The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Nerd Sesh - Nuggets' insane comeback over Lakers, Knicks' miraculous win over 76ers

Episode Date: April 23, 2024

The nerds react to another epic day of NBA action, as Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and the Denver Nuggets faced off with LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 2 of their series. They also break down how Josh Hart, Isaiah Hartenstein and the New York Knicks survived to beat Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey & the Philadelphia 76ers despite Joel Embiid's absence. Then, they discuss how Donovan Mitchell, Jarrett Allen & the Cleveland Cavaliers took care of business against Paolo Banchero & the Orlando Magic. Timestamps 00:00:24 - Nuggets-Lakers 00:31:13 - Knicks-76ers 01:05:24 - Cavaliers-Magic #Volume #herd See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. My mother-in-law spent years sabotaging our relationship until Karma made her pay for it. All right, Sophia, tell me about how we started this story. She moved in for two weeks, lasted five days, left a mess, and then pressed her ear against their bedroom door and burst in screaming. When kicked out to a hotel, she called her son-in-law's workplace, pretending his partner had been rushed to the hospital by ambulance. She faked a medical emergency? And spoiler, that was just the beginning.

To find out how it ends, listen to the OK Storytime podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The volume. Oh my God, how could he do that? Oh, don't get. Charles Darwin. The nerds is where it's at. Welcome everybody back into nerdsesh. As always, I'm Carson Breber.

And alongside me is Logan Camden. And oh my God. God, what an amazing day of playoff basketball we just saw. Nick Sixers was an incredible, incredible game, heart racing the entire time. And then we get Lakers Nuggets, which I would argue even took things up another level. Logan. Denver comes back from down 20. They continue to own the Lakers having now won 10 straight.

And obviously, this felt like the one that L.A. had to take. They were up comfortably in the first half of game one, but this was to another level. 80 couldn't miss early, Delo couldn't miss early. And Yokic had a phenomenal second half. But Jamal Murray, man, steps up, bangs the game winner over 80. Where do you want to start with giving the Nuggets props here? I mean, I want to start with just what a monumental collapse this is from L.A. I just don't know how you bounce back from this in this series, man.

Like you mentioned, this is the 10th straight loss for L.A. against Denver. And I mean, they fixed a lot of the issues that you would have thought, you know, would have plagued them from game one. I thought they did a better job, Garden Yokic for most of this game. I thought they did a good, better job garden, Jamal Murray. Anthony Davis could not miss. He had 24 first half points. The Angelo Russell Carson had the 10th most three-pointers made in the first half of a

play-off game in the play-by-play era. He bangs six threes. He ends with seven. I mean, so many boxes got checked, and yet the same thing plagues LA and the stretch of this, the home stretch of this game, Carson, they just can't close the nuggets out.

They just can't ever shut the door, man. That's been the theme of every game it's felt like. Like, I didn't know that a sweep could look better. And I mean, that's honestly what I'm anticipating. Most competitive sweep, two years running. Hang the banner. How was this happening, man? Last season, I didn't think a sweep could get more.

more competitive, and it looks like that's what we're headed for again. Somebody tweeted out or, you know, I saw the Lakers can't possibly blow this one, can they? And everything was going in their favor. Down in the fourth quarter, LeBron's hitting back to back big time, clutch threes, wiped away. Jamal Murray coming into the fourth quarter, Carson, my takeaway was, man, do the nuggets just need better Jamal Murray? And then in the fourth quarter, clutch Jamal comes on and just slams the door emphatically. That dude has a clutch gene beyond, like, comprehension, man.

A clutch gene beyond, I can't describe it. It doesn't matter what kind of game Jamal seems like he's having in the first three quarters. He's just going to flip that switch and turn it on. And so does Yokic, man. I mean, the Lakers just can't seem to put four quarters together of quality basketball against Denver, man. Every single game, no matter how big of a lead L.A. has, no matter how much they're dominating the game, Like last show, Carson, I talked about the inevitability of the Nuggets offense and how unstoppable they feel.

I mean, it's just another feather in their cap, man, where it's like, they're inevitable. The Lakers can't shut the door again, man. I can't think of a better game that they could have played. Like, I just, from the Lakers perspective, I don't know how you come back from this loss. This is as demoralizing. as a loss can be, man. It felt it's right there, dude. It is right in their grasp.

And the Lakers let it slip away once more. I just disagree with framing this as the Lakers blowing it. Like, yeah, they should have closed out this game and won. But the clutch offense that we saw from Denver was remarkable. And the way that Nikola Yokic controls a game late in the second half once he's aggressive, it is obviously second to not in the game today. It is comparable to peak LeBron. When you think about the intellectual and physical.

dominance that these guys exert over the game. It's absolutely remarkable. They're just getting beaten by a better team. They're getting out executed by one of the best offenses ever. And specifically, Logan, the best clutch offense of this century. I think we can say because of the shot quality that they generate possession after possession in crunch time out of Yokic postups and Jamal Marie Yokic pick and roll. It's just incredible.

Jamal deserves so much credit for what he did in the fourth quarter here because you're absolutely right. this was as bad age of all Murray game as we have seen in his playoff career he is the ultimate playoff riser he is mr not an all star in the regular season gets banged up misses some games gives you 20 a night tends to show up even in the big regular season games but he's going to have some clunkers take some off and then you get to the playoffs if it's in the bubble or obviously last year and it's okay this guy's one of the greatest difficult shot makers we've ever seen he's giving you an efficient 25 and 7 at least that's playoff Jamal murray and he was four of 18

at one point in this game. And we specifically highlighted that if you can basically turn the Murray Yokic two-man action into a lot of Jamal pull-up jumpers, that's not a great outcome for a defense because there is no great outcome against Murray-yokch pick and roll. But that is the best outcome. And I thought that L.A. successfully did that in this game. I thought they mostly played Yokic well off the role. And he popped a couple times early and made a couple threes in this one.

But Jamal was just missing those pull-up jumpers. And then I thought in the fourth quarter, he just found his. rhythm, man. And one of the key things that he did. And there was an instance where he did in the third quarter, too, was he stopped settling for those pull-up looks out of pick and roll. And he was incredibly patient in slithery as a driver. And Yokic would pull AD out. He would pop. And Jamal would wait long enough for that to be a factor to where AD couldn't help nearly as effectively. And then he would finish around the rim. It was just beautiful deception and manipulation of the defense out of pick and roll. That was key, I think, to just getting him some easy points on the board.

And then even like that possession with less than a minute's ago, I thought he really mismanaged things, turning it over to LeBron leading out to that transition dunk. I thought, man, you've got to just get the ball to yoke here. He had a switch, like get him the ball in the post. And Jamal ends up trying to pass out of it way too late. LeBron reads it. That was just a pick six. But then the next two possessions, he does what he does. He's one of the greatest shot makers legitimately in the history of the game. His variety is spectacular. When you think about the balance on turnarounds, on stepbacks,

his pull-up shooting efficiency this year. Point blank is ridiculous. 43% on pull-up threes, 47% for mid-range. That's Jamal Murray, man. That's what he does. If I hadn't sweated through my, this guy loves Jamal Murray shirt that I wore to play basketball

the other day, I'd be wearing it right now because even though this is one of the roughest games of his playoff career, it's also one of the signature games because that shot making came through. in the biggest moments. But ultimately, Yokic did his thing in the second half. And that was the key. It was this tandem that has been so spectacular over the last two seasons since

Jamal got back healthy that has been clearly the best in the league that has run the league doing their thing. Once Yokic comes back in for his final shift in the fourth quarter, the Nuggets outscore L.A. 28 to 17. And in a game like this, generating 28 points in nine and a half minutes with the pace these teams were playing at, especially once LeBron started very deliberately strangling the pace. You would see even in transition, he'd slow things down just to get to that pick and roll with 80 and bleed clock just to limit the number of possessions that Denver had.

Their shot quality they had down the stretch was just significantly better than what they had over the first three quarters and ultimately significantly better than what L.A. had, even though I thought they continued to generate solid shots even down the stretch in this game. but it was a huge response from Yokic because this was a poor defensive first half from him. We deserve to give Adi all the props for just an unbelievable shot making performance, right? He was 14 to 15 at one point. And only a couple of those looks were at the rim. I mean, it was the push shots.

It was the turnarounds. He could not miss from 10 to 15 feet. But also it was the same trend that we saw at the end of last game where Yokic was just playing too passively. And 80 was able to initiate the contact to dictate the physicality. So he was never made uncomfortable. Yokos played a bad defense at first half. I also thought he was too passive and drop. He's generally going to concede those pull-up jumpers,

but like just no activity, no hand up. And so you had really good pull-up shooting from Dilo, Austin Reeves, got to that floater range, short mid-range a couple times and just had basically these warm-up looks. And then Yokic wasn't aggressive enough in the first half of this game. But in the second half, he was super aggressive. He did an awesome job of pushing in transition, several fantastic outlet passes,

is him doing what he does as a point center. They got the Nuggets some easy offense that they desperately needed. And then when it came down to it, dude, just started flaying dudes in single coverage. When 80 went off the floor with that fourth foul, you knew it was like, man, you have to give these dudes a beating. And he did it. Like Rui, without 80 on the floor, good night, man.

We've already seen that Rui on him as the primary defender with 80 in the Romer role. That is untenable to me for extended stretches because even in those looks, right, he's just too great an over the top shotmaker with that size and strength advantage over Rui. But if you don't have 80, even the threat of him looming as a helper, like those are just layups. And they literally were. And then he did the same thing to AD, man. He made him look like food.

Reggie Miller said, get in the weight room. And it wasn't just that. Hitting with that up fake to get the N1. So exceptionally crafty, so exceptionally great a touch shot maker. I've said it before. I'll say it a million times more. That's why he's the best score alive to me, man. It's not about volume.

It's about who is the hardest guy. on the planet to stop. There is not a harder action to stop. I don't think there is a more dominant action in the history of the sport than an Eko Ookic post up. That is the best defender on the planet. And you know when it matters. He goes through him like he is nothing, like he is tissue paper.

So it was a special performance from both of them down the stretch. And the last guy who I really want to give a shout out to for Denver was Michael Porter Jr. Yeah, man. Because particularly in the first half, when Jamal was struggling. mindily and when basically all the spot-up shooters except for MPJ were ice cold. They were six of 23 from deep at the half. It was very similar to the first half of game one in that Yokic wasn't being very aggressive.

He was still generating pretty good looks from three off these digs and doubles, but guys were just missing. MPJ was nails in that first half. He made the good decision when they had that two-on-one against Austin Reeves late, kicking to Aaron Gordon when it looked like maybe he was going to take that pull-up three in transition. I was a little nervous when Gordon got fouled because we know he has a tendency to leave some points on the board at the line, but he didn't there. And then, of course, like the big nut shot of the game only bested by what Jamal did, stepping into that three off that chaotic possession in like semi-transition.

That's just MPJ, man. I've consistently said he is one of the handful of most gifted pure three-point shooters that we've seen in this league. Like to have that size, to have the ability to off movement from any angle with any level, level of a contest still just rain threes on you, like the guy's a ridiculous weapon, and he showed it in this game. So of course, this is agonizing for L.A., agonizing, because you continually play these super competitive games. And now these last two, you've had significant advantages and you can't grind out the win. But this is way more about Denver. This is Denver, man. This is one of the best offenses ever, within my opinion, the best offensive player ever,

doing what they do. And at some point, you just kind of got to throw your hands up in laugh if you're a Lakers fan, right? I don't know, Lakers fans. Are you guys laughing? Because, like, what can you do? Are you saying they're slowly turning Lakers fans into, like, the Joker? Like, they're just going to lose it. Wouldn't this be the inspiration for your Joker arc, bro? How do you continue to function as a normal member of society when you've had your heart ripped out like this?

At this point, I'm probably going to the mirror right now, and I got the face paint loaded up and ready to go, man. I'm putting it on. Yeah. Dude, I can't, you can't sing Yoka just praises enough down the stretch of this game. You talk about those back-to-back post touches where, you know, he gives 80 that little half spin and you just know what's going in. I thought way more importantly, too, was just how Yokic dominated the glass, man. Like, they couldn't, he wouldn't let AD or anybody else get a board in the fourth quarter of

this game. And I thought that was huge. I'm glad you shouted out MPJ. It just didn't seem like MPJ missed in this one, especially on that. When he touched the ball and went up, I scream, that's in. It's just, that's his shot. I mean, that is his, it's what MPJ does. And that's kind of the conclusion with the Nuggets.

man is this is what they do. While we're sticking with Denver for a little bit longer, I just want to give a shout out to a couple of the bench guys. The young dogs, I thought, had great performances in this one. Peyton Watson and Christian Brown both. Just the energy, the effort in the defensive just hounding that we saw from both of those guys, man, crashing the glass, stepping up to defensive assignments. Neither of them back down to LeBron when they got switched on to them.

Just intense performances. Christian Brown had some great. great offensive possessions, too. The one that I really thought stood out to me was when he was on the right wing and cut to the mid-range when they doubled Yokic. You know, Yokic and I think it was Jamal, we're playing ping pong for a minute, tossing back and forth because they saw that double coming. And Brown just instinctively, when his man trailed off to help on the backside, cuts to the mid-range, gets an easy look there. You know, they were pushing in transition. This is not a really deep Nuggets bench.

You know, they don't have a lot of guys that they can turn to. And so for Brown and Watson to just consistently give them energy, give them effort, to give them great defensive minutes, and then add some stuff offensively, I thought was really imperative to this one, especially when, you know, the Nuggets offense wasn't firing on all cylinders. Sure, that may be the thing that we end on, just how the Nuggets offense wouldn't stop coming. It's been the theme of a lot of these games. In the third quarter, when they needed the Lakers to slow down offensively, I thought Watson and Brown stepped up in a massive way in both the second quarter and the third

quarter, just making the Lakers grind it out and work harder for a lot of these shots. This is a great Nuggets team win, and I'm glad Jamal emphasized that. Yokic and Jamal are going to be the stars of this game walking away. Oh, and the one guy, I want to give a bundle of roses too, because I feel like he gets lost in the shuffle repeatedly is Catavius Coldwell Popeman and what he brings to this team defensively. Absolutely. That one possession where LeBron backed him down on the left elbow and he pokes the ball loose.

That was game changing. and just consistently this year, we can get caught up with the MPJ catch and shoot. We can get caught up with Jamal being clutch, Jokic being the best player on planet Earth. KCP is one of the handful of best perimeter defenders on planet Earth, man. And if I had more players that I could add to my all defense team, KCP would be there with OG Ananobe,

with the guys that just didn't make the cut. KCP plays his role to perfection every single night, and I don't want him to just get lost in the shuffle here in Denver. but what a team win, man. It was all hands on deck. It was all energy. Just a hard fault win, man, where they just never gave up, man. John Cena, man.

What a team win for Denver. I mean, dude, we saw some inspirational basketball played tonight. Like legitimately, just such impressive heart. We're going to talk about that Knicks game, which literally is just like a miracle. It's like a Disney movie. But this is crazy, man. And you really think how far can Denver push this?

Like how lethargic can they come out? How much can they be off? How well can the Lakers play? How much intensity and energy and direction can the Lakers bring? And you still claw back. And apparently it's you can dig yourself quite a hole when you're just this damn good. And it absolutely was a collective effort. We focus on the Yokic and Murray dynamic because it was that two-man game and their respective dominance that gutted this one out for them.

but it's always a collective effort. I mean, this is one of the most complete starting fives that we've seen this century. Everybody fills their role at such a high level. You gave KCP props for his defensive effort. Absolutely. I thought he held up well on LeBron's switches. I thought he held up well in pick and roll. That guy is just always making impact high effort plays.

And Aaron Gordon had some really valuable spots in this game where he attacks a mismatch. I thought again, he was good on the offensive glass. The collective here is super, super impressive. The last shoutout that I want to give to Denver is to Mike Malone, just because the Nuggets had a very clear and imminent problem in the early stages of the second half, which was that they were running LeBron 80 pick and roll every single possession down with great success, like literally the first three possessions and a significant majority of the first dozen possessions, I would say they were running that.

And early they were running it right at Yolkich. and it was a problematic coverage because what the Nuggets do with Yokic is they play this high drop, right where he comes out almost to the level of the screen. He's still in a drop coverage, but not in a deep drop where these other guys go below the free throw line or whatever. So consistently you have those pocket passes available to a guy like Anthony Davis as the roller. And the obligation is on the low man, that being probably whoever is guarding like a corner shooter, to slide down in tag AD to get a body on AD. and he was just easily scoring against those looks.

Like LeBron was delivering those passes with great timing. 80's touch was so good as a finisher in this one. And his physical advantages over, whoever the low man was, were too significant. And I thought that putting Yokic on Rui was a great decision. I think it was a necessary adjustment. But like if they hadn't done that,

I don't know if Denver gets enough stops in this game. And obviously they were going to switch things up. You're not just going to let LeBron in AD run, pick and roll at you and just kind of shrug and go, oh, man, that's really impressive that they can, do that and score every time. But it was much more effective like that. I thought in those looks, first of all, Rui is just way less imposing as a roller, obviously. So that's the first dynamic of it. Yokic is able to play those high drop looks, but then recover without having to worry about the

roller as much. And with Aaron Gordon on AD primarily in the dunker spot, then you had a very good option as a helper, as opposed to some of those smaller guards who were getting stuck as the low man. And even if you get that ball to Rui around the free throw line, it's not like he's going to throw a lob up to 80, right? He's not that level of short roll passers. So LeBron still in the second half got a lot of good shots, a lot of good shots out of pick and roll. But that action was legitimately unstoppable with the look that Denver was giving them and changing that up, allowed them to stay in this game and then have that clutch offense pull through. On the inverse of this, Carson, looking at the

Lakers' second half and how they fared, you know, I think it's kind of hard to envision a game where the Lakers play, you know, tangibly better than this. This is very close to the Lakers ceiling. I think there are marginal things, you know, like shooting variants and stuff like that. What did you think about LeBron settling for a pull-up jumper there at the end? I thought that was a pretty clear area where I don't know where I would have attacked. I don't know, man. He was wide open. Also, pretty sure that was an uncalled pushoff. And I will get in one quick point here.

People are going to make this game about officiating. People make every Lakers game about officiating in one way or another. Just don't do it. Like there were so many calls in this way that you can say are iffy, ify that went both ways. I thought LeBron got a couple of phantom foul calls go his way. I also think he probably got away with a push-off at the end there, but I'd like to see a replay. If you're pissed about that D-Lo foul getting overturned, even though that contact occurred after the shot had gone up.

If you say, hey, that's still part of the closeout. Like, that's a foul. The guy got hit in the face. I get it. My point is just there were so many moments throughout this game where it was a questionable call in either direction that I felt like it really evened out. And at the end of the day, go out there and win the game.

Who executed late? Denver executed late. That's it. It's like the reason that we didn't talk at all about officiating. A bunch of people seemingly Denver fans were upset, even though they won convincingly because of the free throw disparity last game. First of all, there are clear reasons that L.A. consistently as a really high free throw differential.

They pressure the hell out of the rim with their big downhill athletes. They have active foul grifters like Austin Reeves, like DeAngelo Russell, and they generally defend quite well without fouling. Just accept the basketball game. Officiating was not a factor in this one. Yeah, yeah. I completely agree. I mean, there's miscalls you can point to in any game.

Right. And the thing that you just hit on is what frustrated me about the Lakers late game execution, though, is it was like their jumpers were. falling at such a high clip. It's almost like the Lakers just when, you know, I mean, there's a lot of things that going to do it. Tomol just got hot too. But like the Lakers, I thought should have tried to get downhill a little more when the

nuggets were, you know, starting to close the gap in terms of just slowing it down, mucking it up a little bit, trying to get to the line, trying to just, you know, gain a little control of the game. There were a couple of possessions there where I would have just consciously tried to get downhill to, to draw a foul. or to slow the game down or something, man. You know, the Nuggets just kept getting momentum and momentum and momentum. And yeah, I don't know.

That was the one issue that I took with the Lakers late game offenses. I would have just liked to have seen them try to get downhill a little more. I don't know that I agree because I felt like LeBron had some pretty strong takes out of pick and roll throughout that fourth quarter, maybe not in the last couple minutes, but just throughout the period. And his finishing was okay in this game. It wasn't great. he left a couple of layups on the rim that I'm sure he would like to have back.

But then when he took his pull-up threes, he stepped into them and he rained them, dude. And like, that was a moment where it's like, boy, this just went from two points to eight real quick, is Denver going to be able to rally from this. LeBron has been so great as a pull-up shooter this year that if you're going to leave him wide open in a situation where he has a go-ahead opportunity, I'm not going to be mad at him for taking it. And I did think that they consistently put pressure on this Denver defense downhill. and ultimately Denver changed their covers and I thought they defended better.

So what do the Lakers do, man? Do they just go to Yokich all game and try to get him to foul out or something? Like I don't know what is ultimately, because in terms of like how they defended Yokic, one, I completely agree with what you said earlier. I think Yokish was a little bit passive and not aggressive enough. But I also just thought the Lakers did a good job of throwing him different looks, you know, sporadically double teaming, trying to switch things up. LeBron for a little bit there was,

you know, sealing him off. He wasn't letting him get the ball. You know, I thought the Lakers did a good job of switching up the looks. Like, are they chopped? Are you predicting a sleep the rest of the way? I mean, I think this is that demoralizing of a loss. I don't know how the Lakers can hold their heads up high the rest of this series. And you know what I mean? This is just one of those losses where it's like, yeah, your soul is crushed.

It leaves you with this empty, inevitable feeling that I think we're really. reaching towards. Do you predict a 0-2 run nuggets, wipe them off the floor in L.A.? No, I think L.A. gets one. Like, they're competitive, dude. I don't want to see Lakers slander. I get it. People hate the Lakers. People hate LeBron. This team is so good, dude. Like, you have to appreciate how great Denver is. This is a juggernaut. This is a defending champion that has come back stronger this year that has one of the best players we've ever seen in a very beautifully assembled supporting cast, this great starting five that we've talked about. like they're better than everybody in the West.

I would not be surprised if this ends up being the toughest series for Denver. Now, I do think emotionally for L.A., you gave it all in this game. Like, this is the one that you really wanted to steal. And obviously you wanted game one, too. And I don't know if LeBron at 39 can just like bring it fully every night when it feels like, man, they're just better than us. So maybe they don't push them quite as hard down the stretch. But I wouldn't count it out in the difference between this L.A. team and last year's team

is that they do have more offensive pop. Like they do have a much better version of Deelow. And everybody after game one acted like Deelow just sucked. My take was that was too much DeLo. Delo was dictating your offense too much down the stretch. When he is shooting at that volume and missing, he will shoot you out of a game and you are probably better off playing somebody like a Gabe Vincent who's going to bring point of attack defense

and just make good simple decisions and maybe we'll knock down his shots. But I've also made sure to say, Deelow is an important weapon who elevates, the ceiling of this team. And for that reason, you probably need him out there for 30 minutes a night because he's been a great offensive player this year. And you felt that with the six first half threes spotting up as a pull-up shooter like he was just deadly in this game. Even out of pick and roll finishing around the rim, he had that huge go-ahead bucket for the Lakers in the last couple minutes. So DeLo did his job in this one. Ultimately, Denver is just better. But this L.A.

team has firepower. They have two superstars who have played like it. Like 80 outplayed Yokic significantly in the first half of this game. He was way better. Yokic, of course, was way better when it mattered most. But when you have this offensive Anthony Davis, like, you're scary. So just don't drag the Lakers through the mud, in my opinion. And we talked about how this would probably happen, right? You get beaten by Denver. And then it's, oh, man, the Lakers are frauds, what have you. This is so, so much better than your average playing team so much better. Yeah, I mean, I think that's kind of obvious at this point.

People who, I mean, they just didn't go hard enough in the regular season. That's the ironic part, right? The Lakers would have. That's why I always thought that the Lakers had to draw Denver in the late rounds. You have to hope that somebody is injured, somebody is hampered, not at 100%. They're worn out from playing these other teams out west. Like, this is always how this series was going to end up. And the Lakers had to have some things fall their way to win out.

And ultimately, this is the Lakers bed and they're forced to lay in it. I don't feel bad at all for the Lakers. They're still a great team. I would put some respect on them. And that was a takeaway I had out of the first half was, man, if you get this Anthony Davis and DeAngelo Russell every single game, this is a legitimate NBA finals contender. And I mean that. I mean that with my heart and soul.

It just so happens that they're playing. with one of the best finals contenders and one of the best teams that we've ever seen. That's a reality. The Nuggets are running the league right now. They run the NBA until further notice. And they're just that much better. Like I still think the Lakers might be the second best team in the West, man. It could be. But it doesn't matter because the Nuggets are the favorite out West and so much, clearly so much better than L.A. man. Yokic is just by so far the best player in this series. And Jamal Murray is just by so far, in my opinion, the clutchest, man.

Jamal's got to be one of the clutches dudes I've ever seen. There's just, there's guys, man, that in these big moments, Jamal's ready. He's got that gene, but he also has the specific skill set. If you are somebody who can step back from 17 feet, who can turn around from 18 feet and make those shots efficiently, like those are the shots that sometimes you get when things get ugly in playoff basketball.

It just comes down to who, out there is a great enough shot maker. We saw it with SGA the other night, right? It's just who on the floor is going to make their tough shots because you're not getting an easy one at this stage of the game. And that's what Jamal does. That's what he's always done at like a near superhuman level. And Denver's just a level above everybody at West.

We know that L.A. has played them well. But you could just feel it coming, man. Like, I never thought Denver was out of this game. This was obviously the biggest challenge that they faced in this matchup. And by the way, these have been really fun matchups, like the energy two this also is just exceptional. I think maybe because Nuggets fans hate the Lakers so much and because the Lakers get so much heightened because LeBron and AD are on the floor, but also just because the Lakers

are legitimately really good. I just love the intensity of these games. I love the stakes that we're feeling first round playoff basketball. This is exceptional. Med Denver ultimately came through as they do. Really impressive win for them. And they're going to win this series. That's just what they do.

All right. We're going to take a quick break for some. words from Draft Kings and then we will be back talking about the other two games today just in one second. 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 1-800gambler.net. In New York, call 878-8-8-Hop-N-Wyer, text Hope & Y, 467-369. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-777-7 or visit ccpg.org. Please play responsibly.

On behalf of Boothill Casino and Resort in Kansas, 21 and over, age very, 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. The one last thing I will say about that game, now that I had one more moment to reflect,

Rui Hachimura, the Hatch. Guy has been so, so good for the Lakers. In this series, he has just been a non-factor offensively, and I'm disappointed. And defensively, shockingly, he hasn't been able to be the game. guy who makes Nico a Yokic uncomfortable. Shocking. That's another thing that I saw.

Lakers fans getting upset at the front office for not getting a Yokich stopper, for not calling Dwight Howard off his couch. Guys, who do you think is the Yokit stopper? Did you see what he did in the playoffs last year? Like the Timberwolves are the closest thing and he still went through them, man. He's just one of those all-time special guys. Legitimately, I would say, the best offensive player ever. That's what you're dealing with.

That's what you see in this one. 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, Clifford 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. 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 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-law's 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 podcast, or wherever you're listening to podcasts. Let's talk Nick Sixers, because that was one hell of a basketball game, dude. I thought I needed like an hour break. I was not ready to just go right into Nuggets Lakers. My heart was racing. I was screaming.

I was off off my couch. And then we went into two and a half hours of the same thing. How did New York win this game, Logan? dog, grit, heart, man. I mean, that's what I love so much about the New York Knicks. And I know you were talking about this last episode. We talked about this all regular season. The Knicks just all heart, man.

They leave it all out there on the court, and they are going to make you earn everything, man. They are going to outwork you, and they're going to make you earn every point, every possession, every second, every inch until the clock runs out. That's how they won this one. I mean, the Sixers just let them linger around long enough. Brunson, who is, I mean, had a horrible game. I mean, it is amazing that they survived this game from Jalen Brunson.

And I say horrible. I do want to give Jailen Brunson credit because people are going to look at the field goals at the end of this game. 24, 8 and 6 on 8 to 29 shooting, obviously he has to shoot better from the field, one of six from deep. And credit to the Sixers for making life really hard on him. But I thought how consistently Brunson, kept getting into the teeth of the defense, kept collapsing guys, kept drawing attention. He still generated a lot of open looks around the rim, especially for Isaiah Hardenstein down the stretch.

Like, he may have not been scoring, but Brunson was still being an effective offensive player. But at the end of this game, you get the Brunson clutch three and then right off the inbound, they get the steal. Devin Chenzo misses the three. Guess what? Offensive rebound. You're not out of the woods yet, Philly. You can't go to sleep.

The game's not over. There's time on the clock. kick it back out swing swing back to degenzo top of the key he gets two for a dollar look man devenchenzo's not missing that thing on two for a dollar man real hoopers don't miss the reload bro that's what my friend carvel always told us and it's a fun of the mouth truth of the world and i looked at dante degenzo and i said knowing this man knowing his clutch gene knowing what he did in that national title game at villanova this real hooper is not going to miss the reload and he did he wasn't man off the catch and shoot bang bang one of the most electric play

off moments I can remember. And it's sad for Philly, dude. In a lot of ways, the way Denver stole this one out from under L.A., man, New York just stole this one from under Philly. Obviously, this was a much tighter game throughout, right? It was grimy. It was nasty. But with what you got out of Joel Embed in Tyrese, they shouldn't have lost this game. And I want to give a huge, massive shout out to Tyrese Maxie. He's the guy that I feel the worst for in this game, Carson. One of Carson Breber's guys, we are now going to promote Carson Breber to President of the United States officially. Nobody. Dude, the promotion has been coming, man.

You have now been promoted. Thank you. I was hoping for King, but I'll take president. By the way, also a big DeVincenzo guy as a prospect. Not to get greedy, but the fellas came through today. There are very few guys that know a bucket like Tyrese Maxie, man. You see a bucket. You know a bucket.

It's Tyrese Maxi. Wow, man. What a playoff game. And two playoff debuts for Maxi, man. 33 points, two boards, four assists in game one. In this one, 35 points, nine boards, 10 assists with five three-pointers made. And I mean, you couldn't ask for this guy more in these clutch spots. He's got a clutch layup, catching the defense napping.

Just such great awareness on the part of Maxi when Embedit falls on the other side of the floor and he's taking his time. He knows that most of the defense is waiting to see when Embed gets up the floor, and he just turns the corner immediately, gets to an easy layup because he knows nobody's waiting. They're all waiting on Embed in this offense to get set up. Easy. He's got a clutch fade away off screen late in this one, and of course, Mbd draws a double for just a second. Josh Hart turns his head. Embed makes a crucial kick out to Maxie in just a clutch clutch, catch and shoot three.

And big shout out to Hardinstein for blocking Maxie's. late game layup attempt. But clutch buckets down the stretch when Embed is just faltering, man. And, you know, Embed is clearly hampered by the knee injury in the fourth quarter of this game. And I hope that we can get Embed healthy and back to a consistent baseline. But Embed goes two of six in the fourth quarter of this game. He goes 0 of 3 from behind the arc. Maxi was the one carrying five of seven from the field, one of twos on threes.

He has 15 fourth quarter points. I mean, it wasn't on Tyrese maxi. I know Embed is dealing with the knee injury. He's clearly hampered by it, has some nasty falls in this one where he's fighting through in the third quarter. You know, they're doing surgery over there on the sideline, messing with it, trying to get it back up. Embed was not the guy that kept the Sixers in this game. It was Maxie. And I feel bad that they couldn't pull through for him, man.

He was the guy keeping Philly in this game, not Joelle Embed. But the way the Knicks did it, heart, dog, energy effort. It's got to be a friend of the show, Jason Temp, who's also live now, hoops tonight, probably breaking it down in excellent fashion. Yeah, but don't go over there. Go later. You got to stick over here. Yeah, we'll watch it later, man, after nerd ses.

Yeah. He summed it up well, man. It's got to be 60 minutes, man, or 48 minutes. It's bail to bell, dude. It's wire to wire. You cannot take your foot off the gas against New York. If you leave any meat on the bone, New York is going to eat it, dude. And Philly just couldn't close it, man.

It was that last minute of basketball. Every second matters. And the Knicks are going to make you work for every second, every possession, every point. And that's why they won this one, man. They just, they grinded them out longer. It's incredible. It is the incredible win of the day. What Denver did was a testament to their basketball greatness.

And there's sort of that feeling that you expect it's going to happen. Like, even when it doesn't make sense, they're just, that inevitable. New York is winning unwinnable games right now. These first two games should be unwinnable, dude. When Jalen Brunson is having these brutal shooting performances, 7 of 24 in game 1, right, 8 of 29 in this one, that man is your entire source of on ball creation. We've talked about that. Like, yeah, they have good spot up shooters and they have some solid rim finishing bigs. But he has to create good looks for them basically every time down. And he has been struggling mightily as a shotmaker and has drawn a really tough matchup and is feeling the physical

load of it and just isn't delivering in the way that you need him to and you're still somehow winning. The Sixers have the two best players on the floor. Tyrese Maxy is playing multiple levels above Jalen Brunson. Of course, he's in a better situation, but just as a shot maker, the easy shots he's able to generate with his quickness, whereas everything for Brunson is so tough. Like Philly is checking all those boxes. In the boxes you are checking is playing with unbelievable effort and just having so many high quality role players who in the aggregate are somehow able to outweigh that clear advantage that Philly has in high-end offensive skill in Star Power. And I bet on that formula. That's why I picked the Knicks to win this series

in seven. But I also thought they were going to get really good Jalen Brunson. I did not expect them to have that formula be enough in spite of Brunson having these really brutally inefficient shooting nights. And you mentioned the way that they win this game, man. It is the ultimate Knicks sequence. Of course, you have the offensive rebound back out to Devinchenzo, but you have the strip before that to gain them an extra possession. Before that even, you have Brunson losing his handle. Devin Chenzzo comes up, rips that loose ball, gets it back out to Brunson,

who makes a three for the first time and God knows how long, and that was not an easy look. Like, they won this game in the most Knicks way possible. And there are several dudes who I want to give specific shoutouts to Isaiah Hartinstein to me is the MVP of this game for the New York Knicks. And I love Hardenstein. I have been a Hartinstein guy. Look behind the curtain.

I'm not a good basketball player. But my player comparison is Isaiah Hartnstein. Why we're bigs. We defend hard. We make solid decisions as a passer. And we got those little push shots. That was huge, huge push shot representation for bigs that we got from Hartnstein all season, but especially in this one.

But legitimately, that was huge. Because the best stretch of offense that Brunson was creating, was not his shot making at any point. He never really got it going. It was in that third quarter when he started hitting those pocket passes to Hartenstein or he would draw two along the baseline and he would dump it off to Hartenstein and he was just nailing those short touch shots. So his offensive infusion going seven of eight was huge.

He also had not just that last offensive rebound, four offensive rebounds in this game, continued to just deliver on the glass, as did Mitchell Robinson in his limited minutes, who was one of the heroes of game one and the three blocks, including the game winner on a downhill Tyrese Maxie, one of the quickest guys in the league in those spots. He was unbelievable on both sides of the ball.

And he had four assists. Like he is a good passer. He made good decisions in this game. Unbelievable Hartinstein. Josh Hart, I don't know what that man is eating. I don't know what that man is drinking, but he is playing out of his mind right now. And he cooled down in the second half.

But when Josh Hart is making 40% of his threes, he is the perfect role player. He is one of the great positional rebounders that we have seen this century. Call me crazy, Roe, but a 6-4 dude rebounding at the clip that he does, it's an outlier. Like in terms of guys of that size in the league today, he's the best we have. He's a good playmaker. He pushes in transition, one of the really important transition ball handlers for this New York team, and he defends pretty well.

He's not like an insane on-ball defender, but what he does do is make great instinctual plays and consistently play with great effort. So when he checks all those boxes and he is raining threes on you, like play that man 48 minutes. That's what Tibbs did. He played in 48 minutes. It's such a stark contrast to last year when Josh Hart was an offensive liability. And he was part of that Nick's supporting cast that couldn't make their spot up threes. But you felt like you can load up on Brunson and Randall, leave that guy in the corner.

He's going to miss. You haven't been able to leave Josh Hart. Like he was ridiculous. Obviously he had the crazy clutch three in game one. And then he had the two for one at the end of the. the first half in this one where he just throws up a pullup from like 27 feet and nails it. So he kept them alive in this game. Like Hartnstein was unbelievable, particularly in that second half.

But in the first half, Josh Hart giving them 19 and 9 kept them in this game. And it was huge. And of course, he had the hustle play forcing that maxi turnover that got them, the possession that won them the game. And then you got to give props to Dante DiVincenzo, man. So tough. 19 in this one, game winning three. as we've said, real hoopers don't miss the reload.

He's one of those guys. And he also had that huge effort possession to save what could have been a Brunson turnover. He's just some ridiculous pure shooter. And I've always loved Dante, always loved Dante, because there's a lot of little things he does too. He's a solid athlete capable of attacking closeouts. He's always been a very solid playmaker. And he's always been a good defensive playmaker too.

He takes a charge in this game. He's always had great instincts with his defensive gambles, making timely plays there. But he's just been like one of the most prolific and efficient three-point shooters in the league. Second half of the year. I think the only guy taking more threes than him was Steph Curry. And he's making them at like a 38 plus percent clip.

You've got that value in this one. And Deuce McBride wasn't as dynamic as he was in game one. But we talked about him before this series as being a key guy. I talked about him as a potential heart replacement. If he wasn't hitting his shots, that has not been the issue. but the point of attack defense that he brings, even though he wasn't raining threes like he was in game one, had a couple of timely infusions of offense that this Knicks team needed.

And even Mitchell Robinson playing less, I thought he was so good in game one. I kind of thought he was going to be the primary big in this series, I thought he would get more minutes than Hartnstein because of how well he guarded and beat and how massive he was, how well he matched up physically. Hartnstein's offense, I think, ends up being more valuable, seeing how it changed this game. But Mitchell Robinson has been really good,

and he attacked the offensive glass and he defended Embed well again in this one. So it's an unbelievable collective effort. Teams don't win like this often where it is so much about guys just doing the little things. You don't have stars out there. You just have guys making high effort, high IQ basketball plays, and you have a bunch of them and you win on the back of depth. And it's especially impossible to do when you don't have your star player playing at a level remotely close to what you're used to.

And the other team has Joel Embed and team. Tyrese Maxie who's been playing like a top 20 guy over these last two games. Like it's incredible what the Knicks are doing right now. Nobody wins basketball games like this. It's beautiful. It's beautiful, man. It's inspiring. Yeah,

I thought I was going to cry. I thought I might cry during both games. I'm like, how are they doing this? I think we're going to have to get a cape for Josh Hart, man. That guy is a, he's a superhero. He is a superhero role player.

And for any small guard or, I would just show them tape. Like if you're a role player, if you're not in that star mold, I would just show them tape of Josh Hart. Like Josh Hart just, even in game one, when his shot wasn't falling like this. Like, or no, he shot well in game one too. But one, I think that end of the first half,

that three was ridiculous. And the fact that he also had the, it wasn't just how difficult of a shot that was. And sometimes when you're in that rhythm, heat check, you're just like, oh, man, I'm pulling it. I know it's going down. But for him to not only one make that shot, but two have the wherewithal in knowledge of the situation, knowing I need to get this shot up so we can get a two for one potentially.

Genius. Like Josh Hart just makes all the winning plays. And for all the rebounds he grabs, there's a ton of he's not where he's just crashing hard as hell. Like a monster truck driver or something, man. Josh Hart is, he's insane. And it's all effort. It's all energy. I wish more guys played with the Hark that Josh Hark does play with, man.

He's aptly named, dude. He just makes the winning plays. And so to all the Knicks, dude. You hit on the key point. It's like I expected the Knicks to win this series with their grit, with their grind. But I expected it to be with Star Jalen Brunson. You're not supposed to win a game like this. No.

When you don't remotely have, when you're nowhere close to having the two best offensive players in the series. And the final thing I'll say on the Knicks is I've been a Deuce McBride guy, man. I love Deuce out of the draft out of West Virginia. I think Deuce is going to be such a good, just NBA player. I don't know what his ceiling is. I mean, he is. But I mean, I think he could be a, I think he could maybe be a starter on a good team.

Oh, yeah, for sure. The mid-range, the intermediate shot making, the, you know, ball handling, the defense that you get from Deuce. he's just so well-rounded. Like, he's a winner. And the fact that the Knicks can bring him off the bench is an extreme luxury to have, man. He's just a good basketball player. And they are so much better, you know, than last year.

And a part of that is Julius Randall not being out there and missing a bunch of shots. The other part of the role players are just so much better. And the final guy that I think can make the Knicks even better is Boyan Bogdanovich. And I was really disappointed with Boyon's passivity. There was this one possession. This is a really minute marginal detail. But there was a possession where Boyon was wide open in the mid-range, catches a pass, doesn't go up with it, drives.

Nobody collapses on him instead of putting up a floater. He tries to kick it out to the corner. I need assertive Boyon. I need bucket getting Boyon, man. And the Knicks are even up another notch. I think he's played well below his means as a role player in these first two games. And if we get, if we saw it in game one, he's, I expect more from Boyon. I know he can play better than this.

I was, I've been kind of disappointed with his passivity. I wish he'd lean more into his scoring when they leave him open. But I think even he can play better in this series, man. The Sixers by far have the offensive creation advantage. I felt like that throughout this game. When you're swinging it, you got Baton, when you're swinging it and you got Buddy. When you're swinging it and you got Tobias Harris wide open in the corner, a stark offensive skill advantage between these two teams that the 76ers possess.

But the Knicks just outwork them. And that's why they got this done, man. It is, it's truly remarkable, man. I expect the Sixers to get them a couple of these next games, though, man. I don't think this. If the Knicks, excuse me, if the Sixers keep making Brunson work like this and grind like this, I got to think the Sixers steal at least one or maybe both at home, man. That's not stealing, bro.

the Knicks are the ones stealing games right now. The Sixers. Brunton will play better, but like, this is the definition of stealing games, winning extra possessions like this, escaping without your best player playing well. And that's what's crazy too is, you know, the Knicks lose or the Nicks win the rebounding battle in the first game, 55 to 33. This one is not it up 56 to 56. Like the six years. They didn't shoot as ridiculously well as they did in game one. And the result is still the same, man.

It's incredible. The result is still the same. I do want to talk about Brunson's struggles because I love this next team, dude. Like, this is one of my favorite teams in the league right now. They're one of my favorite teams to watch, especially when you're talking about, like not having overwhelming talent because nobody plays this hard. Nobody plays this together. It legitimately fires me all the way up, dude.

It fires me up. But it should be impossible for them to be up to nothing with Brunson's struggling like this. And it's great that they are up to nothing because you have to think he's going to play better. but I do want to address some of the reasons he's struggling. He's 16 of 55 so far in this series, which is just brutal. And nobody guards him better than Philly. And that was true in the regular season as well.

In their regular season matchups, he scored just 22 points per game on 40% from the field. And we talked after game one about how impactful the length of this Philly perimeter defense and particularly Kelly Ubre was because in that game, there were several instances in which they outright blocked him with rearview contests. Ubre did and so did Maxi. They were just really affecting him with that back pressure with their length. And in this game, like, that was a factor as well. They also just brought so much ball pressure.

They made him work so hard to gain any ground. They were so attached to him off ball. And that's one of the great things about Brunson. He is this super high volume pick and roll hub on ball creator. he's also going to do work away from the ball. And especially if he's struggling on ball, like he wants to find another way to spring open and they were just dialed in there too. He has that one instance late where he gets some space on a spot up jumper running the

baseline, but the pass isn't quite on target. And then Tobias Harris is all over him and he has to settle for a tough, tough step back. So you felt the impact of that length with Ubre, especially, but Batum guarded him well, maxi guarded him well, out of pick and roll. again, they affect him with those rearview contests out of isolation. He's just not quite quick enough to like really get a step on those guys. And then Embedd is looming as this massive deterrent. So he ends up taking a lot of really tough mid-range shots over bigger, longer defenders.

Even Tobias Harris held up super well on three switches at the end of the fourth quarter because he has the size. He has the length. You don't need insane foot speed to be able to hang reasonably well with Jalen Brunson. and single coverage if you move decently well and you have that size and length advantage. And ultimately, he's going to make some more of these tough shots, but he's taking tough shots. Ubra also just destroyed one look for midrange coming over as a helper from behind. So he's taking tough shots no matter what, no matter who's on him, even off multiple relocations.

Like when he got a couple possessions where it's Buddy Heald is on him and Paul Reed is playing the five instead of Joel Embed, he was aggressive in those situations. they also started really trying to force him hard to the right in this game, which I didn't mind for Brunson. I actually thought he got a couple decent looks that way because, like, there was one instance in which Embed was trying so hard to get him to reject the screen. So he did. Jalen Brunson loves rejecting screens.

He ended up missing, but he got a quality drive. There was another instance where he got a nice clean stepback look against Batum because he was trying so hard to force him right. And he just took it. So I don't know if that was. was the most effective strategy for them. But ultimately, I think the key is going to be Brunson, finding more ways to weaponize this attention that he draws as a playmaker.

I think he needs to look to facilitate more. That isn't his strength. He's capable there. And just with the sheer volume that he has the ball in his hands, like he'll pick up his assists. But he is just having to work so hard that his shot making can't always be there. And like the more tough shots he takes, the harder it gets because he's just wearing himself out.

as I said earlier, when this offense was most effective, was when he was feeding Hartnstein, when he was taking advantage of that extra defender that he's drawing to create for his teammates. And I think that's something he has to continue to proactively look to do as this series go on. It's a really tough matchup. And Embed was a really big factor too. Like he consistently, I think, forced him to settle in this one. Even though he's not at his peak mobility and athleticism, he's just so big. And playing in those high drop looks like, he wasn't sitting in a deep drop in this game where Brunson can just sort of comfortably maneuver his way to those short-range touch shots where he's one of the best in the league.

Mbid is so huge that like even though Brunson has a quickness advantage, it's tough. Like he has to really decisively beat him or else Mbid is a foot taller than him and he can still affect those shots around the rim. So it's a challenge. They need Brunson to play better. I think he will play better. But unfortunately, this is a problematic formula for New York. long term.

Like it's great that their role players are playing this well and that they're winning without Brunson playing well at all. But I do just think that like the burden that he bears every night is going to continue to wear on him over the course of a playoff run. And that's where it's like if you do get out of this series, next series, if it's Milwaukee you draw like, man, this burden on him is just concerning to me. Yeah, and I mean, we are probably due for a stinker from the Knicks offense. Like the Knicks just don't have a lot of easy ways, you know, to offense.

They don't have a whole lot of, you know, really athletic at-rim play finishers. They don't have a lot of great over-the-top shot makers. Like, that's why it is on burden. That's why it is on Brunson. And he has such a burden here is to generate shots for everybody, for Devenchenzo, for Hart and style. I mean, literally like everybody. Like Brunson is the whole part.

I will say. I think that is the encouraging part. And for the Sixers, I think I would force him right. It's not by a much, but he's worse on the right side by a percent or two, like in that right elbow. He is. But they're just giving him an angle. And he's having to work so hard for anything that I think giving him an angle is an advantage. And he, his shot diet too, it's like, you know, he's not a overwhelming athlete in terms of being able to get to the rim and create easy shots.

And he doesn't create a ton of space on the. perimeter. So it is him methodically, you know, working his way around there. So his shot diet is inherently hard, but I also think that the Sixers had to get one of these because Brunson is going to be better. Like in the same way that I think the Knicks might be due for a poor offensive performance because there's not a lot of easy offensive generators alongside Brunson. Brunson's played so poorly. I think they're due for an explosion where his touch shot making is on and he's just hitting everything. So it's tough, They're going to make Brunson work for everything.

And it's not really a concern for me in this series. I think he can do it. It's a concern in series moving forward, I think, when how tired is he throughout, you know, how does he look in game nine, in game 10, in game 11, you know, in round two, or hypothetically in the Eastern Conference finals when he's going up against better personnel, and he's really tired. That's where I get concerned. But it's a mere-

This personnel, you're not really going to face better personnel than this. If you drew Boston, but like feeling cards him, well, I'm saying it's exceptionally well. Boston's even up another notch from Philadelphia. And that's why I say better personnel. Like you're going up against Caruso, Holiday, Brown, Tatum, whatever switch you're getting on some. Caruso.

Yeah, bro, what? Did they get him? They added another white guy? I was thinking about the bald guy, man. I was thinking about the bald head, Derek White. But yeah, it's really a miracle that the Knicks have somehow come away with both of these games, man. But it's, I think that they end up taking this series, man.

The Sixers are going to get them a couple of games, but I think the Knicks just outwork them, man. This is a war. Brunson will play better. And these are really tough shots he's taking right now, exceptionally so. But he is broadly a tough shot maker and a tough shot taker. Like, this is something that we've praised about him, the floor that you consistently do have with him normally, because he doesn't have the explosive potential of a Donovan Mitchell. We've talked about this with Tyler from Hoop Venue a couple times

where it's like, okay, Donovan Mitchell is such a good athlete and such a dynamic pull-up three-point shooter that when he's rolling, the ceiling is the roof. Also, though, when he's taking 12 pull-up threes and he's missing all of them, that's what's happened kind of the last two post seasons. There's a clear contrast between the high ceiling and the lower floor that you get with Mitchell, whereas Brunson, it's like, He's going to grind his way, carve his way to his spots on the floor,

and generally he's going to hit them at roughly a 50% clip. He's been off in this one, but Philly's also making him work exceptionally hard. So that burden is crazy. But I would be more confident in saying Philly's going to find a way out of this if MBE did look like himself. And he just doesn't. I think he's clearly not 100%. This is a guy who has had more playoff struggles than any comparable star talent of this era,

arguably throughout NBA history. But right now, considering the injury context, like clearly there are just conditioning issues. There are issues with his faith in his knee. And so he becomes very, very jumpshot reliant and pretty predictable offensively. And he still got to the line in this one. He had some flails. He had some drives and some roles where he drew some contact and he got some calls.

But man, he's taken eight or more threes in both of these first two games of this series, Logan. before that he had taken eight or more threes in a game once over the last two seasons. Like that volume of jump shot reliance is troubling to me. And they're not falling right now. And that has been the unfortunate trend for Embed. And I think especially when he doesn't have his legs under him and when they are predictable looks like he's just not that hard to guard right now.

He's not exceptionally hard to guard. And I think Philly needs him to be really, really good to win clearly because Maxie has been spectacular and Brunson has been really bad and they still haven't won two games. So that was the concern. It's like Mb is an improved basketball player. I legitimately think I think his decision making was better this year. His jump shooting was better than ever. But coming off that injury, drawing a matchup like this where you have two bigs who

can defend you quite well. And I want to give props to both of them because Robinson came in and guarded him really well in his limited minutes. But Hartnstein, I thought, did a better job in this game. I thought his hands were fantastic and bothered him at a couple points. And the team defense did a really nice job of converging on Embed as a roller and just crowding him, making things congested, forcing him into some tougher finishes. So nothing really came all that easy for him in this one.

And that's a testament to the Knicks defense. My other concern with Embed in this series has been his lack of activity on the defensive glass because I think as a rim protector, he's just so massive that you still feel like, man, you don't want to go at. that guy. Nobody wants to go out that guy. But when you're talking about this hyperactive Knicks team that has real big bigs, but also has these wings who fly in like, Joelle Embed, Logan has 10 defensive rebounds in this series through two games.

The New York Knicks have 35 offensive rebounds. And we can put this on the entire Philly defense, not rebounding well enough. And that's fair. But I think Embed, as your big five men, he's got to hold it down better. and you see that these quicker players are just flying in and they're stealing rebounds over him. And if Philly could just end more possessions, like they could be up to nothing.

It wasn't as glaring a thing in this game, but it still was the thing that decided the game on that last possession. So shout it to the Knicks. They're playing incredibly well. Philly fans, I feel for you, it's tough watching MBE play like this because I have been a critic of his, a big critic of his in the playoffs.

This run, I'm really not going to hold against him because it's just like the guy's clearly. hurt and he's not playing like himself accordingly. All the blame will therefore be allocated to Tobias Harris, who has done nothing in this series. And I think Philly fans will be very, very happy to dish that blame out his way. Yeah, no, I think that they, I think that's the key too. And I mean, you see it, I hate doing this comparison like we always do with Embed, but you talk about the glass.

It's like, nobody can ever, you know, change Yokic's impact on the glass. That dude's going to dominate against anybody. And he's going to make sure, you know, he takes pride in it. He's going to make sure that he had 20 boards tonight. You know what I mean? I mean, you're never going to see that from him when you do see it from Embed. And the key difference, I think you hit on it, Carson, it is that reliance on jump shooting.

For one, it just makes him one dimensional where even that foul where you see Hartinstein is playing him too tightly. Why? Because Hardinstein knows he's going for that face-up jumper. Just get your hand out of the cookie jar, bro. Yeah. And so Embedd's not getting downhill consistently enough to create easy. offense. He's been off a little bit on touch shots. And then three, you know, because he's not getting

downhill more, it makes him more one-dimensional, but it also, he's drawing less fouls. You know, he's not getting to the line as consistently as much. You know, I think he shoots like, what, 12 in this one. But still, you know, later in this game, I'd like to see Embed stop settling for jumpers as much. But I just don't know if his body can take that burden. And it clearly is taking its toll. It was a remarkably quick return. turn from meniscus surgery. You know, he misses just 29 games. They need him.

But clearly it's just a struggle for him to exert himself offensively, to get up and down the floor, to, you know, dominate the glass. Like, he's just not at 100%. And I just, I won't, can you give me one, man? I'm not asking for, I'm not asking for three runs. I'm not asking for two. Can you give me one healthy. Yeah, I know.

And that's going to be the question that is looming over his head. until we see it, man. And ultimately, I think it's what hampers the Sixers from doing damage in this year's playoff is Maxi to me is the star of the show. And he is going to be a number two that you can rely on in the playoffs year in, you're out. I think this is Embedd's guy. He just, he's a gamer. He is a dominant over-the-top shopmaker. He is an elite pick and roll partner.

He is the guy that Embedeed needs to play second fiddle to him. But Maxy can't play second fiddle unless Embed beat his first fiddle. And yeah, we need to see Embed at 100% to really gauge a playoff run. And that's what the Sixers need. So I'm also not going to judge us too harshly, man. I'm just disappointed that Mbe's getting up there in age, man. Every playoff run matters, dude. And every year that passes, it's one less year that we have where we could see it.

So I'm holding out hope, man. I hope we get to see it one year. And you mentioned, like, the healthy Mbid playoff run. He has been banged up over the years. always misses one game, basically. But I think this is the most hampered that he's been. Like, this is a major injury that he came back off of, and he only had a few games to play his way into shape,

and just clearly is not the best version of himself. But Philly, I think there's still a lot of positive takeaways from this season. Like, given the hardened trade, Maxi's ascension to this level is awesome. Seeing him do this on the playoff stage, super encouraging. Getting back, Batum, I think I underrated as an asset at the time. that man is just so good. He makes so many winning plays. I think Ubre has been legit good and defensively has been very valuable,

even if his offensive production hasn't been all that great. And so now you have draft capital some more from the Hardin Trade, and it's really about what's the next move that we make to become contenders. But I think a lot of the key pieces, the level your wings are at is Maxie, that guy can be your lead creator from the perimeter. Like, you're answering those questions pretty nicely. This wasn't going to be the year that you were going to win the title. and you rushed and be back,

you really just hope at this point things don't get worse because you're not making the deep run this year. But they're still going to make this series a war. This series is going to be a war all the way until the final whistle, in my opinion. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games.

Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm 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. 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-law's 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 Podcast, or wherever you're listening. to podcasts. All right, Logan, let's briefly talk about Magic Cavs. Unfortunately, didn't quite live up to the billing of the other two games of the night.

Cleveland wins this one pretty easily. What did you take away here? Donovan Mitchell is just so clearly the best player in this series. And then Darius Garland is just so clearly the second best perimeter creator. Like, there's just too large of a gap for Orlando to make up offensively. They just don't have any avenues to easy offense. Like, they don't have any at-rim athletic finishers that are finishing plays off easily. They don't have any over-the-top shot makers that can just get hot and carry them through stretches, man.

And the ceiling for Cleveland is really high. Like, that stretch where Darius Garland takes over, it's like, wow, man. When he hits like two or three-threes in the third quarter or whatever it was, you go, man, he can do this for stretches of games where he carries the offense. We've already seen what Donovan Mitchell can do and how easy it is for him to just get to the rack or knock down a pull-up jumper. He makes it look so effortless. And Evan Mobley, I thought, had another really good game where he's attacking mismatches and doing his thing. And if those guys are playing at that level offensively, Cleveland's a really tough draw in scary matchup. And the other guy I want to give mad props to is Isaac O'Coro.

I have been really impressed with him in these playoffs thus far in his shooting. improvement is real. He was a 29% shooter, his rookie year this season, 39%. He was a 30% catch and shooter his rookie year. 40% off the catch this year. That's a real game changer. When you have two physically imposing bigs like Allen and Mowley that just take a ton of attention on the interior, that's going to create advantages on the perimeter for your shooters. Garland and Mitchell, the way they collapse and make defenses rotate, just generates open looks. When you have a guy that can defend at this level and they can shoot at this level. He is just the perfect role player to have alongside these guys.

A Coro is a legit threat. You cannot leave him open from behind the arc. So for Orlando, you know, these next two games of the series, you've got to win both of them, and you've got to figure out what lineup you're going to go with offensively to generate any kind of looks. It seems like the answer is going to be Joe Engelsman, Carson.

That is your answer in the playoffs? No, it's over. Orlando has no path to winning this series. If that is your answer, you're in deep trouble, man. That was the best stretch of this offense. You know, there's a little bit of light in the third quarter and in the fourth where they make this thing close, but it's really Cleveland just letting their foot off the gas. There's a 10-0 run in the second quarter where I was like, uh-oh, man, Orlando's got to ride this and figure it out.

And it's sad, man, because there's just no, I talked about this after the first game. There's just no configuration that gives Orlando a good baseline to defend Cleveland defensively and also have good counters offensively. Ingalls is so slow-footed, is so old. He's going to make good decisions. He's going to find the open guy. He's going to get the offense going, but he's going to give up points on the other end. And so just tough, man. I think the best lineup is Ingalls, Franz, Paolo, Mo, and either Wendell Carter Jr.

like John Isaac and you're getting abused. I don't agree. I think that's a weird configuration. I don't want to play Moe out there with another real big. If it's Isaac, then that's fine. But also, Joe Ingalls is not the answer, Logan. He made some nice passes. He can make capable decisions.

But he's not changing the series. I mean, that's my point. There's no, if you're answer to Joe Ingalls' minutes, it's raps, man. Cole Anthony's not doing Jack out there. Marko Fultz isn't doing Jack. Gary Harris had a decent game. Suggs, I thought, was going to be out the rest of the series. He comes back after his knee injury.

That was scary. But yeah, man, that's the point. The magic just don't have enough two-way guys. They're too limited with any configuration that you go with. Cole Anthony, Ingalls, are getting eaten on defensively. Fultz doesn't have enough of a jumper. Yeah, it's just over. And Paolo, I love.

Palo is just settling too much, man. there's just a massive talent gap here that I drastically underestimated coming into this series, man. I thought Orlando was going to be able to make this thing grimy. They have, but they just can't score the basketball. That's pretty crucial in these playoff environments, Carson. And that's going to be the thing that kills them. But you know what? It's good.

This is a young team that is overachieved, that is very, very young, that is coming into their own. And guess what? In the makeup, in the building of these rosters that are going to go deep, into the playoffs and contend. You've got to have these really bad losses. Cleveland did it last year. Guess what? They realized we don't have enough shooting. We don't have enough two-way guys. And so they went out and they found them. And this is the wake-up call that Orlando is going to have to face and go, you know what? We need more two-way guards. We need more over-the-top shot making. We need different looks. We're just too limited. And so I think Orlando probably gets swept. I think Cleveland

probably takes these next two games, ends this thing quick. And Orlando is going to enter their offseason early and have to figure some things out. But I think it's been really encouraging that we've seen the young guys for Cleveland play so well, man. A Coro, Mowbly and his offensive game, Garland played better in this one. You know, Cleveland on their best day is a very scary team. It sucks because their floor is so low. But Cleveland on their best day is a really good basketball team, man. But they're just going up against inferior competition, man.

Orlando seems like a really inferior playoff team. They're just not a playoff caliber offense. You're saying they don't have enough two-way players. They don't have enough one-way players. And that one way is offense. Cole Anthony, who was a light 0 for 11 in this series, like cannot be your offensive injection. Joe Ingalls, who is barely hanging on in this league.

Like, I love jingles. Prime jingles. Oh, yeah, give me a full servant of that. Come on. I thought he should have been six man of the year over Clarkson in 2021. but cannot be your offensive injection in a playoff series, dude. It's just awful. It's some of the worst playoff offense that we've seen in recent years.

Like they are clearly, clearly the worst playoff offense since at least the 2021 Knicks, which less we forget was Julius Randall, who has a number one option just could not hold up with no creators alongside him, not good spot up shooting alongside him. Like that team was an obvious first round bouts. A lot of people picked them because they're the Knicks. But I was like, they're going to get washed by the Hawks. You don't win playoff series when you're this bad offensively.

You just don't. And if you're also super young and your best players are young, good luck. And if you're also playing a team that is great defensively and specifically is well built to stop your already super flawed offense with versatile big wings who can guard your stars with great help defenders, versatile bigs who can take away the rim and they're going to test your spot-up shooting and your spot up shooting sucks like yeah it's going to get ugly and it's been really really ugly so at this point they're not going to win the series i think that that was pretty

clear before things started it is super super clear now you're basically just evaluating like how to paulo and franz look in these environments and paolo has had some things exposed i don't know if i would even say exposed they were clear in his game and it's not surprising that they become an issue in these playoff environments but he's obviously still maturing he's a second year player. This is a really tough task for him. But his handle has to be better. 15 turnovers in two games.

Several of those are due to just poor ball handling. Also, some struggles dealing with double teams. Also, he has this bad tendency of forecasting his passes. And so he just gets cleanly picked off at times. And then you mentioned the settling. Like, this is tough because he's facing a lot of good man defenders who physically are stout enough to match up with him. and he can't bully those guys.

And he's dealing with a lot of crowded paints. But he always has this tendency to take his tough mid-range pull-ups. And he made a couple of them in this game. But ultimately, it's not efficient offense. He's like 40% from that range. And also, I think he needs to become more confident and comfortable as a spot-up shooter because he passes up a couple of good spot-up looks in this game. So he's got to get better as a jump shooter.

He's got to rely on it less. He's got to assert himself more physically, consistently in these environments. But Cleveland has done a really, really good job on him. I mean, they have a bunch of versatile options who can guard him. And ultimately, I really want to see this guy with a true point guard with a guard who can create a high level at all. Because I think there's so much untapped potential with him as a screener, what he could do as a short roller, what he can do just as an athlete coming downhill. And Orlando just doesn't have the guards to tap into any of that.

I love that. I think that's a dynamic that they don't have. And I think they should just involve Paolo and more screening actions, period. They don't run a ton of that. The one other thing I wonder if Orlando can do, and I don't think this changes the complexion of the series. I don't know if Orlando can muster a game against Cleveland. But I thought Orlando should have tried to get switches from Garland and Mitchell on Franz and Paulo more.

But they're not switching those actions. Sometimes you'd get the switch. But Paulo would back those guys down and then he'd settle for a turnaround jumper. And in those scenarios, I just want Paolo to weaponize his physicality more. Like, again, if that ultimately leads to you drawing the big man over and then kicking back out or they don't ever bring anybody over and you can just attack a guard, you know, it's just easier offense. I'd like to see Paolo, he doesn't utilize it. And, you know, that's something that we saw a young Jason Tatum struggle with too. He doesn't really use his body as much as I'd like.

And this is a hard series. It is because when he does drive the lane, you're going into Mobley and Allen. And it's like, okay, well, let me just give them the ball back because I'm going to get stuffed or they're going to get a rebound. So this probably isn't the best series to make the take. But I think older, Paolo using his body more, you're right. There's so many shots. And Paolo's a good shooter. He knocked down a couple of those catches shoot looks.

Yeah, he has clear shooting potential. He's not an efficient shooter at this stage. I think a lot of that is due to his shot diet. I think he's just taking four shots. Like I'm saying, Paulo fundamentally is a good shooter. And so when you can set him up for good, high quality looks like off the catch, he was settling a lot where I'm like, dude, don't even take that dribble.

Don't even jab step because one of the possessions, Nyang is just dropping off of him. Paolo gives him a jab and a pump fake. Nying doesn't move. He just stands there and looks at him and goes, okay, shoot it. It's the classic tough bucket tendency, bro. It's the mellow. I'm open for a catch and shoot three,

but what if I jabbed and then I isolated on you for no reason? Paolo definitely has a little bit of that. And I'd like to see Paolo take those easy catch and shoot looks, excuse me, especially if they're not going, if they're just going to give it to them, if they're not going to close out hard, go up with that. That's a good look for you. Paulo's a good shooter. Ultimately, these gripes are going to fall on deaf ears and ultimately aren't going to make a difference in this series.

You're right. This series is way more about taking a look and taking inventory and taking stock of your young roster and really noticing where these guys can improve. And this is the test of young teams, man. It's hard. So I don't think, I think Cleveland probably ends up sweeping the series, finishing this thing off in Orlando. But there are areas where I'd like to see Orlando switch stuff up.

And I thought Jamal Mosley tried stuff, man. He closes with that lineup or gives them more minutes in the fourth where it's Ingalls, Wagner, Wagner, Bencaro and then a different five guys. So Mosley tried to switch it up. I don't really think there's anything that Orlando can do to really throw Cleveland off their series. And once again, their injection of wing talent, you know, it may not be star-studded names, but Nyang, Struce, Levert, just having these guys on the court allows them to stagger the minutes between Allen and Mowgli. And Cleveland's done a phenomenal job of that all series long where they're just more skilled on the wings this year and they can throw different looks at it.

where those guys don't have to run the entire time. So I think Cleveland's improved from their postseason last year. And I think Orlando going through the growing pains of a young playoff team. Orlando's not ready. And ultimately, they're just lacking offensively in every way. Like, their stars don't create easy shots consistently. And they take tough shots themselves. But also, like, one of Paolo's strengths is his passing.

And the spot-up shooters just, like, can't. not hit anything, bro. They're 17 of 72 from deep in the series. And Palo's had some rough stretches of decision making and just passing accuracy. But like, man, nobody is converting when he does create a decent shot. And then, you know, as a primary creator in these situations, when your guys aren't hitting, you're overcompensating on the other side. So you're going, well, I got to go and create my own shot because nobody's hitting. And it's just a it's a conundrum. It has been rough watching Franz in this series. Like I expect more out of him.

I've been a big Franz guy. I think he does so many things at a high level as a playmaker. Before this year, his value is a three-point shooter, multipositional defender, great transition player. Like, Franz has been an awesome number two, in my opinion. But this year, he has been rough from beyond the arc. And in this series, he's just also being guarded super well. Well, Struc and O'Coro both did well on him in this game.

Like, that's the thing. Cleveland just has so many quality defenders. The two bigs are great, but the collection of wings, so good and so well built to guard Palo and France, you don't explode by you with crazy quickness, who are going to have these more methodical physical drives. And they just have dudes who physically can hold up. And the bigs did well on switches against Franz. So his shot diet is just super difficult.

This is really just a test for Orlando of, okay, what do we need to look like going forward? Obviously, they need to add a dynamic guard offensively. They need to have more consistent spot-up shooting period. And then this defensive foundation will take them pretty far. Having Franz on the wings, maintaining a great defensive guard like Jaylen Suggs, who is clearly a foundational piece, the different looks they have at the five with Wendell Carter Jr. and Jonathan Isaac, like those are both really good basketball players.

They just need to have way more offensive pop. I like Paolo. I do think some people anointed him a bit prematurely, as tends to happen, especially when you have aura and you have the pedigree of being a number one pick. And people can look at your game and say, that guy kind of looks like LeBron and your team is doing well, but they're doing well on the back of a great defense. And your offense is really bad.

And that's the side of the ball that you're more responsible for as the primary creator. Like I made a whole video about Paulo a couple weeks back. He clearly has all NBA potential, in my opinion, but he also has some things that he really needs to refine and some areas in which he really needs to mature offensively. And we have unsurprisingly seen that in this series. Cleveland is a lot better. Donovan Mitchell had that awesome first quarter, was pushing in transition, getting easy looks, which is not so easy to come by in this series.

And it's just like that combination of quickness and pull up shooting, man. When he's on, he's just a marvel to watch. and is so much better than anybody else in this series. Like that was the thing in the first quarter and last game. It's just like, cool. You have the guy who was the best player on the floor by so far. So just give me Cleveland based on that pretty much alone. But Jared Allen has been phenomenal.

Mr. Lights were too bright last year. Has been great in both games. 20 boards in this one with five stocks. And very importantly, has been aggressive as a finisher, has been confident and assertive in those spots, which is just really, really nice to see from him. Mowbly also knocked down a three in this game as well. If teams are leaving him wide open, he's taking him and he's making them at a decent clip.

So everything is just better for Cleveland this year than it was last year. Obviously, they had a tougher draw, but this is a similarly ugly series in which their bigs are playing a lot better. Mitchell is playing a lot better, and that's encouraging. Boston is obviously a super rough draw, but last year, I think left such a sour taste in their mouths. And also, as you mentioned, like they've done such a great job with the wings. Okoro is so much better. Yang and Struse, both good pickups. They don't even have Dean Wade out there who's been legit good this year.

They've built a much better basketball team. And I think it's been good to see that play out against an Orlando team that ultimately they would beat kind of no matter what. Any final takes, Logan, as we wrap up this extravaganza. Nas Reid. Nas Reid. Nas Reid plays basketball tomorrow. And I am excited for that game. Logan, I am very, very excited.

If you guys want more nerds, content, we are consistently going live after these games. You can find all of our full shows night of or, of course, the day after. Whenever the hell you want, man, you can watch it. It's cool by me. On our YouTube page, you can listen across audio platforms. We also are breaking out our reaction to every individual game on YouTube. If there's just one specific series you're interested in, you can also see that we're doing some video breakdown, video essay content diving into specific.

topics with some film on our YouTube channel. If you want, you can also check us out across social, see some of our trivia stuff, see some clips from the show. All of that is on TikTok at NerdSash, Instagram at NerdSash, Twitter at Nerd underscore Sesh. If you want the hat right off Logan's header, if you want a NerdSesh hat, which he's not wearing today, that is all at the volume.com. If you want to join our Discord, the link to that is at the link tree across our social media bios.

And with that, as always, shout out Nas Reid. Shout out all you guys. Appreciate you. I've been Carson Braber. I have been Logan Camden. And this was NerdSash. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an

a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. My mother-in-law spent years sabotaging our relationship until Karma made her pay for it.

All right, Sophia, tell me about how we started this story. She moved in for two weeks, lasted five days, left a mess, and then pressed her ear against their bedroom door and burst in screaming. When kicked out to a hotel, she called her son-in-law's workplace, pretending his partner had been rushed to the hospital. by ambulance. She faked a medical emergency. And spoiler, that was just the beginning. To find out how it ends, listen to the OK Storytime podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.