The Mismatch - Recapping a Wildly Entertaining Night of Playoff Basketball

Episode Date: April 21, 2022

Verno and KOC begin the show by recapping the Celtics-Nets game as they talk about the C’s defense against Kevin Durant, Jayson Tatum, and Ben Simmons’s impact if he does indeed return for this series (02:52). They next go through the Raptors-76ers game and discuss Joel Embiid’s game-winner, Doc Rivers's effect on the team, and Fred VanVleet’s inconsistent play (29:32). With Khris Middleton out, the Bulls took Game 2 against Milwaukee and now have a chance to turn the momentum with the series going back to Chicago (43:48). They also debate what the Suns can do now that Devin Booker is out with an injury before previewing tonight's playoff action (53:30). Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Producer: Jessie Lopez Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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and catch phrases into history. Listen now. Welcome to The Mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon. Joining me, he does. This Thursday is Kevin O'Connor from the ringer.com. Kevin O'Connor, A.K., Kevin O'Bomber, Kevin O'Condy, Kevin O'Candee, Kevin O'Clymner, Kevin O'Candee, Kevin O'Conibon Conroversy, Kevin O'Berno.

What's going on this Thursday? What's the last time we've been recorded on a Thursday? I don't recall. Maybe like a Thursday night. Yeah, Thursday. night. Yeah, so we're recording this Thursday a.m. We'll be doing this a couple times throughout the playoffs.

And we left on Tuesday's show. And I recall saying to you, I have been wildly entertained by these playoffs, Kevin. We had only gotten one game in most of the series. I think two games in maybe one of the series so far. But we had not seen a tremendous amount of basketball yet. And yet, It had been wildly entertaining.

Very few. The wildly entertaining continues, does it not? Man! Last night was great. Yeah, it was. It was a good time. Absolutely great. Really a good time.

I enjoyed it. Let's start with Ned Celtics. What a series. Are they finals contenders yet? Chris, I just got to come out and ask it. Uh, yeah. Hey, he did it. Yeah.

I mean, He's here. Milwaukee just lost, you know, what their second best player to an MCL. You never know the way this stuff's going to play out. Yep, you don't. You're right. That Chris Middleton injury is major,

which we'll talk about later. But yeah. As I said for the very beginning, I think Miami is the best team. I thought they were the best team all year long. And so I do think that's who you're going to have to get past in order to get to the NBA finals. So I still think they're going to get to the, got a very good chance to get to the East Conference Finals.

But I'd say this, I don't think this series is over. Cannot rule out Brooklyn, that's for sure. Yeah, and you see, man, you pull up a box score and it's crazy. It's 76 field goals for the Nets attempted. 75 for the Celtics. 10-3-pointers for the Nets, 11-3-pointers for the Celtics. 27 free throws for the Nets, 25 free throws for the Seltics. Celtics. Celtics 1 assist. Rebound, 36 to 36. Offensive rebounds, 9 to 7. Steals, 8 to 7.

Blocks, 8 to 4. And, I mean, you could go down the line. It's just like, there's so little margin between these teams. And Boston was able to come away with the first two wins of the series on their home court, which was absolutely. spectacular. I mean, I thought the roof was going to come off the place last night on the Jalen Brown 3. And it does have an impact. There's no question. There is a heightened level of intensity that you can see that teams play with when they have that kind of raucous home crowd behind them. And so the job they have done on Kevin Durant has been absolutely spectacular. The job they did in the second half specifically, was absolutely great. Yeah, they looked great last night, for sure. I am shocked when I went back and watched it

because I knew there was going to be a lot of talk about Durant and his struggles. Let me tell you something really funny. I went back and watched all of the field goals attempted in that game, and they do a tremendous job on him, closing off airspace, and he misses a lot of shots where it's the one dribble pull-ups trying to get to his spot, and he misses those. And what was odd is I juxtapose that versus I watched all the DeRosen makes. And I'm like, I'll be damn.

Like a lot of these are the same shot. And DeRosen makes all of them. And Durant cannot find the rim. And part of that, he's just incredibly frazzled. You can see it the way he turning the ball over. I mean, they had him shook for sure. Aren't the turnovers? The turnover is like kind of some of the sloppy dribbles, some of the careless passes.

It's not like Katie necessarily has the tightest Kyrie-esque handle. Like it's always been a little bit loose, you know, casual, not in a negative way for him. It works for Katie with his long arms, his length and height and all. that. But it was just strange in that game too. Like it just seemed like the ball was coming off of me. He finished with four made field goals, six turnovers, five fouls,

five assists. Like he just wasn't able to find his shot at all. But, you know, part of that is like make miss league. And Katie is going to be able to hit shots no matter the quality of defense. But the fact his shot has been blocked twice through these two

games. The fact Jason Tatum has just been absolutely sensational on defense. He is constantly in KD's airspace and doing all that defensively without really, I mean, like he's getting

some help shaded his way, but it's not like anybody else is taking on KD one-on-one. Tatum has defended KD for 85 possessions through two games. He is the guy being stuck against KD while also being the go-to-scorer, the creator in the half-core

for Boston. Like last night's game for Jason Tatum. He only finishes for 5 of 16. It's not like a great scoring night by any means, but the fact he racked up 10 assists, was making his teammates better in addition to hitting the clutch shot down the

stretch, in addition to giving, you know, KD a hard time, which is not something not many people can do. Jason Tatum feels like a guy to me that is continuing to trend up. And that when you talk about the Celtics as a collective for the NBA finals,

Tatum taking this leap is one of the reasons why I feel some level of confidence that they could indeed find themselves in the NBA finals and possibly win it. The assist number is the big one to me because I believe I read this morning that in games one and two, his combined number of assists is the most assist he has ever had in a two-game span in his NBA career. And so that speaks to while the shots were not falling, he was still able to create shots for others. And those others, those role players, really stepped up last night in a major way for the Celtics. Grant Williams, Peyton Pritchard hit that shot. Yeah, and on the Durant thing,

because I know he's been a big topic, because this is one of the best players in the world, and certainly one of the best scorers in the world. You know, I'm watching that last night. I got to believe that he'll snap out of it and that his coaching staff will find a way to get him into better positions than what he is in. That's the damnedest thing about it. It's like that was game one. Like, bro, you just played game one.

How are they doing? How is this? How are you allowing this to happen again on repeat? And if you go back and you watch a field goal attempt, they're down what I think it's like six. And this is like a minute left or something. It's the first shot he took off of a screen. They come out, they set him a high screen.

He comes off, gets the airspace, and gets an open look from three. It's the only screen. He also never was going towards the basket. Never. I mean, you would think like, hey, man, try to get this guy in space, get him go to the basket. He's a superstar. He's going to get foul calls. Get him on the line, knock down some free throws, get some rhythm.

None of that. He's never going towards the basket, it seems. It's just very, very strange, very strange. And surely a tremendous amount of credit goes to Boston. I reached out to my guy, Simon Gersberg, who does shot quality, because I was fascinated by the results that he's coming up with when he computes all of the shots that are taken by these respective teams and then kind of what would happen on a normal night, knowing the shots who took them, the spots they took them in, etc. And this is what he said to me. He said, Boston had the best isolation defense in the league during the regular season. and obviously that has shown up in the playoffs.

And they have also tough, forced really tough shots. Only 56% of the Nets attempts were at the rim or from three in game two. 44% were from the mid-range or post-ups, which would have been by far the worst number in the league. And so then I said, okay, because the projection said the Nets should have won. So what the hell happened here? And he said the net scored 1.51 transition points per possession, which would have led the league by a mile. And they were expected to make a lot of shots that they did. All the role players got great looks.

Curry, Dragich, Brown, Mills, all had great shot quality scores. And they also got five more possessions in the game. And in a game that close, possessions matter greatly. So that what's that, what that says to me is if the more the Celtics, can keep that team from running, from getting out in space. And the more they can do the we run a play, you run a play, they are in tremendous shape. Because the place they got gashed was obviously when they were able to get up and down the court, when the nets are able to get a stop and run.

And they're not playing as much deadball basketball. But they've got to figure out, the nets have to figure out what they're going to do in the half court. because the ISO Durant it's not working. I mean, and it could start working with KD being the player that he is, but you know, the fact he's taking so many

mid-range jumpers, heralibov-Vulgaris, former Mavericks executive, guests of the Bill Simmons podcast, had a tweet last night, remarking about the amount of deep two-pointers of nets were taking. And he noted the number of playoff games since 2017 that have had an over

40% long, two point rate one game in the last five playoff seasons and that was last night with what we saw against brooklyn it was just pull up two after pull up two after pull up two after pull up too after pull up too like it was just non-stop and they were just clanking off the rim for brooklyn for the most part in that game and look like you're not going to change who katie and who kairie are um but the fact they're not able to get to the basket as you noted there's a clogged lane whether it's Drummer down there or whether it's the Celtics helping entirely off of Bruce Brown and saying, hey, yeah, you can take an open corner three if you want to. We'll live with that. We'll live with it.

Whether it's one of those two things are just like straight up poor spacing. Boston, like if you look at their defense, they are constantly have multiple guys in the paint, which is making it tough for Katie and for Kyrie to drive all the way in there. And like these guys are going to be able to hit their mid-range jumpers. They're going to have a game where they go off. We're going to see Katie have a game with 40 plus, you'd think, as he always does. But the fact Boston has been able to play defense at the high level that they have is really a testament to the game planning, in my opinion, that we've seen against Brooklyn. They've just done a great job timing their help, the pressure against Katie, in addition to just clogging that paint and forcing them into more mid-range jumpers. And they're doing all of this without Robert Williams.

Like that's also a credit to Tice and Horford and Grant Williams the way those guys who played in the Boston front for. Grant Williams last night, dude, his defense, on ball, off ball, hitting the threes. Like Boston has eight good players. There's no weak links on the Celtics. Not a single guy in this roster, even Peyton Pitchard as tiny as he is. Even he's not a weak link on defense because he's always bringing it. He knows where to be.

His positioning is great. Like you look at some of the other office. Busters, including Brooklyn. There's occasionally some weak spots, but not the case with Boston. Okay, the devil's advocate is both of these games have gone down to the very end, and Kevin Durant has been horrible. Yes, yep, that is the devil's advocate. You mean, like, this is the worst we could have imagined an 0 for 10 second half.

You can't fathom. And, again, we're giving credit to Boston's defense. but great offense defeats great defense you know what I mean like Katie Katie is two of 13 when defended by Jason Tate with seven turnovers like that you think that at some point has to flip the other way yeah well and again I'm as I told you I'm watching it was very weird to why I just so happened because of the way I had it uh in my note I was going to go back and try to watch the DeRosan Bakes and the Durant misses

and I mean anybody could go do this and you can just click on the attempts in the box score on NBA.com and it'll just show you a clip after clip and as I'm watching them I mean DeRosen is just pulling up in Janus's face

that's it over and over again it's the wonderable rise in fire you know and it's like the same spine in so many cases. I'm watching the DeRosen makes, and I'm watching the Durant misses, and I'm like, this is, this is the difference.

I mean, like, one guy's burying all of these and the other guy, and DeRosen, obviously, has made a career in the mid-range, but Durant's an amazing mid-range shooter, too. One of our greatest of all time. And he just could not find the bucket at all. I mean, he did get blocked twice, and he got, he all. he also like you know one time he had the ball low and horford uh got him uh and when he's trying to quote play make or do something as you said with the with the handle i mean it's just an immense amount of turnover is sloppy sloppy stuff so what are the nets too like they go home here

that's great for them and all that um is it is it running more offense through goren dragett who was highly effective when he ran the pick and roll in that game too i thought Steve Nash probably went to him a bit late. Maybe you go to Dragich earlier in the rotation, whether it's bringing him off the bench or having him in the starting line, I probably continues to come off the bench. But is it more Draggich? Like I think it was during game one,

one of the announcers might have said, is it more Aldridge instead of, you know, instead of what you've been doing in the front court? I disagree with that. I'm just throwing that thought out there based off what one of the announcers said. But what is it that Brooklyn, needs to be doing here is it number one is it in

better positions right and that means is it just Ben Simmons return to like does that help Katie get in better positions too with the Ben Simmons playmaking factor should it should but I should but dropping a guy onto a team with Katie and Kerry in the middle of a playoff series when you're down 2-0

or whatever it's going to be after game three it seems like a lot to ask for from Ben Simmons to come in right away and make an impact and help Katie get easier shots like Katie no You're Kevin Durant. You get easier. Your shots yourself.

I mean, I can't. Here's what I can't. This is what I can't live with if I'm Brooklyn. I can't live with the way it's played out so far, which is the Kevin Durant offense is we throw it to him at the top or at the free throw light extended. And now he's got the ball. And now he's got to turn.

And he's making a play. And it's just isolation basketball. We just talked about this is the best isolation defense in the league this season. All right. So how do I combat that? A, I've got to get him the ball at different spots. B, the fact that there was one screen set for the guy the entire time in any of those attempts, you can go back and watch it.

There's one attempt. And it's the game's over. That's the first time he came off of a screen with the ball. Now, you could come off screens without the ball. I mean, he's never even in a position where you could get a switch. on him. It's just, we all stand out at the side, and now it's Kevin Durant versus Jason Tatum,

and he takes two dribbles and he pulls up. And at that point, and I know he makes a lot of those, but he's missed them all. He literally missed them all in that game. But it's the same thing. It's never driving to the basket. It's never, I mean, and so part of it is for sure on Kevin, right?

You're getting the ball in an isolation, you know, situation. And the second thing is, because I just think he is, he's going to make that thing go. They have been able, the other parts have actually played

very well for them. Very well for them. But that's number one. Well, one thing with Katie on the note about the screening actions, well, that's the tough part when Boston is switching everything, nearly everything.

Like, if you switch Tatum off of Katie, well, then maybe you have Grant Williams and Tatum shading over with help or Janele Brown shading over with help, even a little bit more aggressively after a switch. It's a real problem for the Nets here because they're just thinking you want. But at least I'm putting pressure on their defense at that point. Yeah, but you did mention that play with Horford defending Katie. Was it the one? Was it the jump shot?

Yes. And he's got it low. He's got it like at his hip, basically. Yeah. And Horford gets his hand in there. Yeah, and makes it tough on them. And I think on that same play you might be talking about that like it's Jalen Brown helping way over off of Bruce Brown acting like he's not even on the court, you know, showing help. And it's like there's just in that problem, that problem was not going to go away when Ben Simmons returns because they're going to defend Ben Simmons the same exact way they're defending Bruce Brown.

And that's going to say if you're on the perimeter, we don't care about you. we're going to help off of you. So, I mean, I can't wait to see if Simmons does return, which I'm not convinced is going to happen, how Nash uses them. What's going to happen? It's fascinating. The way I think Simmons has the most profound impact is obviously not in half-court basketball.

We talked about how they have been a problem for Boston if they get them on the run. That's true for every offense. Like, you always want transition. There's no question. But they have been exceptional. They are getting great shots and converting on those shots when the game is moving. And that's where Simmons will become the most devastating because he can be the one man fast break. He is the guy that takes the ball off the rim and starts going the other way and heads it up.

He doesn't have to give it to anybody else. It's the Dremont thing, right? Where Dramon can get the rebound and he can start that break. And he does help you get stops, more stops on defense, leads some more. offense or transition opportunities. Yeah. 100%. You're right. And there's kind of like a domino effect.

If you do get Ben Simmons back, that means you can put him on Tatum. And rather than it was Katie in game one against Tatum. It was Bruce Brown in game two against Tatum. If you do get Ben Simmons back, you can put him on Tatum. And then that means Brown could potentially defend Janeland Brown or Katie could be on Jaylon Brown. It's just so much easier to shuffle your matchups against Boston's key players. So, like, in that sense, it's a dramatic difference on defense and how it could have impact transition offense. But half court offense, I mean, that's still where games are won and lost.

And I just, I can't wait to see how they use Ben Simmons. I'm excited for it. I hope we get to see it, but I'm not convinced we will. Yeah, I don't know what to make of the news that comes out on him, honestly. I'm not sure what the make of the news that comes out on Brooklyn period. Goes back to the deadline

stuff with Hardin. Think about all the confusion there with all like the stuff that was reported. Some stuff said this, some stuff said that. Team was saying this. Team was saying that.

And then same thing now with Ben Simmons. It's like you get Ben Simmons saying to Nick Fidel at ESPN, hey take a video with this. He tweets out a video of Ben Simmons dunking.

It's like just all of it is all strange. It's like all of it. strange. Look, that was... The dunk, are you talking to video here? Yeah. Was that funny?

That was goofy. That's, you take your word. That was goofy, right? I mean... It would have been okay if it was like the Zion dunk, but not a little, you know, just kind of put it in. It reminded me of my beloved daughter, Haley. And she says, Dada, watch this. this.

And then she, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, uh, tilts herself up on her gymnastics bar. And it's just wildly unimpressive. But I'm like, that's great, Haley. That's how it felt when I watched the, that's what went through my mind as I, like, him said, hey, watch this and literally did a dunk that like a 65 year old former NBA player can do. Like you see those clips and it'll be like George Gervin and they'll be like, they'll be like, damn, George Gervin still got it.

And he like barely jumps and he puts up in the rip. And it's like, like George, like these guys that can still dunk even though they're 65. Bro, to say, make sure you get this on tape or watch this, it was equivalent of my eight year old propping yourself up on the gymnastics park. I go and dad, hey, come here. I got to show you something. And then I'm like, I have no idea why I got up to come watch this. But I'm a good dad, so I'm going to say, that's great. Like Nick Ferdale should have said, that's great, Ben.

That's great. That's great. You're 6'11. You're 6.11, bro. Zion is 360 between his legs and he's 400 pounds. You're 611 and like, barely dunking? Hey, watch this.

Oh my God. Come on, bro. That was too much. That was too much. Make sure you get this on tape. Holy mackle. Unbelievable. No, that's terrible,

Jeff. Chris, you're an absolutely wonderful father. Yeah, you know, it takes a lot, man. Sometimes it's not that interesting. But you have to... Yay.

Yeah. It's great. Put on a happy face. That's right. You ever have, can you, can you have moments as a parent, as a parent where you're like,

eh, this is all right? Is that allowed? A million times. Really? Okay. That's allowed. And I would say,

like, you know, then this is, this is my fault, but the guy, girl thing is just different, right? Yeah.

Like, or it's like mom and daughters a little bit. Yeah, but if Haley makes a shot, it, yeah, you know, I'm going crazy for,

whatever. And if he makes a shot, I'm like, lucky. You know what? Hard on him. Yeah. Right? And he's like, when she makes a shot, you go crazy over it. And I'm like, well, she's eight, you know, come on, bro.

Yeah, she's eight. Yeah. Sort of like you were with your son when he was eight, too. Yeah. No, he's really never gotten. No. Well, I mean, he knows I'm goofing. Yeah.

But, you know, it's certainly, certainly a little bit different. And here's the different. he doesn't have feelings no no not like that not like where he would no no like if i

if i if i if i if i said to him even when he was eight if i said brick shot was terrible yeah he would say give me the ball

you know what I mean like that's the boy thing in him to say give me the ball right ego right so it's the way it's the way he's wired like he'll probably be like that when he's older too. That's true. And there's a difference. Like with little girls, you got to be, there's a fine line now. I can say something wrong and she will just run to her room crying. And, you know, I've heard her feelings. I've heard her feelings. I've never, I, maybe once I've heard his feelings.

I don't know if I've heard his feelings. He certainly has never, he certainly never run to his room and cried about something. but like, you know, something, yeah, with her, I can hurt her, you can hurt her feelings for sure. You know what I mean? Like, so you got to be careful. Just don't do that when she asks, you know, watch her. You can be negative with him. He doesn't care.

But if you're, if you're overly negative, it kind of feels so much bigger to her. Well, good job, Ben. Yeah, yeah, right. Good job, man. Yeah. Yay! Yay!

But the flip side is, he, you know, he never brings me any pictures that he colored at school saying, yes, dad in the world. She does.

Yeah. I mean, well, Ben said, I'd be kind of weird if Ben Simmons started bringing you, you know. Yeah.

He probably bringing Nick Ferdella colored teddy bear picture that says, best reporter in the world. Thanks. Thanks for filming my dunk. That'd be very sweet. I look forward to watching Vince Simmons. I hope he returns.

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In Connecticut, visit ccpg.org slash chat. In Indiana, call 1-877-with-in. In Louisiana, call 1-877-stop. In Tennessee, call redline, 8-8-8-9-9-7-8-8-8-8-8-0. In Wyoming, call 1-800-5-2-2-4-70. dot net. Second game of the night. The Raptors,

that's one that's going to keep them up at night for a long, long time. Yeah. A long, long time. You know, you get in such a high leverage situation. You had every opportunity. I mean, you had chances at the free throw line to end it.

I mean, or at least have a really good shot at ending it, you know. You had offensive possessions, you know, you have the turnover on Achua under the basket. You have the two-miss free throws by Achaua. You have the split free throws on another opportunity. They get a, you know, chance at the end of the game where they got some stops when they really needed to. and then to go down to the end and have M.B.

Hit that dagger on you. I thought a massive effort out of Toronto to really overmatched, you know, player for player in my estimation. And certainly the M.B. problem is a incredible problem for them. But I thought they had the game plan. I thought they had so much can be whittled down to the last. plays of the game. But over the course of that game, I got to be honest, I was wildly impressed

with Toronto, and I think they're going to be kicking themselves for a long time about the way that thing played out, because you're a playaway from getting at least a win in the series. What are your thoughts on endgame situation with that and Bede three-pointer to win the game in overtime, and Raptors didn't cover the inbound pass by Danny Grains? they had Fred Van Bleed underneath the rim. They botched the switch on the Embed three off the screen that was set by Tobias Harris. Like, they probably should have covered the inbound of there, I would think. Probably, but probably in this particular case, I'm not sure it would have changed the shot.

I think if Embedd gets that shot and he makes that shot, that, it's just my opinion. I'm not going to blame the defense for that. If Joe L&B is going to get a turnaround three and he's going to bury it, I just have to live with it. You know, I got to live with it. Are there things they could have done differently, I suppose? But in the end, it's a seven-footer taking a turnaround three-pointer to win the game.

And if he makes it, then I tip my cap. It was also a blown rotation by Gary. Trent, too. I mean, I think it was Gary Trent's fault. Defense is tough. You don't know what every player is told to do in that moment, but he's defending Harris who sets the screen on a Chua, who was on Embed,

and Trent just didn't switch, or Chua wasn't able to fight over. I think Trent was probably supposed to switch more on Embed there just didn't happen. And sometimes you just don't execute the way you're supposed to in an end-game situation. And as you said, great players just hit great shots.

I bet if you said that, Nick Nurse, I haven't heard his quotes after the game, but I would imagine that there's a level of prediction that is attempting to take place in the defensive huddle. And so, it's a quick shot or something at the run. You know what it's going to be. Right. And these guys have done a tremendous amount of research on the ATOs that other teams have run throughout the year.

And so I would imagine that that's what informed their opinion on how to play it that way. Yeah. You know, and I would also say if Nick Nurse, if we were having fears of them and he said, bro, they threw the ball to Joel L. He took a turnaround three and beat us. Like, it's my fault for not guarding the impounder. Like, I mean, I can see that. I can see because, I mean, what are you going to do? The truth is this.

I texted you last night. I said, this dude is insane. I mean, that. that shot should not be should not look as good as it does from a seven-footer and it's just ripped the net um and i think that you probably just live with it you know it's not like there wasn't a guy there it's not like it was a wide open three that he took yeah van blee was in the area yeah trua got there after yeah chua got there maybe a little late but i mean Like, yeah, it is what it is.

I'm not sure what he expected somebody to do. Unless you're going to say that he wouldn't have gotten the ball. Once he's got the ball, what should they have done? Blocked him? I mean, he's seven foot tall. If he's going to do that, then you live with it. And I thought Hardin fouls out of the game. Maxi, I mean, again.

has there's a one like wretched airball you know in crunch time but other than that he also made some big plays and he made some big shots

and honestly I I can't believe that Tobias Harris missed the bunny at the end of regulation you know Tobias has been good you know I think

he's figured it out man yeah I mean look we know the contract. But it kind of felt like if Tobias Harris is out there and he's making $15 million, then people would be talking about how great Tobias Harris was has been for them. But I thought he's been very, very good. And I have never, he's never struck me as the, you know, the pit bull kind of guy. But that was a pit bull play at the end of that game. That is, give me that ball, bitch. And then, you know, he just,

missed the bunny. But I mean, that would have been a hell of a game winner for him to, I mean, that would have gone down in Sixers' lore is snatching the ball away, you know, and, uh, and getting the possession and then putting that back up. So kind of got away with one with him not hitting that. But I mean, when you, when you die by that kind of envied shot, it's not going to make you feel any better that Tobias Harris missed a bunny. Considering what we're talking about here, You know, it's Tobias Harris, figuring out his role. Joanne Lambie, dominant. You know, he even said after the game,

first half he didn't feel like he was fully engaged. I forget his exact wording. But second half, like he's a dominant force. End game, dominant force. Well, and give Doc credit, Kiv. Because, look, we can, we can X's and O's. People can bust up Doc. But I said that years ago,

I became much more aware. of how the handling of players. All we ever focus on is what these players are doing and the X's and O's in the situation, whatever else. But the handling of players and egos and motivation is obviously something that Doc has always been great at. And Embed referenced that after the game. You are the biggest guy out on the court.

You are the monster. go make it happen. Like, you know what I mean? And Doc Rivers is the kind of guy that could say that to Joe L.MB and Joe L.M.B. responded in kind, you know, because of that. And you got to get credit for that. You know, he gets banged up sometimes. But, you know, I think that sometimes we lose sight of the effect coaches can have on the non-Xs and O's stuff that actually impact.

Because Joel Embed's impacting that second half, it's tremendous. Well, considering all of that, you know, everything you just said about Doc, considering the positive developments about the team, in addition, Tyrese Maxie, too. Has your confidence in the Sixers being able to make a real deep run to the finals increased at all through the first three games against Toronto? I think I feel like it will be a better series that versus Miami than I thought. With a chance to win. No. No. So you still think Miami, straight up going to win that series.

round two. Yes. I think Miami is unbelievable. They get great shots. Defense on a string. They got gamers all over the place. I just, you know, they're a problem. They're big problem.

Yeah, they're great. And they've also got depth. They can match up against anybody, too. And I think they can match up against anybody. So that's what I would say. I'd say maybe, look, I guess I always thought that it probably be, I guess if you're saying that there's going to be six or seven games, then yes, I would give, I'd give him a puncher's chance,

but I do think that over the course of a series, I would be, I would be shocked if Miami lost to Philly. So does Philly still need James Hardin to get back to becoming like high 20 scoring? Not to win this series, but to win the next one. To win the next one, yeah. So they still need James Hardin and get back to that. level. Yeah, I agree. He's got to be great. Yeah. It's putting a lot on Maxie.

We, look, we talk about how awesome he is. He's still a second year guy. Mm-hmm. You know? And those are hardened veterans that have been in a lot of playoff games, you know, and when you're, and they can switch everything. And so you're looking up, and it's Kyle, and then it's Butler, and then it's PJ, and then it's bam. And that, I mean, God. It's a war. And it's not easy to navigate for any player. You see what they're doing to Tray Young? What in the hell?

Amazing job, yeah. Amazing job. Yeah, whether it's Bam or whether it's not Bam. Like, they've had great minutes with Deadman out there. They played PJ Tucker at the five for a stretch as well, too, and was highly effective. And, yeah, Miami can play any style they want. Small ball, you know, with a big out there. And bam, they can play drop.

They can switch. Miami is a major issue for every team in the year. Yeah, so I would say that is true. And I do think that they are, again, I thought they'd be Toronto and I thought that Embed would be a massive problem. They don't have anything for him. And Siakum has not been a guy. He's not been that dude for Toronto. No.

You know. And Fred hasn't been that good, honestly. Ben Bleet, yeah. Like after his all-star start to the season, since early January, it is not. been great for Fred Van Bleet. Like efficiency-wise, what is he now in the series? Seven for 12, game one, seven for 23, game two, three for 13 in game three. And that's pretty consistent with what we've seen from him since the middle of January during the regular season.

Last 30 games, 36% from the field averaging 18 points per game, still getting buckets with volume, but low efficiency from the field. For Van Bleet here, he's a, he's a Bucker Gander from three, but he's not necessarily a guy who's drawing fouls finishing at a high rate inside the paint.

He's being asked to be your number one go-to-scorer, but he's not that. And that's the problem for Toronto here. Oh, if they could have just gotten, you know what, especially after you watching it last night, I'm thinking to myself,

God, imagine if they could have gotten druggage in the fold. And it would have worked, and he would have played. I mean, Piffilly plays 46 minutes a game. He has for the last three months. That's tough, right? You can just get somebody else, right, that could do it. Because it's a diminutive guy anyway.

That's a lot. He's small. Yeah, right? And so not easy to have that level of bursts, you know, certainly that is required. And, I mean, somebody like Philly, they really make you look small too. just got condors all over the play. I mean, it's like Mbid and Danny Green. Then you look up and it's Tobias Harris.

I mean, they got some big dudes on that team for sure. But I hate it for Toronto. They should have gotten that one. That would have been the one. You know, and then you get a level of confidence and you never know from there. But I feel like that is just, that just rips your heart out.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, plus not having Scotty Barnes too. That hurts you as well in the series. I thought they still played great, consider me. Yeah. I mean, look, listen, like Toronto, even if they had been, like, they were a popular upset pickover Philly. Even despite some of those expectations people had after their strong finish of the season, they still had a strong finish of the season. They still had positive development from their young guys.

And I don't think the expectation was to win or make a run this year with the Raptors. It's about, you know, beyond this year. and what we've seen, even O.G. In and Oby, they did a pretty good job in that game with the ball on his hands last night. Granted, it wasn't working down the stretch of that game. That's not what O.G. is going to be doing when the Raptors are actually a contender again. You're asking players to do things that they aren't going to be doing when the team actually has those real hopes.

And they've done a pretty good job considering they don't have that yet. And maybe someday they will. The third game. Buck's Bulls. DeMarta Rosen, to his credit, after the first game, I'm not going six to 25 again. And boy, did he not go six to 20? He was not lying.

Holy moly. As I said, we were talking about the Durant thing. I went back and watched all the field goal makes. And just unbelievable. The shot making, the getting to his spots. And I do think that. I still think I know you, I saw your post about the Bulls being able to get back into it. And the Middleton thing's going to hurt for sure.

And who knows how long he is going to be out. I saw our man Jeff Stott's, who does in street clothes. He actually posted about MCLs. And he said, Chris Middleton, recovery rates for MCL sprains depend on the severity of the sprain. and any possible meniscus damage. And then he goes on to do some details. And he says Middleton's previous meniscus injury was in his opposite knee. So that's good.

When Durant sprained his MCL earlier this season, Stott said, I looked at my database and discovered that the average time lost for a G1 MCL sprain is 17 dates. Grade two sprains were an average of 41 days. KD missed 21. games when he had sprained his. And so they will see what grade this is. But either way, I mean, you're talking minimum 17,

you know, 41. It's real bad. That's that you're just going to plan for life without Chris Middleton for the foreseeable future, for sure. No matter the time frame, the Bulls now have an opportunity to win the series against the bucks, which is not something that we thought was. fathomable at all entering the playoffs considering the way things ended for Chicago they couldn't beat anybody great there are a below average team since

December they had so many different injuries they still don't have lawns though the fact that they won game two splitting in in Milwaukee they got a shot man you know I saw last night it's funny you say that it said nobody beats the Bulls 15 times in a row because as we had chronicled there's Janus Llan Bud's teams had won 14 consecutive games against the Bulls. He has been tortured. That's amazing. Yeah.

It's amazing. Yes. Amazing. But when you have a guy like DeMardo Rosen, surrounded by some really good, you know, guys filling their roles, Patrick Williams, Caruso was, oh, my God. He's amazing, dude. Everywhere.

Isn't Caruso something else? Yes. But when you have a go-to-scoring presence like DeMard de Rosen surrounded by that talent. against now a team without Chris Middleton who had dropped 40 in the finals. I still feel like Chris Middleton is underrated nationally. Bucks fans know how great Chris Middleton is. But I'm still not so sure that fans are across the league know how great Chris Middleton is.

Like he is an important shot creator for that Bucks team and not having him, man. That's put a lot of pressure on Drew Holliday, who's going to have Lonzo in his face at certain points throughout the, I'm sorry, you're going to have Caruso in his face at certain points this season. It's going to put a lot of pressure on Janus to do even more crazy stuff than he already does for him to carry a heavier load. Can Janus do it? Yes. But like, isn't this going to be one of those stretches here without Middleton that are going to define the greatness of Janus? If he's able to lead the bucks past the Bulls without Middleton, is that something that, in your opinion, is going to require Janus to do even more

more like otherworldly stuff on the court? Or am I overblowing the loss of Middleton here and maybe inflating what Chicago can be against this Bucks team without Middleton? I maybe a little bit of both. A. Yonis can be better. And especially... Well, it's not that he can be better.

It's that he's just going to have to do more. He'll have to do more with Middleton not out there. And that's just on the offensive end. My problem with Yonis, it was the defense event, honestly, because I know he's a great defender. But he did something, when I went back and watched all the De Rosen shots, he did something that always annoys me. And that is, I can't tell you how many times if you go back and watch them,

there's the DeRosan comes off, Yonis steps up, he rises and fires, he makes the shot right in his face, and Yonis does the, I'm holding my arm in the air for the extra fire. seconds after the ball has already gone through the net so that everybody knows I contested this even though I affected literally jack shit. It drives me crazy. It drives me crazy. What quarter was that shot? You remember? No, you go back and watch any of the fourth. There's eight of nine of them are right in his friggin' face. Like, bro, get up there. You're nine foot tall. Get up. like I don't want to see like

hey everybody I was here I stepped up like you're a condo I can't stand I hate let's let's bring it back though I love Janice let me bring it back to the point that I had there like let's so Janus it's going to have to do even more offensively Drew Holiday is going to have to step up without Middleton like I said am I over inflating here

the problem for the bucks against the Bulls, considering the Bulls, everything we talk about with some of their issues during the season. Or is this a real problem for Milwaukee?

It's a problem. There's no question because anytime that you have that amount of money sunk into a player, it's going to kill your depth, right? Yeah.

In some way, unless you've just nailed your depth. And so now you've got to have Grayson Allen stepping up. Now you've got to have Pat Connettin stepping up.

Javon Carter. Yeah, Javon Carter stepping up. I think what you're going to see is you're just going to end up seeing even more Yannis, that you're not going to see those, you know, the shot that what you're trying to replace from Middleton is not just going to be distributed to whoever's taking his place, obviously. Yes. That guy becomes a role player. And so now maybe instead of 20 attempts, you're getting even more attempts from Yon.

It just becomes more of Yon. which I actually think there's not going to be a bad thing. I'm not saying the loss of Middleton's not going to hurt. I'm just saying, how do you function without him? I mean, the answer is going to be even more of this guy.

Even more. I think that's the only thing you can do. Right? And defensively, I think it's replaceable. So we're just talking about it. Defensively, yes. And offense, what are you going to do?

And I mean, in game one, Chris Middleton was four of 13 for 11 points and one of seven from three. I can, I promise you, Grays and Allen can do that. You know, game two is better. You know,

before he busted his ACL in 18 minutes, he's six for 11. He was making shots. But, I mean, Chris Middleton's kind of, in many cases, has been that guy,

right? That 40 that he had was, you know, we know he might get you 12th, the next game. And so... He did get 29 after that game four. Next game he had 29.

Right. Another great performance. No, the guy, look. Hey, he's sensational. He's very, very good player. But I don't think his loss... 38 points in game six against the Nets. Huge win in that second round last year. Middleton has those knights.

And he probably would have had to have one of those nights at some point. the long line of this postseason maybe in round one and now they don't have them. All right, here's what I said. Losing Middleton is not going to kill them against the Bulls, but it will against the Celtics. And at the least, it opens the door for the Bulls to have an upset.

It opens the door. The door was closed before. It is now open. Well, I mean, I certainly would not bet on it. I certainly would not bet on. I wouldn't bet on it either. You know, I mean, look, anybody that wants to bet on it, you could get still unbelievable odds.

You know what I mean? At the least, the door is open. Yeah. Do we agree on that? Gives him a better chance. Yeah. So we agree. Than they did.

The door's open. Yeah. But I think that that Middleton thing, when we know the amount of time that these MCLs take, that's going to really show up against Boston. I don't think Chicago is going to make you pay for it nearly as badly as Boston will. Oh, yeah. Definitely. And teams like Milwaukee are good enough to lose a player.

Phoenix and the Pelicans, because we're about to find out if the sons are good enough to lose a player. I always think it's very difficult and there's not a lot to draw, not as much to draw from it when you lose a guy mid-game. Now you have the opportunity to plan for life without the guy, right? That's inevitably what the bucks are going to do. And it's certainly what's going to happen with Phoenix. and what do we think about Phoenix and them being able to play without Booker for possibly an extended amount of time? Well, the thing that I'd be a little nervous about if I'm a son's fan here

is the fact that now Herb Jones, they're going to say, hey, go get Chris Paul, the whole game. Maybe not the whole game, of the time. And with Herb, they split a little bit of time between defending Booker versus Paul. So far, the series, 43 matchups against Chris Paul, 40 against Evan Booker. Now that's going to slide all the way towards Chris Paul. And like, anytime you have Herb Jones on you, things are tough. And I think that's the number one thing that I'm a little concerned about from the sun side of things that Jones is going to be the C.P.

key three stopper, at least try to be. Because this, this Pelicans team, man, they're good, dude. I feel the same way about them as I do about the Bulls where the door is at least cracked open a little bit. You're still picking the Suns here. You still feel confident if you're a Suns fan, but Pelicans are no slouches. How many times can they have the best player on the floor? It's certainly if you watched the other night.

Is Ingram. Without question. Yes. Yep. Right? And so it's like, if that happens, you know, I mean. Or if it's from CJ, CJ could be the best player on any particular night too. He can drop a 40 bomb. Absolutely good.

I've seen him doing in the postseason before. And that's what makes it a little bit more difficult because it does put a lot on Paul. Because he's got to control the game now. And so when you're saying who's the best, who was the best player on the floor that night? You know, are we thinking Aiton can be the best player on the floor? on a given night or we say it. I mean, and it's not the end-all-be-all. Sometimes teams that had the best player in the game lose.

But more often than not, when we look back at the story of a series, there was no question that when we look back at last year's final, there was no debate who the best player on the floor was. And his team got it done. And I do think that that will be the case with Janus. And I think when you got Janus on your team, you know, I think if you're counting on to Rosen to be that guy over the course of the entire series, I'm not saying he cannot get it done.

To your point about the, you know, the door is open. I mean, we never know until it happens. And I don't know how you could watch the other night and be like, yo, that's a one-night thing. Brandon Ingram ain't going to be able to be the best player on the floor throughout this deal. Like, that's where to me I'd get a little nervous if I was Phoenix, just because that guy, he looked like what we think KD looks like.

Right? Like, they switch places or something, right? Like, Brandon Ingram should probably, at 24, being struggling against Phoenix. But my God, the shot making,

he is just, as I told you a couple weeks ago, when I had watched him, I had watched, there was 10 minutes span where I was like, what hell are you supposed to do with this guy? man. 6-11. You can't block it.

And he just, just fantastic offensive performer. Fantastic. He's special, dude. And I mean, I think they're going to have their hands full with him. You're seeing a lot of Jade Crowder on Ingram in this series. I wonder if it'll be

a bit more, McKell Bridges. But Bridges has also been the guy against C.J. McCollum for the most part. Matchup-wise, that's that's also something to monitor. We talked about Herb Jones is going to be sticking to Chris Paul, but who is McElbridge is going to defend? Is it Ingram or McCollum?

I think after the last game, you probably just decide it's going to be Ingram. If CJ starts going off, though, then that's another problem. I mean, CJ really hasn't seen anybody else in this series. If you look at the matchup data on second spectrum, C.J. McCollum has been defended by Bridges, 84 possessions.

Next up is Jay Crowder at 15. it's like he's not really seeing anybody else. Like that's something to monitor in this game three as well. Do you have the numbers on those? Does he cook Crowder in the 15? Because otherwise maybe I just swap them. And I just say, McKell,

I don't have him in front of me. I like, Mikel try to slow down, slow down Ingram. Jay's not having too good of a time with that one. Who's got to step up for Phoenix? Like to me it was easy because it's like, all right,

and so I probably get a little more Yonis and that I try to get what I can't out of of Grayson Allen and Pat Connathan. On Phoenix's side, you know, if you are getting the extra attention towards Chris, right, who do we see that has to like step up

now that Booker's down? Is it Cam? I think it's guys like McElbridge's Cam Johnson. When either Booker or Paul were out during the season, we saw Cam Johnson have a stretch average in like 24 points per game, like five, six games in a row before we got hurt in March. And I think it's going to be a little bit more of that.

Maybe you see Aiton get fed a couple more bucket making opportunities. But like ultimately, though, it's like we talked about with Milwaukee, with more out of Yanos, more out of holiday, isn't this just a morat of Chris Paul situation? Like, that's what you think on paper. But then when you have Herb Jones against you with all his length and his intensity. And maybe, but maybe Cam with the lengths. could oddly help defensively in some ways against those big-time scorers, right?

Not that he's no bridges, but he's big. You know what I mean? Yeah. Tall, certainly a very tall guy. All right, the games that we got going on tonight, the first one's going to be Grizzlies Timberwolves. All right. You know I've talked about this game at nauseam

as it got evened up after two games. What have you made of it after watching the Grizzlies beat the T-Wools? They're back, number one, first of all. I mean, that is an encouraging game two for them after that, you know, sputtering in game one. I think the decision by Taylor Jenkins to bench Stephen Adams three minutes into the game, like we talked about after that game one loss was impressive that he pulled the plug so quickly. I think it was a wise decision.

And I'm sure Adams will continue to start games, but finishing games, playing in the middle of games, that's a big question. Xavier Tillman, the way he performed on both ends, Brennan Clark, Kyle Anderson, you know, playing more front court minutes. It just seemed to make a lot more sense against Minnesota. Would you agree on that? No question. And I don't even know if he will start, honestly.

Oh, so you think there's a chance. I mean, I don't know. I don't know if you have to do the ceremonial. What's that? That's called the Kendrick Perkins, right? or the perks of beasts the DeAndre Jordan

or whoever right when you got the big guy that's not really got to play but you start him I don't even know if you have to and the reason I say that he did not start in the second half no yeah that's true

Kyle Anderson started the second half so at that point you know the die is cast and certainly they had inability to match up one of the crazy things is Minnesota takes a lot of wild-ass shots.

They do. And in game one, they made them. They made them like crazy. And I did think that, you know, as I told you in game one, the game was just deadball basketball because of the 70 free throws. And it looked like we were headed that way again after that was the most egregious, awful thing I've ever witnessed in my life. at an NBA arena.

I thought you were going to stop right there, period, end of the sentence. 33 combined free throw. The only thing I felt good about during that was the people that were still trying to get in the arena. And this is going to happen in Minnesota tonight. You should see the lines to get into the arena, Kevin. Oh, my God. Because of these idiot, PETA, it's not even PETA, so I don't want to. want to cast it on them.

But the animal rights people, one that's glued himself, one that's chained himself. Now, everybody that goes into the arena, it's like, you know, you got to get buck naked and they got to do like anal care. Oh, they're really doing that? Oh, it's awful. Really? I mean, all because of glue and the chains. And so I get done with the pregame show.

I'm walking by. There's thousands of people on the concourse. And I'm like, you know what? At least these people didn't miss. nothing because this game sucks for the first quarter. It's just, it's just Zach Zarba and, and,

and his friends blowing the whistle. Oh, that's the beginning of that game with Zach Zarva. He was getting more TV time than John Morano. It was ridiculous. So bad. It was a joke, but,

the game got moving after that quarter. I'm sorry you have to deal with the security theater at a, at a basketball game. Well, I don't, but they, well, yeah,

all the fans, yeah, no, I mean, and it's because, and it's going to be like that. They were telling people, to get there in Minnesota at like 4.30 today.

Just to make sure, like, they're opening the arena early trying to encourage people like, hey, get there early because, you know, they're trying to make sure. And the damnedest thing about the whole thing, my buddy John Krasinski, the outstanding writer for the athletic that covers the T-Wolves. I was talking to him about it the other day. And the lady that, like, changed herself or whatever

in game one, I was like, what do you think Glenn Taylor thinks about that when he sees like the shirts and that's who they're protesting? And he's like, well, she could have just asked him. He was 50 feet away. And I was like, what? And he's like, yeah, he was right there. And I'm like, the idea that that lady doesn't even know, she really could have just gone and said, hey, Glenn, I don't approve of your killing of chickens or whatever.

You could have just saved us all a lot of time. You know was 50 feet away. She didn't even know who Clint Taylor is. I heard he's opening a barbecue now. Stop. Stop. Come on. See, by the way, the security theater, I remember reading an article like six years ago.

Like, TSA misses 70% of fake weapons. Oh, God. That's all the theater. Come on. All right. Look. Is there something else? I don't.

It makes me feel terrible. I know. What is a fake weapon anyway? I mean, I, guess they're testing out, like, the effect of TSA. And, like, it's horrible. Well, they probably, as long as they get the real weapons, I'm okay with it. You ever, you ever, yeah, no.

It's, I'm not worried about the fake ones. Yeah. Get the real ones. Like, get the real ones. Like, okay. Well, I mean, it's, they're bringing in fake firearms and stuff to test out TSA and then they're not getting those. But they will get, like, my, my task cam recorder and ask me what this is.

and wipe it down and all that. I remember once when I was moving to, I think maybe the first time going from L.A. to back the boss and during the pandemic, I had all my guitar pedals packed into a suitcase. What do you think they did with that? With all the wiring and the cables of that.

Oh, it's terrible. Yeah, that was tough. I was there for a while. Understandably so. All right. Did games one and two of the Grizzlies Timber Wolf series change your opinion on the way that series is going to play out.

No, I don't think so. Still picking Memphis. Mavericks Jazz. It returns to Utah tonight for game number three. That is 1-1 after the Mavericks got monster efforts out of Brunson and Maxie Kleba in game two. Does Utah just respond? I mean, they clearly have the better roster if Luca's not out there, right? Yeah.

They do. I guess is it 100% Luca dependent? He's been listed as questionable as of time of recording. We don't know, right? No, we don't know. We still don't know. And even if he does play, we don't know the level of effectiveness that he'll have on the court.

I mean, I think Dallas needs Luca at some point to win the series. But as we talked about before the series, they haven't needed him to at least be competitive and win a game. And I feel the same way about them going to Utah. You can't rule out Dinwiddie or Brunson having another big performance. You can't rule out Max and Kleba or Finney Smith or Bullock having a good shooting night. And so for Dallas, like they go without Dwight Powell for the most part in game two, played only 16 minutes and saw a heck of a lot more Kleba.

I would expect you'll see even more of that in game three. But now the jazz, as you said, they're going to have time to game plan for that. how can they defeat a smaller Maverick's front line? Well, that brings it back to, you know, Gobert. It brings it back to some of their perimeter players being able to penetrate the basket, scoring side, but also more than anything else, the Jazz, like, their perimeter defense needs to be better. They're going to be getting stops here.

It can't be, as we argued about on Tuesday, layup or corner three over and over and over and over and over again for Dallas. So it's a number of things that have to change for Utah. Yeah, they're going to look at that game tape and, and it's one of those times where I do think that they're going to be able to make adjustments. And much like we have seen in some of these others, it's like, okay, if the other team is going to shoot 48%, 47% from three, you're going to be up against it no matter what, right? It's one thing to get the threes. It's another thing.

You still got to make them. And I think that that's one of the things that the bucks can hang on to from last night. The Bulls, they didn't shoot a massive volume, but they shot 48% from three in that game. If you're going to get in the high 40s of threes with the way the game's played right now, you're going to be very difficult to be no matter what you're doing. And so I do think that Utah will have a better solution for, that, I'd be shocked if they didn't. And in the absence of Luke, I still think they're going to be able to overwhelm

Dallas once it all plays itself out. I think they're probably kicking themselves about even losing that second game, honestly. The fact, Luke is listed at questionable. It said he's feeling good, optimistic for game three. If I'm a jazz fan, I'm scared. I'm terrified. Yes.

I'm shaking. I don't know how we went from he couldn't, he wasn't jumping off of it to Hey, I'll be ready for game three. But hey, we'll see.

I don't know if this is gamesmanship. Right? Lifting him as question a little instead of doubtful. Yeah, because it doesn't matter. I don't. Yeah. It's not like NFL injury report.

Right. You could just say, well, it was a question whether he played or not. It might not be, but you could say that. so that they have to plan for it. Or at least think about it.

Because it's a radically different game plan. It just is. You know, that guy is, I think it was the highest usage rate player in the league. That's not him. It's Yokic. It's right up. Right. I mean, he is the centerpiece of what they do.

So it would be fascinating to see whether or not he's in the lineup tonight. And then the other one's the Warriors Nuggets. I mean, as we've seen, usually the best effort, is the even in the team that gets crushed in the series is that first home game game three

even in the five game series right got the home crowd feel good got to respond backs against the wall other team doesn't have that same kind of feeling at all

and then the other team knows if they can come in and they can get game three they can go close it out at home in game five so we saw that monster effort out of Toronto last night night. Do you think Denver's got a monster effort in them to at least catch a game against

the warriors who have, you know, so far just totally overmatched them? I'm not so sure. No? No, I'm not so sure. I mean, it would have to come from Yokic. That goes without saying. And the altitude. Yeah, the altitude. Just hope they can't breathe. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe you pray Jamal Murray ends up playing or Michael Porter returns and he's looking like the good Michael. Michael Porter, not the bad Michael Porter we saw earlier this season. Maybe it's that, but I just think this Warriors team is playing at such an elite level right now with their smaller lineup. That new death lineup is crazy. Jordan Pools for real.

The Warriors are going to be tough to beat, man. They're looking like the favorites. There's got to be one amazing Yokic performance, right? You would think so. Well, we see with these great players and we want to say like, hey, they ain't dead yet. Like I was to tell you earlier, we hadn't seen the last at Durant. Come on. We've seen enough to know.

He's not going out like this, where it's just like these lame-ass performances. And then we look up and it's like, oh, they just shut them down completely. Like, that's why they're superstars. I do think Yokic's going to have a big one in him. You know, all he's read is that Draymond, shut him down, Dreymn, shut him down.

You're right? There's going to be at least one of the Yokic is the best player on the floor games, I would think. Maybe not. Yeah, yeah, maybe not. And I think also like some of the discourse... He needs to have this monster like 35 and 17 and 9 and whatever so that everybody can then tweet out like they did last night.

MVP, yeah, oh, MVP. Because like as soon as Joel Embed hit the shot, like, what, if he would have missed it, he shouldn't have been the MVP? Like, shut up. Like, so everybody could tweet about the MVP if you know, it has a big game. Yeah, I'm like the MVP discourse is time to stop. It's over.

It's a regular season award. If we want to, if we want to change it to, like a playoff award, I would love, I would love for the NBA to have like an all playoff, you know,

two teams, three teams, whatever it is. I'd love for something like that. I would love that. Oh, like a most outstanding player like the NCAA tournament does.

Yeah, exactly. Like a most, the most outstanding players even. Like, like 10 guys. Playoff team. Post season.

Yes. Postseason all stars. Look, look, the cool. Oh, that's actually a hoop idea. The regular,

the regular season awards matter. They do. They matter. But the playoffs matter more than the regular season. And in some ways, I think all these awards are overrated in that sense. Like, I wish we had something to represent the postseason too. That's just the way I do. Because that's what basketball matters most, the lights of brightest.

Postseason All-Star Awards. Exactly. Something like that feels like. All-star team. It's such an easy win for the NBA to have something like that. that. And also, if you do that, if you start that, if you have it over 30 years, suddenly the highest playoff performer list, whatever you want to call it, that becomes something that adds up over the course of time. And you want to get on that list. And the all NBA stuff

might matter for contract stuff still and all that. But people aren't kind of swear about it as much. It would also be fascinating to see. That's where like guys like Jimmy Butler show up like a first team, right? You're right. Yeah, exactly. He's first team postseason All-Star. And he's like. And it's a to remember what happened during like that year that year what happened here and it's just i don't know i think it would be dope maybe maybe we could start doing it we stumbled on something the point in fact how about this how about we name at the end of it we name like a postseason all-star team yeah i'm down let's do it and then we'll send them uh well marcus smart already used the robe last night we'll have to send them something yeah somebody can our listeners you come up with the idea what should we send them if they

make the postseason all-star team that would be symbolic of us. You know what I mean? It needs to be, like, it needs to be something that we say. Can we expense that with Spotify, all the robes,

you know, a bunch of, a bunch of robes or something. Yeah. Yes. They did, they just, they said the Obama's

aren't doing their pod anymore, so they got extra money. They get more cap space. More cap space is Spotify. I read that this morning. All right. It's going to do it for today. So,

thank you to our executive. producer jesse lopez as always kevin i'll talk to you next week have a good weekend everybody enjoy the playoffs