The Mismatch - Trae Young Is Becoming the NBA’s Next Great Villain. Plus: The Bucks Destroy the Heat in Game 2 and the Clippers and Lakers Disappoint.

Episode Date: May 25, 2021

First things first, Chris shares a couple of voicemails he received from some very special people before he and KOC get into all the matchups in Round 1 of the NBA playoffs (0:24). They start out with the Grizzlies’ unexpected win over the Jazz in Utah and the subsequent public rift between Donovan Mitchell and the Jazz (5:42). Then they move on to Monday night’s matchups, with the Bucks picking apart the Heat in Game 2 to go up 2-0 (14:36) and the Nuggets blowing out the Blazers to tie up the series (21:20). And finally, they talk about the Lakers losing their first game on the road to the Suns (35:34), the Clippers dropping their first game at home to the Mavericks (47:20), the Wizards putting up at least one decent half of basketball against the 76ers (57:51), and the pure fun of Trae Young’s newfound villainy in the Knicks-Hawks series (59:34). Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Associate Producer: Sasha Ashall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's basketball season and we've got you covered. The Ringer NBA show breaks down the latest and greatest around the league five days a week. Check out the Ringer NBA show on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to The Misfatch. I'm Chris Vernon. Join the Miserie. He does every Tuesday from the Ringer.com. It's Kevin O'Connor, A.K.K.A. Kevin O.

Conflicts, Kevin O. Climler, A.K.K.A. Kevin O.O. Candyland. Kevin O. Kevin O.O. Kavanaugh. You must be feeling so good. What do you mean? What? Feeling so good. I mean, it is a, it's a good week. NBA playoffs are going on. Yeah, I mean, it was a good weekend, I would say, you know, that we're coming off of. We'll get to all the different series. But what I'm most excited about today, Kev, is I was unaware that the mismatch was so popular with players around the league, including very high profile. players around the league. But over the weekend, given the conversations that we had on Friday, I was sent a couple of different voicemails that were intended for you, no less.

They didn't have my number. I couldn't get it. Yeah, they didn't have your number, but they were able to get mine. And so they said, Kay, can you deliver these voicemails to Kevin O'Connor for me? and I said, you know what, it just, it turns out, we're recording on Tuesday morning, this will be perfect, yeah, and then I can, and then I can just let you hear them, and then you'll be able to say whatever you want to say, I probably should have sent them to you off the air, but we're going to play them on the air.

You didn't get, you got permission, this isn't like Shannon Sharp and Julio Jones, right? This is okay, all right. Yeah, yeah, no, these guys knew what they were doing when they were sending these to me. The first one is from Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors, who evidently is a big mismatch fan, was listening to the show on Friday and wanted to send you a voicemail. Hey, Kav, it's me, Steph Curry.

Number one scorer in the league. My voice has been like this since I got my nuts kicked in on Friday. Anyway, I'm really sorry. I let you down. I heard how good you were talking about us on Friday, and you even made me forget that we start Kent Baysmore at 2 gone.

I did everything I could, but Keff, that Dylan Brooks would not leave me alone. And he was saying mean stuff too. He was like, you ain't getting the ball, small fry. What? Because that was happening, my teammates had to shoot. And you saw that Draymond tried to break the backboard on the last shot of regulation. Oh, my God.

In overtime, Andrew, he tried to break the backboard too. We got in the huddle and I said, Andrew, pass the ball. You're not a timber wolf And another thing That John Morant sure is incredible I know you said you'd rather Have Lamello but I don't know, Kevin

Anyways, I heard you say I was Gonna crush Chris Vernon's heart And I sure didn't do that Sorry And I remember you also said that the jazz Would make with the first season sweep them Man, I thought My season's over

But at least I didn't say that Sorry, man. Keep her head up. I've got a tea time to get to. And thanks for the MVP vote. Wow. I mean, it's pretty nice for Curry to, you know, apologize to. He certainly didn't have to apologize to you.

I mean, I hope Steph and his family have a good tea time. Steph and friends. Those Memphis Grizzlies. Let's just say this, Chris. Grit and grind is back. Oh, Green Grind is back. Well, it's funny you say that because he wasn't the only player that we got a voicemail from. What?

Yeah. Rudy Gobert sent me one. Oh, there's more. Yeah, Rudy Gobert wanted me to make sure that I delivered another voicemail to you. He had sent me one. Oh. This is a message for Kevin who can hear. Oh, my God.

This is Rudy Gobert. We will. He was just calling to apologize to give him. I saw that he tweeted Chris Vernon would see just how great I am and then I fell out of the game and I flopped while I wasn't

even in the game I was not prepared for Monsieur Valanthunez and Monsieur Marant I was standing where I always stand but Monsieur Merant would just stop before he got to me or he would go by me

like hot butter in a croissant my god except my apology and I would try to do a better job the next time we wait alright Rudy Go Bear wanted to make sure that

he was sorry too so two big stars in the league yeah two ROND8 talents Rudy Gobert Stefan Kari listens to the show really appreciate them listening and sending those very convincing voice mails Big time.

That those guys, is this, I... Boy, you bodyed me on Friday, that's for sure. No. In all seriousness, we really appreciate those guys sending the voicemails. Very nice to them. Also, at all seriousness, is this the first time that you have been out of the fetal position since Friday? Or did you get out of the fetal position for the Grizzlies Jazz game and then go back in to it afterwards.

Yeah, that's what happened. That's exactly what happened. I went back into it. Got out of it, got over it, and then game one of Utah, Memphis happened. I can't believe. Honestly, I am stunned at where this has gone, the fact that the Grizzlies are up one game on the jazz.

And then the crazy story yesterday, for being serious, all joking aside, The crazy story yesterday about the Donovan Mitchell stuff, this is the number one seed in the Western Conference, and for there to be a public rift that there is stories out there about the best player on the team, wanting to play in game one, not being on the injury reports on Saturday or Sunday,

going to a media session and saying, I'm 100%, if I need to go 48 minutes tonight, I could go 48 minutes tonight. then being held out of the game and because the training staff of the team does not clear him. And then another story, a subsequent story coming out, that he's furious about it. It's just, we haven't been through this very much, you know, a very public battle between player and team training staff. Usually that stuff stays in-house, but there's obviously something there that it caused an immense amount of frustration. for it to become public.

Yeah, I mean, what's surprising is, like he said, this stuff happens. It's just left private a lot of the time. The private, you know, team training staff, but then, you know, who the player has around them. Like, there's always disagreements. It happens. You never hear about it. And like, you never hear about it at the volume that we did over the course of the weekend.

So it does sound like he'll be back in game too. And we'll see if they're able to put it past them like they did, you know, with the Gobert Mitchell stuff last year. That's far in the rare view mirror. It's just surprising that this stuff leaks out the way it does. And the players were very vocal about it as well. And we'll see if the Grizzlies have an opportunity to build on winning game one without Mitchell. If there's some issues of chemistry there that we still don't know about, who knows?

But with the Utah Jazz, they're still a favorite in the series despite any, you know, any infighting or whatever. Of course, they were the better team all season long. And they missed a boatload of threes. in game one, right? They did not play that well. They did not have their best player on the team. And it was still coming down to a shot at the end of the game. That being said, it's hanging out there and we don't know what the result is going to be of it.

But I found it very fascinating yesterday. Reading the articles, Brian Winhorse and Tim McMahon had one on ESPN. And there was one line in there that was very, very important. And that was, and again, I'm going to paraphrase here, but basically the story they were telling was he got hurt on April 16th. He wasn't happy with the progression of the rehab. And then he started working out with his own guys. Like he started rehabbing with his own guys. And that's a line in there that a lot of people are just going to bypass and the story is just going to be, oh, it's Mitchell versus the.

jazz and he's upset that the training staff didn't clear him. But there is that story that he went, obviously, you want your players to trust and to work with the in-house training staff. He was working outside of that training staff. And I had to wonder, as I read that, if that's the reason they didn't clear him, right? That you're, it's your name on the line, right? If he goes out there and something happens to him, but he hasn't been working. out with us. We don't know. We haven't been monitoring his rehab every single day. He says he's

100%. He's got his own guys. His own guys aren't on the same payroll as we are, right? This, our responsibility is the health of Donovan Mitchell. But in the absence of being able to deal with this, and you know, speaking of how you say it doesn't become all that public, this happened with Kauai. For a year, it happened with Kauai. Remember he was like, Yeah, that being the most extreme example. Yeah, he was on the outside of the spurs. And that became very, very strange. And next time we know, he ends up in Toronto.

And who knows what the result of all of this is going to be? I don't think it's that big, Chris, really. I mean, it's. If they lose the series because they lost game one, it is. I mean, you look, and you can act like game one's not that big of a deal. And maybe they just wipe out the grisies the rest of the way. But they've got to win four of six games now. Game ones do matter a lot because the underdog then just has to win three of the next six.

You've got to win four of the next six games. And generally you have to be rather superior to the other team, which they very well may be in this series. But if they got caught because of it, because they lost a game one and they look back and Donovan Mitchell's furious about that forever, I mean, you never know what the outcome can be. You never know. And I mean, we'll see how the rest of the series plays out. We also don't know the full details. It's very possible. I mean, there's situations that teams will have a guy arrest,

maybe because they have an easier game during the regular season or maybe with a series. They're like, let's play a little cautious here. It's very possible that from top down, the organization, they're like, let's be overcautious with Mitchell because it's the Memphis Grizzlies. It's not the Lakers. It's not the Warriors. We don't have to worry about Stefan Curry. Maybe be a little overcautious. And then that infuriated the point.

player because you want to play and then you lose and you're even more heated about it. I mean, like, we don't know. We don't know everything and we never will know everything. That's private. But ultimately, like the Utah Jazz should still be favored in the series and I would pick them to win it still. Of course you would. I know, I know, but I mean, obviously winning game one helps, but it's you yourself said,

the Jazz are the better team. There are a couple of things, though. Number one, they are one of few teams as I've watched this whole season. they're won a few teams that generally do not guard John Morant with a big wing. Usually teams use their big wing. So it will be the DeAndre Hunters of the world. It will be whoever the big wing is on the team. And that is an issue.

And they don't do that. They guard him with a guard, which is why when you see Morant guarded by another guard, he's going to have success that night. it's usually the bigger guys that could swallow you up that make it more difficult. The other thing is they do have a real center that has to be tended to, right? And Jonas Valentunis. And Valentunis is that guy. Very underrated player league-wide.

And their numbers with Valentunis on the court with Morant were outstanding the other night. And so there are two things that they do bring to the table. And we talked about this with the jazz. And this is not because of who their opponent is. you and I talked about this during the season when you did that outstanding video about the it was a video right or was it an article about their numbers from three and about how they had shot more and I think it was both at one point it was an article one they shot more and made more right and when we talked about this when it came out which was is that going to be sustainable when a team prepares for you for seven games is this going to be a live by die by thing and the nights that you make 16 threes, they're going to bury you, and the nights they make nine, they're in a dog fight or they could lose. And so obviously they did not shoot well from three point land in game number one.

And so how sustainable is what they did during the regular season becoming such an extremely high volume three point shooting team. And we'll see. Yeah, we will see. We'll see how that pans out. Hey, look, look, it worked more than it didn't during the. the season in a major way, right, in one-off games. Let's move on to what took place last night.

Are you now, it's only two games, but should we be thinking about the bucks in a different way? They're certainly checking boxes. Man, that's for sure. That first half performance last night, Kevin, was just absurd. Yeah. absurd. Unbelievable what the Bucks did to the Miami Heat. Just picking them apart and imposing their will.

It wasn't like sometimes when a team has a huge quarter, you know, lights out shooting like Bryn Ford Saddusts night, you're like, oh, it's just a hot shooting quarter. Oh, they'll cool off. The game will balance itself out. Right. But that first quarter last night, 46 points for the Bucks, 20 points for the heat. They just imposed their will on the heat. every single play possession after possession on both ends of the court, just pure dominance

in that game and in the series so far. And in that sense, I do think that I feel better about the bucks and what they can do in a series against the Nets or what they could do against the sixers or potentially in the finals. With that said, though, I think it also does display Miami's limitations and how the bucks are able to exploit them right now. You know, like if Bam out of bio, all these players are talking about how he needs to be more aggressive. It's not just that he needs to be more aggressive. He needs to get better as a shooter. He needs to get better as a driver.

He needs to develop a post game, which is what Thursday's video for the board is going to be about. And it's also about, you know, Jimmy Butler. Butler is a great player. You love Jimmy Butler. I love Jimmy Butler. But he isn't a great shooter from the outside. And the bucks are able to clog the paint and tell Bam and tell Jimmy Butler, you guys aren't beating us.

You have Drew Holiday and others chasing. Duncan Robinson and Tyler Hero and Goran Dragage around screens and handoffs and they're containing that action and the Miami, he just don't have anything in the half core and this was an issue for them during the season. It's an issue for them right now during the series against the bucks. And until those things improve, I don't see that changing and I would expect the bucks to get the series with over pretty quickly. It's fascinating because last year there were people that thought this bubble and the reason they made their run to the finals was in part and whether you wanted to believe it or not there were people out there that thought this is the perfect scenario for heat

culture right being in this kind of environment with their almost militaristic ways and they are living in this one play like this this this plays right to everything they are all about. And it was unsurprising that they had the level of success that they did in the bubble. Whether people want to believe that or not, I can't help but think as last night I'm watching that play out. Like, you know, maybe there was something to do that. And clearly, they've got some different guys roster-wise. But their major pieces are still there. And I also watched them play against Milwaukee last year. And again, Milwaukee's got some different pieces this year. But the other thing was, as that played out last night, of course, you have this tsunami of a first quarter.

But with six minutes left in the second quarter, Kevin Harlan said the Bucks average 14 threes a game. They have 13. And I'm thinking of myself, like, okay. Like, at some point, you do just throw your hands up. Like, this is so, this is not what happens. It happened tonight. but this is not what happens. The most impressive thing to me was that it's a game two.

And so theoretically, you make your adjustments after you guys have played each other one game and for them to destroy them in the manner that they did last night and never really let that thing get close. There was never the heat run and you're like, oh, okay, this actually has a chance of be in a game because it's it, 10 now. It was never there. They just kept their foot on their throat after that first quarter and it could have just run the clock the rest of the way. They have, man, they have looked good. They have looked great. And I look forward in game three to see what happens with adjustments for the heat because they're like freely, loosely switching screens and that's creating situations in which there's a lot of mismatches. There's a couple of plays last night. One comes to mind where Janus got a switch. I think it was on to Duncan Robinson, if I remember correct, and he kind of just isoed from the right side of the court and then help came over and that made Chris Middleton wide open for three above the break which he sank and it's little situations like

that when you have a smaller leaner guy on Janus and Accompo because you're willingly switching that screen I don't think you can do that I don't think you can have Trevor Reza starting so many possessions on Janus if you're at the Miami Heat you have to at some point go to ban at a bio stick him on Janus and say you got to contain this guy to so much of their offense is coming from him. The problem is, is that unlike last season, it's not Eric Bledsoe who's tasked with shot creation. Now it's Drew Holiday.

And isn't it incredible? How much better Drew Holiday is than what Eric Bletso gave the Bucks last season? It is not even close. Drew Holiday is just so much better. They're not the same caliber of player. Not even. Yep.

You know, and Drew's so good. He's so good. You know what? probably didn't go well when your leading shot taker on your team is Kendrick Nunn and has got 14 field goal attempts. I know it was a wipeout in that game, but I mean, you look up at the end

and it's out of bios, 5 for 11, Butler is 4 for 10, but Jimmy Butler is minus 34. Last night, in the first half of that game, it was the worst plus minus he has ever had in any game ever. You know, I mean, Wow. Strange.

Just really, I was shocked at the outcome of that, right? Like, especially after game one. It went down to the last shot. And I figured this is going to be, you know, the bucks of a better team, but this could be a hard-fought series. And maybe we'll look back and the rest of these games are hard fought. And that was just an extreme outlier. But they're clearly in serious poll position. right now.

The other game that took place last night was the Nuggets getting back on track with being able to even up the series with the Portland Trailblazers. And I don't know how many times we would see. If I would have just, if it woke it up this morning. Did you get any Campazo voicemails? Oh, my goodness. I did not get any capozo voice fails. You tweeted, you tweeted like, how did he get a six man in the year vote?

How did he get a six man in the year vote? I mean, that's outrageous. I mean, I love Camposos, a super fun player, but I can't believe he got a six-man-of-year vote. Wasn't it in a second-place vote, too? I think he's a second or third. I don't know. But, I mean, just putting it give on there. I don't know if somebody who's trying to be funny or if I, who knows?

But if you were to walk up this morning and I would have just told you, Damien Lillard was 11 for 24, 9 of 16 for 3, 42 points, and 10 assist. You probably would have thought the Trailblazers. one, you certainly would never have thought they lost by almost 20. Then you need more information. You see Yolkich had 38 points on 20 shots with eight rebounds and five assists and so on and so forth from last night's game. A lot of guys went off. I mean, they had five players and double six players in double digits last night, including Yokich. Yes. They and, uh, right. Yeah, because Millsap and Morris both had double digits off the bench. Um, Nurkich being in foul trouble is,

something that cannot happen for the Blazers. Like when you have railed up on their defense, their defensive numbers have improved greatly when they stop playing guys. But you see last night how this guy not being on the court makes it an impossibility. And one of the things that they were doing in game one that I thought was really good was they were just saying, hey, Yokic is going to go crazy. He's going to do what he's going to do. And it is what it is.

And Porter obviously had a very, very big game. And but you looked at the box score and you watch that game. And Yokic only had one assist in that game. And again, last night, the assist numbers aren't real high for him when this is a guy that's been nearly a triple double. And yet the Nuggets were able to make the requisite adjustments and play in a way that got everybody involved and he went off without having some kind of extreme assist number of which we become accustomed to.

But when Nurkich isn't available for the Blazers, it is absolute death. Like against that team, especially. Right? I felt like he took pride in game one. He was the, they had both of them. He's the one that got discarded. You know, he's probably got a chip on his shoulder about that. But last night, you know, seven points.

six personal fouls. I mean, he's got 13 rebounds for you when he's in. They just don't have anybody else to play. They can't run Cantor out there. And in this kind of deal. Nurgich did a great job in game one. I thought Cantor did an okay job in game one. But Canter got beat up game two.

Nerkich got beat up. Yokch just destroyed those guys like he does to everybody. I mean, that's what Yokch does. Doesn't matter what you do. Yolkj had a huge game one, too. It's just that him and Porter were the only two guys. Exactly. Whereas in this other game, you get Campozo doing some shock

creation for you. Morris had some really, really nice minutes for Denver off the bench. I thought his creation. It seemed like I haven't looked at the numbers yet on second spectrum, but it seemed to me that the nuggets were going more through Morris and going more through Campazzo to generate some shots for them, kind of like, you know, supplementing what's lost from Jamal Murray. Yes. And this is the, this was the downside of which shows up worse when NERCIT is unavailable, which is, you know, the, the Blazers. can give up 130 points on a given night, right?

And I mean, that's with, I told you the numbers for Lillard, the other thing was McCollum. I mean, he's nine for 12 in the game. You can't get more efficient as a guard. And so I thought this is going to be, you know, the big, big problem for Denver is this guard matchup is just a nightmare for them.

And I think you got to feel really good if you're Denver because you were able to come away with a rather decisive victory. And that's with Lillard being great and McCollum being great. Like, I don't know what more you want from them. The turnovers were high. But, you know, those guys were still having big games. They combined for 63 of the Blazers' points. They just got nothing off their bench. And Simons was pretty good in game one.

you know, and it's been okay. Carmelo, you know, has his moments, but like there's the moments like last night where he does nothing. And Canter gave him nothing. And they just, you know, they end up playing really eight guys, double-digit minutes. But it's the one. If they can't have Nurkich out on that floor for 30-something minutes, they can't stop people. Yeah, I mean, we'll see what happens because one little interesting wrinkle. from last night's game is in game one, the nuggets posted up Yokic 10 times.

And he passed out of the post only once, which is a really, really low amount compared to what he did over the course of the season. And last night's game, game two, they posted Yokach up according to the second spectrum, only twice. That's when he logged a possession from the post. So he wasn't finishing possessions from the post. They had him operating out of different areas of the court. And it was much more effective at creating shots for others.

He didn't have just one assist. And teammates, and it wasn't just that, it wasn't just that teammates weren't hitting shots in game one. It was that, like guys missed shots. But it was also just there weren't opportunities to pass two open guys. In game two, it felt like Denver did a much better job with Yokic operating out of different areas or the elbows behind the arc sometimes, getting guys those shots. And that's going to have to be something that Portland adjust to.

But I wonder, is it harder to adjust to that? Like if Yolkes just isn't posting up so often, that's a tougher thing, I think, for Portland to have to contain. I mean, I think certainly in that game one, they're throwing it down to him, and they are expecting for them to do what everybody does, which is run the second guy at him, and that's where he murders you. And they just said, you know what, bro, have 50 points. You won't have 50 points, but your NERC is going to guard you. We're not bringing a second guy. We're staying home on these other guys. And so that's obviously, as you said, it's not like Malone said, all right, this is just what we do.

This is the way we're going to play. They looked at that and say, all right, if they're not going to double the guy, then we're not going to be throwing it down to him down there. Right? Because now he's got to play one-on-one against Nerkich and, you know, in terms of our expected point value. We got better modes of operation than that. And they just didn't. They weren't going to run that second guy at him in order to make him not be a playmaker. And then last night, obviously, the tie turned.

I think that's going to be a great series. I do. I think that's going to go back and forth because you could imagine Denver catching one of them in Portland, but you also know Portland is not going to lose both of those. home games. And so it could end up being a very good series that goes a long way. Certainly, it's going to go six or seven. Well, I mean, look, it has to go six at this point.

And for what it's worth, just to mention those numbers again, game one, 10 post-ups for Yokic, three elbow touches. Game two, two post-touches, 12 elbow touches. They flipped it. More touches from the elbow. it's a different area of the court. He's able to look at the floor, see the brim shoot over the top,

which he did multiple times with guys draped over him or find somebody else. They put him in a different area of the court and that changed everything. And now it's on Portland to adjust because I don't see Denver moving off from that considering how well it worked. Yeah.

And as I was saying, I just see no circumstance that were another team wins the next three. So at worst, we're getting a game six in Portland. I think so too, for sure. These teams are too potent, you know, it's about everything else around the edges.

Like, Dame's going to get his. Yokic is going to get his. It's just a matter of everything else. And I do think, though, you know, Aaron Gordon putting him on Damien Lullard, I wonder, I wonder if they wanted to do that in game two. I would be willing to bet they wanted to wait until later in the series to pull out, well, let's put Aaron Gordon on Damian L lowered. Because now Dane's going to have time to adjust, watch film, see areas that he can pick

apart Aaron Gordon's defense to create shots for himself or others. I wonder if they wanted to save that for later in the series, but had to pull it out after that ridiculous shooting display from Damien Lur. Like, that was outrageous what he did that quarter. So, you know, we'll see how Deem also adjust to Gordon, because that was effective in game two. Yep. As we look towards tonight,

and we can talk about these series, the Nets are up 1-0 on the Celtics. There was, I was watching that game with my best, buddy over the weekend on Saturday night. And I said, I said, man, it got done with the first quarter. And I think Brooklyn had like 16 or 17 points. And I said, you know what this reminds me of?

This reminds me of, and he's probably not going to have enough firepower for this. In the end, I was like, but at least for a moment, this is like some Brad Stevens Butler crap. Like, I'm watching that. Like, if you ever go back and look, there's that famous. Gordon Hayward shoots it and it almost goes in. It's almost the greatest shot in NCAA history that banks against Duke in that final game. Well, like, if you go look at the score of that game, it's ridiculous.

It's like, you know, 51 to 49 or something crazy. Like, I can't even remember what the final was. But it was, okay, this is the high-powered team. If we try to run up and down with them against this Duke team, we are going to get absolutely run off the court. We don't have that level. of offensive talent. But all bets are off if we can keep this thing low.

And it got done with the first quarter. I'm like, damn, man. Like how many times have these three guys been held under 16 or 17 points? I would think that it's more likely that one of them has a 16 point quarter than their whole team scores 16. And then as the game played out, obviously in that second half, Brooklyn became too much. And I almost feel like that's going to end up being indicative of the series as a whole. I think so too. Celtics are going to be able to be competitive.

But in the end, they don't have enough. They don't have enough firepower. And you're only going to be able to keep them down defensively for so long. For sure. I mean, Brooklyn just has too much firepower. And Boston without Jalen Brown doesn't have enough. we saw some of the positives for the Celtics, Robert Williams, nine blocks. That was awesome to watch that happen.

Tatum, some nice, really good passing in addition to the scoring. They just don't have enough. And Brooklyn, the one thing that was my main takeaway from that game one, and we'll see how the rest of the series plays out, is the Nets can lock in defensively when they need to. Held Boston to 93 points. Both James Hardin and Carrier Irving had some really good active plays on the defensive end of the floor, poking the ball away, stealing the ball,

Kevin Durant can really lock in when he needs to. That whole team can. And I think if you're a Nets fan and you're watching the Celtic series, it should be a win for Brooklyn and maybe five games, maybe even just four games. We'll see how the series plays out. But you should be encouraged if you're a Nets fan about the way in which the star players are playing on the defensive end of the floor when it comes to what they're going

to have to do against Milwaukee, what they're going to have to do against Philadelphia. It did make me think, man, if they had Jalen, this could be fun because I promise you, there's not a team in the league that wouldn't sign up for, if I made a deal with them at the beginning of the game and I said, all right, Brooklyn's going to score 104 tonight. They'd sign up immediately, right?

Like, you've got to be able to score 105. You have to in the NBA. But holding them to 104 is real. And it's just like, all right, they just don't like they couldn't even get to 105 against that Zanette's team who is not exactly the the 04 pistons out there I you know

Tatum was pretty good uh in that game and passing he was good I mean he didn't score efficiently unfortunately for Boston well in Kemba's 5 for 16 doesn't help right like they 6 for 20 Tatum 5 for 16 Kempah 3 for 10 40A just I mean that's not going to get it done obviously No, you can't have Tatum and Walker be, what is that, 11 for 36?

Yikes. I mean, those guys have to be really good. But I do think the positive is the 104, right? And the fact that you, that team holding them to 104 is truly an accomplishment, even if you were so bad offensively that you couldn't even get to 105 in the game. Where are you at on Suns Lakers? We've got game two going on tonight. I had this incredible fear for the sons when you saw Paul's arm get tied up and then you saw him go to the court in agony.

And when a player goes to the court in agony like that and he's obviously really hurting, and then you get the, it's one thing to have a couple of guys go over there. When you've got the two teams both, like kind of like huddled around the guy, I'm like, oh my God. Like, is this, like, does something horrible just take place? And sure enough, after the game, he said, which is never great for a 36-year-old to say, I heard something crack, I heard something crack. And I was like, oh, my God. Like, he went and played the rest of the way, but that was not the Chris Paul experience. And yet, you got the full Devin Booker experience.

He was unbelievable. and DeAndre Aiton, who was, what did you say the tattoo says? Dominating. Dominating. He was dominating in this game. And that is a big win for the Sons to be able to get game number one. I don't necessarily think it's going to be indicative of how that series plays out. But it is going to force the Lakers to make some adjustments.

Anthony Davis was so bad. Yeah. Well, I mean, so with feet like it's partially, do a DA, DeAndre Ait and D. A.D. A. I mean, DeAndre Aiton had a great, great game on both ends of the floor. He was fantastic. Devin Booker, as you said, was awesome. I think the sons can be better, you know? Like Booker and Aiton went off.

Everybody else in that team, including Chris Ball, can be better than they were in that game one. For the Lakers, though, I have a message to Frank Vogel. It's time to stop. It's time. to stop the Andre Drummond Anthony Davis front court. It's time to stop. I told you, Kev, when this all

happened, when they signed him, you know, I threw a fit over this and I said, this is assonite. He is going to depend on Mark Gassau. You what? He has to. Mark Gassol is the best center on that team.

End of story. I don't want to hear about Montrez. I don't want to hear about drum. That's the best center on the team. He was brought to enhance the other guys to keep the ball moving on offense, to quarterback the defense. And if you need someone to guard an opposing center,

he is still as good as it gets. If you need somebody to go give you minutes against Joel Embed, you heard Nicola Yolkich come out after their game against the Lakers, praising Mark Gassau. Every center in that league knows that that's the guy, right? Like if you are,

if you're going to make life difficult on an opposing center, bring Mark Gassol in. And this team, like, it's just always been crazy to me that you've got the stars. In the NBA, your roster construction is going to be

stars and role players, right? And so, to downplay a guy because he is a role player. Like, that's exactly what you want. You want guys that are just going to play a role when you've got LeBron James and you've got Anthony Davis. It's about fit. Yes.

And you don't need the Andre Drummond's of the world. Like, that's not what you need. You need guys that that's why people talk about how important Caruso is. Caruso is a good player in his own right. But more importantly, he's a fit. he does the role. He does the hustle crap and he passes to who he's supposed to pass to. Right?

He hits spot. Freeze here and there. He'll take on like a tough assignment on defense. It's about fit. And it's not like Andre Drummond doesn't offer anything. It's not that he can't be part of the rotation. It's just why do you not have Andre Drummond coming into the games when Phoenix goes with Dario Sart at the five?

Have Drummond beat him up on the boards. Have Drummond at the five when 80 is not on the floor. or maybe not even when LeBron is on the floor. Have them beat up the small ball lineup that Phoenix puts out there when Aiton's on on the court. That's the best time to do it. Don't have both A.Ds out there at the same time. Drummond and Davis should not share another minute.

The rest of this entire series, I don't care. Like, put Gasol out there. Statistically, it works better. LeBron is better when Gasol is on the court. AD is better when Gasol is on the court. It's time to stop the Anthony Davis, Andre Drummond front court. if you're the Los Angeles Lakers and try to use Drummond a different way

to lean into his strengths and not the weaknesses with the fit next to your star players. And look, and I was on here saying that this is insanity when they did it. I couldn't believe it. Marcus Sol is a better basketball player than Andre Drummond.

He will be when he's 65 years old. He's just a better all-around basketball player. It's not that like Gasol might be better. I don't think it's insane that the Lakers signed drummer. There's no harm in signing like a former all-star player who's one of the best rebounders ever. It's just about when you use him. It's about when you use him and how you use him.

And the way they're doing it out, it's, I mean, like, it's always not, I know, you don't need, you know, this or that, but it's always nice to have more. You know, there's always ways to improve. Well, now you put your coach in a position where he actually plays him and he wants to make the front office not look goofy. That's on the coaching staff. That's on the front office to bury their pride. Like, forget about it.

Like, that's on Andre Drummond. for his matter, too, like to do what Gasol has done. And that's to be like, you know what? What I can offer this team the most is playing X amount of minutes when Phoenix goes small and just crush Sars, just crush him, grab offensive boards, get second chances for my teammates. That's how you win. That's how you win a championship with Drummond. He can still offer winning impact plays.

It's about how you use him and when you use him. I promise you there is absolutely no chance Aiton has that game. against Marcissau. And I'll eat my words if it happens, but there's no way. No way. Well, that's the flip side of this, though. It's like, we're talking about what the Lakers need to do to make some adjustments. They, they'll have guys. The Lakers should play better. The thing is, though, is as I said at the top, what people aren't really focusing on is that I think Phoenix can play much better than they did in game one. You might not get that DeAndre Aiton game again. You might, you might, you will get another Devin Booker game like that.

But everybody else in that team from McKell Burgess to Cam Johnson to Chris Paul, the Jay Crowder, Jay Crowder got his 0-4 from three-point land out of the way. He always has an 0-4-7 and 0-4-6. He got it out of the game in game one, got it out of the way in game one, and they won. Chris Paul, they're not performing game one, and they won. Those guys are going to give them some games over the course of the series. And if you're a Lakers fan, we talk about adjustments. The team is still the favorite on paper, but this son's team is legit.

They are legit and they have a real shot to take out the Lakers in the first round. I did see that on shot quality, which I follow on Twitter, one of the things, and again, that it's not the end-all-be-all. There's variance in all of this type of stuff. But what they do is they say, here are the type of shots that this team got. Here's the type of shots that this team got. And here's the expected value of those shots. And they said it was an unlucky loss for the Lakers based on the quality of shots taken by both teams. The Lakers were expected to win by 10, which is a 19 point differential based on their data.

So take it for what it's worth, I will only say that I remember this happening in a game one last year. And I quoted what they said, shot quality, where everybody was bearing the Lakers saying, oh, is this going to be, you know, maybe this other team has a chance. And I said, the shot quality says that that was very misleading what took place in game number one. one. And of course, in game number two, they came back and buried. I can't even remember the opponent was anymore. But it's just something to keep an eye on, right? Because in terms of the types of shots that they got and what typically happens in Lakers games, that was much different than the typical outcome given the shots that they took. But you never know. In the end, you can look at the end and you could say, look, like, they got a bunch of good shots.

that they just didn't make them. All that matters in the end is the final score, right? The result matters more than the process, as they say, when we're talking about games. Because, you know, look, the Jazz are supposed to win, too, given their quality of shots against Memphis. Last night, the bucks win by 30-something points. According to shot quality, they should have won that game by five points.

Well, they beat them by 30. So, I mean, who knows how much that matters or not, but I do know a lot of teams are paying very close attention to what kind of shots we are getting. Where are shots that we are taking? And they are monitoring that and tracking that on a regular basis. And hopefully the process equals the result. It didn't for the Lakers in game one, but I'm with you.

sons were right there and there's that clip that goes around from two months ago where I said nobody's knocking that team off in less than six games

I still feel that way but I also think the Lakers will probably knock them off in six games I had Lakers in seven before the series and I'll stick to it but I still think

Phoenix is going to make this one hell of a series and I can't rule that they already have by winning game one. You're right, you're right. But I would expect us to continue. It's going to be a series full of drama. And here's the other thing that does need to be magic.

When is the last time the Lakers looked great? It's been a while. For an extended stretch, yeah, it's been quite a while. You watch them and you thought, wow, they look great. They didn't look great against that Golden State in that play-end game. they didn't look great that last week of the season. Before that, you had these Anthony Davis struggles that were real and they were playing without LeBron.

I mean, it's been a long time since they looked great. And so we are expecting them to be great, but we have not seen them be great in quite a while. I mean, it's been, it's been a while. The one game might be their regular season win against Phoenix when Anthony Davis just went off. in that game. LeBron wasn't playing that night,

so it's, you know, different. You're talking about when all the guys are there. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

when everybody's there. That's like one game. Like an extended stretch. Yeah, it's been quite a while. Yeah. It's been a while, but we keep,

you know, you just, it's because it's LeBron James, you give him the benefit of the doubt. As you should. Yeah, and it's Anthony Davis. And of course,

you give him the benefit of the doubt. So those two games are going on tonight. They have one other one, which is Mavericks's Clippers. And that's going to be, going on. And in fact, looks like Sons, Lakers and Mavs, Clippers are going to be going out at the same

time. Kind of odd, huh? Yeah. That's pretty interesting. I don't understand that. Schedule-wise, right? Luca. There must be, there must be some reason that we don't know, but I want to look into that. It's just kind of weird to have those two playing.

Why those games would be going on simultaneously? There has to be a reason. Like, you wouldn't do that if you didn't have to do that. Yeah. I guess just because, I mean, Utah's Mountain Times, so there's this is going to be an 830 game. I don't know. Time zones. Right. Confusing. Maybe it's time zones. Maybe it's because you've got so many that are home court advantage that are in that time zone because then you've got also Portland and Denver, too. Anyway, Luca Donchich was otherworldly in game one, especially for, I think he had, what, 30 in the first three quarters of that game. And then the rest of the Mavs kind of got him home over the weekend in game one against the Clippers. And this is one of those times where people watch that play out.

And you've got in your mind what happened with the Clippers. You've got that lasting memory of what happened with the clippers and the extreme disappointment of the last postseason that we saw them in. And so this is the time where it starts to funnel. And just like fans and observers, we're sitting there watching it going, oh, boy, right? Because there is a mistrust that goes along with the clippers. And even if it's after just one game, it's like, oh, boy.

We saw them. Last time we saw them in the postseason, right? And this is the time where I told you who goes into that locker room and says, look, this. Because they will lose the series if they lose tonight. It is a 100% must win. It is. At home, yeah. If you drop two at home.

You can't. they're not beating them four out of five. So they have to win this game tonight. They are up against it. And I would assume they will respond. Psychologically, there always is for the team that went on the road and got game one. There is a sense of accomplishment. At the worst, we're going back home with a split where we've got two games on our home floor.

and the other team should have their backs against the wall. But all I'm saying is I saw the clippers with theoretically their backs against the wall. And they vomited all over themselves the last time. And so I am very fascinated to see how they respond tonight because we kept waiting. They had three cracks at that same back against the wall response. It didn't come through. last year. And now tonight, you know, I mean, if Luca is worth his salt, which of course I believe

he is, you got to smell some blood in the water and go for the kill right now because you were able to get that game one. And honestly, it's not like that came down to the last shot, Kiv. Like, they ran them in that game. And so the doubt, does the doubt creep in? You do wonder. Yeah, I mean, we'll see what adjustments to Clippers make. Tailu was asked if he's going to play Terrence Mann in the series and he simply said,

we'll see. Why did he not? I mean, you're going with your guys, Reggie Jackson, the veteran, giving him a nod. We'll see if that changes moving forward. It's not like Terrence Mann is going to win you the series, but Terrence Mann can influence what happens on the court. He's an energizer on the defensive end of the floor. He plays his role on offense.

It's sort of like what we were just talking about with the Lakers and Caruso. what Caruso brings is he plays his role. Terrence man plays his role. And I would, I would, I mean, he played a little bit. But yeah, I think if you're, I think whether it's Ibaka or whether it's Zubots,

if you're the Clippers, what I, the main thing that I felt watching that game, especially at the end when the Clippers went small, Dallas was just able to get so many easy buckets at the rim when they blitzed or trapped Luca because there's no rim protection there. So the Clippers need to retain size, but also, continue blitzing and trapping Luca to get the ball out of his hands because that's

that's what worked best in game one. In that game, according to the second spectrum, the Maverick shot one for eight with two turnovers on the 10 possessions that Luca was blitzed or trapped or pressured in the pick and roll. So continuing to do that, getting the ball out of his hands while also retaining size on the court. It's a tough balance. You can't do that all game long. But I think, mixture of that bringing in man a little bit less Reggie Jackson could benefit the clippers but I don't know

Dallas presents some real problems man they're tough like Luca there's only so much you can do against him to stop him or contain them because he's just going to find the open guy I watched them and I think to myself like I don't know why they play the guy I don't know why they don't play Terrence man I don't know why Ibaka is not a thing

I don't know why Conard is not a thing like why did you spend that money on him in the off season. And it's not like you go look, his numbers aren't bad. It's not like he had some kind of bad season, Luke Kennard. And it's just strange to me.

Like, I look at it and I go, it's not like some of these teams, you watch them and it's like, man, they don't have players. Like, they've got players. They don't use some of the guys that I feel like they should be using in these games. Because, again,

you just need somebody that's going to hustle. You just need somebody that's going to rim protect. You need somebody that's going to just stretch the floor. And it's like, which of those boxes does Reggie Jackson check? And the other thing is, do you never see them just popping the ball around? You know, it's so much one-on-one or max one pass in these possessions. And one other thing, how many possessions was I watching where Lucas guarded by Pat Bev, where that clip that was going around the internet

for people that haven't seen it. Yeah, that was funny. When he yells at Pad Bev, you're too effed small. Oh my goodness. That was unbelievable. And then... And then against two bots too.

And then at the end of the game, though, there's like these big possessions. He's being guard by Nicholas Batum. Yeah, well, they had Batum denying the ball. I get it. But Kauai Leonard and Paul George

are on their team. like how many times do you see those guys guarding how many times did you see kawai leonard on luka never i mean at some point maybe we will see it i think part of it is that the strategy was in that moment was blitzing or trapping and you're using batum and another guy to do that sometimes it would be kawai you want your in that situation maybe you want your best offenders kawai leonard and paul george in a help position rather than on the ball when they're when they also could be taken out of the play temporarily so it might be that. I wonder if at some point we do see Kauai Leonard or Paul George on Luca and they just say stick to him. We're not going to freely switch screens here and give you Zubots on an island

against Luca. And by the way, like we talk about this a lot though. And this is like part of the argument we had about Gobert. Like it doesn't matter who you put on Luca. It doesn't matter. He still has the ability to create shots for you. And it's create shots for himself. It doesn't matter if it's Kauai doesn't matter if it's Zubots. He's that level of player. With that said, though, Zubats wasn't able to offer resistance on those stepbacks, not able to offer resistance to contain his drives to the rim. At least with Kauai Leonard or Paul George, you have a chance in those situations if you don't switch that screen. It's a tough, it's tough man, because if you do that, then you're dropping picking rolls or you're hedging, and then that opens up another set of

issues. Luca, that's the tough part with a guy like him when he can pass it at an elite level and score an elite level. It doesn't matter what you do. So I look forward to seeing what the clippers do here. I would expect to see a bit more blitzing, a little bit less switching, especially with Zubots. But we'll see what happens.

And if I'm a Mavs fan, I also feel good that Porzingis was not good in this game at all. Porzengis wasn't a thing. Four for 13, 14 points. He had the big dunk at the end, but he didn't do anything notable. And that's it. That was wide open.

Like, that was an easy one. for a seven plus footer. And he stays looking irritated, doesn't he? Like, he's irritated the whole game. I don't know if it's about his plight with the team or I don't know. But you know he's, even if you're downed up, Porzegis, he's not a four for 13 guy, usually. And so that's why I'd feel pretty good. Like, Hardaway's there for it.

Hardaway's been good for them, man. And Hardaway is that's a big, him and Brunson, both those guys. Despite him hitting. you know, having to take a last shot at coming up short, which is probably going to hang around for a long time when people think about him. He's had a lot of nice playoff games. And I do think he's there for it, good veteran player.

And he's shot fireballs the last couple weeks of the season, too. The three point numbers got crazy for him. And he was good again. But they could get a good porzengis, because they got a bad porzenghis. And I thought they won that game pretty easily. If they could get a good poor Zingis, now all of a sudden that that series changes dramatically what we think.

And so anyway, a lot of pressure on the Clippers going on tonight. Let's talk about a couple of these other series before we get out of here. Wizard Sixers, it was fun for a half. For a half, yeah. 6160. Hopefully he gets a lot. other fun half. Yeah, that was the first half of game one was 6160.

And then if, but, did Harris have 28? I think it was. Yeah, he was great. 28 at half, no, at half time of that first game. I'm like, golly, 28 at half. He was great. And then they ran off on up like,

I mean, I guess for competition's sake, it'd be nice if the Wizards got a game. Maybe just one of those home games. It's been a long time as they've been in the postseason. Maybe they win the game three. Like some teams do after it's been a long time. They got raucous crowd, all the emotion, and then they win game three, and then they get beat the next two games.

But I hope they get at least one because that one, you know, the second half of that game seemed rather inevitable what was going to take place. and they got going and the wizard's only one by seven though it's like it was 17 or 27 it was very close and it got dicey with the whole westbrook and the heel out of bounds thing and yeah like it was not a wipeout i'm just saying even at half time of that game i'm like yeah the sixers aren't going to play like that in the second half of this game a couple too many horrific defensive possessions by the wizards especially in that third quarter and by the guy you just mentioned

too. Hawks, Knicks might have been my favorite watch. I mean, outside of the Grizzlies, jazz. Just, just purely hearing Madison Square Garden that loud, it made me wish so much that I was in that arena, just to feel that. And then the way it ends with,

what's crazy is in the first half, when the Knicks start to go on that run and quickly gets the ball, pulls up from about seven feet behind the three point line in transition and buries it. The roof comes off, Spike Lee, stomp it up and down the sideline. And I tweeted out that was at that moment, that was the absolute best place to be on planet Earth. Would that happen? And I immediately got a text from our buddy Tim Bontems.

He said, I am here. and it is. Like this is unbelievable. You have no idea. Because it's just been so long. They've been so down. And then they got 15,000 people in there. And I mean, it was raucous.

You can't blame the fans for that one. They got like just an all-time, rotten-neck performance from the guy that has carried them all year and is going to probably be on an all-N-B-A team. And was it the way they defended him? Was it first post-season game ever? Was it the moment? Who knows?

But Randall was so bad in that game. And Burks, damn near got him home. What do you have? 16 in the fourth? I think he had 16 points in the fourth quarter. Rose had a big moment. But they just, like, it comes down to the end. And I hated the foul, the bump foul that Trey got the time before.

But that didn't end up mattering. It's game on the line. Can you deliver? And not only did he deliver, he ran over to the sideline and said it's really effing quiet in here and put his finger up. And that was the moment where I was like, you know, even if this guy irritates me, I have so much love for the villain that embraces the villain. I grew up loving wrestling.

And I loved the bad guys. I loved them. I loved the guys that came out to the crowd and told them that they were, you know, useless, that they were jealous of their muscles, whatever it may be by. got all this money and you have nothing. Like, and, and, and just, like, they, they loved the fact. They reveled in the fact that you hated them and you were booing them incessantly. And I loved that.

I thought that was the funniest thing. And so for Tray Young, in a league where nobody, and we've had all manner of opportunity, whether it was LeBron, whether it was Hardin, I even told you this with Hardin, If you'll embrace the I'm the bad guy, I know you hate me, but it doesn't matter, I'll be all in. And I'll be damned. When Trey did it, I was like, man, you have irritated me a lot. But this shit is so funny to me. And Vince Goodwill wrote an article about this yesterday.

And he said, it's really been since Reggie Miller, since we've had a guy that knows you hate him and embraces. that. Like he loves that. I feel like Booker could do it too. I feel like Booker could be that guy. But just whether it was, I remember the LeBron in Miami and I'm like, man, just go with it. Everybody is mad at you. Everybody hates you.

Just stoke the flames. Same with Hardin. Everybody's mad. Everybody's booing you all the time. Everybody's mad. Stoke the flames. Like that kid stoked the flames. would he hit that game winner. No, no doubt. Clearly, Tom Tibino was a fan of it too

by taking a cold player off the bench and putting him in the game and saying, hey, we need you to stop Trey Young. I wasn't even going to bring it up. I wasn't going to bring it up. But in all serious, it's like my guy,

Frank Milliken, he got exposed on that last position by Trey Young. And I blame tips. What are you thinking? This guy's been sitting on the bench for two plus hours and you expect him to come in the game

and stop. Tray Young. It doesn't make any sense. He's got fresh legs. Chris, if a coach brings a player off the bench with two seconds left in the game to hit a three-pointer after he didn't play a minute. He hasn't shot a ball. He hasn't done anything since warm-ups before the game. Maybe he would put one up at half. Maybe that's what he did. But if he didn't play in the game, don't take a cold player off the bench and have him take a shot. Also, don't have him trying to stop Tray Young. What is Tim's thinking doing that? And it wasn't the only bonehead decision either. Taking a shot is not the same as

defending. Come on. I mean, still, a cold player off the bench. He's a defensive specialist. Put it this way. Having Alec Burks inbound the ball on the last position, he's the reason you're even in the game. Come on, Tim.

You've got a great coaching season. I don't know what happened in that game with those couple of decisions towards the end there. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me. It really doesn't. Not to mention you did have some Pretty bad possessions down the Strz. The Randall 3 that he just pulled up where he slapped the backboard with it too.

I was like, what are you doing? Bro, you were like five for a hundred. Why? Why is this in crunch time? And Trey, that felt like a player that knew what spot he wanted to get to on the court. He got to his spot on the court and he delivered. By the way, one of the quick thought on. villains. I think that's also partially the media's responsibility too in the leagues,

the NBA's responsibility too, not just with players, but with teams too. Like the Brooklyn Nets, people hate the Nets. And like, it's not just on Hardin to embrace that. It's not just on KD or Kyrie to embrace that. It's on the media. It's on the league to build them up as this evil empire of stars joining forces. You know, you don't think. You need the player. You know, you don't the players do. You think the players have to embrace it. Yeah, but like in the NFL when there's rivalries, it's not, it's not like just players are making it happen.

It's partially the way it's built up. I think about it. I mean, look, there's years and years and years of rivalries in that. But when I think about the people I truly hate, it is because of something they did. It is. It's because of something they did. And because they embrace it? Or is it sometimes like they don't embrace it?

But look, the first. I don't know what I say the first athlete. I mean, when I was a little kid, so I was a huge Cowboys fan, and 90, was it 94? 94, they played the 49ers. And Merton Hanks had these picks, and he did what's called the chicken dance after he got, I hated. I hate, if I saw Martin Hanks right now, I tell him, I hate him. Like, I mean, that was like, me as a kid, I hated him. hated him.

And he, you know, of course, 49ers won, and it was like, you know, because the Cowboys won a 92, 93, 95. It was that year in between. And he did the chicken dance after he picked him off and they beat the crap out of the cowboys. And I mean, I, not only was he doing, you know, was he making these plays against my favorite team, he was, he was showboating. And I hated the chicken dance and I hated Merton Hanks.

Like, and that, look, I'm a lot older now. and I still remember him and his name and how much I hated his gut because he was a perfect villain for me as an opposing fan. Oh, can you imagine the first time Trey Young dribbles the ball up the court of Madison Square Garden tomorrow night? Oh, my is going to be. Full throat. Like, we, I love that.

And I love that he created that. I want guys to I want guys to embrace that he knows everybody can't stand him and the other thing is this he's looking at that going

you put me on any all NBA teams nobody respects what I've done look at my numbers these last couple years like he really has like the I am like he's rightfully resentful towards

the way people talk and treat him, talk about and treat him, right? Because he is. He's an outstanding talent. There's no way around it. But people can't stand him. They poke holes into all of his accomplishments. They talk about his defense.

They don't vote him. His team's frigging, you know, a top five seed. And they've been, you know, bad. And it's like, he, nobody, I think, put him on an all NBA team. Nobody. Nobody was out there arguing for him. Everybody, you know, he doesn't have the same kind of, he's not beloved, like so many of the stars in the league.

And so if you realize that and you just decide, all right, fine, I'm going to be the villain. I'm going to be the guy that you hate. I know you hate me anyway. But now he's going to make me love him. I can't take it. I don't know what to do with this guy. There's a difference between just hating a guy and loving to hate a guy. And Trey Young is almost putting himself into the love to hate him category, unless you're a Knicks fan.

Then it's just pure hate. Yes. Oh, I can't. I mean, it really is like Reggie Miller-esque. Yeah. It could become that. We'll see what happens. We'll see.

We need him to interact with Spike Lee at some point. That's what we need. When that dude put his finger up and said, it's really effing quiet in here. I was like, oh, my God. That was incredible. Oh, my God. Incredible. I'm like, this is the wrong arena because that's going to go around.

I can't tell you how excited I am for tomorrow night when that game comes on and to see him get that ball. And you know, Tibbs, he, Tibbs hasn't slept. One wink. You can see him on the sideline with these huge bags under his eyes because he is concocting a way to ruin Tray Young's life. He's just been up all night. Why did I have Alec Berks in my mom? the ball. Why did I take Frick to the feet off the bench after he had him play it all the game and trying to

have him stop Trey Young? Why, why, why? I think we covered every series. That series is going to be so fun the rest of the way. I would say like probably fair enough to say probably I've probably been most impressed with I guess probably the sun's getting it done.

You know, they were supposed to get it done. but they did get it done in game number one. And now they've made that a lot more interesting going forward. They really have. What game are you most looking forward to Tuesday night? We get Celtics, Nets, Lakers, Sons, Mavericks Clippers. Which one, like, if you could only watch one tonight, what's the one you're tuning into?

I would watch Mavs Clippers. I think so too. Yeah, Sam. Just because of the stakes. I don't think that. Any outcome in the other two games decides the series. Because you're going back to the Lakers. If the suns go up to,

you're going back to L.A. If the Nets win, I mean, we think the Nets are winning that series anyway, even going back to Boston. But if the Mavs win. Yeah. And that's going to change the league.

I'm serious. You're right. If the Mowers won the series. It very well could. Kaua Ler is a free agent. Yeah. Maybe. I mean, he did go there.

partially because California's home. Well, I promise you this. They ain't running it back with him and Paul George. But I mean, here's the thing, right? If they lose. He didn't sign the deal. Yep. And things could change quite a lot.

Well, no. If Kauai enters free agency and says, we need to make some serious changes for me. Because think about what he did to go there in the first place. Yep. Think about what he's going to do now to say for me to stay. Oh. We'll see.

We'll see what happens. And I'm of the opinion. Both L.A. teams have the goods to be NBA finals representatives. But they both done such goofy stuff. Like I actually think some of these teams ain't got it on their roster. Like I said, if Nurgents gets in foul trouble, there's nothing for Terry Stott's to do. He's dead. Like, he's got to have that guy out on the court, right?

Those teams, they're not even playing their best players, in my opinion. neither the Lakers or the Clippers are playing their best players. They started Reggie Jackson and Pat Beverly, for God's sakes. Like, and Zubach, I'd no lie. I would rather have Terrence Mann, Lucanor, and Baca in the game. It's crazy. Like, so I think both of them have goods to be able to get it done. If they end up, if either one of them ended up being the finals rep, it would not stun me.

but I also know if the Mavericks and Luca pull that off and to win tonight they're dead one thing is just one quick thing is like Ibak is not full health either I mean he's not 100%

he just came back of a week or so ago but you know still that's part of the equation there to get him going yes Kevin it has been a fun start to the playoffs that's for sure boy dude so good and we will be recording on

Thursday night. So there will be Thursday night. When you get up on Friday morning you will be able to hopefully the mismatch will be

in your inbox. And I will say this I had some people over the course of the last week say there's some update that happened for people on their iPhones

for those of you that get it through those podcasts and so I would tell you even if you don't see it show up, go search for it because it is there.

I read some article about some update that was done and so pods aren't showing up on people's phones the same way. But you'll be able to count on it. It should be available to you on Friday morning. For sure.

And ultimately, Spotify anyway. Just use Spotify. Yeah. Spotify helps us out. You know, if you use that, you know, so check out Spotify.

Get a great UI, great interface. I love these. I've really, like, I sound like a company man here, but I've liked to have all my stuff on the same app. It's been nice,

actually. That's for sure. Thank you to our executive producer, Sasha S.L. as always, and we will talk to you on Friday.