The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - Steph Curry & Warriors win vs. Kings, Heat eliminate Bucks

Episode Date: April 27, 2023

Jason Timpf reacts to Steph Curry, Draymond Green and the Golden State Warriors beating the Sacramento Kings in Game 5. He then discusses Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat eliminating Giannis Antetokounmpo & the Milwaukee Bucks from the NBA Playoffs. #volume #herdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight here at The Volume. Happy Wednesday, everybody. Again, I hope all of you guys are having a great week. Round one coverage of the NBA playoffs here at Hoops Tonight is brought to you by Chase Freedom Unlimited. How do you cash back? So we are going to be touching on the two late games tonight, the Warriors Kings, which I was primarily focusing on because I figured the Bucks would take care of their business. looked like they were going to. They were up 16 points in the fourth quarter, and then Jimmy Butler happened again. Yannis and Tenacumbo, monster night in the box score, but disastrous. If you

watched it, he had seven turnovers and 13 missed free throws and had no idea seemingly what to do in crunch time offensively. I have some thoughts surrounding Yannis and the bucks and their team structure and some stuff that they're going to have to confront as they move forward. But a lot of A lot of thoughts from just a ridiculously jam-packed night of hoops. For those of you guys looking for content surrounding the Lakers-Grisley series and the NICS-Cabs series, which just ended, did a video earlier tonight on that, just a short one that you guys can find. And obviously we'll be hitting on all these teams a lot more as the days progress.

You guys know the job before we get started. Subscribe to the volumes YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason LT. So you guys don't miss any show announcements. And if for whatever reason, you guys miss one of these videos and you can't get back over to YouTube to finish. Don't forget you can find them wherever you get your podcast under hoops tonight. All right, let's talk some basketball.

And let's start with the Golden State Warriors. So, you know, I said before, well, really just throughout the entire season, those of you guys who watched the show, there was one specific reason why I was super hesitant to jump off the Golden State Warriors bandwagon, regardless of what the situation was. sometimes you see decline for real reasons over the course of a season, right? Like in a defending champ, you'll lose real optimism based on a personnel thing, right? Like the Dallas Mavericks in 2012, without Tyson Chandler, just a completely different team

with what he provided in terms of rim protection, right? Go to the Miami Heat, 2013. It was clear in 2014 that Dway just was not remotely the same player. Right? And what did they let Mike Miller go that year as well? Like from a personnel standpoint, the important players that they had on their team were just not there anymore. As a result of that, it changed the way we had to evaluate them. You know, looking at, even if we look at like the 2018 Cavs as they're struggling throughout the regular season from time to time, you're like, they don't have Kyrie Irving. It's a different basketball team.

Well, the Warriors were struggling and they had the same damn players that they won the championship with. And all of them were still performing at about the same level they did the previous year, some better. Steph had a disastrous season last year, regular season, by his standards. Just couldn't make a damn shot compared to what Steph usually does. He was way better this season. Clay Thompson looked way better this season. I've said many times I thought it was one of the best half-court shot creation seasons we've seen from Clay Thompson, and it was an underrated element in there floating the ship at various points

in the year when Steph was out. He hit a lot of shots against set defense off the dribble tonight. Like, we looked at the lineup data, and we saw that they were still killing everybody when they had Steph, Clay, Andrew Wiggins, Stramon Green, and Kevin Luny. All year long, they were killing everybody. And so all the time, like, I'd go on, you know, the game in San Francisco, and they'd be like, hey, so like, why should we still believe in this team? And I'd be like, because you still have Steph, Clay, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green, Kavanaugh and Jordan Poole. And all six of those guys are every bit as good as they were last year.

So theoretically, this is all effort-related, injury-related, bench-related, but if they get to the postseason and those guys are healthy, they're the same dudes who held up the damn Larry O'Brien trophy last year. And that's why, despite everything that we saw from this regular season, I picked the Warriors to win the series. What happened in this game? Every one of those guys played amazing. Steph Curry, 31 points.

Clay Thompson, 25 points. Andrew Wiggins, 20 points. A massive dagger of a turnaround jump shot on the right short corner at the end of the game. Talked a lot in the series previews and throughout the season about how Andrew Wiggins is like, it's not just that he's one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. The dude can create his own shot because he's such a great athlete. He's so monumentally important to everything that they do. Dream on Green.

an offensive masterclass partnered with yet another defensive masterclass, blowing up plays that no one else on the planet can blow up but him, attacking the rim with physicality, hitting threes. Jordan Poole, only 10 points, but 6 assists with zero turnovers. Because again, even as we were concerned with his decision-making and things throughout the season, we just knew that he had done it on a bigger stage before. He was amazing in game six against the Celtics last year. Clay Thompson at one point earlier this season was questioned about the struggles of Jordan Poole.

And he literally said, like, we don't win a trophy without him. Kavana Luni, 22 rebounds, seven offensive rebounds. So again, and I get it. I mean, there's a whole other conversation to have about the importance of the NBA regular season. And as parity has increased, it's become less and less important to win regular season games because you get the two seed, you play a great team. The Bucks had the best record in the NBA all season long and for their efforts were rewarded with one of the best playoff players ever in Jimmy Boller. Like that's just, that's the reality of the NBA now. It doesn't matter what happens in the regular season as long as you have the dudes you need to win playoff games.

And the Warriors have the dudes. They just do. There are a lot of issues throughout the regular season, and I get it. But we were not talking about a team that did not have history and also struggled in the regular season. We were talking about a team that had the same fundamental core that they hoisted the trophy with, and all of those guys were either the same or better this season. So regardless of what the results were in regular season games, we had a feeling that they would be able to recapture some of that when they got to the playoffs, and they did.

I really thought their offensive approach was much better in this game compared to the other road games. We talked a lot about this after game too, and I don't really blame anybody in particular. I think it had a lot to do with a really good defensive effort from Sacramento. And also just in general, a bunch of guys not playing as well, and it resulting to Steph Needs. needing to play more hero ball. But a lot of Warriors fans were clamoring, like, hey, Steph High Pick and Roll, Steph High Pick and Roll, Steph High Pick and Roll. And it's like, yeah, I get that.

You want to do it to a certain extent. But Warriors Basketball is Warriors Basketball, and they've won four championships with it. Don't get away from that. And this had much more of a normal Warriors flow in this game compared to Game 2. As a matter of fact, they had 33 assists in this game. They had 18 assists in the game 2 loss. Just a much better motion. And you could feel that in the energy of their offense.

There was a run in the third quarter where it's like Andrew Wiggins late clock hits a really nice step-back jumper on the baseline. And then Clay Thompson on the very next possession catches a high ball screen and catches the defender on it, gets a pull-up three at the top of the key, knocks it down. Next possession, Warriors pop, Tom, Tom, Mon Green in the corner, knocks down a three. Like there's just flow and then everybody feels good. When everybody feels good, it's more likely to get more players playing well. and that's how you win on the road is all of your players need to play well. I mean, there was a lot of talk about the finger injury

coming into the game, and honestly, I thought Deeran Fox looked mostly like himself, and I'm still incredibly impressed by him and what he can do on the basketball court, but this was a veteran team that has been in these big games so many times. I was literally talking in the Lakers show earlier today, and you Warriors fans probably remember this vividly,

but that Memphis Grizzly series last year had a very complicated pathway, right? Like the Warriors barely won game one, and then they lost game two, a great grizzly effort. Then they blew them out in game three. Game four was like this super close nerve-wracking game that the Warriors pulled out. They were up 3-1. Then the Grizzlies beat the shit out of them in game five. And that's literally exactly what has happened in this Lakers series, right? And the funny thing about that is I was using that as like a sign of optimism for the Lakers, right?

Like they're going home. Do what the Warriors did. Go home and close your deal in game six, right? But what that tells me is that's just one series. But these guys have been in so many wars. They've had to have a three-two close-out game, you know, at home against a team that just beat the shit out of them. Last year, in the Celtics series, they were down to one on the road. they've been in, and that's just from the last two seasons. They've been in so many of these big environments that they're just more likely to feel comfortable in that setting,

more likely to feel confident, more likely to not be rattled by the crowd. I mean, getting back to Lakers, like, their role players really struggled tonight for the most part. Those guys have not been in wars. Lakers got younger at the deadline and surrounded LeBron James and Anthony Davis with a bunch of guys in their 20s. the problem is none of those guys have seen these moments. Kavana Looney and Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins, Gary Payton, and the Corps have been in these wars so many times.

And that's why, like, look, I looked at the shot quality through the four games and it was pretty dead even. I mean, Harrison Barnes had a shot on the left wing that could have won that game and changed the dynamic of the series. I mean, I've said this a million times on the show, but like, what do I always say? playoff series are defined by the tiniest of margins.

Harrison Barnes makes that shot, completely different series. LeBron James misses that layup over Jaron Jackson, Jr., completely different series. Jimmy Butler doesn't make that ridiculous tip-in at the end of regulation to send that game to OT. Now they're going back to Miami. Yannis has two more days to find his rhythm. Like all of these series come down to the slightest, in tiniest of margins, and that is why execution and experience matters so much. I know I'm making a bunch of Lakers' comps, but like the Grizzlies are in a similar

predicament, or have put their Lakers in a similar predicament. They're getting better shots. Desmond Bain is more comfortable. John Morant and Desmond Bain both so soundly outplayed Anthony Davis and LeBron tonight. Here's the thing, though. The veteran team squeezed out a 3-1 lead, so they've bought themselves margin for error to overcome that. You'll find in the playoffs that those one-point games that go one way or another tend to go the way of the team that is more experienced and better with execution. The Warriors

barely squeaked out game four, but it didn't matter because a win is a win and then they won game five. And now they have an opportunity to close it out on their home floor. Shout out to the Warriors. That was just four players over 20 points. Just vintage. And I, I, I, I, I will say that like it kind of just reinforces so many of my beliefs about NBA basketball and the difference between the regular season and the postseason. I don't care how many times, like, I can't tell you how many times they're in the regular season. There's been a big game where a team with somebody that we like or somebody that we all think

is really good drops a regular season game to some random team and everyone starts hand-ringing and freaking out about whether this team is capable of anything. And it's like, guess what? The playoffs are different. And when you get there, there are dudes that playoff. play well in that setting, and there are dudes who don't, and you're better off putting your belief behind the teams that do. All right, let's move on to the first series prediction that I think I'm going to end up getting wrong. Well, did end up getting wrong this year, which is Miami versus

Milwaukee. I generally had a good feel in the first round for the most part. I picked the Knicks over the Cavs. I picked the Warriors over the Kings. I picked the Lakers over the Grizzlies. I had a good feel for most of these series, but clearly I just misread this one. Now, obviously, Obviously, if you had told me going into the series that Janus was going to miss two and a half games, I probably have a different opinion on it. Obviously, Jimmy also played well above what his normal capability is. Like, forget about, like, I was texting a buddy right after the game, a Bucks fan, a friend of mine. And I was like, forget about Jimmy, playoff Jimmy.

Like, what he's done in this series is another level above anything he's ever done. he's had monster performances, but like he has never just soundly outplayed a player that is clearly better than him and won the series. Like he went toe to toe with LeBron a few times and stole a couple games. They lost that finals, you know? And like he's been better than Jason Tatum in a series or better than Joel Embed, or he's outplayed certain guys in a series. I'm mistaken that Jimmy was on his team at that point.

but he's outplayed guys in playoff series before, but they're usually younger than it. And then he ran into Kauai, and then Kauai ended up beating him, right? Like, this is the first time he's been like head to head with a dude who is resoundingly considered better than him in the league and just beat him. And I have thoughts about Yonis. I want to save that for the end because I want to focus on Miami.

But a couple of specific things. Jimmy Butler just going transcendently great and pull-up jump shooting. Once again, in that late fourth quarter, run just hitting tough shots. There was a shot he hit in OT. I don't know if you guys remember this one, where he did like a half spin and then came back and like shed Drew Holiday like 15 feet away from him and knocked down the jump shot.

And he stared Drew Holiday down after the shot. These are levels of shot making that we've never seen from Jimmy Butler. This is another level above anything we've seen from him. Also shout out to Mike Boodenholzer for never adjusting his defensive scheme against Jimmy Butler, not throwing doubles, running too much drop coverage, keeping Drew Holiday on a mall series. That was certainly an interesting tactic. Officiating was a disaster at the end of this game, too.

I didn't like that foul that Janus had on Max Truce. Max Trues jumped like four feet forward. There was a really bad call on Kevin Love, the one that actually gave the bucks the lead late where he got that blocking foul. That was an atrocious call. They tried to call Kyle Lowry on a play where he literally would have stolen the basketball

in a live ball situation in a one-point game. Officiating was a disaster. But I thought Miami deserved to win. I thought the main thing that it came down to, and it is a lesson to learn, is Miami's offensive skill in how comfortable they were, excuse me, how comfortable they were in late game situations when the game really slowed down,

there was a chasm in how comfortable, Kyle, like Jimmy Butler and Bam at a bio and Caleb Martin and Gabe Vincent. Those guys, when they're getting to their spots and they're taking shots, they just, they looked like a more skilled basketball team. Meanwhile, on the other end of the floor, Chris Middleton can't back his way anywhere on the floor and get a good look. Drew Holliday and Janice just keep trying to power their way through everyone, but it's not working because they figured out matchups.

like Miami like straight up just figured out how to guard them. And that's a problem for Milwaukee, which we'll get to them in just a minute. But I mean, look, Miami is still incredibly flawed as a basketball team. They are one of the most undersized, serious basketball teams I've ever seen. And they're running into a series against an uber physical New York Knicks team. So it's going to be a whole other battle. I don't even, I haven't even thought about Knicks Heat yet.

I'm going to do a whole series preview on that in the next few days. So keep an eye on the feeds. but like talk about you know we talk about um the importance of execution and coaching and experience just like we did with the warriors like that heat team i've never been willing to write them off completely as a result of that we did our show with carson before the playoffs he said what's you who's your dark horse i said miami again because it's like are you going to count out jimmy butler i mean the dude just it's foolish to do so he was one jump shot away from the NBA finals last year. Even in the playing game, I said I was rooting for Miami to win in the eight, nine final game

for that final spot because I knew they would give Milwaukee a better fight. Now, that Milwaukee got a little cute by arresting Yonis too much. But here's the thing. I believe that I, my biggest mistake in this series was grossly underrating the importance of offensive skill in the half court in these late game situations. I want to start with the Bucks first and then we'll go to Janice. Janice has some limitations, and we're going to get to that in a second. With the kind of limitations that he has, you either need to be an otherworldly good defense, or you need to surround him with offensive skill that supplements what he does.

Now, the strategy that the Bucks went with was building through defense. The problem is, is they couldn't get to any stops. against the Miami Heat team that had one guy that could consistently create his own shot. A lot of that is on Booneholt and Henson, but it's also on personnel. Chris Middleton could not guard Jimmy Butler. And Jimmy was hunting him a lot, especially in game four, if you guys remember. They need to have, here's the thing, Janish should have guarded him, but they're just not going to.

So if you're one guy that can actually take wing defense assignments, you're just never going to use him in wing defense assignments and you're going to keep him in help the whole time, you need to go get a wing defender. You need to go get somebody that can take that responsibility since Janus will not do it. And you can't just keep throwing your 6-3 guard at him while he shoots over the top of him all game long.

Fundamentally, from a roster construction standpoint, the bucks have to go in on more offensive skill. Yonis had what? Yonis had, what, 38 and 20 tonight? Something crazy? Like, he almost had a 40-20 game, or he did have a 40-20 game. I can't remember.

Like 40-20? 40-20 is unbelievably dominant, and he's useless borderline at the end of games offensively. No idea what to do. So, if you get somebody or some players that either one allow him to operate in single coverage more late in games because you surrounded him with so much shooting or a real shot maker, then that can work. But at the end of the game, if Janus is uncomfortable attacking their defense, their set-haping, half-court defense, and so is Chris and Drew, then that's never going to work. And they just didn't get, I think it really came down to the defense.

They just didn't get enough stops. I mean, Chris Middleton had 30-something points in this game and hit five threes or whatever. They just, they need to get more either, they either need to go all in on defense and make the defense work or surround him with offensive skill. All right, before we get out of here, I want to talk about Janus and this best player in the world conversation because this is something, these are the kinds of things that matter to me most. Like, I don't really care about MVP.

You guys have noticed I have not done an all-MBA video or any other awards video. I just, I don't care nearly as much about that. It's too much of a regular season focused award. And the regular season to me is like just a smorgasbord of teams trying versus not trying at any given night, right? But I do care a lot about the hierarchy of the league, the way guys are ranked. And as you guys know, I, like, refuse. under any circumstances to make major adjustments to my list until the playoffs,

because it is just so fundamentally different than regular season basketball. And in the summer, if you guys remember, I had Janus as the best player in the world, Steph number two, I think I had KD3, if I remember correctly, and then I think I had LeBron 4, and I want to say Luca 5, then Tatum, and then the centers, if I remember correctly. I don't know who's going to be number one now, but I do think that we have to take Janus off that top spot. Look, I thought he put up an admirable fight last year against the Celtics.

Losing this series, even only playing in those two games at the end the way that he did, with the size advantage that he had, looking as inept as he did at the end of the game in the half court, I don't think we can call him the best player in the world anymore. that specific type of basketball, that half-court surgery, is too important. It's too important to winning these games. Janus is not in the same stratosphere as Janus as an overall basketball player in a regular season, right? But Janus was flat out better than him. Soundly outplayed Janus in these two games because he is so much more comfortable with the half-court surgery.

I don't know who's going to take his spot. I'd say there's a bunch of guys in the running. Pretty much everybody on that list that's still playing. Steph is in the running. KD's in the running. LeBron's in the running. Yonkid's in the running. Enoch is in the running.

Anthony Davis is in the running. They're all still in the running. Tatum's in the running. But someone's got to go take it now and we'll see. But I view that top spot is a very sacred thing. And I don't think we can fairly give that top spot to Janus anymore. I think the weaknesses have come to the surface. Now, part of it is team structure.

I've talked a lot about how Janus doesn't need a jump shot as much as he needs to be able to kick out to shooters and pass himself open. And I still feel very strongly about that. But there does need to be a baseline level of touch. Yonis had 13 missed free throws in this game. If he makes five of them, they win. they win the game if he makes five of those 13,

which is still bad free throw shooting. That's 15 for 23 or whatever it was. So like regardless of what the jump shot is, he's got to be able to make free throws. The other shot that he has to figure out, I think, in my opinion, is that short little hook shot. He missed one over Jimmy Butler long off the back rim in OT. Really flat, didn't have any touch on it.

But he had another play towards the end of regulation where he got off the dribble and beat Bam, and got downhill and got below the semicircle and was right there by the rim and could have spun back and taken that shot, but he doesn't trust it. And he was in single coverage. And so he dribbled it back out and passed it out to Chris or Drew or somebody like that. He was at the rim with a size advantage and did not shoot because he doesn't trust his shot there. He doesn't need a jumper.

He took a little pull-up jumper at the end of regulation. That shot is irrelevant to me for him. but he has to be able to make free throws, and he has to be able to make a short shot in the lane when the defender is standing between him and the basket, and he can't just plow through him all the way. I think I would imagine that Janus will take this spot back sooner than later. He's too gifted of an athlete.

Look, I thought he had a pretty bad game, and he had a 40-20 night. Like, Janus is going to be fine in the long run, but that spot is sacred. It has to be earned, and it has to be earned on a yearly basis, in my opinion. And again, this is just my view on things. I know a lot of people are going to see things differently. I have a buddy that I talk with regularly just thinks Giannis never was the best player in the world. And I disagree with him.

But again, like everyone's got their own kind of look at this sort of thing. But the reality is, is when he had a better team in this series, he could not win, even though he was statistically dominant because he couldn't take care of the basketball, he couldn't make free throws. And in a half court against a set defense, he was uncomfortable creating shots. and I don't think you can be the best player in the world unless you're comfortable creating shots in the half court. All right, man, what a whirlwind of a night.

I don't even, I have to kind of marinate on this again. I might even talk more about this kind of stuff tomorrow, but I'm going to call it a night for right now. As always, I sincerely appreciate your guys to support. Schedule for tomorrow, I'm not 100% certain yet, so keep an eye on my Twitter feed and I'll let you guys know. I know for sure we're going live after the game six is on Friday night. All right, guys, I will see you tomorrow.

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 I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away,

such as the biology of tontons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith Rule of Two. Listen to Stuff to Blow Your Mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Cliford Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clippert Show on the, iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes,

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