The Mismatch - The Six Most Interesting Teams Down the NBA’s Final Stretch

Episode Date: February 23, 2024

Verno and KOC are back from the All-Star break and they each name the three teams they are most interested in as teams gear up for the playoff push (08:48). Is this the best Mavs team that Luka Doncic has had? Are the Warriors starting to figure things out? Is Russell Westbrook going to hold the Clippers back from winning it all? The guys discuss all this and more. 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 http://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: Jessie Lopez Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In a world where coaches are still the main characters, the players are now legally chasing the ultimate bag, and the game of basketball is always the top priority. There was only one brand you can trust to help you wade through all the madness. Hey, I'm Tate Frazier from One Shiny Podcast, and you can join me twice a week as we navigate the always entertaining world of college basketball. Every Monday, the ringer's comment helps me make sense of the biggest stories from the weekend, and on Fridays we talk to our many friends of the program. We're locked in on the best postseason in sports. Make sure you follow OneShining Podcasts on Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to The Mismatch.

I'm Chris Vernon and joining me on this Friday morning from the ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor, A.K.A. Kevin O'Bomberma, Kevin O'Bler, Kevin O'Blesser, Kevin O'Brien, Kevin O'Brien. We have made it back from the All-Star Break, and the All-Star break, at least the events that were surrounding All-Star, I don't think either of us regretted not going to Indianapolis for All-Star weekend because the dud of dud. Look, we're not going to comment too much on what took place on All-Star Weekend. I know a lot of people have covered that, and it certainly generated a lot of conversation. I think the only thing that is good that came out of All-Star Weekend was all of that conversation generated on how things can improve, how it can be a better showcase of the league's best players. And there was a lot of conversation about how the NBA does things, the events, how to get players to care.

But I couldn't help but laugh at all of the articles about how Adam Silver and Joe Dumars made it very clear. to all of the players that they wanted the game to be competitive. And then they just made an absolute mockery of the game. And so All-Star Weekend, not exactly a great showcase for the league, but hopefully these last 25, 26 games are. And then the playoffs, which I am very hopeful that we are going to be set up to have an amazing playoffs. It was nice to have a week off, though. Yeah, it was nice to have a week off.

it was a weird week for sure. Obviously, All-Star weekend was an absolute dud. It was horrible. Probably, I mean, a lot of them are bad. This is probably the worst one that I could ever remember. Yes. You know, hopefully, hopefully the next two years, next two, three years are better. We'll see if they make improvements to it.

It seems like Adam Silver was genuinely disappointed after when he's like, congratulations, most points scored. Yeah. You can just hear it in his voice. So I think, I think they're going to do what they can do. prove it. I mean, we'll see if any of it actually works. But we'll see. I won't surprise me one bit if they do some tournament stuff with the All-Star game itself, kind of like they've been doing with Rising Stars on Friday night where they have the four teams, like the G-League was integrated

in and all that. So maybe next year the 24 spots get split into some amount of players on each team and they have those teams face off. So I don't know. That would be interesting. to me if you have like smaller teams playing quicker games. As we head towards the home stretch of the season, we are each going to give three teams that we are interested in or most interested in the rest of the way. Before we get to that, do we want to pour one out for Poku's career?

Let's pour out a couple of them for Poku. Alexei Pocchevsky was waved by the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday morning, woke up to the news. There's a dagger in my heart, especially a couple of weeks after Killian Hayes was let go by the pistons. This is a tough run. It's been a couple of tough weeks for me. Yeah.

It's been tough. It's been a real tough run. They're going to be dominant next year in China together. I'm going to tell you something, Kev. And I know you're getting beat up over Killian and Poku and this is a tough run. Okay. But I heard a quote the other day that I think applies and I think it can really help you in this moment.

It said, sometimes when you're in a dark place, you think that you've been buried. Really? You've actually been planted. Is that help you? So you're saying, does that help you?

Yeah, it does. I mean, I do think, I think I was planted a couple of years ago, killing it. I'm starting to blossom. I've learned a lot of lessons from that. The Poku stuff has always been more of like a mean. like, like, Killian was a mistake.

Poku, I didn't, I had him write my 12th. It's all like I had to break number three. I wish you would have gone Poku one. Poku, Poku was the prototype for Chet. Chet would not exist. What? Chet would not exist without Poku. I mean, I think that, um,

Poku had, look, I don't want to bury the guy. Come on. He just got, he just got waved off a very good team. It's a, it's a tough day. But he is, he is exactly like Chet if Chet was terrible. Like they have the same kind of frame and all that kind of stuff. But, and the other thing is this, let me just say, big credit, one of the things that

stood out to me is the Sam Presti thing. Big credit. The guy has missed on some picks. There's no way around it. Okay. But he had so many of them that you get the percentage of them that do hit. and even someone that you didn't hit on. Like we haven't seen that much out of Usman Jang.

Obviously, they're just waving Poku. You know, they just traded Trey Mann, who couldn't even get on the court for them. And he's, like, doing good for the Hornets. And it shows they got, like, real talent. But then you've got, like, these Isaiah Joe's and these Kendrick Williams and these Lou Dorts who was undrafted. And, like, you've got to be really good to be in that. Oklahoma City rotation. They ain't got any bump.

You know, we go back to the whole just don't play bad players. Like, they ain't got many. And in between picks that they have hit and then other things, even the ones they haven't, they've made up for it with other guys. And I think that,

I think Poku being waived just speaks to how good they have become, with young talent on their team. And I don't know if Poku's going to end up in the NBA, but I do know that Trey Mann is an NBA player, and he couldn't play for them. And like we're seeing, I think he had another, for sure. What he had 20-something last night, I think?

For the Hornets, I mean, like, the guy's a good basketball player. Definitely. And I think with Poku, he's an interesting, even more so than Killion. Like, like Poku last year showed more flashes than Killion has. Poku last year became a pretty good shop locker. He shot almost 40% from three as a seven-footer with a little bit of a passing flare.

It's going to be interesting to see if another team picks him up and gives him a chance as still a young player and sees if he can turn into a rotation guy. Oh, I need him here. Let's be honest. I need him here in Memphis. Come on. We're not doing anything anyway. Come on.

It'd be an interesting fit for you guys, a good investment. Killian less so. I feel like he's just completely cratered mentally. his shot has gotten worse. Free throw has gotten worse. He's an 80% plus guy overseas. Three-pointers has gotten worse. He has no confidence in himself.

He doesn't work hard. There's less hope with Killing. With Poku, I think there's a little bit of hope. Well, and we're like one of the fattish cities. We could beef that kid up. Quick. You totally could, yeah. Yeah.

We just take him over, get some barbecue, get some chicken. He's eating all kinds of foods. And next thing you know, we turn Poku into a monster. all right he won't be he won't be the chat he won't be the chat prototype he'll be better than chat oh yeah he'll be super chat all right uh look so first game out from the long break so there's always a bunch of caveats uh but there were some very interesting outcomes that took place last night and this is as he said the stretch run the most of these teams got 25 26 games left so if you want

make up real ground. You got to win at a pretty high rate. And if you want to hold on to your position, you either got to continue to win at a pretty good rate or certainly not have a losing record, but maybe not even be like 500 because the way that teams can make up ground is they go, they have the 9 and 1 stretch. They have the 8 and 2 stretch. And if you're playing around 500 basketball, now they're making up a lot of ground on you. And so this is going to be a hell of a race. We've pretty much decided that we think that unless there's some kind of grand, unforeseen circumstance, that we pretty much got our 10 that are going to be jockeying for position in both conferences. So that means we're out on Brooklyn, Toronto, Charlotte, Washington,

Detroit, in the East. And the only East team that would be involved this year that was not last year, you're just swapping out the Pacers for the Raptors from last year in the 10. And then in the West, Utah, Houston, Memphis, Portland, and San Antonio. And the only one that you're swapping out from last year, if it remains the same, again, there's possible unforeseen circumstances. Really, Utah, maybe Houston would be the only one with a chance, but they would have to play at a much greater rate than they have recently. You're only swapping out the Grizzlies for the Mavs.

You know, and the Mavs might have been in the 10 last year if they wanted to play it out. They wanted to get that pick, which turned into Derek Lively, which seems like a very smart decision at this moment. So we're really only from last year's 10 teams that we had to this year's 10 teams that we had in both conferences, we've only going to have two new entries, right? Oh, no, Orlando. I'm sorry. Orlando.

is in the mix. So they're in the mix this year. And I guess, what would be? Brooklyn? I think maybe it was in the 10 last year and slides back. So we do have three new entries. And the Mavs, I don't even think that really counts, right? It's not like they weren't one of the 10 best teams,

but we know what happened with them last year. We're each going to highlight three. It's a dangerous thing I'm about to do. I'm going to let you have the first pick. All right. We have not conferred on this. So if there's overlap, then there's overlap. That's okay.

It's fine. Then it'll turn out we're doing our collective three best teams together combined. If we have all the three, the three sams. No, no, I've got enough. Unless you pick my exact three, I've got enough to where I can switch mine. All right. Okay. All right.

Well, I'll start off. The most interesting team for the remainder of the season, me is the Dallas Mavericks. The Mavericks are riding a seven-game winning streak right now after beating the Suns on Thursday night, first game out of the All-Star break. In those seven games, Luca and Kyrie together are dominant. The Mavericks have a plus 25.6 net rating with Luca and Kyrie on the floor together. That's a 127 offensive rating, a 101 defensive rating. Their acquisitions. Daniel Gafford at the trade deadline, a center from the Wizards, fitting perfectly into their rotation as a lob guy rebounds, shot blocking,

and then PJ Washington from the Charlotte Hornets. He's defended K.D., Kyle Kuzma. He had some plays against Wembe, and he's done a good job against a variety of offensive players. I thought he was great last night and stretches against Kevin Durant against the Sons. And now you look at this Mavericks roster. You think about past years with Dallas, the lack of depth they've had behind Luca, the lack of wings, the lack of versatility. Now they got versatile forwards like PJ Washington and Maxie Kleba, Wings, Josh Green, Derek Jones, Tim Hardaway,

Biggs, lively, Gafford, obviously his co-star and Kyrie Irving. They just have so many different types of pieces right now that you're seeing Jason Kidd use different types of lineups. They're using Gafford or lively almost all the time on the floor, except, and they did this against the Sons, when they go with a small ball lineup with PJ Washington and Maxi Kleba in the front court, except it's really not that small one. You also have Luca on the floor, Josh Green on the floor, all around Kyrie Irving. With that lineup, they've only played 14 minutes together, that small ball lineup, but they've been dominant in those minutes. It feels like the Mavericks are starting to take shape as a total team. It's not just

Luca. It's Kyrie with their two-man actions they're playing together. It's PJ Washington with switchable defenses. It's Daniel Gaffer-Lively with having a big rolling five. They can take on different shapes and they seem dominant regardless of what they're doing. It is the ability now to be able to play any different way. We can punish you being small. We can punish you if you want to be big. Like they have become super malleable and I agree with you. I saw our buddy Joe house and the video he was doing for Fandu where he was saying I am all in on these Dallas futures.

You know, and maybe just maybe, you know, if you're looking for a new guy, then Luca Dantz is going to get very high up in that MVP conversation sooner than later. He was absolutely awesome. Almost had a 40 point triple double. He was one. He was one. one rebound short last night in that Phoenix game. But I agree with you. We loved what they did at the trade deadline. And you look at it now. One of the things that Joe said that I did agree with was,

top to bottom, this is the best team Lucas had. And big credit to the Mavs because we thought it was pretty lame coming into this season. He was like, yeah, we like the Grant Williams acquisition, which obviously was a dud. but there's two things that have happened here. A, the collection of talent and how it fits around Luca. And B, the no Kyrie Irving distractions.

And people can say, oh, yeah, of course there hasn't been. Like, that is shocking. Not only have they played great together, but for the last five or six days, if you go all the way back, post-Cleveland, there's been something with Kyrie. Something every year. and there's been nothing.

So knock on wood for Dallas, it's all been, it's all been Kumbaya. And beyond Kumbaya, they are 17 and 6 in what are considered clutch games, which are games within five points in the last five minutes. How many times do we talk about this?

Teams that get down to the end of games and they know what they want to do and they can get the shot that they want to get or they've got the guy that can get them home. And so many of these playoff games is exactly what they come down to. And the numbers for Luca and Kyrie in those, like, close games are unbelievable. As a tandem, 50% from the field, 48% from 3, 88% from the line. And to promote yours even more, your idea that, hey, we need to really,

really pay attention to Dallas. Not just this is a cute little wind streak they're on, but really pay attention. There's only four teams in the league. I saw this in John Schumann's article from earlier in the week. There's only four teams in the league that don't have a lineup that's played 100 minutes. Memphis, terrible season. Charlotte, terrible season.

Miami, mediocre season, 500 season so far. and Dallas. They don't have, their top three lineups have Grant Williams in it. They don't have one lineup that's played a hundred minutes together, Kev. That is crazy. It's crazy. We got 26 games left in the year. And so if we like their talent and we think if they're like fully healthy,

that they're a problem, well, just imagine if we get to see it for a little while. and they've got this stretch run to kind of figure out, you know, how it all works together. But it seems like the Washington and Gaffer thing, that's been seamless already, right? Yeah, PJ Washington, he hasn't even had like great offensive numbers yet. It's more so just, it's more so his defense right now. Like against the Suns on Thursday, he was very, very good against Kevin Durant. and this comes after a game's pre-All-Star break when he was good against Victor Wenbanyama

and a handful of possessions he had against him. He was good against Kyle Kuzman. Granted, the Wizards suck. It's just to show like the range of different types of players the Mavericks are sticking him on. And they also against Phoenix for an extended a number of minutes in the second half played their small ball lineup with PJ Washington and Maxi Kleba. And I think you're just seeing the different types of ways. is they can use PJ Washington. That was the idea of Grant Williams.

The idea of Grant Williams was, well, he can be a floor spacer for us, provide a little bit of offense and some defensive versatility. He just didn't work out one bit. Well, there's one thing that plays last night, to your point, Kev, there's a play last night where they ran a dribble handoff, and PJ Washington's garden Duran, and he handed it off, and they switched, and now he's got Booker. Like, Grant Williams is never staying in front,

and PJ Washington stayed in front. of both of them. He stayed in front of both of them on the switch. Like, Great Williams never do that. Great Williams was heavy when he did. Now, he's doing, he's doing well post-trade for sure. And it just wasn't a very good fit. But I think there was, from what I read, a level of discontent on how the kind of shape he came in to the season being anyway. And the point is, Washington is a infinitely better defender for that, those wing-type pluggers. You, got a guy that is a big that can stay in front of wings, that's gold. So we can just have our big PJ Washington party. Yeah, absolutely. You don't have up PJ Washington for a long time. I've seen him

as like a sleeper, get him on a contender, let's see what he can finally be. All he really needs to do right now is start shooting the ball. He's at 22% from three with the Mavericks right now. He has not had like one of his big scoring performances like we've seen him do with Charlotte over the years. If he just starts hitting spot-out threes at a reliable rate, which I believe he can. He's, you know, been near a 40% guy on open catch-and-shoot threes in his career with the Hornets. He's going to get a lot of open catch-and-shoot threes with the Mavericks. We'll see if those shots start falling for him, but I have belief, and I think he's going to prove to be one of the steals league-wide in last year and the free agency. I'm still surprised

he didn't get more interest. But that could be definitely. Dallas's game here with this roster they're starting to assemble. And I think with Dallas, we'll see how this continues. You know, it is still a small little stretch here. But I think the full season, it's not like, it's not like Luca and Kyrie when they've actually played together, haven't been great together. Like they had some great wins over this wind streak. They beat the Knicks.

They beat the Thunder. They beat the Suns. And coming up, they have the Pacers, the Cavs, the Raptors, the Celtics on a road trip. and then a homestand against the Sixers, the Pacers, and the heat. So until, you know, really the first full week of March, they have a good group of tough games coming up, both on the road and at home. So I think for Dallas, if they continue to thrive throughout this stretch, you know, we could be doing a show in a week or two saying things such as

where do they belong in the NBA championship power rankings. Like, does this team actually belong in the top echelon? It might be time to recalibrate. already it might be time to recalibrate when you have a player of lucas quality you said earlier how joe host joe house was talking about lucca as an MVP guy he's plus 500 right now on fan duel that is third highest behind sGA and yokech i won't won't be surprised one bit if that ends up becoming like plus 200 plus 100 at some point soon closer to where sGA is lucca is playing better than He ever has.

Kep, Kep, let them go 20 and 6 in the last 26 and see where he is. You know what I mean? For sure. Yeah. And they changed, look, they changed their

championship chances with the trade deadline. They did. This is a different deal with Washington and Gaffer. It wasn't good enough to be able to compete for a title or a Western Conference finals

prior to those moves. but once they moved out Grant Williams and they added these guys, now it's good enough to compete for a title. It's good enough surrounding Luca. And we know he can be the best player in any series. And you mentioned end of season.

They have the 22nd hardest schedule. Yep. The remainder of the season. So their schedule is on the easier side of things in the league right now. So for Dallas, that bodes well for them to, I mean, you look at the standings right now.

It's still hard to see them climbing all the way to the top four because they're four games behind Denver and the Clippers. It's not impossible. But the odds are they climb as high as fifth, which is New Orleans. They're a game behind New Orleans right now. But there's a chance they could get like a game or two behind the Clippers or the Nuggets and be right there at the end for a top four seed.

Regardless, I think top five seed is enough to be, you know, serious MVP candidate, a serious threat to win the finals. But damn, dude, like, we talked about this last week when we did kind of our reset of the standings. These, like, the first round series are going to be wars, man. Oh, they're going to be unbelievable. Get buckets with your first bet on fan duel, America's number one sportsbook. Because right now, new customers get $150 in bonus bets with any winning $5 bet.

On Friday night in the NBA, we got a loaded slate of games. I'm really liking the Bucks Timberwolves game, two top Cs in their respective conferences. Let's go with the wolves to cover the spread minus four over the bucks with a home game coming out of the break. On Fandul, you can look at point spreads, money lines, live same game parlays, exclusive props, find it on Fandul.

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wager only $10 first deposit required bonus issued a non-drable bonus bet to expire seven days after receipts see terms at sportsbook.com that leads me to my first one I am so interested in what happens with Phoenix so you were just talking about the schedule

they have had the easiest schedule so far to be at this point that they are at the season and they were, they're good. I mean, they're plus 12.7 with their three guys on the court, but it's 440 minutes the whole damn year. And you got a nursing hamstring situation with Beal again. You know, their record when they've got all three guys is 14 and 8.

But they got 27 games left, Kev. 19 of them are against teams with a winning record. And so where the hell are they going to be? You know, they got flipped in the standings and lost the tiebreaker by virtue of losing to Dallas last night. And the reason that this is so fascinating is it's another, quote, super team that has been thrown together. It is going to cost an absolute fortune to have this team. And we said this is going to be, how many times does every new owner have to learn this? we've seen it over and over and over again.

And they're going to spend and they're going to win right now and they're going to be smarter than everybody. And then they're like, oh my God, this is punitive. And I'm not winning. And how fast does the plug get pulled on the situation? You know, if they end up in the play in and they're not playing in the playoffs, then what?

Right? You can just run it back and say, hey, hopefully next year we have them all healthy. I think that that, like, I honestly believe that these last 27 games of the Phoenix Sun season could greatly alter what the NBA looks like even like next year.

Seriously. I mean, you've dug it now, and you're not going to be one of the four-back, like what's the best possible seed they could have? Really. Now, I know their ceiling is crazy. They're ceiling crazy. If they've got all three guys healthy and it's the best version of them, I get it. But, A, what are the chances they got everybody healthy? And what's the best? Like, they're having to win a series on the road no matter what.

It's fifth. That's the best they probably, the fifth is probably the highest they climb in the standing. Same reason with Dallas that we talked about. I mean, is that worth a billion dollars? You know, I think you're, if it's me writing the checks, I'm like, damn, bro, this ain't worth a bazillion. I think you're spot on with them. They have the hardest remaining schedule in the league right now. The remaining opponents have a 56.3 win percentage. That is best in the league for the remainder of the season. So, like with them, like, if they stay in the plan or even fall to eight or nine and have to win on the road in a season. plan. Like, never mind,

win on the road in the first round of the playoffs. We have to win on the road in the plan when you have all those guys. What if you're playing L.A. or Golden State? Or, like, let's say, let's say something went wrong and we're wrong about the Dallas. Like, I think Dallas is seven right now, right? No, no, Dallas. Dallas right now is six. They're tied with Phoenix. Phoenix is seven.

33 and 23. Okay. Phoenix is seven right now. Dallas is six. Yeah, look at the playing teams right now. Or let's just say the key, it's almost not as much about if something goes wrong with Dallas,

it's like if Golden State gets really hot or Sacramento gets really hot and they move up. Right. And then it just so happens that Phoenix and Dallas are the seven and eight. Brutal. Brutal. Like you could for real not be in the playoffs.

And you look at that, as you say, the schedule, they have had the easiest schedule and they're in seven. And I can hear it, you know, with the, yeah, but they're not their guys healthy. Like, bro, you're probably never having all three of these guys healthy for a long time.

Like, what has been the indicator that all three of these guys could stay healthy? If they all stayed simultaneously healthy, then, I mean, forget having a NBA team. The guy should go buy lottery tickets. Because the odds of that are just crazy. It's not what. what we know to be true of these three guys. And so, I don't know, man. A lot of times you can make excuses and you could say,

hey, you know what? Didn't go like we want, but we're just going to run it back. Like, I honestly don't know if you just run it back if you finish the season, seventh or eight. So when you were talking earlier, you were saying how, you know, depending on how this season ends,

you wouldn't be surprised if you see the team dramatically change over the summer. Are you implying a Kevin Durant another indecision? Is that what you're implying? Are you thinking more on the Beal side? Do you think Kevin Durant would be fine with being at seventh or eighth place at this age and stage in his career or getting wapped in the first round? You think he's fine with that?

There's two interesting things that he said this week. One, on ESPN, he said something like, you know, Yeah, I want to finish my career with the Sons. I can't predict what will happen, but I love playing. And Phoenix, I want to be in the Ring of Honor someday. He said that. And then he had his conversation with his agent, Rich Kleinman. And in that conversation, they talked about his decision to choose the Nets over the Nix.

And just listening, like reading between the lines of the way where they were talking, Rich is a huge Nix guy. Katie described how the Nix weren't. cool at the time. They wanted to go to the Nets and try to win there instead, but now the Nix are cool. Just, you know, just made me think if they were trying to like, you know, smooth things over with the Nix fans and all that, putting that thought out into the universe that, hey, you weren't ready for me before, but I'm, you know, now we're ready for each other this summer. So I don't know. It's just, those two things were very interesting this week with whatever that,

you know, interview was with Rich, not an interview, conversation. Not an interview. Your agent can't interview you. You know, it's not a podcast interview. You're just a conversation that happens as we recorded. But yeah,

I think that was interesting to me that that conversation happened and was released. So, I don't know. Maybe, but maybe. But ultimately,

Chris, they're keeping it. We got to keep an eye out of. I mean, like we said, 19 or 27 games. There's a long way to go, though.

There is. There is. But they got these good teams, though. scorching hot. they just as easily could get scorching hot and prove to be a threat that they go through this run

with their guys healthy and they win a lot of games and they move up in the standings. We'll see what ends up happening. But last night against Dallas was not a good sign, especially the run in the second half that Dallas opened with.

The centers do seem to be an issue for the suns. So, yeah, we'll see how they pan out over the course of the year. Two terrible things. Ready for this? The only team that has lost more games while leading at half

time, and this is going to stun you, is the Washington Wizard. It's the only team that's lost more games while leading at halftime. And you know, that's because teams dick around with the Wizards. They don't even care. And then they say, all right, we're going to put the screws to them in the second half. They are the worst. That's wild. They're the worst fourth quarter team by a wide margin, the Suns are, which is also wild.

It's like those things. We were just talking about why we believe in Dallas and how. that's going to translate because you're like, if it's a close game in the fourth quarter, they're beating you. Well, the complete opposite is true of Phoenix. So far this year. Yeah.

All right, let's get to your next team. Let's stay in the Western Conference. Just continue there. The Warriors, they've won nine out of 11 games right now. Ever since Draymond returned 14 games ago, there are plus 15.7 in his minutes, 124.9 offensive rating, 109.3 defensive rating. The Warriors look like a team to me that has figured things out, and they are on a track now where they will and should rise up the standings.

They look like a team that finally has a rotation that works for them. I'm very intrigued by the fact that Clay Thompson is now committed to coming off the bench. You would hope that he continues embracing that. Steve Kerr spoke about when Chris Paul returns. He looks forward to seeing and CP3 and Clay off the bench together. I'm intrigued. Wiggins and Cominga have figured out how to play together. Draymond continues thriving. Steph is on top of his game.

Pods. Looks great. As a rookie, he's been one of the more impressive rookies in the entire league. This year, Trace Jackson Davis on Thursday night, coming off the bench against the Lakers, 17 points and 15 minutes. I love T.J.D. And I think with him paired with Chris Paul off the bench,

makes for a very interesting comment. The Warriors just have a group of guys that makes sense together. I think with Chris Paul when he returns, it's going to make sense. And then Steph is playing still like one of the five best players in the league. The Warriors look to be like a team that I'm buying this recent stretch. I'm a believer in what we've seen recently. And over the remainder of the year, they do have one of the easier schedules, the sixth easiest schedule in the league for the remainder of the year.

So they do have an opportunity to move up right now. And the standings are currently 10th right now. They are four games back from the Suns at number seven and the Mavericks at number six. Hard to move into that top six for a guaranteed spot, but won't surprise me one bit if Golden State moves all the way up to seven. And if they do, if they are like seven or eight, that's where they need to be if they were going to pull it upside because you're getting to play against the teams that don't have the playoff experience, right?

Three and four as it stands right now are Clippers and the Nuggets. Now, those teams have been through a lot of playoffs here and have logged a lot of playoff minutes together and have veterans on their team. Like, if you are, this is much like Memphis being two last year, and then it's a nightmare to then draw the Lakers. If you are Oklahoma City or Minnesota, it's like, Jesus, one of the two best records, And we're playing the frigging warriors

This is awful And so it's almost like The lower I think that you would be more fearful If you're one or two And having to draw The Lakers or the Warriors I think you could be in the like

Honestly like the same situation We were in last year Where it's like The Grizzlies and the Kings We're both fantastic during the year And then they looked up at the end And it's like holy shit They played the Warriors and the Lakers.

And it's going to happen again. It could very well be Minnesota and Oklahoma City having to play the Warriors and the Lakers when it's all said and done. And I don't know how high. Like if we were saying Phoenix, I mean, Dallas, you know, could move up. And the highest you could see Phoenix is five. Like what is the, you think six is the limit for Warriors? like even if they went on a tear. Yeah.

I mean, New Orleans would have to fall or Dallas would have to fall. It's not impossible. The Warriors would jockey that around too. I promise you this. If they have a chance, if they would not,

they would purposely drop the seven to play Oklahoma City. That might not be the smart thing, but they would purposely do that rather than play the clippers. Yeah, but then you, I'm not going to get into how jockeying for position is worse

than just letting the top seats choose their opponent. But this, like, I just, I hate that stuff at the end of the year. And it happens. So stupid. We know what happens. It happens. It does happen. It probably would happen.

But I don't think, I don't think the Warriors, I don't think the Warriors would, like, lose a guaranteed playoff seed and then say, okay, now we have to also beat the Lakers or beat whoever that eight seed is. Oh, no, no, no. I'm talking about, no, no, no, yeah, I'm talking. No, but you just said, but you just said drop from. six to seven. Yeah, you're not going to drop out of a top six because then seven you're in the

playing. Then you have to win a game against another tough opponent. And if you lose that game, then you're, then you're fighting for the eight seed. This is why incentives matter. Right. Having the sixth seed means you're guaranteed a playoff spot. But what difference does it make if you're four or five besides the one home game? That's it.

Yeah. There's going to be a lot of jockeying for position this year. And that's a shame. It sucks. It's not fun. Teams losing on purpose. The purpose should always be to win. Those veteran teams don't respect.

You could hear, Draymond is the one that is willing to speak his mind, and that was the only good thing about the All-Star game was I had that feed with him and Barclay on in the background. And you could tell he, he's like, nobody is scared of Minnesota. Nobody's scared of the Pelicans. Nobody's scared. Like, I mean, he's talking like veterans in the league,

and so I do think it's going to be super fascinating when we get to the playoffs. You know how, like those comments are going to come back up. Because you know how he feels about, you know, having to play the teams that are, you know, one and two right now. My next team is actually that team that is third because we all have thought a lot about the Clippers and what they have done over the course of the last month, month and a half, two months. they've got 27 games left. They actually do not have a very easy schedule, and they have the most back-to-backs.

They have seven back-to-backs left, including tonight. After they got wallop by Oklahoma City, I am going to see them in person in Memphis tonight. But that is one of seven back-to-backs. Now, the reason this is important is because this is a veteran-laden team that no team needs to keep their guys healthy more than them and has a bigger question mark. You know, even though we brought up Phoenix earlier, it's like, okay, are you really going to get to play in the playoffs with Kauai Leonard, Paul George, and James Hardin, all healthy? They have been 33 and 11 since they lost those first five games with Hardin.

and the hardened numbers are just crazy. Plus 18.5 per 100 possessions with him on the court. They are plus 10 with him off the court. So, I mean, it's still a good team. But it is the biggest point differential of any player that has played as many minutes. I mean, that's how profound the impact has been. And so here's the trick,

much like we talked about with Phoenix. this team has had the best offense in the NBA. They're averaging 121 points per 100 possessions since that hardened thing has all taken place. But we know. It's like if they have their three guys and you've got a tough schedule and you got a ton of back-to-backs the rest of the way, are they going to play these guys on back-to-back? Is there a risk in these guys playing the back-to-backs? It's all interesting to see how it's going to play out from here till the end.

Because I think most people think that they are the best chance at knocking off Denver. Though they are not ranked first in the Western Conference, the Clippers being the best team has picked up a lot of steam. But they've got to make it 27 more. 27 more with these guys staying intact and staying healthy. And so to me, that could change their, how they play out these 27 and staying healthy, maybe more than anything is going to dictate what happens in the Western

Conference in my opinion. Because I think if they're fully healthy, they're a bitch to deal with. But we know. There's a history. There's a history with the three. So the Clippers are the one that is, I think they're the best team. I did.

I know they got walloped last night by OKC. Do you read into that at all? They get walloped by OKC, walloped by Minnesota. They lost to the Pelicans this month. They've lost three out of their last five. Do you read into that at all or is just their recent, you know, regular season stretch and it's a non-concern. Just curious.

I am unconcerned just because, you know, I told you this after I saw them in person, I was like, man, like, now the one thing is they might. have some teams that are uniquely equipped to deal with them. And OKC is one of them because OKC is not like their problem is with big teams. That's not what the

clippers are. Like if they play the five wide out team or the team that has like the Chet character at center, then it's a problem. And you saw Oklahoma City last night as soon as they came out in that second half and they abandoned Giddy. He started Isaiah

Joe, which is something to keep an eye on. You know, whether it's Joe or whether it's maybe Wallace or like it feels like Dagnalt very well may be pulling the plug on the giddy thing. Maybe it's Gordon Hayward, possible too. But once they did that, like it's like they could small ball

and play against the clippers just fine. And it's like the clippers aren't big enough to punish you for playing small. And so these matchups, All these playoffs series are going to kind of be uniquely dictated by matchups. But I still, I think the Clippers,

if they've got Kauai at peak of powers, I still think they're the one to beat. Outside of Denver, of course. We're setting that aside. It really pains me to say this regarding the Clippers. But I think it's becoming very apparent that Russell Westbrook takes too many shots.

And it pays you. I thought you were actually going to be serious, you dick. Russell Westbrook takes too many shots. Come on. Come on. In the loss against the Thunder, he was one for nine in 16 minutes. And the loss against the wolves, he was three for 11 in 29 minutes. And the loss against the Pelicans, he was two for seven in 18 minutes.

How is it that Russell Westbrook takes only a couple of shots? less than James Harden. Come playoff time, I would expect this to change. Is Russell Westbrook willing for that to change at that time? Is Ty Lou going to be prepared to give him no minutes, come playoff time? Because I'll tell you what, when it comes time to play a seven or eight-man rotation, I would much rather have Amir coffee out there than Russell Westbrook. You're the legit hater.

You're a legit hater. It's been one of the... He's been... I'm not a hater. He's been really good coming off the bench and the team's been awesome. Stop. Stop.

Amir coffee is one of the reasons why they've been awesome because he is a great defender off the bench. He's a 40% plus guy from three. He knows his role. He fits great. Ross is going to be, you know, a 10 to 15 minute guy off the bench at most.

And you would hope in the post, season, James Hardin is prepared to take more than nine shots. James Harden, in that loss against the thunder, he's five for nine in 29 minutes. Russell Westbrook is one for nine in 16 minutes. Rush shoots too much. You love the energy. You love the athleticization. They've given him the second unit.

And it's been good. You just want to eat. You are. You're looking for reason. You got your opportunity to shit on Russell Westbrook. It's taken you until February. 23rd, but I'm just going to let you have it. Enough. That's the mere coffee. Shut the

fuck, but listen, Chris, this is, this is, here's the thing, though. If you're looking at a team that has championship expectations and has James Harden playing at the top of his game, it was more than anybody could have anticipated this year, shooting a career high from three, whipping the ball around the floor, being a great conductor for that team, and Kauai Leonard playing in a top five MVP level. level and Paul George playing at the level that he is and and Terrence man and Zubots and Norman Powell all these guys fitting alongside them and a mere coffee it's all working it's all clicking and you've got to look for well what are the reasons why we might lose a playoff series

like what what can we get better at how can we improve well how about and Russ is one of the places that you nitpick I mean one of the reasons could be that I just told you the most important guy on off is the guy that vomits on himself every playoffs. So that may be a better one to look at. Might be. Let's see about that. Yeah. Might be. All right.

James Harden career postseason numbers in Houston. Jesus Christ. 28.4 points per game. Now do elimination games. I can't pull that up off hand. Yeah, I know. Pause the recorder. Go to vomit.

I wouldn't need to. I can't. Go to vomit stats. com. It's where they are. Fomet said. They are. I don't look who owns that website because it's me.

Oh, it's you. Okay. He has had more good moments in elimination games. He's also had a lot of terrible moments. But anyway, it's concert date.

That's how he got the name. 517, two for 11, two for 13, three for 16. It's concert date. All right. You're 13.

I'll never understand how the one, and us playing the blame game is going to be unbelievable. It's really going to be good. But I just, but I just can't understand how the one team that really went toe to toe with those juggernaut warriors was the Houston Rockets. The one team led by Danzo.

How dare you? How dare you? And he's and he's How dare you? Let's be serious. Let's let's be serious. Memphis had wars with them. Literal wars.

What planet are you on? I'm talking with the KD warriors. Oh God. Like those juggernaut warriors. Those weren't even fair. You were in early days. Exactly. And the Rockets were the team that went to a game six

and a game seven against them in back to back years. Oh, I remember. Yes, Steph emasculated him. And then after KD had gotten hurt on his home floor, had like that dud of a first half and then emasculated him completely in the second half. And that was tough. I do remember that. By the way, by the way, hard on average 35 points a game in one of those series, by the way. And 29 points per game in the other, by the way.

Just saying, ran the offense. He's the only reason why they were able to get to a game six and a game seven. No. Okay. All right. Yeah. He always over himself. Sure.

Until it really mattered. Okay. Right. Yeah. We'll see. We'll see this year. Russ is going to have to bail him out. That's going to be my Mona Lisa when you got triple double Russ off the bench because this guy's got concert dates.

Insert, insert us in game of zones. I know. Talking about Russell Westbrook. All right. Who's your third team? My third team is the Philadelphia 76ers. Right now they are only 1.5 games up from the Orlando Magic 7 seed. They're only two games up from the heat for the 8 seed.

And they have been very stinky without Joan Lambie the entire year, especially the stretch that they've been without him. It feels more and more and more and more likely that they fall into the, the play in by the time he returns, which was probably mid-March at the earliest. It was around what I would anticipate. But before then, they had games against the Cavs, the Bucks, the Celtics, the Mavs, the Pelicans, the Nicks, the Bucks. And that's before we get to March 16th. So, like, they have some tough games coming up.

And even the games that they potentially should win, Charlotte, Brooklyn, Memphis, there's no guarantee. tease with the current state of the team. So in Philadelphia, they're really averaging losses right now. They have been horrible. They were 29 and 13 on January 22nd. They are 32 and 13 right now. So they are three out of their last 13. They will probably be in the playing at some point. And what does that mean for their decision to bring back in B if he does return, which I would expect him to return. How does he look when he returns, what does this mean for the Eastern Conference playoff race? They were a team that people thought were a contender, and rightfully so. Have they been surpassed by the Cavs? And

the Knicks, is it realistic to expect the Sixers to return to form pre-injury for Embed? Or is this a lost year for them? There's a lot of questions with Philadelphia over the remainder of the year. And for a team that has had really a two-year plan here with cap space this summer, how will the remainder of this season dictate their options and the things that they're they do this off season. It's like a lot that could change based off the next couple of weeks here. Maybe there's your KD team. If it goes foul.

That's interesting, huh? That's interesting. Just monitor it. We're monitoring all these teams. All right. Last one for me. Yeah. The Cavs.

They are the great. Nobody believes in them, but they keep telling us that we should believe in them. And I know they got beat by Orlando last night in the game that Mitchell sat out of. But they've got this record in the Easter conference all the while having Garland missed 19 games of the fractured jaw. Mowbly missed 21 games with knee surgery. Mowbly's come back and not only is he shooting threes, he's making them. They're 23 and 6 since mid-December.

And that includes, I mean, you know, if you wanted to get our attention, they should have gotten our attention. beat the bucks twice. They're down double digits and beat the clippers. They destroyed Sacramento. They got a bunch of impressive wins. And they've got the best road record of anybody. And yet it's like, yeah, but I can't really get out of my mind. What happened to them in the playoffs against the Knicks last year?

It's like, we've said more times than any, are we believing in the, there's no team that has to prove themselves more than that. but they did go to the playoffs. They did take some lumps. They did try to fix some of what ailed them in terms of strengthening their wings. And Mitchell's playing as good as anyone. The chemistry with Jared Allen is unbelievable. And it's like, of all the teams, it is in some ways very reminiscent of those Utah teams that Mitchell was on. It's like, yeah, yeah.

they got these great records, but wait until we get to the playoffs. Like, he has been one of the greatest playoff performers in NBA history and doesn't have the long playoff runs to show for it. But in terms of, like, playoff points per game, he's like they're at the very top of the list. Can you really call him one of the greatest playoff performers ever when he hasn't had the long playoff runs? I mean, does that take away from the fact?

What would he have done in it? What? He's had some amazing performances. I know, and he had a broke down by having Gober with him. And obviously now he can't play the unplayable playoff, you know, second banana. And I am, they have had a, they have had the 30s schedule so far. So that's going to get tougher for them down the stretch. But where they end up and how.

many people end up truly believing in them and then now integrating these guys back. I mean, they keep telling us that we should pay notice to them. And I still feel like nobody believes in them being like Eastern Finals slash finals team. And yet they keep showing at least during the regular season that we should. So that's going to go one way or the other. Either we're going to get to the playoffs and everybody's rewarded for being skeptical, or we're going to get to the playoffs and everybody's going to say,

shit, we should have seen it. But one of those is going to be true. And yes, his individual performance is. The window is open, Chris. It is. The window is open. Philly's kind of fallen back, right? And so, uh, let me just,

let me just ask you this. The window is open, but are we underrating the Celtics as the favorite in the east? They are seven games up on the calves. seven games up on the Cavs, who are the two seed. That's right. The sellers are 44 and 12 right now, four and a half games better than Minnesota,

the second best record in the league. They have been dominant all year long. They are a team that has taken a heck of a lot of lumps this year. We say the windows open. I do believe that. The Boston's the only team with a net rating over eight this year. They have a 10.4 net rating. they have top end depth with stars.

They have guys who can elevate their game any night. Chris Stavs, poor Zingis, Drew Holiday. They have debt off the bench. At this point, they have... I'm just saying, we say the window is open. What else... Chris, Chris, listen to what I'm saying. What I'm saying is we're saying the window is open.

Is it actually not open? And it's just Boston is this favorite in the east. And that's that. No, is that actually the case? I'm just asking you the question. Yeah, the windows open as long as Joe Mazzul is their coach.

Okay. All right. I agree. I agree. I think the window is still open. I just am asking the question. I agree with you. I think they still have some concerns,

but they sure is hell look great. I think everybody sees it as going. That could be the great advantage for a spolstra, for a tibs, for whoever they draw. You know what I mean? And also with Boston, it's still about KP to me.

I've said that ever since they got them. Sure. Porzingus is the X factor. If Porzingus is healthy, I believe that they are the favorite in the East. I believe that as it currently looks, they will win the East if Porzingis is healthy. And he has been healthy for the majority of the year.

They've made, they've done some, you know, load management with him over the course of the year. They've, the maintenance, exactly. They've played it very, very safe with forcing us over the course of the year. He's had some minor injuries that have caused them to have to give more maintenance. But if that happens or the postseason, I'd have concern.

But if he remains healthy, I do think Boston will be the team that represents the East and the finals. But it does come down to KP more than anything else to me. Fair enough. Kevin is always a pleasure. I can't wait for this. And now we're to the best part, right? You got these 10 teams. They're all going to be jockeying.

the matchups are going to be super important to who advances when it comes playoff time because I don't think the margins are huge between even the best and like, you know, like you were just saying about Philly. Like, dude, we could look up in Philly as playing Boston in the first frigging round. That's a real thing that could happen. Dude, you're not, you're not wrong about that. Yeah. You're really not.

Like, what if, what if they fall to the plan, the eight? and I mean, maybe they'd become the seven seed instead, but they could lose their first playing game and then win their second playing in game and become the eight seed. Yes. Dude, we could look at one eight and it'd be Minnesota versus the Lakers

and Boston versus Philly. That could be the first round in this deal. And so this is going to be fun watching everybody and kind of where it all lands when it's all said and done. Thank you to our executive producer, Lopez as always. Kevin, I'll talk to you next week. Looking forward to it.

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