The Mismatch - Recapping an Amazing Game 1 and Witnessing the Birth of a Star

Episode Date: June 3, 2022

After most of the conference finals games were blowouts, Game 1 of the NBA Finals had it all, and Verno and KOC recap the Celtics' comeback victory (01:01). The guys look at Game 1 from both the Celtics' and Warriors' perspectives (09:20). In a game where Jayson Tatum didn’t score, the rest of the Celtics role players stepped up, but can they continue this hot shooting? Or will the rest of the Warriors step up to match their play? Speaking of Tatum, despite his bad shooting night, he found other ways to affect the game, and KOC fully believes we are witnessing his ascension into superstardom (39:35). They last discuss the time when Verno interviewed NBA superfan Jimmy Goldstein and Adam Sandler’s new basketball movie, 'Hustle' (58:52). Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Producer: Jessie Lopez Link to Verno’s podcast with Jimmy Goldstein Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yo, Rob Harvilla from 60 Songs That Explain the 90s here to inform you that we are back with 30 more songs because the 90s were super long and had a ton of rad music. Please join us every Wednesday for more 60 songs that explain the 90s only on Spotify. Welcome to The mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon. Join me as he does every Friday from The Ringer.com. It's Kevin O'Connor, A.K. Kevin O. Obama, Kevin O'Connor, Kevin O'O. Conflict. Kevin O'Candekylline, Kevin O'Clymer, Kevin O'Chyl. Burnow! I'm not even going to ask the question. Looks like the subjects have a chance. They now have won game one of the NBA finals,

a game you were in attendance last night for. It was an amazing basketball game. That ends up leaving us with all manner of thoughts. and I'll go through kind of both fan bases and how both fan bases feel about what took place last evening and what it means for the rest of the series. And, you know, many of the fans' feelings are going to come from what they hear from the coaches, what they hear from the players on those teams.

But a shocking turn of events in the fourth quarter of last night's game as the Celtics who are down double digits, win the fourth quarter 40 to 16, and knock off the Warriors 120 to 108. All right, you were in that arena. I want to hear all about it. I mean, listen, Chris, the third quarter avalanche happens by the Warriors.

How many times have we seen that over the years, right? Yep. We see the Warriors come out in the second half and just destroy teams. I remember seeing your tweets around halftime, like, wow, this is making out to be a great series. And then during the third quarter, I'm sitting there, Warriors fans are going nuts. And it's like, well, I mean, maybe this game won't end up so close after all. And it didn't.

I mean, 12 points for it to swing. You know, the other way, with Boston down 15, and they win by 12, up by 15 at one point in the fourth quarter. Just a remarkable swing. There was that ESPN stat that went out last night, that it was the first time in any. NBA finals history that a team entered the fourth quarter down with a double-digit deficit and then won by double digits. How insane is that? Like it was a whiplash effect last night or like this combobulating.

What is happening right now with this comeback? It was just absolutely nuts. And to win that game, I mean, Tatum, his playmaking was fantastic. He found a way to contribute without scoring. But to win in the fashion that you did. did with your best player at three for 17? Yep. You could not have convinced me the Celtics would have had any chance of winning the game

with them doing what they did. But, like with that said, though, 50 plus percent from three, Marcus Smart defending Draymond Green and, you know, roaming off him, not even worried at all about him and Igwadala. Those Igwe Draman lineups didn't make a difference. You got obviously Peyton Purchett with good minutes, gritty defense, contributions on offense as well. Derek White going off, Al Horford finding his legs. So all those factors came together despite Tatum only at three for 17. That bodes well for Boston, in my opinion.

All right. Well, the crazy thing about last night going into it was when the game is about to tip off and they're announcing, I had not paid attention to who the officials were. And they said it was Mark Davis, both Mark Davis and John Goebel were going to be officiating. I almost had a panic attack. I was like, oh my God. Like, all I want is great finals games. And when I kill them for, you know, getting too involved in the game or being an issue, I got to praise them. I thought the officials did an amazing job in this game.

Getting out of the way. Let them go. Let them go. Well, and it wasn't that hard to because there wasn't nearly as much pressure on the rim and to make those calls. There wasn't a lot of flopping around, you know, most of the calls that were made for like charges or whatnot. When they replayed them, they were totally legitimate.

But these teams were not playing what we've talked about, dead ball basketball, which had for so much of the playoffs just marred it, right? The number of fouls, the number of free throws, the number of reviews, you know, all of these things that were slowing down the game. And we just got to watch two teams flying up and down the court, burying threes at this incredible rate.

You know, as we've talked about, the three-point shot becoming so intensely relevant towards who wins and loses these games. One of the things is, you know, it can get super ugly when these teams are missing them. But man, when they are making them and both of these teams shooting at the clip that they were shooting, starting with Curry. and then as the game went out, so the refs did a good job. When we got to end of the first half,

I was like, this is exactly what we bargained for. The Warriors win the first quarter by four points. The Celtics win the second quarter by six points. Then we get to the third, and that was shocking to me. Like I didn't think we were going to have margins of 14 points. in a quarter very often,

and we got one coming straight out of halftime, especially where it felt like the Celtics had really corrected some things, especially on Curry, in that second quarter of that game. But the Warriors put it on them in that third quarter, and if you just stop the tape, if you just stop the tape at the end of that third quarter, and you say, what happens the rest of the way? like there's no chance that the Celtics are coming back.

I mean, at that moment, you know, they had gotten it, I think, to single digits and wasn't Igwadala hit the three at like the end of the third. And I thought to myself, whoa, that's a big shot, right? Because it was like they kind of chipped away, chipped away. They had gone on a run. But now, boom, it's extended back up to double digits at the end of the third. third quarter and then that made it from nine to 12 and then Derek white had the free throws entering the four when you know so the game started late my son fell asleep at the end of the

third quarter actually sorry real quick that was 11 to 14 and then the white free throws made it to 12 okay so that cut it to 12 yeah all right my son fell asleep at the end of the third quarter and when he got up this morning I told him and he was like no no way I was like not only did they they won by double digits. He was like, come on. And I was like, I was like, you got to go back and watch it. So he fell asleep entering the fourth. Yes.

And so, like, I wonder if he had woken up after that 7-0 run to start the fourth. Because that's when it really turned. Yep. Right? You know, where like step off the floor for that first two to three minutes, seven-oh run. And I said earlier smart, you know, sagging off of Dremont. It was really Tatum in that fourth quarter.

And by the way, not just stepping off the court. Of course. Who was on the court, which is like Steve Kerr. Igwadala and Dremon together. The lack of spacing there with like Tatum sagging off of Dremont. Then you got Robert Williams all the way in the paint. Jordan Poole is your primary ball hand. Remember that turnover he had where I think Dremont and Iguidalla both had

nobody on them behind the three point line pool? drove into the basket with like eight Celtics in the paint, kicked it out, threw it out of bounds. And it was just an example of some of the ups and downs of the Jordan Pool experience. And he's getting shredded on defense. All night, though, Kevin. His straight line drives were a mess.

Just a mess. He was a team low minus 19 in the game last night. Well, it felt like it. That's one of those numbers. That's one of those numbers that kind of, when you see it, it makes all the sense of the world. I do think that there are a few things regarding how you feel coming out of this. All right.

And when we can decide what's real or what's not on this. So I think if you're a Celtics fan, well, frankly, I know because I listened to Bill's podcast this morning. I think there's a couple things. finally figured out a way they wanted to attack. We're able to weather the Steph storm, weather the crowd, and this is kind of what they are. They've got all this heart.

They've got all these good players. They were able to make some adjustments. Doca make some adjustments, and it took a long time to figure it out, but then the floodgates opened. Won this game, despite Tate, him being horrendous from the field.

While his playmaking was great and the assists were good, he's a three-for-seventeen night in his first finals game. Udoka said after the game, we didn't play our best at all in this game. And so I think you walk away and you can feel all those ways. If you're a Celtics fan, on the flip side, think of you're a Warriors fan, you sit there and you go,

they shot 51% from three. I don't care if you want to talk up Derek White, if you want to talk about Al Horford, if you want to talk up all these guys. 51% is extreme. Steph was awesome, so while their best player wasn't that good, our best player was outstanding throughout this game.

No way the other guy, guys can be that bad. Draymond, damn near breaking the backboard, pool, you know, hopefully that's first game finals, you know, big stage jitters because he is a much better player than he performed. And, and then you sit back and you go, okay, look, that was, that was extreme. That was insane what took place. And so if you want to bank on the insane taking place, then so be.

it. But it was 40 to 16. And to even hear Draymond after the game, he said, they hit 21-3s. And Marcus Smart, Al Horford, and Derek White combined for 15 of them, 15 for 23 from those guys. We'll be fine. And so I just presented kind of both sides of it. And I got to be honest with you. I don't think if it's a Celtics fan telling me those things, if it's a Warriors fan telling me the things that I just rattled off, I don't think any of those are outrageous things to believe. And that's what makes this game one so great. We'll see how it plays out in game two. But of those things I rattled off, what do you think are the most salient points that these respective fan bases would feel about game one? Yeah, I mean, it's interesting the way,

Raymond kind of, you know, made the three-point success about Derek White, Al Horford, Marcus Smart. Understandably so. Those guys have all had hot games. They've had down games. But, like, his comment about the 41, 42 minutes that they first dominated the game, he felt they dominated the first 41, 42 minutes. Come on. That's not true.

That's goofy. Yeah, that's not true. What game was he watching? Yeah, so maybe it's a little bit of. They were down two at halftime. Here's the thing. Here's the thing, Chris. I don't have the number in front of me,

but I believe the Warriors were like over plus 10 in the first half in Dremont's minutes. Because I remember noting it was like, I thought it was strange. Dremont was like one for 12 from the field and they were like a plus 10 with him on the floor at one point. And he's not, he ended as a minus one. But maybe in his mind, he felt like they were dominating because when they were on the court with him, they were a big plus. So maybe that's his own perception of the way the game was going the first half with him on the court. He just didn't maybe specify that like in the post game, which understandable you're just talking about the dome.

But I think for the Warriors here. He should have just cut it off. He should have cut it off, Kev, at 36. Right? Because that's when they're up double digits. Well, yeah. But even then, they weren't dominating. Even then, like the word seems to say the word dominating.

They weren't dominating. But they were at least up double digits then. When you include that other five minutes, the 41, and we get to 41 to 42, bro, you're including like the 10, 12-0 run, whatever it was where they flipped the game. It's like, if you wanted to say through the first three quarters, you know, we had this game in hand and we fell apart, right? So we're going to be okay. But I think the flaw in Dremont's point relates to him and Igwadala, because he's

mentioning Derek White, Al Horford, Marker Smart, the hot shooting nights that they had. Well, this is what happens. Sometimes when you leave those guys wide open. Like, they were helping off of Horford. They were helping off of Smart, helping off of White at certain moments in the same way that Boston was helping off of Igua Dala and they were helping off of you, as in Dremont Green. Draymond Green and Igwadala have not proven they can have knights like this, like White Can,

like Horford can, like Smart. Mark can. Those guys right now, when they're behind the arc, they're literally not a concern. But whereas the warriors are treating White and Horford like a non-concern, even though they are. And even though they are capable of knights like this. So I think that's where, when you think about how the rest of the series could play out, that's one of the number one things on my mind is can Horford, White, smart, or like even if Grant Williams kind of earns some more minutes in the series, guys who are. are up and down as shooters, can they continue to make the Warriors pay for overplaying on

Tatum, Brown, and trying to make life difficult for those guys? And if that happens, I think that's, like, if you're, if you're expecting Al Horford to cool off, I mean, of course, he's not going to have a six for eight necessarily, but even if he has a two for eight night or a two for four night, Horford on fresh legs, I mean, that dude is, he, he looks like he looks like he's, he looks like he He's 24 years old out there, man. He looks fresh. And so I think for the Warriors... You will admit, though, it was extreme.

Two days off between... It was extreme, but now two days off between every game except for three and four, I mean, we haven't seen this Celtics team be able to get rest like that in a long time now. Yeah. I will say that regarding the... He mentioned, you know, we got to figure out a way to be out on those shooters. Like, basically, we were going to... going to live with this and it got us beat, you know, that if these guys, if those guys are

going to go 15 for 23, so that's not, you know, I think he's fair in saying that. If those guys are going to go 15 for 23, we got a big problem on our hands. Now, we got to do a better job of getting out on these shooters, but you're certainly not counting on that. You know, maybe they go, but, but Draymond, like, there was a play in the fourth, Tatum, Rob Williams, side and roll left side of the court. Dremont's

like at the nail, ready to help in case Tatum goes middle. And then Tatum just flipped the ball to Horford at the top of the key, and Draymond didn't even close out. Like, they, like, they didn't even respect the shot. Yeah. So this is a dramatic change that you're talking about, right? Like, he

wasn't even respecting the shot by Horford. It was just really strange. It's just really strange. Well, and you also had, you know, there was a point where I'm watching all those wide open shots that the Celtics are draining from three. And look, you can go back and watch. And I know there was a sentiment from some corners of Warriors fans like, yeah, well, it's because Dallas has to defend their very intricate offense and they're running around all time. Like, they got, Dallas got a million wide open threes too. Jason Kidd was saying it over and over again.

Like, we got to make them. We have to make them. And that was one of the things. Like, you saw last, they made them. They made those threes, you know. They made them pay for that. And a 40-point quarter is outrageous. You score 40-point quarters.

Come on, man. You're scoring 160 in the game. So I do buy that. If you're a Warriors fan going, come on. Like, I don't care how good you take the Celtics are. It's a 40 point quarter. And like they were all, they all had the little fire going on. The NBA jam, he's on fire.

Like as a team, they couldn't miss. It's one thing to get open threes. It's another to bury them. And they shot like 90% from three in the fourth quarter. right? And they were absolutely awesome. The NBA finals are here, and so is your chance to score big on the Fandul's sportsbook. Throughout the NBA finals, Fandall is giving new customers $200 in free bets

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while they did not get a big Tatum game, Brown was great. Brown was great and really kept them in it. And I thought had some big momentum plays for sure. You also had, I thought, you know, as that game, after all the Celtic tsunami has taken place, they're knocking down the shots, there's one particular play where they get the three from Horford. They come back down. So now they're up by three. I think it's like 106, 103.

And there's a timeout. And Steve Kerr, there's like five minutes left to go in the game. And this video is going around on the internet today. And Steve Kerr's doing the, we're right where we want to be. We've got to play with more force. You know, there's five minutes to go in this game. We come out of this timeout. You know, get us a bucket.

Let's go get us a stop. Right. We've got to get a stop coming out of here. You know, and then we're right where we want to be. They come out of the timeout. to run a play. Draymond's trying to throw the ball to a cutting loony who's going to have Derek White on him.

So it's probably going to be an easy bucket right there. Except Horford tips the ball on the pass. So it's a turnover. Derek White picks it up. Goes down the other end. Horford is trailing the play. White throws it back to him. Bang three.

So now that three points. game just went to a six point game right after this Draymond turnover. And I thought that, honestly, that was the moment where I thought they're really going to do this. Because three went to six and it just felt like you took the time out to try to stop this, you know, Avalanche. Now you come out of time out. You throw the ball away. Forford walks into another one.

And now it's a, now you're down six. and you're playing against a set defense. And from that point on, obviously, their fourth quarter was just an absolute mess, a mess all the way around for the Warriors. And a great, great job by the Celtics. I don't want to take anything away from the Celtics. For sure.

They were able to do. But the Warriors, we've watched them throughout these playoffs. They were, I mean, the Celtics were on 10 out of 10. That's the best they could possibly play. and the Warriors might have been at three. It's just dependent on how much you want to blame the Warriors' defense for what the Celtics did and how much credit you want to give the Celtics defense

for what the Warriors were unable to do. Totally, yeah. I mean, I think both, like you said earlier, when you presented how both sides of fans might feel. I think both sides are totally fair. 100%. I mean, like you can't doubt the Warriors to have the ability to even up the series on Sunday.

and then, you know, split in Boston. Like, this could very well be 2-2 heading back to San Francisco, you know, whatever day game 5 is. And that's another Saturday, I think, it is next Saturday, or the following Monday. But, you know, I want,

I had some conversations after the game last night, some, like, through text with fans, some, you know, in person with other media reporters and all that. And a lot of people brought up the same thought, Chris, related to what you just said. Like, some people who, said they picked Warriors in seven or Warriors and Six or Celtics in seven.

We're now feeling after this game, ah, while our questions have been answered about, you know, the health of Horford, about some of the adjustments Boston will make. Like we saw them go with like a lot of, quote unquote,

smaller lineups without two bigs on the floor, especially in that fourth quarter, it was just Robert Williams or it was just Al Horford out there as the lone big instead of two bigs to close the game. A lot of those people, people like said, I'm starting to feel this could potentially be a quicker series than I originally thought. Like I picked Celtics and seven, you picked Warriors and Seven. Do you feel that way? No. No, you know? No. I think that's an overreaction. I think it's by those people.

I think it's one game. I think these things happen, you know. I did, I didn't think, I thought that was very abnormal what took place the way that played out, right? It has to be consider. Look, Traymond was terrible, and that Celtics team deserves all the credit in the world for that fourth quarter and the heart they showed, the tenacity they showed.

He is also right when he says, those guys shoot 90% in the fourth quarter from three, and those three guys accounting for 15 of the 23. We go into this series. We're not worried about that.

Now, obviously we need to worry about it a little bit more. But in fairness, we got to live with that. I would feel the same way if it were the non-step guys. If Andrew Wiggins is knocking down six of seven threes, you can say, well, Andrew Wiggins is good at shooting that shot. You know, Auto Porter did actually make some last night. But if, you know, Our guy, Chris. Our guy. Well, look, nobody wanted to talk about Auto Porter and the fourth quarter, did they? He was out there some.

They, they, I mean, if the other guys are the ones, and that's where the fandom thing comes in, because if you're Celtics fan, you go, yeah, that's what Derek White does. That's what Al Horford does, even though Derek White, these last three games, I think has as many threes as the whole playoffs combined or something. He has like 11 threes in those two heat games and now this one. You know, I think if you're a Warriors fan, you're sitting there and you're going, like, bro, if we're going to lose to Derek White and Marcus Smart and Alhorford shooting 70% from three, then that's how we're going to lose.

Then fine. We'll chalk it up. But Jason Tatum was three for 17 in that game. We get more Jason Tatum bad games. We're going to be doing okay. And they didn't have great answers for Steph. Steph's able to have a big game. Play wasn't that good.

Dremont was pitiful. Poole was pitiful. You know. And then again, on the flip side, if you're Boston, you're going, yeah, you're right. You're not going to get another Tatum 3 for 17. So it's going to be way worse when you don't. you know, right? I get it.

That's a fair point for sure. And I think with A, with Draymond, can you really rely on him to be more efficient offensively? He'll have better than two for 12 nights. But, you know, he's an inefficient offensive player.

Yeah, but with the shots he takes, he should be, you know, I mean, like you should at least be shooting 50% on those. Yeah, I mean, well, I mean, he's sloppy. Yeah. A lot of the time. So, I mean, he's,

and inefficient offensive player and oftentimes a liability and I just think for Warriors fans the concern would just be how open a lot of those three-pointers were just wide-open shots I mean the Celtics according to Second Spectrum I saw this that

they had the highest scoring most efficient scoring game on driving kicks in the history of the second spectrum database which goes back to 2013-14 scoring two points per drive to the rim. I mean, it's an absurd stat

when you're driving kicking. It just speaks to the amount of success they had driving, kicking for three-pointers, attacking close-outs, making the defense rotate. Is that sustainable? No, that was literally number one in the last 10 seasons. But, Chris, I still think,

with this Celtics team here, they made, they showed again The people we haven't mentioned yet, we've talked a lot about players, Udoca and Kerr. With the Celtics, they start the game dropping on pick and rolls, and then they start showing higher, and then they start switching more often defensively. And then on the other side, when they have the ball,

first half, they're attacking Looney, Looney, Looney a lot in the pick and roll, 17 times in the first half, Steph only three times in the first half. That changed in the second half, where they started going at Stephmore. They changed who they were targeting, how they were playing defense. They made changes mid-game.

That I think, again, say how great the Celtics coaching staff is that bodes well for them moving forward in the series to make those mid-game adjustments. And they also, like Kerr and the Warriors, are going to make adjustments between these games too. So I just think the Celtics in every way, even though they had an outlier shooting night,

even though their driving kick numbers were absurd, even though the Warriors are going to have some guys have bigger nights. There's a lot of positive indicators here for Boston in the sense that they answered some of the questions that we have. To win a game one on the road when the Warriors are undefeated. At home is nuts. It's crazy. And the coaching thing is real because, you know,

he put Curry on ice for 20 minutes. I know that that is, you know, this is what we do. do. These are the substitution patterns. But, I mean, this NBA finals, Curry is on the heater of all heaters. And he put him on ice for, what, seven straight minutes?

You know, it came back in the game and it was a different world. I mean, he was, it looked like he was going to score 50-something points in this game after that first quarter. The other thing is, coaching-wise, that you were talking about

Adoka to making the changes. you know, he took Time Lord out of there and he took Smart out of there at the, in the fourth quarter. And I mean, and this is like winning time stuff. And he had both those guys out because when, you know, he's now making it and he's got Pritchard in there. And he was making it so they had to space out. And they had to, they like small balled the warriors in some ways. where now Horford stretched out and now you've got these guys that all have to be honored.

If I got Time Lord on there, you know, I can have him in the dunker spot. You know, he's out there, but he ain't playing all the way out to the three point line. Smart, they're probably not going to honor. And you know that Smart will take them. If he's going to let him take open threes, Lord knows you're going to take him. So the best thing for Adonka to do is just not have him in there. And so now they've got this thing spaced out in the fourth, which is hilarious to juxtapose it versus the warriors who their adjustment,

who they start the fourth quarter with gives them absolutely no spacing. And in almost every way, the Celtics became the old warriors. Exactly. Exactly what it felt like. go small, they go drive and kick. They've got 30 plus assist with the ball popping around everywhere. They put them in a spin cycle. I mean, it was that old school, you know, warrior tsunami that every team had to deal with,

it hit them. And then like some of the adjustments that are made and the players that are out there, that felt like the old school, you know, Derek White is now playing the role of, you know, Barbosa, who interestingly is sitting there over on the bench. And you've got David Lee out there, you know, in this role. And you got Sean Livingston. It's like now they've, their bench guys came in there.

And then Udoca make some of these moves to say, you know what, you ain't going to be able to guard. You're having to honor all five of these guys. if you're not going to honor all five of these guys, then we're going to be knocking down open threes and shooting fish in the barrel. But the driving kick, the assist numbers, the going small,

all of that stuff, all of that stuff was what we became so used to for so many years with Golden State. And it's kind of ironic that it buried them last night. What about our adjustments here for the warrior side? Do you think we see Gary Payton the second? I mean, like we, they say, you know, he's available. I've heard he was going to be back for the finals for a couple weeks now.

As we've talked about on this show, he doesn't play last night. DNP, the only guy who got a DNP, everybody else got at least, you know, a couple seconds, a minute in the game at the end, including like even commingo. Right. You know, Peyton was not out there. I wonder if they're saving him. I wonder if he's not all the way ready for action. yet. But I wonder if you put him out there, stick him on, you know, smart, a round. Maybe you use him on Tatum if you're able to and then you're not helping his heart off of Horford, guys like that.

I wonder if that's an adjustment. I got. I want like, you know, I want maybe more, more Steph because that makes Draymond less of a liability if he's screening and rolling for Steph, but are the Celtics just going to switch that action? Maybe. Well, they switch a lot more as the game went on. Yeah. I mean, maybe you just, if Draymond's screened. for Steph, the Celtics are equipped to switch that. They can live with Al Horford on Steph. He was one of the best switch isolation defenders in all the basketball this season. They can live with that.

I think, I think, you know, one of the Warriors' issues is Looney can be so effective at the offensive rebound thing and being around the basket and the Turing, maybe some drives, etc. On the other hand, I do think that, you know, at some point you got to look and you say, man, if it ain't Steph, how's it getting done on offense and some of these scenarios? Because, you know, he started driving the ball a little bit more as that game went on because they're pressed up against him so far. So you saw Steph driving the ball a little bit more.

But he's not driving past anybody. right dude clay dude his feet are in sludge I mean he's not driving past anybody and then you've got I mean this Jordan pool just flying

you know he's running like hell to nowhere and then just it's a mess it's a total mess um I actually think that

it's you know they ended up trying comminga in the Memphis series, you know, they were able to just play their straight-up guys when it came to the, when it came to the Dallas series.

But you might want to try a moody. You might want to try to get some young legs in there, you know, some wing size against these. Because, you know, Iguida, again, and now you're playing Iguidala, he's not going anywhere. Where's he going? What's he going to do?

Pull up for a 17 foot. or something? You know, I mean, you can't have all of that out on the floor because, you know, what happens when Curry's not going crazy? I think you kind of saw, right? How are you generating? And this is, these are the adjustments that have to be thought about. But I certainly would, much like Udocha did,

in this kind of series, you've got to reduce the number of players. that are not being honored because otherwise you're going to just not have the space that you want. And you're going to be able to get the ball into Draymond Green's hands, you know, because you're now paying so much attention to Curry. Like, these others have to step up. I certainly, I think you're going to see more Auto Porter. I do. You know, it's funny.

We joked about it. But honestly, I think you're probably going to see more Porter. I would try, you know, I think you might end up seeing, you know, Moody be useful in this one, especially if he could give you some energy, it's to give you some points. You need a Jordan pool that's not miserable, you know? I mean, I don't think you're, the only guy that didn't play, that I think might, outside of, you know, possibly Peyton,

if you could get him in the mix, maybe that changes some things for you. Maybe that changes some things. Somebody that could, like, at least put some pressure on the defense by, you know, him doing his own driving kick thing and going to the basket and hustling and playing hard. And he could be very, he could be very useful in pressuring the ball because there is a

they got a dribbling issue with the Celtics and they didn't put a ton of pressure on it but I'll be damned how many times did it feel like Jalen Brown was going back halfway to half court to retrieve the ball that had been like poked away it was the craziest thing

now I think about it all the time because people have talked about his handles and I'm like damn man he is always having to go back and retrieve it after he takes his first dribble because somebody's got a hand on it uh Clay Thompson was just swiping it at it and swiping away. So I'd say maybe Moody, obviously Peyton, you know,

if we're talking about personnel, and then the thing is you've got to stay a lot more, they made you pay for it. So you certainly have to pay. You have to stay much more attached to shooters than you were. I mean, that was a plan. It was that we were going to live with these guys knocking down those shots. What we weren't going to live with was Jason Tatum killing us. And so he required that extra attention.

And Tatum did a great job of sharing the ball. I think for the next one, though, you sit there and you say, all right, we're going to still try to give extra attention to Tatum, but not nearly as much as we did because these other guys, you know, might just bury us because they did. Yeah. I mean, I also think with Tatum, though, we are witnessing the birth of a true star here as well,

like regardless of how the series results. for Boston. The fact that he has become a guy who isn't just scoring, the fact that he's playmaking at a high level in his role last night, oftentimes defending Draymond, being the guy sagging off of him and doing a good job at that, like that even on a three for 17 night, you can still reasonably say he had a good game. That's a testament to his growth as an overall talent. And the fact that he breaks the assist record in the NBA finals for a debut with

13, the most ever in a debut. I mean, it's kind of like a cherry-picks type of stat. But still, it's a lot of years. This is the NBA 75 right now. It's a lot of finals in history, a lot of debuts by great players. And he's a great score who had that

hell of a night as a playmaker. And granted, you know, the Celtics shoot the hell out of the ball, as you're saying, when you shoot over 50% of course, you're going to have more assists. But I don't know. The fact he was able to have a good game, despite being three for 17, he's somebody who could have a 40 bomb.

You're ready? He could have a 50 bomb. Of course he can. He could do that in the series. So you break this old record, you know, a little cherry pick, but who cares? And you're still capable of a significant scoring night like that? That's testing it to how he's grown.

You ready for a massive cause for pause if you are a warrior's fan? A cause for pause. Here we go. Nobody over his shot quality. Celtics cake game one. The Celtics scored 17 more shot quality points on three-point field goals than expected, amounting to a scorching 51% from beyond the art. On the other side, though, the Warriors had their second worst quality of possession all season.

Wow. Interestingly enough, Boston was yes. supposed to score 17 points less from the three-point line dependent upon the shots they got. But Golden State was expected to score 16 less points in the game overall. They were only expected to score 92 points based upon the shots that they got in that game. So say what you want about this. The Warriors took a double-digit lead in the third quarter.

But the Celtics controlled the quality of shots throughout the entire game. And then, of course, they won the fourth quarter shot quality score. But they beat them at their own game is what is chronicled here. The Celtics just beat the Warriors at their own game. A monstrous 86 combined three-point field goals attempted. And the Celtics, you know, overcame. good performances from Stefan Clay, the third quarter by the Warriors,

the Tatum offensive struggles from the field, all that kind of stuff. And kind of shocking to see that. That just if you, again, this is just, games aren't played on paper, but if you played it out on paper and you say, here's the shots this team got, here's the shots this team got,

the win probability for the Celtics last night was 88%. based upon the shots that those two teams took in that game. So sometimes our eyes can deceive us, but that's what the data says regarding how last night played out. And I think kind of shocking to see that the Warriors had their second worst quality of possessions all season last night. because I don't think that just the naked eye watching that felt that way as the game was going on. But a real credit to Adoka and the defense that they had prepared for the Warriors

because they played a lot of basketball games this year to have their second worst is telling you something. Yeah, I mean, those stats are always interesting. I know people like are up on down on, you know, projected stuff, blah, blah, blah, this and that. But like the fact that like it's an out. outlier game, you know, the second worst. Right. I mean, that that is telling, right? It's not just a random, you know, one in the middle, you know, it's an outlier here.

Well, and honestly, and looking at shot quality, I would have thought that the reason that was fascinating to me, I'm not saying that because the Celtics won it. I'm saying this because I would have thought when I went to it, I was expecting it to say the Celtics were expected to shoot nowhere close. to 51% and just given the personnel that shot them, the type of shots they got, like did, I think you would be able to

hold onto, from the warrior side, much like what Draymond Green was saying, like those guys, those three guys, Smart Horford and White, shot 15 for 23. Okay, we'll be fine.

They're not going to shoot 15 for 23 going forward. And if they would have shot, 10 for 23, we win the game. And that still would have been a pretty good number for them. Instead, you look at it and it's like, well, hold on. Yeah, they were expected to score a lot less from three point range, but the Warriors were expected to score a lot less points overall in that game. I'm kind of shocked, honestly, by the data of that.

Yeah, I am too, honestly. I didn't know that. I didn't see that last night. It's, it's a, I don't know, it was a great game, like you said, at the top of our show today. It was a sensational game to watch. I mean, that second half was, I don't know, just so crazy. It was just, it is insane to watch those swings happen with the Warriors third and that Celtics force. Derek White going off. Yeah, the Celtics created a ton of open shots, man. I look forward to seeing the adjustments the Warriors making this series because obviously this isn't

it's not going to be a sweet but that was a great game for the subject every question you had about Boston they gave you a good answer like yeah well here's some stats for you for uh

courtesy of stat muses Jason Tatum leads the playoffs in points and assists Jalen Brown is shooting 67% from the field and 65% from 3 in the fourth quarter of playoff games

he leads all players in fourth quarter points Jalen Brown 67% from the field 65% from 3 Al Horford in the playoffs this year, first in shots contested, first in field goal percentage allowed, second in three point percentage allowed, second most efficient fourth quarter scorer, and is the only player shooting 50% from the field and 45% from three.

That's crazy. That's crazy. And by the way, your stat earlier that you gave about Tatum breaking that first timers record, the guys whose record he broke. John Stockton, 1997, Michael Jordan, 1991, Isaiah Thomas, 1988. Wow.

How about that? That's crazy. Do you know what they had? Do you have those numbers? Yeah, they 12. Oh, 12. Okay. Yeah, they all had 12.

They all 12. And then there's a Westbrook game in his debut where he had 11 an adjacent kid game where he had 10. How many turnovers for us? I have no idea. Zero. Probably 12?

I'm just saying, I'm just saying zero. How many shots broke down to? How dare you? How dare you? This is not a day for Russell Westbrook's slant? How was he catching strays? What did he do? What did he do to anybody?

For what it's worth, I just pulled up the box score. He had 11 assists to two turnovers. that night. I felt like, watching last night's game, I felt like Dreymond's been training with him. Oh, my God.

My God. He was just throwing friggin scud missiles at the backboard. By the end of four quarter fans were ducking every time he got the ball. He was a mess. Now, this one,

I had to go check this. Not that I would ever check a ringer cohort, but I had to, to check this after I saw it. Rehne Palmer from the ringer tweeted this out. And I was like, there's no effing way. There's no way. He's a new hire for us, Rahim Palmer. He is. So this is what he tweeted out. And I'm like, is that true? And I went and pulled up the schedule this morning. The Celtics have lost one game against the Western Conference since January 21st. Wow. A 95-92 loss to the Mavericks in which the Celtics blew a double.

double-digit lead and lost in the closing seconds to a Spencer Dinwiddie 3. I remember that game. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I do remember that. Yeah, Dinwiddie. Yep. That is the last, that is the only time since January 21st that they lost to a Western Conference team.

And I'm like, well, what? Did they just have like some massively Eastern Conference heavy schedule? And they did play a lot of Eastern Conference games after that, but I went and wrote them down. Sack, New Orleans, Denver, Memphis. And then he had the Dallas game. Golden State, Sack, Denver, OKC, Utah, Memphis. I mean, it's not just like six games, right? Obviously, you're not going to play a Western Conference team once you get to the playoffs.

But to only have lost one game versus the West since January 21st, and that be the one? It's kind of wild. Kind of wild to think about. I mean, they beat a lot of teams, man. They beat a lot of teams. That's the one thing that I wonder with this Boston team. That stat kind of relates to it here. We've talked about it a bunch of times.

They're an 11th place in January. I mean, it starts off with us saying, are the Celtics final sleepers? I know it. To wait a minute, are the Celtics finals contenders? To wait, are the Celtics finals favorites in the east? And every step of the way, it's like, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, they are.

This team, they're legit, dude. Like, they, they are, they, they, no, no, I mean, what I mean is, is like, what I'm saying is, like, this team is historically legit. Like, that defense this year, offensive rating was at all-time highs. Oh, yeah. And they were still a dominant force. Like, if you look at their defensive rating, compared to the rest of the league.

They are a dot on the scatter plot far away from everybody else. Oh, I know. Like, they are historically legit, defensively. And like you mentioned, the shot quality stat. We're talking about the way they discombobulated the Warriors at certain points aside from that third quarter.

Like, they are legit, legit. That's what I'm saying. Like, this sort of feels like could be, you know, coming towards here that with Boston, and they have built something genuinely special on the defensive end of the floor and an offense that is really blossomed and has the ability to play different styles. They can whip it around.

They can ISO. Tatum and Brown are only going to continue to grow. This team is not going anywhere, man, no matter how the series results. Did you see where 538 changed their Twitter name to Erection City? Yeah, 538. I don't think they even believe. their own numbers there. They wrote it.

I read it yesterday. It was like a 2000 word article about how, all right, maybe this is a little extreme. They gave the Celtics like a 98% chance to win the finals or something. But hey, settle out. Look, the betting odds right now, it has flipped. They are now officially finals favorites. The betting odds had flipped after game one.

And certainly when you look at that shot quality stuff, you know, we presented kind of all the arguments on either side, how both fan bases can feel. I do feel like it was a great game. Certainly wildly entertaining to watch. I am hopeful that this is a long series. You know what I mean? That kind of goes back and forward.

I would be, you know, we're not going to do a pod before the next game. I would be surprised if Warriors lost that. It's just, you know, we talk about this all the time. Psychologically, your back is totally against the wall. You can't go down 02. You can't. And if you're the Celtics, and we've seen this in so many series, if you're the Celtics, when you are the road team that wins,

there is a sense of accomplishment. And a coach can say, we didn't come here to get one, we came here to get two and all that kind of stuff. You know in the back of your mind, we have flipped home court advantage now. we have flipped it, you know. And, you know, they always say going into the game that no matter what, you know, we didn't come here to get one, we came here to get two.

And we, and then at the end of the game, what they say is we got done what we needed to get done here, you know. And that's hard to get out of your head. And so the losing team always makes more adjustments. So I'd expect the Warriors will. And the winning team, especially when it's the road team, feels a real sense of accomplishment for what they were able to get done. I guess we're going to find out if that's true of the Celtics. But I do think that I still think this is going to be a very good series.

I do. Mega impressed with the Celtics last night. That was unbelievable. but I do think this is going to be a good series. Yeah, I do too. We both picked it to go send? Yeah, right. I'll stick to it.

Yeah. If the Celtics win game two and go up two oh in the series. Oh, shit. Then it's... Yeah, then going back to Boston, that would not be good for Golden State. It would not. It would not.

That TD garden crowd is going to be so loud. It wasn't when Jimmy Butler was busting their ass, though. It's not like something. Somebody hadn't walked in there and done it. I got mad about that whole thing. Because I thought that they were walking into a hornets nest in game six. But after Butler ripped their heart out in that game six, I don't know, man. I felt a little different about it.

I felt some kind of way. You know, it's not like you can't win there or you can't put on a huge performance there. We just saw the Celtics win in Golden State. What did you think about that crowd last night? It was a good crowd. I mean, I was like up in the nosebleed, so it was kind of hard to get. I just had a speaker blasting in my face, you know. So it was kind of hard to get a vibe for the crowd from where I was sitting.

Because you just had a speaker blasting in your face? Yeah. Come on, Warriors. Let's get Kevin downstairs. This is a joke. He's Kevin O'Connor, for God's sakes. We got a bigger audience of most of those bums that you probably give good seats to. Get him downstairs.

Get him down. stairs. Good grief. Got a speaker blasts, man. I hate to hear it. I hate to hear it. Yeah. It's all good. They proud. I'm not, I had a free ticket to the NBA finals. That's true. I'll, uh, I'll, I'll, I'll keep my complaining private.

No, you won't. I mean, we had four ringer people last night, so we had two good seats and two. those police seats. So we're rotating. So last night it was Logan Murdoch, Rob Mahoney, me and Big Waws were there.

So we had four ringer people there on the road in Golden State. That's amazing. We're going to have a group in Boston too. Oh, that's great. Yeah, that's great. No, if you've got four,

they're not giving you four good seats. Well, they get four to someplace. Say it ain't so. You know, it's because Bill owns this thing. They're like, oh, the ringer. That's Bill Simmons deal. You see Bill sitting courts on? You see Bill sit in courts on?

Where else would he sit? Come on. Where else would he sit? It's Bill Simmons, for God's sake. Yeah, I know, right? Exactly. He needs to do, like, the Ben Simmons thing and wear some kind of, like, super loud outfit. I agree.

I agree completely. Like a green Celtic starter jacket or something. 100%. I agree Bill should do that. Those like green satin ones or something. Yeah. He should like, you know the guys to dress up four Celtics games.

Yes. You know, like the crazy Celtics fans. That's what Bill Simmons should do at a game sitting courts. Or dress up like Jimmy Goldstein. Like with like with the crocodile d hat and the chaps. Yeah, that would be hilarious. The tight jeans.

Yeah. the whole nine. I didn't see, I didn't see Jimmy Goldstein there last night. Did you? I didn't. Was he on TV at all? I didn't.

I wonder, he's on some tropical island with like 18 women or something like, yeah, I don't know. I saw him. You know, I did see him during the playoffs,

though. It was a, there was like a day, back to back in Atlanta. And then Memphis where he was here for a game. I saw him here. Uh, earlier in the playoffs.

So he was around during the playoffs. I don't know. when the last one he went to me. Jimmy Goldstein's such an interesting guy. Oh, for sure. 82 years old. The best. I went to his house.

Yeah, for the all-star weekend party. No, no, no. I went over there and interviewed him. Oh, yeah, you actually interviewed him at us house. It was me, Tate Fraser, and Tommy Alter. That's right, yeah. Went over there and he gave us a whole tour of the house. Oh, it's unbelievable.

There's a huge, like, there's a huge, picture of like a of uh the ray out the ray allen three with uh and he's like standing like right behind him yeah when he when he makes that shot it's so cool that guy he that guy loves basketball oh man does he loves basketball and you know what i'll tell you a real quick story people could go find that podcast it's still in the archive somewhere in the NBA show and it's one of my favorite interviews i've ever done it and i promise you you will love it if you go track it down Because I talked to him about how kind of like how he made his money, how we like how this all happened, all this kind of stuff. But we're kind of walking around and he's like, he's real like soft spoken, not like the garious guy, whatever.

So he's like kind of, you know, talk about this. And I'm thinking of myself as we're walking around. I'm like turning to Tommy and and Tate. I'm thinking of myself like, oh my God, this is about to be the worst podcast ever. So we go to this room. We set up all the podcast stuff. whatever, and I'm like, and we, I mean, I'm talking pressed record. The light comes on. And if anybody goes back and listens to that podcast, it was the most Hollywood crap I have ever experienced, Kevin.

I'm saying the light went on. Bam. Different personality, loud talking into the microphone. And I'm like, this is crazy. I'm thinking, I mean, I am in such shock. He is such a, unbelievable guest. And then I go back and we get done with the podcast. And I was like, Jimmy, that was great. Thanks so much. Like, yeah, great. I appreciate you having.

Huh. Oh, it's crazy. Yeah, like just went back to being soft-spoken, you know, kind of walking around, showing us the area guy. It was crazy. He's got a club in his house. Club James. He's a tennis court as well.

James Rihanna had her birthday party there. Jesse, our producer, dropped the link to the show in our Zoom chat. Jesse can put that in the description as well. But if you want to find a show yourself, it's from January 2017. Crazy. So that was the first full season, full NBA season with the ringer.com. Oh, he talks about all of his, like, travels and going to games and, like, being at games and his favorite teams. And, like, he goes back so far.

far. He is the NBA super fan. The one. And he was a fascinating dude. Super fascinating. Yeah. He is a fascinating guy. I mean, I'm sure we'll see him at some games here. It's, uh,

I'm excited, man. I'm, I'm fired up about these finals. I am too. It's going to be great. Like, what a first game. Is there anything else in the NBA world that we should talk about the sweet Chris? Close it off. You know, when I was driving in, I was listening to Simmons podcast. He had had Sandler on there, who I love.

Oh, yeah, it's Sandler on? Okay. That movie comes out this weekend. It's on Netflix. Have you seen this? I haven't liked... Okay. Who was the NBA guests on last night? I haven't listened to anything. Haralabaababat. Oh, Haralabah.

Yeah, but then he has... Haraldi loves amazing. Yeah, but then he has... Yeah, but he pissed me off on one thing. Really? Why what happened? He pissed me off. He was like, I think... Why? Because he said the Memphis series. He thought I thought that was about the Warriors

taking them too lightly. Like, taking you... the team too lightly that knocked you out of the playoffs last year? Really? That ruined your season. That's the team they took lightly. Come on. Come on, bro. It's the elitist. It's a warrior's elitist attitude. I don't want to hear it. Anyway, back to what I say. We should get Bob on this show sometime. Maybe during the off season or something like that. For sure. Hustle comes out. That's the Sandler movie. And have you seen he's the scout. He's the. Oh, yeah. I've heard that can be like a really.

really good movie. He's the Philadelphia 76er scout and he finds a guy overseas. You know who the guy is? I didn't even realize this. It's wantcho. Yeah. Yeah. Herne Gomez is in the movie. Yeah. And you know who they said is great in the movie? Anthony Edwards. Really? Yeah. They said he's great. Anthony Edwards is in there. I think. Can you imagine if Anthony Edwards like became a like also a star actor? I mean, he's got the clutch connection. Yeah, he does. LeBron's in there.

So anyways, yeah, they says, great. So that's going on this weekend, that hustle thing. I did want to see that just because, you know, I heard Adam Sandler talking it up. And the trailer looks awesome. How much, I mean, so Adam Sandler, he does uncut gems. Yep. And, you know, a lot of people love that movie.

Obviously, a comedian for the first couple decades of his professional career. Did he do any, like, how many non-comony movies did he do before on Cut Jems? But were there any like that? I mean, he did the rom-coms. Oh, the, what is it, the one about the best friend that had cancer? Funny people? Is that the one? That was a drama.

There's another drama. Yeah, funny people. That's a drama. It says funny people is a comedy drama. So was that also a comedy? It's not. I mean, that's not your,

Billy Madison, brother. Okay. Some heavy shit. Yeah. Yeah. So that was a... Yeah. He's done to something.

So, hustle, I look forward to watching hustle because, like, what if Adam Samler, you know, he's in his 50s now, if the next couple decades of his career

are like less comedy? I mean, I'm sure there's funny moments. I'm sure there's still funny moments in hustle. But he's not, No, no, no, no, he's not like a comedic character in this. No, so it's maybe not.

It might just be, you know, dry humor or something. Yeah. Yeah. It would be very interesting if that's kind of a pivoted at him, Sam Lerler's career here for the, you know, as he ages. He could do it. He's a talented guy, man. Totally.

He could do anything. He was really impressive in Uncut Jems. Yeah. That movie, that movie, I saw that in theaters. Tent. Yeah, like, I am not a, I'm a very chill person. That movie made me feel. feel so much anxiety,

which is what it was supposed to do. Like, it was very effective at making me feel like watching that movie. It was supposed to make you feel like that. Tense. Yeah, that was a, that was an experience. I can't, I can't wait. We got, so I'll probably try to watch that hustle this weekend.

Maybe I could get, I'll give it a review on Tuesday. If you, if you see it, I'll try to see it. Yeah. I mean, I think it's, today. Oh, really? How long is it? 117 minutes.

Okay, so. Less than two hours, right? I can, I can carve out two hours and find a theater. Yeah. I can do that. I'm not just watch it on Netflix. Oh, it's on Netflix. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It came out on Netflix. It's streaming. I mean, is this a, do you think this is an in-theater movie? This doesn't strike me as a, no. As a necessity to see in theaters. No. I am going to go, I am going to wait. I am going to go to the theater to see the Top Gun movie.

I am going to do it. Oh, you got to see Top God theaters. I know. I think this, not just you. IMAX or Dolby theaters. Not just you. Every single person I know that has gone and seen it has absolutely loved it. Every person I have come in contact with that has seen that movie loved that movie.

Yeah. That's almost impossible. You know what I mean? There's somebody like, ah, it ain't really my thing or whatever. No. It's just such a great. in theater experience. That's why I love the movie Interstellar.

Because I saw it three times in IMAX in the first two weeks it was out. Because I just wanted, like, it's just an amazing feeling, the sound going through space. I mean, it did just... Higher and hell. Maybe.

It felt amazing. One day you're going to see Interstellar without being under the influence of anything. I did. At home, I did. At home, I'm like on a TV and it's not as great. But in theaters, no, no, no, but the thing, here's what I'm saying, though. Top Gun also would not be the same seeing it from home. That's it.

There's certain movies that are meant for the big screen. I understood. There are certain movies. And so when people criticize Interstellar, it's like, you just didn't see it in the IMAX. Right. You just didn't see it when it's loud and you get Hans Zimmer blasting. in your ears. Under the correct circumstances. No, that's, that's not it.

It's kind of like fish, widespread panic. You know, you kind of string cheese incident. Your, whoever they were, the band that, the jam band that you saw a couple weeks ago. King, King, Gizzard and the Lizard. Yeah. There's a way, there's a, there's a way you got to experience this stuff. That's not always true. That's not true.

That's not true. I remember that's not true. It can help. I went with my friends. I went with my friends and saw fish when I was at high school. And I remember being there and I'd be like, yo, this song is longer than hell. Is this the same song?

And they're like, this is amazing. And I was like, I don't feel the same right now. Yes, you do. So last night, speaking about, you know, what we're talking about here, last night, I'm at the Adam Silver Press conference. I didn't get to ask a question, which I was disappointed, though. You don't want to know what I wanted to ask Adam Silver about the in-season tournament. What else would I ask him about?

Of course you did. So I wanted to ask him about that. I didn't get a question and that's okay. But I was sitting next to Bill Walton. Oh, let's go. No, and Mickey Hart from the Grateful Day. Let's go! Wait, what?

Mickey Hart was in Adam Silver's press coverage? Bill Walton brought him in. That's awesome. He was kind of explaining, so right now they're doing this and asking questions. They're raising their hands and you see the PR person over there. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, he's like explaining everything that was happening and Mickey Hart's looking around. How cool!

Yeah, it was really cool. I was sitting right next to those two. Yeah. And Mickey Hart and Bill Wallin, they probably had a good time last night while watching that. A great basketball game. Kevin, enjoy the NBA finals being there for the game this weekend. And we will reconvene on Tuesday. Thanks to our executive producer, Jesse Lopez, as always.

Kevin, I'll talk to you next week. Have it going.