The Mismatch - The Ascent of Kevin Porter Jr. and Michael Porter Jr. Plus: The Phoenix Suns End Their Playoff Drought and the Trail Blazers Have a Heart-to-Heart.

Episode Date: April 30, 2021

Verno and KOC are back this Friday covering the ascent of Kevin Porter Jr., who became the fourth youngest in history to score 50 points in an NBA game on Thursday night (6:51), and Michael Porter Jr., who has proved himself in the absence of Jamal Murray (16:27). Then they touch briefly on Giannis exiting the Bucks-Rockets game after rolling his ankle (27:20) and the Warriors' baffling loss to the Timberwolves (30:04), before getting into the incredible success of the Phoenix Suns clinching a playoff spot after an 11-year drought and how the first round of the playoffs could shake out in the West (35:50). Finally, they touch on the Trail Blazers’ supposed heart-to-heart that was meant to propel them into the postseason (45:55) and the relationship between Jimmy Butler and Erik Spoelstra (50:07). Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Associate Producer: Sasha Ashall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On R2C2, Cecee Sabathia and Ryan Rucco guide listeners through everything going on in the MLB, NBA, and NFL. They also talk to friends, athletes, and celebrities about the world of sports and much more. Check out R2C2 with CCet and Ryan Rucco on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to The Mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon. Join me as he does every Friday from the ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor, aka Kevin O'Climber, Kevin O'Conflict, Kevin O'Candyland, Kevin O'Killian. Kevin. How you doing, buddy? Everything's good.

You know, we got a lot of NBA that we are going to get to, but I'd be remiss if I didn't start the show by asking you as a lifelong Patriots fan. Your team was very involved in that NFL draft that was going on last night. And Mack Jones from the University of Alabama is now going to be a New England Patriot. Are you happy that the Patriots drafted Mac Jones? I am fired up, Chris. I am actually pumped in Jacks. I wanted a Mac Jones or Justin Fields trade up. The fact that the Patriots got one of those guys, the fall 15,

without having to give up other assets, has me so hyped up. I watched the draft actually with my friend Bill yesterday. First time and over a year seeing him in person. My friend since high school and the closest people in my life, It's awesome. He said to his girlfriend at one point during the draft, this could change the next 20 years of our life. A great quarterback can do that. I've liked Mac Jones a long time, throwing accuracy, mobility in the pocket.

I love Mac Jones. Funny guy. It seems like a life of the team. I'm excited to have him on the Patriots. I tweeted this last night. I've covered Nick Sabin. I've watched all that stuff with him and Belichick. from the past.

One of the things I said is, like, you, I promise you, you know what Sabin thinks of Mac Jones by the fact that New England took them because he knows what it takes to be an NFL quarterback. He knows what an NFL quarterback has to do. He knows what Bill Belichick likes. Like, these guys are thick as thieves. And so the fact that they took that guy, like, and I do think it's different than the other players.

I don't care what the track record is of Belichick taking. Sabin guys, I'm telling this is too important that if Sabin didn't totally stump for him and keep it real with Belichick you know, there's just no way. There's no way. And so again,

he might end up being wrong if that's possible. But I promise you he gave him a full on endorsement. Take this kid. You'll be happy as evidence by them taking the kid. For sure. And you know, the thing with like quarterbacking, I don't want to get too much into it.

but, you know, in the NBA, there's no weather, right? With the NFL, there's so many more variables. Like, I'm sure Belichick and Saban were able to talk about some of those specifics that maybe not, don't show up on giving him. How does he deal with wind? How does he deal with rain? Right, right. Like, those are like the factors that can influence winning and losing, watching, you know,

a team that plays in a poor climate for many, many years. Again, we don't want to get too in depth on the NFL analyses, but more than wind and rain, I would be more concerned of how does he play with crappy receivers? Yeah, like, how does he play through adversity too? Alabama smokes so many opponents. Like, how does he deal with adverse moments? You know, like stuff like that is what comes through conversation and intel. But the great part about yesterday was seeing one of my friends. Yeah. And, you know, and first time and so long, I haven't hang out with anybody since March 8th in 2020. Last year before the salt really got rolling before Gobert, you know, you got positive

diagnosis. So it's been a long time. And it just felt so. so good that, you know, I'm vaccinated now. My friends vaccinated. It's girlfriend's vaccinated. You know, I'll see some of them again tonight with some other friends who are all vaccinated. And it's just a great example of moving on with life, moving forward with life, because now COVID-19 vaccines are available to the general public. Chris, it's great.

You're vaccinated too, right? No, yeah, I am. I've vaccinated. And, you know, as I've told you many times, after my parents retired, they moved, whatever, 100 yards from me. It's been torture. It was until all, until everybody was able to get vaccinated because, I mean, I've got little kids and they can't go over to, you know, grandma and grandpa's house at all. It just couldn't even be around them.

It was just too great of a risk, right? And so now, at least after getting vaccinated, there is a peace of mind that comes along with that. One more thing on the NFL draft. So people know, I'm a Cowboys fan. And as this is all playing out last night, both corners come off the board, of course, right before their pick. Because I've decided it's either going to be the kid from South Carolina, J.C. Horn, or it's going to be Patrick Sartan. And they both come off the board. The Cowboys end up taking Micah Parsons from Penn State, which of all players, not like they desperately needed a linebacker.

But you know how, and this is true in all sports, when a guy. kills it against your team, then you always have a much higher opinion than anybody else, right, of said guy. And I'm a Memphis football fan. Memphis made the Cotton Bowl two years ago. It's the last game that Michael Parsons played. In that game, Kevin, he had 14 tackles, three tackles for loss, two forced fumbles, and two sacks. And Memphis was fast, and he chased down every.

every single one of them. And I'm like, who is this? Like Superman they're playing against. It was as impressed as I've been watching a college football player. And so even despite the fact that it was not what I thought they were going to get, I was happy too. So we got at least two happy NFL fans. And like with Micah Parsons, like I don't know a lot about the NFL draft.

I'm just so buried in NBA. But like learning like the last week or so and yesterday, especially a 4-3-9-40 time for like a 240-pound linebacker is terrifying. Oh, my goodness. And it pops up on film, too. Like, it's not just like take out the pads and he's quick. He's fast all the time. Yeah.

It was fun. It was fun. And so, meanwhile, I'm trying to keep up with everything going on in the NBA. And the thing to keep up with are the Porter Juniors. Yeah. There's two of them. I don't, maybe we should call him the, what, the Porter Jr. The Porter Juni?

No idea. The Porter June? How do we pluralize this? The PJs? I don't know. So we got two Porter juniors. The first one is Kevin. The first one is Kevin. And he has a bona fide historic night last night with, I mean, 50-point games are not easy to come by.

much less when you are 20 years old. And he ends up with not only the 50 points, he ends up with double-digit assist in a Rockets game last night and breaks LeBron's record for the youngest to do that. And we'll get to their opponent in a minute. It wasn't like they were playing somebody else that, you know, is that in the stretch run here doesn't care about winning or losing. They're playing against the Milwaukee Bucks for goodness sakes.

Porter Jr., though, is someone that you and I have talked about a lot on this show, maybe more so than a guy that would typically have been drafted where he was. It started when we were getting ready for that draft, and anybody could go back and probably find this. And we were talking about draft prospects, and I said, look, I spent the whole weekend watching YouTube. I got down to this kid, and he's just, better than the guys ahead of him.

Like there's stuff that he does that the other guys don't do. So what's the deal? And I had him on my list of guys that won't fail just because I wanted to stump for this kid. And no lie, there was not one person. And I call college coaches. I call NBA executives. I call coaches.

I call people that cover the individual teams. Not one. Like, not one told me. you're safe in doing that. It was all, and I don't know, because, you know, a kid grew up in very, very, very difficult circumstances, and then had trouble when he went to college for the one year. He didn't even make it through that season. And so much that we talk about are, you know, fit and structure can be such a huge thing.

And, you know, I watch it last night, and I think to myself, there's just, This kid is so talented, and I hope that he can harness it. It's not been great situations for that. You don't want him going to a Cleveland situation. And then, you know, they gave him away for literally nothing, by his own fault. You know what I mean? By his own fault. Because evidently he went in and started screaming at the general manager in front of everybody

and whatever because of a locker thing. I mean, it was crazy. And then now he goes to Houston. I mean, hell, the kid was just in the news. for bad news within the last week, you know? And so what you were hoping is maybe you go to Houston, maybe he gets with John Lucas, and he can get straightened out.

I just, I think last night it's one of those times where you sit there and you watch and you go, I hope this kid, you know, can mature, figures it out, has the guidance, gets in a real structure because he does have a crazy amount of talent, Kiv. You know, I mean, everything you said, that like,

that goes without saying the, you know, the mental aspect of the game. You hope that he's able to be on track and, and mature as a man. Well, basketball is not a problem. It's all off court.

And that's exactly. You hope all that can take care of itself in time. And with Houston and some mentors there, watching, you know, him in recent weeks, you know, the playmaking ability,

he flashed at USC. Like, he showed the ability to, to, he has a will to pass the ball, a desire. to pass the ball. And Houston's really leaning into that and giving the ball and giving them opportunities to be a playmaker. And the main thing I saw in that 50 point game against the Bucks,

if you compare his handle, his ability to generate space off the dribble now compared to a couple years ago at USC, totally different player. He is so much better off the dribble. And that was one of the key concerns with him about like how good can he become as a ball handle. Like he clearly has shiftingness. He has that strong frame. He has quickness. But he was. so raw off the dribble. He didn't really have many moves except for like a, I believe the left to right crossover at the time. And now he has like this nasty step back, side steps.

He looks comfortable pulling up. Like he just looks like a totally different player. That's a testament to despite, you know, some difficulties up the court, clearly, that he's putting all, he's also putting in work off the court and is receptive to learning. And I saw a player who's made progress. And we'll see if this is a 50 point bomb that, you know, he never does again. and it goes down as one of the most random 50-point bombs we've ever seen. Or we're going to see more great moments from this guy moving forward,

which would mean that the Houston Rockets with Kevin Porter Jr. And Christian Wood and J. Sean Tate and all their draft picks suddenly would qualify as a bright future team. That could be the case if this is for real. And for anybody out there, when I brought up, you know, the whole Kevin Porter backstory, there is a great article that I recall that was written by Paulo Ugetti for the for the ringer about

Porter and about his upbringing and it's not like it's not like oh yeah well a lot of guys grow up rough like if you read it it's extreme like I remember this article because it just explains you know what I'm saying

like the difficulty with and how many people including Jamal Crawford himself looked after him because his father was a player Kevin Porter Sr. And his father, it was a great player in the Seattle area. He grew up in a very rough part of Seattle. His dad went to prison and then got out of prison and then was murdered when Kevin was four.

And then his mom's having to work all the time. People see this level of talent that Kevin has. They're moving him around. There's adults in his life that are just trying to keep him out. because as the story says, like if we don't keep him involved in all manner of things, the streets are going to get him, you know? Because that's what, that's the pull there.

But this kid has this talent. And so they kept on trying to get him involved, trying to get him involved, which they did. And then he had this, he ends up having this outstanding high school career. And there are people in that Seattle area. And Jamal Crawford is quoted and mentioned a lot throughout the story. And I remember reading that and thinking, boy, I hope this kid, I hope this story ends up being a happy one.

Because to come from where he came from is such an amazing success story anyway, much less have the level of success. He's clearly capable of maybe having if he can just stop sabotaging. You know what I mean? Like he sabotaged his year. He only had a year at USC and he didn't even get to play in it, you know, at the end. And he was there in Cleveland. And they end up just casting him aside. And you're thinking, oh, my God, does he get another chance?

And, you know, even as of last week, you're going, geez, man, don't bad news yourself out of the league. Yeah. You know? And so here's hoping that, you know, after something like that happens, last night, there's hopefully a lot of people that start to reach out and maybe something clicks.

And he says, you know what, I'm done making any of these mistakes. I've got the opportunity to be an outstanding long NBA career instead of being so close to maybe losing that NBA career and being a story of a

guy that could have been. I hope it's a wake-up call. I do. I hope so. Golly, he, you watch those highlights last night. And it ain't like he took 50 shots. The field goal percentage is good. You know? Yeah.

I mean, he is one of his best shooting nights probably of his life, nine and 15 from three. And like that's the other thing that he's gotten better at too, Chris. And like shooting, his shooting form looks cleaner. He's shooting free throws better than ever before. Over his last 15, 16 games, he's up over 80%. He shot around 50% from the free throw line of USC.

So it's like you're seeing skill development. hopefully there's maturity happening off the core and all that comes together to create one of the best success stories, you know, really in the league today, especially because it's not, I mean, obviously you talked about his life and everybody should read that story by Paulo. The headline of it is between a rough past and the NBA's future. And it just gets into his past. And it's a great story by Paulo from a couple years ago.

I highly recommend reading it after you listen to the pub. The other Porter Jr. is Michael Porter, Jr. Michael, who has had in a cent since the Jamal Murray injury that is nothing short of unbelievable. Oh, my goodness. He, for this season, he's averaging 18.8 points per game, 54% from the field, 44% from three, and seven and a half rebounds and an assist game. Okay?

Now, I went and pulled this. They've lost, I believe, one game since Jamal Murray. got injured, which was on April 12th. So that would constitute nine games that they have played. They've won eight out of nine games since the Murray injury. And no small part of that is this kid. So just to wit, in that eight and one stretch since he, Murray went out, Michael Porter Jr. has averaged 26 points per game while shooting 57% from the field.

51% from 3 and 83% from the line. I mean, Kevin, and he's also averaging, by the way, he's averaging a block and a half a game now in these last nine games. I mean, it's one thing to get more opportunity when another guy that takes a bunch of shots goes out. But, I mean, this is freaky stuff. I mean, the numbers are crazy for a kid at that. size to be shooting over 50% from three. I mean, it's small sample, but nine games is nine games. And they have been outstanding.

And like, I feel like we have just watched him, like, move to a totally different level of player within the last two weeks. And by the way, like you mentioned small sample shooting over 50%, but how about a big sample of shooting 43% from three throughout his entire NBA career on nearly 500 shots. Right. I mean, he is a sharp shooter, man. Like, he is nasty off the catch and off the dribble. And, you know, we talked about this at the time of the injury.

It is sad. It is horrible that Murray got hurt, especially this Denver team with the hopes that they had. But we are seeing how they're making up for it, you know? It's by committee. Like, you're seeing like Campazo and Monta Morris getting more pick and roll opportunities. But Michael Porter, Jr. more than anybody is elevating his play to another level. We're seeing his isolations go up from one to two per game,

handoff possessions from two to four per game, pick and roll from one to two per game. He's coming off of screens from nine times before the injury to 16 times. So he's getting seven more reps off screens per game. That's all according to second spectrum. He's just increased his usage. The efficiency stayed the same actually got higher. And he's averaging over 25 points, pushing against 30 points per game over this stretch. I'm not so sure that Denver has totally made up for Murray and they're the same team in the playoffs and that we should look at them as a serious finals threat without Jamal Murray. But I will say this, Chris, whenever Jamal Murray comes back next season, he might be the number

three now because you have this 610 guy who can shoot from anywhere. Like, it's crazy. That's a point here, Kev. What we have learned, this guy is not, he is not a third wheel. Yeah, he is a jet man. He is not like, hey, there's these two guys and then, oh yeah, maybe Porter can be the third guy. Like you watch him and you go, maybe Porter can be the best guy. I know he's on a team with an MVP.

But for you watch him and you go, all right, for another team, you know what I mean? If he's not on that team with Yokic, right, who is going to win MVP this year, like how many guys have been better than him. And it shouldn't be easy. They have a back court with Campazo and PJ Dozier, for God's sakes. Like, Will Barton's out too. This was not a team whose strength was their depth. And so theoretically, in the absence, it should be easier to be able to get what you get when you're playing with somebody like Jamal Murray that is so outstanding and stretches the floor. instead he has taken this opportunity and just absolutely run with it and played like not like a star like a superstar. If your best player averages 27 points a game shooting 60% from the field, 50% from 3, like that's, who does that?

Especially at 610. And the thing that I look out with is so much of his buckets, like I said earlier, like he's, up his pick and rolls. He's up to his isolations, but it's still a low amount. It's not like he's getting a ton of ISOs, but come playoff time, you know, it might be a tough first round series for the Nuggets against the Lakers, but I look forward to seeing those situations in which they get to feed the ball on Michael Porter Jr. He's going to create a bucket for himself because you see those flashes where he does get his own, where he can do it without Yokic creating for him. And that's what I'm excited about to see next. And the weeks to come and then in the first round

on the playoffs. It's Michael Porter Jr. When he's given those opportunities to create, what does he do? I would be willing to bet that it's going to be pretty special because this guy's got it. He's got that scoring.

It factor. I also do think it speaks to what a blessing it is to play with Yokic. Oh my goodness. Yokic is so special. How many guys throughout the league truly make their teammates

better? Those players are better players because they play with Nikol Yokicch. And obviously the opportunity there has gone up for Porter and his production has gone through the roof. I do think that when you were talking about the playoffs, because, you know, everybody buried them once Murray went down, us included. I mean, look, it's going to be tough for sure in a seven-game series when now people are planning against you. But they've always been tough team at home.

and now there's home games. It's not a bubble. And the second thing is, outside of a possible, like, you know, Will Barton, you know, 25, 30-point game, like if you were searching for, who's the other guy that can go off when everybody starts paying even more attention

to Nicola Yokic? They've at least got that. If Michael Porter Jr. is 30-something in a playoff game, it's not going to shock anybody at this point. Hell, he's almost averaging that, you know? And so at least they found that. they do have that guy that could also score big and then hopefully everybody else could fill in the blank because you're going to get the production out of Yokic and you're going to get the production

seemingly out of Porter, you know? No doubt about it, man. I'm blown away by Michael Porter Jr. dude. And like it's not even just the offense. We're talking about the scoring. But all season long, he was not good on defense last season. He was bad.

He was really bad at times. And he has turned himself into a consistently impactful defensive player. And I think that's a testament to sort of what Austin Rivers talked about after the game last night. He was asked about, like, what was perception of Michael Porter, Jr. Before he, before you arrived in Denver. And what are your impressions of him now? And Austin Rivers gave this awesome, like, two minute long answer about, like, how you hear all these stories about him being, like, not a great guy, being selfish. And he's, like, one of the guys who is the life in the locker room.

And it's just great energy. He's an awesome person to be around. And it's like an unselfish teammate. And just a good guy to have, you know, in your corner. And like, that's what it feels like Michael Porter, Jr. has turned himself into is he, he, he, is receptive to feedback, has changed the way he defends, is playing a role that maybe he wouldn't have imagined next to Yokich. And it's creating beautiful results. And I just look forward to seeing what's next. And I'm very, I'm like, if you're a Nuggets fan, you're down because of the Murray injury.

But, like, you got to be feeling like, this team's going to be contending for years to come. Like, it's not just, like, this is one year maybe where the window might be shut. But my goodness, if you have Nicole Yokic, who is so special, Michael Porter Jr., who is becoming special, and Jamal Murray, who has already proven what he can do in the postseason and then did it again during this regular season. Like, you got to be on a high. Like, you've got to be despite the difficulty, despite the setback. This team could be really good for us.

Especially given the ages of their best players. Still, they're both, they're all still so young. Yeah. You know, all three of them, with Porter being the youngest of the three, obviously. They have, uh, look, shouts to them. Winning eight of nine after that Murray injury is just something that no one, no one could have seen coming. I mean, says a lot about the character of the team.

It says a lot about, like you said in passing earlier, Chris, Yokic is, is what makes it happen, you know? They feed everything. There are real conversations of this dude is runaway. with the MVP, could that screw, could this screw that up, right? I mean, if they free fall at the end of the season, you know, but instead

he has cemented it. Like it's not even, he's cemented the thing. He really has. It feels like this whole season, you know, there's been this series of flings, you know, you're a little bit of how about Harden, you know, how about LeBron?

How about Yonis? You know, like Mbid was right there with Yokic. Like, I had those guys neck and neck. And but all along, it was Yokic in a beat until the end beat injury. And all along, though, it's been Yokic all along. He's been the guy who's been healthy the whole year. He's played every game for Denver who is dominated. Even earlier this week, that play against Zion, I know it was a foul and it should have been called. Like, there should have been free throws. But the fact that he was able to just spin so quickly and put himself in a position to make the ref have to make a call is a testament to, I think it kind of captured what he's been on defense all year long.

And that's not the only time. Denver had a great win against Portland a couple weeks ago where Yokic made huge plays down the stretch on the defensive end of the floor. He is not an elite defensive player. No, but he's not a stiff anymore. He's very good. Yeah. Good steals guy, great hands and he ain't a stiff. And excellent positionally. Like, Yokic is a good defensive player. And he is, he just had one of the greatest offensive seasons we've ever seen from a big man in NBA history. Yep. The scary thing was on the, not in that Denver game, but rather in the game that we had referenced earlier, that Houston game was we now, you mentioned how Yokic has been healthy all year, and that has been a story. Who can stay healthy? And it's going to be a story in these last two weeks. His teams have somewhere between 10 and 12 games left. Who can stay healthy and get. to the playoffs with the healthiest roster.

And Janus went out last night. We don't have an update on that, but Janus went out with an ankle injury last night. And it just, it's one of those where your season can always flash before your eyes anytime a guy is hobbled and any time a guy goes out of a game. Now, hopefully Janus is going to be fine. It'll become a day-to-day thing and he's able to come back and be himself. But this does feel like there's going to be. going to be a lot of knocking on wood the last couple of weeks of the season because I do think

these teams, much like we were talking about with Denver and their fate being changed by one injury, it feels that way regarding, honestly, the league as a whole. And can you get through these last 10 to 12 games without having one of your major pieces get injured or get hobbled beforehand and obviously like we said we hope Janus is able to make it back but like that's one of those when something like that happens

last night and he lands like he did on Olenic where you start to get super worried you know because look Milwaukee their chances are nil without Janus for sure

they get blasted and so here's hoping that he's just fine. You got plenty of time right now before the playoffs and ankle injuries, assuming it's not severe. You can usually do something with, and it becomes a swelling thing and a pain threshold thing so that he'll be okay.

But it's still, the seasons end up flashing before your eyes, and we only got like 10 or 12, so you got to just hope all of these guys stay, healthy. Yeah. No, no kidding.

I hope for Yonis, it seems like he just aggravated the ankle injury. And hopefully nothing serious. Hopefully he's able to get to 100% where there's really no risk of re-injury before the postseason, but there's not a lot of time.

I mean, postseason's coming fast. I hope he's okay. Other things that took place last night, the Warriors took a loss to the wolves last night. And this was easily the most shocking of people that scrolled through the box scores or saw it come across the bottom line.

Like, wait, what? Because the warriors need every game like blood the rest of the way. And the wolves theoretically are trying to lose and or not exactly always going to be putting themselves in position to win. And yet, they continue to play spoiler, right? And so the wolves are the team. And I've talked about this, and I said this regarding the wolves, earlier in the week.

And it was funny, some Wolves fans responded to me and said, look, man, we know. You're preaching to the choir. You don't know. It was almost like, you think you've rooted for bad teams, Chris? It's almost like,

you remember that the Bain line, right? Like where he says, you merely adopted the dark. I was born in it, you know, he says, I was, it was like that saying that to me, Minnesota fans saying,

you merely adopted the dark. We were born. in it. We know. We know not to make too much of this, right? But I'll be damned. You know, teams go in there and there's a psychology involved in this. A, you've lost a bunch of games, you know, even if people say like, oh, they've played better recently. The teams know, they've lost a bunch of games, and you think this team does not have an interest in winning, right? Players know what's going on in the league, and there last night, Milwaukee probably thinks, oh hell, Houston doesn't even try anymore. They get 50 dropped on their head, and the Warriors play against Minnesota, and Minnesota runs them out and beats them by double digits.

So I don't know what to make of it. I don't know, like, Oklahoma City was feeling like the only team you could count on to really, you know, be committed to losing. but then they wouldn't be Boston earlier this week. What's going on with these teams, Kevin? I mean, I'll tell you what, it might actually be one of the best losses of the season for the Golden State Warrior

it's considering the implications of the draft pick. So they lost the most important loss of the season because now you have Minnesota. That's funny. So they had Curry. They said Curry and they gave him a notebook and they said, say this after the game.

Steve Kerr, act like you're super frustrated with the rebounding and all this shit. You know, compliment Ricky Rubio. But guys, it's like here's the strategy, guys. Nobody, like Steve Kerr said,

if we boxed out, we would have won. Here's the strategy tonight, guys. Nobody box out. We're going to try to innovate here. Just don't box out once all night. Yeah.

I think if you're a Warriors fan, you want to believe that rather than believe that Ricky Rubio dropped 26, six and six on you. Yeah. That's a first time I've heard Ricky Rubio's name the whole season. I'm not. kidding. I'm not kidding. I have not heard his name uttered anywhere. And I was like 26,

six and six. What the heck? Did we, did we talked about the wolves pretty in depth on our Tuesday show this week? I don't believe we even said the neighbor to review. We didn't even talk about a man. Yeah, we did. We focus on like jada McDaniels of the young guys. Yeah. I guess DeAngelo Russell revenge game last night, right? Well, I mean, three, three for 11 from the field, points. Well, and the Warriors have tapered off a little bit here recently. You know what I mean? They've got to try to get it back together. Now, their schedule is super easy down the stretch. And so they've got the opportunity to get it back together. They have played a harder schedule leading in. Them, they and Memphis are the ones with the extremely easy schedules the rest of the way.

San Antonio is terrible. I mean, it's rough, rough. It's really difficult schedule for that. Really difficult. I think it's number one, if I read that correctly, earlier this week. And so they've got a chance to get it back together, but clearly not on the hide that they were when Steph was going through that crazy run, putting up ludicrous numbers. And they're probably feeling really good about themselves being very dangerous. It's nights like last night where they, you watch that and you're like, well, how dangerous are they?

Right. And it feels like their level of play fluctuates tremendously. If you get the 40-something 113 Steph Curry and everybody else filling in the gaps, they can be devastating and beat anybody on a given night. They can also have the ability to lose to anybody. Yeah. I mean, also, I mean, Steph needs some help. I mean, no, he scored 37 points last night. It was obviously on 11 of 27.

17 3-pointers, by the way, Chris. I'm very happy to see that. You give yourself a chance and you give Steph that many shots. But he can't go 18 of 27 or 20 of 27 every night. Sometimes he's going to have those nights where he shoots below 50% from the field. And that's where other guys need to step up. And Wiggins had a solid night. But, I mean, he needs more scoring from his teammates for the Warriors to be a serious playoff threat.

And that's on the front office to make those changes over the offseason. Well, they should have traded Wiggins, so I'd have won my damn bet. Yeah, you'd be a $100 richer. Since we last spoke, the bright future sons clinched their first postseason in 11 years. And the Sons and Jazz play this weekend. Hopefully before you are able to listen to this podcast, and so you'll know, you'll know that game is going to be happening, or you will know by the time you listen to this,

the outcome of that. But that is a massive, massive game given the standings. You know, one of these teams, and we've talked about you don't know if you should be all that desirous of being the number one seed if it's going to feed into the Lakers. But either way, this is the number one and number two teams record-wise

in the Western Conference, and they're right there next to each other. And so this could be a big swing. And we don't know on Mitchell. He's getting re-evaluated today from what I gathered. And as of time of recording, I haven't heard anything. He has missed, as you know, six straight games. And Conley was out Wednesday with the hamstring, which is scary.

Because hamstrings and calves, those are the things. things you really don't want to hear about leading into a playoff run, right? They can linger both of those, yeah. Because there's nothing you can do. Like, you know, when we're talking about the honest thing, you can do treatment, you can throw that thing on ice. There's things you could do to heal up an ankle with the handstrings and the calves and muscle injuries, that it's literally just time.

And there's nothing you can do about it. You just, it's just a time thing. And so, as we said earlier, we hope everybody's able to get to this healthy. So who knows, it might not be the greatest representation of what the jazz are. But shouts to the Phoenix Suns, you know, they made that deal. They got Chris Paul in the offseason, and the results have been much greater than anyone could have ever expected. We both thought they were going to be playoff teams. They're a team that might end up with the best record in a Western conference filled with a lot of good teams.

Yeah, man. It's awesome to see both the Jazz and the Suns atop the West right now. Just two good, fun, deep, strong teams with really no weak players in the roster. They don't play guys who suck, as you all I say. It's just great. And for the Phoenix Suns, I tweeted this the other night when they clinched postseason appearance. I'm so happy for Suns fans. You know, like, we've had sons fans, like, listened to the show for many, many years.

They've been through so many hard times. It's been 11 years. 11 years, Chris, since they last made the postseason. Well, and they are, you know, with these teams, I'll say, I mocked your bright future suds many times. But this is true that with those teams, when you're talking about Utah and you're talking about Phoenix, and let's even throw Denver in there. Because I heard our buddy Zach Lowe talking about this about how.

You were on his pod, right? I was. I heard him talk about how earlier in the week about how, you know, he did this thing about Jamal Murray at the beginning of his podcast. And, you know, people goofed on him saying, like, come on, man, he didn't die or something. And he said, that was really, I talked about that, because you would not believe the amount of people in the NBA that reached out to me that just felt sick about this and felt sick about it twofold. A, because that team really had a chance, but also, and I think this is true of the other two, what they represent. And I do think there's a lot of people in the NBA that can't just go out and snag stars that would love to think

that you can draft Nicolioch and Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. and that you can build a championship level team that you can draft Devin Booker and DeAndre Aiton and McElbridges and you can create, you know, you augment it with a star, another guy, and you can, but their starting lineup is filled with three guys that they drafted. Utah, you can draft Donovan Mitchell and you can draft Rudy Gobert.

And yeah, you can fill in the blanks around them, but the core of that team is drafted. guys and that you don't just have to, you're not at the most unbelievable disadvantage because you aren't the team that can go and sign the three megastars that feel like getting together next offseason, you know? And I think that's real, you know, that those teams do represent something different than teams that are just thrown together. And I do think it's good for the league if you could draft your way into championship hopes, you know?

Yeah, no doubt about it, man. You know, that that, that, that's the 100% of truth is that this, these are some examples of teams. We're building organically, building through the draft and, you know, savvy acquisitions through trade or free agency, not big splashes. It's another way to build. And it's, that's one reason why it's just so good to see Utah and Phoenix. top of the West right now. We'll see how it pans out during the playoffs. The Lakers are still the favorites as long as LeBron James and Anthony Davis are healthy. The Clippers would probably even still be favored in the series because of the level Kauai Leonard and Paul Georgia

playing at, but you cannot rule out the Phoenix Suns or the Utah Jazz in a seven-game series against anybody because those teams are legit good. They are legit tough. Utah is grizzled. They've been through it. Phoenix has some guys who are, not the whole team. but I'm excited to see the bright now sons in the playoffs. I can't wait to see. And they do, they want it. You know,

they got there by beating the, the Clippers. Clippers were without Kauai. They're still without Ibaka. But what is noticeable about that game is more of a playoff type atmosphere in that game. Where you end up, you know, playing more of a half-court, you know, hard-nosed game. And, you know, it got chippy again.

And I'll tell you this, Kev, there's part of me that's like, hey, Phoenix, don't get that number one seed. Get that two-seat. I do want to see, I want to see Phoenix and the Clippers. I do, Kev. I want to see Phoenix and the Clippers. I want to see Paul up against Rondo with them barking at each other. And like it feels like those teams, like they, they're getting chippy, you know, in the games that they played against each other. And they talk wild after these games.

And like, just in terms of drama, if I'm going to set it up, man, that one to me is a lot more fun than the alternative. Sure. I also think better spot, if you're a Phoenix fan, that's what you should want. I'd much rather feed into that Clipper series and let Chris Paul, you know, be the leader of my fight against a team that might have some shaky confidence as it comes down than playing against the Lakers. Well, here's the thing, though, Chris. The Lakers are only up one game on Dallas right now.

Right. So there's still a chance that we see the four, five as Denver, Dallas, and then the first round series potentially could be L.A. L.A. That would be, we get some time to go before like really diving into playoff matchups based of the final week of the season, but there's a chance. We get a first round Lakers Clippers series,

which would just be wild if that's what ends up happening. If that's the first round. Oh my gosh. Especially after we were, you know, we were robbed of it last year. Yeah, right. We were unable to see that matchup last year.

it would be crazy if we got it in the first round of this year. And you know what? Me and Zach Lo did touch on that because I remember when we were having that discussion, he said, oh my God, can you imagine what would happen with the Clippers if they lost in the first round of the playoffs? What if they won in the first round? I know. No.

But I'm saying the, the swing, you know, between winning and losing and what the whole thing might just go to hell in a handbasket if they got dropped out in the first round. Especially if they lost like in five. Yeah. Even if they did again, if they played one round of playoff bad, that's not why they put that whole thing together, you know, and then fire dock rivers and then got rid of Montrez and Lou Williams.

And like, if that does happen, like, again, like, we'll save this conversation for closer to like during the series if it were to happen. But my goodness, like, if you're Kauai Leonard, you'd have to like at least evaluate some things and think about some stuff about like, can this champion, can this team actually take that next step? I think it would be really awesome if we get Lakers Clippers in the first round. It would be great drama. So I hope it happens. But we'll see how the rest of the season shakes out. Yeah. It's certainly going to be a lot of.

and to watch where these teams are going to end up in the standings. A few more things. I read this story. Evidently, the Blazers had this heart-to-heart of X. Damian Lillard spoke and then C.J. McCollum spoke and Carmelo-Anthony spoke. And they were like, hey, this is, there's nine games left, like basically get our heads out of our asses. Let's go. And it's like, I mean, I read that.

And I was like, I mean, yeah, that's inspiring at all. but like, bro, you've played like 70 games. Like what? Like you're going to like, you're going to really be focused now. And like one. And in fairness, the reporter asked like my column was like, well, like, why haven't you just, if that's what happened and you're playing like this now, like, why haven't you just been playing like that? And he's like, well, I, I, you know, I wish I had the answer to that. But kind of, you know, this kind of like, now is the time.

And we've got to get things together. I watched them in person the other night and they buried Memphis in that game and they started off their road trip really good against Indiana and they've got a difficult schedule well at least they've got some tough games the rest of the way.

It's worth monitoring, right? If that is a team, you know, when you see something like that, this whole like, hey, we got to stop pointing finger, almost like the players meeting where it's like we've got to stop pointing fingers and everybody's saying the right thing.

and then the team does start playing significantly better, it's worth monitoring how the Blazers look these last couple of weeks and whether or not they have the opportunity to be dangerous for one of those top seeds or if they could even improve their plight. I mean, right? Especially because as you said, Chris, they do have a tougher schedule. You know, they got Brooklyn coming up. They have Boston.

Atlanta's been really good. They have the Lakers. They have late in the season, the jazz and the sons and the nuggets. So they got some tough games coming up and this will be a good test for them. And for Portland after that rough stretch, it's good to see them win two in a row. And one of the keys clearly is going to be Damien Liller getting back on track. He dealt with that, you know, nagging injury. And it seemed like his total self.

If he's able to get back to being Damien Lillard, that changes everything for that roster, obviously. And the game I saw, which was Wednesday night, they, you know, The Norm Powell thing has not been as seamless to say the least, you know. And yet there it was, as I was watching that game, and it was, at least for one night, you're watching them and going, well, this can be, when it clicks, if it does, if they could get that, it's, it is hard to match up with. It could be pretty devastating because Powell that night was like, I think he had 24 in the game. something like that, but I mean, you're talking about three different guys that can go for 20-something,

you know, against you, and it creates an odd matchup. They're still not going to be great shakes defensively by any means. But, you know, offensively, that is the way for them to be potentially devastating. And interestingly enough, their starter numbers with Nurkich and Lillard, their group on the court are not bad. it's once they get to everybody else. As you talked about the whole don't play guys that are negative impact or players that suck, whatever you want to call them, I mean,

they do it a lot, a lot, a lot. Especially on defense. I don't know. You get to the playoffs. Damian Lillard's going to play 40 minutes and McCallon's going to play 40 minutes. They will minimize that in some way just by virtue of not plaguing many guys,

probably off of their bench and then hopefully not getting slaughtered in the time that those guys are out there because if we're just going the plus minus numbers the starting lineup's still good it's once you get to everything else it's it goes to hell truly like defensively

abominable for sure they're bad on events we touched on Miami a few times here and there we have a deep dove on them but I did want to mention them today because I found an article out of the Sun Sentinel that I thought was very fascinating. It was about Jimmy Butler and about Eric's Polstra and about, I guess they had gotten into a Tiff the other night on the bench. And people noticed because, you know, they're like, Jimmy Butler is an animated guy, right?

He's not doing anything that you don't particularly notice. And there is a history where with Fred Hoyberg, he really clashed and then, you know, the Minnesota thing that happened in the 1819 season, which has been well chronicled. They asked Butler about it, and he said, talking about him at Spolstere, he said, we got into a little predicament, but it's nothing new. He explained of his relationships with Spolstra. He said, everything's not all good all the time, but we both want to win. and we both have the same agenda. So I think that he's helping me grow a tremendous amount, talking about leadership as a player

and what to look for with my guys. And he's making sure I put a lot of trust in my teammates and in my young guys, and I appreciate him for it. So like, all as well, that ends well. They're right there. They're obviously, you know, people could get mad at each other or even a coach and a player can bark at each other. You don't want it to be a resentful thing.

And obviously, when Butler was asked about it, that's what you would like to hear. Heat fan. Butler said when he was talking about he brought up, and this is about Wednesday night's game, he cited Audubio's eight free throws and said, and Otabio talked about Butler's 23 shots, which was his high in a game with the heat. And Jimmy said, I mean, he does great things for us. Obviously, we're getting to the bonus.

He's putting points on the board. He's damn near on guardable whenever he's playing like that. because when you get there, you get to the paint, everybody's got to help. Now you're kicking it out to shooters, yada, yada, and so they're both kind of talking about, and you're getting some of these stories around the league. We just mentioned the Blazers,

where the heat are saying, you know, it's go time for Jimmy. Jimmy's got to be the man. Jimmy's got to be aggressive. And Jimmy's saying like, hey, and bam, you got to turn up. And so they're going to try to turn up the rest of the way. Another team that's been a mad team all year long, saying they're going to try to turn up. Yeah, and I do want to mention, since I'm citing the article, Ira Winderman of the Miami-Sump

Sentinel is the one that wrote this article, an outstanding beat writer. But one of the other things he mentioned in the article was that Goran Dragach and Kendrick Nunn each had 18 in their game on Wednesday, and he got Spolster to talk about it. And here's what he said. Spolster said it's something that wasn't jumping off the screen or in our reports and reviews until about two weeks ago, we started to notice more and more that that combination was actually being pretty effective. So it's something we're going to continue to explore.

We need the playmaking right now and both these guys, when they're at their highest confidence level, make our offense more dynamic. Fascinating because there's sometimes where like nuns just out of the mix completely. Like, you just don't even, right? There's a point. What do you think about a drag it to none? It's still small sample size, but I find it interesting that, you know, the heat's starting

to pay attention to these numbers like, hey, maybe we've got a combo here that could change our fortunes. And at least so far, it has been rather successful for them. You buy that? Yeah, I mean, you do? He needs to maintain what he's doing ever since he came back or, like, or, like, he has been. earlier this month shooting 40 plus percent from three averaging 16 points, making good decisions on the floor providing the spark that he's known for, you know? I'm into the combination.

We'll see how it would work out defensively in a postseason setting. Nuns only six foot two under 200 pounds. Dragage obviously is not a lockdown defender by any means. So there might be issues defensively, but offensively, that's the concern. Like you just said, they need offense. and inconsistent flow of offense and shot creation to get easy looks for teammates and none and bam and Drag itch and having Butler four guys on the floor who can create off the dribble for you

that's tough to defend. As I've said, they've had a mass season. This is a team that was in the NBA finals last year. Do you still view them as dangerous? I do. Yeah, yes, yes in the sense that this team has been there.

It also depends a little bit. on seeding too, Chris. Like right now, if they're the seven seed, I would bet on them with the plan tournament. If they're the sixth seed against Milwaukee, I would not predict them to win. But if they get a first round series against like New York,

Atlanta, Boston is the four or five seed, which is still possible. They're tied right now with Boston for the six, two games back from the Knicks for the four. If they win around, then we're talking. Then we're talking. It's just the Jimmy thing. You know, of course. He level up. He levels up.

He does. I mean, and I think there was that quote last week where he said, just get me to the playoffs and then I got it. And then I'll take it from there. You know, I'll take it from there. I got to believe him. You know what I mean? I mean, he's earned that level of respect or it's like, all right, you said you'd take them. So let's see it.

And I mean, they're still hard-nosed guys. They are. They get a tough team of a lot of good players, a lot of good players who have been through it, too. We talk about the experience. To me, to me, it depends a lot on the seating, Chris. If they're the four or five, they're a threat. And they're always well-coached.

Yeah. Right. They are not at a disadvantage. And in fact, they're usually at an advantage in that area. And that matters a great deal in game planning seven game series. Yeah, big time. We have an unbelievable weekend ahead because now all of these games get magnified tenfold, you know, for these last whatever. 10 games of the season, the seating matters immensely this.

season. And you have a bunch of teams that are still just trying to fight for their opportunity to even play after the playoffs start. And so I look forward to all of it. I actually, I don't give a day what anybody says. You cannot deny that the scoreboard watching is infinitely more fun right now. Even if you don't like this idea, you have to admit that right now, nobody would give a flying crap about games that are being played on April 29th. It normally, outside of individual teams. And my level of interest in what all teams are doing is so much greater than it usually is in a normal season. Like, I wouldn't have thought twice about, oh, Minnesota beat Golden State who gives a shit.

But last night, that was like, whoa, hold on now. Golden State can't be a fordun to take losses to Minnesota. These games, there ain't enough of them, you know, the rest of the way. And so they can't be losing games like that. And so oddly, that game had real significance. The playing tournament, I hope they stick with it. It's going to get even better and more exciting in the weeks to come. The playing is a win.

It's a big win. Oh, I think so for sure. And I hope they do. I hope they do extend it, you know. I hope they too. able to vote on this and come to terms. This episode came together thanks to the work of associate producer Sasha Ashall, as always. And everybody, have a great weekend. Kev, I'll talk to you on Tuesday. Looking forward to Chris. Have a fun weekend, everybody.