The Mismatch - Epic Comeback or Total Collapse? Plus: Griz Make a Statement and Jimmy’s That Guy in the Postseason.

Episode Date: May 12, 2022

Verno and KOC begin the show discussing Game 5 between the Bucks and Celtics (01:59). They debate if the Bucks win was a comeback or a collapse by the Celtics before discussing what happened in the fo...urth quarter. The Warriors missed their chance to close out their series against the Grizzlies after getting blown out by nearly 40 points, as the guys discuss what went wrong for Steph and crew (25:01). Also, they go through tonight’s Game 6 action between the Heat-76ers and Mavs-Suns (56:43). Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Producer: Jessie Lopez Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 What's popping, everybody? This is Logan Murdoch, and I'm here with my co-host for the Real Ones podcast on the Ringer NBA show, The Incomparable, the realist, the man who invented the pregame Red Bull snow cone. Raja Bell. Thank you, Logan. You're far too kind, sir. Did you know that the Ringer NBA show feed now has six podcasts a week? Six. Every Sunday, Big Was has a different guest from the NBA world on weekends with Waz.
Starting point is 00:00:23 And you can find me and Raja every Monday and Thursday on Real Ones where we cover all the most interesting. NBA storylines. On Tuesdays, Jay Kyle Mann and Jonathan Charks discuss up-and-coming talent in college basketball and the NBA. And on Wednesdays, you can hear Justin Barrier, Rob Mahoney, and Big Was discuss any and everything going on in the world of hoops. Man, and on Friday, Chris Ryan and Syrac, so he asked the big questions on the answer. So head over to the Ringer NBA show's Spotify page and take a listen. There's so much to dive into. And while you're there, just go ahead and give us a follow too. Welcome to the mismatch.
Starting point is 00:01:15 I'm Chris Varni. And Jordan Macy does every Thursday from The Ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor, a.K. Kevin O'Bomber, Kevin O'Connor, A.Keverna, Kevin O'Campbell, Kevin O'Candellon. Berneau! What's going on this morning, buddy? How you doing? Doing well. Doing well.
Starting point is 00:01:34 134.95. Memphis. And we got an amazing first game. Yeah. I did go to a basketball game last night. It's very interesting. I do have some thoughts on what I saw take place, and we will get to that. But let's start with the first game, which was a stunning result given the way it played out.
Starting point is 00:01:59 Boston ends up losing it home to Milwaukee. Now they are going to try to keep their season alive and have to do it by beating the bucks on their home court. They are up 105 to 99 with a little over 2.5. minutes left. Milwaukee ends the game on an 11 to 2 run to end the game. And it was turnovers and miscues that led to every single point down the stretch, right? Whether it was threes that were hit, offensive rebounds that led to footbacks. And so do you view this as more amazing comeback, or do you view this more as epic collapse? I don't know.
Starting point is 00:02:50 I don't know. Is it somewhere split down the middle, Chris? I mean, I don't know which way I'm leaning. I didn't even think about that, to be honest with you, until this moment right here, because it's a little bit of both. But as you're watching it play out, you know what I mean? Well, I mean, Derek White had a sloppy turnover, I think, with like four-ish minutes. left where like nothing really influenced the turnover.
Starting point is 00:03:14 Milwaukee goes down the other way and scores. And I was like, uh-oh, that's not good for Boston. But at the same time, like you've got the bucks making plays that are in their own control, like the Drew Holiday Block, the Drew Holiday Steel, the Bobby Portis offensive rebound. There were so many of them throughout that 14-point fourth quarter comeback where it was in their hands. There were so many with Boston where it was absolutely a choke job. so I hadn't thought about it until this exact moment
Starting point is 00:03:43 when you asked me that question, is it more of a choke job or is it more of a crazy comeback? It really was bold. I thought the bucks on the buck side of things. Yana sets the tone, man. Like with the blood running down his face during that comeback, he hits a three-pointer down the stretch.
Starting point is 00:04:01 He's making big-time plays with blood running down his forehead. Like, this was a, moment with a guy who's going to go down as one of the greatest of all time, having one of his defining moments. So I guess to answer your question, Chris, I lean towards more towards crazy comeback because in my head, I saw an all-timer leading the charge for his team with really, his personality is shared by the Drew Holidays and the Bobby Portis's and the Brooke Lopez's of the world with the way they had in a resilient comeback.
Starting point is 00:04:39 Down 14. Yannis with bloodstreaming down his forehead. Just absolutely not down his forehead. Down his face, Chris. Unbelievable. You've got a lot of Boston people saying if you just get offensive rebound, if you just don't turn the ball over, you know, kicking themselves. And I'm talking about the teams, right?
Starting point is 00:05:03 when you went and looked at the quotes after the game. You know, we gave that away. You know, they're obviously despondent over the way that played out in the end because it's just a play here, a play there. But to your point about the blood running down, you know, when I was a little kid
Starting point is 00:05:19 and you probably had some of these two, when I was a little kid, there used to always be that DVD that came out at the end of the season if the team had a great season or won the title. That's it. And I always always, No, like, I always watch these things, and I've talked about this for years.
Starting point is 00:05:37 I always watch these games, and there's sometimes where things happen, and I view it through the prism of, oh, yeah, that's for the DVD moment. And when I saw your tweet last night, it's exactly what I was thinking, right? You can see it. When you're watching that back and they're running it on NBA TV, it's like game five, you know, down. down by six, two minutes to go. You know, and then they show this vignette and it's, you know, Janus with the blood running down his face and the whole thing.
Starting point is 00:06:14 And obviously, Drew Holliday, you know, his coach said, he's a winner, you know, ask anybody around the league, the guy is a winner and makes winning plays. And coming off of last year with that unbelievable sequence, against Booker and then throwing the alleyup to Janus in the NBA finals. We have gotten our fill of monstrous Drew Holiday moment over the course of the last two years. And sometimes I think it can be trite when people say that championship medal and you've got to take the, you know, these teams, it's hard to knock off a champion because part of being a champion is not playing 46 minutes, playing all 48 minutes and that you have to have that kind of focus in order to knock them off.
Starting point is 00:07:09 And one of the things that stands out is, of course, a missed free throw and Bobby Portis getting that ball. Bobby Fortis gets that ball is really funny because after the game, he had this quote about how basically I wasn't that good at anything. And so my mom told me, I need to be the garbage man. Right. In fact, Ben Roerbach for Yahoo had this article about the game last night. And I saw his quote and said, growing up as a kid, I really wasn't ever skilled or had one thing I did really well, said Portis, who grabbed seven of his 15 rebounds on the offense event. I was always the jack of all trades, did everything good but nothing great. One thing I did always have was a high motor, big energy. My mom always told me, be a garbage man.
Starting point is 00:08:00 If you're a garbage man, if you want scoring opportunities, if you're not getting the ball, you get the ball in the offensive glass. That's one thing my mom always taught me. He always did play that way, too. Like, I remember when he was at Arkansas, him slapping the floor like Kevin Garnett. And I mean, and like some guys might do that, but they're phonies. Bobby Portis has never, ever, ever been anything fake about what his style of players. He broke his teammates' face. that happened his teammate he broke his face and then the teammate got traded
Starting point is 00:08:37 that's what he did a good job bucks did a good job about bringing in guys like that because this is who yannis is he's a he's never give up always believe we have a chance to win continue making the right plays they bring in bobby porters who's like that they bring in a guy like drew holiday via trade who's like that i mean i mean that i mean that i mean that i mean you're I mean, that block that he had on Marcus Smart and, like, you watch the video back of that. He perfectly, perfectly timed his help to come over and block that shot. So he has the intelligence and the timing. He has the athleticism and hand-eye coordination, the awareness after that, for that matter,
Starting point is 00:09:17 to throw the ball back in to retain possession for the bucks. Like, it's Wesley Matthews, the game that he had with his defense, his timely, plays is clutch shooting. The dogs don't have Chris Middleton, but they don't have Chris Middleton, but they still have that. You describe that. Find, find dogs.
Starting point is 00:09:39 You know, they lost PJ Tucker, but you're right. Bring in those kind of guys where no matter what, you never have to worry about them not playing hard. And if it's going to come, if it's coming down the effort, you're going to have the advantage
Starting point is 00:09:55 when you've got a group of guys like that. And so many of those plays down the stretch were effort plays. There's two things that went great for Milwaukee that we talked about on Tuesday that were posits. I was very critical of Budenhauser over the sticking with the Brooke Lopez thing while it was getting them, you know, in trouble. You had cited the Bobby Portis minutes. And I had said, look, that's that's the move. you got to do this. And of course, you see Brooke Lopez play, what, 20 minutes, I think, in last night's game. When it matters most, not Brooke Lopez, but Bobby Portis is in that game.
Starting point is 00:10:38 And it paid massive, massive dividends. And then the other thing, and this is what's really going to haunt Boston, is, Kev, I talked to you about the possession game and the fact that the one way that Milwaukee could, create themselves in advantage more than anything is by being able to get stops. Because if they get stops, now they can get in transition. And now because they make it so much more difficult on themselves when they've got to play in the half court. And so you think about that comeback last night.
Starting point is 00:11:20 And it's all off of turnovers, offensive rebounds, extra possession. things would because if Boston is able to set up their defense, it's a nightmare for Milwaukee. And so you can't play dead ball basketball against them. And so the trick is don't play dead ball basketball, right? But you have to figure out a way in order to get that game moving. And I see that so much with the bucks because obviously I covered the Memphis Chrisalies all year. And that is a Budenhauser disciple. And in many of the same ways, I watch them. And if the game can get moving, if they can create themselves extra possessions,
Starting point is 00:12:08 they are absolutely devastating in transition. And yet if it's a we run a play, you run a play, you can be in trouble. But they never let Boston set it up. You're right. Like all game long it was like that. But at the end, Boston slowed it down too much. Yeah. Like they, they, they, they,
Starting point is 00:12:27 they, they, they, it's not about slowing it down. It's about getting, you know what I mean, like obviously. Yeah,
Starting point is 00:12:33 I know, but I know, what I'm saying, I'm agreeing with you, but I'm just saying, like, at the end of the game situation, though,
Starting point is 00:12:39 like that, then it became Boston slowing it down too much. Yeah, too much so that they weren't running their own offense. They were, they were getting away from themselves.
Starting point is 00:12:48 Yeah. So it was like the, the bucks were able to play as you described, but then the Celtics forgot who they were when they blew that lead. And I thought, I mean, look, dude, we're saying like they did the wrong thing because they lost the game.
Starting point is 00:13:04 But how often does that happen where a team just starts running like an action for the first time with 13 seconds in the shot clock after walking it up for no reason at all? Like, we say that all the time across sports and always have for as long as either of you or me or anybody listening to the show has watched basketball. You've seen that happen. I remember growing up watching Paul Pierce do that, you know, ISO, ISO, and a lot of the time it worked. That turned into the same thing last night just with Tatum or Brown or smart handling the ball instead. I thought the Celtics got enough from most of the guys last night. I thought Tatum didn't give enough, though. 34 points.
Starting point is 00:13:42 He had 34, but it was on 29 shots, two of 11 from three. I thought he settled for Midrangers way too often, especially with Brooke Lopez out of the game. If Tatum has an efficient night instead of 12 for 29, if he's 15, 16 of 29, obviously Boston's in a much different position in that fourth quarter and they probably end up winning the game. They need to have, to come back at this series, they need Tatum to have some of the best nights of his life.
Starting point is 00:14:14 That's what needs to happen. Like, he can't be 12 or 29 in a must-won game, six, in Milwaukee. It's not enough. I almost think that sometimes you can be the victim of, your own success within the course of a series because of something and I you know maybe I'm projecting just because I know the way it played out but when you drop 40 something points in the fourth quarter on a team's home court as Boston did in game four you are it's a little different than if you were, you know, it comes down to the wire and you make a game winning
Starting point is 00:15:00 shot because the other team may sit there in the case of the other team, you know, giving up a game winning shot. And they may say, okay, guys, look, it was a play here. It was a play there. We're doing the right things. You know, the margins are going to be small. And so here's what we need to do. Instead, because they were so great in that fourth quarter, I think it became an agent for real change. Right. So now all of a sudden, we're playing Bobby Ford is. We're not playing Brooke Lopez, right? We're matching up.
Starting point is 00:15:36 And we're not going to let Al Horford stand out at the three point line and bomb away on us. We're not letting Boston run the actions that they ran over and over again against us. And maybe those adjustments aren't as likely to be made if Boston doesn't just go absolutely bonkers. I almost think that because they shot 84% and were so devastating in four that it might have ended up hurting them a little bit because some adjustments were made that might not have been made if it's just a down-to-the-wire game, right? And those obviously benefited Milwaukee. But again, just box out and you win the game. Don't turn it over and you win the game. These were, when this team says they shot themselves in the foot,
Starting point is 00:16:30 and these were errors of effort, you know. And so I think that's hard to get over. I also, you know, it's hard for me to say they're dead because of that. They're in a tough spot because they're up against the best guy and they've got to win two games in a row against him. For sure, they're in the tough spot. But I don't know. How do you think they'll react to losing that game?
Starting point is 00:16:59 Do you think they come back firing off and angry and it galvanizes them? Or do you think that that is such a massive lost opportunity that it has a negative effect? You really never know, right? Boston will find a way to adjust in some way, whether it results in a win or not, we'll see. But to your point, Chris, about Milwaukee making adjustments, through the first four games of the series,
Starting point is 00:17:28 they switched only 21 screens, you know, 21 pick and rolls out of 300 total set by the Celtics. And last night's game five, they switched on 33 out of 88 set by the Celtics. So it goes from, 7% of pick and rolls, they switched up to 38%. So the bucks statistically throughout the series
Starting point is 00:17:53 have done a great job of bottling up Boston's offense anytime they switch. They're allowing only, they allowed only 0.78 points per chance last night, 0.526 in the first four games of the series. That's where the adjustment needs to happen for the Celtics. Now the bugs are switching screens. You said they took away the out. horror for pick and pop.
Starting point is 00:18:15 The offense Boston was running. Well, how do you beat the bucks now that they're switching? Not everything, but almost everything. What do you do about that if you're the Celtics? And that's where I think it comes down to if you're going to be having to, you know, run more isolations. Well, Jalen Brown had a big night. Jason Tatum had an inefficient night.
Starting point is 00:18:35 They need Tatum to find a way to get going. And that, like, more than anything else to me is the key to this key to coming back from down three to two and winning the, this series is Tatum having two unbelievable nights against the buck switching. Well, if you go back to, you know, when we, we joke about it now, but it became this ongoing joke of do you believe in the Celtics? And one of the things I said at the very beginning was it's who's that third guy, even if you add up and you have a night like last night where, yeah, it happened maybe on too many shots, but they did combine for 60 points between those two guys.
Starting point is 00:19:11 So who's that third guy that's going to step up? And the truth is, last night, they really didn't have it. They really didn't have a third guy that stepped up. They kind of got, you know, I guess you got the 15 from Smart, but he had his own issues. A zero from Grant Williams. He got zero from Grant. You got eight for more. Only three shots for Grant, too.
Starting point is 00:19:32 I mean, look. Staying a little closer to home on him. Daniel Tice being your fourth leading scorer is tough. You know, it's not what you're expecting. By the way, like switching screens is one of the reasons why Grant Williams isn't getting, you know, 10 shots. Right. Because like, because you're not needing to help as hard when you're switching, you're able to stay home. It just alleviates some of the pressure off your defense.
Starting point is 00:20:00 Yeah. It's a tough one. And Lord knows, I mean, the good thing is you're only a day away from getting a chance at redemption. but they are certainly up against it, going up against the team in Milwaukee that just was able to grab that one and now gets to play on their home court. Fascinating series, you know,
Starting point is 00:20:25 truly a fascinating series between two really good teams. It's not over yet. And, you know, if the bucks do close us out on Friday night, it's really going to be a testament to the greatness of Yonah. he's special he's special chris he's something else he has a chance to go down as like a oh yeah top top five all time he has a chance absolutely especially given his age he's got a chance yep and how he not only he's age kev how many great players there are in the league right now oh yeah
Starting point is 00:21:01 it's a great it's a great field exactly he's he's 27 years old and of all these great players he's the guy who has two mbps a defensive player of the year a finals MVP, a championship, you know, and he has a chance right now to get another one. He's a chance. I mean, and the fact, he's only 27 years old. He's only 27. And by the way, like he's 27. He's one of those 27 year, 27 year old guys who pending good health, if he stays healthy,
Starting point is 00:21:30 he's not going to stop improving too. He gets better every single year. He's one of those guys. So you can project further improvement for Janus. You know that. It's just going to be about, for. the bucks continuing to build an optimal roster around him and
Starting point is 00:21:45 they did a good job this year. I'd lose PJ Tucker they still have a really good team to get Wesley Matthews. The team is well built around him but like moving forward though this guy's only going to continue to get better which is scary to think about. He also don't have Chris Middleton. Yeah they don't have
Starting point is 00:22:01 Chris Middleton. They don't have Chris Middleton. Everybody in the free world pick Boston because they didn't have Chris Middleton. There were so many times throughout the series you're like Boy, it would have been nice for them to have Chris Middleton right now. And yet they're still up. And yet they had a 14.4th quarter comeback in Boston, in Boston.
Starting point is 00:22:22 It wasn't in Milwaukee. In Boston, they had that 14 point comeback, dude. What did you say it was with two minutes left 99? It was like a 505.99. So a six point difference with two minutes left. What? By the way, he hits a three. He hit three.
Starting point is 00:22:42 Dude, I'm watching that fourth quarter thinking, well, I guess I might be going home to Boston during the conference finals and get to see some games. I probably am going back for a couple days or a week or something like that during the conference finals. There might not be basketball in Boston. You can watch the Red Sox lose. Hit over to Fenway and watch some losses. Yep. You can turn on sports radio and listen to that. I'm sure it'll be great.
Starting point is 00:23:12 Bruins will be eliminated by them too probably. They're down on their series, I think. Yeah, they're playing the Hurricanes, right? Yeah. Yeah, Hurricanes, yeah. The playoffs are heating up and you can make every game feel like a game seven on Fandul Sportswork and official partner
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Starting point is 00:24:56 In Wyoming, call 1-8-2-4-700 gambler.net. Kevin, I witnessed a bona fide humiliation last night. Yeah. That was unthinkable, Chris. How many times this year of the Grizzlies The one without John Moran, what were they, 20 and 5 during the season? Yeah, and that doesn't even count.
Starting point is 00:25:17 By the way, that is commonly talked about like the 20 and 5. It's really more like 20 and 2 because there's a couple of those games where like either Tyos Jones wasn't playing. Oh, yeah, yeah. Or the game they had no point guards. Yeah, or other guys or everybody was out. You know what I'm saying? Like they just sat guys.
Starting point is 00:25:39 And so. But you couldn't have seen this coming no matter how many times. you watch that all year, no matter how many times Warriors fans saw this team suck with their effort. Who could have seen? I know what we saw last night. There's no chance. I mean, look, that, it's what's, to your point.
Starting point is 00:25:59 Oh, my goodness. No one could, and especially because it set the record, Kevin. It set the record for lead after three quarters. it tied a Bucks game, I think against the Sixers, in 1970. Okay, 52 years ago was the last time in a playoff game, a team has been down 50 points after three quarters. So it wasn't just like, wow, they really beat their ass. That was history.
Starting point is 00:26:36 It was a historic ass beach. being up 52, you know, the Warriors waving the white flag in the third quarter, in the third quarter, giving up 77 in the first half, then coming back out, and I think they give up 42 in the third quarter. At one point throughout that game, if you go back and you pull it, they, the Grizzlies last night were, with about a minute left to go in the first quarter, it was 29 to 28 Grizzlies. With a minute left to go in the third quarter, it was 119 to 64.
Starting point is 00:27:22 That is a 90 to 36 run over two quarters. 90 to 36. So, I mean, yes, unthinkable. I thought they'd win. I thought they would have a big, night. But what they did to the Warriors actually made me think because of the way that one played out, that and that and the way the Grizzies reacted to it and the way the Warriors reacted to it, it made me think a lot harder about the possible outcome of game six.
Starting point is 00:28:03 Because the truth of the matter is this. I know that everyone in the free world is going to be picking the warriors to win. I think Vegas has them installed as an eight and a half point favorite for that game. I think it's just, oh, game five didn't really matter to them, but they're going to, they'll hunker down and they'll just take care of the Grizzlies in game six. Okay? Let me just give you a couple things real quick. the first of which is over the course of this series so far
Starting point is 00:28:39 when Steph Curry, Draymond Green and Clay Thompson are on the court together, they have a net rating of minus 19. Minus 19 when they are on the court together. They're starting lineup that they tried with commingual. in the starting lineup. I guess this is going to be a stroke of genius, has a net rating of minus 42.
Starting point is 00:29:11 Hmm, okay? Minus 42 when they have tried to go with comminga. Over the course of this series, when Clay and Curry are on the court, so we just extract Draymond, they're a minus 15. So that's now five games that they played against each other.
Starting point is 00:29:32 And maybe I'm, talking myself into something that doesn't exist, but I would present to you, Kevin, that they have played 240 minutes total in this series. The Grizzlies have led 182 of those. They have been in the league for 182 of 240 minutes. And people would think it's crazy to believe that the Grizzlies are the better team or that the Grizzlies have played better in this series.
Starting point is 00:30:02 But the truth of the matter is they played 240 minutes in this series so far, and the Grizzlies have led for 182 of those. And Joss smoked a layup in game one, and obviously they vomited all over to themselves in game four, where they led for what, 46 or 47 of the 48 minutes. And so it's simply because the best performers for the Warriors have been such a net negative that I don't think it's just the Warriors go back home and take care of business in game six because now we're five games into this thing
Starting point is 00:30:45 and those guys have not been good. You know, the other guys have... If there's anything we've learned, though, is the Warriors are not on the same level of a Phoenix, Milwaukee. No way. They're not on the same level. No. No.
Starting point is 00:31:01 They're not on the same level of passing. That's Warriors teams either. Warriors teams know what championship qualities are. I tweeted that last night asking the question, hey, Warriors fans, do you think this team is championship qualities? It's like almost unanimously, no. They know what to look for. And it's not teams to come out with a sad, pathetic efforts like they did last night.
Starting point is 00:31:23 I am going to give, I am going to give them a bit of credit, though, okay? Because I think that, the Grizzlies are a uniquely bad matchup for them. And they have proven to be over the course of the last two years. It's something I've talked about. Obviously, they knocked them out in the play in last year. During the regular season when these teams have bed up, it's been a problem. You know, the same way I talked about in the first round,
Starting point is 00:31:54 where it was Minnesota was uniquely equipped to be a terrible matchup for Memphis. And I do think that is true. of Memphis with Golden State. I had two different people from Golden State in the middle of the season saying Memphis was the team they didn't want a part of. Just because it's a, you know,
Starting point is 00:32:18 they're young, they're energetic, they're brash, and they also are, they got a lot of athletes. And that is one thing that Golden State does not have. That's why they try to throw Cominga in there, right? It's why Wiggins is.
Starting point is 00:32:34 been a really good part for them throughout the playoffs. They don't have a lot of athletes. And so you also see that after the first two games of the series, there was no Stephen Adams. And he has been back now for two games. And they have led in all but one minute, I think, since he's been back. And he has had a profound impact.
Starting point is 00:33:00 And he's been a plus 33. Because Draymond can't make him pay for it. When I said Minnesota is uniquely qualified, it's because they had fives that could shoot. Yeah, Katkin's space the floor. He could pop for three players who are just stand out there with Adams and the paint. Where his Draymond's out there, he's just waiting for teammates to cut
Starting point is 00:33:20 and, you know, around them and for handoffs and everything else. He doesn't shoot. He doesn't shoot. You had moments last night. Stephen Adams is standing in front of the circle. Dremont is at the free throw line with the ball. he doesn't even look at the basket. No, he doesn't.
Starting point is 00:33:38 He doesn't even look at it. They just treat him like, you know, like the same way that they used to say, oh, you know, they just don't even care about Tony Allen. They'll just let him run around out there. That's really, they gave him, they gave Draybond that treatment last night. They said, fine, do whatever the hell you want to do. Yep. And he's just standing there like looking around, looking for somebody to pass to,
Starting point is 00:33:59 and as long as the defenders can stay attached, you know, I don't know, man. Like they have an unbelievable pedigree. They're playing on their home court. They're going to be the super favorite. I would just tell people the way this series has played out so far, I do think that the Grizzlies, rightfully so, are really kicking themselves to be in a position
Starting point is 00:34:26 where they have to go win a game six on the road because they feel like they should be up, you know, much like Minnesota did, you know, when they were saying, hey, we should have already taken care of the grizzlies. I think the grizzlies feel like they should have already, they should be the ones up three, two, at minimum, at minimum. Even if you want to say job,
Starting point is 00:34:50 Jaws layup is Jaws layup. You know, they threw away game four. Like, truly threw it away. I think, like we talked about with the Bucks, switching more screens in the pick and roll to neutralize what Boston was doing throughout the series. Similarly, if you're going on State now, you've run your Steph,
Starting point is 00:35:13 Dremont, pick and roll. Only nine times last night, just by game, according to Second Spectrum, it was 6, 11, 13, 18, 9. I wonder if that's something you go to more in game six to try to just close this out. Go to Steph, Draymond, pick, pick, and rolls.
Starting point is 00:35:31 The thing is, is, you know, we saw Jaron Jackson switch on to Steph sometimes that can cause some issues because he's such a great perimeter defender so it's not like it's not necessarily like a guaranteed success to roll with that but it has been working statistically
Starting point is 00:35:46 using that throughout the series scurring 0.04 points where chances it's good it's very good yep so I wonder if we see a little bit more of that to get that offense going simplifying things because the Grizzlies defense you know they're so versatile especially when they have Jackson out there
Starting point is 00:36:02 or Adams with his interior presence as you said is there anything that you think that makes you feel like this series will end in six? I mean, simply because they're great. Because to be clear, like, I agree with your, I agree with your feelings that it's not over. I agree with, I agree. But I'm just curious, like, is there anything that you feel
Starting point is 00:36:24 like that makes you think it's over? Is there anything? The only thing I would say is, because that was such a strange game. Like that, like when you analyze the whole, series. Like that game last night was just a weird one. It was a weird one. But that's why I gave the context up through five games. Their best players have not been able to be successful. You know, it's unfathomable that they would be a minus 19. And that's, I mean, that is a
Starting point is 00:36:58 disgusting number. And that's not just. Well, last night, last night plays into that. Of course it does. I mean, like, Steph's a minus 30. Clay's a minus 45 last night. Of course it does. It was a weird game. I saw the stat and used stat. Andre Drummond is the only one in the play-by-play era to have a lower or rather an equal plus minus as Clay Thompson. Back in 2019, Drummond was a minus 45 like Clay was last night, the lowest of the play-by-play era.
Starting point is 00:37:30 So here's what I would say. I would say, yes, that is true. It is going to skew the stats. Except for the fact that they beat the shit out of the Grizzlies in game three. They won by 30. So what about those stats that get skewed? You know what I mean? They made every shot they took.
Starting point is 00:37:51 They scored 142 points in that game. Right? So like, what about those? I mean, I just think that as, you know, there have been three close games that were bucket games. And then they're been. been, well, no, no, no, there's been two that have been, I'm sorry, two blowouts. And then the rest of them, you know, highly competitive basketball games that went down to the wire.
Starting point is 00:38:24 I don't know. I mean, I think that part of it is how do your, how are your best players able to perform? And I do think that the one of the concerns, I think, that you come away with last night is we know that Clay has not been good to the point where, in my life, I lived through the playoff series where Tony Allen's job was to guard Clay Thompson. Okay? That was the best defender in the world, and that's who he was supposed to be guarding. And I'm looking up last night, and they start the game, and that's where they're putting Tyos Jones. That tells you everything you need to know about the difference between once upon a time, Clay, and now Clay.
Starting point is 00:39:03 And Jordan Poole draws the bigger assignment, and Jordan Poole has been crap for the last two games. you know and I do think that that that's part of the problem with Clay not being Clay that now you're you're a lot more worried about Jordan Pool dropping 30 on you than you are Clay Thompson dropping 30 on you and they treated it as such well I mean on that same note this might be a very dumb thing to even ask but the all the complaining in the last couple days by the Grizzlies about the Jordan Pool grab egregious, dirty, terrible, evil
Starting point is 00:39:43 grab. Nobody said that. I'm just kidding. I'm kidding. But all the complaining about the grab, is there any chance that this is gamesmanship and that they're just playing mind games here trying to get in the mind, like underneath the skin of Jordan? Is there any chance of that?
Starting point is 00:40:02 No. No? No. Look. I mean, he's really struggling. Look, whether. He hasn't struggled like this on a long time, Chris. As I said from the very beginning, it is kind of funny that, guess who else is stunk? Dylan Brooks. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:40:20 Right? The two. I'm serious. The two accused. The two accused. No. Exactly. Look.
Starting point is 00:40:26 People can. Four of 12 and then of one of six. And as I've said, look, I said this on our show on Tuesday, which is. No one, as far as I know, believes that he intentionally hurt anyone, right? There is no debating. If you go back and watch it, it is the play that Jha got hurt. Now, whether Jordan Poole is responsible for it or not, it's the play he got hurt, right? he he was fine at every other segment of the game.
Starting point is 00:41:04 And then right after, okay, right after that play, he's limping like crazy, he can't walk. Fair, it might not be gamesmanship, but I wonder if it, if all the talk, oh, if that has had an effect on cool. That's, that's, that's what I wonder. Oh, he hasn't been, he hasn't been this bad ever.
Starting point is 00:41:23 Great point. Besides a couple of games against Denver, he had a couple off nights. No, great point. I would say, A, they're paying a lot more attention to it, as I told you. Yeah, when they come down on the defensive end, they are. Tyos Jones ran to go guard Clay Thompson.
Starting point is 00:41:37 I'm like, yeah. That's who you, you're moving him off of, right? You got Dylan Brooks on Steph Curry, and now we've got to figure out where we're putting Tyas, because he's not exactly Tony Allen. So they decided to go put him on Clay. So as with all these guys, you're, you can be the victim. of your own success. And they've got him a little bit rattled right now.
Starting point is 00:42:03 He is now getting a lot more attention. You know, we talk about moving up the drier race board. He's moved up the dry race board in a way ahead of Clay. Ahead of Clay, right? So one is Curry. What are we doing with Curry? Two is pool. What are we doing in a pool?
Starting point is 00:42:22 And I think coming in, you're, you know, the general consensus is, all right, what are we doing with Clay? Well, now that's not a thing. That isn't a thing like it was. And so it is if we can slow down Curry, we can slow down pool, and we can make those guys inefficient, who's beating us? And if Otto Porter and Andrew Wiggins, where's your Wiggins jersey today? I don't see it.
Starting point is 00:42:48 You were talking real spicy about Andrew Wiggins. You were talking real spicy about Andrew Wiggins and Otto Porter. They may leave them in Memphis. I thought I saw them trying to jump out of a trash can outside the Weston over here. Oh, God. I think the Warriors might have left them here. Does Draymond put him in the trash can? Did Draymond do that?
Starting point is 00:43:10 He might have. Did he record a podcast last night? He didn't record a podcast last night. He didn't record a pod. I like to think of what Draymond's doing is vlogging. It's more traditional YouTube blogging, like talking about your day and what happened than it is podcasting. Gotcha.
Starting point is 00:43:27 I'm so much more interested in, and Draymond Green, the content creator than I am, Dremont Green, the TN, future TNT panelists. It's funny, you say about,
Starting point is 00:43:39 about the pool thing, because, you know, I made my opinion clear on him. I don't think he did anything nefarious. Okay. Yeah. He did it.
Starting point is 00:43:48 Regarding the effect that it had on him, though? He did not. He caught the shrapnel from this. And he's feeling it. Yeah. Because. Because that was, I felt, it's just my opinion.
Starting point is 00:44:02 And I actually, you know who I was texting with about this? Was our buddy Jason Concepcion Network. He was like, because he was saying to me, he was saying when we were talking about this, that I was telling him, I said, look, here's the problem. They, as a young organization, all the way up and down, they did not know how to react to Steve Kerr going on national TV and calling them dirty. You know, they were the beloved.
Starting point is 00:44:31 They were the beloved team, the fun team, the joyous team, the culture team, the good guys team, the, you know, great drafting team.
Starting point is 00:44:40 Like they were, you know, they were something that was celebrated and held up. And now you've got this guy who's going on these like multiple rants about the code and dirty or whatever, and they didn't know how to react.
Starting point is 00:44:53 And what they should have done is gone right back at Kerr's neck. And they screwed that up. And so then the rest of that stuff all was, I thought, that was a late reaction to screwing, you know, being, still being a little salty about screwing it up the first time because it all took them by surprise, right?
Starting point is 00:45:17 You're not, you're not used to be calling dirty and this is, that's not anything about what they've tried to build. it's not what Dylan's M.O. is, none of it, but it rattled them. And they didn't know how to react. Because now on national TV, you've got an elder statesman and a well-respected guy in the NBA calling them dirty. And they didn't know how to react.
Starting point is 00:45:37 And they should have just gone back at Kurtz neck and said, look, we didn't come out and say when Brandon Clark got hammer-fisted and thrown to the ground in game one, we weren't saying Draymond Green's dirty. We didn't bring up this and this and this and this and this. Like, Dylan Brooks has never had a flagrant too. in his life.
Starting point is 00:45:55 Like, this is ridiculous. You know, it's an unfortunate play, but they didn't know how to react. They didn't. And so that's, that's a young franchise, you know, young coach,
Starting point is 00:46:07 young everything, trying to learn how to deal with, you know, the school yard bully, Steve Kerr, who now has COVID. And Mike Brown, when I was walking out of my house
Starting point is 00:46:22 this morning, I heard Stephen And then Smith go, I am coming to the NBA for whatever, 37 years. And I'm telling you, if they had not hired Mike Brown two days ago, he would not get that job. And I was like, oh, wow. They have buyer's remorse. And I was like, oh, boy. I do think it makes a difference.
Starting point is 00:46:48 And they're saying Kerr's not going to coach game six. I mean, it is, it's the, whoever, it's the guy that makes it. It's the guy that's the voice on the team. Like it does. I think Mike Brown, I think that was, you know, when it was Mike Brown and Luke Walton many moons ago, that was a plug-and-play team. I could have thrown your ass on the sideline and you weren't losing,
Starting point is 00:47:12 especially with the Durant version. This version, I think they need a coach. I know they do. They need a coach. You know. Derrick the one that's been with him all year. I think those previous versions, you know, people were just like, oh, yes, Steve Kerr's out. So what?
Starting point is 00:47:33 They win anyway? I do think the Kerr being out thing is real. Like I think it, now, I don't want to trash Mike Brown for it. I mean, I think it would be true of most anybody that has to walk into that job, especially in a highly competitive situation. I think that's hard, don't you? Yeah, incredibly difficult. It's also difficult when, you know,
Starting point is 00:48:00 your team all year long has shown some of the qualities that they did last night with poor focus, poor effort, not taking the game seriously, getting too big-headed. I think with Draboe Greed, some of the sloppy play from him that we've seen throughout the postseason, including in last night's game.
Starting point is 00:48:21 what do you think about his play? So for Warriors fans, it's interesting. I was looking at this last night after he posted his vlog on the volumes YouTube channel. The comments on Twitter were Warriors fans saying, like, you idiot, focus on basketball, stop the podcasting. The comments on YouTube were like, oh, I love Draymond doing these videos,
Starting point is 00:48:47 even after a loss, I'm learning so much. it was like dramatically different types of responses on YouTube versus on Twitter. What do you think like as a pure basketball fan with his play, the waving of the towel, the like the celebrate the wild grizzlies fans are going crazy. He's helping pump up the crowd. And I don't know. Just you could see some of his teammates on the bench. Like remember when he got ejected and Andro Gondala looked pissed off as he was like,
Starting point is 00:49:18 it's good doing the Antonio of. Brown after he got off the court. I don't know. I just, I'd imagine some teammates find it funny and some teammates are like, get your head in the game, man. I would be furious. As a fan, I would be furious. I would be. That's just me about the, about the actions on the court. Not, not the YouTube videos, not that.
Starting point is 00:49:40 No. Or would you be as a fan? No, no, no. I think the, I don't, I don't mind the videos. I think from our production. standpoint, what he's doing is a low lift. He's getting, like, if you watch the video last night, he's 12 minutes, he talks
Starting point is 00:49:55 about the game for six of them, and then he answers some questions for five. He's on and he's off. Yeah, I don't think it's a big deal. I don't think it's a large lift, but like the actions on the court, the sloppiness, the, you know, the look at me stuff, I don't know. I just, I would imagine some of the vets in that
Starting point is 00:50:11 locker room are like, Dremont's taking us a little too far. Yeah, I mean, I just think that is he dancing to whip that trick if Steve Kerr's there? That's a good question. Really? I know what he would say. Yeah,
Starting point is 00:50:30 I don't care. Cur has always been the guy who sort of... Well, it's always... And Traymond's in this mode of, like, everything he says is talking down to people. Right? So even when he's talking about dancing,
Starting point is 00:50:46 to whoop that trick. It's, yeah, well, I don't like guys that are only, you know, they clam up when they start losing, but then they're, you know, real rowdy when they're winning or whatever else. So it's almost like this performative
Starting point is 00:51:05 thing, like, to make a point about how like, hey, I'm still here and I'm still having fun, even though I'm getting humiliated. It's like, I don't know. I get it.
Starting point is 00:51:21 And again, this is the exact same thing that he would do, which would be insanely condescending to a fan that would say, I am sitting at my house heartbroken over this. Like, it matters to me when you guys win and lose. And you can just discard that and you cannot care about that. But it matters to me. And so I'm not happy right now and having fun and dancing around. In fact, I can't even think about doing that.
Starting point is 00:52:00 So that's just my opinion. And you know this, Kevin, because I was texting with you last night. My 12-year-old was in that audience. My 12-year-old was in game one. Joss smokes the layup at the buzzer. He was crushed. crushed. You know what I mean?
Starting point is 00:52:20 And maybe my perspectives just changed. But I understand, you know, now it's not only like my own fandom in sports. I see that I see like my son is me when I was little. He really is. And I see his reactions. And I remember I see myself in him. I know that sounds corny, but I do. I see him.
Starting point is 00:52:49 Nothing corny about it. I see him hurting. Like, his hurt is different than my hurt when the sports team loses. And I've seen him go into his room and just slam the door and throw his head on a pillow. You know what I mean? And so I just, I don't know, man. I don't want to see. I don't care if you're trying to prove the point of, yeah, well, you got to be able to, you know,
Starting point is 00:53:19 you can't clam up just when you're losing. Yeah, okay, you don't have to claim up. That's fine. But I also don't need you dancing and whiling out on the sideline, dancing along to the crowd while they're singing, whoop that trick, because they're so happy they just humiliated you. Like, what do you? Who wins in that? What point are you proving?
Starting point is 00:53:42 and to me, if I'm a fan, I'm like, what the hell, bro? No, I'm dying over here. I want you upset, too. Why aren't you as upset as me? And that's what makes me think differently, honestly, about game six. I'm not kidding you. Why are you not? And that's arrogance.
Starting point is 00:54:09 That will go take care of it at home in game six. That's why you're dancing around to whoop that trick. That's arrogant. It is. Because otherwise, do you ever see anybody? Usually you get, come on, bro. You just got historically drilled. Now, I would think the leader of my team would be furious.
Starting point is 00:54:35 But I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong. I mean, they're all made men so they can do whatever the hell they want. Yeah. Right? Yeah. They five finals appearances, multiple rings. You're a made man.
Starting point is 00:54:46 You could do whatever you. you want to do at that point? I get it. But I don't know. Bottom line, this team's missing some characteristics that the Warriors teams did in the past when they were making championships, winning championships. And I think Warriors fans recognize that, that
Starting point is 00:55:06 something's missing, whether it's due to the late decisions or the sloppy play, or whether it's the poor effort, or just the fact like some guys are missing. there's missing pieces from this Warriors team that make me believe that they're not where I thought they could be in the second round of the playoffs
Starting point is 00:55:25 and I would not pick them to go to the finals or win the finals I should say. Did you see me respond to your Instagram story? I did not. I haven't checked Instagram in a minute. So for everybody out there, Kevin posted an Instagram that said, I'm going to look right now.
Starting point is 00:55:42 Do the Warriors have like basically championship makeup? Yes or not. no and then it said here's why and then tell me why and i clicked no they do not and my reply was because they just got beat by a thousand well said and i thought it was a totally reasonable answer well said well said i have a hard on that poll it's uh 70 percent now at this point. Oh, is that right?
Starting point is 00:56:19 Yeah. Oh, let me say this too. All those game fives, what was it? Like, there were all 30 plus point margins except for the bucks. Kind of crazy. Yeah, that's wild. The game fives were all just bombings except for the bucks game. Yeah, that's interesting.
Starting point is 00:56:43 And you know what's coming up next? You want me to bring it up or do you want it? You bring it up? Bringing up, baby. It was Tuesday. You told me that Philly Miami thing was over. It's not over. It's not over.
Starting point is 00:57:00 It is not over. It's not over. It's your ring. And Miami mutilated them. I made a mistake. I think that we saw. intense adrenaline in those two games in Philadelphia, and hopefully they could get that again from Mb.
Starting point is 00:57:27 Adrenaline and I'm sure being shot up like crazy. They had no energy that game, that's for sure. He got hit in the face, and he was already not wanting to be down there near the basket. You know, and I think that is a function of two things. He's wearing that mask, and it's not. and so you're a little sketchy on that on that one and then the thumb thing you got to catch the ball when they whip it down to you right and i i do think that that was the first time you know i thought he was just able to get by in fact rather admirably in those first two games and of course the sixers got a massive jolt from him being back but in game five I don't buy the he was thinking about not winning the MVP.
Starting point is 00:58:24 I think this is a guy that's wearing a face mask with a thumb that needs surgery and he was playing a basketball game like a guy wearing a face mask who needs surgery on his thumb. And so you just don't get the version you have to have. That's their only chance because you don't know what you're getting out of the others. you're hopeful that Danny Green can knock down some shots and Hardin can turn back the clock once again. Maxy can be big, but we know it revolves around him and his greatness. And so that honestly, like even tonight, it's all it comes down to to me. How good is he able to be?
Starting point is 00:59:08 Because that version that they got of MP in game four is not good enough to beat anybody. that almost looked like the Lowry situation. I know that sounds crazy, but it's like, this is not helping at all. This guy is a shell of himself. And because he's so important, you know, we saw Gabe Vincent get put back into that series. How much better was he than Kyle Lowry?
Starting point is 00:59:39 So good. Oh, it's a different world. Yeah. It really was. You were right about that. Yeah, you were right, addition by a subtraction with considering the way a Lowry was when the way he got announced during the show and I said, I actually liked that for Miami.
Starting point is 00:59:53 Yeah, you're 100% correct. Well, then you're not, you don't feel that there's always the pressure if he's available to play, you know, but it was informed by what we saw with Toronto with Fred, Baville. He was clearly not himself. It's a guy that people talked about as a all-deep. defense performer. He, he wasn't close to that guy, you know.
Starting point is 01:00:21 And then you could see it with Lowry. It's like, okay, this 40% Kyle Lowry is not better than 100% anyone. You know, we're at the stage in his career where you need Kyle Lowry to be 90% or higher. You can't have 40% Kyle Lowry because that's just, that's a detriment. I don't know. You think we got a Embed response, NBED rally? I am
Starting point is 01:00:51 I'm a little worried to bury him just because of kind of what we saw in the Toronto thing. And going back to Philly too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I'm saying the Toronto thing, it was like everything was going wrong. Doc's explaining why a frigging Orlando team lost. You know, like, you know,
Starting point is 01:01:11 Toronto's feeling themselves. Scotty Barnes and Dead Younger back in the lineup and then Philly went there and just beat the shit out of them. And it's like, oh, wait, hold on. We missed on that one. So they did scare me a little bit with that performance. But, geez, I don't know, man. That was not very promising what you saw at a MBEED
Starting point is 01:01:33 and Miami looked pretty damn good the other night. Yeah, not encouraging what you saw out of Embeddeed or Hardin. Yeah. I mean, you know. knew. Come on. Hardin's had one good quarter. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:01:48 One great quarter, I should say. Yeah. All series long. Other than that, he's been more of a game manager. That's where we're at right now with James Harding. And everybody was pumping up his playmaking, but I mean, he had, look at all the turnovers. Look at all the turnovers he's had.
Starting point is 01:02:05 You know? It's not like he's just, you know. Also, I think PJ Tucker's done a good job. too on him as well. Of course. As he always does. And PJ Tucker in that, in that last game, you know, did his job too, man, seven assists for Tucker to zero turnovers. He's more than just a
Starting point is 01:02:27 lockdown defender who hits corner threes. That guy's got a lot of skill in his game. Well, let's just say this. You know, when we were talking about postseason awards, et cetera, et cetera, earlier the year. And in fact, they've announced they're giving away a couple extra postseason awards now. MVP's for both conferences.
Starting point is 01:02:47 But I don't know. The Magic Johnson and the Larry Bird. Pretty cool. Yep. I may try to think about this for next Tuesday show. And people can send me what they think. I don't think there's anybody in the NBA
Starting point is 01:03:06 that if we're lining everybody up and we're picking teams, right? for the regular season has a greater disparity of if we were picking teams for the postseason than Butler. Like I think that like
Starting point is 01:03:26 where he would get picked if we're like saying, okay, here you got to build your team for the regular season. And then where I pick him when it's playoff time, like he's a top 10 pick for me. He is for the, for the postseason.
Starting point is 01:03:44 Yeah, he turns into a different guy. Like, even just the fact he starts shooting threes. Yeah. And he also, like, he came out, he had this friggin scowl, like, right off the bat. And it was like, he's just playing with this crazy force, and he's got his chest out, and he's, like, talking crazy to them.
Starting point is 01:04:04 And I'm like, oh, boy. Oh, boy. You are in a world of crap with this. guy, he just, he really turns into a different dude when it comes, when the stakes and the stakes get higher, the lights get brightest, you know, and sign me up for him. And I think we could easily look back if they are able to win this series. And we say, unbelievably, and it is no question because of injury, that Jimmy Butler was the best player in the series. And we would have never fathomed that. If there's anything
Starting point is 01:04:42 we chalked up, it was that Embed was going to be the best guy. But Butler may very well be the best player in the series over the course of this series. He certainly is right now. Certainly is right now. And they had him. They had them. They had him. They had him.
Starting point is 01:04:58 They did. They had it. Might should have made that work. Suns Mavs. Another blowout the other night. Sun's close game at halftime second half not close at all
Starting point is 01:05:14 just a beatdown of epic proportions now the Mavericks have to try to keep their season alive at home what are you thinking on Sun's maps well I mean I think on the Dallas side of things simply shoot the ball
Starting point is 01:05:33 better is one of them they shot 25 on passes by Luca in game 5 compared to, you know, 48% game 1, 42% game 2, 53% game 3, 60% game 4. 60% game 4. So your primary ball handler and Luca, you have to convert those opportunities above all else. You think?
Starting point is 01:05:57 I say that is the number one thing, considering how often he's passing the ball and creating chances for himself and others. But he himself also needs to be better too. I don't think he was all that effective against the Sun's scheme in the second half of that game. He looked like
Starting point is 01:06:15 he was either fatigued, not creating a lot of space, the Sun's had a great job bottling him up as well. So Luca needs to be better, but so don't his teammates shooting off of his passes. There's a vast difference between what we saw in that game five compared to any other time in the
Starting point is 01:06:31 series. Well, and it's, you know, now there's no rest in these series. While you do have bigger breaks early, in the playoffs. It's every other day now. And it's a massive load to carry. It is.
Starting point is 01:06:45 I mean, it's every night. I think Luca, it's possible. Lucas is tired. I mean, the sons are, they're targeting him in the pick and roll
Starting point is 01:06:52 24 times per game. That's up from nine during the season. So Luca, Luca, like as the screener, defender, was brought him to the pick and roll
Starting point is 01:06:59 only nine times per game during the regular season. Kev, go look at 24 now. Go look at guys' numbers playing three nights in five nights, three and five nights during the season.
Starting point is 01:07:10 Yeah. And now you're playing 40-something minutes, so your minutes go up, your workload goes up. And the intensity-involved more actions, yeah. And the intensity goes, you know, five-fold. It's on a different level, yeah. Fascinated to see how the sun's treated, you know, tonight. Is it one of those like, ah, we could, you know, still take care of business? we get another game at home anyway,
Starting point is 01:07:39 or do they come with the focus of we're not messing around with the game seven? Because too much can happen. Now you're opening yourself up to a randomness, which we've seen take place many times over the course of NBA history where something crazy can happen. A team goes bonkers from three, especially with the way the game's played now, or a team goes flat from three,
Starting point is 01:08:07 and now your whole season's done. Right? Just because that one night, you couldn't make them, or the other team just was shooting fireballs. I just, I don't know. I think that's going to teach us. I think it's going to tell us something about,
Starting point is 01:08:24 I think it's going to tell us something about Phoenix. Just like we learned a little bit about Milwaukee. They're the only ones that didn't get run out in game five, even though they knew they had the cushion of getting a home game afterwards, right? I think this is going to tell us something about Phoenix. Is that fair? Same way we thought it tells us something about the Warriors who dicked around last night. And now, you know, because they had the cushion of being able to go back home, Phoenix, what do you get out of them?
Starting point is 01:08:57 You know, are you going to put it to chance and say, hey, okay, we game seven. at our place. Well, on this note, Chris, how many game sevens do you think we get? The question for the listeners, too, I'm curious, you know? Tweet at us. How many game sevens do we get? Okay, so let me think. So we got
Starting point is 01:09:22 two the two that would need to win on the road to force a game seven are the Celtics and the Grizzlies. Yes. Yep. Who are interestingly enough, both the higher-seated teams. there were the better teams
Starting point is 01:09:38 over the course of the year both of them. The teams that we need to lose are Phoenix and Miami. To lose. I'll say we get two of four. And I am going to be non-committal on which ones.
Starting point is 01:10:02 I don't have a strong opinion. I feel you. About which ones. I do think. It's such a toss-up. Yeah. I think we'll get one of one of two. Now, interestingly enough,
Starting point is 01:10:20 let me check if there's a Milwaukee line yet. I think there already is a Milwaukee line. Okay, so bucks one and a half. Okay, so right now, if it played out, we would only get, if it would play out according to what Vegas, has it going, we would only get one, which would be the heat sixers.
Starting point is 01:10:47 Because Phoenix is favored, the bucks are favored, and the warriors are favored. And I'd say at least one of those underdogs is going to win outright. One of them. And clearly, according to Vegas, the most likely to do that are the sons and the Celtics. They're both one and a half point favorites. The least likely is the grizzlies who are, I think, eight and a half point underdogs posted to the Warriors, which I thought was crazy. That's crazy.
Starting point is 01:11:25 Maybe they get their ass beat. I don't know. But there certainly has not been anything in this series to indicate that the Warriors are that that much better. You know, they're 10 point under, oh, they're 10 point favorites. in game four and they should have gotten beat. So I think we get two. Two game sevens. We might get more.
Starting point is 01:11:48 Hell, I hope we get four. I really do. There's nothing more I love. I hope they all go to seven games. And this has been a very good conference semifinals. It has, despite some of the very weird results that have taken place. If we get four game sevens,
Starting point is 01:12:07 three of them are on Sunday, one on Monday. The one on Monday is Warriors Grizzlies if there's a game seven. That's a little bit of a break. Is there any chance John around returns? Is there any chance
Starting point is 01:12:19 the Jaya returns? No. No? Really? No chance. I, now Taylor Jenkins said from what he's been told
Starting point is 01:12:32 it's not a surgical thing, but that release was so weird to me. It just was. The bone bruise thing. Well, they said, they said doubtful. for the remainder of the playoffs. Is that because of an assumed elimination,
Starting point is 01:12:46 or is that because... No, that's because he's going to be out for a while. Okay. I think I have concerned that his injury is much worse than people saying, oh, it's a bone bruise, he'd be able to come back. And, oh, my God, if they won this series, he'd be able to come back. I do not think he would be able to come back for a game seven. I don't think he'd be able to come back if they got past the Warriors.
Starting point is 01:13:19 I think he's out. I think he's out. I guess we'll see. I think he's out for a while. I'm hopeful he doesn't have to have surgery or something, but he was hurt. You know, it's not just something small because he's a freako in the sense of recovery. And if it was something small, he'd have been out there last night and he'd be out there tomorrow night. Monday is a long way away, though.
Starting point is 01:13:47 Yeah. If there is a seven. I think this is a week's thing, not a day's thing. And I'm hopeful it's not a month's thing. He's hurt, though. He's hurt. It sucks. But hell, they're pretty damn good without him.
Starting point is 01:14:05 Mm-hmm. Can I ask you one thing before we get out of here? Yeah. Me and Concepcion, we're talking about this. I said, the one thing, I said, I think the Grizzlies are going to win. And I said, this is that last game. And I said, but you mark my words. And it was true to form.
Starting point is 01:14:23 I saw it last night. I see it this morning. I said, nobody's going to give the Grizzlies credit for that. And Taylor Jenkins and Tyos Jones and that team credit. It's going to turn into a debate on, are they better without Joe Morant? and why did that not happen with Luca? Why when Dallas won against Utah were people not saying,
Starting point is 01:14:52 are they better without Luca? It's equally insane. Well, I mean, it's because of the sample size. It's because Dallas. But this is the playoffs. Dallas wasn't 20 and 5 without Luca during the season. But what did everybody say? But what did everybody say?
Starting point is 01:15:10 They said, I don't know. I didn't pay attention to it. Well, you do know. No, I mean, I didn't see any of the debating about that. No, no, no. I'm saying during the season, it was, yeah, they have a very good record without job. But it's a different thing than when playing in the playoffs. Right?
Starting point is 01:15:24 Like, you still need the guy when it comes to the playoffs. Yeah, I know. But like, during the playoffs, I haven't seen any, like, I've just been in my laptop doing draft guide scattering reports. watching these games. Like I've just been basketball, basketball, basketball, with a sprinkle of war zone and enjoying the sunshine outside. A sprinkle of war zone.
Starting point is 01:15:49 I love it. Just a little sprinkle of killings. I had some crazy solo victories yesterday. Let's go. Yeah. Get them dogs. Yeah. I had a nuts one.
Starting point is 01:16:05 Sometimes I like to use the riot shield as a troll. Sometimes, you know, you could go out there with a shield. Have a little fun. Let's go. On a nasty hill flying into a window. Had my advanced UAV on, knew where he was and,
Starting point is 01:16:20 yeah. I don't play this game, but what is, what is your, all right, the last thing. Top three ways to kill. Right.
Starting point is 01:16:33 I mean, I'm not sure about top three, but I think the most enjoyable is with a team. And the communication, on another level. I'm talking about the actual killing how I killed this guy. With my Cooper carbine.
Starting point is 01:16:48 With my Cooper. So it's low recoil. It beams. And it is right now, I think, maybe not the meta. There's a lot of good guns right now in Call of Duty. But the Cooper carbine is just reliable, steady, low recoil.
Starting point is 01:17:05 It hits hard. Let's go. Versatile with the four to eight. scope. Yeah. My Cooper Carbine. Let's go. I mean, that's my number one favorite way.
Starting point is 01:17:15 Hey, hold on before I get out of here, Kevin O. Carbine. Kevin O. Cooper Carbine. Kevin O. Cooper Carbine. I'm with it. That's number one right now. And sometimes pulling out the Riot Shield for old times' sake, because I used to like using, I used to like using the shield at like the Multi-Man. player capture the flag back in
Starting point is 01:17:41 Bada Warfare 2 in like 2008 2009 so sometimes I like to pull that out for our old time's sake in a in a solos game really makes people angry nobody likes the riot shield including me but it's fun to use it it's going to be an unbelievable weekend of NBA basketball I can't wait to see what we are talking about come Tuesday
Starting point is 01:18:01 thank you to our executive producer Jesse Lopez is always Kevin I'll talk to you next week have a good one Corzone, Chris.

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