The Mismatch - LIGHT THE BEAM: KINGS GO UP 2-0! Plus, Lakers Empower Austin Reaves, Playoff Kawhi, and More First-Round Reactions.

Episode Date: April 18, 2023

Verno and KOC recap a wild Game 2, which saw the Kings go up 2-0 on the Warriors (01:27). Regardless of where the Kings finish, their fans finally have a legit team they can root for. After career games from Rui Hachimura and Austin Reaves, the Lakers took Game 1 over Verno’s Grizzlies (24:33). The guys discuss the impressive performance by the Clippers, who took down the Suns in their series opener, and why the Timberwolves are just no match for the Nuggets (41:43). In looking at the East matchups, KOC explains why Derrick White is making the biggest difference for the Celtics, before moving on to the Heat, who beat the Bucks without Giannis, as well as why they’re excited to see the rest of the series between the Knicks and Cavs (55:30). Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Producer: Jessie Lopez Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's official. One Shining podcast is back, and I am your host, Tate Frazier. And as March Badness begins, we're covering everything from Selection Sunday all the way to the championship and beyond. We're going to have great guests that are coming through on the show. And look, if you're a friend of the program and you're already subscribed, you don't have to do anything. OSP is back. It's going to be right back in your feed. And if you're not a friend of the program, and this is your first time on the rodeo, then let me tell you this. You need to go to Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcast. and smash subscribe today because the OSP show is back.

Welcome to The Mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon and joining me as he does every Tuesday from the ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor, A.K. Kevin O'Bomber, Kevin O'Bomber, Kevin O'Connor, A.K., Kevin O'Brien, Kevin O'Connor. Kevin O'Brien. Kevin O'Birdow! Oh my goodness, man. What a game. We are recording after we have just watched the light, the beam. Kings go up to zip in their series against the Golden State Warriors. Quite the eventful game. We had some epic plays with some big shots being made. We had a guy stomping on another guy.

And we had the light the beam kings with their owner cheering sitting next to Floyd Mayweather, no less. It was fun to watch. And I and Eagle on the call all around highly entertaining basketball game, to say the least. And the Kings have held up their end of the bargain on home court advantage in this series. And I read it is the first time that this step, Clay, Drayman group has been down 02.2. in a series. And so they will have a lot of work to do.

If they are to beat the Sacramento Kings, they're going to have to beat them four out of the next five games that those teams play. What's your overwhelming thought, obviously it's a lot to compute. We just got done watching it. When do you think about what we just watched?

I mean, like you said, Chris, it's a lot to compute with what we just saw. But my number one thought, though, following this game is we see Steph Curry scores 28 points, leads the way for the Warriors. But I felt like all night long between Steph and Clay, the King's defense did an absolute unbelievable job making life tough on those guys, trying to like cut the head off the snake there. Davion Mitchell, you know, unsung hero of the game, his on-ball defense at the point of attack on Steph Curry, tracking him off ball. time Steph was trying his little relocations where he gets sprung free for three-pointers, Mitchell was there. You know, Clay Thompson coming off of, you know, actions off ball. Sabonis would sometimes hedge out, pressure him, take that action away. The Kings have played that

way themselves all year long. Their defense is used to defending those actions within practices against each other. And it felt like a team that was just totally prepared for what the Warriors do better than anybody over the last 10 years. And that's just my first initial thought from the game. But obviously there's so much that happened, including Jarmar Green, just stomping on DeMontas subonis. So you had some great contributions from the bench, i.e. Mitchell, who you just shouted out,

who hit a massive three that ended the game. Malik Monk, off the bench, giving you 18 points. and, you know, really played seven. Trey Liles didn't do as much in this game. Alex Linn's eight minutes, you know, and the amount of minutes that he is. Yeah, it really is. And I saw, I don't know if you saw someone tweeted out, I believe it was NBA University,

tweeted out the top five picks of that draft. Oh, man. And unbelievably, Alex Lynn is the one contributing the most. Isn't that something else, man? That was the 2013 draft class, right? Yeah, it was like Anthony Bennett, Oladipo, Auto Porter, Cody Zeller, Alex Lennon. And Alex Lenn is the guy, you know, early in his career,

number five pick going to the Sons, he looks like a bust, right? Like he struggles early on, but yet, and now he's in what, year 10, year nine, and he's contributing, oh, granted it's only eight minutes, but that speaks to, you know, in those eight minutes, minutes. That first half run by the Kings, that gave them like a tenish point cushion over the Warriors. I felt like they were about to blow the game open. The Warriors punched back, but that Monk Len sequence in that second quarter was unbelievable. Mike Brown, I mean, he, like I just

mentioned, like you're mentioning Len minutes, right? Like I mentioned how, you know, Mitchell defended and all these bench guys, Trey Lyle's all year, sensational. Malik Monk, Spark plug, making defensive plays, blocking shots. Mike Brown at the end of the day, he's going to get named Coach of the Year this week after the Coaches Association already named him Coach of the Year with their own award. It speaks to the job

he did coaching this team to position his players to have this success and pulling the right cards like an Alex Lennon in the first half, but not the second half. It really is a testament to his coaching and now the players have executed that plan. It also speaks to

the level of continuity that this team has been able to have this year. And we have talked so many times about the value of continuity. How many minutes do you get to play with each other as a group? And for the most part, this team has been outrageously healthy this year. And it just gives you rep after rep after rep. And so this group, you're not playing a million guys. all those guys have this incredible familiarity with each other.

And I think what we're seeing in many cases now is a lot of teams that it's kind of thrown together. And sometimes it looks better than other times, right? So we're obviously later we're going to talk about the Sons and the Clippers. But there was a moment where I'm watching and I'm like, I mean, these five guys on the court sure haven't logged a lot of minutes together when you're talking about KD only being there for X amount of time and getting used to it. But then you look at the other side and it's like, how many minutes, honestly,

have Eric Gordon, Russell Westbrook, and Kauai Leonard played together? And those are the ones making the plays. But it's just we know who we are. We know what we go to. We know where everybody's going to be on these certain plays. and before this series, I said, I thought that there was anybody

I wanted to draw up a scouting report against the Golden State Warriors, Mike Brown's right at the very top of that list for certain. And the scouting report has held up, and most importantly, this is the shocking thing. The defense has held up. Yeah.

Because that was all, of the analysis. It was the Warriors have their guys back. Now Wiggins is going to be back in the lineup. And you just now winning with a bottom 10 in the league defense. And in fact, you are winning with the bottom 10 in the league defense when that defense has played at the level that it has played thus far through two games. Absolutely. I mean, no doubt about it. I think that King's defense looks well prepared. They're executing the game. plan and granted that there's moments Sabonis who's, you know,

not an unbelievable interior defender not just a turrent around the basket, but his rebounding and some of the help defense on the perimeter showing his fluidity, that has been valuable against this warrior's offense. And for Golden State, you know, if Steph Curry's

not on the floor, he's a plus three in this game, you know, he's a plus in game one. If Steph Curry's not on the floor, they're just disastrous and that speaks to Jordan Poole, who had one of the absolute worst passes I've seen of the entire season with that cross-court righty hook to the corner that just sailed, you know, 20 feet high out of bounds.

They called the anti-yokage. Dude. He is. Pool is an absolute mess right now because with him, you know, he averages 20 this year. Last year he's great for a stretch, you know, scoring the heck out of a ball. The issue with him is his playmaking. has not developed. And on defense, this guy's an absolute liability.

And he's got a Big Mac's contract coming up. But right now he's getting benched in a game two in the first round. I mean, it's a problem for Golden State that he has not come along this season for the Warriors. Well, one of the things that I thought about as I was watching this unfold tonight was for all of their defensive issues throughout the year. And look, a little bit's overstated because they clearly are the three seed because they could outscore you. Even if you wanted to look at their defensive numbers and they weren't that oppressive, they could still outscore you. And that's how they were able to accumulate the amount of wins that they did.

But when I was watching tonight, I thought, you know, there are many ways in which they are uniquely equipped with what they do bring to the table defensively to deal with. the Warriors because the big problem with Sacramento is there's only one guy who's having to battle everybody down there and they don't have the rim protection. They don't have, you watch a lot of these games, there's somebody in there that's really protecting the rim, that if you're driving to the basket, you're meeting somebody. And that's not what Sacramento brings to the table. But that doesn't, that doesn't kill. you when the other team doesn't drive. I mean, and who is, who's putting pressure on the rim for Golden State?

Nobody. I mean, like, you know, Steph will get into the lane, but he's not like, you know, drawing a ton of files or dunking over people. Wiggins is not that guy. They don't have anybody who does that. Nobody's putting pressure on the rim. And that's where Sacramento's defensive problems will show up is when you can put pressure when your points on the paint.

team. Like next round, whether it's the Lakers or the Grizzlies, right? They're putting pressure on the rim. And that's where the subonious problem becomes apparent. And that's potentially what that could lead to the demise of the kings and the postseason. But this round against

the Warriors, his flaws don't matter as much. And considering the way the Warriors play and their personnel. And for Golden State moving forward in this series, you know, you're down 02 for the first time in the Steph Curry era.

You have a chance now with Steph, Draymond, and Clay Thompson, that they could lose in the first round together. And Steve Kerr, over the days off here, is going to be searching for answers. If your goal in state here, I feel like, you know, watching these games, they're good, they get talent,

but doesn't it feel like the Kings just have so many more ways to generate offense through different sources, whether it's Fox on the break, whether it's Sabonis, DHOs, Kevin Herder, off the bounce or coming off of offball actions. Up and down the roster, they have ways to attack you. Malik Monk and the Warriors, we just mentioned Poole, who's been absolutely horrific. Other than Steph and Wiggins and Dremont, Clay's not even getting by Sabonis

when he's been defending him a lot of the time. It's just not a lot of options for the Warriors right now. Yeah. And there was a segment in this game where, and you know I've covered a ton of Warriors' playoff games throughout this entire era that they've had, different incarnations of teams that have played against them. And there was a segment in the third quarter

where I'm saying that by telling, television. Oh no. Oh, no. Because it went, they, Sacramento had all the momentum in the world. They got 81 to 67. So they're up 14 points with three minutes left to go in this quarter, 3.20 left. P.S. They've been in the bonus for the last eight minutes, basically. And they come down as they're up 14 and they go, monk missed three. Liles missed three, Fox missed three, Monk then drives to the basket, lay up, gets bumped by Draymond and what should have been his fifth foul. Can't put him away at this point.

And then they come back down and Fox misses another three. Warriors Balabash. And you look up and it's 83 to 79. Yep, yep. By the time that they're, you know, and the only two points they've scored are Sabonis free throws. And I'm like, oh my God. This is the young team.

This is the, we don't know how to do this yet. But those possessions, it doesn't seem like much of the time, but you've got them down. You're up 14. And they just kept settling. It kept settling. It kept settling against a team that was in the bonus. It's the difference between a young team and a veteran team. It's a difference between a team that's got a million playoff games under their belt versus this is our first time.

it. And I mean, thank goodness it did not come back to haunt them. But how many times have we seen that exact thing happen? And the Warriors just keep playing, keep plugging away. And then you look up and it's like, oh my God, your lead is gone and now you're dead. Well, how about even late in the fourth quarter, you get back-to-back possessions where Clay Thompson hits three-pointers? How many times over the years have we seen Clay Thompson hit big threes to eat? You either close, you know, a deficit, which he did in that case, from 101-95 to 102-101, or take a lead over the years. And this is now two games in a row the Kings have shown resilience.

Anytime the Warriors have battled Mac made the runs that they always do, and not once have they folded. And that, again, a testament to the players in that locker room with their mindset, their collective buy-in, and the coaching staff as well. this King's team, regardless of how far they go, maybe they lose the series, maybe they lose next round, maybe they go all the way and win the finals.

Who knows, regardless of how far they go. For the Kings fans to have this team to root for, I mean, could it be any better after all? And I think everybody, could it be better? I think everybody's shocked that they're at this moment right now, that they are up to O. But, you know,

and it's one of the things you talked about. a lot of times. It's like, does a regular season matter? Whole season, they were better. They were better. They were all year. And here's the dirty little secret. They're better on the road.

Yes. Defense has been better on the road. You're right. They've been better on the road this year than they even were at home. Now, we know Golden State couldn't win road games the entire season. 11 and 30 on the year. And so we probably. shouldn't be that surprise. Now, look,

you'd imagine that they have been, they've been amazing at home. 33 and 8, which is a win percentage of 80.5, a 66 win rate. You don't want to make any wild declarations until you know, they're down,

until those kings can win a game on the road. Because the Warriors, it's, you know, you hear it every time they play. They've won 27 consecutive. games on the road. But I told you this before we recorded tonight, before the game, earlier

tonight, I told you, I said, look, you know I pay attention to football betting all the time. And I said most of the time, if I see like 80, 90%, it's just auto bet because that percentage of people don't win. And I saw one of the

sites put up that 90% of the bets that they had taken in were on the Warriors tonight. And I said, you know, you would think that the Warriors should just bounce back in game two. But if 90% of the people are betting on it, that's probably a loser. And sure enough, once again, turned out to be a loser. And we need to keep this in mind.

The Kings, who have a very, very dynamic offense, they just shot 24% from three on high volume. And yet won the game. Yep. Yep. They went nine of 38 and won the game. Says a lot. It really does.

It really does. Just an unbelievable effort. And that whole scene, they started to take care of the ball better, you know, later in the game. That first quarter was just an absolute mess. But they, as the game went on, they were able to take care of it. Obviously, look, Draymond got thrown out of that game. and Sabonis is getting next raise according to Woj I'm sure he's fine

That was messed up Yeah that was a reckless play by Dremont Reckless I mean you look at that point in the game Yeah, Subonis instigated by grabbing at you You gotta have some self-control man You know, Warriors are going back You're closing the lead Steph's got the ball on his hands and you do that

Just dumb really a dumb play And he always does it in a way Where he can get away with it. Like, I'm saying where his explanation, he will find morons out there to defend him and act like he wasn't meaning to do that. I was just trying to get my balance such as just where my foot came down,

whatever. Bro, he totally stomped him. He stomped the guy. He lost his mind and he stomped the guy. Yep. Because he was mad in the moment. He's temper flared and he stopped the guy. It added all to the fun of the drama of that night.

It does. There's no question. Yelling at the crowd. Yeah. Guys are a maniac. I love it. How amazing does this make game three? Oh, yeah, for sure.

By the way, and let me just say, cannot help. I can't wait to hear what Steve Kerr is having to say after the game regarding that play, considering I lived through the press conferences with his incredible righteous indignation about everything that happened and the code of basketball and everything else last year and the guy coaches Draymond Green who routinely kicks people in the nuts and stomps on people and whatever else under the sun.

Quick hit on Sixers Nets which was earlier in the evening. That series is not competitive. We didn't expect it to be competitive. But tonight was about Maxie. And Tyrese Maxie had a monster, absolute monster performance for the 76ers. 33 points, 13 of 23 from the field, 6 of 13 from 3. And I think that this could vote extremely well towards the Sixers in the future.

because there will inevitably be one of these, and it was tonight, right? James Harden didn't wait until a game seven or a meaningful game to go three of 13 and two of eight from three. He did it in game two, but you're going to need the Maxis of the world. And Maxi, I mean, God, he was awesome, absolutely awesome. And, you know, the Nets. What is a letter, man, tonight? Maxi was electric. Right? And they need that because, you know, you get the nets, you know, they're doubling JOL and B. They're playing small in that game, switching it up. And B, it has a great game in his own right. But he has eight turnovers. He's limited to only 11 shots because of all the doubling. And James Hardini has no drawn files through the first two games. He can't finish inside the yard. He has no burst, no explosiveness at the basket. They're going to have to have Tyrese maxi elevate his play, just like he did in

game two. They're going to get by the Nets regardless, but to get by the Celtics, Max, he's going to have to do more of what he did in game two. And he was just absolutely fantastic, as you said. M.B. dominant on the boards, had a bunch of blocks and really control the game defensively. Holding, I look, I don't care if it's the Nets, holding anybody to 84, the way the NBA has played right now is mega impressive. For sure. 84 is an enemic note. Yep, it is. That is low. The NBA playoffs are here and you can turn crossovers into cash with Fandul. Just visit Fandul.com slash mismatch right now.

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I call 1-8777-7-70 stop. In Maryland, visit MD gambling help.org. In Wyoming, call 1,900 522470. And West Virginia, visit 1-800 gambler.net. All right, Kevin, let's get to the rest of the series. I know you want to talk about the game that I was at. Yes, I do. We've had to wait so long into this pod.

The Los Angeles Lakers are up 1-0 on the Memphis Grizzlies. And as I took in all of the assorted media today, I was previously unaware that series lasted one game. The headline on ESPN.com was Stephen A says, Lakers series is over. And then you flip on this channel. And it's like, is this going to be a sweep? And then you flip on another channel.

See, the Lakers can win the West. Boy, did people change quickly, right? after watching them struggled to get past Minnesota in the play-in game when everybody last saw them, they played a very good game in game number one against the Grizzlies, and now, I suppose, going to be NBA champions. All right. Chris, tell me this. Tell me this.

Did the Lakers finally have their moment to convince you that they can get by Memphis, that they could make a run? that they finally have their moment? I think that they were very, very good in game one. I think they were very... E.D. looked like the 2020 version of himself, Chris. I mean, look. Now, I watched a game,

a Grizzly Laker game, no less, about a month or two ago, where the guy had 30 and 22. So, I mean... Well, that's what I'm saying. He's looking like the 20-20 version of him. himself. He was fantastic in yesterday's game. He was defensively dominating. And that is going to be a major plot for game two in my estimation, because it became rather clear that the Grizzlies

cannot survive with him being able to just man the paint. and be in drop. It can't happen. Like they have to, they have to have him guarding somebody. In the same way that Jaron Jackson attempted to drop and Rui Hachamura made them pay for that. If there is somebody you're not going to guard on the perimeter,

then you're going to pay for that. The Grizzlies have to find a way because he's not going to respect Tillman and he's not going to respect Aldama. and so whether that means Roddy, whether that means going super small, and just trying to gang rebound, you have to find a way to not allow him to man that paint because he's going to make everything way too hard on you. I mean, there's part of me that watches the gang and says,

look, at some point you got to just tip your cap. if guys that average 24 points combined for 52 points, then sometimes you've got to tip your cap. If Rui Ache Murrah is going to score 28, 29 points, and be the leading score of that team, then you got to just tip your cap, man, because you put together a game plan and you got to give up something. And that was what they decided to give up,

and he roasted them for it. And so, kudos to Hachimura. He was unbelievable. That, to me, was much more implausible to happen than the Reeves thing. Reeves is a hell of a play. I mean, I love him. And he has been for two months now. Reeves average an over 16 points per game, five assists ever since the deadline.

This is, this is part of what he's been doing. Oh, I heard from Laker fans. Oh, Reeves has been doing this. Reeves has played in 125 NBA games. He has never scored 14 points in a quarter. That has never happened. Yeah, but people saying he's been doing this, all they mean is he's been doing it for two months.

That's all they're saying is he's been doing it for two months. That this is nothing new based on his brand new roles in the deadline. It was actually the first time in 125 games. Yeah, and you know what? That's, that's, I tried warning you about this, Chris. I tried telling you that the Lakers, you say, oh, they haven't had a moment. What makes you believe in them?

Well, the thing that the Lakers, it's not in any one game or any one moment. It's the fact that it's different guys every night. In game one, yes, Rui Hachamur getting 29 points, shooting the hell out of it, pulling up for mid-range, looking like Hawaii Leonard. It's not like Rui's going to do that. But next game, it could be Dennis Schroeder off the bench, who's getting 20. The game after that, it could be DeAngelo Russell getting hot. Like, that's the thing with the Lakers.

They are not solely reliant on the Bronzer. James and Anthony Davis anymore. That's why I was so high on them after the deadline because of how they bolster their offense and how they were still dominant on defense as long as AD's healthy. And as you said, like it's going to be hard to figure out the AD problem on defense from the Memphis side of things. And that Lakers' offense is a heck of a lot harder to stop considering the fact that they don't, you know, at the end of that game, you got LeBron James AD running pick and rolls like four or five

minutes left. The Grizzlies are switching that, stagnating the Lakers offense. And then the Lakers go like, okay, I guess we'll try run and pick and roll with Reeves and AD. And that's how they got going against that Jaron Jackson drop coverage defense, getting those wide open pull-ups for Reeves, getting to the basket, creating open opportunities. Because they have different ways of getting offense and generating baskets for your team. That's why the Lakers are so tough. They had a 29% three-point shooter, have literally the game of his life. And maybe that will sustain. That's not why they won the game, though.

Maybe that will sustain. I mean, Kevin, you say they do this all the time. They had four players score 20 points. It's the first time they've had that happen. Since the Showtime Lakers. It's not they don't do this all the time. But they didn't win the game just because they had like Rui having 29 points. They won the game for a lot of different factors.

And it's just one game. Like, this is still could be a very, very good series. The problem is now you get John Morant whose hands got bent backwards. You don't have Stephen Adams. You don't have Brandon Clark. Like, it's a problem for the Grizzlies undeniably. They were, look, the dirty secret is that Jha was not good.

The Jaya has not been himself since he has returned. What's going on? He was passive. What happened last night, though? Yeah, weird. What happened? Passive. He was passive.

I think. What's going on? He was out of the mix. Look, I've been talking about this obviously daily. He was out of the mix and he saw how successful that they were. Again, the second year in the row that they're better at them. That them being so good and so many guys eating. And most importantly, Jaron flourishing in this massive, massive way.

Which he did again in game one. Jaron was outstanding offensively. I think he wanted to come back and when he returned to the team, you know, obviously felt guilty about not being there for his team. And then wanted all that to remain. Like basically, I don't need to be that guy. You saw how successful this team can be with Jaron Jackson as a focal point. And, you know, the trick is, Jha has to be Jom Wright. They both have to be simultaneously amazing for the team to be able to reach, like, championship level.

But I think he's had, obviously, a million things going on and off the court. And I think that he was trying, he's been trying to fit in instead of just being what he was, prior to his issues that led to his suspension. And it has not been to tremendous results. And I don't know. I mean, he said he was doubtful. I have never seen him more down and out than after that game. Never.

You guys are in big trouble, Chris. That's the bottom line. You're in big trouble. And like, I'm not saying that, you know, just to like pile on or anything like that. Here's what I'll say, Kevin. But that jaw injury is worrisome. Like, if he can't effectively shoot the ball,

that's going to even further limit what we saw in game one, where AD is just, like you said, dominant around the paint, poking at the ball at Jai in the first quarter, you know, blocking his shots late, you know, taking the charge where Jai got hurt. I mean, like it was pretty definitive, like how well the Lakers, especially AD,

was defending John Morant. If Jaws also limited as a shooter, if he does return, like you're going under every pick and roll, and it's going to be even more of an issue from Memphis. Like I hate it because I want Memphis to be at full strength. But if Jaws limited at all, I really fear that this series could go pretty short. I do think that, as I said, many times.

I'll freak out after game two. Fair, totally fair. I'm not going to freak out after one game because we've seen this. That's a good rule for really any team. Yeah, I'll freak out after game two because game, you know, if it's one, one, now you're playing best three out of five. Yep. And you chronicled how good they were with Tyos Jones. Truth be told, they played the eventual champion last year. And Dylan Brooks shot him clean out of a game four at Golden State, a game they absolutely should have won, except they vomited all over themselves. and Brooks just took every shot and I'll probably never get over it.

Why does he? Why does that continue, though, Chris? I don't get it. He takes 13 shots in game one, two of nine from three. The guy stinks as a shooter. Why does he get so many shots? Why is he empowered to do that? I don't get it.

I think it's because they don't want him to be a nothing. And he gives such incredible effort on the defensive end that his leash is longer than a normal player, and I would argue as well as anyone else would, that's ridiculous. It is foolish. He has to be reined in. It's foolish.

He has to be rained in. He's no more efficient of a score with a Draymond Green, but he takes double the shots. I mean, now, now, here's the thing. It's ridiculous. Well, and here's what's crazy, right? And I know, look, I know that you don't view it the same way.

but if Dylan Brooks would have made a huge amount of those threes yesterday, you would have thought that's crazy, right? I would have. Right? Yeah, I mean, then I would be saying the same thing I said about Rui. That's what happens. Like, guys have strong games. One game can happen.

Oh, come on. You would think that's crazy. I would never expect Dilla Brooks to make a bunch of them. No, you don't expect Rui Hachamur to be taken away jumpers and go five for six from three. but in one game, yes, Bill and Brooks can get hot. Dylan Brooks got to have a big game too. Of course they're going to happen.

I mean, you bet it. Hey, you bet against me. From your mouth to God's ears. Yeah, you wish. But I would think it's crazy.

And again, if a 29% three-point shooter is going to bang all the threes that turned into play Thompson, you just got to live with it. Yeah, I mean, it's a type, yes, you do get to live with it. It happens.

And you say it's not why they won the game, but it's a one-point game with three minutes to go in a game where the guy had 29 points. Yeah, but I'm just saying that that's one of the reasons they won the game, but they won the game for a lot of reasons. It wasn't just because of Rui. It's not like they won by two points. Their game, much like so many of these games,

in many cases, came down to not only offensive rebounds, but critical offensive rebound. It is going to be an ongoing thing that we talk about when we touch on all of these different series. But there was a moment, I believe it was a one-point game, late in the game, where they ended up,

they forced like a AD fade away, like an eight-foot fade away on the baseline, right? And they missed the long rebound. Then it goes out of bounds. they come back in, that's when Reeves drove to the basket and got the first layup and you could just see a collective like that's what sucked the soul out of them.

It was like, again, like we defended, we boxed out, we lost the rebound. And it happened last year against Golden State. Every offensive rebound they got, they made them pay for it. And that's going to have to be something that you're not going to win the rebounding battle but you can't get slaughtered

and you can't give up the amount of offensive rebounds that they gave up. And they also, for a team that's made their way in transition, can't lose transition. That's the end of that.

Right. But again, like I said, I'll freak out after game two. If you get series to 1-1, I've always viewed it like this. It's, now you're playing the best three out of five series. So you've got to beat the other team

three to two in the rest of those games. Which is not, if you're decently evenly matched teams, that's not too big of an ask. But if you're playing anybody that's worth their salt, winning four out of the next five, it's too much to ask. You can't go down 02 if you're playing somebody that's good. And you give up home court. Correct. But then you get the next two on the road, is what I should say.

It just becomes so difficult. Oh, for sure. I mean, look, you have to win. You have to tie it up. You have to. Yeah. It's a must win on Wednesday night. There's no question.

And what you hope, now, I read all the Laker reports today and they say they're out for blood. They want to make it a quick series. They're not satisfied. But it's just, we've talked about this every year in the playoffs, Kevin. There is a mental component that goes along with this where it feels as if if you're You are the road team that it's mission accomplished. They all say going in, we want to try to steal one of these first two and flip the series onto our side.

And so once they do that, then they come to the press conference after it. I've been to 500 of these press conferences. And they'll say, we did what we came to do. Now we get to go back to our place. Right. And that's what they've got. For the Grizzlies point of view, they have to hope that that's so. But that was a very good, it was a very good game for the majority of the game.

And then Morant went out, they gave up some plays at the end, and then the end was just, they just quit. Honestly, they just stopped playing once they got deflated. And that was way disappointing. I'll be there on Saturday for game three. Oh, you will? You're going to hire. Which jersey you're going to wear?

Breaves or Hachimura? No jersey. Maybe I'll wear my, you know, you remember my father-drawn misty shirt, the one that's like a Lakers logo, but with Father John Misty? You're going to wear that one? Maybe I'll wear that one if it fits me. I'm not sure if I've lost enough weight to wear that one again. Sure, you have.

Come on. I don't know. Maybe I'll buy a Mo'Bamba jersey while I'm there. Oh, Lord. I don't even think they make them. All right. Let's get to some of these other things. there's a Western conference.

Oh, wait, so let me just be clear. You think it's a sweep now? No, I don't think it's a sweep. But it depends on Ja. Like, it's impossible to say we don't, we just don't know. Fair enough. I'd be worried. You need Ja.

I mean, it goes without saying, but you need Joe. And maybe Stephen Adams. Speaking of offensive rebounding. And we said that it was going to be a story that we commented on in many of the series. Suns Clippers last night. Russell Westbrook goes three for 19, ends up with nine points, 11 rebounds, and eight assists.

And I couldn't help but think of that old cartoon they made of us on a game of zones. Oh, yeah, so good. It was the perfect moment, right? This is like with me saying he's built for it or whatever. And I say something about his percentages. He shoots below 40%. That's right.

He was, I've never seen a worse. Launches a fireball at us. I told you as we fall in my death. Is there ever been a worse, more impactful game by a basketball player than that? I mean, just game winning play after game winning play, the offensive rebounds, obviously the block on Booker on a critical possession. Dude, that block was. incredible. Amazing. It was amazing.

And then you got Boker, you know, as the balls, you know, getting deflected in bounds, he's busy whining to the official. Like, oh, I go fall, I go foul. While Russ is making the hustle play. Wild. 15 to 6 on the offensive boards

and five in the fourth quarter for the Clippers. I mean, and it just felt like those extra possessions and making them pay and that extra level of tenacity. You know, Gordon hit a big three, Kauai hit a big three. And then just reading some of the recaps this morning.

Kawhi Leonard, after the All-Star break, is 57% from the field, 45% from three. and he scored 25 of his 38 in the second half. And this was wild. This is a great stat. 30 or more points in 27 of his 49 playoff game appearances. Wow. Wow. That is crazy.

30 or more in 27 of 49. I mean, it's like you kind of know just from watching the games, but hearing the number, wow. That is something else. Yeah, that is something else, man. I mean, Kauai was the best player on the floor, without a doubt. I mean, offensively, he's unstoppable, and, you know, he's playmaking a little bit too, and he's also defending Kevin Durant. I mean, Kauai's special, man. Like, remember earlier in the season back in, you know, October, November?

December. He's being load managed. He's playing 20, 25 minutes. And I remember saying to you, I mean, I can't trust the Clippers. We don't even know what version or Kauai we're going to get. He doesn't look the same anymore. He doesn't have the same burst, the explosiveness. But it's been pretty clear for some number of months now that he's got the same burst that explosiveness and he's just as efficient and he's just as dominant. And at this point in the series, he is, through one game, the best player. It's on Kevin Durant to do more than take 15 shots. I mean, you can't shoot less than DeAndre Aiton in a game

and expect to win a series. Kevin Durant needs to step up big time moving forward and match and surpass Kauai Leonard. Ome Yung-Missick had a stat on the low post, which was unbelievable. He said, who has guarded Kevin Durant the most? in the last 10 years. And he said,

Kauai is one of the top three. One of the top three. In terms of number of possessions, guarded Duran. It was Kauai, PJ Tucker, and Trevor O'Reilly, the Houston guys.

I thought that was wild. Think about all the time that, you know what I mean, you think about Kauai and all the time he's missed and, you know, obviously Durant, I guess, you know, he played in Oklahoma City,

played within, you know, during those San Antonio years, and then Golden State, I don't know how many times Kauai would have guarded him during that time, but obviously some, but yeah, of guys,

so just in terms of reps and guarding a guy, there is a tremendous amount of experience there. and him going heads up with Durant and winning that matchup is something that I think that anybody that was analyzing this series probably was not counting on, certainly not a double-digit matchup win between those two. 38 to 27, right?

I think that was the final count. 27 for Durant. Yeah. And so, I don't know. Does your opinion change on the series, or is it one of those, let's see game two, and then we'll decide? I mean, I think the logic you know, you shared about the Grizzlies, you wait to panic after game two. I think that's applicable to every series, truthfully. I mean, like we've seen this time and time again in NBA history.

After game two, that's when you can really start to react. Then then after game three, the first game on the opposing team's home court, that's when you really get a good feel of what's going on in the series, what adjustments absolutely. need to be made. But through game one, that's all we have to react to right now, the lack of depth on the suns, that was apparent. Like that, you could feel that against the Clippers as they're searching for another guy. Obviously, Tori Craig played pretty well.

Didn't he put one guy 10 minutes? Yeah, so just to lay out there bench minutes. Tori Craig started 27 minutes, then off the bench. Landry Shamet, 24 minutes. Jock Landale, eight minutes, Wainwright 7, Okogi 7, Biombo 5, Ross 4. So he played 11 guys,

and you can tell with the low minute count, 7, 7, 5, 8, 4, he's searching, he's trying to figure out not who his sixth guy is, but his seventh guy, his eighth guy, his ninth guy. It's hard for him to find something that's working right now, and you get the starters playing,

you know, Booker 43 minutes, Durant 45, Chris Paul, 39, 8 and 33, heavy, heavy minutes in a game one, and not much else coming from your bench. What I'm surprised about, Chris, is Okoki, only seven minutes. He was playing awesome just three, four weeks ago. Why did he fall out of favor in Monty Williams' rotation, I wonder? Obviously, he has cooled off a bit, but I just feel like Akogi is such a good point of attack defender. he's versatile, he's long, even if he's a little bit limited offensively,

at least he's shown that he can catch fire for you, he can have hot stretches. I wonder if Okogi's a guy that Monty Williams decides to ride out and give consistent minutes moving forward in the series rather than playing him just for short stint. It was just very strange to me, seeing a Kogi for only seven minutes. And look, they don't shoot a ton of threes.

I think they only had 19 attempts last night. Yeah, that's another part, man. In this current NBA? It's the end of the game we saw that, right? Clippers, clippers taking threes, pull up threes, catch and shoot threes, son's taken pull up two. At one possession after the other, both make it, make, make, make, but the clippers were hitting shots worth one more point.

Yep, and look, it goes without saying if you're only playing six guys, you can't have, Chris Ball have two field goals in the game. that's not going to cut it. I know. You're just counting so much on the others. And the other thing is Aitin's got a man up. He does. He's going to be tougher on the boards, dude.

He's that guy, and they're punishing him. I know. 17 or 15 offensive rebounds and five in the fourth quarter. You could see Chris yelling at his ass in the fourth quarter, too. And many of those with Aiton and the, the area. Like, in range to compete for the ball, and he just wasn't competitive for that. I don't want to talk to Josh Okie too much, but I just don't understand it.

Like, what is Monty Williams doing playing Wainwright in a first round playoff matchup over Josh and Cook? I just don't get it. Like, Monty Williams coaching has been questioned all year by Suns fans. And I think that's going to continue in the series if we continue to see these weird lineup decisions that are thrown out there. And as you said, Chris, only 193

point attempts. That's in part because of the type of players you have, the mid-range Masters, Katie, Chris Paul, Devin Booker. But it's also a symptom of the system and the way in which you're having those players perform. Well, a tie lose also got guys

say whatever you want. Like, they're able to contribute. Right? He's bringing guys off his bench it can actually do something. There's going to be the night where there's going to be the night where. Yeah, Powell hits shots and bones hit some shots. And even Plumley gives you some minutes that aren't, you know, horrendous.

They got some guys that he can go to that he can get, you know, he ain't got to run his old team into the ground. Fun game one, though, it was. It was a fun game one. It was very interesting. Yeah, and I think we'll probably get a much better read on that series after we see them play a second time and we see what kind of adjustments, both in your, you know, what you were saying, personnel wise and X's and O's wise. Denver, Minnesota, I mean, obviously it's a Denver wipeout. And I do think that, if anything, kind of a reminder of why Denver was, you feel like they punted on the last. two weeks of the season.

And so it gave people time to forget why they had accumulated so many wins in order to be in this spot where they are the number one seat. And I thought that Minnesota will be able to give them a tougher time than maybe people expected, but did not feel good about that after game one

because they looked like a team that was going to get their ass kicked. and Denver looked like a well-oiled machine. It looked like the team that won and stacked up all those wins before they were really able to punt the last two weeks of the season. And they just turned it right back on and looked like the team that is rightfully

the number one seed in the Western Conference and looked infinitely better than Minnesota for game number one. And I promise you, if Edwards is not any good, Minnesota is, I mean, you're in a world of shit. I mean, they held Minnesota to 80 points. And how often is it that you see a team score 80 in the modern NBA? Denver's defense is what led them to dominate that game. It wasn't their half-court offense.

It was defense creating early offense, transition opportunities, and Minnesota, like in a game like that where you just have no chance. I thought that Nuggets defense, they very clearly, flipped the switch. You know, their, Yokic is playing at maximum effort levels again like he did, you know, frequently over the past two years, like he didn't

for two months now. The Nuggets just looked like a team that completely flipped the switch defensively. But you also can't read into it too much, considering they're facing Minnesota. And they're searching. Minnesota was just searching. You see how many guys

he went to him. We haven't seen Austin Rivers in forever. You know, he's just trying to find somebody. Yeah, I mean, they're also like, I mean, Anthony Edwards was bad again, as you said. And this is now consecutive games now. He throws up a stinker against the Pelicans. He's struggling in the playing. I know, you don't want to hear this.

It's also not the series for Gobert. They can play them off the court just like the others do. This is playoff Gobert. I mean, what was amazing is the fact that despite having Rudy Gobert, Bear and Carl Anthony Towns Yoker scored every single one of his points from inside the paint. It didn't matter that Minnesota had

all that size and length. Yeah. Yeah. That did not. Again, we'll wait through game two, but that one does not look like a fun. No, we don't have to wait until the game. Yeah, I know. Honestly, for the T. Wolf's sake, it was good that the

damn thing started at midnight or whatever it started, right? Let's flip over to the east. Probably don't need to wait until game two for Celtics Hawks, but I mean, they're up by 30. Yeah, I mean, that's another series we don't have to wait either. Just completely outmatch the Hawks. Totally outmatched.

Jalen Tatum and Derek White, this is what we always talk about. Like, how do your best players perform? Jalen has 27 and Tatum as 25. And then Derek White is 25 and 11. Meanwhile, Atlanta, you know, one for 16 from three in the first. first half seals their fate. They're five of 27 for the game. So five or 20 that five or 29 fact check five 29 I'm sorry. You got literally zero chance. Even worse. And Trace five for 18 and Murray's 10 for 25. Like this is the easiest thing to

analyze in the world like look at the number from three and look at how the best players on either of these teams performed. And it's like theoretically, you're trying to make it more difficult on those players. And to see, I mean, that is 15 for 43 from that back between Trey and to Jantan. Yeah, I mean, you're not going to win with those guys playing like that. And you're definitely not going to win with Boston playing the way they were defensively. Like Robert Williams, you know, he's a minus seven in the game, which is like, I remember looking at the box score after the game, like, huh, that's, that's surprising.

Like, this dude just completely dominated every single minute he was on the floor. But that shows how finicky plus minus can be. Like the block he had on Jalen Johnson at the rim where he flew over from the other side of the key. I think it was like the left side of the key of the right side of the key and just completely swat the Jalen Johnson dunk attempts, right kind of from behind. It was, I thought, indicative of where his health is right now. And if he's 100% that that's vital for Boston moving forward in the post. Especially when it's like a weapon that they can deploy for 20 amazing minutes.

I know. Or sometimes 15, sometimes 35. And they place full. Every night's different. Yep. And that small lineup, I mean, when you can get the Derek White's of the world grabbing 11 rebounds for you. You know. Dude, Derek White was.

He's been amazing. Yeah, I mean, like, that's a big difference between the Celtics. This year in the postseason compared to last year, he has become a confident shooter from 3, 38% on the year compared to 30% last year. And, like, granted, you could say, oh, maybe this is just an outlier season. But that's been something the Boston media has talked to White about, you know, after his struggles last year with, you know, the Warriors and other teams throughout the way sagging off him about figuring out how to become a, a, confident shooter. And with White, this is something I heard about with him going back to San Antonio or even pre-drafts. Like with White, it's always, like, it's always a confidence thing. It's a mental thing with him as a shooter. He's always had great touch around the rim, always shot like 85, 86%

from the free throw line. But it's been about like from the field that's something mentally that he's had to get through. It feels like this year where you see him pulling up from three, you know, jacking contested catching true threes it's in the past for him at this time just feels very difficult for them to come up with answers I know there's not the

Capella 22 rebounds in the cards on this one yeah all right Atlanta's in big trouble yeah heat bucks let's touch on that man that was yeah

I mean Janus being out 130 to 117 Jimmy, you know, we talk about Jimmy and we talk about Bam, and Bam was so bad in that Atlanta play-in game that he kind of got beat up over that. And then Strues totally bailed him out in the second play-in game by having just the night of his life.

But there's still those nights where Jimmy can be the best player on the floor. And it was one of those nights. 35, 11 assist. They make just a crazy percentage of threes, 15 to 25. Meanwhile, the bucks are 11 for 45. And the heat shut 60% for the game. Meanwhile, just punished the bucks in the paint.

62 to 46 on paint points. I mean, this is the, Janus is out. And now it's like, let's go. Now we're going to find out what you're made of. Well, they were missing their most important defender. Right. I mean, it's just one game, but his absence was pretty clear where it's just Brooke down there. And he's the sole of him protecting presence.

Yonis is the true guy who makes that all work for the Bucks defense. Well, and BAM, look, 22, 9 and 7 is a great playoff game to have. Oh, for sure. So you got to give up credit for it. Bam and Butler were fantastic. Like, no doubt about that. And their role players were, too. I mean, Chris, the heat shots, you said earlier,

it's impossible to win the way the Hawks did how they shot, you know, three for 27, whatever it was. 11 for 45. Oh, oh, the Hawks, yeah, yeah. Well, the heat were 15 of 25 from 30%, 60%. It's hard to lose games when you shoot that well. And yet Kevin Love banging four threes off the bench. Well, and I, again, we talk about like,

hey, who do you want to have to beat us? And it's the Gabe Vincense and it's the Max Truce, right? Like, you game playing against other teams, best guys. And if the other ones are going to bomb you out, sometimes you got to tip your cap. And they got bombed out. Meanwhile, Drew Holiday, look, 16 assists and 16 points, but he goes six for 18 from the field.

The one good thing that I think you can hold on to is that Middleton was able to get the 33. Yeah. Middleton looked much a lot like himself with the pull-ups from mid-range. He looks very good. If you get that Middleton, that's championship caliber,

Middleton. Yeah. Right. And so, it sounds like it's all, you know, pretty positive news on Yonis since. Yeah,

yeah. I mean, that game. We'll see. Shams said on Monday on Up and Adams on Fandul TV that Yonis is trending towards being a guy who's going to play

for game two. and I'm sure we'll find out more news on Tuesday, but that's at least encouraging for the Bucks and the fact that they have a little bit of time off before a Wednesday game two after a Sunday game one. It seems like, I believe Shamp said it's going to be more of a pain tolerance thing for Yannis.

So you hope if you're a Bucks fan that Yannis is able to play through it and then it's not a limiting factor for him. Because, yeah, I mean, like, if it is, it's trouble. But we'll see what happens. Cavs nicks. Literally everything we wanted it to be. Oh, dude, that game, that was playoff basketball. Wasn't it, Chris, physical, aggressive?

You know, Brunton has 21 of 27 in the second half. Fantastic. And again, ongoing trend with what we've been talking about, these game ones. I wrote it down. It was 9997. Most critical possession of the game. Brunson goes in,

misses the pull-up. Randall goes against the offensive rebound, throws it out, Grimes, knocks down the free throws. It's the end of the game. 17 offensive rebounds, and that is the moment, right? It's like your defense gets the stop.

And if we harken back to the sons so deflating. When they get the stop, don't get the offensive rebound or don't get the defensive rebound and protect the possession. I went back to the Grizzlies. When Davis misses that shot, so deflating. Last year, I watched Kevin Looney or Andrew Wiggins flying in doing it over and over again. Like these offensive rebounds so many times are deciding these games.

The ball comes off the glass and then. That's the moment. And Randall, who, after the game was saying, did you guys see how I was breathing? Hadn't played since the end of March and, you know, it was kind of a game time deal. That's just, it's just all heart, man. Like, that's just the balls coming off the rim.

I go get it. And that won them the game. It wasn't a shot that they made. because at that moment, didn't it feel like Brunton misses that pull-up? Man, this is all set up with the Donovan game-winning three, isn't it? It just felt that way, but it's that extra possession. I know Hart getting a huge shot and got the offensive rebounds when he did, but that particular play, and to me that game was decided by 17 offensive rebounds for the Knicks.

That's the difference. the difference in the game. Yeah. Absolutely was. I mean, yeah, they had a offensive rebounding percentage over 40. Praise. You're not going to lose a lot of games

when you have a 40 plus percent offensive rebounding percentage. The one thing I found in that game, Chris, is, you know, aside from the rebounding for New York and how dominant they were there, the Cleveland offense, I mean, they're up late in the game, but throughout the game, I just felt like they were moving so slow, like getting into their offensive.

late, late clock, you know, getting shots off. Like, I feel like they get to be a bit quicker. They get to move crisp and get into their offense sooner. And if they don't do that is a one-man show. Yeah, I mean, it was all Mitchell. Literally, it was all Mitchell. Like, was Darius Garland and witness protection? Yeah, Garland didn't do much.

Yeah. And obviously, Mobley struggled offensively in this game. But it really did feel like, Just either Don's going to do it or it's not going to get done. And they got to get to pop in the ball around and having more people involved. I don't know. The hell of a game, though, I'd watch those teams play 100 times. You know, with what you're saying with Darius Garland, you know,

and how limited he was, RJ Barrett had a tremendous defensive game. I mean, RJ say what you want about him offensively. He stunked, two of 12. But much like Russell Westbrook, he did do the other stuff. He was great defensively in the passing lanes. He was great on Garland, man-to-man, off ball with ball denial, fighting through screens. He was, you know, playmaking as well within the flow of the offense. He did everything but score.

So I think R.J. Barrett deserves some credit there with his contributions. And the tough part for them, you know, it sounds like Josh Hart might not play in game, too. He's questionable, I believe, was the latest that we saw with him. Hart was your guy, unbelievable coming off the bench. But then again, like this thing with the Knicks, you know, in game one, it's Josh Hart, 17 points. He's got 10 rebounds. He's doing everything. Quickly, the guy who's probably going to win sixth man in the year, he doesn't hit a single shot.

He's got three points, all of them from the free throw line. In game two, it could be quickly who catches fire as he has many times throughout the season. So for Cleveland here, I don't think the, you know, the offensive rebounding for New York is easy to point to for one of the issues for Cleveland. I am a bit concerned about their half-court offense. fence with how sluggish they looked against the Knicks. Well, and it's also what they get off their bench because, I mean, they're bringing, Jetty Osmond guarding Jaila Brunson is not my favorite matchup. Yeah, it's definitely not your favorite.

And, I mean, literally Karras Levert is the only other guy that gets any minutes and he did nothing. Nothing. I mean, Dean Wade played seven minutes and Ricky Rubio's unplayable. He played five. That's it. it on the whole team that is even in the game

none of those other guys even got a minute and so like that's going to be tough because you're probably not going to have another quickly 0 for 5 3 3 point game like they that was that that felt like a one game

outlier for how bad he was and they got some guy topic he contribute and Heart and Steve can contribute and quickly can contribute and Hart can contribute and that's nine that it gives you all those guys can give you something

for their team and meanwhile on the other you don't have I mean Okoro didn't do nothing one for six in the game so I mean it's just

and then look Garland ends up with 17 points he's seven for 13 not terrible numbers, but when is the last, you just don't remember anything down the stretch. It was just all done. And he damn near did it himself. He's even diving on the floor,

that whole sequence where he was knocking down the shots and then got the steel and then laid out and tipped it ahead. Oh, my God. And then he's barking to the crowd. That was so unbelievable. That was a hell of an atmosphere. Oh, yeah. That was great.

Cleveland. I'm excited for that game, too. Yes, that is, look, we wanted that to be amazing, and it's been amazing. Clearly, amongst the East matchups, by far the best. At least the heat got a little interesting simply because they won a game on the road, and maybe that one becomes more interesting than what we thought. But losing Hero, probably a bridge too far for them, and they're probably never shooting 60% from the field and three again.

So, and we're just not getting what we bargained for on, you know, Celtics Hawks or, you know, I don't know. Cavs Nicks. And then we think the second round of that East playoffs will, that's when it's going to get amazing. Meanwhile, the West has been exactly what we thought it was wildly entertaining outside of Denver, Minnesota game one. All other three series have been wildly entertaining so far. Suns Clips, Gris Lakers, and Golden State and the Kings. It's been a great first three nights of the NBA playoffs. Best time of year right now.

Just hopefully no more injuries. Yeah, no more injuries. I mean, to see Brant, Janus, and Hero all go down in game ones was just so depressing. Tough. Yeah. Tough. Kevin, it is going to be a fun playoff for sure. Thank you to our executive producer, Jesse Lopez, as always.

And I'll talk to you later in the week. Have a good week. We'll be back Thursday night, Chris. Let's go.