The Mismatch - The Nuggets Sweep the Season Series Against the Celtics, Edwards Drops 44, and Luka’s Historic Performance in a Win Over the Heat

Episode Date: March 8, 2024

Verno and KOC start with the highly anticipated matchup between the Nuggets and Celtics, which saw the Nuggets sweep the season series. They discussed what this matchup could look like in the Finals, how to guard Denver, and more. Then, they discuss some of the other close games from Thursday night, including Luka getting another 35-point triple-double (18:30), Anthony Edwards exploding for 44 points and a game-saving block (21:27), and the Bulls upsetting the Warriors (40:29). Then, they quickly check in on the top draft prospects and guys to watch with conference tournaments beginning and March Madness starting soon(45:20). Got a question for Verno and KOC? Send them an email at [e-mail]! Or you can send the guys a tweet @‌ChrisVernonShow_ and @‌_KevinOConnorNBA! The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming, please checkout theringer.com/RG to find out more or listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Producer: Isaiah Blakely Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Every true football fan knows that the NFL season truly begins after the Super Bowl champion has been crowned, and the ringer NFL feed will keep you on top of all the news still happening around the league and heading into the 2024-25 season. I'm Sheila Capadia. And every Monday and Friday, Ben Solac and I deliver sharp takes the debates on the draft, free agency training camp, and beyond an extra point taken. And every Wednesday will have dual threat where Stephen Ruiz and yours truly, Nora Princeati, dive deep into all of the big offseason developments, with Ringer favorites Austin Gale and Lindsay Jones stopping by occasionally to share their expert football analysis.

Subscribe to the Ringer NFL show on Spotify or wherever you get your podcast. And don't forget to follow the Ringer NFL on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and X at Ringer NFL. Welcome to the mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon. And join him as he does every Thursday night from the Ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor, aka Kevin O'Bomber, Kevin O'Connor, A.K.A. Kevin, oh, conflict, oh, climber, oh, Candyland, oh, Blasarian.

Kevin! What a game. What a game. That was fun. I'm glad we stayed up for that. What a night. Yeah, what a night. There were seven NBA games that went on tonight.

Kevin, the outcomes were games decided by six, three, two, seven, six, six, and two. And just with the double header that was on TNT tonight, it really legitimately felt like a playoff night. Having first Dallas versus Miami and then the game that we're going to start with, which was probably the regular season game that was circled more than any as a possible finals preview, Denver versus Boston. And we said on the show on Monday, man, wouldn't it be great if we could get a game that could come down to the end? And I think we got more than we bargained for. I was so glad that everybody had their players, you know.

And I was so glad that we got to see this play out with not only everybody having their players, but neither of them just had a flop game to where one of them ran off with it. It was highly competitive from the first quarter all the way until the final buzzer. And I'm interested, you know, it's very fresh. We just got done watching it. What was your overarching feeling after watching Denver knockoff Boston tonight? I think with game one, you know, Denver shoots 25.8% from three in their first game. They beat Boston on the road.

Then tonight they shoot only 19% from three beat Boston at home. And, you know, Boston shot 32% in both of those games. Not great shooting nights for them either. But I think with Denver, we didn't even see the best version of them. And yet there was still no answers on the Boston side, whether it was single coverage with Chris Stapp's Porzingis, whether it was having Al Horford or Xavier Tillman defend Yokic with another big helping off of a non-shooter or lesser shooter. This is an issue for every single team.

And yet, despite with those doubles, regardless of the offense, Denver's running, it doesn't feel like the Celtics got the Nuggets best in either of those games. And so, you know, you look ahead with a potential finals match. I don't, I don't people are talking about how this could be an epic series and maybe so, but I'm not sure I'd pick, you know, Denver in less than five games, maybe, like five-ish games in a series against Boston. I think Denver can click on an even higher level than what we've seen in the two games against Boston this year.

So I think for the Celtic side of things, I would like to have seen them go with Horford on Yokic, with Porzingis on Gordon Moraw. often, far more often, maybe as their primary defense. Drew Holiday up until the clutch threes that he hit at the end of the game, it was terrible. Like that pull up three he had with 19, 20 seconds on the shot clock in the first half I thought was representative of the terrible decision making he had throughout the entire game. And most of all, where was Jason Tatum? Tatum felt invisible, didn't he, Chris? I know Jaylon Brown goes off, but it's so often this year when Brown goes off, Teatam just feels completely out of the game and they really needed him and he just so

often felt like he wasn't even there. It was strange to the point where I looked up and he is out there on the court and I'm like, did he like, you know, because they were like, hey, he's favoring his wrist or something. I'm like, is he, did he go to the locker room or something? Like, he just wasn't even involved. And then like every once in a while, he'd get the ball on the baseline, drive in and score, or he'd throw up the, you know, he had the reverse that he tried that was pretty spectacular, that, you know, didn't go in. But yet he just wasn't affecting the game at all. If we're talking about, like, who were you watching that was truly impactful?

And he just was not impactful in this game. Jalen Brown was mega impactful and kept them in this game. Yeah, he did. And then Porzingis showed up in a big way for that stretch in the fourth quarter. But yeah, like that was one of the things. It's like you know that most of these games, it's like, who's your best guy? My best guys got the ball and my best guy is deciding this. Hell or high water, that's what's happening.

and that just was not the case. Like, you know Nicolioch is getting the ball every possession. He's touching the ball every possession. And it's just not the way it functioned. And I know that it's weird. It's almost like a, well, if it's not him, that it's somebody else. But it's very rarely like some kind of cutting or passing. Like you feel like Denver has 10 options off of what they're trying to do.

And it's all because of this one guy. And it feels like Boston in so many cases is a pass, and then it's who's got the ball, and they're kind of creating something. And maybe they'll drive, maybe they'll knock out three. And they're obviously so individually talented that they can. But there certainly was not the feeling of, okay, it's go time. I've got Tatum, you've got Yokic.

Let's see who's going to get this done. It wasn't that at all, at all. I don't even know how many times he touched the ball down the stretch, seriously. Versus Yokic who that last pass to Aaron Gordon where it looked like a hook shot, doesn't that completely symbolize everything you just said about Yokic where he gets this crazy double spin move into what looks like a hook shot, but it's actually a pass because we've seen him make that lob pass to Aaron Gordon hundreds of times over the years.

There's literally nothing you can do about. about Nikola Yokich. There's nothing you can do. There is no answer for Yokic and that is the difference between him and virtually every single other player in the league. There's no answers to that guy at all. And for the Denver side of things, that's what they can go to in those end games. The two man with Murray or just a Yokic post up one on one. And if he send two, he'll find somebody else. The dude is absolutely unbelievable. And I felt like that play, like Chris Haynes, asks him right after the game. So was it a pass? And Yolkich is like, yeah, it was a pass. I do that all the time to him. It's like sometimes I don't even see him and I just throw it up because I know

he'll find it. Aaron Gordon, Kevin has got to be the greatest dunker spot player ever. Like that is always where they just throw a guy. It's like. The putback that made DeAndre Jordan almost like pass out on the bench. Like you know, you know, I have. I have a show that I do with Tony Allen every week. And I used to always joke because he was the dunker spot guy. And I'd say, you'd never pay attention to the huddle. And he'd say, because the play wasn't for me. It didn't matter.

I asked him right left, right block or left block. And that's kind of where you throw the guy that's not going to be spacing the floor. And so Eric Gordon, in most cases, can go, all right, right block or left block. and, yo, forget the alley-you. How about the friggin finish where he catches him below the net? The putback. Yeah, that's the one I just said, the putback. Yeah.

That was crazy. No, he's amazing. He's amazing at playing that Dunker Spot role. And, of course, Brown leaves him twice and has to pay for it twice because it's like a puzzle that Yokic has the answer to no matter what Yokic. Mm-hmm. has the answer to no matter what you do. I mean, for God's sakes, at one point in the fourth quarter, poor Peyton Pritchard that possession that Pritchard got stuck on him.

It's like, yeah, that was weird. He opened the play on him. But the thing, this is, this is like the thing where, let's say these teams do face off again and June, right? For Boston, on that play where Aaron Gordon had that vicious pull back where he catches it below the rim and just yams it home. home. So Jalen Brown helps on the Yokic spin, right? Yeah. And because he has to, because Porzina's got roasting on it like he did all night. He had to help. Tatum in those situations has to be ready to come

down and help on Gordon. The issue then, then Michael Porter is in the corner. And Yokish, if he does, you know, Yokic is capable of doing a wrap around pass to Porter as well. And this speaks to what we're talking about where there is an endless amount of options when the ball is in Yokic's hands. Yes, Tatum could have tried to box out Gordon there in the dunker spot, but then there's Porter in the corner if Yokic had been able to find him, if Tatum had helped off actually more. So there's just an endless amount of answers there. With that said, Tatum should have more aggressively boxed out Gordon. And this is where I will disagree with you. I do think if they matched up in a series, that Boston, look, the three-point percentage is the three-point percentage tonight.

And so if I'm playing that role, Tatum was crap and they didn't make any kind of threes. And I think they gave up over 51% from the field, something like that. The nuggets were over 50% from the field. And so I do think that, especially in their home arena, you know, you get some more shots to drop. Also, you know, as we know, when you get to playoff games and this, like I say, felt like a playoff game, that's when your bench guys are better too. And the bench was a big advantage for Denver tonight.

We're talking about impact and who we felt was like truly impactful in this game. I'll be damned if that did not feel. There was a moment where I'm watching that game and I'm going, Jesus. they really just replaced Bruce Brown with Peyton Watson. Like this guy is everywhere. He is. Calvin Booth was right. Wasn't he?

Making such an impact on the gang. He really is. He is a hell of a defender. Chris, wasn't Calvin Booth in the story I wrote before the season? Spot on about Peyton Watson. Yes. Spot on about what he could become.

We've seen it over the course of the year with Watson. He's an unbelievable helpside defender with the block shots. his hustle and mindset, like he jumped over Yokic to block a shot tonight and got a standing ovation. That was downright dangerous. What? What the hell is that? I don't know. But like the dude is a maniac out there on defense and his shot is up and down.

He's had a colder streak this past month, but, you know, he's better than anticipated still as a shooter in his NBA career so far. you hope he gets closer to high 30s. But Watson, you know, he can get hot. He's a great defender. He rebounds. The dude's great. And I think for the Denver side, you know, you've seen this year Christian Brown. He's gotten better over the course of the season, started off a little bit slow defensively compared to last year when he was trying to carve out his offensive role.

But I think for this Denver team, man, man, I wasn't overly concerned about their depth ahead of the season because of the bed on. youth and I'm not concerned at all right now either. I think this team is fine and in good shape and if anything could potentially end up better than they were last year. To me, I don't think Boston can beat Denver in the finals or even compete with Denver personally. I don't. And there's part of, you know, part of it is as you watch it play out, you're going,

man, what's your best, what's your best option against Yokic? And to watch what he was doing a poor Zengis. then to know that your other options are like Horford and Tillman, if there's any size, like anything. So it's like, all right, now we're doubling and now we've got to live with open corner threes or dunker spot dunks from Aaron Gordon. It's like, I don't know what the best option against him is for any team. We saw him carve up Anthony Davis last year.

So it's not like, right? I mean, who do you want? Who do you want to throw at him? And at some point, you know, this is, this is the trouble for every NBA team that is going to have to play against them. It's like if you want to turn him into a score, he'll light your ass up. If you want to turn him into a passer, he seemingly makes the perfect pass every time. It's crazy. He's that brilliant.

And he's at peak of powers right now. So you go, all right, what do I want to try with this? I can't single cover him and I can't double cover him. Now what? I mean, at some point, if somebody just got to throw three guys at him? You know, we had that funny clip from the last show where you were talking to me about Tillman. And I said, look, man, there is no Yonk it stopper. And you might have to find him in the NFL combine.

Well, then you watch it play out tonight. And it's like, man, he just made mince meat of anything they threw at him. Yeah. Yeah, and that's the impossible challenge for every team in the league. And ultimately, if Boston does find themselves in the finals, all the talk about Boston and, you know, do they take too many threes? Is Tatum great enough to be the team's best player? You know, all that talk, all the talk about their offense, their defense is still number

two in the league behind Minnesota. They have the number two defensive rating in the entire league. Their defense is great. It's versatile. They have different combinations that they can throw out there and retain their greatness and versatility and scheme flexibility. If Boston does make a run to the finals, it may be because of their defense, not because of their offense. Their defense is what can keep them stable and keep them great on a night in, night out basis, even when shots aren't falling. So for the Celtics, the fact that even they are struggling to find answers against Yokic is really a testament to his greatness because Boston has more flexibility on defense than perhaps any.

team in all of basketball. This is one of those games, though, that is bigger than the other ones. We have to, everyone has to admit that. It just is. If they would have won, we would have believed. It would have been like, this is different now. This is different. They just went into Denver.

Depends on how the game goes. No, I understand, but I mean, like, but they didn't. Like, this was, we were all queued up for this, and then we saw it. And then we got, you know, We saw the reason it was particularly deflating for this matchup, if this does become the matchup, is because of the way it played out with a invisible Jason Tatum on one side and a dominant Yokic on the other.

Yeah. So many times. Also, let's not talk Tatum over Yokic as MVP either. That should be over. That's outrageous. It never should have been a thing, to be honest. I mean, here's the deal. So many times throughout.

NBA history. It comes down to who's got the best player on the floor? That's it. That's why we needed to see Tatum be the best player on the floor. That's what we needed. We had needed to see him go heads up with him. Because the Jalen Brown thing's fine. But Jalen Brown is the second guy.

He's the number two. And Porcings is the number three. And it's super cool that the number two and the number three were good. but the guy that over a seven-game series, I've got the best player on the floor. And it's a good transition to our next one because the game before it, I'm watching Dallas versus Miami,

and it certainly felt like playoff basketball. You know, Dallas has to come back after they get down big early. And you're watching, this, what, fifth, I think it was, consecutive, or maybe it's even more than that, 35 point triple double from Luca, and you're watching him take over down the stretch. Like, he's got the ball, now it's time to deliver. This is nip-tuck down the stretch.

Best players got the ball in his hands. He's about to decide this for me, one way or the other. And he gets it done against Miami. It's like one after another. On the other end, it's not a force feed of Butler. In fact, it was a lot of Terry Rozier, honestly. But you're watching, you know, I felt like back to back, I was watching these two guys dominate these games down the stretch

against what were super formidable opponents. And it's one of the reasons that you and I, though they threw eggs on us after we pumped them up, but it was one of the reasons that during that win streak, We started to get really high on the prospects of Dallas. And then I watched tonight, and I'm like, this is why. They've got that guy. You know, they got the guy.

And he makes the right play more often than not. And he's putting up big, big numbers every single night. And down the stretch, he's either going to make the plays or he's not. But I certainly would rather have him on my side than, than be on the other team. And so, you know, that's all we're asking for. It's like, we know that when it gets to the playoffs, this is what it's going to come down to.

And I was mega impressed with Luke at a night. And that was actually a very good basketball game in its own right, was Dallas, Miami. And I was super impressed with the way Dallas came out in the second half. Sure. I mean, I think to your overall point about those players who could take over in games, you know, it's not like we haven't seen Tatum have. dominant playoff performance.

Of course he has. So he is capable and that's what makes it disappointing in a game like tonight where he didn't, especially on a night where we saw that with Luca. We saw that with Anthony Edwards with the three big time buckets he had in the final 70 seconds of the game, the pull up three, the pull up midranger, the floater, all leading to his head hitting the rim block to save the game. those heroics like one of the best blocks you'll ever see in a game that's where it's disappointing for Boston tonight but ultimately for Dallas despite their struggles recently after we were raving

about them you feel good because it's like okay we have a player capable of that and then from Minnesota with Anthony Edwards tonight I couldn't help but think watching that Minnesota game with 44 points for Anthony Edwards no Carl Anthony towns he's got the meniscus injury out for about a month now, I couldn't help but wonder, are we seeing an unlocked Anthony Edwards? Will we see him reach an even higher level with more shots, more touches over this next month?

Or is this just him going against a weak Indiana Pacer's defense? I would say it's somewhere in the middle. I think that's very fair. Could we get, they're going to have to get more out of Edwards. He might have to average over 30 points a game. I mean, that's a lot of offense they lost. Say whatever you want about towns. He was good for 22 and 8 every night that he was given you.

And it's a lot of offense that you've lost. And so, like, when you're talking about Edwards, that performance, the 44 that he had in the huge fourth quarter, just the final 90 seconds of that game, it's 105, 105. Edwards comes down, hits a three. Edward comes down, hits a jumper, Edwards comes down, hits a jumper, Edwards comes down, gets fouled, goes to the free throw line, splits the free throws. And then off his missed free throw, Carlisle says, no timeout, they take off running,

knee Smith goes to the basket, and as you mentioned, that's one of the most incredible game-winning plays I've ever seen in my life. That's not hyperbole. That's not prisoner of the moment. That is going to stand the test of time. I don't think I've ever seen anybody have a, I mean, bro, his armpit was at the, if you, I saw like somebody still pictured, his armpit is at the bottom of the glass. He said, he said he's never jumped so high in his life.

And he hit his head on the day for him. And then he fell really hard on his, on his wrist on his. I saw, you know, I saw something like this one time I went to the NCAA tournament many, many years ago, when Blake Griffin was playing for Oklahoma. And I saw Blake Griffin run, he was on the baseline and he jumped up and he hit his head on the side of the backboard. And I was like, oh my God. Like he was, I mean, prime Blake Griffin Springs were a different world. and I'd never seen anything like that in person. But watching Edwards and then those still shots

and the fact that that's like he's risking life and living. I mean, he's jumping over people, landing on his wrist. That was just, yes, it was dangerous. It was also absolutely awesome. But to our point, that game was 105, 105. He just took over the game. just took over the game. That Celtics Denver game was not decided at all by the best player on the Celtics.

It was like Drew Holiday, it was Porzingis, who was Jaylor Brown. It was everybody except for him decided that game down the stretch. And sometimes it can become too heliocentric for sure. Sometimes it's not always the best, have your best player just, take over a game, but you also love that, like that give me the damn ball, let's go. I'm throwing this team on my back. And there's never been a more. I'm throwing the team on my back last two minutes than Anthony Edwards had.

That's freaking crazy. No doubt about it, Chris. And I think for the Minnesota side, yes, we're going to see higher usage from Edwards over the next month without Kat. I also wonder, without towns on the floor for Minnesota, how will we see McDaniels get comfortable with more touches? Will he potentially experience a surge towards the end of the season with more consistent opportunities? How old Naz Reed look?

T.J. Warren was pretty good off the bench of Minnesota tonight. He just got signed. He looked like a fit to me providing a spark with his offense. And for Minnesota, they got some good barometer tests. They're on a road trip right now. That went against Indiana tonight was the first game. of a six-game road trip. They face the calves, Lakers, clippers,

and then twice against the jazz on the road before they return home to face the nuggets, the calves, the warriors, and the pistons. So they have a lot of really good competitive games coming up against different types of opponents. And I think for Minnesota, I guess you'd rather have Carl Anthony Towns when you're competing for the one seed, obviously.

But I also look forward to seeing the way some of these guys look without cat out there and how that could potentially help them come play off time. As long as they get towns back. They have to have him. They have to. They have to.

You know, even tonight, because you want that punch from Nas Reid coming off the bench. You want him playing against second units. That's why I think Finch went with Kyle Anderson. And look, as I always say, there's nothing new under the sun. I love Kyle Anderson. I experienced this. When the year, Jaron Jackson went down, guess who started at Power. forward. Kyle Anderson.

Yep. And what he's going to do is he's going to keep the ball moving. He's going to keep the ball moving. And you know what else is going to do? He's going to keep giving that ball. Like when you say about more Edwards, you might see more Edwards. Because Kyle Anderson is going to be passing the ball to Rudy Gobert on

you know, on Alley Ups and he's going to be chucking it out to Anthony Edwards. He knows who to throw the ball to. He's a role player. But he's also a point guard at heart. And so he's Actually, he's a great passer, and I think could be very useful in that spot. It's just the generating of offense that is like that's where Edwards is going to have to do more.

Even Conley is going to have to generate more offense because, you know, their defense is amazing. They are offensively challenged, especially down the stretch of games. and that's where Edwards is going to have to be the guy. I mean, one of the great keys to their success this year has been this insane continuity that they've had. You know, towns, they played whatever 60, he's played 60 games. He's only missed two games. Their lineup of Conley Edwards-McDaniels, Towns at Gobert, Kev, it's played over 600 minutes of the groups.

that have played 600 minutes, if you just isolate those, the only five-man unit that has a better net rating than that is the Denver Nuggets. That's it. It's a Denver Nuggets. So, I mean, they have done it on the strength of this continuity and the fact that their starting lineup has been amazing

given the very large sample size. Now, as you expand that, you can find other teams that are in, there, right? Like if you get down to like the 500 minutes, you're going to find Milwaukee lineups when they've got, you know, Middleton in the lineup and they've got their five guys. And you're going to find Boston's lineup that consists of their starters. But still, you know, Minnesota is up there as one of the great five-man lineups in the league, especially one that has had that much continuity this year. And their title odds,

you know, became a lot different for a reason. I mean, it went from 25 to 35 to 1. And I know that AJ Ward Janowski keeps reporting positive stuff about how, you know, they expect them to be back by the playoffs or whatever. It's like, if I'm being honest, which I always am, when I saw all those reports coming out back to back this morning, you had kind of like the battling reports. First you had Shams report that Towns is out.

Then you have Wode's report that, hey, they're actually getting a second opinion. May not be as bad as they think. You know, they're trying to figure it out. My immediate reaction, and this is a callous reaction, was, bro, they're going to try to find anybody they can to tell this guy he could play. Because this is it. This is it. This is the run.

Towns probably done after this year with them. if we're being fair. It depends on how much they want to pay up next season. Dude, these guys are not paying a billion dollars for that team. Like I said, it depends on how much they want to pay off. Okay. You're not spending over $100 million in centers. It's not happening.

It depends on what you want to pay. Okay. Well, I'm going to go ahead and tell you that in Minnesota, you're not spending $100 million on centers. Okay. So going into the. side of it, Chris. This is the other side.

If you perform really well without cat, it can make you feel more confident the trade in the summer. That's the other side of it. I don't want to look ahead to the off season when they're a team that is finals hopes, but that is the other side of it from a really big picture point of view here.

All I'm saying is, how does it look? I hope they do right by him. The finals hopes hinge on him playing. I agree with you. And this is a dangerous game to play with a seven footer with a knee injury. I agree.

That's all I'm saying. They need, they need him to play. They need him out there. He deserves all the credit in the world for turning himself into the player that he has to fit in here. Kat, no matter whether he was at Kentucky or playing with Jimmy Butler or playing with Zach Levine, now playing with all the guys that he is now, Anthony Edwards, Rudy O'Barre, he has always been adaptable throughout his entire career. He didn't shoot threes at Kentucky because that's what he was asked to do in college, right?

He has always done what's best for the team. And this year, he has turned himself into the best defensive player he's been in his entire career. He's had a lower offensive role. He's excelling. He's rooting for his teammates. And he's playing better than he has ever had in a winning environment here. And he deserves all the credit. And it sucks that he deals with this.

It's disappointing considering the level he's playing at. And they need him. They're not going to win the finals about Carl Anthony Towns. They need Kat out there. And for Minnesota and for Kat specifically, there's a lot of pressure considering the financial aspect you're mentioning, Chris. But also the fact that, I mean, other teams in the Western.

This is the window, Kev. It is. It's, I mean, unless Anthony Edwards continues ascending and he reaches a higher level. Oh, no. You're going to be able to build title teams around him for a long time. But I'm saying you're taking a step back after this year. Yeah, if you do trade cat. Yes.

Yeah. And so, I mean, you could trade McDaniels instead as well. So they don't have to trade cat. But it gets complicated this summer with financial reasons. Once they signed the Nas read contract, that was. You could trade NASRAD, too. But that's where we understood. You're not, you're not carried those three guys.

It's complicated. Put it that way. It's complicated. And they're going to have to take some losses at some point in the coming year. So I think for Minnesota, you know, if not this year, it may be never, unless it's a completely different looking roster at some point in the future around Anthony Edwards. So I think for Minnesota, I hope to God they can get. to get Carl Anthony Towns back.

Maybe he can't come back. I hope for him he could come back and he can play. Because Chris, like that first round matchup, it could be Dallas. I know. It could be the Lakers. It could be the Warriors. It could be the sons. Who knows who it's going to be.

It could be a bunch of teams right now. But that first round series is loseable if you don't have cat. For sure. It's loseable even if you do have cat, considering how strong the teams are in the plan for that matter. The crazy thing is, The crazy thing is, much like last year, you could get into a scenario where you would rather be three than one. Yeah, I mean, yeah.

And I know this is going to hurt you again. But no, it's going to be hard for them to maintain their number one status when the game, when you've got Denver and Oklahoma City right there uninjured right behind you. But I'm saying in this bizarre way, it might actually not be that bad because there's a real good possibility that we could see L.A. or Golden State or Dallas or, you just don't know the way it's going to play out. It's impossible. It's four games of separation between five and ten right now. It's impossible. You have no idea.

No clue. But your matchup, I'm saying, it's very possible your matchup. could be your matchup being the three seed could be actually better for playoff basketball than being the one seat it is very possible that over the final week of the season we like depending on what how the standing shake out by mid- april that you see minnesota or denver okay c intentionally lose a game in order to land with the three seed for a preferable matchup and that's very possible what we'll see how it shakes out teams might be you know, winning, you know, trying to win the whole way through, but, you know,

matchups are going to be everything. So we'll say. Yeah, right. Because if it, you could end up and you're looking at it, you're going, well, dear, my choice is Sacramento or L.A. or my choice is, New Orleans or L.A. And it's like, I, I'd prefer not to have to play the Lakers in the first round if I can get away from that. Only the top seats had a choice. Just saying. Yeah. Well, they don't. Just throwing it out there. It sucked, though. And, and honestly, the first thing, thing that right through my mind. Do you remember, you kind of laughed at me and you said, boy, you're really talking to something to it. I said this and I viewed this to the prism of when I was talking about the Cowboys and the Packers, I swear to God, I've not thought about that

game one time. Like that game, it was a blood bath. It was over. And I told you, I'm much rather. I still think about heartbreaks. But I, and I said, this is after Morant goes out for the season. And you're like, how are you doing? I said, look, there's a part of me that goes, Look, it gets ripped away late for teams. And that is so much worse. You'd rather have a chance. You'd rather have a chance. You'd want to be in it. It's so much worse to have it ripped away at the end.

But it hasn't been ripped away yet. Okay. I mean, it's a seven-footer with a torn meniscus that they're saying is going to get re-evaluated in four weeks. And okay. Yeah, but you'd still rather have a season where you're flirting with the one seat and you feel really optimistic about where you are and what you can be. come and what you could be this coming. You'd say that.

And then if like Porzingis gets hurt or something, you're going to change your tune. Dude, I rooted for a team that went 18 and 1. I know what it feels like they haven't ripped away. It's the worst. It is. It's the worst, but it's also. It wants you to this day. It's the worst, but it's also the best.

No, it's not the best. It's the worst. It's the worst because it's the best to be in those games. That's why it's the worst to be in a finals and in a championship situation. have a chance for glory because it's the best to feel like you're in it and you get a chance and there's hope and you actually are there and it's the worst when you lose because it's the best to be there. I would rather get smoked.

But I wouldn't rather have it any other way than to be in those situations as a fan. There's no better feeling to feel like you're in it. Oh, I would much rather get killed than lose at the buzzer. Much, much rather. My producer is a, you know, and Rosa is a four. Niners fan. He has not listened to a sports podcast or turned on the NFL network since the Super Bowl. Yep. That's not good.

How many times have the Niners lost the Super Bowl this decade? Four, three? I mean, he is not. He has not. Like, in a fact. How many have they lost three or four? How many? Well, they lost the Kaepernick one. Yeah. And then they lost the Garapolo one. And then they lost this one. So three. Jesus Christ. Man, that's heartbreaking. Well, and they were up the last two of them against Mahomes. Man.

You know, and kind of went to overtime this one. Sorry if he got, he's going to be so mad he tuned this in. He's like, bro. I was trying to listen to basketball and hoping that you guys were going to talk about all the games that were going on. And here I am I got to be reminded at the day of four of night. Losing the Super Bowl. But, I mean, that has been kind of the story thus far. We've had the cat thing.

We've got Evan Mowbly. He's missed the time with an ankle. You know the Nick stuff is kind of hinging on Brunton. It appears it's going to be fine coming back. They're getting in it. Oh, no, be back. Everything is weird with the Randall injury. And we have no idea what the shoulder, you know, what's going to come of that.

But they're going to need Julius Randall in order to achieve what they want to have a chance at achieving. you've had Maxie just out with a concussion. Hopefully he'll be fine. But, I mean, it seems like every day we're getting more and more stuff coming out. And you just, you know, hope against hope it's not your team. Because it does seem like we're getting an injury update, unfortunately, every other day. And everybody that goes down, like even when LeBron went out of that game, it's like, oh, my God. Now LeBron's out, right?

And he's twist his ankle and he says he's going to be fine. But all of these, it's like, are they going to miss an extended amount of time? And, you know, if your team is in contention, you're just praying that you can get to that, you know, get to this playoffs healthy. Scary, man. Sometimes it's just the healthiest team, like with Philadelphia. We were talking about it months ago. That's right. When the bead first got hurt and here they are.

They're currently tied with the heat for the sixth spot. They're the seven seed by virtue of tiebreaker. a game up on the Pacers, only four and a half games up on the Bulls for the nine. By the way, one again tonight against the Warriors. Again. You know what? When you watch the Bulls, you do, there are several games that I've tuned into the Bulls. And I'm like, man, I like this better without Levine.

Well, they are, they were at one point this season. five and 14. So they're 26 and 18 since. They're 31 and 32 on the season. They got some dogs on their team. Yeah, they do. Caruso, I-O-Dosun-Mu. Javon comes off,

Javon Carter comes off the bench and he'll pick your ass up 94 feet. It's like. Tori Craig is, you know, he's a dog. Kobe White is a dog and his own, like Kobe White and DeRosen on offensive dogs, right? They can both get buckets. Yeah, their bucket games.

And Vooch has these games where he'll get hot. Like tonight, 33 points against the Warriors. Yep. And by the way, like with Chicago, we don't know when Embed's going to come back yet exactly. I don't, I mean, four and a half games is a lot of, it's a lot to make up. It's a lot to climb, but it's not impossible.

It's not impossible, Chris. No, and it's impossible to figure out, like, dude, we are trying to figure out what's going on with all of these teams. and it has been impossible, right? We've had the Lakers beat Oklahoma City, then they squander that big lead to the Kings. We've got the Warriors getting demolished by the Celtics, then they beat the Bucks, now they lose to the Bulls.

Every time we think one thing about one of these teams, then they bring us back to Earth, right? Boston kills the Warriors, but then they blow the 22-point lead against the Cavs, and now we watch them lose to the Nuggets. The Nuggets hadn't lost after the, All-Star break and then they lost to the Sons without Devin Booker. It's like, you pick the random night.

It's hard to figure out what you think about these teams. You know, two episodes ago, it's like, damn, Dallas, you just made us look stupid after we talked you up. And then if anybody tuned into Dallas tonight, like, oh, yeah, I see it. I see it. They got championship hopes, you know? Yeah, for sure. Like none of these teams have a level.

of consistency, it doesn't feel like. It's like every other night, they're doing something to either make you believe in them or make you believe that there's a reason they'll fall short. Or what about the Kings? They come out of the All-Star break. They get destroyed by the Nuggets, but then they beat the wolves, but then they lose to the Bulls. And then they have this amazing comeback in the first half against the Lakers after starting slow. And then tonight, they barely beat the spurs without Webanyama. It's like up and down with all these teams are now like I think since we did mention

the Kings, I just want to mention the playing race in the West real quick for that six spot, you know, and then the seven to ten straddling of the standings. You have the Warriors right now at 33 and 29 in the fourth quarter of that game against the Bulls, both Steph did turn

his ankle. And Clay Thompson said after the game, he's expecting Clay to miss some time. The ankle turn did look bad. And so for the Warriors, they have two games against the Spurs coming up. Then they have the Mavs, the Lakers, Knicks, Grizzlies. Like if he misses 10-ish days, they do have a lighter schedule coming up for Golden State. But no Stefan Curry. Tees your engine. Pretty scary for Golden State right now when it comes to trying to get to that six spot instead of climbing out of nine or ten. The lucky thing is that

after 10 everybody else is out of it now. Yeah. Like you're not going to fall out. Yeah. No, you're not falling out. Like, yeah,

you're not in peril of that at least. But you certainly don't want to have to win two games to play your way in. No. No. You don't want that. No. And so I don't know, man,

you figure, it's hard to figure out these teams. and kind of where they're all going to land because I do watch them one night and I'm like, oh boy, they're going to be held to deal with come playoff time. So these last 20 have been super fun

and I was glad these games tonight really felt like playoff games. Messy, threes aren't dropping, got to make plays down the stretch and, you know, the stars got to show up. up. And so it was fun to watch these play out.

One of the things that I've turned my attention to on NBA off nights is trying to catch up on college basketball, especially I love conference tournaments season and then leading into the NCAA tournament, which we are not far away. So we got these small conference tournaments that are kind of going on right now. A lot of teams are wrapping up their regular seasons. And so they got big conference games before these conference tournaments get going and the big conference ones will be next week. Small conference ones have already started in large part. And I also try to seek out these guys that are on all the draft boards. I know you have got an updated mock. It's got to be around the corner, right? Yeah. So the updated draft guide will be

coming out on Monday. It's going to have 50 profiles in it and a first round mock draft. And then the week after that we'll be expanding with more profiles and then moving to a two round mock. So on Monday morning will be an updated big board and mock drafts. Oh, wow. All right. I can't wait for that. This Monday morning it drops? Yeah, Monday morning.

Updated rings. We haven't updated since January 24th, so we're overdue for an update. I saw Gavoni put his out. I'm sure you saw this. And he had a new number one. French guy. A French guy. Zachary Rizashay.

Reza Shea. 6-8 Ford out of France. Oh, they posted. the mixtape and of course I watched the mixtape and I'm like Jesus this guy's awesome what's your first impression like what do you think about him with the mixtape I thought it was a hell of a mixtape

I mean it got awesome to me looks great too but it's highlights right I'm getting to see probably you know they're not you know if he chucks it in the stands or he gets big boyed in the post like nobody's like it's not like that's

in the video right I'm seeing the best of but the best of is pretty damn good. He's good in the open floor. He's hitting stepbacks. He's got a little sauce to him going behind his back. He's cracking on some guys. I was like, man, I kind of like this guy.

I like the video, but I'm not going to act like I watch this game. Yeah, Gavoni moved him up the number one on his board. I'm going to be moving him up from number three to number two on my board on Monday. still have him behind Alex Sarr, right, for now. I mean, I could definitely see a world in which I move Reza-Shay. It's a number one. But I think with him, the big thing, like you mentioned, the stepbacks, Chris, 44.6% from three on the season, you know, about three, four attempts per game.

He's only averaging 11 points. He's still a young player. It's not like he's getting heavy touches. This isn't, you know, it's overseas. It's not college basketball. It's not an NBA. But he's a solid ball handler. He's more like a connective guy than a, than a, you know,

know, primary creator at this stage of his career, good defender, long arms, versatile. I think with him, the one, the one hang up I have with his shooting, like, that's the key thing. That's the key trait with Riza Shea, over 40% from three. But he's below 70% from the free throw line again this season after the past two years. He was 65.2% from the line. The past two years, he was only 34.3% from three. So I guess I'm just monitoring. Is this like an extended hot streak? Is this an outlier year?

Or is this development from him as a shooter? A lot of the people I talk to who scout internationally are big believers in him. They say personality wise, Reza Shea's a hard worker. He loves the game. It shows him the way he hustles on the floor for sure. Like there's a real commitment to getting better. So I do think that it's at least a positive thing that from an intent standpoint, you hear all that about Reza Shea,

and he's shooting the ball well. So you want to bet on that continuing to get better. But with that being his key trait, I do think the lower numbers from the line and the lower numbers historically from three or just something that I'm cautioned about when it comes to moving him number one. All right. I'll get into all the YouTube scouting at a later date. Just give me some American college basketball guys over these next week and a half

that if I'm like seeking. out to find. I've seen the Kentucky guys. You know I love Shepard, Dillingham. They've had some big games ever since we first talked about. Yeah. I've seen the Duke kid, Kyle. I've seen Ead. I've seen, give me some, give me some that I need to seek out, though, that are ones worth monitoring, especially like maybe even with, you know, lottery slash top 20 potential. How about, you know, it's going to be their last regular season game of the season, UConn against Providence on Saturday. I think that would be a good game because in that game on the Yukon side of things,

you have Stefan Castle, a freshman guard 6-6-6-7. He does basically everything on the floor except for shoot. He's like downhill attacker at the rim, good passer, great playmaker. Like he sets a tone on defense. And then Donovan Klingin, their center, we saw him last season with Yukon. And this year he's back. He's been at his best recently, the last month or so, 7-2, the type of big that I think you could pair with a lot of different lineup combinations

in today's league. Like imagine him on OKC next to Chet, something like that. That's the type of player that I can see in OKC grabbing, a team like Atlanta, if they want their center of the future with or without Trey. And then for the Providence side on that, and not as many, you know, first round prospects like top recruits, But there's Devin Carter in that game. Devin Carter Jr., he transferred a couple years ago from South Carolina.

And this year, he's like this crazy, weird player. He's like six foot two, six foot three. But he gets seven rebounds a game. And he is just like this weird, ugly looking jump shooter. But he hits almost 40% of his threes. He's just a funky player, more of a slashing guard type of guy. I'm not sure like the best comparison for him. I don't think there is a great comparison for him to be honest with you.

Drew Holiday, Bruce Brown, like something in that spirit, like in terms of his impact. But like Devin Carter is working himself into the middle of the first round as a junior when he isn't like one of those top recruit types of guys like a castle on the UK side of things. But that'd be a fun game to watch. Castle versus Carter. And then a lot of guys who could be second round picks on the Yukon side too. One other thing I want to ask you, where are you at on Edy? I felt like nobody liked him as an NBA prospect, and now people are starting to like him as an NBA prospect.

Like, what the hell happened? It's the same guy. He's been around for 50 years. Like, he changed? Or do we just look at the NBA differently now and say, you know what? We didn't really think that a guy like him has had a spot. But seeing the advancement of Walker Kessler, we've seen the size that's in the NBA. and maybe this guy that we thought was a, you know,

would have been cool to have in the, you know, 80s or 90s. He's actually cool to have again. Like, where are we at on him? And why were people not thinking he was an NBA prospect? It's not like he, you know, was a radically different player. It feels like people changed more than Zach Edie changed to me.

Eiddy did get more mobile on defense. Like he was a stiff at one point. on defense and I think he deserves credit for improving his mobility and as it gets a drop defender closer to the basket it's not like he's a complete liability at the college level with that said you know you talk to people around the league who scout and watch edie all the time there's still a lot of split opinions there's still plenty of people you talk to where they're like yeah no I'm not interested in drafting him and then there's others that say yeah he could be top 10 in redrafts even if he doesn't end up going in the top 10 givoni has

I'm in the middle of the first round. I have them, I think like 19 or 20 on my board coming out next week. So I have him on my top 20 as well. I just think with Eadie, it's that he changed a bit, but it is also almost more so what you said, the league has changed that bigs are valued and that somebody like Edy, like in my mock draft, I have him going to the bucks. Like you need size. Sure. And like I think like I have him going to the bucks in my mock draft because I'm super intrigued by as like a Brooke Lopez apprentice, somebody to, you know, learn from Brooke Lopez who was once a defensive liability. How do you play as a drop defender in that defense?

Edy as well. We've seen him, you know, in competitions other than at Purdue. He granted he hit one three this year. He has practiced spot up three pointers. He has good touch near the basket, solid touch from the free throw line. Can he become a 33, 34% catch and shoot guy in addition to a. a mismatch killer near the rim. I'm intrigued by Edy in certain situations.

Like I mentioned clinging for OKC earlier, I'd be intrigued by seeing Edy as a weapon in the OKC rotation, play him 15, 20 minutes a night, you know, in a playoff series. Sometimes he might play 25. Sometimes he might not play at all. But I just think as a weapon in certain situations, I say why not with Zach Edy?

I think he has too much skill, too much size, to not deserve an opportunity as like a top 25 pick in the NBA, especially in this year's class. Why not? I mean, there's certainly a moment where you're watching tonight. I'm thinking to myself, I mean, look, they're going to Xavier Tillman and Al Horford off the bench. You tell me, Zach Eadie couldn't have gotten some minutes out there.

He's averaging 24 points a game and dominant. Yeah. I mean, college basketball is so little, though. You go to, you went to some college basketball games. You go to college basketball games and you just can't believe. You're like, geez, man. Like, you go watch like the Timberwolves and then go watch SMU. And it's like you can't even believe it's the same sport.

I mean, it really, it's unbelievable. It's like we talked about after a Monday night when I was at the OKC Lakers game, just how much bigger the Lakers are than the Thunder. There's a lot of college basketball teams who's tallest guys, 6'8. Yeah. And that's how big, you know, friggin' antithes. Eddie Edwards is. Like you got there and you see like Edwards or like, you know,

Luke or somebody like that. It's like you realize they would be the center for, you know, 200 of these college basketball teams. I'll tell you what, Chris. I think Devin Carter would be on your will not fail lists for draft prospects.

I think he's your type. You would love Devin Carter. Devin Carter. Devin Carter. Like there's a handful of guards. I'm with it. I think you would like. Devin Carter, Tyler Koleck, and Zion, Poland.

Are any of them going to overtake my love for Reed Shepard? No. No. No. You know, I watched this video about how, you know, everybody knows Jeff Shepard was like most outstanding player of the tournament. His dad was so awesome in Kentucky, whatever. Evidently, his mom was awesome. Yeah.

She played four years at Kentucky as well and was like this awesome basketball player. And she was like the defensive bulldog with like great hands and everything. So he got all that from her. My buddy Matt Norlander from CBS Sports did a thing on it. It was good. It was good. I love Rick Shepard, man. And, you know, Dillingham, both those guys.

I love them both. I know. I know. And it's crazy because one of the other huge prospects is, you know, Wani. I covered DeWan Wagner as a freshman at the University of Memphis. I wish I liked him. So wild that the kid is now in this draft. All these guys make me feel old.

I saw this clip today where it was like the make you feel old team. And it was like Antonio Gates Jr., Anquam Bolden Jr. there was like a bunch of them. Shaq's kids on the team. I think Shaq's kids like killing it for Texas Southern, I think it was. And yeah, no, there's like all these, all these, you know, juniors now throughout college basketball of guys that you wouldn't necessarily expect would have juniors playing college basketball. Oh, Jemir Nelson Jr., I think was one of them.

He's in there. There's a bunch of them. But anyways, yeah, Wani Waggs is another one. So crazy that he's got a kid that's playing in Kentucky. But I'm going to circle this, and I'm going to give you a full report on Devin Carter after I watch him. Beautiful. Yeah.

All right. It's a fun night tonight in the NBA for certain. Thank you to Isaiah for producing for us tonight. And Kevin, I'll talk to you next week. Have a beautiful week. can. Must be 21 plus in present in select states. Fandul is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under an agreement with the Kansas Star Casino LLC. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler, or visit fandul.com slash RG. In Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania,

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