The Mismatch - How the Warriors Bounced Back in Game 2, Our Favorite Beatles, and a Head-Coaching Update

Episode Date: June 7, 2022

Verno and KOC recap the Warriors' Game 2 victory that tied their series against the Celtics (01:49). They detail how the Warriors were able to bounce back and discuss different defensive ideas for the Celtics to try to slow down Steph Curry in Game 3. While in New York, Verno found out that Yoko Ono still lives there, so the guys briefly discuss the Beatles and make player comps for the band members (28:46). They last discuss Quin Snyder’s departure from the Jazz and the coaching searches for the Hornets and Kings (42:10). Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Producer: Jessie Lopez Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yo, Rob Harvilla from 60 Songs That Explain the 90s here to inform you that we are back with 30 more songs because the 90s were super long and had a ton of rad music. Please join us every Wednesday for more 60 songs that explain the 90s only on Spotify. Welcome to The Mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon. Joining me, he does every Tuesday from the ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor, A.K. Kevin O'Bombermer, Kevin O'Bomberto. Kevin O'Bomber, A.K.K.A. Kevin O'Bomberto. What's going on? I'm talking to you now live from Boston. What's up?

You are already in Boston, huh? I am in Boston, yes. Flew out yesterday. Had a very nice flight. And now I'm here. You know what? Everybody always bags on all of the, on their traveling foils.

What airline? Because I'm going to say this. I did, when I went to New York last week, it was Delta and everything was perfect. I took Delta. It was Delta. We're in Delta T. We got to give them shouts out.

I mean, normally I'm a JetBlue guy. I love me some Jet Blue, but Delta took care of us on this flight. I figured you would ride private, given your success. Game two. What, it's just like a jet plane across the country? Yeah. A jet, right? Yeah.

Like Air Force One? Spotify Jet. Oh, like Daniel. Yeah. I figured you could just jump on it with Bill, right? The X one. I'm sure Bill flew out there. Could have just jumped on it with Bill.

Game two, it's one to one. We had this 19 to two run within game two. That was absolutely insane. The Warriors have been incredible in third quarters, and that has been the story for them. They lost one of the games. They won one of the games. They won the first game's third quarter by 14,

and they won this one by 21, and then everything else. I mean, Curry's not even playing in the fourth quarter of this game, but a gigantic bounceback for the Warriors to knot up the series. Let's go through it. What stood out the most to you? If I'm going to say, why is this series tied? Why were the Warriors able to come back and take care of business in game two? Draymond Green went from playing very sloppy offball help defense

to getting switched onto the primary defender against Jalen Brown. He did a great job disturbing him offensively. He's in his long arms to poke at the ball. Because Jalen, of course, as we talked about a bunch throughout the playoffs, has a bit of a loosey-goosey handle. Dremont effectively bothered him in addition to just being so sharp offball with his rotations and his help and the pressure he put when he did go to help. And additionally, I think Stefan Curry is two-way play.

Defensively, he's been tremendous throughout the entire postseason. I thought he had a great game, too, with his help, getting deflections, racked up some steals as well. I mean, and obviously, like, do we even need to say what Steph does on offense? Like, it doesn't even need to be stated. Everybody knows what Stefan Curry does with and without the ball in his hands. So Steph Curry, Draymond Green, those guys. And just the last third point, Chris, the Warriors won the role play.

battle. Their guys were better. Gary Payton, Porter, compared to Boston's role players, even the expensive ones like Al Horford, who went from a, you know, a tremendous game one to a bit of a no-show in game two. So I think those are really the three things to come to mind most. Do you think you inspired Dremon Green by saying Al Horford is better than him? Yeah, I don't know. I mean, like, Draymond apparently gets inspiration from Kendrick Perkins. So maybe he also gets inspiration from the mismatch. Maybe so. All right.

Al Horford, Derek White, Marcus Smart. First game, 65 points, 65% from the field, 65% from three. Game two, 16 points, 6 for 23, for 26% from the field, 2 for 7 from 3, 29% from 3. And what's odd about this is, you know, you're talking about the extra guys. I don't think there was nothing that took place, unless you want to say pool, but a lot of pool stuff took place after they were already up big. I didn't think any of the guys had extreme outlier performances for the Warriors, right? When you brought up Wiggins or Porter or whoever else.

Like there's nobody, it wasn't like Auto Porter went for 28 points or something, right? On the other hand, when we're talking about outlier performances, and we said this about game one, that Warriors fans are sitting there saying, they're never going to shoot like that again. You know, Draymond Green even went to the press conference and said, those three guys are 15 of 23 from three.

We'll be fine. And true to form, those three guys went from 65 points to 16 points in the next game. But I do feel like those are both extremes, right? 65 points is extreme and 16 points is extreme right i mean they they had what four i think marcus smart and uh al harford had to combine four points in the game i mean that's crazy given the amount of minutes they play as involved as they typically are in these games and so yeah 65 points is crazy 16 points is

crazy. Sixty-five percent from the field and 65 percent from three. Crazy. Twenty-six percent from the field, twenty-nine percent from three. Crazy. You know, like, I don't know where it settles. We got a lot more games to play, obviously, in this series, but you got to feel like it's going to settle somewhere between there or else the games that they're awesome. The Celtics are going to have a big advantage and the games that they're crap, they're going to be an massive disadvantage. I just feel like the Warriors,

I didn't watch them and think anybody that any of their performers did anything out of the ordinary, right? It was what it was. It was a good Warriors performance. They didn't score a ton of points. They weren't amazing offensively. Scored what, 106?

I mean, you should be able to win that game. It's a little higher than what you'd want it to be, but their defense, they posted their second best defensive rating of the entire postseason in this game. 89.8. And that is what was shocking to me. And I think that's probably my biggest takeaway from game two was that Golden State defense and how we know that. the teams that they have met along the way to this point. And for them to have posted their second best defensive rating against this Boston team, that to me was mega impressive.

Yeah. And like in the case with Horford, think about how different the Celtics offense looks when they're able to kick it out to a wide open Al Horford. We didn't see that happen at all, at all in game two. How about this? 12 uncontested shots in game one for Al Horford. He made nine.

He had to your point, four shots, all of them contested. He made one. And like another stat, another stat along those same exact lines, Chris. In game one, Horford caught 18 passes behind the three point line, and eight of those passes were turned into shot attempts by him. In game two, he caught just nine passes. half and shot zero. None. None.

Like, what the hell? It's crazy. And it's because the Warriors made the switch from Dremont to Jalen Brown putting him on Jalen Brown. Clay Thompson was the primary guy on Al Horford. And he just wasn't leaving him open. I mean, it was like pretty simple. Even like in transition, Forford had some threes in game one,

early offense where, you know, he runs up to the wing. Nobody picks him up. He shoots an open three. In game two, it was somebody. picking him up. They were respecting him as a shooter, not giving him airspace to take those shots. It was like just such simple little adjustments. Respect this guy as a shooter. And then it turned into a big nothing game from him. And that affects the Celtics offense because Tatum and Brown and Smart are not like these savant playmakers and shot creators. Their score first types of guys. That's who they want to be. Even Marcus Smart. And if you're doing that, now it's on the

Celtics to adjust here, starting with game three-round winning. It feels like so for both of these teams, so much of their success is predicated on their activity defensively and their ability to force turnovers and get stops and get out and go. Because both of these teams, when they are able to set up their half court defense, are a big problem for the other one. And when you look at this game, you know, we said the warriors have to turn them over. And once they get out in space and it's a scramble and now the matchups aren't necessarily what you want the matchups to be, these guys are catching a lot more space, a lot more freedom of movement because they're not coming off of a dead ball. Well, and that was the big problem for Boston too. let me just interject.

These aren't deadball turnovers. It's not like I threw the ball out of bounds over your head, and now I get to go set up my defense and you're going. They had 15 live ball turnovers. Of those 15,

Celtics did. Of those 15, the Warriors turned that into 33 points. I mean, that is crazy. That's crazy. To turn 15 live. ball turnovers into 33 points. That's, I mean, to average over two points per turnover, I mean, you want to talk about,

it's one thing to turn the ball over, it's another to have to pay for it. And the Warriors made them pay for every damn time. They threw the ball away. And it certainly made it much more difficult for Boston. And then, of course, when the Warriors are scoring off those, now they get to set up their defense. And we know both of these teams are not half-court savant teams. We would never mistake these for the old Spurs teams in terms of the half-court.

In fact, both fan bases will complain about their teams and what they are able or unable to do in the half-court, whether it is the movement, whether it is the type of shots they are getting. Yeah, I mean, the Warriors still can tap into that sometimes. times, though, Chris. They can. They can. We saw that. Both games throughout the whole playoffs. But I just told you over a third of their points are off of these things. You know what? They had what, 106 in the game. They had 33 of them are off live ball terminal.

It is interesting, though, how, like Steve Kerr, I don't know, what was it, a month ago? He says, oh, yeah, people wanted me to not run as much pick and roll. Meanwhile, they're running over 30 pick and rolls for Steph Curry per game, and it's like their most effective way of generating points in the half court. I mean, that's a pretty good amount. And we've seen them do that like crazy to the Celtics. And I mean, 32 and a half per game, pick and rolls against Boston through two games, averaging 1.2 points per pick and roll, which is an absurdly high amount.

What do you think the Celtics, I mean, they're dropping on picking rolls, giving him space for that pull-up three. that's not working. They're coming out a little higher. That's not working. If you switch, you're forcing more isolations. That's not working. Do you think the Celtics seem to be a little more aggressive in the pick and roll?

You know, try to blitz them like we saw Dallas try to do last round. Is that something the Boston should do in the half court? I think there's certainly some, I think there's very good reason to do that and just do the, get the ball out of his hands. and I think it is that way because I'd rather live with the other, right? If Clay Thompson was cracking, you know, I'd be a little more worried. But Clay's even missing uncontested shots in this. They kept him in there, even though they had the Celtics buried.

They kept them in there just to try to have him see something go through the net. And so until the other guys I feel like are demolishing me or if I'm giving up too many easy buckets off Draymond playing three on two, then so be it. But at this point with Curry, I would be concerned that I'm letting him get too many good looks. But in fairness, he's making, I read this yesterday. He's making more contested shots than he is uncontested shots. So it is what it is with him.

If a guy's willing to pull the bullet from 40 feet away, so be it. I mean, at some point, you just got to live with it. He shot 6 for 11 on contested shots. He shot 3 of 10 on uncontested shots, which is crazy to think about. he's six of 11 when he's contested. So I don't know if there are all that many, you know, I don't know what to do about that. If he's going to make six for 11 and contest it more.

And the other thing is he's not getting his shots assisted in a massive way, right? They just got the ball in his hands. And when you were talking about how they were, you know, running a little bit different offense in part than they have in the past, well, that's because they just got to get the ball in that guy's hands. And then you just let him do everything plays off of him, everything. And you know the gravity he has on the entire team. But he's not running around screens catching the ball and making shots. he's got the ball right when they come up the court. And so I would try to get the ball out of his hands.

If that's a long-winded way of saying, yeah, I try to get the ball out of his hands as much as I possibly can. What you do? I don't know. I mean, it's a tough situation here because, like, no matter what you do, the Warriors can get something out of it. Like, statistically, they've been at their best when they are blitzed. Like, when Steph has blitzed in the pick and roll,

they put up higher numbers in the postseason. and then when they switch against him or drop coverage. And granted, there's different levels of drop coverage. I just think with Seth, if you're the Celtics, if drop continues to be ineffective, even with the high drop, or it's nearly a show, and if switching isn't working,

which I still think they should do more of that, just to do more of it, just to see how it works before they go to a blitz. If that doesn't work, then Boston would have to do something they haven't done all season. Boston is one of the least frequent blitzing teams in the pick and roll in the entire league. I believe on second spectrum, they were the third lowest with the amount of blitzes they ran throughout the entire season. So that's something they don't do.

Is it something they've been saving? Because they've been really, really good when they do do it in the limited amount of times, like close to best in the entire NBA statistically. So, I mean, that's just something that I have kind of in the back of my mind. Like, what is Boston going to do against Steph in the pick and roll, if it comes to the point, they've got to do something they haven't done all year,

and that's Blitz. Yeah, you know, earlier I was talking about how he's not getting them off of running off, running around everywhere, then catching and shooting. Only two of his shots

were assisted. Two, two buckets, were assisted, the entire game. Now, the other thing is, maybe it's not as grand a concern. if you could clean up the turnovers, and those guys can make some damn shots for Boston

because Curry had 29 in the game. Now, he did not play in the fourth quarter. But 14 of those that Curry scored were off Boston turnovers. So you can do all the, this is how we want to guard Steph Curry. That's when it all falls apart. The first trick is, don't turn the ball over, so we're not scrambling around an open space against this guy. That's when he is a killer.

That's when he's killing us. He had half his points off of their turnovers. So trick number one is don't turn the ball over so he can't get out in space so we can actually decide what we want to do, show blitz, whatever it may be. Because that's where he is damaging us. That's when he's getting out into open space and there is no defense for that. Come on. when he's just flying up the court off of turnover,

he's got whoever is closest to him guarding him, and half the time he's just pulling up from wherever. And you know this, you see some of those shots he took and you're like, Jesus, anybody else took those outside of, I guess, Jordan Poole, no coach would play them for the next three games. I mean, they're just outrageous shots. I just tip my cap, honestly. I don't sit there and go,

geez, guys, what can we do? I say, hey, how about we don't let this guy get in open space nearly as much? So we stopped turning the ball over. The NBA Finals are here, and so is your chance to score big on Fandul's Sportsbook. Throughout the NBA Finals, Fandil is giving new customers $200

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I feel like Golden State, and this is a veteran-laden team, you know, the major parts have been to five finals. I feel like they are back against the wall, crank it up to 10 when they have to team. And that was one of those games. I don't know if they are, killer instinct,

we're going to bury you type of team, right? There's a reason why Boston is a three and a half or four point favorite, whatever it is, in the next game. Because I do think that this is going to go, these teams are both good, they're going to make adjustments,

and I think it's probably going to go back and forth for a little while. And Boston will have it feel like it really needs to get a win. It'll be the first time in the home crowd in the finals game. and I'd imagine they'll be jacked up. Their role players will play well, probably get game three, and then the Warriors will feel like, hey,

facts against the wall, we've got to get this done, and we'll probably get some epic game four, and might be the first really good game in the series. That's what I'd guess, but I don't know, despite both these games being double-digit margins, I feel like it's been pretty fun to watch. Yeah, it's been great. Yeah, it's been a lot of fun.

I'm enjoying both these games, even though it's double digits. I'd love to have a down-to-the-wire game. That'd be great. Wouldn't that be fun if we got a game to go down to a potential game winner? Like we got Game 7, Boston, Miami? That'd be sick. I hope we get that tomorrow night on Wednesday. Game 3, that would be sensational.

By the way, what did you think about Gary Payton coming back? What did you think about his impact? Enormous because it gives him another guy to play. Yeah, very good defensively. He did a good job on Tatum. Like he's smaller, but he doesn't play small. And he goes hard, kind of does a little bit of everything, doesn't take bad shots. You know, he's three for three.

He's got three rebounds. He's got three assists. He's just kind of, you know, you need role players. Short, short role playmaking as a screener or spot up shooting, cutting. Like, he just plays his role at a high level. Yo, tell me you saw his dead shirt. Oh, yeah. Yeah, with them guarding each other.

Isn't that cool? I mean, that is unbelievable. Yeah. Unbelievable. Your dad's showing up with a shirt of you guarding him. It's a ridiculous shirt. It's amazing. It is amazing.

I'll give him that. Where can we get that shirt? Where can we get that? All right. What do you make of Tatum and the, you know, one of the storylines was this is the worst plus minus anyone's had since they started tracking? it. He had this big scoring game and yet he's a minus 36 in the game, which is a 36 is a monster number. Did you feel like it was his fault?

No. No. I don't think you were watching that game going, oh my God, they suck with Tatum out there. I thought, I mean, that run that the Golden State Warriors went on, I tweeted this out. You can put those shots up against any shots in a run in NBA history. Those were insane. The one that Curry had on the sideline in front of the bench that he pulled,

I mean, he's 10. That was like the Lillard shot, for God's sake. Right? And then the pool shots, come on. Double crossover, has he stepped back three from half court? Like, get the hell out of here. Here's the thing.

I mean, well, first on Tatum, like, I mean, I don't read too much into it. That third quarter explosion is, you know, insane what the Warriors did during that run to help inflate that stat. But with Jordan Poole, like you just mentioned him, and like granted they were ahead by a lot when his explosion started, I wonder if maybe that's what he needed. He needs like something to feel good. He's been so cold.

Does it really matter when that moment came and now that moment came and now he's feeling good? Mentally, the approach, because he hasn't had a great game in a while. Maybe he just needed Derek White to try to jump over him. So he could try to trip him. Yeah, that's what unlocked him. Derek White. I haven't read it yet this morning because I was prepping for the pod, but Mirren Fader posted a feature story on Derek White.

And anytime there's a Fader feature, you got to read it. So I'm looking forward to reading that later today. Derek White featured by Maren Fader. Yeah, he's gotten a lot of love over the course of the last couple of days too because I saw the story. There was one that was out there that I read earlier where the Brad Stevens quotes were just effusive with praise, like the perfect teammate, willing to do anything it takes to win.

You know, this is the kind of guy we wanted to get in here. And clearly, you know, given his, what he is brought to the table for them in the playoffs, and now he appears to be an essential piece for them and his performances are so important. to their success and or lack of success. That was truly a stroke of genius to pull off that trade. It was the perfect guy for the team, for sure. So he had after game one a Beatles hoodie on.

Okay. And I asked him as he was walking out the podium, I was like, Derek, who's your favorite beetle? And he turns, and he said Lenin. But me and Bobby Manning, who works for local, you know, CL&S radio and Boston, very talented kid. we both heard him say Jay Lennon

it sounded like he said Jay Lennon not John Lennon not Lennon but J. Lennon and I don't think I misheard him but it's just an interesting way

to answer Jay Lennon I might be wrong I wonder if he even knows I wonder if it's his thing you know all these players now I cover a team with a bunch of young guys on it

they'll yeah they'll wear like they'll wear like they'll wear like they'll wear like Fleetwood Mac's shirts with Stevie Nick's on it and have no idea who Stevie Nick's is. They got Ramon shirts and they got...

But Chris, he named his son Hendrix. Oh, okay. And I believe it was after Jimmy Hendricks, according to some of myself. Well, then maybe he was just given his first initial. Yeah, no. I've just never heard someone say Jay Lenin. It's John Lenin.

John Lennon's, you know, one syllable. John, Jay, John, Jay. Like, what difference does it make? interestingly enough I went to when we were in New York last week we took that

the carriage ride around Central Park with the kids you know and it's super fun because they're pointing out everything like hey that's where

the snowball fighting elf was and that's where the pigeon lady from home alone too was and like so they they knew like so many of the places that they had seen

in movies and whatnot we had a really good my brain doesn't work like that I don't make those connections oh really? You don't? No, I don't. You don't remember scenes in movies?

No, not really, no. Wow. I mean, it's pretty big scenes. Those are pretty famous scenes. If you've seen those movies. Which movies? Elf with Will Farrell. There's a snowball fight with his brother.

No idea. It's in Central Park. Home Along 2. Pigeon ladies in that. Anyway. I can't remember a thing went out. One in Home Alone 2 come out in 1993, 93, something like that.

I don't know. I don't remember. So we're going through, we end up at strawberry fields. The point of this is we end up at strawberry fields. I know that. I know, I know strawberry fields. Yeah, yeah. The guy points out the, you know, the house on the corner, townhouse on the corner, where John Lennon lived, and he was shot outside it by a fan.

And he goes through the story and whatever else. But that's what he says. And I did not know this. He said, Yoko Ono still lives there. And I said, really? Really? Same house? 88 years old.

He said she's 88. She still lives there. Yoko Ona. I was like, damn, man. No way. Yeah, that's what he said. No way. She still lives there?

That's what he said. I was like, man, I hope she walks out on that balcony. That'd be cool. How wild, though, like, you know, like she, like, so I guess she could directly. She just walks out on that balcony. she sees tourists every single day of her life visiting, you know, this, this memorial that they have to John Lennon, this strawberry fields with the big imagine thing on the on the ground. I just, I just Googled this.

So New York Post in 2020 has a story about Yokoano, it says, Ono has reported assets of $700 million. Oh my God. She still owns multi-million dollar properties in Manhattan as well as hundreds of rolling acres and upstairs. upstate Delaware County Public Record Show. She lives in the same sprawling nine-room apartment on the seventh floor of the Dakota that she once shared with John.

She also keeps an adjacent unit at the West 72nd Street building for visitors. Wow. There's no way that carriage ride driver was wrong. No way. I mean, I guess he was right.

He's a trustworthy source. 88. That's crazy. Still living there. No, Colonna. What year was he shot? Late 70s, right? 80, 81?

I think so. Let me check. I don't remember the year he died. 1980. December 8th, 1980. Wow. That's 40 years old. That's too bad.

That is wild. 42 years! She's lived in that place just since that happened. Who's your favorite fetal? Probably Paul McCartney. Okay. I mean, just because. Come, why, Paul?

Because I have, he's been a part of, like, my life since I was a little kid, right? Like, I have an awareness of him that I don't the other ones. Yes, I can go watch the old videos, and I'm certainly appreciative of the John Lennon songs and whatever else. But I think, I think Paul McCartney. You're just not a peace guy. I just feel like he's, well, he didn't want peace inside the band necessarily. I mean, I'm very sensitive to the guy that.

You know, found the girl and broke up the band. You know what I mean? Had her around all the time. You know what I mean? I think I'm more of a Paul guy. I'm going to tell you this. I think Paul McCartney is kind of like the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of music. The longevity, the longevity, the peaks,

like he continued to sustain greatness for a long, long time after his prime. He's still making good music today. I just, I think that if I met Paul, Paul McCartney, I would love Paul McCartney. You know what I mean? But if you met John Lennon, like if John Lennon was still alive. Oh, he'd blow you off in a second. Exactly.

But Paul McCartney seems like he'd be a nice guy, he'd shake your hand, he'd be like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I really liked wings, you know. Did you watch that carpal karaoke that he did? Oh, with James Corden? Oh, my God. Very good. Very good. Yo, that got mega emotional.

That's the only time I got, like, when he was talking about his dad. and his grandpa and everything else. Oh, my God. I don't remember that. I just remember feeling happy watching it. It gets heavy in the middle of that, but he seems like the coolest dude. He really does.

He still puts on a really great concert, too. I guarantee he does. I saw him with my dad at Fenway Park, I think in 2009, 2010, something like that. Random opener, MGMT. Are you familiar with that band? Am I familiar? I know.

I know. I want to throw you a last. I throw out of the alley to tell me that he's a Memphis Grizzlies fan. He's a friend. I know, I know. He's a friend. Andrew Van Weingarten's from Memphis. He's a friend, yes, from Memphis.

Yep. So MGMT opened for Paul McCartney and they were great. And then Paul McCartney puts on an amazing show, man. Like his energy on stage of his age. I don't know how that dude does it, but I want to see him again. And by the way, like I mentioned wings earlier, his band in the 70s, great elm, band on the run, Red Rose Speedway,

what else, Venus and Mars, really good albums. But his new album, McCartney 3, it's pretty good. Really? For a guy who's in his 80s, it's pretty good. McCartney 3's got some good songs on it. Just throwing that out there. So are you opposed to?

He's not even in his 80s, he's 879, 79 years old. I just looked it up, 79. He turns 80 on June 18th. That's around game 7. Are you a Paul guy too? Yeah, I mean, I think Paul. Paul's probably one for me and then... John.

John. And then George and then Ringo. I like a lot of George solo stuff, but I like a lot of John's solo stuff too. It's very close. Yeah. Fair enough. I mean, those three are kind of on their own. It's one Paul.

It's one Paul, two John, three, George, four Ringo. That's really what it is. But I like, I think George is very underrated. I agree with that. Actually, I say that, is it possible to be underrated when you're a beetle? Absolutely. That is? Yes.

Even as a beetle. Yes. Absolutely. Yes. It's possible. Right? He's kind of the Draymond. Right?

There's Clay and there's Steph. And then there's Draymond. All right. Back to the finals. Do you feel any differently about your Boston and 7 prediction after we've seen two games? No, not really. I thought it was interesting. This morning Nick Wright changed his prediction to Celtics and six.

I mean, we kind of hinted at that on last week's show where we said, well, maybe this won't go even seven. I asked you, does this change your prediction, Chris? It does not. Not really, no. I mean, I still think I'll stick with seven right now. Yeah, I think it's going seven games and then whoever, and then you just decide who you think is going to win the seventh game.

But would six surprise you either way? No. or selfish. Not me neither. I agree. No. But five would absolutely stun me. I see no circumstance where somebody wins the next three games.

I think it's going to go back and forth all the way to the end. That's what I think. I think it'll go back and forth all the way to the end. One, one, one, one, one. Yeah. I think that's possible. Yeah. Now, I would change that if Boston wins these next two.

Yeah, both at home. Yeah, I would too at that point. But I think they'll probably split just like they did. Well, I was talking with someone yesterday who said their prediction for the series is that Celtics win the two at home. They go up 3-1, but then the Celtics win. And then the Warriors win the next two to force a game 7. That would be a crazy timeline. If that were to happen, Boston up 3-1, Warriors tie it up 3-3, then a game 7 in SS.

I think there- Chase Center. be cream. I think they're both good teams well coached that make good adjustments and you know these teams have been given to extremes with the adjustments. They've come out and they have had

massively different performances after they have lost games. We saw that in the Miami series. We saw it with Golden State in their last series. So I think that I think you're probably going to

I'd imagine Boston wins three and Golden State wins four or vice versa. I think they're splitting Boston. You know, the team that loses is the one that watches the game tape and makes the most extreme adjustments. And usually when you're a really good team and you start to change things around and I do think the Boston home crowd can help them, I would be surprised if Boston didn't win three. I would.

But at that point, now, Warriors are in that backs against the wall position. We can't go down 3-1, probably get a massive grand slam effort out of them in four. That's what I'd guess. You know, but I have, I'll be, I will say, for scores that have been relatively non-competitive, I have been entertained.

It's been fun to watch. How much do you care about TV ratings? Because those are down. No, I couldn't care less. I couldn't care less. I think it's, I mean, I saw a tweet this morning that said TV ratings are down overall 26% in June 2022 compared to June 2019. Just people are outside of their houses? Yeah, I mean, but also.

We're all locked up for the last two years. No, no, no, no. No, I said 2019. Hmm. 2019. So three years ago. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Down 26%.

So that means. a quarter down from that. So it's like how much can you really read into ratings? Of course ratings are down. More people are streaming. More people are just not watching live. It's a changing world, man. Like we've talked about this before.

Your son watches like 10 minute recap videos on YouTube in the morning. Did you see? Like those get like 5 million views in 24 hours after they're posted on the NBA YouTube page. I was thinking about this this weekend. So my business is sports, so I watch a ton of sports. I watch golf tournaments on the weekend. Last night I watched some of the college baseball that was on just because it was on. I love watching sports.

I do. I love watching sports. It is the only thing I watch on television. I was just thinking about that this weekend. It's really the only thing I watch on TV. I don't watch anything else. Really? I don't watch anything else.

It's like I would watch, you know, like when my mom moves out to L.A. later this year. I'll watch the next season of The Bachelor with her, right? I'll watch that with her. Like, it's our show we watch together. I love doing that with her, you know? Someday if I have a girlfriend,

maybe we'll have a show we watch together, but maybe not. Maybe we'll stream it. No, that's what, yeah, if I watch that stuff, like, so this weekend, there was no finals games on. I think, like, everybody else, I was home, whatever it was.

Was it Saturday night or something? Yeah. And I was screwing around. I ended up watching, you know, like when you, you know, when you turn it on Netflix and the trailer starts playing, you know, once it lands on something, and it just starts playing the show.

And so somebody texts me, I looked down to my phone, and there's like a trailer playing in the background. And I looked up and I was like, I started to get interested in it. It was that Leah Remini thing on Scientology. I was like, I had no intention of watching this. I was like, this pretty damn interesting.

And I was just looking for something to watch on Netflix. And then I watched Happy Gilmore with my son, because I saw it was on Netflix. I forgot with Tom Cruise our conversation last week. I was recommended by my friend Prince Will. He recommended the Netflix dot Going Clear about Scientology. Okay. I haven't checked that out yet, but I got to watch that.

The Leo one that you mentioned, that's really good. Yeah, I mean, it was interesting to me. I mean, again, it's like once I, so I watched the first couple episodes, because I didn't know anything about any of this stuff. You think we have any listeners who are Scientologists? I don't know, maybe. Hit us up. Don't recruit us, but hit us up.

I just didn't. I didn't know anything about any of this stuff. So anyways, and so don't hit me up with, oh, she's lying or that's not good to watch or what. Look, it was interesting. I watched the first couple episodes. But then I looked at the end, you know, like when he could go to like episodes or whatever. There's like three seasons of this thing. And I was like, well, this is pretty big commitment.

I don't know if I care that much. I can't do three seasons. I'm not trying to watch three. I was like, it's pretty interesting at the beginning, you know. I will watch Going Clear. I want to watch Going Clear. That's like, what, under two hour, Doc? Okay.

I can handle that. All right. By the way, we weren't able to watch Hustle yet. I looked for it on Saturday night. It doesn't come out until Wednesday. Tomorrow, it's my phone. I know. I know, it's okay.

I was so disappointed. I was ready to go. I was to watch Hustle tonight. No. Hey, that's how I ended up on the Liorari. remedy, take. I was looking for hustle.

Yeah. I was looking for Russell. Next thing I know, I'm watching about some thing about Scientology. All right.

Not the plan. Now you've got a Tom Cruz tattoo on your back. Yeah, I do. You're a Scientologist. A couple other things before we get out of here. Quinn Snyder step down

as coach of the Utah Jazz. So Trader Danny and the group at Utah is going to have to find themselves a new head coach. We've talked a lot about what Utah could possibly do in their off season because felt like they might have hit a limit on what the Mitchell-Gobert combo is capable of. We know that Danny Ains is probably going to redo that roster. But head coaching wise,

I've always thought Quinn Snyder is a good head coach. I guess the rumors are he's going to sit out for a year, do whatever. But were you surprised that he stepped down? Were you surprised at the timing of when he stepped out? Not at all. I mean, Mark Stein reported on his substack back in March that he was resisting contract, extension talks, that there was rumors of him being the successor to Greg Popovich in San Antonio.

There's been, you know, noise about Quinn Center leaving Utah for quite some time. now. The only question is going to be whether he coaches next season. Tim McMahon from ESPN said how because he has one year left on his deal, the Jazz could restrict him from coaching next year if they wanted to. They could. Doesn't mean they will.

We'll see about that. But for Snyder, it seems like for quite a while now it's been heading in this direction. So not surprised. I was surprised in some ways by the Adrian Wardenowski report that said Donovan Mitchell is unsettled, unnerved, and disappointed

by the news. I mean, like I said, I think it's a bit much to feel so much shock by the news. I mean, you knew this was coming for quite a while now.

I wonder if maybe it wasn't if he wasn't really fed all the information, perhaps, and he just wants to know what's going to happen. Or if this is his way of pushing his way out, if this is an opportunity, an organization, in transition with a new head, coached where it's now is the time to jump out

and try to get to Miami or New York. I wonder if that's what's happening here. The Heat want a star, Chris. They want Beal. They want Mitchell. They want to get a star to pair with Jimmy Baller. They want to go for the title next year. The Heat want a star. That's what everybody in the NBA has been talking about.

The Heat want another star. Is it Donovan Mitchell, who trains in Miami? Could be. I wondered if there was some assurance that Quinn reached, recently got that there's about to be a Popovich Swan song and that, you know what I mean? Like without explicitly, without it being reported everywhere that on the low, he knows, hey, Greg's, Greg's not going to go after next year.

That's probably, it's probably going to be his last year. Exactly what I was thinking. And we love to have you. Right? Yep. Exactly. And that's where. One year off.

That's where I could see the Mitchell thing with the unnerving. Yes, maybe it wants out. But also, he might have felt like Quinn was coming back. And I don't want to say he got assurances that he was going to come back. But he probably felt like, hey, he's still going to be my head coach here. And Quinn might have felt that way. but once it became real that like hey i've got a landing spot after a year i could take a year off and then i can i'm going to be the head coach of the spurs that it was kind of understood

and it became real then maybe he said you know what i'm just going to step down from this thing it's not fair to you it's not fair to me it's not fair to any of these guys because i know after a year where i'm going to be because gregg's not for long there and I'm going to go take over to that organization where I want to be. The other side of it could be, it's a great excuse for Donovan Mitchell. Oh, sure is. Right? He wants out.

And so now he can say, I'm unnerved by all that. He might have known. He might have just known it was coming anyway. But he can use this as saying, uh, look now, but let's not talk about my commitment. Right. And so he's got a way to not be a bad guy. Yeah, but who cares about being the bad guy? Some guys do.

Good guys do. And he's a good dude. He does. He is a good dude. By all accounts, Donovan Mitchell is a good dude. Yeah, you got to do what you got to do. It's just, I think for Mitchell, here's the challenge. Let's say it is that.

Let's say he wants to get out of Utah. And let's say he wants to go to Miami or New York, right? Let's say that's the case. Well, no guarantee that you get there. you still have three guaranteed seasons left on your contract. Yep. Any team can be like, oh, yeah, we want to trade for a 25-year-old guard, multi-time all-star that's had great success in the postseason.

Any team could do that. The magic, the kings, Pacers, anybody out of nowhere can say, yeah, we're going to go for you. It doesn't mean just because you want out, doesn't mean Miami or New York is going to be the team with the best offer, which is what Utah is going to take. They're going to take the best offer, period. So that's the challenge for Mitchell is the timing when you have three years left on your deal

and you're so young, any team could want to take a shot on you. The Charlotte gig, you have two names that have come up most prominently, Mighty and Kenny Atkinson. I'll say this. I think if I'm a Charlotte fan, I'm excited either way. I agree completely with you. If you get Atkinson, these are like, you know,

so many times you do these coaching searches and you see the names come out and you're like, exactly. This is a, this is a, this is already been one of our favorite league pass teams, especially because of the announcer. But,

you know, you got De Antony, you know, Lamello's going to put up these crazy ass stats. They won't play a lick of defense, and they'll be flying up and down the court, him throwing alley-ups to Miles Bridges and whoever else. And,

and you would have some, freaky numbers put up by LaMello. On the flip side, Kenny Atkinson was a proven young team culture builder in Brooklyn, right? So I just don't think either way it's going to be fun. I think I'd

probably lean towards Atkinson just at this point because I don't know if Dan Tony how long he would be there. And Atkinson feels like the kind of guy that I could hire and, you know,

yeah, hope is going to be my coach for the next five to ten years, for sure. So, yeah, I think that either way, either way. Atkinson's Brooklyn team was one of the absolute most fun teams to watch on League Pass, and all the DeAntony teams are fun. They're fun. I mean, the Houston. Really? You didn't like Houston?

No, no, no. I'm saying the Houston, James Hardin, you know, pounding the ball into the ground team, notwithstanding. There's a lot of D'Antony years, though. I know. But, I mean, he's been coaching for 20-frigin years. I've seen a lot of D'Antone teams, you know? Yeah. And I guess some of the Knicks and Lakers teams weren't as fun.

I'm just saying, if he's got Lamello, it'll be fun. We know him with the guy like that, you know, with, and. So when's the last time D'Antoni was fun? The 2000s, when Bush was pretty? president? Wow. Is that really the last time Dan Tony teams were fun for you?

Inshanity, when was that? That was fun? Yeah, for a couple weeks. The fact that I remember it, you know, so much, that one was fun. I think that was fun. I've liked Dan Tony,

including the Houston years, but I'm the weird of that enjoyed watching their innovative style. Yeah. So, yeah, I don't think he can go wrong with the Charlotte thing. And then the last thing we got to hit,

we're about two weeks away from the draft, Kev. And it feels like, you know, Smith, Holmgren, Bankero, everybody's got them top three in some order, okay? Four is where it changes, whether it's Shaden Sharp

or Jaden Ivy or it's whoever, Kegan Murray, whoever. And Sacramento has that pick. And there's already some talk out there, hey, maybe Sacramento, you know, that's right in the range where that pick could be moved. Whether that's moved down a little and get something else, whether that's we are able to reshape our roster a little more by acquiring good player. We can use this asset. We're not going to bring in necessarily a fourth guy.

What do you make of that and the idea that there's not a surefire for so that could absolutely. be used to do whatever Sacramento wants to do to try to improve their team. Yeah, so, I mean, what I put on the ring around Monday about that was, like, for them, that they want to win. They want to find a guy who can help them win now. They want to build around Fox, Sabonis, Davion, Mitchell, and make it work with those guys. So if it's a trade down, here's some of the stuff I mentioned. Tell me which one appeals most to you, Chris.

this is what I had in my article. This is just all theoretical. Sixth pick and Malcolm Brogden from the Pacers. Maybe it's T.J. Warren. How about maybe Josh Hart in the seventh pick from Portland? The Spurs could offer somebody, you know, with their pick. Does any of that appeal to you if you're Sacramento or do you want to stay there at number four?

I could get more than Hart and seven. So I would get, what do they have, What do they have later? The Kings? No, no, no, Portland. Yeah, because Portland is the one that got the booby prize in this. The idea that they would be wanting to move up is totally real, especially to a P's Dane, right? Yeah, the Blazers have 36 and 59 in addition to seven.

The Kings have 37 and 49 in addition to four. Yeah, so I for sure would want seven to 36. Sure, which is fair there. And then if the Kings, you can package 37. six and 37 and try to move up into the lay first or even just up higher into the second. Yeah, and I'm trying to wear them out. I'm trying to, you know, you got to take on some of my crappy contracts to make me, you know, where I can reshape this roster a little easier. The thing is, is the Blazers are a team that could also move out because, you know, as I reported

in that same piece on Monday, is that they, they're trying to add a star. Yeah. The Blazers want a star. So, like, they're interested in guys like, they might not be able to get, but they have interest in like the Bradley Beals and the Zach Levine's of the world. Even Miles Bridges from Charlotte is a guy that I've heard mentioned quite a lot for them too. So, you know, Portland can move out of seven. They might trade out of that. A lot of movement could happen. What a, what a monster backfire for Charlotte on the bridges thing.

God. I mean, you could have had him for just a pennies on the dollar compared to what he's going to get now. Well, he didn't take the deal. But they didn't offer him nothing. Yeah, they didn't offer enough. No. They lowballed him. They lowballed him.

Yeah. They lowballed him. You could have gotten them on a totally reasonable deal. You know, guys want to be secure. You lock him up for 70, 80 million bucks, whatever it would have been, you know. And the guy feels great about everything. You sign them to a four year, 80 or whatever. Instead, now he's going to go and he's trying to get $130,000.

something million dollars whatever they were trying to get crazy. You know? Kind of wild to think about. I don't know. Do you think, do you look at it and say there's three that there's no way

if I was in the top three, I'd move out of that? No. I'm always open to trading. Oh, really? Yeah, always. But we know that there's a, do you, all right,

is there a big gap from three to four to you? probably. Like on draft night, yes, on draft night there's a big gap. There is. But if you look back five years from now, will there be a big gap?

Maybe not. Right. Because like an Ivy, a sharp, those guys could turn into great players. Oh, for sure. And then the gap might not look so wide. But on draft night itself,

when you're evaluating there, because these guys, yes, there is. Yeah. And certainly there's always those teams that had the crappy year that didn't get the draft pick that they wanted to get.

and we'll be trying to move up. That's for sure. Yes, absolutely. All right. It's going to do it for today's show. Thank you to our executive producer, Jesse Lopez, as always. Kevin, I will talk to you on Friday. Looking forward to it.

Have a good one, everybody.