The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Draymond Green Show - Finals Game 1 Breakdown

Episode Date: June 2, 2023

Draymond Green discusses Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat. Produced by: Jackson Safon #Volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The volume. Just a reminder, you can catch me recording this podcast live on AMP. Amp is a new live radio app that lets you call in and chat with me in person while I'm recording. Get the app on Apple's App Store and make sure to follow me at at Draymond Green to get notified when I go live. What's up, everybody? Welcome back to the Draymond Green show. As you know, the NBA Finals are here. I pick the nuggets in five.

If you missed that, um, may want to go check. that episode out. It was just a little quick hitter, but very interesting. Um, some very thought provoking stuff. And when you go back and look at it and you listen, you like, it's one of the ones where you, and you're like, wow. Like, hey, really? And then you start, like, you pull your phone out, you start going through it. And you like, wow, this is crazy. So it's one of those head scratches. So definitely go check that out if you got time. Um, just like last year. And one thing different than last year is we're not playing. But just like last year, we're going to break down these finals games,

get into the teeth of it, the meat of it, and talk about it. And by the way, next episode may have a surprise. Maybe not. Tune in, you shall see. It'll be interesting. The Nuggets beat the Heat 104 to 93 in game one. before we get into individuals, before we talk anything else, if I am Mike Malone, I am walking into the locker room

and I'm like, fellas, we got to do some things better, we can really, like, shore some things up, which is true, you can. I'm walking out of the locker room if I'm Mike Malone, like, yes, yes. And you know why I'm saying yes? June is a championship month for sports. Pro basketball, hockey, college baseball, and softball championships all underway. And of course, pro baseball is in full swing. For last minute, amazing deals on tickets to whatever your favorite sport may be,

check out Game Time. And it doesn't stop at sports. Game Time even has tickets to concerts and comedy shows too. Download the GameTime app and redeem code green for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, download the GameTime. app and enter code green. That's G-R-E-E-N for $20 off.

No matter where you live, get out and have some fun this week. Download game time today. Last minute tickets, lowest price, guaranteed. Number one, we won. Number two, we won in a very good way, which is dominated the game, didn't play great, dominated the game. They fought back.

made it respectable, made it feel like they didn't get blown out. So the final score is 104, 93, not 104 to 81, not 104 to 85. Wasn't a blowout, is my point. When you blow someone out in any playoff series, NBA finals, whatever, you name it, that team then comes out with extra motivation. That team comes out like embarrassed, like we just got embarrassed. We got to, and so you find extra juice because you come out there playing off crazy emotion. Like the emotions of the playoffs are insane.

The emotion of the NBA finals is out of this world. So the last thing you really want is to be up against the extra added motivation of we got embarrassed last game. We need to come out, show who we are. We got the extra juice. you feeling yourself, it wasn't that. And so if I'm Mike Malone, I'm walking away. And I'm walking in, well, I'm walking in the locker room, and I'm telling guys, we got to get better, we can play much better.

That team's going to play better next game, blah, blah, blah. And I'm walking in with my coaching staff, and I'm like, perfect. Perfect. Because our guys aren't going to relax now. Because usually that's what happens. You blow them out. They're pissed off. You relax.

You got a problem on your hand. That is not the case here. And also, like I told you before, Denver is not fucking around. They're not playing with their food. Not playing with the breakfast. They eating their meal, getting it out the way. Did it the first series. Did it the second series.

And definitely did it the third series. And they did it tonight. Everybody's like, oh, man, they're in the layoff, a 10-day layoff or whatever it is. they're going to be tired or blah. I mean, they're going to, you know, they're going to be winded. That's a team that's not messing around, man. Them guys been in the gym, you can tell. They came out guns blazing.

Locked in. That's a team that's locked in. I know the look of a team that is locked in. If you don't know the look, look at Denver. Look at their eyes. Look at all of Mike Malone's press conferences. look at their guys, they locked in. So no 10-day layover, hangover, layoff, none of that garbage.

Them boys locked in. Miami, on the other hand, had a chance to win the series versus the Celtics pretty easily. Never easy, but you know what I'm saying, pretty easily as far as the record goes. Took care of business in the first three games. Looked like a totally different team for two and a half games. closed out the six games strong, but play with your breakfast. There is a carryover effect from that.

So you fly in the altitude from Boston to Denver, long flight, probably got in at 2, 3 o'clock in the morning, which then makes the next day of zero, because everybody's tires, switching time zones, altitude. And by the way, I saw something that Chuck said earlier, which I totally agree with. Denver's never been in the final,

stop the altitude talk. Yes, it is harder to play an altitude. After a little while, you know, your first couple times up and down, first half, you get your win, you figure it out. We're professional athletes at the top of the top, highest level you can go. You figure it out.

So let's not try to take away from what those guys are doing. Oh, the altitude, I've never heard so much about altitude. my life. Now, don't get me wrong. When you go there and play, you feel it. But let's not try to dim their light or take away from what those guys are doing with the altitude. But altitude does have different effects. It affects some people sleeping because it affects your breathing. And so your breathing when you're sleeping is over important. That's why they have machines for people with sleep apnea and different things. Because your breathing, your breathing flow is super

important. Well, as we know, sleep and rest is important for recovery, especially on the short turnaround like Miami's on coming from Boston. So you figure that next day they probably have film and all of this stuff. Like it's a dud. Like you're tired, you're mentally drained from a seven game series. Next day is a dud. So they essentially have one day of preparation and recovery to like get ready for the next series. Denver's probably been watching them for the longest because they were up 3-0. So they're more prepared,

not that the coach didn't prepare them enough. It's a time, like Sposha was great. It's a time thing. It's not like some, oh, their coach prepared. It's a time thing. So that's what I'm getting at. And Miami would have had the same amount of time.

Unlike other series, both series finished, The NBA finals start June 1st. It don't start May 20th. If everybody's done May 20th, it starts June 1st. That's that. So Miami could have had the time. I thought they looked a little tired. All of a sudden, the shots didn't go.

One could say, that's the fatigue. One could say they shot their load. Miami, it hasn't been known to be a great shooting team all year. They have some really good shooters. but as far, they didn't hang their hat on shooting the basketball. So if I'm the Celtics in that series, when they're hitting those shots, you're kind of walking back to the locker room, you're like, man, they ain't going to do that again. And they come out and do it again.

You're like, they ain't doing that again. However, they kept doing it, but that's the mindset. So they missed the shots tonight. Like I said, I think that was a little bit of fatigue. I think they'll shoot better. but will they shoot as good as they shot against the Boston Celtics? That's a different story because they shot the lights out versus the Boston Celtics. 40% from the field from Miami, 30% from three.

They didn't get it done on the offensive end of day, rough shooting night. Jimmy had 13 points on 6 for 14 from the field. Did not shoot a free throw. That was interesting. Jimmy Butler, you know, he's a guy who finds rhythm through the free throw line. He slows the game down for the Miami Heat through the free throw line, allows Miami to get their defense set. And they weren't able to do that, especially early on.

Aaron Gordon came out the gate and showed everybody who got on him, they were too small. Got to the cup at will. I thought he needed to do more of that and as the game went on but he got them guys going out the gate it was incredible to see forced Miami to make some adjustments

but I think the number one adjustment is just getting matched up there was one play in the first quarter with maybe about two minutes and 20 seconds left or so Michael Porter Jr. fell down Michael Porter Jr. trails the So they walked the ball up.

Michael Porter Jr. trails in. They walked the ball up. So in walking the ball up, you have Uber amount of time to get matched up. Miami still didn't get matched up. And because they didn't get matched up, I can't remember exactly who it was. But one of the smaller guys ended up on Joker.

So then you collapse your defense, and Michael Porter Jr., trails in four or three. That's, initially it was like transition. They're getting out there pushing. They're getting cross-matches and Gordon Dominant. But that was one where we're talking about fatigue. Team could possibly be a little fatigue because why not get matched up on that play?

Again, the one thing that's hurting you is them getting out in transition. And no, it wasn't them scoring in transition, but it was the cross-matches they got. and then they took advantage of them quickly. So you have an opportunity to get matched up. That's like a mental error. Mental fatigue. Mental errors happen most when you're fatigued. So that to me was another sign of fatigue from the Miami Heat,

a rollover from the Boston series, which they could have handled a lot sooner. So I thought that was really important. That was important today's start. That's how they got going. Because, and quite frankly, like, if you look at the numbers, Denver didn't play great offensively. Like, Joker was 12 for 8 from the field.

Didn't shoot the ball for the first quarter, it seemed. Jammar Murray had a really good game. Him and Joker's two-man game is. almost unstoppable. It's about as close to unstoppable as it gets. Obviously, you know, it's much different and better when Jamal is hitting shots, which he's been hitting shots at a high clip.

And it was unstoppable tonight. Joker quietly dominated the game with 27 points, 14 assists, and 10 rebounds. On only 8 for 12 shooting, maybe five of those shots came within the last three, four minutes of the game. where he iced the game. And, you know, down the stretch,

had the ball in his hands, made everything happen as he does all the time. But he was aggressive to score down the stretch. Catching the ball in the pocket with a two-on-one with Joker and Aaron Gordon, good luck. Bam, stayed back a couple times, Joker hitting that floater. But if he step up, Aaron Gordon catching a lot. So there's going to be some adjustments that need to be made there,

and we can get into those. Another thing that I thought, well, another person that I thought played a huge role in the game as he has been all series long is, I mean, all the playoffs long and season long. It's Bruce Brown. We've discussed the impact of role players. Like Miami Heat role players outplayed Boston Role Players last series, which is why the Miami Heat won the series. Like, because their role players severely outplay Boston's role players. And that's why they won the series. Bruce Brown outplayed just about any role player Miami have today. They won the game. Because again, you win championships 6 through 11.

Now, that gets shorter. That shrinks in the playoffs because most coaches go eight deep, maybe nine. So it shrinks. But the 11 is still important throughout the course of a season. You're talking having a depth to where you don't have to run your guys into the ground, all of those things. That's where you win championships in the margins. And so Bruce Brown playing the way he played,

Jeff Green gave some good minutes off the bench, really good minutes off the bench. But Bruce Brown has been playing absolutely amazing. Bruce Brown actually I was really good in the two-man game with Joker today as well had a couple of pocket passes had a couple of floaters

had a couple turnovers in there but who cares who cares and nobody tripping on that Bruce Brown is playing really really really good basketball Michael Porter Jr was only five for 15

from the field 14 points and 12 rebounds though double double and that's so incredible encouraging to see Michael Porter, Jr. With a double-double. Because at times, his shot's not working,

and he doesn't have an impact on the game. Twelve rebounds? And two blocks. Two blocks, which we know he's not known as a defender. He had one block on Jimmy. Remember that block. But he's doing something other than just shooting the basketball. And that's very important,

especially on the night where he didn't shoot extremely well. Now, something tricky about that. He missed some open looks. And he's not going to keep missing those open looks. So I hope they're going to make an adjustment to make sure he don't get those open looks because next game, he's going to make those. Like you can't rely on Michael Porter Jr. missing open looks.

So I think there's something there. And I expect Michael Porter Jr. to shoot the ball well. But it's very important that you continue to do the other things like rebounding. He's 16. You got to take advantage of that size. especially Miami Garza, a little smaller and definitely shorter than 16. So the guy who's going to be on him, he's going to have an advantage on him. He caught a couple of them in the post, and I thought he faded away.

Nah, seek contact. Six inches taller than these guys. Seek contact, go over the top. No, that's not what he does. You got to do it. It's time to win a championship. He need to take advantage of some of those. Bam had a good offensive night, 26 points, 13 rebounds, 5 assists.

I thought something interesting, they were essentially giving Bam the floaters in the mid-range and taking all the passing lanes away. And I thought that was interesting because although Bam finished with good numbers, I think he may have taken like 24 shots or something, 24-25 shots.

And for Bam, I love their aggressiveness. I'm always rooting for an aggressive bam. But for Bam to take 25 shots, that means other guys aren't as a lot. aggressive or aren't getting as many shots. And again, we all want BAM to be aggressive. But what they were pretty much saying is we're going to live with you taking those mid-range twos, the little floaters.

We're going to live with that shot. We need to take the three away. Duncan Robinson, Max Struce, Gabe Benson, Caleb Martin, Kyle Lari. We need to take the three away. And they took the three away. And that was huge. Now, another thing about this game is Denver ended up making, I think, three less threes than the Miami Heat, and they still won that game convincingly.

That's something to watch for. Denver's going to shoot the ball better. Like, they're going to shoot better. They still won that game pretty easily. Like, to think that Denver only scored 104 points and they won that game pretty easily, that's not very encouraging for Miami that they won the game that way and only scored 104 points

and didn't shoot the ball well. So another reason why, from Coach Malone, I'm walking away like, yes, absolutely. We spoke about Jimmy. We spoke about the Miami Heat and their shooting percentages. Another thing the Miami Heat did in the second half, which actually helped them get back in the game, was they win zone.

Now, the zone works when Denver isn't shooting the ball well. So, yes, it worked to a certain extent today until they start getting the ball and the tee for the defense to Joker at the mid post. And quite frankly, like, again, their zone works. But if all else fails, you just throw the ball to Joker at the midpost. A, the defense has to collapse. If not, he's hitting that shot at a 70% rate. And if they collapse or even overhelp just a tad, we know he's making the play.

Had one drop off to Jeff Green, really nice pass to Jeff Green as he snuck behind the defense. Like, Joker going to make the play out of high post. I don't think, outside of Steph Curry, I don't think there's a tougher player to zone in the NBA. Steph could Steph shoot the lights out of it. Like, he's shooting it from anywhere. and if you get them in a bad way just a little bit, you're in trouble with Steph with the ball and Joker. He makes every play.

His touch is crazy. Can shoot it, float, get to the cup. I don't think there's a tougher player to guard in a zone in the NBA than Steph and Joker. So, yes, the zone worked in theory tonight. It got them back in the game. A, Coach Malone, have something for that next game.

He'll have some stuff to combat the zone. I know he will. And again, I think they'll shoot the ball better. And that automatically combats the zone. Because if shots are going up, now you're overreacting. Now you're closing out hard. Now they're getting offensive rebounds too. Makes the game a lot tougher.

Now you're playing against their set defense. Their set defense is really good. Transition defense is not great. Set defense? Really, really good. So now you're playing against a set defense. It's all the trickle-down effect. So, yes, I expect Miami to try more zone.

Yes, I expect that Denver will be prepared for it, better equipped for it, and like I said, most importantly, they will shoot the ball better. A couple more things I thought Denver did really well is they defended without filing. defending in defending the Miami Heat without filing, you're making them score to basketball. And if you make them score to basketball, hasn't been one of their strongest suits all year. It's just making them score.

They do, they do a, I'm not going to say they rely on a free throw, like, as if they rely on the whistle. But they rely on the free throw to get easy buckets. They rely on a free throw to get their defense set. their defense is really good. They rely on the free throw because all of a sudden now you start filing, you collapse, and now those threes that Max Strues is getting are a little more open.

Now those threes Duncan Robinson is getting, he don't have to put the ball on the floor and then shoot. They're more open. So they did a great job of defending without filing and making the Miami Heat score points. And they didn't do a great job scoring points tonight. But you got to give a lot of credit to Denver's defense.

To not put Jimmy Butler on the free throw line one time, I mean, that's tough. Jimmy Butler not shooting free throws. Jimmy Butler shoot nine, ten free throws a game. And rightfully so, he gets filed. Like, Jimmy is great at drawing files. So, and it's not flopping. Like, he's not a flopper for files either.

He is great at seeking out contact, catching the defender in the bad way and seeking out the contact and getting foul calls and going to the free throw line. So that was something that I thought, Denver, and I'm sure they emphasize the mess out of it, right? Like, that has to be a huge emphasis against a Miami Heat team.

Do not put them on a free throw line. Bamshus, a lot more free throws this year as well. Like, they do a good job of getting foul. And so for them to not go to the free throw line tonight was huge for Denver. That's what saved Denver on a

off night, a not so great offensive performance for them. It's not foul. something we talk about all year with the Warriors, but with anyone, defend without fouling. It's hard for people to score.

Like it's hard to make a shot. I know a lot of internet trolls and stuff talk about like, oh man, you didn't make a shot. It's actually very hard to throw that basketball into that rim. It's a very hard thing to do if you're absolutely incredible, you do it one of every two times.

If you're great, it's hard. It's really hard. And they forced them to do that tonight. And they did not do a good job of it. So I thought that was great on Denver's part. Miami. I think Miami has to get more ball screens. When they were in ball screens, whether it was Kyle Lari, whether it was Gaye Vincent,

I thought they did a really good job playing out of the ball screens. They're going to have to get more ball screens involved in order to just get into Denver, the teeth of Denver's defense a bit. They also got a lot of open looks off. the ball screens and that's when the threes start falling because the threes were not falling from Miami. Then they started playing out of ball screens. They got some threes to go. They made a push. I think they cut it to nine was the lowest they ended up cutting it to, but it was all ball screen dominant and off of their defense. They forced a couple turnovers with the zone, got a couple

of easy ones, then they hit a few threes and got it going a little bit. So I thought the zone, they did a really good job. And also their ball screen offense was really good. good and I will expect to see more of that. Just to ISO or like post up, like Denver has just length. Nicola Yoke is just seven feet. Michael Porter Jr. 16.

Aaron Gordon 6-8-69. Bruce Brown, we all know, has like some crazy wingspan. Jamar Murray has a very, very, very good wingspan. Jeff Green. Like, they have a bunch of size.

KCP 6-6. They have a ton of size. And so trying to get into the teeth of their defense into the paint, it's tough, just trying to break it down and get there. So I think they're going to have to play more out of ball screens out of some high splits. They'll probably play more out of the high splits that's bound with the ball guards, setting guard guard screens coming out of top. They'll need more high splits. They'll on offense. They'll need more ball screens.

But most importantly, they'll need stops so they don't have. have to play against a set defense. Now all of a sudden, Max Drew's first three ain't coming. The first five threes ain't coming against a contest. You get a couple in transition. You see the ball go in. Caleb Martin get a couple buckets in transition. You see the ball going. Gaye Vincent, a couple buckets in transition. See the ball go through it. Then it changes everything. So I think they'll need to do more of that. As far as adjustments both teams can make, I think for the Miami Heat, like I said, we just discussed some of the ball screen things. But I think on defense, they are going to have to go Jimmy on Jamal Murray,

bam on Joker, and I think they're going to have to switch that pick and roll with Jamal Murray and Joker. Now, if you switch that with Jimmy, number one, I'm telling Jimmy, if you get caught in the bad way on a switch with Joker, I don't need you in foul trouble. What I do need is for you to fight him, battle him. We know Jimmy battle, Jimmy a dog, Jimmy battling anybody, and Jimmy's strong as hell. So Joker is not going to just run over Jimmy.

Yes, he's going to get him caught in the bad ways a couple of times. Like, that's Joker, number one, MVP. He's damn good. And like, it's going to happen. That's not Jimmy National Position Guard and a five man in the painted area. But I think Jimmy can put up enough fight to where you can least better contain, Jamar Murray, Bam can guard guards.

I don't know if anyone knows that. I'm here to tell you, Bam can guard guards very well. Not that he's going to go lock Jamar Murray down or anything like that, but he's going to contain him enough to where you're playing one-on-one. So you're playing this guy one-on-one. You're playing Joker one-on-one. You're not over-helping. You're not letting other guys get off because remember,

those guys miss those shots today. They won't miss them on Sunday. They won't miss them on Sunday. So you switch that. You make them guys play one. one-on-one, you force all the other guys to now get their buckets. It's not off help. We're not switching on Aaron Gordon or all these.

Like, now we're battling. Now we're one-on-one. Now we're not giving advantages. I think that's something that we're going to need to see from the Miami Heat as far as the defensive side goes. Now, the question would then be, okay, so if you put Jimmy on Jamar Murray, who's going to guard Aaron Gordon? Well, I asked you a question, are you going to let Jamal Murray and Nicola Yolkish beat you?

Are you going to force Aaron Gordon to beat you? Because sometimes you have to pick someone to beat you. Like, we're willing to live with this, we're not willing to live with that. Quite frankly, no disrespect to Aaron Gordon. I think Aaron Gordon will say the same thing. I'm definitely not going to pick Jamar Murray and Nicola Yolkish to beat me. We know they will beat you. Not they can.

They will. they'll beat you. So you have to force someone else to beat you, and you have to force them to do it doing what they're not accustomed to doing. Like if you let Aaron Gordon get a mismatch, if you let Aaron Gordon catch lob dunks or get drop-offs under the rim,

yeah, he can't be, but if you make him do what he's not comfortable doing, make guys do what they're not comfortable doing and beat you, then it's a totally different story. And so I think that's going to be very important from Miami. is to try to figure that out. I think switching that with Jamal and Jamal, Joker,

Bam, and Jimmy is one way of figuring it out. As far as Aaron Gordon go, you may have to put Kevin Love there. You may need size. May have to go bigger. Every series calls for different things. It's not always going to be as rarely is it ever the same from series to series. It calls for different things when you're trying to win championships. Spotcher's super smart, great coach.

Not afraid to make adjustments. He'll make some. He'll figure it out. Will they win? That's another story. But Spolstrel definitely makes adjustments and we'll figure it out. I was downstairs watching the game. And this guy said, yeah, so, Dremont, you said Tyler Hero or not.

Now, we need Tyler back now, right? And I said, well, yeah, you could probably, he's like, because that's 20 points. And I said, well, not sure it's going to just be 20 points. Got been out for a while. This is the NBA finals. And if it is 20 points, it does matter if it's a good 20 points or bad 20 points, because there are bad 20 points.

But I also said to him, I said, but you don't want to panic and overreact to losing game one on the road because you're supposed to. Yes, Miami had one or three on the road in game ones throughout. But you're supposed to lose game one on the road. That's why it's game one and it's on the road because they were the better team in the season and they got home court.

You're supposed to lose that. Now, the goal is to go get one. I don't say whether there's one, two, five, seven. You just got to get one on the road. So I wouldn't overreact, though, that we lost one on the road. That's not the time to overreact. and kill everyone's confidence and, um, and rain the alarm. Because when coaches overreact, players overreact.

Players follow coaches energy. Don't get it twisted. They follow the coach energy. You say, oh, man, this got nervous. You may get nervous. Oh, you're confident. Oh, let's go. We're confident.

So you don't want to overreact to game one either. Now, again, there's an opportunity and you feel like I think we should, should throw Tyler in here. Great. See what you got. But to just move somebody and slot in, it's a dangerous thing. It's a very dangerous thing when guys are in the rhythm.

One game ain't saying these guys not in the rhythm. They've been in the rhythm. Tough night. Charger to the game. Watch the film, learn from it, make your adjustment. Get back at it. We'll see. It's a good game, though.

And like I told you, Denver? locked in that's a wrap from this episode of the draymond green show sunday have a surprise until then