The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - Suns blast Luka & Mavericks, Harden & Embiid struggle as Heat thrash 76ers in Game 5

Episode Date: May 11, 2022

Jason Timpf reacts to Chris Paul, Devin Booker, and the Phoenix Suns' Game 5 rout of Luka Doncic and the Mavericks, pushing Dallas to the brink of elimination. He also discusses the poor performances of James Harden and Joel Embiid as the 76ers suffered an embarrassing 120-85 loss to Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat. #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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For 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s.

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We're going to break down that blowout that the sun's just put on the Mavericks. And then we're going to break down the blowout that the heat put on the Sixers. And then we're going to do some previews for tomorrow, which I think is going to be a really, really interesting night of basketball. Then if you guys stick around for the end, we're going to talk a little bit of Lakers. And specifically the Jeannie Bus interview and some of the issues that I have with the things that she said to Bill Plashy of the LA Times. A couple of quick housekeeping notes before we get started tonight. Make sure you like this video and subscribe to the volumes YouTube channel so that you can stay up to speed about all the stuff we've got coming up on the horizon. We're going to be live every

day this week. We're going to push through this stretch here in the conference semis and the conference finals. So make sure you come back after every big game. We will be here with breakdowns in the weeds as well as film stuff as we get further away from the games. And last but not least, follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason LT. It's the best place to stay up to speed with the video content that I put out that supports all the things that we talk about on the show. But we're going to start about the Sons. And, you know, there's a theme here tonight.

I like to have a theme to the show if I can, if there are enough things that line up. And there's a post game quote from Eric Spolstra tonight. I can't remember off the top of my head who the gentleman was who asked the question. But someone asked Eric Spulcher about, you know, fighting through screens. I talked about how after game four, or late into game four, because Philly had some really interesting counters to the front and back help system that Miami was using to guard Mb. They had some interesting counters.

And so they were fighting through those switches more or avoiding switches as much as they could to try to keep BAM on Mb. And so someone asked Eric Spolster that basically was like, hey, it looked like you were trying to keep BAM on Joel, not switch as much. Like, what's the deal with that? And Spolshard kind of went on a little rant for about a minute, where he basically talked about how, you know, you do game plans, you study the film, you come up with a scheme,

and you implement that strategy and practice, and then you go out into the game and you try to execute. And he talks about how more often than not, you get out there and a lot of the stuff that's in the game plan either immediately doesn't work or you don't get much of a chance to try to implement it because of circumstances that are out of your control. And he said, but there's one thing that we did control tonight.

Eric's bolster said we made multiple efforts all over the floor. And he said, he basically talked about how that's what ends up being the controlling factor in most cases. And we do talk schemes on this show. And we spend all of you guys who have been listening know that we like to get into the weeds there. But it's just one of those things where more often than not, that ends up being the determining factor. And one of the interesting things that happened, that, that's, specific circumstance applies a lot more to the Sixers game because the Sixers came in and completely mailed it in tonight. But I also thought it was interesting as it relates to role

players and the difference between the way these two teams, Dallas and Phoenix, have looked at home versus on the road. Phoenix is two and three on the road in these playoffs. Kind of reminds me a little bit of the 2008 Celtics who struggled to win on the road early in their playoff run, although they had some key pivotal wins, just like the Sun's team has. They had a huge win in game six in New Orleans and they had a huge win in game three in New Orleans when that series was tied at once. I know that they're capable of that. But why is it, do you guys think that, you know, one guy on their home floor feels a certain amount of comfort and confidence? And then when he gets on the road, it doesn't feel the same. And it generally applies to role players because most stars around the

league are kind of immune to that kind of thing, right? And I have a theory. There's no exact science. My theory is that like players derive confidence from hustle plays and from defense. I've always told my high school kids that I coach, because it's the same thing I used to tell myself when I go through a slump. When you're not shooting well, if things aren't going your way in the things that are out of your control, focus on the things that you do have control over. Defend like crazy. try to make plays. Because if you make plays in maybe it's a big offensive rebound or running the floor in transition for a dunk or a layup or a defensive rotation where you blow up a play, that makes you feel good about yourself. And that's what gives you the confidence to then knock

down the shot in your next opportunity. And I think it's easier to work hard on defense and to make hustle plays when you're at home because you're feeding off of the general energy of the crowd and the endorphin rush and everything that comes from making a big play in front of 20,000 people. So that's my theory. But for whatever reason in this series, Dallas in particular, but it's affected Phoenix as well, they have these different punches, right? And I always talk about how in any playoff matchup, you have your best punch and you have your worst punch and you're going to land somewhere in between on most nights, right?

But like maybe the worst punch for the better team is lesser than the best punch for the worst team. That's how you lose games. That's how a series goes to six or goes to five or goes to seven, even though the better team is going to end up winning the series. And so this has been one of those series. Dallas's best punch, which they seem to only be capable of throwing at home, particularly on offense, the ability to knock down shots and guys on the perimeter creating their own shots.

For whatever reason, that punch is good enough to beat the bad punch that Phoenix is throwing on the road. But then we go back to Phoenix and it's like Dallas, is overmatched because Phoenix's best punch, which they are most likely to throw at home, is way better than what Dallas can throw. In particular, on the defense event, Phoenix at a level defensively in their containment tonight

that was not even recognizable compared to what happened in games three and games four. There was some interesting strategy stuff. For instance, like Phoenix and Dallas in particular are implementing two very different strategies with how to handle perimeter initiators. So Dallas is trying to get the ball out of Chris Paul's hands and trying to get the ball out of Devin Booker's hands when they have a chance.

And they want to rotate around in the back. And that's been a consistent strategy for them all season. All year long, they've been a double and recover team. That's what they fed on during the last two-thirds of the season when they went on their defensive run. Whereas Dallas on offense, Phoenix's strategy is like, we're going to single coverage, Luca, and we're going to stay glued to all these roleplay.

and if Luca beats us going for 45 points, so be it. And they're two different, they're very unique strategies in a bunch of different ways because it can blow up on you in either situation. So for instance, like Phoenix went with the, you know, when they were in, in Dallas, they went with that strategy and Luca beat him. And Jalen Brunson beat him. Jalen Brunson got going and they beat them. And then over the course of the game, they had to send some more help.

and then everyone else started making shots. But then they got into game, they got into tonight, and you saw the other side of that coin. Luca looks comfortable. He's getting whatever shots he wants. Jalen Brunson played pretty well in Phoenix for the first time in this series after looking really bad in games one and two. Spencer Dinwiddie is still completely AWOL.

That's a whole other story. But what you saw is no one else was getting shots. Actually, Cleba didn't get going. Don't even if any Smith made eight threes in game four, different type of player tonight. That's the advantage is it throws everyone out of whack. especially against this particular Dallas style of offense, which we'll get to in a minute. You know, there's CP3 over the course of his career has a reputation for being a slow player.

He's very methodical and similar to Luca in a lot of ways. Like Luca, they're going to inbound the ball and he's going to walk the ball up the floor. He's going to get into the offense at like 15, 14 seconds, right? And by the time he creates his first advantage, there's only like six or seven seconds left. And so when he kicks to shooters on the wing, they can shoot and they might be able to attack the rim, but there's not enough time to continue to make multiple rotations. And that used to be an issue with Chris Paul as well. To Chris Paul's credit, he's been adaptable in this Phoenix system.

Dallas is 30th in pace this year. They strangle the pace of a game and they play incredibly slow. That's the way they play. It's the only way they play. Phoenix is eighth in pace, which is kind of remarkable with Chris Paul in the roster. And it's a credit to him, quicker decisions, adjusting his game as he is aged, being more willing to seed responsibility. Now, seeding responsibility is easy when you have that much talent surrounding you. The predicament with Luca is a little bit different.

But it's interesting seeing the difference between those two styles, because the quick style with Phoenix, you get down the floor and you're initiating your offense at 20 seconds instead of 15. and you make that first, you compromise the defense with 12 or 13 seconds left. Now you're kicking it to the wing and he has time to attack that close out and further compromise the defense and then kick it to someone else who might have the best opportunity. That's where Phoenix is getting all their great shot quality, especially with Dallas and how aggressive they're being on all of Chris Paul's pick and rolls, like a lot of trapping, a lot of trying to get the ball out of their hands.

So they're getting really good, you know, defensive rotation. in that first action, and then they have enough time to do multiple things on the possession. That's the advantage of going quick. And this is where I have to be a little bit critical of Luca because I think Luca is incredible. And I do think that it's important to add context here. Part of the reason why Luca is so heliocentric and so slow is because he has so much on his plate. Jalen Brunson's going to have a big payday this summer.

and I'm happy for him because he didn't make nearly enough this year for what he did. But the truth of the matter with Jalen Brunson is he's not the same level of player as any of the other perimeter initiators in this playoff run. Like he's not even as good as like a Drew Holiday, for instance, in Milwaukee, right? So the reality is, is Luca has to have, and Spencer Dinwiddie, we just talked about, has been nowhere to be found offensively. And so Luca has so much on his plate, that's why he plays slow to conserve energy, to make it so that he's not sprinting as much up and down the floor. That's why he tries to save energy on the defensive end, although he's been better defensively as the series has progressed. He does that out of necessity. But there's a downside to that. A couple things. First of all, like we just

talked about, when you don't make quick decisions, the possession starts slowly. You don't compromise the defense early enough in the possession. You don't give your guys enough chance to continue to make plays off of that. But secondly, it affects rhythm. And I think this is a big part of why the role players didn't play super well tonight, why they haven't played super well on the road. Like when you have a guy standing on the perimeter, holding the ball that long, it just throws you out of whack.

If you're standing in the corner for 17 seconds and then finally the ball pops into your hand with three seconds left, it's tough. And again, like, the thing with it from Lucas's perspective is you have to acknowledge it's a product of a situation. And as far as team building goes moving forward, that's something they're going to have to address.

And when it looks good, it looks great. Man, when Luca's really cooking, when he's getting to his spots and he's making stuff, when the shooters he's kicking to are making shots, it looks great. It's not like James Harden. James Harden used to do a version of this that was even worse because of the fact that when he would do it,

he would always attack from the exact same spots on the floor and do the exact same move. So his personal efficiency and effectiveness would crater as series progress. Luca has a ton of variety. It attacks from a ton of different spots on the floor. He'll mix in post-ups. He'll mix in high isolation.

He'll mix in pick and roll. He does everything. And that's great. But playing at this pace has downsides. You could not score tonight. No one looked comfortable other than you and a little bit of Jalen Brunson. So that's the downside there. And you know, this is where one of the things that I've grown to appreciate,

I've always been a LeBron fan. You guys know that. But like as LeBron is aged, and we're looking at this new crop of superstars, you start to see the reasons why LeBron is the second best player to ever play the game and maybe the first. You start to see the reasons in the way, in the way that they have allowed LeBron to separate himself.

Like, LeBron is basically what Luca is, but he's capable of ceding responsibility. LeBron, like the heliocentric LeBron ball is way easier for guys to play with than the heliocentric Luca ball, because LeBron is actually like desperate for other people to make plays. He loves playing with playmakers. He wants to get rid of the ball quickly. LeBron does make quicker decisions.

And then also he has the physical conditioning to thrive in an up and down environment. He does attack and transition all the time in a way that Luca doesn't. And he can be deeply impactful on the defensive end of the floor. And it's just kind of interesting because ever since LeBron won the title as a heliocentric guy twice, basically 2016 and 2020. Ever since then, no one's been able to do it. Hardin couldn't do it.

Luca couldn't do it. And I think you're seeing the reasons why. You need the variety. You need the physical conditioning to be able to hold up. You also need to be able to change pace more. You can't just strangle the pace of the game. You have to have the ability to get into a flow sometimes so that your teammates can get going.

When you remember those like 2017 Cavs teams, they were scoring quickly in transition off of LeBron pushing the ball. and guys were running the floor. There was a flow to it. And so those are the little details as Luca continues to develop that he's going to have to figure out. One last note on this series, CP3, he's in his first eight playoff games in this run,

he averaged 23 points per game. In the last three games, he's averaged eight. And in that, he had a disastrous seven turnover game in game three. And in game four, he had this weird game where he was getting into foul trouble, making really silly decisions. gambles and things along those lines that were above or beneath the basketball IQ of a player of Chris Paul's caliber, just really strange. And then tonight he was, tonight Chris Paul was good,

great on the defensive end, you know, did a lot of the stuff as a, as a playmaker that we expect from Chris. But his scoring just has fallen off. And I don't know what the deal is there. And I hope it's not anything significant. I hope he's not hurt. There are some scheme related things there. Dallas is ever since the game two debacle when Chris Paul destroyed them at the end, Dallas is erring on the side of sending more attention to Chris, more traps, more two guys going with him on the ball screen, the more aggressive drop coverages, that kind of thing. They're doing stuff to try to dissuade Chris. The thing that concerns me is if you're going to beat the really good teams, like Dallas is

a puncher's chance, dark horse title contender. That's great. But you're going to have to go through gold and stuff. state, and then you're probably going to have to go through Boston or Miami or Milwaukee, three really, really good teams that are a lot better than this Dallas team. So you're going to need Chris to be able to score. And one of the issues was, is last year in that postseason run, Chris was amazing, until suddenly he ran into the team that was at full strength. He looked great against the Lakers without Anthony Davis.

He looked great against the nuggets without Jamal Murray. He looked great against the Clippers. without Kauai Leonard. But then all of a sudden he ran into Drew Holiday and a full-strength Bucks team that ran a really good drop coverage and suddenly he couldn't score. And so that would be my fear if I'm a son's fan

is that Chris Paul seems to be tailing off a little bit. Now the silver lining to that and the difference between this year and last year, I think Devin Booker is a much better basketball player this year than he was last year. It's showing in his consistency. This guy is amazing every night, which is the hallmark of greatness,

which we'll talk about a little bit later when we get into Joel and Bid. like every night bringing that same level intensity and impact, that's what the best guys do that differentiates them from the guys below. And so that is a huge, obvious swing factor that helps, you know, compensate for some of Chris Paul. But the other thing, too, is just Mikhail Bridges is better. Cam Johnson is better.

DeAndre Aten was unbelievable today. He's got this, like, quick catch turnaround jumper over his right shoulder that's completely unguardable. That's turned into a really nice release valve for Phoenix to try to rescue possessions. Phoenix is better than they were last year, so it might not matter. But my guess is because the rest of the league is better, because Boston is better, because Golden State is in this field, and they weren't last year. 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. 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.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'll say it. Yep, that's me. Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere

along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever

supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking.

What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the look back. I'm Sam Jett. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but yeah, yeah, literally.

But just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. So, Oh. Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes.

I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I think they are going to need that out of Chris Paul.

So it'll be really interesting to see if he can regain that form. Hopefully it's just a product of whatever weirdness happened in Dallas. And hopefully he can shake it off at some point if you're a son's fan. All right, before we move on, I'm going to kick it to a word from our sponsor. The playoffs are heating up, and you can make every game feel like game seven on Fainville Sportsbook, an official partner of the NBA. Throughout the playoffs, all customers can place a no-sweat same-game parlay each week. You'll get up to $20 in free bets if you don't win.

Vanduil has so many ways to play, and best of all, when you do win, you'll get paid faster than a fast break. My favorite same-game parlay this week is Boston to win game five. by at least five and a half points, and for Drew Holiday to go under 21 and a half. He's been great in the two wins, but in both Boston wins, Drew Holiday has scored less than 20 points. I think Boston's going to put on a defensive clinic in game five.

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Vandal Sportsbook, an official partner of the NBA. Let's move on to that absolute travesty of a basketball game that was Philly, rolling up into Miami, repeatedly getting punched in the face, and doing absolutely nothing about it, and just sitting there and saying, I'll take another one right here. That was this very, very strange basketball game.

And, you know, like, you guys know me. I like to get into the weeds. It's the way that I like to break down the game. I like to talk X's and O's. I like to talk about counters. I like to talk about coverages. I like to talk about all that stuff. Here's the problem.

I can't talk about any of that stuff if the team isn't trying. I can't talk about the way Miami's coverage was working or not working or the way Philly's coverages were working or not working when one of the teams mailed in that basketball game. Think of it like this. Like James Hardin, who is pretty, you know, he has an established. reputation as a guy that can shrink away from big games. More often than not. Game four, what he did was the unusual circumstance, right? He was the best sixer today by a mile. He was the only guy that looked like he cared about

what was happening on the floor. He wasn't fantastic defensively, but nobody was, but at least on the offensive end, he was repeatedly applying rim pressure, getting feet into the paint, pretty much everything James Hardin initiated went well and anything anybody else did went poorly. I want to give some credit to Miami before we move on. You know, Miami's a, you just know going into that game that they're not going to mail it in, right? They're well coached. They're disciplined from training camp on. They're a team that is committed to effort. I've been low on Miami all year because I don't think they have the top end talent to compete with some of the best teams in the league. I think Jimmy Butler is probably like the sixth best player remaining

in this playoff field. So I don't, I'm not as high on Miami as other people. But if there's one thing you could say about Miami, they're not going to leave points on the table. They're not going to leave opportunities on the table. They are going to squeeze their sponge to get every drop of potential success that that team can get out, whereas Philly feels like the exact opposite of that. So credit to Miami, credit to Eric Spolstra, Jimmy Butler continues to be the best player in this series, even though I think Joel Embed's a better player than him overall. Yeah, like, Jimmy's been the better player in the series.

He's been fantastic that we're not going to get into it right now, but I'm incredibly intrigued by a potential Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, Eastern Conference Finals. I think it's going to be a defensive slug fest for the ages, but we're not going to get into that right now. Miami's an interesting team, but today the story is Philly. Today the story is Philly in a 2-2 series going into a game where Miami clearly approached it as if it was a must-win game.

the opportunity to swing the series, whereas Philly seemed to go into it like, it's cool, we got game six in Philly, we'll get them in game seven. Which guess what? You're not guaranteed to get game six, which is exactly why you have to treat game five like a must win and come out with the requisite effort.

It's just embarrassing from Philly. Down the line. Like I said, James Hardin was the best effort on the team. I have to be, I have to be very critical of Joel and B, today. And here's why. Because Joel Embed fancies himself as one of the best basketball players in the world. Joel Embed thinks he deserved to win MVP. Joel Embed thinks that when you guys are at the sports bar or at work or wherever it is that you're talking basketball, they think he thinks that his name should come up first when you're ranking basketball players. Here's the problem with that,

Joel. There's an expectation that comes with that. The guy that you're pissed off got the MVP over you, There wasn't a single moment in that series against the Warriors where you felt like he wasn't caring, that you felt like he was mailing in the game. And I get that he's injured. I get that he's banged up. He's got stuff going on with his thumb. He's got stuff going on with his face.

But here's the thing. Did anybody cut Steph Curry slack in 2016 for playing on a spray knee? Did anybody cut LeBron slack for playing with back spasm and knee tendonitis in 2015? Did anybody cut Janus slack in 2020? Or excuse me, in 2021 last year when he sprained, literally in, inverted his knee in the conference finals. Did anybody cut him any slack when he fell down to zero to the Phoenix Sons in the finals? No.

Because, again, no one's saying the injuries aren't a factor, but everyone's dealing with stuff. Jimmy Butler missed a playoff game in this series with knee stuff. Everyone's banged up. Everyone's dealing with stuff. And no one's going to cut you slack for your stuff, especially when you fancy yourself one of the best players in the world. This is the standard that comes with being in that. conversation. Is there any chance in the world that in game five tomorrow you think Janice is going to

roll up into Boston and lay down and just get beat? There's no way. I think Boston's going to win big tomorrow. But I know for a fact, Janus is going to come out like the Tasmanian devil trying to do everything he can to impact that game. And look, maybe that's the kind of guy in beat is. Maybe he's the guy that some nights he feels it, some nights he doesn't. Chris Haynes talked about it. in the broadcast, he talked about going up to him and shoot around. And in shoot around, he said he was distancing himself from the team, not talking to anybody, very short spoken, would only make small talk with Chris Haynes, wouldn't elaborate on anything. Chris Haynes went over to the coaching staff and was like, is Joel sick?

And they're like, no, he's fine. So he was pouting today. About, who knows what? Pouting about the injuries, I don't know. Pouting about the MVP, I don't know. The guys from inside the NBA on TNT. certainly took their chance to get all over Mbid for for potentially pouting about the MVP,

which is, look, I'm not going to jump to that conclusion, but whatever it is that's bothering you, there's no doubt that these kinds of things can have an effect on you mentally. But here's the thing. All the guys at the top of the league also are dealing with that kind of stuff. And again, this is why I am so slow to push guys above established guys at the top of the league. This is why I want to see year-in,

year-out success. This is why I waited until Yannis' second dominant postseason before I put him as my guy that I think is the best player in the world. Like, if we started looking at the Joel and Beat stuff in his playoff career since 2017 to 2018, he's 27 and 12 in the regular season. It goes down to 24 and 11 in the playoffs. It's a pretty significant drop-off. 24 points per game is not a dominant offensive player in the NBA playoffs.

You know, like, I'll cut you some slack for that Boston series two years ago. Your overmatch, Ben Simmons was out. You had no business losing to the Atlanta Hawks. Ben Simmons or not. Passing up on a dunk or not. You had no business losing to the Atlanta Hawks. If you swap Janice for Embed in that series, does anybody think that the Sixers are losing to the Atlanta Hawks?

It's just this is the standard we have to hold the guys to at the top of the league. And look, and it's not just about the scoring. Embedid was embarrassingly bad on defense tonight. Embarrassingly bad. I have some clips on my Twitter feed you can look at. He's just like passively kind of waving at guys as they come into the lane. He's not in Brigh... Miami cannot score against Philly in the half court when Joe Al-M-Bee is engaged as a rim protector.

We saw that in games three in game four. But the mark of greatness, the mark of being the best guy, is that you do it in game 5-2. Maybe you miss shots. Maybe your field goal percentage doesn't look great. Maybe you have some sloppy turnovers. That kind of thing can happen on a game-in, game out, but your effort, you're attacking the basketball game, that has to be the same every single night. And if it's not, you can't be in that conversation.

And look, it's not over for Joel Embedit. I'm not trying to, this isn't like a James Harden situation where we have a decade of evidence that this guy just kind of struggles in these settings. This isn't that type of deal. But what it is is yet another playoff round where Philly looks like they're probably going to lose to a team that they were very capable of beating. and their best player doesn't seem to be doing anything about it. And again, it's like maybe he goes into game six and he dominates and maybe he goes into game seven and he dominates. And then you know what?

I'll get up on here and I'll credit him for dominating. But the type of guy who would dominate game six and game seven in the series is the same type of guy that would have come into game five tonight and attack the Miami Heat and he just didn't. And it's just disappointing. Like, you are mad that you didn't get named MVP. but the guy who got named MVP seems to care more about his team-winning

playoff games than you do at this point. That's a problem, man. And again, I understand the injuries, but it's just try to convince Jimmy Butler who missed a playoff game this year with a sore knee that you should be cut some slack because of injuries. Try to convince Janus. Try to convince all these guys that have long, dominant playoff runs

despite having a bad injury. It's part of the game. Yours is not debilitating. Your lower body is fine. You're mobile. You can move. You can protect the freaking rim, which is your job on this defense.

It's just embarrassing. And I'm just disappointed. I'm disappointed because, you know, for a guy who's as ambitious as he is to try to be at the top, you think he'd take that a little bit more seriously. But it is what it is. I'm sorry I don't have more like in the details,

X's and O stuff to get into in this game. I just don't think it's worth it. I don't think it's worth it when you have a team that comes in and mails it in like that. So, I mean, is the series over? No, but you'd be stupid to pick anybody about Miami at this point, because Philly is demonstrating to you right in front of us that they don't want it as bad. So there you go. It is what it is. But yeah, like, at this point, I think you have to pick Miami. And I'm just disappointed in Joel in Beat. And I hope at some point he understands that this kind of performance is not okay if you're going to be considered one of the top guys.

Hi, it's Colin Coward. I started the volume to bring you some of the most authentic voices in sports. while you're here, make sure you hit subscribe. Thanks. All right, let's take a few minutes to preview a couple of game fives tomorrow that are going to be really interesting, one of which I think is going to be a very good betting opportunity. We'll get to that here in a minute. I want to start with the Bucks and the Celtics.

So I dove into a bunch of the film and I dove into a bunch of the numbers again this morning. I want to share with you guys what I saw. A lot of it is going kind of as I expected, based on the stuff that we saw before the series. So the story of this series that I've been harping on nonstop has been half-court basketball. Half-court basketball is what wins NBA playoff series, because for the most part, over the course of a series, teams will figure out how to slow each other down in transition, and they'll understand that that's where the series is going to be won.

So throughout this series, in every one of the first three games, Boston was the better half-court team by a pretty significant margin, and that has continued into game four. Milwaukee actually had their best half-court offense game of the series. They scored 0.94 points per half-court possession, which is actually an okay number. It's not a great number, but it's an okay number, and it's certainly a lot better than they have been doing. As a point of perspective, that's almost 20 points per 100 possessions better than they did in game three. Okay, here's the problem, though. Boston also had their best half-court game of the series. They scored 1.09 points per 100 possessions, or excuse me, per possession in the half-court.

So another way to look at that to make it a little bit simple for you guys, if we had 100 half-court possessions, Boston was 15 points better than Milwaukee in the half-court in game fourth. That gap has considerably grown larger each game in this series. It's been the story of this series, and it's the reason why I was so confident in Boston to begin with. A couple of other things that are not great if you're a Milwaukee Bucks fan. Boston finally didn't shoot well. They shot 40% on wide-open threes in the first round. They shot 42% on wide-open threes in the first three games of the first three games. of the series. They were only six for 17 in game four, and it wasn't enough for Milwaukee to get a

win there. They finally got some of that like shot value, shot result stuff to go their way, and it didn't work. And when you factor in that Milwaukee dominated on the offensive glass, they had a 13 to 4 offensive rebound advantage. That's nine extra possessions. If you factor in, they had a 17 to 11 points off a turnover's advantage. So they won a bunch of these areas of the game that would theoretically puts you in a position to win. It just so happens that, hey, guess what? Boston gets stronger as the series goes along as well. They had their best offensive game of the series,

and it was too much for them to overcome. A couple of the things. Boston, this is what's insane. Boston in just the fourth quarters of this series is outscoring Milwaukee by 32.3 points per 100 possessions. That's an outrageous number. So a lot of stuff going Boston's way in the metric. stuff that I saw on the film. And if you guys go to my Twitter feed,

you'll actually see some clips that demonstrate exactly what I'm talking about. But the shots that Boston was getting were wide open. Like if you look at, you know, so Milwaukee's up 80 to 70 in the late third quarter. And Boston gets a stop, runs out in transition. There's a quick swing pass, swing pass to Derek White. He's wide open in the corner. It is a completely unguarded shot. The next possession down, Marcus Smart's kind of working his way into the lane,

and both Drew Holiday and Brooke Lopez are lingering around the basket. Al Horford is standing at the free throw line completely unguarded, and he makes it. It's a wide open shot. I'm not really sure what else you could expect to happen there. Then next possession down, it's Jason Tatum getting all the way to the rim for a layup. Next possession down, it's the one where Al Horford gets the dufford. dunk on Janus where he beats him on a closeout and there's no backside help and he dunks on everybody. Going into the fourth quarter, it's just open shot after open shot after open shot for

Boston Celtics players. That's why that's manifesting as a plus 32.3 net rating in fourth quarters. Boston's shot quality is winning the day. Go on the other end for Milwaukee. There are some good shots in there, but so much is reliant on Janus running people over and getting into the rim, which fatigue is starting to play a role in the series. Janice is starting to show some signs that he is getting tired as the series is progressing. You know, it's a lot of like Drew Holiday gets in the lane and picks up his dribble and he's completely swarmed by Celtics, but he happens to know in the back of his head that Brooke happens to be at the rim and he turns and throws a blind pass up at the rim and Brooke Lopez

catches it and dunks it. Again, unbelievable basketball play, but it's a low percentage play in the sense that like it required an unbelievable play from Drew Holiday to get a basket there. Janice working into the lane, pump fake, pump fake, finally Jason Tatum gambles and he can work in the lane and get a dunk. Or that beautiful pass he had when he was on the left block and he works into the lane out of the post and hits Brooke Lopez underneath the basket on a jump pass.

Like really impressive stuff, but it's hard. It's hard for Milwaukee to score, whereas the stuff Boston's getting is easy. And generally, in a small sample size, you can beat shot quality difference, right? Just because you happen to make them and they happen to miss them. But in any sort of significant sample size, the team that's getting the better shots is going to win, and Boston's been getting the better shots to their credit.

That's why they went up big in that fourth quarter. That's why I think they're going to win game five at home. I believe Boston's a five-and-a-half-point favorite. I would be on that side of the line. I think this game is going to look a lot like game two. I think Boston's going to come out in front of their home crowd and have a little bit of a coming-out party, in this series because in the series, they haven't been the underdog, but they've been the team

playing from behind for the whole time. This is their first opportunity to take a lead, and I think they're going to do so. Moving on to Gris Warriors. So a couple things. I think this is a really interesting betting opportunity. I think Golden State's clearly going to win the series. I expect them to close them out at six, but at home, especially without jaw, if they continue to play big, all of that length and size and athleticism feeding on the energy of that Memphis, crowd with the intensity and the urgency of being down in the series three games to one. I think Memphis, I think this is a buzzsaw type of game. I think this is a game that won necessarily be close. I wouldn't be surprised if Memphis won by 10 or 15 points. I think it's a

good opportunity for Memphis to get one more game. Not an indicator of the series. Still think Golden State wins the series. I just think this is a really tough closeout team, a closeout game to win against a really good team. Golden State has won this series with their experience. Their experience will obviously give them a chance. It's not one of those things where I'm counting Golden State out. I just think this is an opportunity for Memphis to get one more win. A couple of notes that I wanted to hit on from Draymond Green's reaction to this series. So first of all, he talked about, I always like it when you hear these players mention things that we specifically talk about on the show. Because one, it's just as an indicator that we're doing the work,

that we're in the weeds, that we're watching the film, we're doing what needs to be done to actually know what's happening on the floor. And so when you hear guys like Draymond come and say the same thing, that's a good sign for us. It means that we're doing our job right, which is what we're supposed to do. So Draymond specifically shouted out rebounding in this series, which is what I talked about was a huge indicator coming into this series.

Memphis was one of the most dominant offensive rebounding teams in the league. In half-course settings, I think they were rebounding 35% of their own misses in the regular season, which is just an absolutely insane number. and that was going to be that physical wear and terror element that I was worried about. Would Golden State be able to hold up physically in the series? And Draymond pointed out, they've outrebounded Memphis in all four games. That's an amazing accomplishment.

And that's not done with their, you know, it's not a physical mismatch for them that they're winning. It's straight up effort and just giving a shit more than Memphis to win that battle. Because Memphis has the bodies to kill them on the glass. and they just haven't been able to do so. A couple of specific guys that I think have been huge driving forces of this. And we talked about this on our show. I told you guys, Auto Porter Jr. and Andrew Wiggins and them in their athleticism and size crashing from the wing while guys like Looney and Dremont have been stuck in boxouts underneath

the basket, that's been a huge part of why Golden State has been able to win some of this rebounding battle. To give you an idea, with Otto Porter Jr. and Andrew Wiggins on the floor in this series, Golden State is grabbing 60.2% of available rebounds. That's an unbelievable number. They are gathering 40.9% of their own misses. So that's like every possession is basically 1.5 possessions almost because they're getting all of these additional offensive rebounds. Just a massive credit to those guys and the job they've done fighting on the glass.

And then last but not least, Dremont mentioned. another thing we talked about on the show, and that's the job that Steph Curry's doing on Desmond Bain. Now, in Desmond Bain's defense, he's dealing with some back stuff, that stuff's no fun. But Steph has always been an underrated defensive player, and he's done an amazing job guarding Desmond Bain in the series, and removing him from the series, the way Draymond said he did, has put a lot more of that shot-making responsibility on Jha, which is part of what has caused Memphis to struggle in this series whenever Jha hasn't had the basketball. So I'm still picking Golden State, still think they have control over this series.

I just think this is a good betting opportunity. I think Memphis has a good chance of winning game five behind the strength of their size and athleticism on their home floor. So again, plus 2.5 for a team at home that has the capability of beating Golden State like that, I think it's a good bet, and then I would bet on Golden State in game six to close out the series. All right, last but not least tonight, I want to complain about the Los Angeles Lakers because as is always the case with a shit show, Anything or person or company or any entity that is a shit show has a remarkable ability to stay at top of mind because they can't help themselves.

They can't help but be a shit show even when all of the competent folks are doing competent things over here. They just always find a way to jam their way into the conversation. And this time it was Jeannie Bus doing an interview with Bill Plashky from the L.A. Times. and there are two specific quotes from this interview that I wanted to hit on that I thought were super interesting. We'll hit them one at a time. So the first, this is from Jeannie again. Quote, I'm growing impatient just because we had the fourth highest payroll in the league. When you spend that kind of money on the luxury tax, you expect to go deep into the playoffs.

So yeah, it was gut-wrenching for me to go out on a limb like that and not get the results that we were looking for. for. I'm not happy. I'm not satisfied, end quote. Now, I've covered the Lakers for the last two years, so I'm intimately involved with this disaster that it's been. And one of the big things that I've talked about is that the Lakers have a real chance to fix things this summer, because you have all you need in terms of a core foundation. You have LeBron James and Anthony Davis. And let's pretend LeBron decline. I thought LeBron was the second or third best player in the world this season. I thought he had an underrated season on a really bad team. But let's pretend for the sake of argument that in his 20th season,

he'll be the seventh or eighth best player in the league, which I think he has a chance to be better than that. But let's pretend he's the seventh or eighth best player in the league. Anthony Davis, when he's healthy, is probably the 12th or 13th best player in the league, right? So you've got two of the top 12 or 13 players in the NBA, and both of them are two-way players, and they represent your front court, meaning like, that's your foundational defensive, you know, that's your defensive foundation, those two guys.

You have an opportunity to bring in a good coach. You have an opportunity to make moves on the margins. You have two first round draft picks that you can spend this summer in trades. And in the Russell Westbrook trade situation, we've seen lots of examples of pretty solid opportunities that have come up. The Charlotte opportunity potentially going after the likes of Gordon Hayward and like Terry Rozier or even like a Mason Plumley if you wanted to get a backup center. a bunch of options there that Indiana Pacers offer centering around Buddy Heald and Malcolm Brogden. That's a decent opportunity. So the Russell Westbrook trade, it looks like it's materializing into there might be some decent options there. Then that you also have Taylor Horton Tucker and Kendrick Nunn. Taylor and Tucker had a really bad year, but at his salary number, which is right

around 10 million, there's going to be some team out there that sees some intrigue or some value there. And Kendrick Nunn at 5 million as a back of point guard, obviously this year was really weird with his knee issues, but that's a player that somebody out there might want. And if you factor in the two draft picks that they can attach to either of those trades, you have the ability to bring some talented. And then in addition to that, you've got, you found some key rotational pieces last year on the fringes. One and Gabriel was a really interesting athletic forward.

Stanley Johnson showed a lot of potential as a defensive primary option. Austin Reeves, we've talked a lot about him as a really, really solid defensive player who's great at attacking closeouts and kind of a perfect fifth guy in any lineup as a glue guy. So you've got a core foundation here. But you have to make the right trades this offseason, and you have to make the right free agent signings. And what I talked about was the only way that that's going to happen is if the people in charge, and in my opinion, the three people run the Lakers,

are Jeannie Bus, Rob Polinka, and LeBron James. Those are the three people that have the most power and influence in that organization. those three people have to all acknowledge and accept responsibility for what happened because the first step to fixing any problem is to admit that you were wrong and the most disappointing thing over the course of this last couple of months after the lakers season ended is no one seems to be accepting responsibility i've seen hit pieces directed at frank vogel i've seen hit pieces directed at russell westbrook Don't get me wrong. Both of those guys deserve a lot of blame for what happened this year.

But the most blame falls on Jeannie Bus's lap. I'd argue she's first in blame. Rob Polink is second in blame and LeBron is third in blame. But those three are clearly the top three in blame. LeBron wanted Russell Westbrook. It was a terrible idea. Rob and Jeannie should have shut that down. If they had smart basketball people running the team, they would have shot it down. But they don't. They don't have smart basketball people running the team. team. The smartest basketball people are Jesse and Joey Buss and they just run the scouting department. That's why you keep getting Austin Reeves. That's why you keep getting Taylor and Tucker. It's why you keep getting Kyle Kuzma. It's why you keep getting really quality

players further down in the draft or even undrafted. Those are the only two smart basketball people in that front office. Rob Polinka, any GM worth his salt would have immediately been like LeBron. I understand he's your buddy. Terrible idea. Can't go that route. But Rob Polinka is not a smart basketball guy. He's an agent who was a friend of Copeland. He was a friend of Kobe Bryant's who got the job because Kobe Bryant went to Jeannie and said, please give Rob the job. That's what happened. And Jeannie Bussed from the top down, her entire persona has consistently been favor friends and family over the most qualified person for the job, which is precisely how you end up in a

predicament where the guy in charge of your basketball operations is not a really smart basketball guy. There is a, we talked a lot about this on the show. There's a level of work diving into the film, being like, literally addicted to watching basketball, not just NBA basketball, but rural basketball. In parts of the world that the quality is not great. And Rob Polink's just not that guy. He's more of a personality than he is a grinder at this point.

And that's the predicament that they're in. And what I see when I see this quote is I see Jeannie Bus taking responsibility for wanting to fix the problem, but not taking responsibility for the problem. And that's precisely what's wrong, which is exactly what is manifested. She's leaning on Phil Jackson now. She's leaning on Magic Johnson now. Magic Johnson literally decided he had the brilliant idea. Let's take the basketball out of LeBron James's hands.

We need more Lance Stevenson with the ball. We need more Michael Beasley with the ball. We need more Rajan Rondo with the ball. Less LeBron with the ball, please. That was his grand idea. And then we have Kurt Rambis too. Like, this was the other quote that Jeannie had defending Kurt Rambis in this article.

Quote, I know that there's been some unfair criticism of Kurt Rambis. I want to remind people he's been involved in the NBA for close to 40 years that he has been a part of championship teams both as a player and assistant coach. He is someone I admire for his basketball knowledge. Guys, again, this is why I talk about how, like, I played college basketball. That's a much lower level than the NBA, obviously. But that does not mean anything about me understanding the NBA. any player in the NBA, any coach in the NBA,

that's playing basketball or being involved with basketball is not the same as being in the weeds of basketball right now. Kurt Rambis at one point in time was heavily involved in the NBA as a player. Then he tried as a coach and it went really poorly. Now he's a special advisor to Jeannie. Do you think Kurt Rambis is on league pass watching 10,000, games a night? No. Do you think Kurt Rambus is hanging out watching games in Europe? No. Therefore, he is not qualified to make these decisions. You need basketball people that are in the front

office that are in front of computer screens watching basketball nonstop, especially modern basketball. So they understand why things are working. That's why Kurt Rambus allegedly went into Frank Vogel's coaches meeting and literally said, quote unquote, we need to play more D' Andre Jordan. if you watched any NBA basketball over the course of the last few years, you would know that's a terrible idea. He doesn't because he didn't watch enough basketball, he should not be involved in player personnel decisions. And to Jeannie Buss's point,

just because you've been involved in the NBA, doesn't mean that you're a smart basketball guy. It's not the case. There are bloggers that never have picked up a basketball in competitive situations ever in their life who understand modern NBA basketball more than Kurt Rambis does. that concept has nothing to do with your playing experience. Ideally, you want both. Ideally, you want someone who played in the NBA, coached in the NBA, and is a grinder.

But those guys are few and far between. They're hard to find. Most players are done with their playing career and they want to work less, as they should. They work too hard when they were playing. But this whole thing just reeks to me of yet another example of the Lakers refusing to accept responsibility for why they're in their predicament. And it's exactly why, If you ask me, Jason, do you think the Lakers will get back into title contention next year? I say it's possible, but not likely. Because in order for it to happen, you need competence. In hoping for competence from this Laker front office is a fool's errand.

All right, guys, that is all I have for tonight. I sincerely appreciate your guys' support as always. Remember a couple of housekeeping details. We will be going live every single night this week. So come hang out after the biggest games and we will be breaking them down live here on YouTube. Make sure you subscribe to the volumes YouTube channel. Make sure you subscribe to our newsletter. And make sure you follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason LT.

So you can see the video content that I do to back up the things that I talk about on the show. As always, I sincerely appreciate your guys' support. And we will see you tomorrow. The volume. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel 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

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. 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.

On the Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a hear, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it.

With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite office. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.