oklahoma City. He did it to the Lakers. He did it to the Clippers. And now tonight to the Golden State Warriors. He goes for 38 points.

He hits eight threes. It was the 19th time this season that he's hit at least five threes in a game. That's been the biggest jump in Jalen in terms of his skill this season. He's a lot better at shooting threes off the dribble, and he's a lot better at shooting threes off the move, particularly going towards his left. And he's just turned into a much better high volume three-point shooter this year. Now, again, it's inconsistent.

He can be off sometimes and his misses have a tendency to be way off. but like when he's in that groove, it's kind of a shot you have to concede to him because of his downhill athleticism. And so with the ability to hit him off the dribble off a variety of stepbacks, with the ability to hit him off the move and while bringing that real downhill force,

you know, when he gets that shot going, you kind of have to live with it. And if you're living with it, you could lose if he's making it, just like what happened to all those great teams earlier this season. And so honestly, like that, there's a specific reason why the rockets are so tough to beat when Jalen plays that well. And it's because the strength of this team again is what they do defensively, is what they

do in transition, is what they do on the offensive glass. And the ceiling raising piece is if Fred or Jalen get it going in some real way. And Fred hasn't been able to get anything going through two games, but Jalen really started to break free tonight. And again, you know, he's inconsistent. he could just go into another type of kind of confusing, poor decision making, poor shot making type of night in game three. But if he builds some real momentum here and he gets another, you know, a couple of 30 point games in the series, it fundamentally alters the trajectory of the series just because of how difficult it is

to beat the Rockets when Jalen's playing that well. Houston's athletes really dominated the entire game. I thought of men, Thompson, even though he only had 11 points, I thought his connective playmaking in the middle of the floor really helped grease the wheels for Houston's offense. Connective playmaking to me is, you know, that piece of playmaking that comes after you've already gotten a pass from the primary initiator of the offense. So, like, that could be playmaking out of closeouts, playmaking out of short roles, playmaking out of baseline cuts, that sort of thing. Amend Thompson is so good at like making these one-timer

hockey-esque passes where he's reading the action that's taking place around him while the ball is still on its way to him. And then he'll just catch it and immediately funnel it to the next guy in the read. And it really creates a lot of quality opportunities for the Houston offense. Tar Yason was great. He hasn't shot the ball super well as of late, but he had two of them tonight. Provided a ton of rim pressure.

Had a couple transition moves that were unbelievable. Kind of zooming out from the series, this series feels a lot more to me like the Lakers Wolves series, a more dramatic version of it because there's a larger skill gap between the two teams. Obviously, Anthony Edwards and Julius Randall are substantially better primary shot creators than what Houston's working with, which is why Houston was bottom 10 half-court offense this year. And Minnesota obviously was a great offense overall this year. But it's a similar dynamic in the sense that as I talked about with the Lakers last night, the Lakers can hang on to the rope and hold up physically. Their skill should be able to lift them

over the top. But when they let go with the rope, the athleticism will overwhelm them. and they'll struggle. Similar type of vibe with Houston and Golden State. Game one of that series looked very similar to me to game two of the Lakers Wolves series from last night. In the sense that even though there was this kind of end of the game run that both teams went on, as it seemed like Golden State fatigued a little, as it seemed like the Lakers fatigued a little, they were able to stiff arm the late game runs. And it just felt like those teams were able to hang on to the rope well enough that they're, overall skill and basketball IQ gap was able to carry them over the top.

Now, again, I think the skill gap is substantial, which is obviously why Golden State is a much more substantial favorite than the Lakers are over the Wolves. I view the Lakers Wolf Series is more of a coin flip. I would be genuinely surprised if Houston beat Golden State in this series. I think Golden State is going to go home and get both of those games in game three and game four. And I think they'll go back to Houston with a chance to close the series out. my guess is that ends up being a game that Houston ends up getting and then Golden State closes this one out in six. But it's a similar dynamic just with the more dramatic skill gap between the two teams. But again, kind of like just anything that can go wrong, we'll go wrong type of night for the Warriors.

Big time night for Jalen Green. Houston evens up the series. Hopefully we'll see a full strength Warriors team versus the Rockets in game three this week. Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. news 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. 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. And 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, where 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 guide, 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, 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. Welcome to my new podcast. Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games.

And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it,

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Open your free, our heart radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey.

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Welcome to course correction, brought to you by Microsoft, just like star players and teams navigating performance hurdles. Business decision makers today are under immense pressure to get things right. They must rise to the occasion turning challenges into opportunities. Microsoft empowers these visionaries with AI solutions, simplified cloud and data management, and trustworthy, responsible AI. And when you're in the NBA, you have your own hurdles to face. In this segment, we will highlight the player every week that has risen to the occasion when his team needed him. Whatever challenge you're facing, Microsoft empowers you with the expertise to say, bring it on. This week we're highlighting Donovan Mitchell's second consecutive 30-point night in this playoff run

in the way his late game shot making helped the Cavs take you 2-0 lead over the Miami Heat. The Cavs controlled the game for the most part against Miami tonight, but as we all know, the Miami Heat never give up. They did a nice job in the fourth quarter of containing Darius Garland Drimble penetration. They used better just overall pinching in late doubles to contain high. hydrome a little bit better. They got hot from, they got hot from three. Suddenly they cut the lead down to just two points with a few minutes left in the fourth quarter. Miami had all the momentum. Cleveland was in serious danger of dropping home court advantage on a late game run from the heat.

But that was when Donovan Mitchell restored order with four incredibly tough buckets. Every single one of these was a high degree of difficulty bit of shot making. He attacked Haywood Highsmith, curling around his screen. It was a screen that the Miami Heat switched. I've talked to about this concept a lot, but attacking quickly against switches is a really easy way to get separation because often if you imagine two players, two guards running towards each other for a screen interchange, their defenders are running that way too. So as you can imagine, Donovan Mitchell's eventual defender, in this case Haywood Highsmith is moving this way, as Donovan Mitchell is moving this way, the momentum is going in opposite directions. And so if you catch and just immediately

try to turn the corner, you can get some advantages there. He turned the corner. He turned the corner on Haywood Highsmith. Haywood did a really nice job using his recovery athleticism to get back in front. But Donovan just popped down off of two feet and drifting to his left. Hit like a 10 foot floater with his right hand. Just an incredible piece of shot making. He hit a drifting left shoulder fade over Tyler Harrow. Tyler Harrow defended it extremely well. Donovan just shot it higher with more arc, got it over the top and knocked it down. He hit like this gross pullback dribble move against Nikola Yovich. This is a move. that we see Luca Donchich do a lot too, where he'll get the ball high in his right hand

and get up like he's going to go downhill, have that right leg forward, and then right when he's about to typically pound the ball for that aggressive forward move, he'll just pull the dribble back, and he'll get quick separation for a pull-up three. He did that against Nikolovic and knocked it down. He had a deep 28-footer against the hedge and recover sequence. Tyler Harrow hedged. But as Tyler Harrow was hedging and recovering as Davion Mitchell was coming back up after Davy on got through the screen in that gap between the hedge leaving and Davion coming up, Donovan found a little bit of space to pull up a deep three and just knocked it down for incredibly tough shots that ended up putting the distance between them and the heat after things got a little

precarious there. And again, that is what Donovan Mitchell brings to this team. All these guys on this team have a lot of value that they bring, right? DeAndre Hunter, textbook weekside scoring forward. Evan Mobley, defensive player of the year candidate. Evan Mowbley, a guy that can run inverted ball screens, a guy that can do a lot more on the role and has a cutter than he used to in this league. Derek Allen has become one of the top six or seven centers in the NBA as he's polished up his ability to score on the role and his ability to defendants switches. Darius Garland's ability to get anywhere he wants on the floor with his speed and his ball handling and his playmaking and his ability to set defenders up for screens. And all these different things that they do, Ty Jerome as a bench shot creator, one of the better drop coverage shopmakers in this league and a guy that demonstrated some great switch beating in game one. versus Tyler Harrow. All that's great. None of them are elite over the top shot makers.

That is the one thing that Donovan Mitchell does on that team at an elite level. Or I should say that's the only guy on that team, Donovan Mitchell is, that does that bit of elite over the top shot making really, really well. And it's exactly what you need it. I mean, a lot of times that's what happens, especially against really smart physical teams like the Miami Heat. They're going to start doing their jobs really well. and sticking to the game playing really well. And you need somebody that can hit the shots that work even against elite to perfectly executed defense.

And that's what Donovan Mitchell did tonight. He did a ton of damage. He had seven threes every which way, spotting up. He hit another one of those hedge and recover threes versus Duncan Robinson. He hit tough pull-up threes right in the face of Duncan Robinson and Haywood Highsmith. He has brought the consistent scoring upside that this team needs to be at their best. 30 points per game on 67% true shooting through the first two games of the playoffs, our player of the week.

That is it for this week's course correction. Remember, Microsoft's AI solutions empower you to take bold steps and make informed decisions, sparking new ideas to help drive your business forward. With Microsoft as your trusted partner, you can navigate your journey with confidence, finding innovative solutions, and reaching new possibilities. Visit Microsoft.com slash challengers to learn more. I just want to briefly talk about Jalen Brown and the job that he did against the magic

and then we're going to do the mailbag so make sure you guys start dropping questions in the chat. Jason Tatum being out with the wrist injury was obviously going to put a lot of pressure on Jalen Brown to create shots tonight. And I thought Jalen was just absolutely brilliant in a high volume creation role. It really helped that he had his three point shot going.

That's been a little bit of an adventure for him this year. But specifically the pull-up three, having the pull-up three off the dribble going the way he had tonight is super important for managing the flow of the game. These high volume perimeter shot creators around the league, the reason why the pull-up jump shot is so important is it's a less labor-intense way to generate points. The three-point shots worth extra, right? So if you can hit pull-up threes at about 35 percent, that's 1.05 points per shot.

That's a really efficient shot in the half court of NBA playoff games. And so when you can buy yourself five, six, seven possessions a game where you take that type of shot when you're tired, and it's a shot that you can still get high value per possession out of it while not putting the wear and tear on your legs, that's an important part of filling that type of high volume shot creation role. And it was, I just thought it was really important that Jalen Brown had that going. He misses his first couple, misses them badly, could be a completely different type of game. The two things that you got to do as a primary shot creator in order to be able to hold up over a 48-minute game, you got to be able to hit shots over the top, and you've got to be able to take easy reads that are available to you.

Oh, you're posting up and Al Horford has a close-out opportunity on the right wing. You got to make that pass because even if you can hit a right shoulder fade over a double team, it's just a lot of work on your legs. If you've got an opening to Al Horford, you've got to throw that pass. it's an easy read that will just help you get through another possession at decent value. They had a low man tag possession where Jalen just pitched it back to Peyton Pritchard on the left wing. He knocked down the three. That's an easy read.

That's just easy basketball, an extra pass in the left corner to Derek White on a sequence where Derek White's cutting through along the baseline. I thought Jalen just played a very well measured and versatile game and showed a lot of downhill pop any concerns about his knee. should be mostly alleviated tonight that donkey had in transition after the steel he had to scoop on an ISO attack of goga pitazza he did a lot of attacking uh Orlando's bigs tonight a lot of work against wendell Carter junior a lot of work against goga batadez some big uh like driving finishes through contact against palibank arrow on an island i just thought he looked great you looked physically

strong and in control of his body i just thought it was a really encouraging night for jinglin Brown. It's just a casual reminder of how great Jalen Brown is and that he's very capable of scaling up his production if that's what the team needs. What a luxury that the Celtics were able to sit their superstar in a playoff game and still get the type of shot creation they did tonight. Lots of contributions down the line. A bunch of threes from Derek White and Peyton Pritchard. Christops Porzingis did a really nice job in two-man game, getting slips, short roles, posting mismatches, things along those lines. Really impressive win for the Celtics. down Jason Tatum.

Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, name? Huge 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. 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. And we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band 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, 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 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. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamist sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth.

He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levant this went to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive?

The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud 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,

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and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsLice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12

and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. All right, let's get into some mailback questions for about 20 minutes, and then we'll get out here for the night. sound good let's do it everybody ask your questions in the youtube chat and we will get to as many them as possible we're going to start out with one that was not a specifically asked but was is the topic of all of the conversation in the chat right now which is was the amen thompson

play where jimmy butler got hurt a dirty play a reckless play or a normal basketball play it looked to me on replay that amen thompson just tripped over draymond green simultaneously with with uh jimmy butler jumping i thought it was just really just a unfortunate set of circumstances i didn't think there was anything nefarious there i have seen every single fan base i shouldn't say every single because uh not every series has that vibe there are some very comfortable series but there've been like four or five different fan bases that i've seen that have bitched and moaned about the physicality nonstop tom a abström abström had a little chart that he released today i actually it's a if you look in my

Twitter replies. Someone sent it to me today, so you'll see it there. But the, um, that chart demonstrates that fouls are getting called in this postseason run at a historically low level, like a historically low level. So it's like this for everybody. The Pistons Knicks series is like this. The Lakers Wolf series is like this. The Warriors Rocket series is like this. Have you guys watched any of Celtics magic that that series is a bloodbath? Like all of these series are bloodbaths. This is, just the way the game is being officiated these days. And even though that what happened to Jimmy is super unfortunate, like I haven't seen anything particular,

in particular in the Rockets Warrior series that I'm not seeing another series. And the reality is, is like, I'll just share a quote that LeBron had after the Minnesota game, after the win against Minnesota last night. He said, this is what it's going to be like the rest of the series. Like if you're expecting it to suddenly loosen up, if you're expecting the directive to come down from Adam Silver to say, hey, guys, let's let him play. It's not going to happen.

It's going to be a bloodbath. Everyone's got to learn how to play in that circumstance. Yeah, I agree. I think, and the point that I've seen some people make and that people are making in the chat as well is that it's a reckless play because of the general sort of over the top aggressive vibe that the rockets have, as well as the refereeing, which is sort of let it, which is true across the board, absolutely. But it's certainly letting a lot of physicality go. And those things might be true. I think those things are probably true. that type of play doesn't happen if Amman Thompson isn't told crash the glass as hard as you possibly can as much as he possibly can, right?

But it also doesn't mean that it's a reckless or a dirty play. Exactly. No, you put it very well. Like, it's not too difficult to have this sort of thing happen. This was an especially bad one because of the timing. Jimmy was at the peak of his jump and the men fell into his legs, which basically inverted him into a horizontal state like six feet of. above the ground. Like it was horrible luck, but all it really was was two guys crashing.

That's all it was. It just one guy crashed a little later and landed a little lower. And it's super unfortunate. Again, I'm hopeful that Jimmy's ready to go. My guess is that he's going to be kind of in a Steph type situation where he's wearing some kind of pad back there and just doing the best he can. But I mean, like, that's how it is. Like, like Rui Hachamura had his face messed up yesterday. He might be playing in a mask the rest of the series, like a Christop's poor Zingas messed up his face today. Jason Tatum's got a messed up wrist. Like everyone's beat to shit.

This is a war of attrition, guys. That's how this stuff goes. 100%. Another question about this game in the officiating. Why doesn't Steph Curry get any calls? So the, the, I think Steph gets a poor whistle. I would agree on that. I think that Warriors fans are on to something there.

I think that it's a little complicated. in the sense that the Warriors play an extremely physical brand of basketball with their off ball movement and cutting and screening. And so, for instance, like, I think of where, the ones that to me are egregious are like, Steph's shooting a three and Fred Van Bleets

pulling on his shorts. Like, that's a fucking foul. Blow the whistle. Like, what are we doing, guys? Like, uh, there was one in the Rockets game right before the end of the regular season where Dylan Brooks, like, straight up tackled Steph on a three. And it didn't get called. Like, there's, that those are the ones. that I think are egregious that need to be addressed.

The offball grabbing and holding stuff, that is literally, that is literally a style of play that benefits the Warriors. Steph gets grabbed and held a lot, and the Warriors set 25 illegal screens a game. So like, the reality is, is that physical dynamic of the cutting and screening and moving actually favors the warriors throughout those games.

Steph just takes a beating, but he's addressed that by dramatically improving his physical strength, He's already one of the most conditioned athletes in the league. He wins that battle more often than not. That said, I think Steph should probably start kicking and flailing and flopping a little bit more on his threes because it's getting pretty outrageous some of these calls that are going uncalled against him. Yeah.

And I also think that right or wrong, probably wrong, but right or wrong, there's a sort of, there's a difference in the whistle on a play where you are driving to the rim with the ball trying to score and when you're cutting off the ball. there's just like the Lakers get a lot of calls because LeBron James is putting his head at the rim as often as possible right like that's why they get a lot of shooting foul specifically because they are downhill attackers this team the way their offense runs is much more movement base as we've all talked about a million times and the whistle is going to be different on an offball cut than when you're at the rim with the ball is that right is that right i don't know i mean

maybe not but that's true of i think that is true of every team just the warriors run the type of this offense of any team in the league. I actually disagree in terms of the concept of driving because the Lakers are actually a team that doesn't drive to the basket much, or at least they used to before Luka, they didn't used to drive too much. This is literally it, guys.

Fowl disparity comes down to two things. How good are you at defending without fouling? And how good are you at grifting the other team into fouling? Like, you want to know why the Lakers shoot a ton of free throws? Because before the trade, it was Anthony Davis who flops and flails every single time he catches anything on the roll. And by the way, it's not from driving. Anthony draws his fouls through post-ups and rolls. Like, it's all, like, catches near the basket that result in those fouls. And then Austin Reeves,

who's, like, incredibly quick and shifty. And what he'll do is, like, what Austin will do is, like, he'll drive to a spot and shoot, like, right as the defenders is running into him. And basically, he's just very good at getting defenders out of position and drawing fouls in the mid-range. And so then what you did is you swapped Anthony Davis for Luca and Luca is one of the most gifted foul grifters in the league. And so as a result of that, Luca ends up, uh, Luca, uh, Luca ends up bolstering the free throw totals. But what's interesting is the Laker free throw disparity hasn't been nearly as good since Anthony Davis left the team. You want to know why? Because they can't defend without fouling anymore. Because most of their ability to defend without fouling was predicated on

Anthony Davis's rim protection. Like, guys, let's make it perfectly clear. Free throws are not handed out on a like fair basis like before the game. Like, all right, here's your 20 and here's your 20. You are going to receive free throws based on the kind of basketball you play on both ends of the floor. That is the only thing that is going to lead to some sort of difference in the, in your free throw shooting. And by the way, guess what happened with Golden State? They made a trade for a player who is a notoriously good foul grifter in Jimmy Butler. Does it in a different way. He does it with a lot of pump fakes,

and he does it with a lot of weird driving angles and finishing angles. Guess who's been third in free throw attempts post-all-star break? The Golden State Warriors, even higher than the Los Angeles Lakers. So literally, you got more free throws, not because Adam Silver made a phone call, but because you have a player on your team who's very good at drawing fouls. That is what it is. It's about the skill of drawing fouls,

skill of defending without fouling. That is what leads to free throw differential. Nothing else, guys. Like, that's just how it works. Let's see one more question from this game. Or maybe there's a couple, actually. If Jimmy is out for game three on a rest basis, he's, you know, pain management. Let's say he's not out for the whole series, but he's out for game three. Would you slot comminga in his spot? Would you try something radically different like Drayman at the four and potentially post at the five? Or what's the, what's the lineup change that you're making of Jimmy? I'm almost certain he'll just start post. I would, that's, I would, that's, I would, I would, that's, I got to assume.

Especially after how well he shot the ball tonight. Post battled. You know it's so funny. Quentin Post, I think he's a good player. That poor kid has no bounce. It's the craziest thing. When he gets around the basket, like he goes to jump and he doesn't get over a phone book, it's so funny.

He's had a couple of rim attacks in the last couple of games that have been hilarious. But I think Quentin Post shooting is just an easy solution there to put him in at the five. I do think we'll see a heavy dose of Kaminga if Jimmy Butler doesn't play. but my guess is that it'll be quitting post that starts. I agree. And I think that, I mean, Dremont is obviously the best individual defender option on Alperin Shangoon. But Dramon has so much value as a roaming defensive player also and being able to stick him on Amman Thompson.

It's not the same sort of solution you're looking for when you just guard him one-on-one with on Changoon. But it's going to create some more different kinds of challenges for the Rockets offense, I would guess. I do think that Golden State can beat Houston. at home without Jimmy. I flat out think they could. I think they could win both games without Jimmy if they needed to. Like, they're a real,

rested, intense golden state defensive effort at home can beat anybody even without Jimmy. Yeah. And the game was ugly tonight, but it's a weird game when a player goes out midgame. And also they're without Brennan and Pajemski. Losing your second and fourth best player

in the first quarter is going to throw your whole game plan completely out the window. Absolutely. And like we were talking about connective playmaking. with Amanda Thompson, that's literally, that's literally Brandon Pajamsky's role with this team. Both of them. Yeah. Oh, exactly.

Exactly. Both of them are the guys that grease the wheels for this offense. One more Rockets related question. This is a, you know, I think a good self-aware Rockets fan who doesn't have illusions of grandeur. How many years away are the Rockets from being legitimate title contenders? It's a very reasonable question. I think Shangun is so good and I think that their defense is so good that they are one legitimate

reliable shot creator from being a legitimate top-tier contender. The Rockets ripped off what I think was probably, I'm actually going to pull this up because I want to read it because it's so impressive to me. But the Rockets pulled off probably the most impressive stretch of regular season basketball I've seen in the last few years earlier this year. In a stretch of wins, they beat, they literally beat, they beat Minnesota. This is starting back in November. They beat Minnesota.

They beat the Thunder. they beat the clippers they beat the warriors they beat the lakers they beat the calves twice then the Celtics like they were just ripping through a good team after good team and the only thing that was really missing as I watched them this year just to take it a step further

like what were the warriors without Jimmy the Warriors without Jimmy the season were a mediocre 500-ish team that would have been closer to the Sacramento Dallas tier right jimmy butler vaulted them into contention why because if you looked at their roster they were extremely deep in all these specific areas they had the top tier superstar to hold it all together by the way step continues to look fantastic that's shooting run he had there in the late first half is really fun to watch but what do we have is this gaping hole the secondary shot

creator you address that with jimmy butler and you turn a mediocre 500-ish bottom of the playing type of team into a team that I believe is a legitimate championship contender. And if you go on draft kings right now, they're the fourth championship favorite. It's literally the four, it's the three teams at the top and it's golden state. So that is what happens when you fill a specific hole. Going back to the rocket specifically, I like Shangoon as a screen partner as a high post playmaker, a guy that can attack from the post and just do a ton of damage in the middle of the floor. They are just missing a primary ball handler that can consistently set them up with advantages in the half court. If they got Kevin Durant, like, I think they would literally

immediately be one of the top tier contenders in this league, as long as they didn't have to offload any of their specific, you know, foundational defensive talent. But they got the draft, they have the draft picks to do it to be able to pull that sort of thing off. Yeah, I agree. I think Kevin Durant, I mean, the West is pretty, pretty strong already after the Thunder. I don't know if it automatically puts them on the same level as the thunder, but I would not be unhappy if someone said they're the second best team in the West with Kevin Durant. Like they're already, I mean, they have the record. The regular season, they were the second best team in the West.

But I think collectively we can all agree they're not the second strongest title contender in the West. I think there's an argument to be made. If you add Kevin Durant to this team, you know, maybe they got to take, unload a few guys, but keeping Chingun, Amman Thompson, presumably Fred Van Fleet as well, then that might, that's a legitimate title contender without question. No, I agree. And like, there's certain things. up in the air in the sense that like we don't know what golden state's going to get this summer.

We don't know what the Lakers are going to get this summer. Both both of those teams will be legitimate, uh, like veteran minimum destinations. I think they'll like it's funny. You go back last year, they were like poor destinations for that sort of thing. And then now you go this year and they're like legitimately good destinations for that sort of thing. Obviously, who knows what's going to happen with the spurs? There are, uh, several teams that can move up or move down. But like Houston, I mean, I'd have a hard time not putting Houston second without, not knowing what the Lakers and Warriors are going to do. I'd have a hard time not putting the rocket second if they got KD.

For sure. All right, let's do a couple more here. Many Knicks fans think Tibb is holding the team back schematically. Do you think this is true or are we overreacting now? I will say there was no specific about what schematic thing. They're accusing Tibbs of, but question stands. So first of all, specifically, I just want to quickly go back to really quick follow-up on the Rockets KD thing.

One of the things that's missing from the Houston roster is rim protection, like old school, super tall rim protection. And KD would also be a force multiplier for their defense in that way. That, like, you can imagine the ability to deploy Shangoon at the level better because of KD on the back line as a guy at the rim, just a little extra shot there. But on the Knicks Pistons front, when I'm watching the film,

there's just, it really is just they're getting good looks and guys aren't knocking him down. I did think that they misused cat in game two. The putting Tobias Harris on him and the way they were guarding him, it caused them to go away from cat entirely instead of like, like the basic stat that I showed after our film session was, is they ran seven ISOs for cat in game one, and then they ran zero ISOs for cat in game two.

But like, it's really difficult for me to get hyper-focused on specific tactical. things when like a couple more guys knocked down wide open catch and shoot threes that have been hitting them all season and you're in a really good position to win and like I've heard people criticize the minute totals who's the guy on that bench that you like really trust to like play big minutes like this isn't minnesota's bench you don't have nazaree and dante devencenzzo coming off the bench you've got some flawed players in there like i'm watching jericho sims it's a little touch and go when jericho sims is out there you know what i mean like it's it's not exactly a situation where Tibbs has a lot of options to go to there in terms of lineup structure.

The, I do think that I would lean a little bit more into Kat and OG on the ball, just simply because even though Brunson's been fantastic and he's come on strong at the end of games, I think there is something to be said about being too heliocentric and a disrupting rhythm. That's become a little bit of a talking point in Lakers' Twitter now, centering around Luca and his shot selection specifically early in games, which was something that they adjusted in game too. just have a better opportunity to get you like just put it simply your pathway to victory is not having cade and brunson have a one-on-one you and i talked about this after game two kate's out playing

him to this point so like at like brunson's putting up giant numbers but kate has been controlling the flow of these games so like your pathway is that you have the aggregate talent you have the other guys that you can go to and so it is on the coaching staff to make sure that they get at some of those face-up opportunities. Like he's so much bigger and stronger than Tobias Harris, he should be able to do more damage there. Fully agree. Lakers question,

what are your thoughts on how the Lakers are managing LeBron's minutes? Do you think you're going to get diminishing returns with him at, you know, he's playing 40 minutes of games, having to fly around on defense? Are we worried about the minutes logged for LeBron Jan as the, assuming the Lakers keep going in the playoffs? No, it's the playoffs. It's the Western Conference.

You don't get to play Miami in the first round. Like, you don't get to play Orlando in the first round. You have to play these, like, there's literally seven championship contenders in the Western Conference. You know what I mean? I mean, if we don't include Houston, call it six. Like, you, it's just really, really difficult to pull back on LeBron's minutes when he's the defensive anchor. Like, he's the Draymond. He's the guy that's putting everybody in their spots.

He's the guy that's flying around. He's their best defensive rebounder. I don't really see a universe where you can pinch LeBron's minutes down. and frankly, like, I don't think LeBron wants to. I think LeBron wants to scale it up the way that he has to. And honestly, like, for both of these teams, Golden State and the Lakers, like you survive Houston, you survive Minnesota. You're probably not going to run into a more physical team at any other point in the postseason.

The Grizzlies had a tough end of their season. If they decide and or Jah decides to move on and part ways, what would be a good destination for Jha? That's a good question. Let's take a look at the standings here. What about Houston? Houston could use him. I mean, personality-wise, he fits, I feel like. So, OKC doesn't need a guard, Cleveland doesn't need a guard, Boston doesn't need a guard,

the Knicks don't need a guard, the Lakers don't need a guard, Denver, that's a terrible fit, Indiana, terrible fit, flippers don't need a guard, Minnesota doesn't need a guard, Milwaukee? Is there like an insane job that they don't have the assets to pull that off? um Orlando would be an interesting one if Orlando looked at it and they were like okay this franz and paula thing it just neither of them can shoot the ball well enough but i mean john morant has similar problems um what about like a tray young Atlanta type of conversation that would be an interesting one Sacramento seems like the kind of team that would throw a bunch of assets for john I don't yeah Sacramento playing point guard point card spend exactly we already got wemby a guard

with the air and fox Brooklyn what about Brooklyn Brooklyn's fun that I mean Brooklyn's being going to be linked to everybody this summer there the honest reports are already swirling yeah Brooklyn I think is is is one that makes some sense all these all these other teams I just don't see I don't even see why they would make some sort of move for job so like if you're making a move for job you got to feel like you're close enough that a move like that pushes you over the top. So like if you're Brooklyn, you can look at it like, we have a better rim protector and Nick Claxton.

Sorry, Jaron Jackson, you foul too much and you're a terrible rebounder. But you have rim protection with Nick Claxton. You've got spot up shooting. There's a lot of youthful exuberance and athleticism there. Brooklyn, I think Brooklyn is the team that's standing out to me from the standings. What you think? Yeah, I like Brooklyn. I think that's a good one.

I had this thought and now I'm kind of. a galaxy brain take that I actually don't know if it works, but I was wondering if there's a world where there's a Phoenix Suns move in there, if there's a Brat, because the Suns are making moves. I'm wondering if there's a KD trade or a Bradley Biel trade, but ultimately, I don't think you're trading for Bradley Biel. What do you have, Desmond Bain? So it probably doesn't quite work.

Yeah, dude, it looks bleak for Memphis, man. It's bleak from Memphis. Because it's like, Jaws, the one guy, as I've talked so much this season, he's the one guy that has legitimate superstar upside, but he hasn't gotten any better in three, four years. Desmond Bain is like perfectly fine. Like I actually like Desmond Bain's game. Every time I watch him, I like, he's a intense competitor.

He can, he defends a lot better than people give him credit for. He is like an awesome off-screen player. But he just has a certain limitation as things get a little tougher. And then Jaron Jackson is like, I've watched Jaron Jackson play games where I'm like, oh my God, no one can handle this guy. Like I remember the game in Boston earlier this year when he was just hitting hook after hook after hook. and it's like he is just eating these dudes a lot.

But he just, he's, he, he, in certain games just doesn't see the floor well and can completely disappear offensively. He's super foul prone. He's nowhere near as good defensively as his reputation would lead you to believe. There's just, and then like, Jaylon Wells is a good, like Memphis gets a lot of good, useful young players like that. But he's not the three and D guy that Dylan Brooks was or D&3 guy that Dylan Brooks was, I should say.

You know, Brandon Clark, obviously that. injury forces you to lean on Santiago Alma a lot more. But like, even when they were fully healthy this year, they were consistently bad against the top teams in the league. So it's like, I think it's, I think, I think you go into the summer if you're Memphis and you quietly shop everybody and you just start looking for the best possible deals and just kind of blow this thing up incrementally as the deals come around. There's going to be a team out there that could use Desmond Bay. Oh, I agree. I think Houston is, that's a fun one. If they strike out, if they somehow don't get Kevin your right, which it seems all signs are pointing to them getting.

Kevin Durant. But if they don't get Kevin Durant, I think taking a swing at job would be awesome. He's better than Jalen Green. Jalen Green is like your textbook. If the pull-up jump shots going, he's unbelievable. But if it's not going, then it's a complete adventure. John Morant brings some real, like, rim pressure playmaking ability that that Jalen just doesn't bring. And he, you know, he has his deficiencies as a player too, but he is a legitimately special last possession ISO score. He is. Oh, my God. Yeah. He is so good at that. Dude, if they, that's what makes like the Memphis thing so tantalizing is if they could figure everything else out, like that, that ability to get into a close game where Jaws is just going to

beat someone off the dribble to his left hand and then just pop up off the floor from eight feet knocked down that floater that nobody can guard. Like it, like that upside is there. Just it, he hasn't become well rounded enough to be a good floor raiser the way that he used to be. And the team itself is not talented enough in terms of two way talent. All right. let's do one more question we got a couple questions about this uh jason what is your hair care uh i have no idea because i this is my first time in my life having long hair um i i i my wife gets me like

a real basic like curl cream thing that i use that that she's in charge of my wife also has hair of similar length so we've been joking around that we have the same hair these days but frankly i'm still learning how to do it like uh i finally started using these headbands because it was getting out of control. I got sick and tired of having it flop around while I was trying to do the show. And then the other thing that's been driving me crazy, Jackson, is I wear this headband when I'm playing now, like a big headband. And like I will come off of a screen and like elevate into a jump shot and a little piece of hair will come over and like hit me in the eye. And I'm like, all right, it's time to get a haircut. Like this is driving me crazy.

It's not worth it if it's offering additional contests on the pull-up jump shot. That's how I know my hair. It's how I know I need a haircut is when my hair gets. I'm like, damn, I just got hit. I hit myself in the eye somehow. Yeah, exactly. I get, like, viscerally upset about it. But it's like, you can't, like, I can't, it's not long enough to, like, put in a ponytail and I don't let it get that long.

So, like, it's not one of those things where I can just strap it all back. I kind of just have to keep it under control. But, uh, good question. Uh, that's all we have for tonight, guys. As always, we sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting me and supporting the show. One other bit of bit of news, I did record with my buddy Luke, a podcast that covered the first three episodes of Andor. So if you guys are Star Wars fans, head over to Tucson's podcast.

And I have a link of it on my Twitter feed as well at underscore Jason LT, but you can get a reaction to the first three episodes of Andor. Otherwise, tomorrow morning, we're going to have a brief film session on the Celtics Magic game. And then right back to it tomorrow night, live on YouTube after the final buzzer. I will see you guys then. 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 and a review. As always, I appreciate you guys supporting us, but if you could take a minute to do that, I'd really appreciate it. The Volume. Hey, guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers.

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