The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - Warriors and Celtics pull off comebacks

Episode Date: May 10, 2022

Jason reacts to a tight Warriors win to go up 3-1, an impressive effort by the Celtics to even the series with Milwaukee and gives his thoughts on Jokic winning MVP. #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you're not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to.

Listen and learn the hard way on the IHard radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. The volume. Lakers Tonight is presented by Fandual Sportsbook. There's no better place to make every moment more than with Fandul. You get great odds in markets for the NBA, NHL, college, and so much more. It's America's number one sportsbook. It's super easy to use. Plus, you can combine multiple bets from the same.

game into a same game parlay. If you are new, just download the Fandul Sportsbook app to get started now. Sign up with promo code Jason T so they know I sent you. 21 plus in present Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Louisiana, permitted parishes only, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee, Virginia or West Virginia. First online real money wager only. Refund issued as non-withdrawable site credit that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply.

See terms at sportsbook. fanduel.com. Gambling problem? Call 1-800 next step or text next step to 533342 in Arizona. 1-88-78-9-7777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut. 1-800 gambler or visit fanduel.com slash RG in Colorado, Indiana, New Jersey, and Virginia. 1-877-7-70. Stop. in Louisiana. 1-800-270-7-1-1-7 for confidential help in Michigan. 1-8-8-Hope-N-Y or text Hope N-Y to 467-367-369 in New York. In Tennessee, redline, dial 1-800-9-9-97889 in Tennessee.

Visit www.1-1-800-gambler.net in West Virginia. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight. presented by FanDuel here at the volume. I am Jason Tim. Happy Monday, everybody. I hope all of you are having a fantastic start to your week. Very, very strange game there. But I did expect it to be strange. For those of you guys who have been listening to the show over the course of the last

couple of days, you know, this specifically is a one-game sample size of the way that strangeness can impact any basketball player. We talk a lot about rhythm in the way that no, you know, if all two shots are the same, right? Like if I have a wide open shot for Steph Curry on the right wing, why does one go in and one doesn't? Well, a lot of it is like dialing things in and feeling comfortable. And this was the textbook type of wicked curveball of a basketball game that is the kind of thing that can throw really good basketball players out of whack. And I thought it was super interesting. We're going to dive into the weeds of this game on all fronts.

We are also going to get into Boston, Milwaukee a little bit more. And then if you guys stick around for the end of the show, we're going to go over some of the biggest questions going on in the NBA right now, including reaction to Nicola Yokic, winning his second consecutive MVP and a bunch of other good stuff. So we got an action-pack show for you guys tonight. I appreciate you coming to hang out. A couple of quick housekeeping notes before we get started. Make sure you like this video and subscribe to the volumes YouTube channel.

so that you don't miss any more of our videos. We will be live every day this week. So make sure you come back after every one of our games. And make sure you follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason LT. That's the place where I release all of the video content that backs up the things that I talk about specifically on the show. It's a great way to kind of get a visual representation of some of the concepts that I've been talking about here. But let's get started with Golden State Memphis. So, you know, I talked to you guys right after the John Morant injury.

I said that the grizzlies were not a better team without Jha, but they were a different team. You know, with John Morant on the floor, it's very heliocentric. It's very him at the top of the key making every decision. So obviously it impacts other players' rhythm on the floor. And then secondly, John Morant is the worst defensive player on this roster, or at least in the rotation by a long shot. Tyos Jones, who's not a fantastic defensive player, is a much better defensive player than Jha.

And so when you pump all of those Jha minutes out of the lineup and you replace them with a little bit more Tias Jones and a little bit more size in athleticism, you get a much better defensive team. This season, when Jha was off the floor, the Grizzlies were about five points better per 100 possessions on the defensive end of the floor. They actually were better in their overall net rating with Jah off the floor. And again, it's not because Jha is, you know, hurting the team or the team is better without him, but in the small sample sizes that they went without him, actually it wasn't even that small. They played 25 games, I think, without him this year.

But in those games, they played a different brand of basketball. It was more abruising, more physical, more defensive-oriented. And they ran through a lot of teams this year, a lot of good teams. We saw that Brooklyn Nets team with Katie and Kyrie walk into Memphis without Jha and get beat towards the end of the season. They're a really, really difficult team to deal with. They were already one of the biggest and most athletic teams in the league with Jaw. Taking him out of the lineup and putting another bigger player in there was inevitably going to cause that type of curveball. You know, that increased defensive pressure completely through Golden State out of whack.

in that first half, Jordan Poole and Steph only played 30 of 48 available minutes. You know, obviously, if both players played the full half, they could have played 48 minutes, they only played 30. I thought that was a direct reaction from Mike Brown to the increase in size and them struggling with the physicality. They played Clay Thompson 21 first half minutes, which, I mean, again, even if you are trying to fight the size, I wouldn't have done that. But again, like, Mike Brown's getting tossed into the fire there.

He hasn't been coaching the team all season. He's just thrown into that spot. So obviously, it's tough to hold him super accountable for that. But I thought that was an interesting reaction to Memphis coming with a ton of size. You saw it directly affect their shooting. We talked about how in game two, the Warriors stars shot horrible, Steph shot horrible, Clay shot horrible, Jordan Poole shot horrible, Andrew Wiggins shot horrible. Then they all got going in game three.

Well, this curveball from Memphis threw them all out of whack again. In the first half, Jordan Poole, Steph, Andrew Wiggins, and Clay Thompson were one for 17 from three. One for 17. And there were some good looks in there, don't get me wrong. But a lot of it was you could just tell they were thrown off by the whole rhythm of the game and the way that it changed. They had 11 first half turnovers, which led to nine points for the Grizzlies. That's, you know, sloppiness. And I'm struggling with some of the length and athleticism that was on the floor.

you know, I thought it was a really, really interesting decision to go back to Stephen Adams in the lineup from Taylor Jenkins. He has been completely removed from the rotation in this playoff run. Obviously, you know, we saw him play I think three minutes in game two of the Minnesota series before he basically disappeared. He only played six minutes total in games one through three. Well, they played him 27 minutes tonight. 15 rebounds, six offensive rebounds. He was plus 11. Just the dominant performance from Stephen Adams coming in off the bench in that big guy role.

You know, that's the interesting thing about what Taylor Jenkins did in this specific scenario. Do you guys remember how I was super critical of Doc Rivers for the way that he went about games one and two in that Miami Philly series? I told you guys, I thought that they could never hope to play their same style against Miami without Joe L&B. and win. There's never a chance because at that point, it's the loss of talent. So I thought it was a terrible idea to go rolling into Miami with your centers, with DeAndre Jordan on the floor, with Paul Reed on the floor, and try to play traditional conventional basketball against a team that just has more talent than you. I thought that was a really poor decision. I thought their best opportunity to win down in Miami was to go crazy and weird. Because in a small sample

size, weird can work. And tonight's a great example of that. You know, when Philly went with all guards and wings, they had a ton of success down there in Miami because it's just weird. Guys don't know where to stand.

Guys, perimeter, you know, guards that are typically guarding, you know, perimeter players suddenly are, you know, dealing with a bigger wing in the post. You'll have big guys that are traditionally hanging around the basket having to chase a shooter around or having to cover a ton of grounded rotation. it throws everybody off.

But instead, you know, Doc Rivers went conventional and got his butt kicked. I thought it was really interesting that Taylor Jenkins was like, no, I'm going to go weird. I'm going to go huge. I'm going to play Stephen Adams, even though I haven't been able to play him at all in this entire playoff run. We're just going to physically mall Golden State in this game.

And that was their best chance to muck things up and get that going the way that they did. To Golden State's credit, they battled back. And a lot of that credit I give to Steph, you know, in that game in particular, as a result of the way that the things got tight, you know, sweaty palms, lots of pressure. You're down by eight to ten points in the second half. I think they were actually down by 11 at one point. A lot of guys start pressing. You saw that from like Clay Thompson.

It was just like, you know, quick shots in transition, quick, tough shots around the room, over penetrating when you're attacking a closeout. Jordan Poole, like guys, Jordan Poole was so good in game three as an initial dribble drive creator getting that like first step on somebody to get into the lane. But because everyone was shooting poorly, guys were playing off of Jordan Poole. Like Jordan Poole would start to kind of mix up with his rhythm dribbles as he's getting ready to attack and the defender's backpedaling. And it's hard because do you take a quick pull up three at the early in the possession when your team's not shooting particularly well?

Like that's a, it's a, it gets in your head a little bit. It becomes complicated. And you could tell that that was disrupting a lot of what they were doing. It's a step's credit. He just came into that fourth quarter and was like, I need to make some plays and he made some plays. He got to the rim. I thought it was really smart that he started punishing Stephen Adams.

Like, again, like we talk a lot about how styles make fights. You know, it's not that, you know, I'm a big believer in small ball. That's why I'm a big believer in this Warriors team. But regardless of if a, if a small, if a small, small ball team plays against a big team, the small ball team is not guaranteed to win. The small ball team has to do small ball things really well. Look at like, so for instance, like I always talk about the give and take of going small. If a team goes big, you can expect that in you're small, you can expect them to get a lot of

offensive rebounds. You can expect them to bully you in specific matchups, like driving to the rim through thinner, smaller defenders or posting up thinner, smaller defenders. that's part of the deal, right? Like that's going to happen. You can expect to face stiff rim opposition, right? Like you can expect, you can expect when you're attacking the basket against this team and they're big,

that you're going to have to deal with a lot of big bodies around the basket. Those are all the tradeoffs, right? But the flip side of that is you have a massive skill advantage, a massive foot speed advantage in like quickness, and you have a massive straight line drive speed advantage, like sprinting up and down the floor. You have advantages on the floor. And so what it becomes is what wins?

Is it the big team that's being more physically imposing in winning all those altercations and containing all of the small ball things that you do? Because if that's the case, you'll lose to the big team. I personally am a big believer in that small ball style, but it has to be played well. And in that first half, especially the first three quarters, really, Golden Sage just wasn't playing well.

They were losing those physical altercations all over the floor. They were struggling and indifference. individual matchups. Jaron Jackson, Jr., kudos to him. He figured out about halfway through that game that Otto Porter Jr. just could not keep him from getting to the basket, and he just started rip him through and going to the rim, and he was getting whatever he wanted. And again, that's always been Jerry Jackson's game is that bully ball game. And I don't know what took him so long to understand that that was his biggest advantage in this series, but tonight, he got that figured it out. He got that figured out, and he was attacking the basket. But again, Memphis was winning the style fight.

There were two different styles on the floor and they were playing better. But as the game progressed, you know, Golden State, I thought Tim Legler did a really nice job breaking this down with JJ Reddick on their podcast that they did the other day. And they were talking about how, you know, Golden State has a tendency to get out of what makes them very good. This is what happened in the 2018 playoffs, if you guys remember, against Houston. And credit to Houston, they did it by switching everything and kind of throwing off all of the split cuts. and off-ball actions and on-ball actions that Golden State runs. But they got ISO-heavy. And KD and Steph both kind of fell into it in that series.

And they got out of whack. Their ball movement stopped, and it became a matchup attacking series. And James Hardin and Chris Paul were having as much success attacking matchups as Steph and KD were. And one of the biggest indicated, obviously Chris Paul went out and it took that kind of question out of the equation, but had Chris Paul stayed healthy, that series would have come down to, could Golden State have gotten back into their style of basketball?

Golden State style basketball is movement. It's multiple passes on every possession. It's multiple getting your defenses in a ton of rotations. You know, because as we always talked about, especially against elite defenses, they'll communicate well on the first action. They might communicate well and engage on the second action. But that third action, that fourth action, that's when you start having guys have tougher responses. responsibilities, more difficult, you know, communication type of situations, and they botched stuff. And then you start to get open shots, especially against a young team like this Memphis team.

But they go through these extended stretches sometimes where they forget that. They did back in 2018 in the playoffs and they did it a little bit tonight. And all of a sudden it was like early shots, quick in the possession. All of a sudden it was like transition pull up threes. All of a sudden it's difficult shot make. And, you know, some of it is like, like Steph, I've never seen Steph miss that many wide open shots. Like some of it, you got to, but that gets in your head then, right? And then you start forcing things even more.

You start to feel like it's not your night, especially for guys like Clay Thompson and Jordan Pool. You saw a lot of that. But to their credit, they rained it in and they got it together in that fourth quarter and they got going. It was a really, really weird game, you know? I don't know how you could say it translates forward because, again, it's the small sample size is the advantage of the weird team, right? Like, obviously, if Philly played a seven game series against Miami with no bigs, by game three or game four, Eric Spolster is going to figure out ways to consistently exploit

you for not having any size on the floor, right? But in that first game or two, you have your advantage. You know, this was the game. If you were Memphis, you had to win because you made things super weird. If you win this game, maybe you can eke out one more of those in your buzzsaw in front of your home crowd. But like the longer this goes, they're going to have a lot of time over the course the next couple of days to dig into the film, see where their areas of opportunity were. There's no way in the world that Memphis should get away with having Stephen Adams on the floor for

more than half the game against your five out attack. It just shouldn't happen. So Golden State's got a lot of stuff that they got to figure out. But they're all readily available adjustments. And again, this is game five. They should have a much. better opportunity to make Memphis pay for being as big and as slow as they were. A couple of quick shoutouts. I just talked about Jared Jackson. I thought he had a monstrous two-way performance. Just, you know, that guy's young and he doesn't see the floor super well. And it's going to be hard for him to be as impactful as he's capable of inconsistently enough at this phase in his career. But he's going to be really good. Because like, man, there was a moment there in that game where he just

suddenly it dawned on him that no one could guard him. And he was just going to the room every time and just quick little rip-throughs and stuff and just, you know, getting the defender on his hip and then making shots off the glass. He had an extremely tough, left-handed layup off the glass there in crunch time. Just an unbelievable performance. And then credit to Tias Jones. You know, his, I remember when Tias Jones was coming out of college, he was kind of, you know, portrayed as the, like, prototypical point guard.

like the guy that is just the guy who can run a team, which is not a thing that you see too often in the NBA these days because most guards are high pick and roll heavy, like really like mechanical decision makers. If it gets caught on the screen, I'm shooting. If he's kind of caught on the screen but still there, I'm going to drive into the lane further. I'm going to get into my floater.

I'm going to get to my pull-up shot or I'm going to get all the way to the rim. And if someone absolutely forces me to, then I'll give the ball up. You know, that's the way most guards are wired in the NBA these days. There just aren't many guys like Tyos Jones who can just execute and run a team. And he did a really nice job of that tonight. So credit to him. But good comeback win from a Golden State. Like I said, Steph in the fourth quarter was incredible.

I thought Kevin Looney came in and gave some really important minutes. There was a monster play from Jordan Poole after a defensive stop or he whipped that behind the back dribble and actually threw it way out in front of him and chased it down and got it and got all the way to the rim for the layup and transition. That's that freak of nature straight line speed that Jordan Poole. has that was so good. Draymond Green had a monster block on Jaron Jackson Jr. on one of the final possessions where he, uh, where Jaron Jackson kind of forced like a pull up three off the dribble and he blocked it. Clay Thompson had a big defensive play towards the end of the game on Desmond Bain. So for, for a team that had a lot of guys that had rough nights,

Auto Porter Jr. struggled guarding Jaron Jackson Jr., but he was the only guy making shots. You know, Andrew Wiggins had a massive block on Desmond Bain going down the lane. So everyone had a rough night in a Golden State jersey, but everybody came through and made the big place. And that's what the championship teams do. And I mean, again, my concerns to Golden State remain the same that they've been this entire playoff run, because they're up 3-1 now. They're probably going to win this series, probably going to go to the next round. They're going to face someone like Phoenix or Dallas, right? But consistently in this series, they've struggled a little bit with Memphis's size.

So that's going to be their big flaw. But every team has flaws. Dallas's flaw is after Luca, the offensive creation is super inconsistent. And they don't have great defensive personnel, although they've been guarding super well. Phoenix's biggest fly, as you've seen, is when they play against a good dribble drive team like Dallas is. All of a sudden, like Chris Paul starts to struggle a little bit. Guys like Mikhail Bridges and Cam Johnson start to struggle a bit. Devin Booker is really the only guy who's been good on the road in Dallas. So you're seeing Phoenix is showing some limitations and shot creation against really good defensive teams,

which is exactly what happened to them in the NBA finals against Milwaukee. Boston, we're going to talk about them here in just a minute. Their offense goes through these extended stretches where they're sloppy. So all of these teams have flaws. So I'm not trying to act like Golden States, the only team with the flaw. It's just this is their specific flaw. When they play teams that are very big and physical, it can cause them some issues. Tonight they were able to overcome it.

I thought there was a big step for them. Obviously, that'll be the matchups are the things that determine these types of outcomes, and we'll see what happens when they move further along. But 3-1 in this series, the only team in the second round that has a 3-1 lead right now is Golden State. Before we move on to Boston, Milwaukee, a couple quick housekeeping notes like earlier. Like this video and subscribe to the volumes YouTube channel. We're going to be going live every day this week. So make sure you come back after every big game.

And make sure you follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason LT. That is the best place to see any video content that breaks down the things that I talk about on the game. on the show. So let's talk about Boston and Milwaukee for a minute. So super, super interesting game. You guys, most of you who have been following the show for a while, you know where I stand. I picked Boston originally in five. And then when Milwaukee stole game one, I stayed on Boston. I just thought it would be a longer series. And to Janus in particular, his credit, he's done an unbelievable job dragging this series out. Boston is the better team. They, from January 23rd on, they were the number one offense in the league and the number

number one defense in the league. They were in the number one defense by a big margin. They had a five point per 100 possession advantage over the second best team. Boston has like literally utterly dominated that Brooklyn team. And I know everyone wants to slander, Kevin Durant, and I know everyone wants to slander, Steve Nash and Kyrie Irving and they're an easy target. But Brooklyn was good when KD and Kyrie played. So that's how it goes. And Boston ripped them to shreds. Okay. Milwaukee on the other hand was the 20th ranked defense in the NBA after the All-Star break. They struggle at guarding the perimeter.

They've only been good at guarding the paint. That's always been their defensive identity. And so that's why I picked Boston. And the series is broken down in a really interesting manner. And Janus, to me, is the only reason it's as competitive as it has been. And so it's a credit to him. And, like, I have to say, I have been so unbelievably blown away and impressed by Janus in this playoff run.

You know, as I've told you guys many times, I am slow to move guys to the top. It's just the way I'm wired. Big LeBron fan here, didn't think he was the best part in the league until 2012. That's the manner in which that I make these decisions. For me personally, I just take it slow. I give a lot of respect and leeway and margin for error and benefit of the doubt to the guys that have done it year and year and year out, right? That's just the way I am.

But Janus is making it unassailable at this point that he is by himself at the top of the league. He looks comfortable against this Boston defense. which is completely insane. I've said this on the show before, and I stand by it. I think Boston is the best defensive team of this era. At any given moment, they always have five good defensive players on the floor

that can guard almost every position. They switch, they can do drop, they double and recover, they're active off the ball, they can block shots at the rim, they can block shots on the perimeter. They are a frightening defensive team. They make Kevin freaking Durant look lost.

and I have never seen Kevin freaking Durant look lost. Even in his bad playoff moments in the past, he never looked as bad as he did against this Boston defense. And Janice just looks completely in control when he has the ball. Now, again, basketball is a team sport. It's not always going to manifest as a win. That's why I picked Boston. But I've been blown away by Janice.

His passing, he is now like, Is he LeBron or Yokic or Luca or CP3 with the past? No. But he's in one of the tiers right below there. And that's a remarkable accomplishment for a guy who didn't grow up playing this game. Who literally learned it on the fly. It's just unbelievable stuff. He's starting to break down Boston's wall a little bit too. That's Milwaukee's chance to keep this series going longer.

As the series has progressed at the start, it was Boston's guys, were stonewalling on us. And then now it's like, Janice is starting to run them over a little bit. This game in that second half, he's starting to go right around him. Like the Boston players aren't even holding their ground anymore as they're starting to wear down. And that's the impact he had on Phoenix and the NBA finals last year. It's a impact he had on Brooklyn in the conference semis last year. That's what he does to you. He just slowly but surely breaks you down because he's the most physically imposing player of this era. And that's how it goes. A couple of the quick notes on Boston's front. Al Horford,

playoff career high, 30 points tonight, just an absolute monster. He's an example of the way matchups and scheming can lead to a specific player having a ton of success. Do you guys remember in the 2015 NBA finals, you Warriors fans will remember this vividly well? But do you remember how Andre Guadala kept making corner threes? And as a result, his scoring numbers were inflated. And he was guarding LeBron as the primary defender so he got a finals MVP. But anybody who was watching the series understood what was actually happening in that series was Steph was running high pick and roll with Dre. And Cleveland had in their scheme a trap of every Steph Curry pick and roll. So whoever was

guarding Dre like Tristan Thompson or and whoever was guarding Steph like Kyrie Irving, those two guys would go with Steph and they dumped the ball over the top. Excuse me, they dumped the ball over the top to Draymond. Draymond would roll down the lane. LeBron would come over and help and shut off Dremont on the short roll. And Dremont would kick to the left corner every single time. Always wide open was Andre Aguadala and he would make the shot. And so the points are going to Andre Gwada, but it's a scheme thing and it's Steph that was creating that.

That's why that happened, right? That's why I thought Steph got so awfully robbed of his finals MVP that he deserves and that he has in my book, right? But that's the way scheming can lead to a role player getting fantastic shots and it having an impact on a series. That's what happened to Al Horford in this series. And it's happened like crazy in the last couple of games. NBA drop coverage is designed to take away the paint. And when you chase the guard over the top of the screen and the big is waiting in the paint, both of those players are going with the guy who has the ball, essentially.

And when you're rolling to the basket with a traditional role man like Clint Capella, you're okay. because the guy who's in drop coverage, the big man who's in drop coverage, can guard both the roll man and the guard as long as the other guy chases him and funnels him to the basket, right? But if I have Al Horford set the screen and I have him pop to the three point line and the big is still in drop around the basket and the guard is still chasing the other guard over the top of the screen, Horford's going to be open every single time. And so he's been wide open in pick and pops all series long

and he's been knocking him down. In off-ball situations, if Brooke Lopez, as part of the Milwaukee defense, wants to hawk the paint, then Al Horford just sits in the weak side corner. And now Jason Tatum, all he has to do is get by Wesley Matthews, apply a little bit of rim pressure so that Brooke commits easy kick pass out to Al Horford in the corner, and he's making them. You know, again, like a lot of times fans, especially fans of a losing team, will focus on shot quality.

I should say shot outcome. Oh, they made all their shots. Al Horford couldn't miss tonight. You know, I can't believe Boston's making all these threes. They're wide open. It's shot quality determines shot outcome for the most part, especially over a large sample size. Yes, in a weird game like Golden State Memphis tonight,

you might get some weird outcomes on open shots. But for the most part, especially when you become familiar with the team, wide open shots for good shooters are probably going to go in. And they did. And they're going to keep going in. Boston shot 40% on wide open threes in the first round. They were 42% on wide open threes through games one through three of this series. I don't know what they shot tonight because I haven't seen the stats yet,

but they made all their open shots tonight. That's scheming. That's Andre Aguadala hitting quarter threes in the 2015 finals. That's how this works. So credit to Al Horford, I'm not trying to undercut him by at all, but I just think it's super interesting the way that scheming can lead to, an individual performance as great as that. Last touch on this series, Jason Tatum,

you know, awful, awful, awful game three. And the mark of greatness is bounce back. You know, obviously consistency is the ultimate mark of greatness, but not everyone's LeBron. LeBron is great in every playoff game, but you know what? He's going to go down as the second best basketball player of all time, maybe the first.

Okay, so that's that standard. And Janus is quickly trending in that direction himself. but like Jason Tatum at a really bad game in game three and he bounced back. Made a ton of big shots at the end of the game that iced the game. I thought the story of the game for Tatum

was attacking the paint. It was play early in the game in transition where he put his head down and he dunked on Brooke Lopez like you wouldn't believe. It's frightening. Just a vicious tone setting message sending dunk.

And as a result, he made seven made paint field goals in this game. So, got into the paint, made seven shots, only three in game three. So his relentlessness attacking the basket was a big part of him getting going tonight. He made an impossible layup down the stretch of that game to ice it too. And shot selection has been the story of this entire series for Boston. When they've been able to get out of the half court, excuse me,

when they've been able to keep the game in the half court and keep Milwaukee out of transition, they've dominated. but they've lost games in transition. They were 20 points down in fast break points in game one. They lost. Even in fast break points in game two, they won. Down 10 in fast break points in game three, they lost. That's the way that that dynamic shifts on their ability to keep control of the game.

Tatum was a big part of that tonight. I thought his shot selection was really, really smart. Much better job keeping his teammates involved. He only had one assist in game three at five assists tonight. So credit to Jason Tatum. We did a deeper dive on this game earlier. You can find it on our YouTube stream. Did 30 minutes on this game.

Got into a ton of the details. So go on to our YouTube page later. You can check that out there. We're going to bring my guy Carson on. Make sure you like this video and subscribe to our channel. Make sure that you guys hang out every night this week. We're going to be going live after every big game. And make sure you follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason LT for video content.

We're going to bring my guy Carson on and we're going to do five big questions. What's up, my guy? Oh, we're good. Jason. I hope you guys enjoyed my bit there where nobody could hear me. Let's go. Modern technology. It's amazing how this stuff works.

Okay. Yeah, I am on your side here. I mean, I have said, I think, several times on the show that I'm a big Yokic advocate. And I just think it's incredibly difficult to hold the Nuggets relative lack of playoffs of success.

I mean, they won a series last year, obviously without Jamal and with a roster that didn't compare in terms of talent to the top teams out West. It was an abysmal defensive Portland team. But it's a regular season award first and foremost. His regular season production, efficiency, on-off data, you know, just the eye test in terms of how he empowers that offense, undeniable.

And even in terms of playoff performance, I mean, he put up 31, 13, and 6 on 57. 5% from the field. The Nuggets offense was better in the playoffs than it was in the regular season, but it's just a matter of a massive talent deficit. So I think people are very. unfair at times with the Yokic stuff. And I just don't think it's a good way to evaluate a guy's merit, looking at an individual

playoff series in which the team is totally outclass talent-wise and saying, well, that negates a regular season. That just doesn't make sense to me. Yeah, you know, the whole like best player should win every series thing is kind of like a it's a skipping list line

of thinking. I have a huge problem with it. To me, it just doesn't, it's lowbrow. It disrespects the game of basketball and what it actually means, like, talk to guys like LeBron and Steph, too, guys who are the two most successful players of this era, and they will tell you time and time again that it's their teammates that, that have carried them to this point, not carried them, but that have helped them get to this point. I mean, I'm curious, your thoughts, Carson, what do you think of,

what do you think of my idea that in a field of flawed candidates, you default to the guy who was the best player in the league this year, I thought, Janus? I do think that that's interesting, but I think kind of the key point. is what you also touched on and that the Bucks in terms of on court performance this year outscored their opponents by less with Yonis on the floor than the Denver Nuggets did with Yokic on the floor. And it's like to me, once you reach that point, it's okay. What more does Yokic have to do? I think that's a sound line of thinking. But I just think the overachievement in team success for the Nuggets and the relative underachievement for the Bucks to me makes up for that

best player in the world kind of default factor. That's a really solid case, Carson. I can't argue with you there. My final thought on it is no problem with Yokic deserving MVP. Don't feel like it's a travesty. This isn't Russell Westbrook in 2017. But it just, I personally in this situation would have gone with Janus, but I don't have any problem with the case.

Yeah. And I will say just to the best player in the series point that you touched on, it's like the Warriors had five of the six best players in that series. Yokich is the lone exception there. So it's very tough to look at that as, okay, one guy is determinative of everything there. All right. Now we're rolling, Jason. Everybody can hear me.

We're talking about Yokic. We're feeling great. Let's talk about a couple of other superstars here, both of whom are maybe in the midst of a comeback here, got their series even from down 2-0 to 2 apiece. We're talking about the Sixers and the Mavs here led by Joel Mbitt and Luca Dantzic. So, Jason, who do you think has the better chance of actually success? leading that comeback all the way. Embedddh or Luca. Okay.

Before I answer this, let me clearly differentiate between who I think is the better player and a better playoff player and who I think actually has a better chance of leading the comeback. I think Embed has a better chance of leading the comeback because I'm actually picking the Sixers at this point. I did a deep dive on this. You guys can find it on our video on our YouTube channel from earlier today.

did a ton of film study on games three and game four. There is a dynamic taking place with Miami that they can't score with Joe Embed on the floor. So Joel Embed as the defensive fulcrum plus everything, they figured out some really interesting stuff with his post-ups today or yesterday. Miami was doing this really interesting like front backside help things. So they were switching, picking rolls with Embed, and happily putting guards on Embed and happily letting him go post them up.

but they were just fronting him and then helping from the backside so nothing was open. Well, Philly had some really interesting counters today where they used some player movement and some ball movement to capitalize on those fronts to get easy shots for Joel Embed. I think they have more chess moves to make in this series because I think they have better players to utilize in the half court. I thought it was a damn shame that Doc Rivers went down to Miami and tricked off those first two games the way that he did. But I mean, all in all, like Embedd, I think is actually going to win the series.

Now, Luca, he has a chance to, but I think Phoenix is so much better that they'll pull it off. My thing is like in a vacuum, would I rather have Luca or Embed for a playoff series? I value that half-court surgery to such a high extent that I'm always going to default to a guy like Luca. Whereas like for Joel Embed, maybe for an 82 game season, his defensive capabilities are more valuable. But Embed's more likely to lead the comeback because his team has a better chance of winning. but I still think Luke is a better playoff player, if that makes sense. Yeah, I completely agree with you every step of the way there. And even when Lucas having an off shooting night like he did in game four,

you just feel the pronounced playmaking impact. You see him just effortlessly collapsing the defense and whatnot, creating so many open threes so frequently. And I mean, the guy is, well, maybe he's not the top playoff score ever anymore. Maybe he's back down to number two. But like his playoff production is unfathomably great. great. But I also agree with you in that the Sixers are, I think, a better team facing, certainly an inferior team in Miami as compared to the Sons. And they're just in much better

position. It's really, I think, a very tall task to ask Luca to overcome just the talent deficit that they're facing against the Sons team that is so complete. What do you think he would have to do to actually get them to that point? Like, how incredible would Luka have to be? And what would have to go right around to do? he's got to make shots. I mean, like, what's crazy is Lucas, Lucas having a really good offensive series overall when you factor in everything he's bringing to the table.

I mean, you have to have a really good offensive series from Luca to be 2-2 with the team like the Suns. But he was 1 for 10 on his threes again against Phoenix. I think it was you. Do you remember the exact percentage in your TikTok that Luca shot on playoff step-back threes? Do you remember off top of your head? I think it was 46.3.

guys how insane is that like obviously i think it was coming into that series or coming into game two or game three that series but to shoot just under 50% on step back three's in the playoffs is a ridiculous level of efficiency and he's been shooting like shit in this series so like my thing is like i'm picking phoenix to win the series still my guess is in seven games but dallas's chance is basically exactly what they're doing. Jalen Brunson getting things going a little bit more, you know, Spencer Dinwoody spot impact, much, much better defense.

Reggie Bullock and Reggie Bullock and Dorian Finney Smith have been unbelievable on the defensive end. They've gone away from Powell for a little bit more and a little bit more Maxi Kleba because it opens things up for them scoring in the half court. A lot of good things going on, and that's how it's 2-2. But you win this series with Luca going

into Phoenix in game five and going seven for 10 on stepback threes instead of one for 10 on stepback three. So to me, that'll be the, because it's kind of like a lot of those difficult shots he takes, the stepbacks and the turnarounds and the post and stuff like that, those are like the way he bails out the end of possessions when they've run their actions a few times and they didn't get an open three out of it. They'll go back to Luca in an ISO and he'll take those shots. So like they are rescue possessions and they haven't been scoring on their rescue possessions. So if Lucas starts scoring on those rescue possessions, that'll be what wins. The great example of what I'm talking about is James Harden last night.

Like James Harden last night was making the stepback three. And as a result, he was able to rescue a bunch of possessions. And next thing you know, Philly has 120 points against a really good Miami defense. Well, let's get back to that series for a second here, Jason, because you mentioned obviously the sort of Doc Rivers master class of messing things up in those first couple games. but we are back even at two games a piece now between Philly and Miami. So do you think there's any chance that Doc is actually doing a good job now, Jason? He is. He flat out is. Like, I mean, this kind of reminds me of the Rudy Gobert situation where like, if you guys

remember with Rudy Gobert, the narrative surrounding him kind of exploded to the point where it wasn't matching what was actually happening on the court. The theory was, oh, you can score on Rudy Gobert. And it was like, actually, no, no, no, you can score on the jazz. But Rudy Gobert is basically, like, literally like, like R2D2 at Star Wars, trying to plug all the holes in the little electrical board, right? Or I guess that was BB8. But I'm butchering Star Wars references.

Catch yourself, Jason. What are you doing? This is your home turf, man. It's a Star Wars reference. Anyway, my point is like, MBE is, or Gober is always plugging all these holes for them. And so he ended up catching the bad reputation for what was basically a roster construction issue, right? You know, and that's kind of like I'm not underselling Doc's previous failures. And I am super critical of what he did to start this series.

I thought he was, I thought, and again, like, it's hard to convince a traditional basketball coach has been around for a long time to do something crazy, like bench the two centers you have to play five wings all game long. But that's just what I would have done. but that's Monday morning quarterbacking, so it's irrelevant. Overall, though, in this playoff run, I thought he out-coached Nick Nurse. I thought it was genius the way that he pushed the ball so much in transition early in that series. That's always been a weakness of Phillies, and he turned it into a strength in that series. One of the biggest reasons why people were picking Toronto, people like myself were picking Toronto,

was I thought they'd be able to win the transition battle, and Philly won the transition battle. They did, Doc did a really good job coaching them up on the defensive end of the floor, where that series, particularly basically just daring Toronto to shoot. And it burned them a couple times, obviously when they were up 3-0, but they won a big game in game 6 on the road by daring Toronto to shoot and they went ice cold. And then in this series, and I broke this down just a minute ago, I won't go too much further into it. But like, the dynamics he's been using to counter the way that Miami has guarded and beat has been really, really smart. He's mixed in some zone.

you know, there's a lot of, there's a lot of high-level chess moves going on on behalf of Doc Rivers. And you got to give them some credit. Like I've always said on this show, like, we have to be critical. Like, there's no universe where Carson and I can put on a good show or we're just pandering with propaganda all day long. Like, we have to be critical. But the flip side of that is we have to be fair. If we are critical of players like James Hardin or critical of coaches like Doc Rivers, when they do play well or coach well,

I think it's important for us to call that out as well. And I think Doc has done a really good job in this playoff run. Yeah, I agree with you in the improvement. And I think obviously a lot of people keyed in on the DeAndre Jordan playing. You talked about that a lot. The most hilarious stat to me was that the Sixers were 63 points per 100 possessions worse with him on the floor. Very small sample size in three playoff games. But obviously, you know, Doc actually made the move that it didn't seem like he was going to make.

and we haven't seen DJ and they've won back-to-back games now. And there's definitely progress on that front. Let's pivot to another Eastern Conference series here, one that we already touched on a bit today. Celtics Bucks. Who wins game five, Jason? I think the Celtics are going to win comfortably. You know, like I told you guys in the show that we did Saturday night.

I believe it was Saturday night. It might have been Sunday. I said that I predicted Boston would win by 10 to 15 points in game four, which they had a 10 point lead late. I'm not actually sure what the final score ended up being. And then I thought they'd go home and win comfortably at home. I think they'll feed off the home crowd and not necessarily a blowout, but it'll be one of those games where they're stiff-arming Milwaukee the whole game.

And then I think game six will be a really, really close game that I think Boston will win. And the main reason why is like Boston has a clear cut pathway to victory. Keep the game in the half court, play smart offense, do the same thing you've been doing for damn near five months now, and that's play the best events of this era. If you do that, you're going to win. Every time that the wheels have gone off the rails for Boston in this series, it's been quick threes off the dribble early in the shot clock, quick threes in transition early in the shot clock, driving into the teeth of the defense and trying to finish over

shot blocking and getting blocked. I pointed out earlier today, I think they were 37 for 48 or something crazy like that on twos tonight. So the much better execution to get higher quality two point shots at the rim or near the rim. Everything for this entire series has come down to offensive execution for Boston. Can they keep their shit together long enough to get quality shots often enough to keep Milwaukee out of transition. Because when they get in transition, it's Janus tribling the ball up the court with the head of steam and no one can do a damn thing with him. It's like it reminds me of prime LeBron James. All the LeBron comps continue with the Janus thing. And they're very different players in a lot of different ways. But one of the ways they're very similar is LeBron was a one-man

fast break. When he got a steal or a block or rebound or whatever and he started running the floor, there was just nothing you could do with them. And that's what Janus has been doing in this series. And so, I think, like, is it, I'm not counting out Milwaukee. You'd be stupid to do so with how good Yonis is. And you also would be stupid to count out with Milwaukee with how often Boston has denigrated back into terrible offense. But I would hope at this point they have enough evidence to show them clearly the way that they need to play. And they'll play that way and get the job done. I think there's a very good chance Milwaukee does win in game six at home.

but I'd still pick Boston comfortably in a game seven. So I think Boston's in good shape at this point. Yeah, I'm with you there. I think that I don't know if I'm ever comfortable taking either of these teams to win comfortably largely just because of the Janus factor and the level he's playing at right now. But the Celtics are just a better basketball team. There are more complete basketball team. And the half court difference that you've touched on a lot is significant.

But the Janus factor is frightening. I just don't think it's quite enough with obviously the Bucks down, Middleton. All right. What's your opinion of the way Yonis has played in this series real quick? I think he has done his best in a really difficult matchup. I think that he has emphasized just like the overwhelming physical advantage he has over like, I don't know, every other player in the league. I think that obviously it's been really high volume. I think that's been essential though. And Drew has been really high volume too, but there just are no other creators on this roster. It's like everything falls on them when you don't have Middleton.

There isn't that release valve. So it's okay, Janus, find a way, try and get downhill and playmaking, create a shot for somebody. And he's done that. I mean, the playmaking has been there. The finishes have been tough. Obviously, the jump shooting hasn't been particularly good. The overall efficiency hasn't been good. But given that, I think he's had as pronounced of an impact as he could have.

And obviously there's been huge defensive moments. So I feel like this is really just a testament to his status as I think he's the best player in the world. I know that you've talked about thinking he might just be in a tier of his own. It feels to me like when a guy is at his worst in terms of, you know, just purely scoring the basketball and shot making to an extent, then you really see what the floor is in terms of impact. And it just feels like nobody has a higher floor right now.

And that's kind of what he's proven. him. So I think it's been impressive even if, like, his, you know, production and efficiency won't even compare to a normal Yonah series. Yeah, I think that he's done about as good a job as you could possibly do against this Boston defense. Like, I just, again, I know, I know I've been on this Boston defense like nonstop. And I know that that's been kind of like my little hill that I've been on. But, like, it's not, it's just based on what I've seen in film. And like, yeah. There is nothing easy against this defense, and he has literally, he, this is like, it's like you're in the desert. And in the entire Sahara Desert, there's this one rag that at one point, like 12 hours ago was wet.

And it's like sitting on the, and Janus is just squeezing every drop of available water out of this thing. Like that, he has, he has hit the absolute peak of what you could have expected from him in the series. And it's two, two. And they were trailing in the final minute. of game three and game one Boston mailed in in a lot of different ways. So like that's just how great Yonis says. If I had one piece of criticism, I'd send his way, like the jump shots are just turnovers.

Like he's not making nearly enough of them to take them. They always lead to runouts the other way. I get why he takes them there to save his legs. So I'm not criticizing him in that regard. My thing is like that that part of his game is still so, so, so far away from being a really reliable piece of his game. Yeah, I think that's a perfectly fair criticism. I think that's a fair criticism of Janus, honestly, in almost any series or game that he's played in his basketball career.

Like it feels like he takes them out of a feeling kind of an obligation or like you talk about conserving that. Like I'm supposed to. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I think he's two of 16 from three now. So, I mean, you're right. Those are effectively turnovers. So, all right.

Last question for you here, Jason. The Golden State Warriors are the title favorites at this point. should they be? Oh, man. See, what makes this tough is like, I think Boston's best punch is the best punch. I think when their defense is locked in

and they're running smart offense, no one can beat them. But one of the reasons why my prediction has been so flaky in this series is they've so consistently gotten out of whack offensively. because that's what you expect from a team that doesn't really have a true point guard, right? Like they don't have a true point forward point guard guy who's used to running a team.

They have Marcus Smart who's kind of like he pretends to be, but he's not really that type of guy. And then Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum, who Tatum's obviously better than Brown at passing, but he's not great. I look down the Philly Miami series, I think both of those teams are worse than both of Milwaukee and Boston. going out west, like the Phoenix matchup is really tricky with Golden State because they can attack some very specific weaknesses of Golden State. So like I think if I was ranking contenders at this point, I'd have Boston won Phoenix 2, Golden State 3.

So I don't know that I call them the favorite. But I think all three of those teams are very close. Like I think it's a clear one, two, three for me, but all of them are separated by the slightest of margins. So, like, I wouldn't be surprised if Boston lost to Phoenix in the finals. Wouldn't be surprised if Boston lost to Golden State in the finals. Hell, guys, I wouldn't be surprised if Boston lost the series to Milwaukee still, just by getting out of whack offensively.

So, like, I don't think there's a bona fide, clear-cut favorite in the field, to be honest with you. It is really interesting because it's not like the Warriors are an overwhelming favorite it in terms of betting odds, but at Fandle, you have them plus 185, which is really, I don't think, great value. And then Phoenix plus 3.30, Boston plus 410. It doesn't feel right to me. Like, I don't think the Warriors would be number one out of that group for me.

I think that you could argue maybe that they've had the most impressive performance purely in terms of the postseason and that they haven't really had like a single let down game. Their couple losses, you know, still really highly contested. and obviously they only have two losses in these playoffs. But I don't know that I would even have them one out of those three. Which of those three teams do you feel like has the most glaring weakness, like the biggest red flag or concern for you? Oh, man.

It's a toss-up between Golden State and Boston. Golden State goes through these extended stretches where they take really bad shots. So does Boston. Golden State also has a size weakness. that would be something that would concern me. I mean, gosh, again, we're talking about very, very tiny margins here. Because even Phoenix's offense can be really stilted when Chris Paul gets thrown out of whack. So, again, it's a small margin, but I would say, yeah, I'd say Golden State probably is the biggest hole there

because they go through extended stretches of poor shot selection, which can derail their offense, and then they have a size weakness in size where they can get punished. And I thought what I'm saying has been very clearly demonstrated tonight in this Memphis game. I think that's fair. I will always think about, and you've talked about it a ton, particularly in this series, the offensive decision-making aspect with Boston, the lack of that traditional lead guard element, like lead scoring and playmaking guard, there was a time earlier this year where I thought, like, that was going to be there undoing, you know, that the two wings being your eyes by so far

wasn't going to work that they weren't good enough playmakers. And so I do always find myself a bit weary of those lapses in those moments, but I think they've come so far that, you know, for the most part, that is no longer an issue. But I think that those are probably the two weaknesses to identify. I don't think Phoenix can be there unless it's like what we've talked about where if CP or book goes down, they don't have creation. But other than that, they are pretty incredibly solid. Yeah, to Golden State's credit.

They've always kind of like snapped back into gear. They go through these extended stretches, but they always snap back. And that's a credit to their experience because, like, I've been critical of Golden State compared to Phoenix and Boston here in the last five minutes, but a lot of it is like comparing very, very good teams. And the big leg up that Golden State has is experience with a big reason why Boston has gotten so out of whack is because they don't have the same amount of experience in these huge moments.

They do have a lot of experience. We've talked about it here on the show. They've been to the conference finals multiple times, this group. But for the most part, they're like Golden State clear level up of experience. They've been in probably twice as many playoffs series over this recent history. They've been to the finals five times.

Like Golden State has just, they're not going to be scared by anything like this. I don't think Steph or Draymond were scared of this game tonight when they were down 11 in that third quarter. They knew what they were up against. And so if there's one leg up that they have on their competition, it's that experience. Yeah, absolutely I'm with you. That is all we have for tonight.

I sincerely appreciate your support. Like we said earlier, we are going to be live every night this week after the big games at the end of the night. Please come hang out with us. Like and subscribe to the volumes YouTube channel. Subscribe to our newsletter. And last but not least, follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason LT for video content. As always, I'm blown away.

And I am so appreciative of you guys coming to hang out with us on. these shows and I will see you tomorrow night. 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, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I Heart Radio

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. podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hardway with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor. It signals to the world that you not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not

mean that you need to. Listen to learn the hard way on. on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHart podcast, guaranteed human.