The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Nerd Sesh - Game 1 Reactions: Nuggets defeat Lakers, Knicks survive Brunson’s bad game

Episode Date: April 21, 2024

The nerds react to every Game 1 on a thrilling opening day of playoff action. They discuss Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and the Denver Nuggets' huge win over LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the Los Angeles Lakers. Then, they react to the Josh Hart & the New York Knicks delivering a huge clutch win over Joel Embiid & the Philadelphia 76ers despite Jalen Brunson having a rough night. Then, they break down how Anthony Edwards & the Minnesota Timberwolves bullied Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and the Phoenix Suns in a convincing win, and how Donovan Mitchell & the Cleveland Cavaliers beat Paolo Banchero & the Orlando Magic in a defensive battle. Timestamps 00:00:24 - Nuggets-Lakers 00:25:32 - Knicks-76ers 00:46:44 - Timberwolves-Suns 01:10:55 - Cavaliers-Magic #Volume #herdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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As always, I'm Carson Braver and alongside. Me is Logan Camden. And today we are, of course, going live for you all on YouTube. This is something we're going to do throughout the NBA playoffs. Pretty much every night in the early rounds, at least. We'll take a couple off per week. But this was an amazing opening day. So we are going to be breaking down every single game that we saw today. And we're going to start with the big one, the one that we ended on. The Lakers Nuggets rematch, Denver ends up taking this one home. They trailed early, but pulled away some in the second half of this game.

Logan, what was your first big takeaway from this game? My first big takeaway was just how perfect the Los Angeles Lakers are going to have to play to steal games away from the Denver Nuggets, man. You know, before this series started, Carson, in our series preview, I made the comparison of the inevitability of the nuggets to a football team, the Kansas City Chiefs, and their dominance and how you basically have to play perfect football that feels like to knock a team like the cheats off. And for the Lakers, a lot of things went right in this basketball game. First and foremost, you got great LeBron James and you got great Anthony Davis. I mean, those are tough boxes to check. You know, we know what these guys can be at their absolute apex, but it's how much is LeBron going to exert himself?

How much is Anthony Davis going to continually, you know, try to get his own shot? And how consistently is he going to knock down those shots? Well, LeBron immediately came out and was dictating the game, you know, scoring, assisting. had a crazy first quarter. And throughout this game, you know, this is some of the most confident Anthony Davis has looked in a while, you know, just consistently using his body to create separation with him and Yokic on the low block. His touch was on.

You know, he's sitting turnarounds and fadeaways. He's dominating in non-yokage minutes too. Like those are boxes that you have to check for the Lakers to be competitive and be in this game. And then, you know, obviously DeAngelo Russell doesn't pull his weight. and I think this is a different ball game if he does. He puts up 13 points on 6 to 20 shooting, and one of nine from deep. Austin Reeves also doesn't have a great game,

just 13 points. But they checked their two biggest boxes, and they were still close despite their guard shortcomings here at the end of this game. And it just felt like if the Lakers could get stops here at the end of the game, that maybe they would have a chance to steal it. But that's the key word. The biggest thing to me, Carson, is that the Nuggets just aren't going to stop,

in the clutch. In the clutch, when it came down to it, their offense just didn't stop. They run, you know, a pick and roll where Yokic gets open at the top of the key, and AD takes an extra second to close out. Yokic hadn't been making threes. Bang, easy three. MPJ hits another three in the clutch. Yokic gets a steal, you know, pushes in transition for an easy layup. I think the Lakers, Carson, are going to be hanging around late in a lot of these basketball games, but the deciding factor is going to be if they can get stops on the best clutch offense in basketball and one of the best clutch teams in basketball. I think this is something that we can consistently expect, Carson,

that the Lakers are going to be close towards the end of these basketball games. And the difference maker to me was, again, Reeves and Delo not performing up to their absolute apex, but also just the Lakers able to generate stops when they need them, man. The Nuggets offense just never stops coming. and that to me was the decided there at the end, man. The nuggets just pull away like the inevitably always seemed to do. And that's why I viewed this is basically an unwittingable series for the Lakers, even though I've been very high on their playoff upside because this offense was surging as of

late. And I'm pretty much always going to be an optimist about the dialed in LeBron and AD formula, especially when LeBron had been playing at the level that he was in the home stretch of this season, the best we've seen him as a jump shooter like ever, just dictating games as a playmaker and with his strength and still elite athleticism, I thought they would be a really tough draw for a lot of teams out west. But Denver is the one where you look at it and you're like, I just don't see the path because you mentioned how they have to be perfect.

That's to win a game, to win a series to string together four wins. I just don't see it because they don't have an answer for this offense. And we talked about this in great detail in our series preview. I made a whole in-depth video that went out this morning about why the Lakers have no answer Yokich. The fact that he is impervious to every coverage that they or basically anybody can try. And the one thing that I specifically said is last year in the fourth quarter of game one, for a moment, it seemed like, whoa, Eureka, maybe the Lakers have found something with putting Rui

Hachimura on Yokic as the primary post defender and using 80 in the Romer role where he can be at his best as a help defender because in single coverage, Yokic is going to give 80 the business. He's going to give anybody the business. and that was the formula that Minnesota laid out in the first round, and they guarded Yokic better than anybody. So AD is able to help effectively and deter some of those Yoket shots around the rim and affect some of those interior passes. But that look really only worked for a quarter.

And ever since then, Yokic has pretty much cooked it. And it got to the point where in their last regular season meeting, I was like, this is just an untenable look because that's what they went to for the majority of that game. And the problem is the key difference between the Lakers playing this look. and say the Timberwolves is that Minnesota is really the only team in the league who I think can effectively do this because Cat is so huge and he guards Yokic better in single coverage than most teams best post defender than most teams best big would.

You are just making life too easy on him, leaving him in any sort of single coverage with Rui. And of course, the vision is, oh, 80 is going to come over and help. But Yokic is able to attack so quickly in certain situations. And he's able to make those touch shots so effectively from eight feet out or whatever where he doesn't have to go all the way to the rim where 80 would be able to help more effectively. So that was the one thing that I thought they'll go to, but they really shouldn't. And that was their plan A.

That's what they went to for most of this game. Late, made way through the third quarter, they switched off of it because at the end of the day, I just think you're best having AD, your best defender by far involved in every Yokic action as much as you can. Because there's just too many ways for him to avoid and work around AD otherwise. And he's making these touch shots over the top of Rui. LeBron as well when that was the look that he got. Like they are actual layups. Like this was a game that once Yokic was assertive,

he controlled so effortlessly that you just knew they were going to pull away. Because in the first half, there were some spots where Rui's pushing him out to the perimeter and his catch point isn't super deep and he's content to just run handoffs and what have you, and he's not fully asserting himself. But once he got in that mode, he was scoring at will every time. And the other reason that L.A. was up early in this game and at halftime is that Yokich was creating a lot of good shots. The Nuggets were getting a lot of good threes, period, off of doubles, off of digs, and Yokic was very composed. He found the open shooters. He didn't turn the ball over once in

this game. But they just missed a lot of those open looks. I think they were six of 26 or something from deep in the first half. And then in the third quarter, all of that changed. And when 80 is off the floor and Yokic is out there, it's just overwhelming. I mean, that's when it is actually like he's playing with his little cousins out there. And now in the stretch, you hit on it, man. They just have too many go-to actions that are effectively unstoppable. And they have so many complimentary weapons because we can talk about Yolkits dictating everything and scoring at will and making perfect decisions. But you have a Jamal Murray inverted pick and roll where he's the screener that then flows

back into a Murray pick and roll conventional handoff. And then you have MPJ like this lethal catch and shooter get open on the weak side. That's nails. You have Aaron Gordon on just a clean mismatch with Tori and Prince. Well, you know he's going to score super efficiently there. You have Murray cutting on Austin Reeves and Yokers throwing a perfect entry pass. Like there's just too many weapons here. There's just too many answers.

And their process never deviates. That's another big difference. You look at some of the Lakers decision making. Their personnel isn't as good. And they don't have the unstoppable force. Like there's multiple factors that are working heavily in Denver's favor here. But Denver's never going to have a game where the equivalent of DeAngelo Russell, who doesn't exist on this roster,

So they don't have anybody who's that poor decision maker. But like he's going to lead the team in field goal attempts. That's part of what was alarming for L.A. down the stretch. LeBron was uninvolved. Adi was aggressive and he was getting his. But the process for Denver is so consistently great as is the personnel, as are the results. And I just don't see the path to L.A. disrupting that. They can get a game.

They could get two games because this offense is really good. And they've played a lot of really good basketball as of late, but they don't have answers. And yeah, I thought that was really evident. down the stretch for L.A. when, you know, you're turning to an Austin Reeves pin down where he's taking a tough contested three. It's, they're just not as ready for these scenarios or well equipped to battling these close games.

The Lakers have been great, but just specifically against the nuggets, you know, it's way more difficult. And a couple other things, you know, I think that L.A. is going to struggle on the glass all series long, too, just going up against the size and that. athleticism of Denver. You know, L.A. is a very big physical and athletic team, but you've got dogs in Denver that are just going to crash the glass harder. You know, Christian Brown, Peyton Watson, MPJ, Aaron Gordon, you know, those guys are a lot of mismatches. You've got guys like Dilo and Reeves who don't traditionally crash the glass.

I think that's going to be an uphill battle for L.A. all series long. And then specifically in the two Denver runs that we did see in this game, in the third quarter when they go on that 13-0 run and then late when the Nuggets, you know, offense just pulls away slowly. You know, Carson, I don't think the Lakers are as well equipped to play an up-tempo and in transition as much as Denver is. You know, I think L.A. really needs to dictate this game and slow it down. Interesting. I want to be clear about something.

I think L.A.'s cooked either way. But in all of those, Denver was winning defensively, getting out on the break and just creating easy offense that L.A. just couldn't. stopped. And it's a combination of things like bad process by LA leading to rebounds, leakouts and stuff like that. But Denver just has such a clear edge to me in that department where they just go. And maybe that's just the ease of their offense because they've got more skilled guys out there. But both of those runs, it was bad early shots from L.A. in the shot clock. Denver's leaking out. And in those stretches,

it's just almost impossible for L.A. to ever regain the, you know, control of the game. It feels like Denver's just taken over. Yokic did an amazing job of pushing in transition, and they're so lethal there, right? They have their point center who can make every pass and they have shooting everywhere. And that's where oftentimes you'll find Aaron Gordon with just a clear mismatch. He has a seal or whatever, and you just throw on the ball and that's an easy one-on-one bucket. I thought Denver was really effective in transition in this game. We also saw last year that was a theme where he's out hustling AD down the floor and then he gets a cross-match and transition and boom, that's an easy bucket.

where I just don't agree is that LA wants to slow the game down. LeBron and the Lakers need to play good transition defense. Like that's the thing. They want to play up-tempo offensively. That to me is still where they're at their best. That's where LeBron is most effective in space as this great athlete. The Lakers aren't up-tempo offense. I think they play great in those up-tempo situations.

But you're right. It is the early shot clock long rebounds where they're just a bleeding value. They're almost wasting possessions. and it's leading into easy Denver offense. In the second ad specifically too, because we saw LeBron kind of wane away from it. What did you think about his exertion on the game and how much he imposed himself as a score

late down the stretch of this one? I was very underwhelmed, and it felt basically like he had just kind of decided that that was game over, because you can't have LeBron be that passive if you want to actually win a game like this. LeBron was awesome in the first half. He was getting what he wanted and he was playmaking effectively.

and his shot making was on. Like, that's LeBron. We've seen post All Star Break, who's averaged 27 and 9 on 67% true shooting. That's the LeBron, who's looked like a borderline top five player for an extended stretch. But we've seen in these playoff environments, or just in basketball period, at his current age,

like he can't go full throttle every night. And it felt like he reached a point where he just sort of threw in the towel on this game because he didn't assert himself late. And you just can't let it be the D-Lo show. if you want to win this game. LeBron didn't attempt a shot in the first 10 minutes of the fourth quarter, but it's not just that. He wasn't involved as an on-ball creator. And I think there are multiple ways. LeBron can run lethal late game offense, lethal late game offense. Of course, you can go to the inverted pick and roll with Austin Reeves. That's incredibly difficult to guard. You can have LeBron

mismatch hunting there or LeBron Springs or Austin Reeves springs open for a good look on a catch and shoot three. You also could have LeBron as a screener and as a role. and that was really effective crunch time offense in the last regular season meetings between these two teams. And instead it was just like, all right, we'll kind of live and die by Dilo. And AD did step up. And this was a really good offensive game from him overall. He was super aggressive from the jump.

And then he was aggressive again in that fourth quarter. His touch was just on when he is making those touch shots and those turnarounds at this clip. Like that is just a dominant basketball player. He embraced the physicality in terms of when he was the offensive player with Yokic in that matchup. And I thought Yokic was conceding a bit too much ground late when 80s strung together a couple possessions back-to-back easy buckets.

And he was dictating the physicality, initiating contact. But at the end of the day, like LeBron is your best offensive player by far. And if he is just kind of standing away from the ball, you're ultimately not going to win a game like that. Yeah. I mean, and there were definitely instances down the stretch, too, where I thought, you know, LeBron got KCP and just waited a little bit too long. or LeBron would get Murray, and it's like, we don't have time to wait.

You know, the clock is ticking because, and that's the real scary part about playing this Denver offense is there were five minutes left. And this was a seven point game. In the blank of an eye, two bad possessions, you're down 13 to Denver because you met, I mean, that's the margin of error that you have. That's why every possession is so important. And when you're settling for these jumpers, that's just not the late game offense. think they should have had. And overarching on this game as a whole, it just sucks that you do waste a great AD game, you know, considering that he showed up. And for the most part of this game,

LeBron dictated and nominated what he could. Again, I thought he should have been better down late in this game. But it just sucks, man, because you don't know if Anthony Davis is the next game, if he's going to have 17 points and his touches off. Because there is just that that volatility with AD night to night. Every game and every possession feels so freaking important against Denver, man. Every second is just so vital to swinging that game. Again, man, in the blink of an eye, you take two bad shots on offense and it can just cost you against Denver

in a game like that where the Lakers were so close. And those little marginal mistakes and marginal errors, man. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, it just seems like, what is this? number nine in a row for Denver against L.A., dude, this is... It's gotten ridiculous, man. Denver just has L.A.'s number, it seems like. And they really do pull away in the most significant stretch always. Like, they just play the cleanest basketball.

They have their go-to actions. There's no question of hierarchy. There's no question that Yoko is just going to assert himself in those spots. And they're going to get a great shot every time down. So I wish LeBron had assert himself more. There's always the myth of, oh, game one, LeBron. He's just feeling it out. but you're not in a position to do that against Denver.

You're a heavy underdog. Like you need to be your best every time out if you want a chance. And ultimately, the supporting cast for L.A. didn't do enough. Rui wasn't aggressive. Dilo was just shooting you out of the game, basically, and had some lapses defensively. And I wonder if you get to the point where when he's just off, the problem with Dilo, Logan, is he doesn't stop shooting. Like, Dilo is a very valuable offensive player when he's on,

just because of the value that he has as a pure shooting. shooter. I mean, he's been lethal from beyond the arc and he can dictate the pace of a game when LeBron needs just a little bit of a break physically, right? He's a smooth, composed operator out of pick and roll. He's a solid playmaker. Like, as a secondary shot creator, he's very valuable. But the problem is he never just kind of sinks into the background willingly. And if you let him, he will just keep taking his tough pull-up jumpers. And if they aren't hitting, then you have a basketball player who is without value because he's going to be significantly worse, defensively than the alternative options.

And I thought there were some spots where he just wasn't engaged enough on that side and allowed for some open looks off the catch for his man. So I think you kind of need DeLo out there to have the ceiling to win a game because of his offensive value. But if he's just off, might need to see some more Gabe Vincent minutes. Like just might need to get a look where it's okay. We have a guy who's going to make good decisions, bring us some solid point of attack defense and knock down his open jumpers.

I don't expect Delo to be this bad again. I don't think we're seeing last year's Dilo, which was as bad as he's ever played over a multi-game stretch of basketball. But this was a rough opener. And it's kind of like the classic trope where it's just too much Dilo, man, too much Dilo in a game like this. I completely agree with you. And that's a great point, just as a character flaw for Dilo as a basketball player. Mostly, I'll say this is a blanket statement for most players. When your jumper isn't hitting, traditionally, you'll take that as a, as, you know,

I need to get rid of the, I need to get the ball out of my hands. I need to get somebody else involved. You know, I need to go set a screen. I need to. And more importantly, with most players, when you do get the ball in your hands, it's like, okay, no matter what, I'm going to get downhill. I'm going to force my way to the basket and just try to make myself impactful in that way. And shooting such a rhythm thing, man, I feel like as a shooter, Delo's just been around

too long to know that if my shot isn't hitting right now, it's not just going to, you know, It's not like a light switch. Like your shot's been off the entire game, man. We got to figure out how to impact the game in other ways. And unfortunately for DeLo as a non-athlete, as a guy who's not a, you know, great defender. I won't see he's not a good defender. It's hard for him because he is so one-dimensional sometimes.

But I agree with you, man. It would be nice for DeLo to, you know, hand up. I'm going to feed LeBron. I'm going to go set a screen in this possession. I'm going to go backdoor cut. I'm going to do something else because my shot isn't falling. And you're right, dude, it just leads to, easy stuff on the other end. But bottom line, like you said, too, dude, you're just not winning a game

where Reeves and Delo don't pull their weight like this. That was in our laundry list of things that needed to go right for the Lakers in this series was not only do you need them and their shots to be hitting, you need these guys to play great. And this was an abysmal Delo performance tonight, man. Something that the Lakers just aren't equipped to withstand. It was really rough. And on the flip side, I thought the entire Nugget supporting cast was very solid. KCP had that stretch in the third where he was just nailing his threes and consistently is so, so sound defensively. I always am so impressed by his transition defense in particular. Delo had that one lazy pass and KCP ran it down and picked it off. He makes more plays like that. I genuinely think than

anybody else in the NBA. Gordon was awesome on the glass, made good decisions as a passer. Murray, it wasn't his most efficient scoring game. And I thought they were able to get him to take a lot of pull-up jumpers, which we talked about, like, if that's the result of of the Murray-yokic two-man game, you're probably going to live with that. I thought they did a good job mostly of taking Yokic away as a roller, and then in the fourth quarter, he started popping more and nailed that one pick and pop three, then had the pump and go where AD did a really nice job and ended up blocking him. But if I'm just asked to choose between Jamal, maybe having an off pull-up shooting night, or you play any other coverage where it's a harder hedge, even playing at the

level of the screen. You certainly can't trap. And then it's Yokic with four on three is like, you don't do that against Denver. And Denver's going to destroy you like that because Yokic just touch in passing is just so ridiculously good in those situations. So props to just the collective in Denver, MPJ, knocked down a lot of his shots. Bench minutes were a little bit shaky as to be expected. It was really interesting when they trotted out that like basically Yokic in all bench unit because they don't normally do that just for a couple minutes. But they didn't lose those minutes convincingly. And that's kind of all you need to do, in my opinion, to hold on in a series like this.

Any thoughts on what could change going forward? How would you guard Yokic? Can we just start with that? Because I don't think you can keep going with Rui and 80 in the Romer Roll. There is no answer. That is what I believe. But that is one of the worst answers you could choose. Yeah, I agree.

And it sucks too, dude, because I know you made this comparison. We were talking about Embed, and we'll talk about him later too with the next game. But it's like, dude, any double, like, Yokic just has so much control over the game where, you know, he's active and he's so cerebral at reading the floor where it's, whatever decision you make, I'm going to make it a painful one for you. I'm going to punish you for making that decision. Like, the one possession late in this game where he's at the elbow,

and he's just slowly methodically dribbling, he's waiting to see what guy is going to help off of him. They finally send the double. guess what? Clutches sends that thing over to the corner. Easy three. I would probably stick, I guess I'm sticking AD on him and just crossing my fingers, man. AD did a really good job. I do want to give props. It wasn't just a great offensive showing defensively AD. Didn't wreck the game, but he did a lot, man. The activity is blocked shots. He did try, man. I mean, again, it's kind of all you can do. I don't have an answer. Neither does anybody else.

If I did, I'd probably be a coach in the league, man. And they'd be paying me some big bucks with my formation. I don't think there's an answer. Cross your fingers. The one thing I think L.A. can do that is actually different is just crashing the glass. I was pretty disappointed in the effort tonight, transition defense and rebounding-wise. And this is just to steal a game. That's the one area where I think L.A. can really improve is just getting back in transition

where they let a lot of easy buckets up. and then crashing. I'm talking everybody a concerned effort to do it. The Nuggets bring it every night, man. And if we're going to get this kind of effort from L.A., this could be another sweep again, man. It might be the second greatest sweep ever to the sweep last year. Do you have any answers on what they should try to do differently?

I thought them getting Murray to settle as much as they did was a success. I thought that they handled the two-man game well. my concern is more about Yokic when he's catching the ball in the post because I just think again, there's too little resistance from anybody other than AD. He's going to find a lot of success against AD in single coverage, just like he does against Gobert, just like he does against Victor Wenban Yama, dude. Like there's nobody who Yokic isn't going to win out there. I found this stat when I was making the last Yokch video.

When teams haven't committed or doubled hard, meaning basically you leave him in single coverage, Yokuch averages 1.25 points per post up. It's ridiculous. It's like unstoppable offense. That's why I think he's the best score alive because when it comes down to it, who's hard is to stop in single coverage. It's the guy who's bigger than you stronger than you craftier than you catches the ball anywhere inside 12, 15 feet and its layup efficiency.

I think they need to have AD on him just because there's too many ways to avoid him otherwise. And I would really just mix the looks that you give him at that point, right? Mix in your digs. Ultimately, he's going to time those kickouts pretty well, but maybe you can get a decent contest on a KCP. I'll take that over Yokic and single coverage. I think you mix in some hard doubles from the weak side where you're forcing him to make those cross court passes,

but you have to be really annoying for that to work. And if it's Delo, if it's Austin Reeds, like do those guys have the size? Do they have the length? Do they have also just, well, Dilo's long, but do they have like that mentality to really pester him? That's another challenge and you have to be dialed in on your rotations there. I think the best thing you can do is have your best defensive player on

him and then mix up the looks you give him. And ultimately, it's not really going to matter. The Nuggets are going to win this series. They have one of the best offenses that we've ever seen. And the Lakers are playing some really good basketball lately, but they don't have an answer for that. So 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. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying.

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 Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. My mother-in-law spent years sabotaging our relationship until karma made her pay for it. Wait a minute, Dakota. How bad did it get? Well, it got bad enough that her son-in-law had to eventually arrest her himself.

Oh. She moved in for two weeks, lasted for five. She left nail clippings in the bathtub, candy stuck to the furniture, and then she pressed her ear against the bedroom door and burst in screaming. She did not burst in while they were. She did. They kicked her out and paid for her hotel, and they thought, it's finally over.

Days later, she called her son-in-law at work, claiming that his partner had been in some kind of freak accident and had been rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. He called every hospital in the city, and his partner was making coffee the entire time. She faked a medical emergency just to test whether or not, he loved her son? Yeah.

And she sat in the hospital parking lot waiting for him to see if he would show up. When that didn't work, she walked into the son-in-loss police station and filed a kidnapping report against him. She filed a kidnapping report against him in his own police station. And spoilers, karma's going to show up

in the best way possible. So if you want to hear how this story ends, search OK story time on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you're listening to podcasts. Let's talk about the second to last game, which was also a really awesome affair. I mean, this was the game of the day. Nick Sixers. We talked about this as being one of the toughest series to predict. We both ended up going

Knicks and seven and they won this game, but probably not how you expect. Jalen Bronson had a really rough shooting night and it was a collective effort that was so impressive. So what did you take away from this game one? That's the right word. Those two ones, collective effort. That's why I took the Knicks to win this series, man. The Knicks have a great number one offensive engine and Jalen Brunson, but they are a great team. They are a great unit top to bottom. And I think their effort, their grit, their tenacity. That's what won in the game. I thought they defended Joel Lindbitt exceptionally well. I'm so thankful that he is not fully healthy, but I'm so glad he's not out for the rest of this series.

It looked bad. It looked bad after the sickest play you could possibly. Oh my gosh, dude. I lost it. That was so sick. A self-oombed jam. And then right on cue, man, right as you get excited. Yeah. So I was just glad Embed was okay. But I think the formula for what the Knicks did against Embed is great. I mean, you play him physically, you play him hard, you wear him down throughout this game. Again, to win this series, I think against the Knicks, I think that you need MVP level Embed every single night.

I'm talking a cool 30, efficiently, playmaking, dominating the glass. It's going to take a hellacious effort from Embed. but I really thought they defended him exceptionally well, settling for jumpers, just making him work trying to finish through contact. He puts up 29 points, 8 boards, and 6 assists on 8 of 22 from the field, 2 of 8 from deep. But the thing to me, Carson, he makes his last field goal in this game in the third quarter with 5 minutes remaining. He goes 0 of 5 in the fourth quarter, and I still do think the 6ers have more offensive

skill and talent surrounding Joelle Embed. I think it's just a fact. But the Knicks just have more dog and more heart in them, man. They outworked Philly. 55 to 33 on the glass. They won Josh Hart, you know, big 10 boards in this game, man. Huge imperative. He comes up with the biggest-13.

Yeah, it might have been more than it. It was double digits. He comes down with the crucial game-winning rebound that seals this thing and ends it for good. His shot was also on. That was the real surprising part about this for the Knicks is it wasn't Jailen Brunson just taking over Supernova doing it. It was Deuce McBride stepping up playing huge big game for him. Five three-pointers made, 21 points. The Knicks were plus 37 in Deuce McBride minutes. Carson and I, a longtime Deuce McBride enthusiast defensively, you know, as a dog, as a guy who's just going to work, but a huge offensive game from him.

And, you know, I want to give a ton of credit for Philadelphia on how they defended Jalen Brunson, too. I thought really getting over screens deliberately, the ball pressure they applied and really just playing Brunson physically, man. I thought everybody from Maxie to Harris to Ubre, I thought they did a really good job on the perimeter. But I think it's going to be about the Sixers out hustling New York Carson. Like Embed and Yokic, these are guys traditionally normally that you don't have to diversely. a ton of attention to the boards, right? The Knicks are just unique because all of their guys are hustling so hard and they're such a physical and, you know, imposing interior team.

It's going to be hard to win the glass advantage on them. And I think that's really where the Knicks have an advantage. Just their guys are all going to crash and they're big as hell in the front court, man, with Robinson and Hardinstein. So that's really the interesting dynamic that I'm looking for. the rest of the series, man, is how much more can Philadelphia really exert themselves physically and try harder? And then is the offensive skill gap going to, you know, even itself out? Because I don't think Philadelphia's surrounding offensive pieces, you know, Harris, Ubre, Batum, guys like that,

Buddy Heald had a zero piece. I don't think they had the best games. And I think that's going to even itself out. So I'm just really looking at that dynamic, the heart and hustle and grit of this Knicks team versus a team that I think does have a drastic offensive skill advantage. But bottom line, if the Knicks can limit Joelle and Bede the way they did today, because again, Maxie pulled his weight, man. He had 33 points. It was a great, great game for Tyrese Maxie. I mean, he kept him in this one.

If they can force Embed to do this every night and wear him down throughout this series and force him to settle for jumpers, I mean, I don't think the Sixers have a chance, man. They need superstar MVP level Joelle Embed, if they want to. have a chance to knock off the Knicks in the series because I just think the Knicks have too many dogs. They have so many good players, dude. And it really is a unique advantage when you have eight guys who play in this game and

every single one of them had their own distinct impact. And you're like genuinely confident in every single one of them playing in these playoff environments. Nobody else in this playoff field, I wouldn't say has that sort of X factor. Do you think having that many dogs who play hard, who do winning things? It's so special. What about Minnesota? Do you think Minnesota's up there?

Minnesota's got a lot of dudes. But in some ways it feels like some of their dudes have more weaknesses. Like what if Kyle Anderson takes a couple too many possessions for himself? I think they have a lot of good impactful guys. But New York is special. And the most trite cliche in sports, which is almost never true is they just wanted it more. Like if somebody uses that as their analysis for a game,

they probably weren't paying that much attention. But nobody wants it more than the New York Knicks, man. like this is next level superhuman effort. 23 offensive rebounds in this game. And yeah, they're big in the front court. But like they're playing Josh Hart at the three, right? Josh Hart is 6'5. He just is like one of the best positional rebounders that we've ever seen in the history of this game.

And it was an all-time collective effort from this supporting cast. The spot up shooting was insane, first of all. And that's a big difference that we talked about between this year and last year. Part of it was some dudes went ice cold last year. Quentin Grimes couldn't make a shot. Josh Hart was really bad. RJ Barrett was really bad from deep. But they put together a much stronger group of shooters. Dues McBride is consistently nails.

O.G. is consistently nails. Dante DiVincenzo is one of the most lethal volume three point shooters in the league. And you felt the difference of that dynamic in this game. Down the stretch, Brunson, who had struggled to score efficiently, draws two defenders on a couple possessions, kicks it over to Josh Hart, nails a spot up three, kicks it over to Ogi Oni Annanobi, nails a spot-up three, and that's kind of the game right there. But there are so many role players in this game who just deserve medals, who deserve standing ovations for the Knicks in this game.

I was almost moved to tears, Logan. It's like a Disney movie watching this team play. They just play so damn hard. Josh Hart is a hero when he is nailing his spot-up jumpers and that clutch three, like when the shot clock was winning down to actually clinch the game, that was just ridiculous. he was aggressive going at Embed, and he did absolutely dominate on the glass, but he does so many things well, smart passer, guy who can push and transition. When he's knocking down those spot-up jumpers, just the ultimate winning basketball player

who I want on my team. You mentioned Deuce McBride absolutely swung the game with that infusion of offense. I flagged him as a guy who potentially could be someone who plays over heart if he's not knocking down those spot-up jumpers because Deuce, although he's conceding some size and rebounding value is such a good shooter and is such a good point of attack defender. They had them both out there and they were both fantastic. And he took on that maxi matchup in significant stretches. Maxi got his.

He was great in this game. But I thought deuce guarded him well. I thought he had a really nice combination of the quickness and just that constant motor that makes him such a good perimeter defender. And Mitchell Robinson was a game changer in this one, dude. Isaiah Hartnstein has been phenomenal this year. And holding down this Knicks team as basically like their lone. five when Robinson was hurt. He did an awesome job. And there are so many things he does well as a

pass or as a touch shot finisher as an overall defender and rebounder. But I think Robinson is the best match up for Embed. And you talk about how Mbid didn't have a field goal in the fourth quarter. That's because of Mitchell Robinson. He is just one of those rare guys who was huge enough to match up physically. And he did a phenomenal job on him. Ambid went out him five times in those last six minutes took four tough jumpers and got fouled once. So I think we're going to see a lot of Mitchell Robinson in this series because of what he can do with MB in single coverage, matching up physically, having the length to affect his jumpers.

But then also what he does as a help defender with the four blocks in this game, what he does as a drop defender out of pick and roll, made some impactful plays, and just his constant effort, seven offensive rebounds in this game, he totally changed the dynamics. And the Knicks are so fortunate to have him back healthy now. because he's obviously been playing his way into shape, but I wasn't sure if he could step up and handle a playoff matchup like this just with how little he's been out on the court this season. And he immediately did.

And I thought he was phenomenal. All those guys swung this game. You don't win this game without those guys stepping up. Like the bench was huge in this one. Winning a game where Jalen Brunson really struggles. And also, Tyrese is excellent. Like, that's huge. You think if your second option off.

soundly outplays our first, we shouldn't be able to win that game. And the way you win it is, shoot the lights out, the supporting cast, play your ass off, defend your ass off, harassing the entire game, fight for every 50-50 ball and win. And that's what the Knicks do. And that's just a really unique formula. And it's super, super fun to watch. It's very fun to watch. And it's just poetic, you know, at points, man. You can outwork another team to your abilities. But that's why I would give Philly, man, a real shot in the rest of this series. if they can continually disrupt Jalen Brunson. Like, you know, I talk about the ball pressure.

I talk about them playing him physically. It was also, you know, you talk about giving dynamic looks at guys. Like, there's no real way to defend Nicola Yokic, but you just want to mix up the coverages enough so he's not getting comfortable and just making the same read over and over again. So I think you do the same thing with Brunson. If it's blitzing him on this possession, if it's switching off when you don't normally switch off,

just giving him different looks. and really just diverting a ton of defensive attention to him. And it worked. Like they were able to disrupt him a little bit. And I'll give a lot of credit to Philly, like on how much they dug and helped on him and how active their hands were when he actually got into the lane. If Philly can disrupt Brunson like this,

I mean, like the Knicks shouldn't win a game like this at all. I mean, it is outlier shooting. And, you know, we talked about how we thought the Knicks were well equipped with Stan not having Julius Randall. out here because of, you know, an OG An Anobie, because of this great depth, adding Boyan Boganovich. But again, this should not be a, this should not have been a win for the Knicks. It was all, all heart and effort. And so if Philly can disrupt Brunson enough like this and Embed can play a little better, I mean, and that's, it's not going to be easy. And I think a lot of it is just

so dependent on his shot. Like, that's what's frustrating, man, is when Embedd's shot isn't falling, he can, you know, settle for him. He'll settle for three. He'll miss. He can settle for a mid-range jumper. And then it's like, you know, he loses a little bit of confidence because they can play him physically. We need better in Bede, but I think that the Sixers have enough offensive skill that I believe in where if they disrupt Brunson like this, I think this is a pretty sound formula for them getting some easy wins in this series. This is not a sustainable formula for the Knicks to win three of the next six games. It's not. no matter how hard you play, no matter how good you are defensively, the gap in star

shot creation in this game was significant because again, Maxie played phenomenally well in this one, even with some tough draws. OG and Deuce primarily splitting the assignment, like those dudes present their unique challenges, Deuce with his quickness and just his motor, OG with his massive size and length. And at the same time, like Hartenstein and Mitchell Robinson, those are good drop defenders. You saw Brunson expose Robinson a lot, little bit when he was brought out into space or in transition. He's just too quick downhill and Maxi is always great there, but he was getting that dribble penetration.

There was a stretch in the third where OG was really trying to force him away from Mbeed screens and Maxi just rejected the screen and he's too quick and he got good looks and his pull-up jumper was solid in this one. He's just really tough to stop. And he is what makes Philly so dangerous and along with a dialed in Mbid, the Mbid we know in the regular season makes their ceiling. so high, higher than the Knicks, it's that you simultaneously have these two elite offensive forces. And B doesn't have to be their leading score every single night. And yet he can also be

resoundingly the best player on the floor. And the Knicks do have the burden of Brunson having to create so much. Like the guys around him carried the load in every other way. But when it comes to all right, get me a good shot out of pick and roll. That falls on Jalen Brunson every possession. and I got to give big props to Kelly Ubrae, man. My biggest cause for pause in picking this series, oh, nice, a little bit of rhyming there, I guess, not intentional. But my concern was the load that Brunson has to carry, period, point blank, but specifically doing it against a team that guarded him very well in the regular season

and has really good personnel to guard him. Ubre, guards this man about as well as anybody in the league, man. He is so long, 6-7 with a 7-3 wingspan and simultaneously so quick, he can really affect Brunson with those rearview contests out of pick and roll. In isolation, he's got great hands, forced him into several turnovers. He's just disruptive. And Brunson is in a spot where it's like, okay, I kind of got to hunt Tyrese Maxi at times. Maxi also has these really long arms. And so even though he's not considered a great point of attack defender, he's not bad.

bad. And he has the length to also affect Brunson as a trailer. He blocked a shot on a rearview contest. So even when Embed is in a deep drop, which he was in some of this game, you think that's where Brunson eats. Brunson is like the best guard in the league inside the pain outside the restricted area. He made more shots there than anybody not named Yokic at a 53% clip. But when you have guys who can affect him with their length with those rearview contests, like that changes the dynamics. and that takes away where he is most effective on the floor. Batum is huge and super long. I prefer Ubrey because of the quickness element,

but like Batum guarded him pretty well in stretches. So they give him trouble, man. And in the regular season, he averaged 22 points per game on 40% shooting against Philly. He had like one absolute clunker. And Ubre was on him for most of that game. So I was concerned about that. But down the stretch, again, he draws the second defender.

He creates good looks for his teammates. They knock him down. And ultimately, part of this was his shot was just off. He had to take a lot of tough shots, but he missed some of those signature Brunson mid-range looks that you normally are confident in him making. So I think this is a war. I expected this to be a war.

And we flagged, like as the keys coming in, what version of Joel M.B. Do we get? And can Brunson carry this load? And as of right now, those are both still real question marks. Neither of those were like decisively answered in game one. Mbid came out of the gate super aggressive. but progressively took tougher and tougher shots,

became more relying on that jumper, maybe lost a little bit more confidence in that knee after the scare that he had off the self-boat, but also I just think Robinson was the best counter to him. And then Brunson, again, didn't have his best stuff, and they guarded him really well. So my view hasn't really changed on this series. Mine hasn't either.

And just to add on about how they can really affect Brunson too, even when he gets into that crab dribble, like out of the pick and roll too, those guys's arms are so long. They can pick his pocket in different ways where, you know, other guys just can't get to that ball. And Brunson's a smaller guy, so they can. That's the good news for Philly, in my opinion, is I don't expect Embed to play this poorly. On the flip side, I also don't expect Brunson to be off like this,

but I think Philly is well equipped to defend him. But a lot of it is just effort fixes where I think that, you know, Philly can just perform better if that's crashing the glass harder. again, trying to out effort the Knicks is, I'm not saying they're going to do it. Billy played hard though. Like, Philly grinded defensively. The Knicks are just different. And also, like, they are huge and they're always an elite rebounding team.

And Josh Hart is one of one. This kind of discrepancy I'm saying is something that I think you can at least close the gap on to make it better in the future. Like, they get outscored 27 to 11 in fast break points. They get outscored 26 to 8 and second chance points. Any game where you're losing. the second chance battle by 18 points. It's just a tough showing. So I think a lot of this are simple fixes for Philly.

You know, that it's just by more effort, more energy, you can close this gap. And, you know, make this series tight. I think we're getting seven out of this one, man. I think this is, it's an, like you said, man, it's an absolute war. Yeah. Philly has the upside to get it done maybe even quicker than that. do think that they have more high-end basketball talent on this team when you think about the maxi and bade combo and tobias harris like legitimately is a better guy in terms of creating his own

shot than anybody other than brunson on that nix roster and he was just a non-factor in this game and part of the reason that i thought coming into this series they weren't going to be able to guard bruns or they weren't going to be able to guard maxi with o g as much was because when they did that in the last matchup, Julius Randall was healthy. And so they matched up physically across the board because they had another big forward out there. And I thought, well, now if you do that, that means that that Tobias Harris is being guarded by a Josh Harder, a Dante Devenzaa or Jalen Brunson. And he was guarded by all those guys throughout this game on different possessions. And he never attacked. And I do wonder if there's more to untap there. Like, he is an efficient mismatch attacker. Everybody hates

Tobias Harris. I get it. Deserved it in this game because he didn't really do much. But he does have that ability to just physically leverage that size advantage, get to his turnarounds. He was a 74th percentile postup score. I wonder if we see more of that down the line because if he's not going to do that, then it's like, all right, why don't I get a really good spot up shooter like Nick Batum who's also going to defend way better out there, not to say that Tobias Harris is a bad defender, but like Nick Batum is awesome there. And that's why Tobias Harris didn't come back in the fourth quarter until there was like a

minute and a half left. Like he sat on the bench for a good stretch. So I think this is an awesome series. I think it is very much still up in the air. Brunson and Embed both have to play better. But I love this Knicks team, dude. I really, really do. Like this is one of my favorite teams ever.

You just don't see teams that play together like this, that play hard like this, that do all the little things. They have such a special energy. It's so different than any of the, like, previous Julius Randall led Knicks teams. It really is. They have such an awesome collective mentality.

they play really, really fun basketball. The 82 game preseason is in the books and it's finally time for the real season. Don't miss out on any of the NBA playoff action at Draft King Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NBA. From the play in tournament through the finals, Draft King Sportsbook has you covered with same game parlays, live betting, odds boosts, and so much more. Download the Draft King Sportsbook app and use code nerds. New customers bet $5 and get $200 in bonus bets.

instantly. That's code nerds only on draft kings. The crown is yours. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or in West Virginia, visit 1-800 gambler.net. In New York, call 8778-8-8-Hop-N-Y or text Hope in Y 467-367-369. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-78-9-777 or visit ccpG.org. Please play responsibly. On behalf of Boothill Casino and Resort in Kansas, 21 and over, age varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. See dkng.com slash B-Ball for eligibility and deposit restrictions, terms and responsible gaming resources. All right, Logan. Let's talk about another series that I believe we both had going seven. Same pick here, Minnesota in seven over Phoenix.

Game one, though, was pretty decisive. It was kind of a beat down. Minnesota won 120 to 95. What did you take away from this one? I was just super impressed with how hard Minnesota made life on Phoenix all game long, man. You know, towards the end, third quarter, fourth quarter, we got some turnovers and passes in sets where I just thought Minnesota stifled Phoenix. You know, they made life hard on D. Book. He goes 18 points. Two boards, five assists on five of 16 shooting. And these were three shot creators, Beale, K.D.

in book, I'll give KD his flowers. I mean, Katie had such a great game. Gobert was just no match. And it really felt like, man, in any instance, it was like, man, if KD gets his spot, it's going in. You know, Katie made a lot of stuff look easy. But for three guys whose main, you know, preferred shots or pull up mid-range shots, the son's shot diet is already inherently difficult.

You know, there's the number one in terms of mid-range frequency shots. shooting team in basketball as expected. And so you reach this question, it's like, so does Phoenix have the biggest counter to what Minnesota does because they protect the rim so well? And yet, the answer is yes, if they're really on, but it's also like, this is already a really tough, these shots are, you know, hard to make. So game to game, the shot variance there is always going to be hard. And when you have a team that has this many good perimeter defenders, it's like,

you're just making those shots even tougher. where if your touch is off by just a little bit, it's even harder to generate offense. And so I just think Minnesota did a really good job of making it tough for Phoenix to find shots and stifling them in the half court. You read off that stat when we're leading up to this series, Carson, that this is the biggest gap between a number one and number two defense since the, what, 94 Knicks? Yeah, I think that ended up moving down a little bit, but it was very close to the end of the season. Yeah, and so, you know, this is an elite Minnesota defense.

And I thought all the guys from Anthony Edwards to Jaden McDaniels to Cat to Gobert to Nikkela Alexander Walker, who's an awesome perimeter defender, did a tremendous job on making life really hard on Phoenix. And then on the other side of this for Minnesota, Anthony Edwards is a stud, man. I think Anthony Edwards is just a gamer. I think he is built for these big moments. I don't always expect his jumper to be on. But I always expect Anthony Edwards to crank it up a notch. That guy just, he's bred for it.

He is bred for the moment. He is, and it's not even like he believes his own bullshit. His bullshit's real, you know what I mean? Like, he's not peddling. And he believes it too. Exactly. But he's not peddling you anything. It's all real.

And so I expect Ant to come up for these big games, but I was blown away with him, man. The shot making, the athleticism, the way he play-maked in this game, 33 points, nine boards, six assists. The thing I was really most impressed with was the footwork, man, the mid-range, the elbow, the turnarounds, the fadeaways, the Kobe-esque, you know, just beautiful, beautiful work. I was impressed with Carl Anthony Towns, man. You know, he doesn't take a ton of shots in this game, but he does his job effectively well. And, you know, I wonder if we just over-expected. You know, Carl Anthony Towns is supposed to be the unicorn. Infamously, he's the number one pick in all these teams to build around.

for the next, you know, X amount of years, right? Cat might just be the dream number two guy where he's doing his job and he can hit these open shots, but I thought he held up physically well on defense. I thought on drives. He was a really great, you know, helper, but he crashed the glass hard. I thought Cat just did his job well, but he wasn't passive and he wasn't fearing the moment. When he needed to step up, guess what? Cat did, and I was worried about that.

And the big thing about Minnesota is they have these two guys that, you know, I do believe in. I believe in Attenkat. But there's a significant depth difference to me between Minnesota and Phoenix. And that's ultimately why I chose Minnesota over Phoenix is I liked their depth way more. I like how impactful their role players could be. Nas Reid is a weapon to have out there on the floor at any given time. You know, I said this in our series preview. Nazreed is a 40% shooter from every area behind the art.

The guy is just water. If he puts up, he's just got great touch. If he is shooting a three, it is a good shot. And considering how well this team collapses, defenses and creates good looks for him, it's just easy. The fact that he is such a good closeout attacker, Nazri doesn't make sense. And it is so, they're spoiled for being able to bring him off the bench.

Nikiel Alexander Walker, having a guy, like that that you can bring in and play defense and handle a little bit. And the one that blew my mind away was in transition when he's dribbling the ball up the court and he steps in to that left wing three. I don't know if people realize how hard of a shot that is, man. In transition, going full speed to plant your feet, just stop and pop that. That's a tough shot. And, you know, I just look up and down the roster of both of these teams, Carson, and I go,

damn, man. I just don't trust other guys down the Sun's roster. I just don't. And you go down. I go damn, man. I don't trust the other guys, the Grayson Allen's, the Eric Gordon's. I trust them to do their jobs and to hit shots sometimes. But in terms of well-rounded, all-around impact, the Timberwolves just have more guys.

And I think there is such a heavy burden, too, on the Sun stars to be so overwhelmingly great offensively. and then exert themselves at an unreasonable, you know, expectation on the other end. I think it's really hard to expect DeBook and Beale and KD to do all of this offensively. And then to go defend Anthony Edwards on the other end, man, it's just tough. And so considering those factors, like, I'm pretty confident in Minnesota. Now, I don't think we're always going to get Anthony Edwards like this. I don't know if we're going to get cat, you know, every game like this. But Minnesota just has more guys that I trust down the roster.

the difference in me picking the series. And I thought that was, along with Ant, just big dog and everybody was the difference in this game. This was a very decisive win. And you touched on a lot that I agree with there. Minnesota was just consistently a better basketball team throughout this regular season. But Phoenix had controlled the head-dead matchups. They swept them. And I did have concerns about this matchups in terms of Minnesota's defense being as dominant as we're used to because of the fact that Phoenix is a team that is so predicated on skill and perimeter shot making and pull up shooting and having four guys who are all going to be lethal, pure shooters

when Grayson Allen is starting, three dudes who are very dangerous on ball creators, like just the amount that Kat was going to have to guard in space I was worried about and I thought it was going to be a key to this series. And then also, I wasn't as concerned about this, but just the fact that you have a team that doesn't have to consistently finish around the rim to be their most effective does to some extent diminish Rudy's absolutely monstrous impact.

But it's like if you can beat a team by just raining pull-up jumpers from 10 to 15 feet and you don't have to go at Gobert like other teams do, that is a potential matchup advantage. But the flip side of that and why I ultimately went with Minnesota is this is a team that is way bigger and stronger and more physical and a better defensive team than Phoenix. And I thought maybe they give up a little bit more than usual. But they are also going to get theirs more than usual because there's nobody on this

team who can guard aunt first of all. And they did a good job on him early in this one. They were hitting the exact pressure points that you want to with Anthony Edwards. They were saying, all right, we are going to send a second defender at you early. We are going to double and help hard, and we're going to force you to beat us as a passer, and we're going to force you to beat us as a pull-up shooter, and we're going to bait you into some of those tough, deep pull-up threes. And he took a couple early that I didn't love, and he had the four turnovers in the first quarter. Like, that was the ideal game plan for them because they don't have a guy who in single coverage can stay in front of ant and bother.

And it has to be very much a collective effort. And he's not the most proven decision maker when we're talking about these offensive number ones. and although he put on a clinic today, he was one of the least efficient volume pull-up shooters in the league. But that third quarter was just ridiculous, man. It was the most electrifying performance of the day, 18 points and just an absolute clinic, as you mentioned, from the mid-range, and he was unconscious with the pull-up threes,

and he just put that game to bed. You also hit on a key point, though, with the supporting cast, which is that when they did start trapping ant, and, well, they did that early in the game as well, but once it was like, all right, cool, this guy just isn't going to miss a pull-up jumper. The T-Wolves don't just have straight up spot-up shooters. They have good spot-up shooters, but they have versatile offensive players. They have dudes who are comfortable putting the ball on the floor and then can also knock down shots.

NAW. Jaden McDaniels had some nice takes in this game, working his way to the mid-range. Nas Reid is a very skilled ball handler for his size and good athlete. Mike Conley sucked in this one, but he also fits into that archetype. So Ant just stayed composed as the game went on and he got the ball out to those guys and now they're working with an advantage and they could capitalize on it. Felt different than Grayson Allen in this game where it's sort of like if you close out hard, he's not as comfortable attacking those close outs, putting the ball on the floor. And so you can make him a less effective player by running him off the three point liner just deterring those three point shots to begin with. So Minnesota's depth shined, Ant shined.

But honestly, Logan, I think Carl Anthony Towns is the most problematic. matchup for the Sons. They have no one who can guard him. Like, Aunt dominated this game. It was the best player in this game. But Aunt dominated this game in a way that he doesn't normally dominate. Like, I love Anthony Edwards. I think everybody does.

He's not normally going to make 60% of his pull-up jumpers. Kat to me was the guy who just consistently put Phoenix in positions where they were working at a disadvantage because they are this very slight team and their starting five is very small, honestly, outside of Yusuf Nurkich, and he was playing with the right mentality. That was one of my concerns. Talked about how he has to hold up guarding in space. And then the question is, will he give you back more than he gives up?

Because they don't have anybody that can guard him in single coverage. But we've seen times where he isn't assertive enough or he's turning the ball over. We got good cat in this one. He was physical. He was playing bully ball, a couple strong finishes and also just kept drawing fouls, like jostling for position. whoever you are in single coverage, Kevin Durant, you can't let Cat get that deep position or that is going to be a bucket against you,

so you foul him. And then when they doubled, he was so prepared for it. He wasn't overwhelmed. He wasn't caught off guard. He was dissecting them. He had that beautiful dump off over his head to a cut and go bear early. He had that stretch in the second quarter where he drew a second defender from the perimeter, dotted up a cutter, and then made a beautiful pass to Ant later out of a designed action.

he just had the perfect approach. He remained composed, only one turnover off a double team in this game. And then we kind of got deprived of the opportunity to watch Kat continue to dominate because of frankly bogus foul trouble. Nobody commits more offensive fouls than Kat. Most of them are justified, but there were two bad calls where Grayson Allen just slips, loses the ball. They call a foul on Kat.

He just loses body control. And he initiates the contact and then loses his balance. And then KD is literally like, climbing on Kat's back and he does a little clear out. Are you not allowed to do a clear out when a guy's climbing on your back, man? I don't know. I thought those were both bad calls and then that sent him to the bench. But they still had good options.

And even if Kat is off the floor, then you have this like super versatile defensive lineup with a bunch of good wings who can shoot and aunt carried the load. But honestly, going forward, I think he can be a real offensive focal point for them. That to me is like the most replicable great offenses. Give Kat the ball in the post. because they have to double or in single coverage, he's going to give him the business. It's just an automatic advantage. Last big dude for the Tim Roles who I want to give credit to, Logan,

you didn't mention Rudy Gobert was phenomenal in this game. I thought he handled switches very well. You mentioned like Katie's shot making was just ridiculous. What can you do? Book had one absolutely absurdly difficult finish around the rim on a drive against Gobert. Like even when dude scored on him, those were tough, tough shots. And then he deterred so many pain attempts in this game.

And we talk about how Phoenix can survive not having to score at the rim better than just about any other offense. But they were only 12 of 27 from fewer than 10 feet in this game. Like they really did not score in the interior. Gobert also dominated the glass, dictated the game there. And you felt like that entire advantage for Minnesota, right? Kat also gets an easy offensive boards because they just don't have anybody to physically match up with two guys of this size. There's so much bigger and stronger. They won the offensive glass battle 13 to 3 overall, 52 to 28 on the glass.

But offensively, I thought also, Gobert was good. He was appropriately aggressive. He is a big target over the top who the sons don't have an answer for. And Ant struggled to get some of those passes to him in traffic early. But Nirk can't contest a lob to Rudy Gobert. And he also, like, at a couple points, went after a mismatch, which I'm good with. He hit that ridiculous turnaround and won. You're not going to get that a lot.

But it was a really good Gobert game. Like Minnesota had by far three of the four best players on the court. And then they also had this significantly better depth. And their collective defense was awesome. It was a resounding win. And Ant isn't going to nails pull up jumpers like this going forward, not at this clip. Phoenix, I think will shoot a little bit better.

But there was a lot that was replicable for Minnesota in this game. And it did feel like they were just the better. team that was dominating physically. The most thing, the most replicable thing during the rest of this series is how they dominated on the glass, Carson, and that's where I just really struggled to see if Phoenix is going to be able to come back from. You know, I think a lot of this preview about this series got caught up in regular season results, got caught up in, you know, skilled shot making.

And I'm not hating on Beale and KD and D. Book, but that seemed like a lot of people's takes was Minnesota is going to get exposed. Gobert is going to, you know, Gobert is going to get cooked and dropped. And I just think it all kind of got, that was the consensus and lost in the shuffle was just how big and physical and nasty of a defensive team. And that's why I went with Minnesota is I like their identity more. You know, when we boil these things down, you have to think, what is the identity of this team? How do they play basketball? and can they dictate and make other teams play their brand of basketball?

Well, look, Phoenix is going to shoot better, like you said. Their guys are going to be on. D-Book is not going to have, you know, I don't anticipate him being this bad. I expect their offense to reach a higher level. But the things that aren't going to change are Minnesota's defense and how much effort and intensity they're going to apply on Phoenix. Yeah. And how they're going to dominate the glass.

Like regardless of if they're on offensively, you know, I think Minnesota can just muck this game up in, bring Phoenix down enough where they can turn it into a, you know, a grime fest where Minnesota's never really out of the game. Like they are just so physically dominant and have such an advantage in that regard over Phoenix. Like, I think that's going to be the advantage that is hardest to overcome for Phoenix is just the physical and size battle that mismatch that they're going up against every single night, man. And Minnesota was so good defensively in this game. I agree with you on the identity point.

And I think that's a good one. And that's another thing. Like we can devalue regular season basketball, apparently except when it's the head-to-head matchup between these two teams. And we can focus on star power. There are truths to thinking that way in the modern NBA. Like we're both guys who believed in the Lakers. Of course, not to beat the Denver Nuggets,

but to have a legit chance maybe about anybody else out west because clearly they took their foot off the gas and stretches and they were playing their best basketball when it mattered. But Phoenix was a team. that consistently was inconsistent. They were consistently inconsistent like they really were. And there are just gaps in this roster construction. And there are gaps in terms of who's going to do the little things. Who's going to get dirty here?

Who's going to get super physical? Like Phoenix played more physically than they usually do in this game, but they can't out physical the Minnesota Timberwolves. It's not even close. And so they got bullied in those categories. It was like the ultimate skill ball versus bully ball match. and the bullies won out and in physical playoff environments, that's not uncommon.

It definitely matters that you have a guy who can get you a shot in the half court, but Minnesota has a couple of those guys ultimately, and Phoenix just isn't built to guard them. But Minnesota defensively was so good. First of all, they did not get put in rotation as much as they have in previous matchups. Like they weren't really getting beaten off the bounce very consistently.

They did a lot of good defense in single coverage, forcing Phoenix's stars, into these pull-up jumpers, which they'll take, but it's better to have them take a mid-range pull-up that's reasonably contested than it is a wide-open catch and shoot three for any of these guys. And I thought they especially did an awesome job on Devin Booker. Book has to be way better. This was a bad book game, and I am a book fan. I love his game, but he just was a non-factor.

Katie had to do basically everything. They were physical with him at the point of attack. Gobert deterred him on several drives. And it just gets a little bit mucked up when you have Nurk down there, who's obviously not a floor spacer, but also wasn't like this sort of vertical threat where you throw it up to him. So Gobert can play two on those drives somewhat easily. And he took a lot of tough shots and just didn't create a lot of good shots.

And when Minnesota was in rotation, they were sharp, man. They were sharp there. Kat, I didn't think was great on the perimeter. I thought KD found some success against him when he got that matchup. he's still slower in space, right? But he played hard. He played really hard. He was closing out hard.

He was rotating quickly as quickly as he can. And so ultimately, I thought, even though Minnesota's run occurred with him off the floor, that was just because Ant went nuclear. Like, Aunt just wasn't playing very well when Kat was on the floor in this game. And all of a sudden, Ant was unstoppable when Kat was on the bench. And I liked them riding that lineup that was working, especially with Cat and Fowl Trouble. But I think he's in for a really, really good series. was excited about what I saw from him, but they can survive because they have Nas and they have

so many good wings without him. For the Sons, do you have cause for optimism about anything? Like, what do you think will go better and maybe give them a chance going forward? I mean, like you said, I don't think Devin Booker is going to play as poorly as he did in this one. The issue that I have with Phoenix really is just their process, man. there were a lot of drives where, I don't know, man, if Phoenix isn't a rhythm, if there's not a go-to-go-to-guy, they can just kind of play a little too quickly, like there were back-to-back possessions in the second half where they throw balls away, easy turnovers that kind of sank this one.

You know, Minnesota gets easy buckets in transition. I think that I'm just trying to get downhill more if I'm Phoenix. Like I'm, that's what worked. You know what I mean? Like you said, so many things that happened in the regular season matchup, didn't happen in this one, where they're getting the backside moving, where they're getting Gobert moving, where there's wasn't a lot of that, man. It was stagnant.

It was, and the suns are limited. I don't know. I think the physical mismatch here is so large. I'm not saying the sons can't win a game. I do think the sons win a game. I think they probably win two. I'm taking, you know, at least. They're going to go nuclear.

Katie and Bill will go nuclear. There's, it's just, got to happen. It's the law of probability, right? The law of averages. There's got to be a game or two where the suns just do that. But the physical imposition that Minnesota can bring every night just doesn't change. You know what you mean? Your shot making varies every single mic. That physical imposition that Minnesota brings to the game doesn't. And I just think Phoenix is a little too physically overwhelmed. Shout out Nirk. Nirk. Nurt's a tank, man. Shout out of Nurtle for what. He got a dog. Rudy out played himself.

though. That's what's tough, dude, is there's just not, like, Cat and Gobert and Gobert and Nas read on the floor together is a problem. Nas read and Kat on the floor together is a problem. Like, the suns just don't have any body alongside Nerf that can help him do that and change. And so I think Phenus consistently gets beat like that physically. So I guess the, I guess the silver lining here is you're going to have a game to where you are just nails on your pull-up jumpers, but I'm pretty confident in Minnesota because of their advantages that don't change game to game, that they're going to pull this

thing out. I'm with you. There's not a lot of positive takeaways for Phoenix from this one. Katie was phenomenal. You can't really ask him to be much better. And also the one thing that Minnesota did really well is because they mostly played him in single covers, like he didn't really create for his teammates a bunch. The one dude who does add a unique dynamic.

and this is something we talked about is Bradley Beal because of his quickness. And I felt he was able to actually penetrate the defense the most. Book will play better. He'll just knock down more of his pull-up jumpers. He's so ridiculous there. The Suns collectively will knock down more spot-up jumpers. But yeah, there were a lot of clear advantages for Minnesota in this game where outside of ants, ridiculous pull-up shooting.

It's like nothing unsustainable happened. Rudy's going to soundly outplay, Nerk. this entire series. They are going to be the much more physical team. They are much bigger and longer. They have more quality basketball players. You felt all of that in this game. And I'm going to bet on it.

And I do just want to give one last shout out to Ant, dude, because some guys, like, just make the moment feel even more special with how they act during it. And Ant is the epitome of that. When he is jawing at KD, dude, after every bucket, that's what it's all about, man. Are you kidding me? It reminds me of when a kid, I was playing a tennis match and he was jeering at me.

He was saying something. And I told him to talk to me when his balls dropped. He was a very small kid with a squeaky little voice. That's sort of like ant. I think we have a lot in common me and ants. And that was on display in this one unbelievable player, rising face of the league, consistently has delivered in these playoff environments. And by the way, consistently his pull-up jumper has been on in these playoff environments,

which is when he's just unguardable. Like when he just has this beautiful stash. get through into like a little hook shot almost, you're not stopping Anthony Edwards. 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. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. 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. My mother-in-law spent years sabotaging our relationship until karma made her pay for it. Wait a minute, Dakota. How bad did it get? Well, it got bad enough that her son-in-law had to eventually arrest her himself. Oh. She moved in for two weeks, lasted for five. She left nail clippings in the bathtub, candy stuck to the furniture, and then she pressed her ear the bedroom door and burst in screaming. She did not burst in while they were. She did.

They kicked her out and paid for her hotel and they thought, it's finally over. Days later, she called her son-in-law at work, claiming that his partner had been in some kind of freak accident and had been rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. He called every hospital in the city, and his partner was making coffee the entire time. She faked a medical emergency just to test whether or not

he loved her son? Yeah, and she sat in the hospital parking lot, waiting for him to see if he would show up. When that didn't work, She walked into the son-in-loss police station and filed a kidnapping report against him. She filed a kidnapping report against him in his own police station. And spoilers, karma's going to show up in the best way possible.

So if you want to hear how this story ends, search OK Storytime on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you're listening to podcasts. Let's talk about the last game of the day, Logan, which was actually the first game of the day, in which there were a lot of stops. Cab's magic was super on brand, dude. We talked about this as the throwback, ugly offense, slow, low offensive rating series.

And that's what it was in this one. This was the series that we differed on, though, out of all the ones we've talked about today. You took Orlando. I was surprised by that. I took Cleveland. How do you feel about that pick after game one? Don't feel great. There is such a large offensive discrepancy in terms of just creation between Cleveland and Orlando.

That was evident. And primarily it's just Cleveland's ability to exert rim pressure and to get downhill to get this team in rotation. You know, Orlando just couldn't create an advantage where they're getting easy offense or getting Cleveland in trouble. You know, that's the real difference to me is that Mitchell and Garland both are so quick and so fast and can explode past these perimeter defenders that, like even if they're not getting a shot at the rim because, you know, Orlando and Cleveland both have great rim deterrence on their ends. If they're getting that slide guy, they're going to kick out. and it's just creating a great shot where Orlando consistently struggled to create great shots. You know, Garland doesn't have a great game, but he's 14, 3 and 8, creating advantages.

Mitchell goes 32 and 3. And I think there is honestly an argument that you could make that in terms of self-creation, Cleveland has the three best perimeter creators at the guard spot in this series. And I'm talking, yeah, Garland, Mitchell, and then Caris Lavert. Like, I love Cole Anthony. I love Markelle Fultz. I love Anthony Black. I love, you know, a lot of Orlando.

But, I mean, there's a difference, man. I love Jalen Suggs, too. There's just such a lack of offensive creation for Orlando. And, you know, for a lot of this game, I was just waiting for Ben Carroll or Wagner to take over. And these are big spots, but it's like in these lulls, in these offensive stretches where nothing is going right, kept waiting and going, hey guys, you're not getting the lid off the basket.

This is where your best player needs to grab the ball and go create something. And one, Ben Kero and Wagner just physically couldn't do it. Two, they didn't want to. And that's where I get frustrated where it's like there just has to be a self-awareness. You know, you're struggling. You're their best players. You've got to go make something happen. And neither of them could create those advantages and neither of them wanted to.

Paolo, I felt like we talked about this in our preview and you said this was a big reason of why you were picking Cleveland. They baited Paulo into a lot of his bad tendencies, you know, prone to settling for pull-up jumpers. And it's also just a reality of Paulo as a basketball player. I think Paulo's going to figure it out one day where he is one hell of a rim pressure, one hell of a playmaker because of his rim pressure. I think the pull-up jumping, the pull-up jump shooting is going to come along. It's all going to come together for Palo.

I believe in him. But he sometimes doesn't want to get to the rim. He's okay with shooting that pull-up jumper all game long. And I disagreed with you. I didn't think Cleveland matched up with them well physically on the wings. They do. You don't need to be super quick-footed or agile to defend Palo. You just need to be thick and sturdy.

And unfortunately, you need to be thick. and sturdy to get up with Paulo, man. George Nang is thick and sturdy. You got the mini Van George Nang. You got Isaac O'Corio. You got Max Trues. All of these guys are compact and strong. And so they do match up with Paolo.

If Paolo was quicker off the balance, maybe they couldn't hang with them. I thought the wing tandem for Cleveland did a phenomenal job of walling off any drives from Wagner and Bancaro. And so that's where I'm really concerned with Orlando, because I picked them in this series. I just don't know how they create any kind of easy offense. Carson, the guard tandem, the guard group that we saw from Orlando,

this is Suggs, Fultz, Anthony and Gary Harris, they shot, this is a combined from those four, four of 33 from the field. Let's go. And one of 16 from behind the arc. Wait, Suggs made four shots. So the other guys went 0 of 17. Let's go. So basically, you are asking yourself the question if you're a magic fan, if you're pulling for Orlando,

or if you pick them in the series like me, how does Orlando create easy offense? I think the thing that they have to do, there's a few things. The first thing that Orlando has to do, Bencaro and Wagner have to want to take over. They have to take the role as lead creators. But two, I think they have to consciously try to attack Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland. Whoever the guard is on the court, you have to get that switch. You have to go on and attack them because I don't think they're creating advantages against the wings here.

Two, I think Orlando has to do a better job of doing the little things offensively. Offense is not going to be easy. So what does that mean? That means when Suggs is driving from the baseline, that means when anybody is trying to get downhill, you're cutting off of them. You're getting to the rim. This is not a good perimeter shooting team. And so the reason I think it's way more important for them to cut,

can get to the basket. If they're missing a jumper, you got another guy around the rim to grab a rebound or two, your guy hopefully falls asleep and you can help him because your guy is getting walled off and you can give him another guy to kick to or just another guy for the defense to pay attention to that might create a shot on the backside. You just have to do more little things offensively to try to create easy shots. And I think that's just consciously making an effort of cutting to the basket, of getting to the rim when shots go up and trying to get more opportunities.

It's going to be a grimy series. You've got to do the grimy little things to win this one. And I thought there were stretches where Orlando could have capitalized on how much they stifled Cleveland defensively. I don't know how long this stretch went on. After they made five threes, Cleveland missed. I know they missed 15 straight. I don't know if it continued. I know they at least missed 15 straight threes.

During that stretch, it was imperative that Orlando capitalized on that. and created offense. I'm sorry if you can hear my dog whining. She's sleeping. I need Juju to calm down a little bit here. Jiu, settle down. Yeah. Named after OJ, fun fact.

Named after juice, man. My favorite, of course. Your favorite football player. I thought Orlando could have capitalized on that stretch a little more when they were just cold. Like, you have to make the most of that opportunity to build a lead. They didn't. Orlando's offense was also similarly cold. And on the flip side, I thought Cleveland did a phenomenal job of staggering their stars minutes.

Mitchell and Garland just executed when they needed to. And the star of the show for Cleveland, in my opinion, was your boy Evan Mobley, Carson. Evan Mobley, to me, unlocks Cleveland's playoff potential. He raises the ceiling on what they can do on the grand scale. And I'm not saying this season, but long term, if they're going to keep this core together, it's mismatch attacking, it is knocking down shots off the dribble. It is adding a different dynamic to the offense that you just don't have with two plotting big. mobily hitting his jumper like this,

mobily attacking mismatches like this, gives you the ability to play him alongside Jared Allen because defenses have to respect him out to the floor and defend him out to the three-point line. They have to match you guys physically because you have two guys that if you get a switch on either of the bigs, they can attack mismatches. It just opens up in a completely different dynamic

that Cleveland didn't have in the playoffs last year. I'm not going to switch on any of my picks. I went flip-flop way too much last year. So I'm just going to stick to my guns on all my series. But if you were going to ask me what series I was least confident in my pick-in, it would by far be Orlando and Cleveland. There is such a drastic offensive talent and skill gap between the lead creators for Orlando and Cleveland. I'd be shocked if Orlando won this series, like genuinely shocked.

Their only prayer was that Donovan Mitchell didn't look like himself because for the most part, post-all-star break, dealing with the knee injury, he hadn't, but then the last couple games of the regular season, he did look good. And that's why I was encouraged enough to think we would get mostly normal Donovan Mitchell. And we did. And he's just so many levels above everybody else on the floor as a shot creator that in an ugly series like this, that's the difference maker. Orlando does not have enough offensive pop to win a playoff series. Offense is this bad. Just don't do it unless you're the Miami heat and you have like a freakishly great coach and playoff defense and guys.

you just decide, all right, we'll shoot 45% from 3 and Jimmy will take his level up. I'm talking about last year's heat, not as though they literally do that every year. But the precedent is pretty clear. They are below the threshold of offensive ugliness where your defense can just pull you through it. They just scored the fewest points in any playoff game across the league that we've seen in two years. They shot under 33% from the field and 21% from three in this game. they posted a half court offensive rating, Logan, of 60.4. They were absolutely overwhelmed in this matchup.

Cleveland has plus defenders everywhere. Yeah, one more time. Can you run that number back at me? Half court offensive rating of 60.4, Logan. Something that if the 1960s Celtics held it to you, held you to that, you would say, boy, we had a really, really bad day. Like, it's almost unfathomable. And that's just the reality.

This offense is way too limited. And Cleveland's defense is way too good. Like they have a phenomenal combination of, due to can guard Franz and Palo at a really high level, this wealth of big stout wings, as you talked about, which is the prototype to guard really both those guys. And then also two bigs who can guard in space and hold up with both of them, who are also great rim protectors.

Mowgli made multiple awesome plays at the rim. He and Allen also controlled the offensive glass. or the defensive glass too. They had 29 combined rebounds. And Orlando just struggled to penetrate the defense. They didn't really have enough quickness from the perimeter. And the spot up shooting was so brutal that there was nobody holding Cleveland accountable for helping aggressively.

And you talk about Palo not stepping up and having the best game. Nobody other than him could do anything. So I'm not going to blame Palo in this one. Like it is a real limitation of this roster. Paulo is clearly the weakest offensive number one in the playoff field. The decision making, the shot selection, just overall shot quality. Like he's not as mature and refined as all these other guys. That's not at all unreasonable for a second year player.

I guess Miami without Jimmy maybe would be like the new team with the ugliest number one option offensively. But this was a fine debut for him. Like he had some nice moments, had that physical drive on Mobley early, did a nice job attacking in transition. Yes, he settled for a lot of pull-up jumpers and catch-and-chute jumpers as well, and he's not a great jump shooter, but his shot-making was solid. He made some nice passes to open shooters who just missed. He did not have a good offensive game, but he was like their only source of offense at all. Nine turnovers is rough, and Cleveland did a great job of

putting good defenders on him in single coverage and then also bothering him with help. There were a couple situations where he pump faked off the catch and then he tried to drive and then his handle wasn't quite tight enough or a second defender would come at him from the nail and then that forced turnovers a couple times he forecasted some passes he just made some bad passes in this one Jared Allen guards him super well and has been the primary matchup in several of the regular meetings between these two teams and just physically matches up so well his hands were so good Mowgli, again, like, Paolo has the strength advantage, but his tendency is just to settle a bit too quickly.

And against Mowgli, who is so long, like he takes those tough turnarounds, and it's just not good offense. And he couldn't move George Nyang, couldn't move George Nyang. Like, honestly, couldn't really do anything with him. So it turned into a lot of jumpers and a lot of turnovers, and that's just not a good formula. But nobody else made a shot alongside him. This is just the reality for Orlando.

know, they're not a good enough offense. Cleveland may be a flawed offense, but they have Donovan Mitchell. And Donovan Mitchell was pretty good as a pull-up shooter, but he was able to get a step consistently and then navigate the paint. He's just like one of the most beautiful basketball players. I honestly think when he's on, just that combination of body control and athleticism with skill, like his ability to Euro through the paint, to split doubles, to spin off a guys, to use a gather. and then his touch finishing over Orlando's length in the paint was so impressive. You get this Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland will win, period point blank. No doubt in my mind.

No doubt. And the thing that I think makes this even harder for Orlando to overcome is that they don't have any two-way guards in a lot of their lineup constructions. Well, they don't have any offensive guards except for Cole Anthony. That's fair, man. Honestly, not the kind of guy who it's like, all right, Cole, go carry us from the perimeter and a playoff. series. Exactly. And so it's frustrating because, you know, Suggs will wall up Garland and Mitchell and he is by far the best guy that they can throw at them. You know, he's all defense. You throw him out there with Fultz and it's like, okay, well, we have zero shooting. You throw him out there with Gary Harris or Cole Anthony. And it's like, okay, well, we have a liability on the court that Garland and Mitchell can go at every single possession. It's just... Well, not Gary Harris. Gary Harris is okay. I just mean that there's going to be a liability on the court, you know, really at all the time.

where I think that Cleveland can kind of just go at. And again, I thought that they would be able to limit Mitchell and Garland. They can limit them a little bit, but it's like Mitchell and Garland don't even have to play great in my opinion to win this series. They just have to play like good enough because Orlando has zero. I didn't think it could get uglier than Cleveland Knicks last season. Yeah. It can, man.

We can get Orlando in the playoff field. And I'm proud of Orlando for being so ahead of schedule. This is a very, very young roster for them to have defended this well this season and to have filed on their identity with such a young core and such a young team. It's very, very impressive. But I think they're outmatched by skill, experience, and size in this matchup. Yeah. So big credit to Orlando.

You've seen the light. You've seen the light. This is what I tried to tell you. I thought back to some of the conversations we had, and I remember you said, you think there's that big of a gap between these offenses? And I said, yes, Orlando was an exceptionally bad offense to be in the playoffs. And they don't have a Donovan Mitchell who generates good shot quality for you on his own. And then I said, the only, like, weakness theoretically on this Cleveland defense is at the point of attack, even though engaged Mitchell is pretty solid, but like that is the point you would want to attack.

and Orlando does not have the guards to exploit that whatsoever. And we've seen that that is the case. The funniest part of this game by far. Also, I want to say this, dude, it's awesome living on the West Coast and waking up to having a basketball game. I know. It's so fun. Like cook breakfast. Well, I was up at six tilling the fields.

But yeah, by the time that I had lunch, the games were on, it was great. It's just, it's nice to have them like ready to go immediately. But it was so funny to me. that weird beef we had at the beginning of this game between we had the George Nyang Mo Wagner battleman and it like it just got like weirdly chippy and we had these like two nobodies talking I'm not calling these guys nobodies or NBA players but it's like fellas it took I don't know man it took like 10 minutes and we had like two minutes of actual game time go by and it's like guys this is magic calves let's get over ourselves yeah like why are we doing all this um

pretty pretty embarrassing uh for for the parties involved i'll say moe wagner is a genuine super villain bro well not super he doesn't have that sort of weight to his name but you look at him and you just think what an insidious fellow and then you look at his brother and you think oh what a lovely guy but like mo vogner first of all looks just like bill scars guard so he could have played penny wise he could have played bill scards guard's character in this movie called uh what was it called Barbarian, where he's just like supposed to be this super guy who you look at and you're just like, oh, he creeps me out.

That's Moe Wagner. In terms of basketball, he's all right. A couple more guys who I do want to give props to. Mowgli and Allen, both. You mentioned Mowgli was the star of the show early. I was over the moon. When he confidently stepped into two catch and shoot threes in the first quarter and nailed them both, I thought, praise be, Evan Mowley has arrived.

He has come to us all and we are so blessed. less to witness this. But like then even more so, I was like, oh my God, he's decisively getting to his hook. He's spinning off a dude in the post. He's attacking multiple mismatches super successfully. In all game, he was really good defensively. And he was really good on the glass where he wasn't last year. New York is like an exceptional sort of physical team.

They're always so great on the glass. But he and Alan both were much better in this game against a team that is still big and physical. But his offense was a lot worse in the second half. It started being like Evan Mobley heat checks, which is a turnaround over Jonathan Isaac or Paolo Boncaro. And at that point, I'm like, no, thanks, Evan. We don't need to do that. If you can knock down a spot up jumper and you can attack a clear mismatch like, brother, I'm thrilled because we know that you are going to have a big impact defensively. And Alan was even better on the glass, handled Palo well in single coverage and finished with authority, dude.

Like that was another thing in this game. We can talk about spot up shooting. We can talk about perimeter creation and dribble penetration, but it's also the interior finishing because Orlando, when they do get into the paint, they don't have a dump off target like that. Like not only are they working at a size disadvantage, they don't have an athletic big five who can dunk over Jonathan Isaac twice in a quarter. And that was awesome to see Alan be like that aggressive, that ready for the moment.

Because on the flip side, I remember there was this one sequence in the first quarter where Palo had a really nice dump off pass to Isaac and Mowbelian Allen just like stuffed him twice. So the lights were not too bright for Jared Allen this time. Good news. Very happy for him on that front. And Cleveland's just a lot better. They had been playing bad basketball, but a lot of that was with Donovan Mitchell out. And they still have flaws, but they're not going to get exposed against the Orlando magic. Do you have any hope for Orlando in this series?

Very little. I'm pretty disappointed and demoralized after game one. And, like, of course, Gary Harris will shoot better. You know, Cole Anthony will shoot better. I think Markill Fultz. Everybody will shoot better. They have historically brutal. Yeah, yeah, like, they'll be a little better.

I won't shoot that much better. I, at this point, I have moved the needle from Orlando and seven grimy series to, man, I hope these guys win a game. I just don't want to see the magic get swept. they could, dude, looking at all these series, it's just really tough when you can't generate decent half-court offense. And Cleveland's not great there, but there is a real gap. And I can't say that I'm surprised.

One, you mentioned that I can't believe that offensive rating number you threw out is real. I know. It's an disgusting number. But two, one of the key numbers that we mentioned in the playoff preview leading up to this was they are 28th, this being Orlando, excuse me, in effective field goal percentage outside of the. paint this season. And so it's just a reality who Orlando is as a basketball team.

When they're going up against another team that is this good at deterring teams from finishing on the interior, it's like, wow. So you have taken away all of their offense and said, okay, let's go, let's go make some midrange and some threes, guys. And I already gave you the numbers. Again, the guard core shot four of 33 from the field and one of 16 from deep. It'll be better. I don't know how much better.

So yeah, man, I just hope the Orlando Magic can win a game. I just want to hear that song, man. I just want to hear that song one time. We all want to hear it. We don't get to see the beam because yikes, they went out a little, a little sad. We don't need to talk about it. We don't need to talk about it. The positive takeaways from Orlando is they were awesome defensively.

And there are top three defense in the league for a reason. And you mentioned, like, they could have capitalized more on Cleveland's cold streaks. but they capitalized somewhat like they had a 9-0 run. They had an 11-0 run. It's just their offense was so limited. But like just hellacious defense where they're applying intense ball pressure. The rotations are sharp. They're just on top of whoever has the ball in their hands.

They're swarming everybody. Like coming out the gates in the second half, they forced three turnovers in two minutes. And then they were turning defense into offense, which is when they're going to be at their best. They also just have awesome defensive personnel. And starting Jonathan and Isaac, they can switch everything, which is a fun counter to have.

The one downside with that is that it leads to more offensive rebounds for Cleveland because maybe Isaac can hold up on the perimeter against whoever, but Gary Harris, Jalen Suggs can't hold up on the interior when you're talking about the Cleveland Biggs. So they're going to continue to defend well, but that's kind of a given in this series. Offensively, yeah, they will shoot better, but ultimately they just don't have the horses. they don't have the firepower. The one thing I would like to see them do more is try to pull the bigs into space and set up cuts because this is a team that has been really good in terms of just their

cutting efficiency and volume this year. They have good athletes off ball and they had a couple moments early in the game. Orlando plays like this hilarious brand of five out basketball where it's also like nobody's really a very good shooter. But when Jonathan Isaac is at the five and even when it's Wendell Carter, like you have to reasonably respect that guy and so i thought they did a nice job there was one specific instance where paolo basically ran a fake handoff to sugs sucks sugs cut allan i think was matched up with isaac at that point so he was pulled out to the three point line and then you just have a

wide open paint do more of that jemal mosley but that's kind of it and ultimately you can kind of counter that by saying all right we're just not going to worry about whoever your floor spacer is there's no good answers. Orlando doesn't have the personnel. Yeah, and I really just think Orlando needs somebody who's going to step up and say, I want the ball. Like there are just noticeable moments in this game where- I felt like Powell didn't fear the moment. I'm not saying he's turnovers.

Yeah, I'm not saying he feared the, I guess Franz is probably the one that, like there are just moments where it's an isolation. It's one v.1 with their guards and their guards would get trapped or walled up. And I'm like, guys, you know, it was Suggs one time in the, corner where he's just trapped and it's nobody moved. They just let him stay there. And I'm like, guys, you got to get to open space.

Somebody's got to cut. Somebody's got to go get the ball. Like you got to, you just got to help him out a little bit. The offense is going to be better. I don't know how much though, man. Final takeaways on the day. Anthony Edwards makes me feel things that I can only describe in poetry.

And maybe I'll write him a palm accordingly. Josh Hart in New York Knicks make me want to be a better man. They make me want to be a better father, a better husband. I don't have children. I'm not married, but it's something that I would like to be better at because of the New York Knicks. And playoff basketball is awesome. And this was so much fun. I thought that this was just like thrilling.

And it's so great that we have so many series that at least on paper should be very, very competitive. That's not a dynamic that we always have to this extent in the first round. So I'm fired up. And we're going to be back tomorrow night, baby. Then we're going to be back the night after that. And then we're going to be back the night after that. We're going live a lot throughout these playoffs because there's a lot of basketball

to react to. Any final thoughts from you, Logan? Nas Reid. Nas Reid, bro. Nas Reid. I also saw Spawn Hour. I presume it was the real Spawn Hour in the chat, say, too many AD3s. And I agree.

That was another possession where at some point in the fourth quarter, I was like, man, an AD catch and shoot three. That's the look. No, AD, don't shoot them. The discussion is always, oh, AD is going to shoot threes. now he shouldn't he hasn't made them since the bubble it's just better off if he doesn't all right appreciate you guys tuning in sincerely hope you enjoyed hope you enjoyed all the basketball first and foremost hope that if your team played they won and hope that if your team plays tomorrow they win

or at least you have fun watching them so if you want more nerds such content you can stay dialed into the youtube channel we have all of our full episodes here we had all of our series previews go up at breakouts if you want to watch any of those for the series that start tomorrow. As I mentioned, I did that in-depth breakdown on basically why the Lakers didn't have an answer for Yokic and we knew that coming into this series. I want to do a lot of stuff like that throughout the playoffs. Look at some of these specific matchups and players. So that'll all be on the YouTube channel.

You can listen to the podcast across audio platforms. You can follow us across social media, TikTok and Instagram at NerdSesh. We have all of our trivia content there that'll keep going throughout the playoffs, something fun and light on top of it. of all this heavy urea basketball analysis. And if you want the hat that Logan's wearing right off his head, that is at thevolume.com, go ahead and check that out.

And if you want a chance to talk to Matthew Spanauer, who we just mentioned, he is in the NerdSash Discord, and so are many of America's greatest minds. So the link to that is at the link tree across our social media bio. And with that, as always, appreciate you guys. I have been Carson Braber. I have been Logan Camden.

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