The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - Pacers-Celtics Reaction: Jaylen Brown DROPS 40, Boston routs Indy, Haliburton hurt

Episode Date: May 24, 2024

Jason Timpf reacts to Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and the Boston Celtics' dominant 126-110 Game 2 win over Tyrese Haliburton, Pascal Siakam, and the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals. Jason breaks down the game's biggest highlights, Brown and Tatum's big nights, Haliburton's injury, and more of his main takeaways ahead of Game 3 in Indiana. Timeline (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 04:00 - Pacers-Celtics Reaction 09:35 - Celtics attacked Tyrese Haliburton 17:00 - Jaylen Brown goes off 19:40 - What's next for Pacers? 21:35 - Game 3 Predictions 24:20 - NBA Mailbag  #volume #herdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight here at the volume. Happy Thursday, everybody. Hope all of you guys are having a great week so far. We're going to get an instant reaction in for Eastern Conference Finals game two as Boston goes up 2 on the Indiana Pacer. It's going to break that game down from the perspective of both teams. and then we're going to do a mailbag at the end of the show today. So drop as many questions as you guys like.

Let's have some fun. Let's go all over the place. Drop some questions in the chat. And Paul, our producer, is going to text them over to me. And we'll do a mailbag at the tail end of the show. You guys know the drill before we get started. Subscribe to our brand of YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason LTE.

So you guys don't miss show announcements. Don't forget about our podcast feed. Wherever you get your podcast under hoops tonight. And keep dropping mailbag questions in those YouTube comments. We can keep hitting them throughout the rest of the postseason. And last minute least, before we get started, I want to talk to you guys about game time. They've got an amazing ticket buying experience. I had a great experience with them earlier this year as I went to Mikhail Center to watch the University of Arizona men's basketball team play.

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And it's not convoluted. You can check out in as few as two. taps. It's fun watching games on TV, but nothing beats being there in person to see these guys and nothing beats intense high stakes basketball. So get out to the arena to see these guys, see Anthony Edwards, see Tyrese Halliburton, see Lucas, see Jason Tatum, make sure you guys get out there and check it out. They also have things like flash deals and zone deals. I like the zone deal idea. You just pick a section. Game time chooses the seats for you within that section. You get extra savings. Take the guesswork out of buying professional basketball tickets with Game Time. Download the

Time app, create an account and use code hoops for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account. Redeem code hoops. That's H-O-O-P-S for $20 off. Download game time today. Last-minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. All right, let's talk some basketball. So Celtics won this game with defense, in my opinion. It kind of went more or less like I expected it to after watching the film from game one. Again, as I talked about, I thought in game one that Boston kind of got outplayed and specifically just wasn't sharp on the defensive end in a bunch of different phases. We went over a film session yesterday where I kind of showed you guys the specifics,

just really struggling with communication and execution in their switches. So anytime Indiana would just run multiple interchanges, you know, Indiana goes fast. I showed some examples in the film session where like in a four second span or in a six second span they'd get to like three or four dribble handoffs or like three or four different cuts and screens and different. interchanges, right? And like, Boston just wasn't very sharp there. And then the second piece of it was the pick and roll. They really, really struggled handling Tyrese Halliburton and Miles Turner in pick and roll, right? And so one of the things I talked about was they get this win in the win column, but they're also going to get embarrassed when they go look at the film. And so they should

come into game two with the requisite level of energy and just kind of passion to rectify that situation, right? And like, it was a little rough in the first quarter tonight, especially specifically when it came to handling the switches, but then they settled down. They had this awesome defensive run to start the second quarter. In particular in that run, that 20 to zero run that spanned the end of the first quarter into the early second quarter. They went from down 27, 22, 22, 27. And in that span, Indiana was trying to attack their switching by just throwing the ball down to the post and their guards were holding up in the post. They were fronting the post enforcing turnovers.

They were getting out in transition. Jalen Brown was just unbelievable during that run. He was unbelievable in the entire game. And, you know, there were a couple points where the Pacers kind of made little runs, but Boston seemed to be in control throughout. It was very, very different than game one in the sense that I thought Boston just, like actually asserted themselves thoroughly outplayed Indiana in one in a very impressive fashion. Remember the specifics that we talked about were communicating and executing switches better,

which they did a much better job. The second piece was the pick and roll piece, right? So the direction that Joe Missoula went, which I thought was fascinating. He actually went with Jalen Brown on Miles Turner instead of Jason Tatum, although Jason Tatum also spent time on Miles Turner during the game. And then they went with Horford on Siakum. And what was fascinating about that is it put all of the scoring pressure on Siakum, both in pick and roll and in their switching situations. The main reason why is Boston ran a lot of centerless lineups in this game by virtue of the wrist injury.

So Luke Cornett, it was a lot of like, the four starters plus with Horford off the floor and there'd be O'Shea Berset in there, right? Or they did some with Samhouser as well. But a lot of these like small groups where they did a lot of switching. And in those groups, that, again, when you look at Indiana, when Indiana is healthy. And when I mean healthy, I mean like the Tyrese Halliburton that we saw at the beginning of the season, they have two guys that can beat switches, right? Because Seacum can beat switches and Tyrese Halliburton can beat switches.

Tyrese, his first step just isn't as quick since he's had his hamstring injury. He was kind of starting to get it back. And then it seems like he might have aggravated it tonight, which is obviously frustrating if you're a Pacer's fan. But because Siakam is literally their only matchup attacking forward that can do damage to switches, it just puts all of the scoring pressure on Pascal Seaccom, both in ball screens and when they go to their switching attack. And for the most part, they did fine in ball screens.

There were a couple of pick and pop threes that Pascal Seaccombe hit in the early third quarter. But other than that, like, they, they kind of had that under wraps, right? And so, like, as a result, it turned into a lot of trying to attack in isolation situations. Like I said, the Pacers really tried to force the ball into the post, especially in that first half. And they just couldn't get any anything going. Seacom was the one guy that they were able to get going. And don't get me wrong, he had an awesome game. He cooked everybody in the post with, you know, short little face-up jumpers, turn around jumpers, quick driving moves to the basket like Siakum had an amazing night. But the flip side is, is because of the fact that you had

Horford on Seacum and you had Turner with a wing on him. And because of the fact that they went to so many centerless lineups, it was just a lot of that type of ISO attack. It kind of removed the Halliburton ball screen from the equation. And he was also kind of unaggressive in this game, which part of that I think was the switching. Part of that was probably whatever was going on with this hamstring. But even though Seacom went off, you pretty much held everyone else in check and got out of there with the win. And again, I want to shout out specifically Derek White, Drew Holiday and O'Shea Berset, especially in that 20-0 run there that spanned the late first and early second. Those guys all held up really, really well against massive size mismatches

in the post. And it was a big part of how they got so many stops in this game. So smart adjustments from Joe Missoula and going small and putting a keeping Horford on Siakum throughout. And then two, just better execution in their switches led to a much better defensive performance and a comfortable win for Boston. On the offensive end, literally everything was built around attacking Tyrese Halliburton. The vast majority of action that Boston ran in this game was two-man game with either one of the Jays and one of the guards, meaning Derek White or Drew Holiday, right? When the guards were on the ball, it was about getting Tyrese Halliburton to try to navigate over the screen and contain a guy like Derek White or Drew Holliday. holiday on the drive, right? Spend most of the time on Derek White. And there was a, there was a sequence in the third quarter that I thought best demonstrated this, right? Both

of them were, one of them was on the left wing. I think one was at the top of the key, if I remember correctly. But it was Derek White, ball handler, Tatum setting the screen. Neesmith is on Tatum, right? Neesmith doesn't want to switch off of Tatum. Halliburton's chasing over the top because Derek White's an excellent three-point shooter and you can't just duck underneath the pick. He's been torching people with that for that all postseason, right? So, on the ball screen on the left wing, Neesmith kind of lunges and throws a token little, you know, kind of like a dig down at Derek White,

but then he recovers back to Tatum. And so as Halliburton's chasing over the top, Derek White just easily gets all the way downhill and gets a layup. Very next possession, they run the exact same thing. This time, Neesmith is thinking, I got to help because Derek White just got a layup. So he sinks down into the lane and they effectively double team Derek White. Derek White pitches it back to Jason Tatum.

There's a closeout from the wing. Tatum toast that guy off the dribble, gets in the lane, and dunks it. So, like, essentially, you're damned if you do, damned if you don't, if you're Aaron Smith, because you didn't help, Derek White got a layup. You did help. Jason Tatum got a dunk. And so, like, that's kind of the predicament that they're in there with Tyrese Halliburton on Derek White.

And then when the wings had the ball, so like it, like, think of that as like an inverted ball screen, right? So you have a forward essentially running a ball screen with a guard setting the screen. If Halliburton hedged, they would just try to try to draw. drag the hedge out as far as they could so that it was a tough closeout. And then Derek White or Drew Holiday would slip out of it to the top of the key. And they'd get wide open catch and shoot threes out of it. Jalen Brown generated a couple of threes for Derek White that way.

Tatum generated some threes that way too. They just did a really nice job dragging that hedge out. And then if they didn't drag the hedge, like if they just switched. So like if Halliburton showed on that hedge and then whoever was guarding the Ford, whether it was Aaron Neesmith or Andrew Nemhard, recovers and just stays home, or excuse me, just stays home and switches onto Derek White or or Jew Holiday, then Tatum would just kind of methodically back Tyrese Halliburton down into that 15 foot area and just get to those short range jumpers that he can make. And obviously

he got going in that third quarter stretch, Tate him had a rough start to this game, but had a good finish at the end. But like that was really the gist of it. Everything for Boston centered around attacking Tyreys Halliburton, either in ball screens where he was guarding the guard or in inverted ball screens where he had to hedge. And they just really don't have an answer for that. And that's a big part of Tyrie Saliverton's specificity in this game, right? Like you're just, you're wearing him out. You're just wearing them out by making them work on the defensive end, the entire game. In general, I just thought the Celtics had a really good offensive night in terms of aggression towards the rim and decision making when they got there. Like again, like I said

at the beginning, they got outplayed in game one and won anyway. That's not what happened tonight. The Celtics took care of business, played up to their potential. And they out. class the Pacers as they should. They're a better team, and they took a two zero lead. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey, it's Edwin Castro, also known as Castro 1021. And I'm Conky, his best friend and business manager. And we've got a new show called The 1021 Podcast. I'm taking you behind the scenes on how I became one of Twitch's most popular streamers. We also love sports. And with the World Cup right around the corner, we'll be breaking down the biggest storylines ahead of the big tournament. here in the USA. Listen to the 1021 podcast on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your

podcasts. The story I've told myself about love or relationships can then shape my behavior, and that can lead me to sabotage the possibility of connection. This Mental Health Awareness Month, tune into the podcast deeply well with Debbie Brown and explore the journey of healing, self-discovery, and explore the journey of healing, self-discovery, and returning to yourself. We explore higher consciousness, emotional well-being,

and the practices that help you find clarity, peace, and self-mastery in a world that can feel overwhelming. The world is becoming lonelier. We're not becoming more social and connected. We're becoming more individualized, but we actually meet people in connection. If you've been searching for a soft place to land while doing the work to become whole,

this podcast is for you to hear more. Listen to deeply well with Debbie Brown from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Jared Adano. You might know me as that loud guy who yells out, help on the internet. Help! Somebody! Please! But there's so much more to me than me.

I'm an actor. I'm a comedian. And recently, I've become quite the helper myself. And on my new podcast, hope from a hypocrite, I'll be changing lives. helping people in need with my sage advice and thoughtful solutions. Sike, I'm a comedian. I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff, rant,

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the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to help from a hypocrite as part of the Mike Coulthura Podcast Network available on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Jaylon Brown was just, I thought, just a wrecking ball athlete in this game. He was flying around everywhere on defense. He had good on ball possessions. He was jumping, passing lanes, and getting out in transition,

running his lane in transition in general. He was flat out toasting people off the dribble and getting into the lane and drawing multiple bodies and throwing kickout passes. He did it in like just straight ISO situations. He did it, a lot of work in semi-transition. He had this like double, double crossover move. I think it was on Siakum along the left wing when he got all the way into the basket. He grabbed a couple of offensive rebounds. He had to play early where Ernie Smith was trying to box him out, but he's just smaller and not as strong. And Jalen just kind of swum around the baseline, got in there and got a little

hook shot off in the lane. Again, I thought he was the primary driving force of a lot of Boston success tonight. And he was the guy that was really running the offensive end of that 20-0 run. We talked a lot about the guards and the job they did on defense, but Jalen Brown was unbelievable on offense during that 20-0 run. I thought he just completely dominated this basketball game on both ends of the floor. So tip of the cap to him. And again, they needed it because Jason Tatum had a little bit of a rough night until the end and Jalen Brown more than made up for it. Then lastly, Derek White, his ability to run those ball screens with the Jays. And that means like duck under the pick, the pull-up three. Chase over the top, get downhill, either make decisions or get all the way

to the rim and finish. That ain't his ability to run those inverted ball screens where he could set a good pick and then pop to the three-point line and quickly get his feet set and shoot or make decisions out of it driving the close-out. That is just a huge asset to this offense. It felt like every single three he hit tonight was huge in terms of the momentum situations in the game. Really, really impressive performance from Boston on both ends of the floor. On the Indiana front. So Boston has basically solved your offense by virtue of putting all of the onus on Siakum to score. That's what we talked about earlier, right? Like in ball screens, he has to score because Horford's in a drop.

They're pressuring the rim and Seacom's popping out to the three point line, right? So like he's got to hit those pick and pop threes. He's got to find a way to score if Horford recovers to him on the roll, right? And then when they go to when Boston goes small and they switch everything, he's the one guy who can consider. consistently get quality shots against size mismatches in straight ISO situations, right? So, like, it's a testament to how important his addition was. And that's why I loved the trade at the time.

Like, I love the idea of, like, a offensive initiating, like, playmaker in addition to a matchup attacking forward or a matchup attacking anything, right? Like, that's even why, like, Kyrie Irving alongside Luca Donchitz, right? Because Luca can be the engine of the offense and generate all these quality shots. But Kyrie, like, he can just go get a bucket. right and he can attack specific matchups and just create something out of nothing. Same kind of thing with Jamal Murray and Nicole Yokic. Yokic is the offensive engine. He runs everything.

And then you've got this guy that can go get a bucket, right? And so Seacum is kind of amounted to that for Indiana. But it's the reality of the limitations of this version of Halliburton, which is back before he heard his hamstring at the beginning of the season, I thought he was pretty good beating switches. And it's because he just was so good, those long strides. He had a lot of like scooping layups where he'd like beat someone off the dribble and then kind of take like a little bit of a wide route and go up high. He was really good with the floaters, but he's just not getting downhill as easily in this playoff run as he did before his injury. And so,

again, that's the ultimate version of this team. If the Pacers are going to achieve something greater in the future, it's got to be both of them. It's got to be Halliburton at this like peak version of himself as like a scoring playmaker. And then Pascal Seacum is that matchup attacking forward. Heading back to Indiana, I think they can get one based on. on the strength of their chaotic ball and player movement and the crazy pace that they play at at home and the home. Indiana is undefeated at home in this playoff run right now, but Boston is undefeated on the road too. And so like if Boston doesn't relax, which by the way, they have a tendency to when they get a lead, but like if Boston doesn't relax, like this thing could be over in four.

I'm going to go ahead and stick. I'm going to go with Boston in five for right now. Just simply because I do think Indiana has the ability to get one at home on the strength of their home crowd, but this could very easily be over in four games, deeply concerning that Tyrese Halliburton's hamstring has flared up again because they just have no shot without him. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days I'd put on 10 pounds, I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth.

Listen to Superhuman on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's Edwin Castro, also known as Castro 1021. And I'm Conky, his best friend and business manager. And we've got a new show called The 1021 Podcast. I'm taking you behind the scenes on how I became one of Twitch's most popular streamers. love sports. And with the World Cup right around the corner, we'll be breaking down the biggest storylines ahead of the big tournament here in the USA. Listen to the 1021 podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The story I've told myself about love

or relationships can then shape my behavior and that can lead me to sabotage the possibility of connection. This mental health awareness mind, tune into the podcast deeply well with Debbie Brown and explore the journey of healing, self-discovery, and returning to yourself. We explore higher consciousness, emotional well-being, and the practices that help you find clarity, peace, and self-mastery in a world that can feel overwhelming. The world is becoming lonelier. We're not becoming more social and connected. We're becoming more individualized, but we actually meet people in connection. If you've been searching for a soft place to land while doing the work to become whole, this podcast is for you to hear more.

Listen to deeply well with Debbie Brown from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Jared Adano. You might know me as that loud guy who yells out, help on the internet. Help! Somebody! Please! But there's so much more to me than that. I'm an actor. I'm a comedian. and recently I've become quite the helper myself. And on my new podcast, Hope from a Hypocrite, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with my sage advice and thoughtful solutions.

Sike, I'm a comedian. I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff rant and recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to man. If I'm calling you, even if you're on your phone, let it ring twice. one ring is too scary. Oh, cream of chicken suit. Hey, cream. Cream a chicken suit. This is Help from a Hypocrite,

the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from Hypocrat as part of the Mike Cultura podcast network available on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, let's get to the mailbag before we get out of here tonight. If Halliburton is out, are you worried about Boston facing a much tougher team in the finals after coasting through the east.

Here's the thing. This is the beauty of a seven-game series. So, like, yeah, there's something to be said about an adjustment if they go from, I mean, the main thing is just you're going to be going up against a much better defensive team. Like, Cleveland did not have the wings to throw at Tatum and Brown, right? Like, Indiana doesn't really either. Like, Aaron Neesmith does a good job, but he's kind of undersized, right? Like same thing goes for that first round matchup against the Miami Heat.

Like with Jimmy Butler out, they just didn't really have like the wing athleticism to hang with the Jays, right? So like it'll be an adjustment when they get to the finals and all of a sudden it's, you know, Jaden McDaniels and Anthony Edwards or it's PJ Washington and Derek Jones Jr. Like you're definitely stepping up a level in competition. I mean, I don't even think Celtics fans would be crazy enough to think that any of these three teams they've played are as good as some of these teams out in the Western Conference. that said, like, Boston's also on that level.

Like throughout it all, like, there's multiple things are true. Like, has Boston had an easy path through the postseason? Yes. Is the Eastern Conference substantially weaker than the Western Conference? Yes. But Boston is also a Dame good basketball team who's every bit as good, if not better than those teams in the Western Conference. So like, will there be an adjustment?

Sure, but that's the whole purpose of a seven game series. And also, like, you get rewarded for your success in the regular season. Like there was some of its luck. Like, I thought if you ranked the top five teams in the east, the other four after Boston all ended up in the other side of the bracket. So they only had to face one of those teams, which is good fortune, sure. But like you got that by virtue of the success you had in the regular season. Same thing goes with the home court advantage piece of it.

Because like, let's say it's an adjustment, but you also have home court. And home court in the NBA finals, whoever comes out of the West, it's going to be a lot of guys who have never played in the finals. Whereas for Boston, Derek White's been there, Jason Tatum's been there, Jalen Brown's been there, Al Horford's been there. They've got a lot of guys that have been there before. So, like, I would argue the home court piece and then them having finals experience while the outside of Kyrie Irving, you're just not getting that out of the,

out of the Western Conference piece of it. I think that Boston is going to be fine in that regard. Like, I don't think it's going to come down to Boston adjusting, necessarily. I do think that that could be a factor, but I think it's more likely just going to come down to, is Boston going to reach their ceiling? Are they going to have good decision making on offense? Are they going to bring consistent defensive effort? Is Jason Tatum going to be able to go toe to toe to with whoever the best player is that comes out of that Western conference team? Like if Jason Tatum runs into a Luca Donchich, let's say, I think Luca

Donchus is the second best player in the world? Is Tatum going to be able to win that matchup the way that he badly lost, like, because he badly lost that matchup against Steph two years ago, right? So Like those are the things that I think are going to play a much bigger role for Boston than the adjustment period. Do you think that part of Tatum's inconsistency on offense is that he doesn't have a reliable spot that he is comfortable with? For example, the Yokich hookshot or the SGA mid-range. So I think that most of this just comes down to approach for Jason Tatum. And what I mean by that is like, I actually do think that Tatum is capable of getting to a consistent spot on the floor where he can be, profoundly efficient consistently on a possession by possession basis.

For me, that's the block. Like, I would love to see Tatum just work off the right block cleared side. Like that be his like go-to spot on the floor to operate. That's what I'm hoping for him in the long run. I think that part of his skill development has been overly focused on tough shot making. And the thing with tough shot making is there's real value in it. There really is. I'm not going to sit here and pretend like it doesn't matter.

And it's come through for Jason Tatum in a lot of big ways over the year. I remember I remember him hitting a huge right shoulder fade away from like 20 feet to ice the bucks in game six of the 2022 Eastern Conference semifinals. Like he's gone to tough shot making in situations that have come through for him and there is value. But to me, the value of tough shot making is rescue possessions, meaning like there's five seconds on the shot clock and I just need to get something up. Late game situations where it's like we're, you know, we're within, you know, 15 seconds. left and I need to get a shot or like it's uh they're switching everything and we're not getting anything open in in our ball and player movement so I just need to be able to get to my spot and knock down a shot uh like those those coverage beaters too like if you're going against a drop coverage

and a guy dies on the pick like yeah you need to be able to hit a pull up jumper but like tatum just leans on him too much like it's it's pull up jump shots make up damn near half of his shot die and that's a problem that's that to me is that is leaving meat on the bone that is playing away strengths. You know what I mean? Like, Tatum, I know this is a, this kind of is a strange comp because LeBron and Jason Tatum are very different players, but like LeBron developed an over the top shot making game. But his best trait was he was bigger and stronger and more athletic than everybody, right? And so like the vast majority of LeBron's work was done at, in athleticism based plays, whether it was transition attacks, attacking out of the post, you know, like getting downhill and ball screens.

and then LeBron would use pull-up shot-making as like a as like basically a ceiling razor. And that's kind of what I want to see Jason Tatum do. Now, I think he'll need a little bit more pull-up shot-making because he's not the straight line. He's not as like quick off the first step as LeBron James was, obviously. But Jason Tatum is one of the biggest and strongest forwards in the league. He has the ability to guard centers in the post. He can demolish players with size mismatches. And so for me, it's just about, kind of tilting some of his shot selection, like taking it from, like, if you just take two or three of those possessions a game where you take a pull-up jumper and you turn those

into physically aggressive moves towards the basket, that to me will dramatically increase his consistency on the offensive end. But again, like when we have these conversations, I think it's important to remind ourselves that Jason Tatum is a Swiss Army knife that does a lot of really useful things for a basketball team. And this is not one of those things where it's like, oh, his jumper's not falling tonight. So now he's useless. That's not. what it is. It's just he is, he plays into more inconsistency by relying too much on his jump shot when he's not particularly good at it. And like outside of like a month spanning late December to January this year, he was a bad pull-up shooter. He was. So like it's not a huge surprise that

I think my microphone might have just crapped out again. Let's see. We're okay. But like outside of like outside of like a month, month and a half there, like he's a bad pull-up shooter. So it's not a that he gets into these situations and they're more inconsistent, right? But like in terms of like where I think his spot will be in the long run, again, I think it's in that right block, cleared side, trying to go to work

using his size advantages. Would you ever take a coaching job for a college program or the MBA? I would never take a college job just because like a couple of things. If you are an assistant at the college level, you almost like a good portion of your workload becomes like clerical work.

It's a lot of like checking on the kids' grades, like recruiting visits, scouting visits, like things along those lines. It's a lot of that kind of stuff. And obviously as a head coach, there's a lot of that kind of responsibility as well, especially on the recruiting side, right? And like for me, like I love basketball. I want to focus on basketball. So like to me, college doesn't really satisfy that specific need.

I think there would be just too much non-basketball related side of the business. I would love to coach in the NBA one day, but it's just completely unrealistic. coaching is very much a fraternity. Everyone is very, like, it's so, in order to get into that side of the business, you have to like take some job in a film room somewhere and, and just grind and grind and grind and maybe just maybe you'll get an opportunity to be an assistant somewhere one day, or maybe you'll have some sort of connection, but like chances are, like, as much as I'd love that opportunity, it's just unrealistic. And so it's not something that I plan on. But to answer the question, if the Charlotte Hornets called me tomorrow and was like, hey, do you

on a position as one of our end of the bench assistance, I'd be like, fuck yeah, let's go. Let's do it. Just because for me, I just, like nothing, as much as I love talking about the game, nothing beats the competitiveness. Nothing beats like being in a locker room, being with those guys in trying to achieve the ultimate goal and going after a championship of whatever type it is.

But again, it's unrealistic, so it's not something I plan on. What's the biggest difference between this series and the Knicks series for the Pacers where the Knicks also went up to, I'll keep it really simple. Boston's a much, much, much better basketball team. would Darius Garland be a good fit for the Lakers? I'm going to put it this way. I saw this moving around today.

To me, Austin Reeves is like 90, 95% the basketball player that Darius Garland is. You could argue he's a better playoff player. And he costs a tiny fraction as much. And he's already on the roster. So like to me, any sort of deal for Garland would require the aggregation of salaries and sending out too many good players, I think the Lakers would get worse. So I flat out don't like that kind of deal.

Who would guard Jalen Brown for the Mavs or the Wolves? So I think what they would probably do if it was Dallas, is I think we'd see PJ Washington on Jason Tatum, and then I think we'd see Derek Jones Jr. on Jalen Brown. But I could see that matchup getting moved around quite a bit. Tyra Irving has defended guards so well in this postseason run. that I think that Pairoa you could handle probably the Derek White assignment, right? And then I think they probably try to hide Luca Donchich on Drew Holiday.

And they probably use Drew Holiday a lot as a screener. The thing is, this is the problem with Boston. And this is one of the reasons why everyone, you know, like everyone keeps writing off Boston and saying the Western teams are better. And like, I may pick the Western Conference team, but like whoever comes out of the West, like even if I do pick them, it's like a 55, 45, 45 kind of thing. Like I think Boston is damn good. and I might end up picking Boston.

I'm not sure we'll see when we get to that point. But one of the main reasons why is because Boston just presents massive matchup problems for everybody. It's kind of like the Tyrese Halliburton piece. Like you're putting Tyrus Halliburton on Derek White. You have to put him on Derek White because Drew Holiday will punish him in the post. And like you can handle the Derek White problem with more team-based concepts. But like that's just the problem. Derek White's freaking amazing.

And you're putting Tyrus Albert on him because you just have no choice. And like that's just the reality of the predicament that Boston, puts you in because they have so many damn good basketball players. You know, like they have four dudes making over 30 million. And it's not like, oh, they're on bad contracts. They all deserve to be making at least that much. And then Derek White is the one guy who doesn't. And he probably deserves to make 30, 35 million a year based on what he does on both ends of the floor.

So like Boston is just super, super talented. And those are the problems that they can, those are the predicaments that they can put you in. In terms of the Timberwolves, my guess is that they probably put Jaden McDaniels on Jason Tatum and Anthony Edwards on Jalen Brown. But again, it's the same kind of thing. I think you'd see some interchangeability there. That would be an interesting series for the Carl Anthony Towns kind of fit in terms

of the matchups. And I wonder how often the wolves would have to go small and put Nikiel Alexander Walker on the floor. Did players used to get this much shit for poor performances in just one game or is it happening more now with more exposure in today's NBA? I've noticed this

in general over the years with Twitter. Everybody wants to take victory lapse or or admit they're wrong after one game, which is like absolutely crazy to me. I mean, even just in the last round, let's see like Dallas lost game one and won the series. Denver lost game one and led by 20 in game seven in the second half, right? What was the Knicks went up to O and the Pacers ended up winning that series. So like in general, when it comes to the postseason, like I am a big believer in like no matter what you think, don't. react to anything until you've seen multiple games and you've seen all the adjustments.

Like, let's say Indiana wins game one without that, you know, crazy Jalen Brown shot. It's like, you could be like, oh my gosh, they can't guard pick and roll. And it's like actually they were able to come up with some adjustments in literally one game to be able to mitigate a lot of the issues, just a lot, like just take Cornette out of the rotation, although Missoula was forced to. But like take Hornet out of the rotation, put Horford on Siakum. And all of a sudden, like, you're just in a better position, right? So like another one too, like I went back and looked through the film.

And Minnesota, I thought, played one of their worst defensive games of the postseason against Dallas in game one. And so like I just think that we see a more desperate Minnesota defensive effort in game two. And I think Minnesota ties the series. And so now who knows, like Dallas is in commanding position and they very well might end up winning. But in general, I just don't understand the overreacting. And especially when it comes to the individual players, like my thing is like, I think criticism without praise. is empty and praise without criticism is empty, right? So like, I have to be critical of Ant for the way he played in game one because I'm also the guy that praises him heavily when he plays well, right?

Like, I have, it's just like with Jason Tatum. I've been very critical of Jason Tatum over the years, but like he was awesome in game one in so many different ways aside from the shot making. And it's like, to me, like, I have my biases. I do. I, I'm not going to sit here and lie to you guys. I emotionally as a fan root for the Lakers, right? On a non-emotional level, I have players that I'm a fan of and players that I don't like particularly well, right? Like,

for instance, Luca's one of those guys. I've never been a huge Luca fan. There are some things about his game that bother me. The way he constantly complains that the refs bothers me. Sometimes the 25, 30 dribble possessions into an ice. I watched a game in the regular season this year. I want to say it was against the Pacers, where

Luca literally got the opening tip and ran four consecutive straight isos without passing the basketball to start the game. And it's like there are things about that, that as just as a basketball fan, I'm not a huge fan of. But at the same time, like, I try, I genuinely do try to fight against those things and to try to be as objective as I possibly can't. My thing is like, I'm not going to lie to you and say that I'm, you know, perfectly unbiased. I'm not. I have my biases. I have my likes. I have my dislikes. I'm just going to try like hell to do the best job that I can. I do, to put

it's simply, I take this job very seriously. The fact that you guys actually come to me and listen to my analysis, that you actually care about my opinion, I take that as a huge compliment. And I take that responsibility seriously. I want to make sure that I do this job the way that it's supposed to be done. I'm not perfect. I'm going to fuck up a lot. I say stupid shit sometimes. What was the one I had at the beginning of the last round where I said the Lakers might be the, or that the wolves have is the same the same chance to beat Denver as the Lakers do? Like, the Lakers did like, that was stupid. I make mistakes. Like, That's kind of just how it goes, but I'm going to just do the best I can.

And we'll see. I feel like I'm better at it than I was a few years ago. And hopefully I keep getting better at it over the years. Tatum Garner so much attention from defenses. Do you think this opens up Brown for games like this? So to put it simply, like there are usually aggressive coverages lined up for the other team's best star. And there's usually traditional coverages lined up for any sort of supporting star. So for instance, take Minnesota.

like Anthony Edwards is getting high drop coverage double team on ISOs like he saw a ton of that against Denver a little bit of a little bit of it in game one against Dallas where they're like really loaded up and digging down into driving lanes high drop like ants coming off those ball screens and settling he's not being as aggressive as he needs to be but so much of it has to do with the coverages right the um when it comes to like the game plan piece of it then you look at Carl Anthony towns and it's like yeah they will throw the occasional double team who to him in the post, but like when they run Horn's chest and, you know, ant dribbles off the cat on the left elbow and cat comes off of Nasrita, Rudy Gobert on the right elbow and they throw the ball to him. They're not double teaming him or trapping him. Like he's, he's getting traditional coverages, meaning he's getting the same coverages that every other team gets, right? And like a lot of that is, or every other player, I should say, gets.

And so a lot of that is like Jalen Brown is going to have a certain different level of difficulty than Jason Tatum. that's a fact, right? And like, if Boston ever did trade Jalen Brown, like, let's say four years from now they do, or let's say they have like another disappointing loss two years in a row and then and then they end up trading Jalen Brown. I don't think they will. I think Jalen Brown will be a Celtic for a long time. But if Jalen Brown goes to a team and is the best player on the team, his entire perspective on the game will change. Instead of getting the Aaron Eastmith point of attack assignment, like he's like right now he's getting Andrew Nemhard, right? Like instead

of Tatum getting Aaron E Smith, like if you, was the best player on a team. Maybe he gets Aaron East Smith for the entire game. You know, like, he has success against Aaronie Smith too. I'm not trying to say you can't. But like, let's say it's like the Minnesota assignment. Like if they end up having to leave a lesser defender on one of the Jays, who are they going to do it? They're going to do it on Jalen Brown. Right. So like there is some reality to like the to being lower in the pecking order and that making things easier. But again, as I used to always say with with Jamal Murray, in my opinion, when it comes to basketball, your value is your value to your team.

And regardless of what theoretical situation where Jalen Brown is on some other team and he's getting tougher coverages, yeah, we can talk about that in terms of ranking players, but on Boston, he is the number two. And so he does get favorable matchups. And he does get favorable coverages. And so he does get to cook. And that's just the reality of his impact on this team. Would the Celtics fare better against the wolves or the Mavs? Ooh, that's interesting.

I would say, man, that is a really, that's a really interesting question. to kind of talk through it. I think that the Mavs are a little bit more of a load up offense, whereas the wolves are a little bit more of a stay home offense. And the big part of that is the wolves have better defensive personnel down the roster. The Mavs are really good defenders. Derek Jones Jr. It's an excellent defender.

Their rim protectors are excellent defenders. PJ Washington has done a nice job in this postseason run. But like Minnesota can go to lineups where they have like Rudy Gobert on the damn floor with Nikiel Alexander Walker and Anthony Edwards and Jada McDaniels. and they just have like just unbelievable defensive personnel everywhere. And so they can do what they did to the Sons, which is like stay home off the ball and try to make you play one on one or two on two. And so I think Minnesota's defense is more capable of making Boston's offense struggle.

But I also think that Dallas's offense is better than Minnesota's. And so like I think there would be different strengths and weaknesses and challenges for both matchups. Man, that is a really, that's a really good question. I'm sorry that I don't have a better answer for you at this point, but we will definitely get into it once we get further into the Western Conference finals. I really want to see how the Wolves defense bounces back tomorrow and I, again, I thought they were really bad in game one. And I'm just curious to see if they just come out and throw just a halacious defensive punch

and how Dallas responds to it. Do you think this T-Wolves team is like the 2022 Celtics an ascending superstar and dominant team defense? That's actually a really good come. a lot of people don't like a Celtics fans you probably remember but like the a lot of people around the league think of this Boston team as as like kind of the same type of team as the 2020 Celtics and I very much don't like to me the 22 Celtics were not as good offensively but they were just they were a team who hung their hat on the defensive end of the floor I saw the

22 Celtics throw some of the craziest defensive punches for entire games that I had seen from teams in recent NBA history. Like to me, that 22 Celtics team wasn't as talented as this Celtics team, but like this Celtics team is almost a victim of their own talent in the sense that they can oscillate an effort. They can be inconsistent. And like the 22 Celtics,

they just played so damn hard every single night. It really came down to some bad rim decisions hurting their transition defense. And then Jason Tatum just kind of fell apart in the finals. And that was really the only things that went wrong for them. Someone wants to know my thoughts on Joe Missoula. Here's the thing. I think Joe, like, what drives me crazy with Joe Missoula is just the entire offensive approach from Boston where there's very little hierarchy.

There's very, there's very, there's very like quick decisions. There's a lot of like settling. There's a lot of like, let's just find, like run up the floor and run quick action and take a take a three within like without even getting like a paint touch. There's a lot of like inconsistent offensive approach from Joe Missoula. I talked about this a lot with Darwin Ham. To me, one of the most important elements of a head coach in the NBA is possession by possession accountability. What I mean by that is like deeply valuing every single possession and building the habits that will carry you in the NBA finals because

in the NBA playoffs. Because once you get to this point where you need to win 16 games in two months, so much of it comes down to like execution and avoiding mistakes and like not having these two, three minute stretches where you're, you lose your damn mind. And like one of the characteristics that is I, that is really like kind of, uh, encapsulated this Boston team over the last two years under Joe Missoula is a lack of value of the individual possession and extended stretches where they lose sight of their identity and play down to their, and play down to their competition. And so like to me, that is on Joe Missoula. And like,

when you focus too much on the big picture and like our overarching shot value and all those different kinds of things. Like, to me, that, that fails to drive home the bigger picture topic of what you're going to need when you play the best, when you play the best teams down the line. So, for instance, let's say you end up playing Minnesota in the finals. Like, that's going to be a tough series. And in that series, you need Jason Tatum to be awesome. Because a lot of the stuff that Boston does offensively,

real guys like Drew Holiday, through guys like Derek White, through guys like Al Horford. a lot of that is going to work at a much lower level of effectiveness against Minnesota's defense. And so, or even Dallas's defense. And so much of it is going to come down to like Tatum's going to have to take the reins of the offense. And so like part of it to me is like I wish that Joe Missoula had done more work over the course of the season at just kind of building out at least some sense of hierarchy. That's not to say that you don't want Jason Tatum to get the ball moving around and keep everybody involved. And for the record, I think he's awesome at that.

And I think that's why he's such a perfect fit for this team. But like, I do think that there's just been a little bit of a lack of accountability in terms of their consistency of defensive effort and their consistency of offensive execution. And I do attribute that to Joe Missoula. So like, not my favorite NBA coach. But at the end of the day, like, I don't think he's going to be the main driving force of whatever this outcome is in this postseason run. It's going to come down to the players.

They have the talent. I don't think, I think it's unfair to put any sort of blame on Joe Missoula, even if I'm not necessarily a fan of his coaching style. Would you rest Porzingis to the finals now? Yeah, there's just no reason not to. Unless Porzingis strictly wants to come back so that you can build his rhythm and conditioning, then that's fine. But like, you certainly don't bring him back unless he feels 100% ready to play. Has Minnesota faced a defense with the tools that Boston has? Yes, they're facing it right now. The main reason why is like Boston, they, Boston, they, Boston, they, Boston is,

is not super athletic at the center position. Al Horford's a good positional defender. And Khrostov's Porzingis is a good rim protector when he's in a deep drop coverage. But Porzingis is not overly quick and can struggle sometimes when he has to come out to the level of the screen. Lively and Gafford are both like really, really athletic centers.

And so I think that, I think that Minnesota has, I think that Minnesota has a like Dallas excuse me Dallas I think Dallas has better rim protection than Boston does but Boston's perimeter defense personnel is outrageous and like when you go

one through four only Minnesota can can say that they have I think better defensive players on the perimeter than Boston does like having Drew Holiday and Derek White by the way I talked about it tonight like they held up and post up mismatches extensively in this game. They can guard bigger players. They can guard smaller players. Derek White's one of the

best shot blocking guards in the league. Jalen Brown can be this deeply profoundly impactful defensive athlete. Jason Tatum, obviously, as we've talked about so many times over this playoff run is this deeply profoundly impactful athlete. So like, I don't think, I don't think Minnesota's faced a defense that has Boston's perimeter personnel. But I think Dallas between the Derek Jones Jr. on the ball and those centers, those super athletic centers around the rim, I think Dallas is had a little bit better rim protection. But you're right. I mean, I think Boston's,

I think Boston's defense would give Minnesota some issues. And by the way, Porzingis would be a massively important part of that series. And they most likely would run a deep drop coverage to try to keep Porzingis at the rim to continue to shut things off from and kind of the way that Dallas has. All right, guys. That is all I have for tonight.

As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting the show. No show tomorrow morning. We're just going to run this mailbag as a breakout. I have a scheduling conflict. So I'm actually unavailable during the day tomorrow. but the mailback will be up as a breakout and then I will be back tomorrow evening after the final buzzer of game two

of the Western Conference Finals. I will see you guys then. The volume. 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,

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Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on. 10 pounds. I was having trouble

stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard 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

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