The Mismatch - WELCOME TO THE SECOND ROUND! The Nuggets and Knicks Upset the Thunder and Celtics in Game 1

Episode Date: May 6, 2025

Verno and Jacoby break down Monday night's action, with some HUGE upsets. The Nuggets and Knicks took Game 1 over the Thunder and the Celtics, respectively. Plus, reacting to the Warriors' Game 7 win over Houston, previewing their series against the Timberwolves, and analyzing the Pacers' win over the Cavs in their series opener. Leave us a message on our Mismatch Voicemail line! [phone] (0:00) Welcome to The Mismatch! (1:21) Nuggets Defeat Thunder: 121-119 (DEN 1-0) (24:06) Knicks Defeat Celtics: 108-105 (NYK 1-0) (52:17) Pacers Defeat Cavs: 121-112 (IND 1-0) (56:45) Game 1 Preview: Warriors vs. Timberwolves [-7] (1:03:50) What's Next for the Rockets? (1:12:07) The Worst NBA Playoffs Commercial The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Hosts: Chris Vernon and David JacobyProducers: Jessie Lopez and Tucker TashjianSocial: Keith Fujimoto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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You must be 21 and present in select states. Gambling problem, call 100 gambler or visit RG dashhelp.com. Welcome to the mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon and join to be seen us every week from the wringer.com. It's Dave Jacoby. Jacob. What? What?

What? What? a night. I'm shocked. I'm floored. I feel like I've been struck by lightning twice. Aaron Gordon just did a three-point shot

for the Nuggets to take game one against the Oklahoma City Thunder 121 to 119 after they had just played a seven-game series, hard-fought series against the Clippers, had one day rest. The Nuggets have been sitting around, or I'm sorry, the Thunder

have been sitting around for a week and a half. after disposing of the Grizzlies. And it felt like the Thunder were in control all night. And then in the fourth quarter, the Nuggets just started making play after play, after play. And then I thought some incredible folly by the Thunder down the stretch. This was, you know, I've talked so many times about when it comes to the playoffs and the value of a veteran team and a lot of it is the experience of being in these spots, the no panic,

the know exactly what we want to get to, the problem solving of it all. And as you got down the stretch of that game, you saw the nuggets just kept on at it, kept on at it, kept on at it, kept on at it. And then the thunder, they start missing a couple of shots. and then I, I for the life of me, cannot understand why they started fouling up three so early. Immediately in the back court. So early. I mean, you're just giving them buckets.

I understand that there is an opportunity for a team to knock down a three and tie. But this, that is, the nuggets are not a three point shooting team. That's not what they do. In fact, they're one of the lowest. rates in the entire NBA might be the lowest rate in the NBA. I understand the theory of, hey, we don't even want to give them the opportunity to tie. But there was so much time left. And then they even fouled them again, giving them, you know, they're letting them go to the

free throw line and getting two points to cut this to a one point game when they're up by three. Chris, Yolich is on the bench. Don't forget that part. P.S. Jokich is on the bench. They took Yokich out and the inbound of. ball and they foul immediately 75 feet from the basket to allow yokes to come back in and

Aaron gordon goes and makes them pay by knocking down the free throws the other thing is didn't i read all season that this was the best defensive team in the history of the NBA all right timeout time 22nd time out first of all you get a stop like you're First of all, I want to zoom out for a second first. We just saw two absolutely mind-blowing NBA playoff basketball games. Like we're now in the second now. Like mind-blowing NBA. Unbelievable night.

Like I don't want to drill down to the details just at the moment because the game ended literally like 45 seconds ago. 45 seconds ago. I'm shocked. I'm shocked. We've all seen comebacks like this before. We've all seen this happen before. And, and, and, Berno, let's not forget this. Me and you are texting the whole time.

And you clearly have an investment in the thunder losing. You do. Just admit it to yourself that you do because you want. Because you say every single show, you call me out that I'm the only one that's been here telling everybody that I got it. They're amazing. They got to take their lumps like everybody else. While everybody else, no, no, no, no, no. While everybody else put the crown on them,

while everybody else put the crown and they said, it's really Celtics and the thunder and there's nobody else. You learn tonight. You learn tonight. You learn tonight. And you'll learn again and you'll learn again. There's a 75 year history of this. Oh, and let's not forget this, though,

because let's talk about the details now. Let's not forget this. You talk about youth and battle scars all the time. And people who listen to this pot have heard it so much. Chet Holmgren steps to the line. Oh, wait, no, no, no. You know what? Hey, they've been busting my ass about this too.

They bust my ass. They listen to the mismatch. And they say, oh, you don't know what you're talking about. Ooh, does Houston still need to take scores? That was after game six. Guess who didn't tweet me after game seven? the this used to need to take their scores that crowd they were nonexistent guess who's not tweeting me tonight who's not tweeting me tonight well both these series are not over it's not a one game series

seven game series but chet homer steps in the line misses the first one time out i'm buying an eric gordon jersey right now i'm going to fanatics and i'm buying it oh but eric gordon eric gordon is also the guy who got the rebound has Maria Yokic at the three point line with literally with their hands in the air be like bro kick it out they literally are wide butt naked open you're two best players and he decides you know what forget it I was going to yeat this right at the basket and misses like it is so fragile the way this goes but the point I was trying to make is chet holmgren stepping up to the line and missing the first one so many times and you watch more NBA than I do. I've been watching forever. Usually the guy that can shoot misses the first one and makes the second one. Very rarely does like an over 70% free throw shooter missed them both. And that to me is youth pressure and playoffs. It's just there's no other reason. Can we talk about the friggin

masterpiece that we just saw too? The guy had Yokic had 42 22 22 and 6. But 42 and 42 and 22. You said something earlier that really was right. This was a thunder victory. This was a thunder victory. The whole game. The whole game. Because I'm getting ready to do the pot. I'm thinking about what I'm going to say. And this isn't that and like not a single part of me for the majority, the 99% of the time. The whole game. And let's get ready to react to a Nuggets win in game one. This was a thunder victory. And I honestly thought that they did a good job defending Yokic, even though he had 42 points. Yeah, it was until the young team with the young coach vomited all over themselves.

So I can't believe it. Honestly, I can't believe that happened. Talk your shit, Chris Vernon. I can't believe it. Mother me shocked. What are you fouling up three for and just giving them free throw? I like fouling up three. I've always supported fouling up three, but you don't, you don't do it.

Limited amount of time. Five feet from the basket with 11 seconds. Let him get into the front court, throw one pass to whoever, and then foul them before they get in the shooting motion. They had done it. No, they had done it the possession before, too, to goby. Yolkich caught it at the top. But he was, he was about to shoot. He was about to shoot.

Like he's like, he's in a threatening position. That would have been on the shot. But he was in a threatening position, but fouling back there, when you're not threatening to shoot. It's what you're supposed to do, I guess, but you can let two seconds go by, and we just learned what two seconds look like. And this is what I said is-

I kept turning that into a one-point game. Do you know what I always say like, hey, Verno, you know, it's not about the last possession. We always talk about everything that happened throughout the game. I think this was about the last possession. I'm going to tell myself to eat shit,

because this was actually just about the last possession. last possession. And one thing I love is Christian Brown got the rebound and he's coming up into the front court. He's got this look at his face like, me? I'm supposed to have the ball. He's like, I'm not supposed to have the ball. And he gets just a Westbrook and then I'm looking at Westbrook being like, oh no. Oh no. I'm like of all the people, because I like Russell Westbrook, I don't know why, but I still want him to like fail in a big moment again like that. I'm just thinking of myself like Russell, please, please just make a tough layup or get fouled and make two or do something. And then he finds Aaron Gordon.

They don't even need a three, by the way. They don't need a three. Well, no, they do not need a three. And how about Westbrook had almost hit what looked like, you know, maybe a game winner against Oglob City earlier. Earlier, he had the wide open shot that he had missed earlier. and then what's crazy is that Westbrook shot happened. And then like a million things happened since then. Right?

Like that was going to be like the big like, oh my God. Can you imagine if Russ would have made that in his return to Oklahoma City at a playoff game? And then like a million things happened after that Westbrook shot that made you forget that even like was a crucial possession in the game where it was like, hold on now. How is that not Yokeech or Murray taking that shot? How? What is that not Yokeet or Murray? Yonich hits so many, so many just big threes.

They're down like seven to make it four. You know what I mean? Like, just like he had so many big shots at the end. I think he had 26 in like the middle of the third and of the 42. Well, and you hear this crazy number that I think I and Eagle mentioned at one point where they were talking about the turnovers because, The Nuggets, look, for them to be able to win this game tonight with the 18 turnovers that they had, you want to talk about playing directly into the Thunder's hands, literally playing into the Thunder's hands.

It's the 18 turnovers that they had because I think Ian Eagle said at one point during the broadcast, this team, it's 20% of their points come off of turnovers. So, like, that's A number one. And it's crazy because they got to halftime. They had thrown the ball all over the yard and they were down like 10, I think. And if you recall, the first possession of the second half, they turned it over for like a layup the other way. And Alex Caruso was being a menace. So good.

Knocking down seemingly every corner three that he took. Oh, and just doing everything. I remember Westport. They were in control tonight. They were in control. got a defensive rebound. I was like, I must go start up. And then Caruso was so good tonight.

The, uh, I honestly felt this. I felt like this. I felt like the thunder played good defense on Yokic. And he scored 42 points in that 26 rebounds. Well, and the only look, the only way that Denver is able to combat that huge turnover disparity, which leads to Oklahoma City playing exactly the way that they, want to play. They're poking the ball away. They're getting out on fast breaks. They're

spreading it out. They're knocking out shots. But they absolutely destroyed them on the boards tonight. The Nuggets ended up with 63 rebounds, 21 offensive rebounds. So Chris, wait, wait, I'm sorry. I might have forgotten. What was the Thunder's biggest problem last season? well that was rebounding Rebounding but they got they got Isaiah Hartenstein Hartstein had nine He got Chet back

He had nine Shored that up didn't they show how many times How many times did Chet Holmgren Get tomato chested Oh my God Tomato chest Tomato chest How about Westbrook running straight into his chest

Knocking him into the stanching And laying it up I was like But he didn't even say anything to him He just looked at him Like it's almost I would almost rather You talk trash to me after that Then you just stare at me stare at me.

Hey, hey, Chet's going through the same thing. I've seen a lot of guys, a lot of guys go through this, especially with the long, gangly guys that come into the league and they're still, they will fill out. And then they will become, they will become Evan Mobley, they will become Jaron Jackson. They will become, like this guy. And this guy is kind of still on the track of like, you see him and you see the kid in Houston, Jabari.

And they're still like, there's still. like they're still light. They're still light, right? And they can still get bodied. And so when you've got guys that are just crashing into you, and I'll tell you this, the nuggets, I felt like Christian Brown was in the mix all the time. He ended up with 13 rebounds tonight, Jacoby. 13 rebounds.

And I'm like, you know what? Sometimes, and now, of course, I'm not keeping up with that. They're showing, you know, Jokic's stats. a bunch. They're showing like if a guy goes to the free throw line so you had an awareness of what Gordon was doing. But this was one of those where then the game ends and I go and I look at the box score and I'm like, it makes sense. Like it wasn't, my eyes did not deceive me. I felt like Christian Brown was like in the mix grabbing a rebound like big rebound all the time, all the time throughout this game, like in the middle of people. And I was like, 13.

rebound is a enormous number for a perimeter guy. I think it's important to say this. This was a thunder win. They were winning the game handily throughout. And it just felt like they kind of coasted and shit the bed at the end. As terms of like big picture of the series, like I know you're doing a little victory lap here, but you can only run like one quarter around the,

the loop on the track with this victory lap. because I think there's a lot of questions to be asked of the nuggets moving forward. I do not think they win this series. Okay, they just played seven games and then had one day rest. They should have gotten murdered tonight. They should have gotten murdered tonight. That was fed to the wolves. This was learn everything you can in game one, make your adjustments to try to steal game two.

That's what this game was. I don't think you understand the importance of what just took place. Well, no, I don't see. That was crazy. I think there's a theme from this evening, which is, and we'll get to the next game. The theme of the evening is one team is coming in from being dragged through the mud for weeks, being put on the precipice of going home for the season day after day after day and going to the end of games. And the other team coasted.

and they're just at different speeds and intensity when they meet each other. This is what I have also said to you 100,000 times again. I know they were an amazing regular season team, and I know it many times falls on deaf ears. I've asked you 100,000 times, SGA, one of the best players in the world. Played like it again. Played about tonight. Yeah, no, great.

And I've asked you a thousand times who's the second best guy. And in fact, we talked before we went to the playoffs. Alex Caruso. Who's the running mate that you want? Alex. Did did Jay Job make a big impact on this game? Did Chet Holmgren make a big impact in this game? Okay.

So J. Dub was five for 20 tonight. Yeah. Like I didn't like Chet had a couple nice moves in the first like second quarter or whatever that was. But like I date the other people on the Thunder outside of it strangely Alice Caruso did not impact the game in a meaningful way. Well, and this is when I always talk about the problem solving, and we're going to get to this with the warriors a little bit later.

The reason Alex Caruso is taking all those shots is because they're allowing Alex Caruso to take all those shots. They will live with Caruso shooting it. They will live with Dort shooting it. You are going to see got, but what they're going to do is try to make it as hard as they possibly can on the guys that could really beat them. And so these guys, when you are a young team, you're now going through that in many cases for the first or second time. Now, and again, it's all problem solving. That's why you have to go through it so many times because we will get to that series in a little bit. But I mean, I've listened the whole weekend of people just demolishing and already trading Jalen Green.

and allow me to tell you, Jalen Green was admittedly not very good in that series. In fact, abysmal. Bad. Yeah. He was going through it for the first time, right? Jalen Williams is an infinitely better player than a guy that goes five for 20. He is an infinitely better player. But once you raise your status onto that chalkboard, and now that other team is going to say,

he likes to do this, he likes to do this, and he likes to do this. So here's what we're going to do. Now the best players are able to problem solve. And sometimes it takes a while, right? It takes you a few times through it before you're going to understand. And young players in many cases will end up, unfortunately, really, really, really struggling. And I do not, again, I know there are some people that are going to say, oh, like, of course Jalen Williams is not ready to be the second best player on a chance. championship team. Like, that's crazy to me. Oh, I'll see, well, listen, I'm not going to hand

in the Larry O'Brien trophy, but I believe that the Cavaliers, the Celtics and the Thunder are very, very much still favorites in their respective series. Well, they have all lost their first game. I understand that. I understand that. But like, I'm still, I'm looking at this game. The Thunder played better basketball. They just shit the bed at the end. end. That's it. That's what they did. Like the Thunder played better basketball. And I know you're doing your victory lap. And this, and I've done this for a long time. It's over you. This backs up all of the things that you have said all season. So you feel a certain way right now. But this, I think the Thunder win this series. I really do. Well, you're never going to believe this. I don't agree.

What? Wow. Hey, oh, wait, so are they, who are they signing? Like, they're going to sign like Aaron Donald to try to guard Yokic. It's terrible. The Yonkish thing is interesting. You think there's somebody on their team that could go do a good job? Well, the way that they guarded Yokic was interesting because

it was like when he got the ball, because I watched him play Luca. I've referenced this game a bunch of times. They completely took Luca out of the game. They made him look like a, like a child. They would double him at like half court. But they wouldn't like double Yokich on the touch.

they would just kind of hedge towards him. And you could tell him processing, you could see him processing being like, is this a double team? Are they open? Are they not open? Do I pass? Do I not? And I felt like it was effective somewhat, but ultimately, I mean, look, he figured that out.

Jamal Murray was six for 16 tonight. Oh, I thought he was going for 40. Did you think, did you think Jamal Murray was going for 40? Yeah. He ended up six for 16. Michael Porter was one for eight. He played. or theoretically the shooters you kick out to, right?

And it was, you know, look, we need to give the flowers to Aaron Gordon. Obviously, not only the game winner, but the hustle play to get the time out in the scramble. It's one of those like just straight winning plays. And even the nuts to shoot that after he had gone up in traffic, I thought he got fouled by two guys, by the way. But went up in traffic and threw up that bull crap. There's an angle where you can see Jamal Murray with both of his hands up. Yes.

There's an angle with Jamal Murray is like, you get the rebound. I take the shot. But he just stuck with it, stuck with it. And then obviously, I mean, dude, shooting that three on the break. And he was like, I saw his walk off interview. he's like, you know, given what was in front of me, I thought that was going to be the best available shot. So I took it.

That basically translation, it's either me or Russell Westbrook, so what do you think? Translating is like, I thought Russell was your own adventure. Yeah, yeah. It's like, that last,

I mean, again, I didn't see anything after this, like it just happened minutes ago. But like Christian Brown gets the ball. He's dribbling it up with like 10 seconds left. He's just like, wait a second. am I supposed to do something? And then he gives it to Russ.

And then Russ has got the ball. And I said this before, but I was like, oh no. Is he going to like blow a layup or something? Just like I felt so many emotions in that moment. When Aaron Gordon, who just missed a shot,

like imagine how you felt as a basketball player, getting a really tough offensive rebound and trying to be the hero, looking at your teammates with their arms in the air and be like, you know what, I got this. And then not making it. it to be able to rise up from three when it's not your thing. It just took, it was one of those Sam Cassell big ball celebrations.

And you either make it or you don't, that's probably like a 22% proposition, right? 22% proposition right there. And he hit it. You know this. You know this. And I know you just want to be on the opposite side of me. You know they had to win that game. You can't lose that game.

You can't lose that game. Who the Thunder? You can't lose that game. I think the Thunder. I think the Thunderwin the series. I just believe in their depth and I just do and their defense. They were winning the entire game. That doesn't mean shit in the playoffs. Oh, disagree. Depth is so overrated. What are you talking about? What are you talking about? You're a Knicks fan for God's sakes. How much depth did you worry about with the Celtics today? What depth? You ready to talk about Deuce McBride? You ready to talk about Deuce McBride? Or it's a one player. Like these teams are playing six guys.

you'll break you see precious this minutes look by the time the friggin' warrior's thing was over my old McKell Bridges played 50 minutes when he went down

the end of the game when he went down the end of the game I was like he's hurt I think he's just tired I remember when he went down if he got rebound or something I was like

the announcement was like oh dude he's slow to get up like of course he's slow to get up he's been playing for 50 minutes congratulations. Look, Alex Peruso was great. Nobody else off,

hey, nobody else off the Oklahoma City bench had more than five points. I am, you know what? I'm a little upset at the Thunder, not just because they back up everything. I bet you are.

I bet you are. Because they, we've been talking for 20 minutes now. And we haven't even spoke about the Knicks win. So are you of the I don't care how this happened.

I'm not focusing on this whole 45 missed threes and Brown and Tatum being 14 for 43 and 5 for 25 from 3 and Porzengis only playing 13 minutes. Like, none of that means anything. They were up 20 and got walked down and the Knicks came away with the win. And so, yes, all of these things are,

extenuating circumstances so it seems. But look, that's what basketball games are, right? Like things happen. And yes, they just missed more threes than anyone's ever missed at a playoff series. I mean, that was abominable. I know you're coming from a Knicks perspective. So let me just say, yeah. Okay, let me just say, if I'm a Celtics fan, I'm losing my mind over that.

I mean, your rim protection is Carl Anthony. towns for God's sakes. Like, how are we never going to the basket? This is incredible. Like, dude, in the third quarter, they took 20

shots, 19 of them were threes. You texted that to me, I didn't believe it. I honestly did not believe it. It doesn't make sense. Can't you get a put back? Basketball. It's not basketball. A fake one dribble shot, a floater? It's just crazy.

Like nothing? Anything. No cut to the basket. No dry. Just like nothing. I'm shocked by that. And there's a quote from Jalen Brown. He says in those spots where we have momentum.

Well, first of all, if that was the case, it's the team that's down by 20 that needs to fire up all those threes. He said in those quote, in those spots where we have momentum, we can't just fire up threes. I felt like we settled in the second half a lot. You think? And I'm going to say this is we were texting during the game. I love that Cavs Pacers game that we all watched on Sunday, right? I felt that was like high level playoff basketball, great shot making on both sides. Donovan Mitchell getting the basket.

The Pacers operating and getting good threes. I thought tonight was kind of gross. It was just like no one played well. First half. The first half, and I tweeted this out. There's 27 fouls and 39 free throws. Okay. In a 24 minute half, that is disgusting.

39 free throws in 24 minutes of basketball. Not a good watch. Nobody wants to watch that. There was no game flow. To wit, the second half and overtime. So we're adding five more minutes. There was 14 total files called. and there were 18 free throws.

That's the rest of the game. That second half, there was like a real flow to it. Now it was just a bunch of Celtics clang threes. And then the Knicks do it something on the other end. But at least I'm not like, it just felt like, we got the halftime of that game. I'm like, yo, they have got to cool out on this.

Nobody wants to see some 80 free throw game. This is not basketball. I hate doing like ref analysis. because I generally don't care about the refs, but I felt like it's a very inconsistent whistle to what's been happening. The second half. Exactly, not just that,

but also what's been happening this entire playoffs to, like, that game, and the Knicks have just come out of this Detroit battle, which was very physical with the refs letting them play, pushing and moving screens and grabbing off ball and all kinds of stuff. And they get into this game,

and it seems like it's a, it's a touch whistle all of a sudden. That's an adjustment. And then it was bad. Yeah. And it got very goofy tonight in the in the Nuggets Thunder because first half kind of the same way. And then third quarter, it felt like Yokic had gotten in their ears. And so now the Nuggets start getting a bunch of calls.

And then the fourth quarter, then the thunder started getting calls at the very beginning of it. And then the last like five minutes, they just let the damn thing become an all out war. Yeah. I know that no one... I know that no one who talks about the NBA has ever allowed to criticize Yokic, but he complains about calls and you watch the replay,

like, what the fuck are you talking about, dude? What the fuck are you talking about? Yeah. Like you elbowed Chet running down the court. You elbowed him in the chest. And then you're going to act like you got fouled. Like he had one where his arms are not straight up and down. They're clearly like 45 degrees forward.

And Chet leads into him and gets a bucket. And then he acts. like he got fouled he also he also has a temper too he almost knocked out lewdort on that flaggrafow like i was like i tell you i think there's a level of yokech frustration this season i haven't seen before and i just i said just keep an eye on it i just feel like he's more frustrated this season than i've seen him before but can we talk about the new york nickerbock yeah let's go back to the nix look now are you going to apologize i'm going to call you out here at one point you text me and he said,

McKell Bridges has as many points as he does first round picks that were traded for him. That's an objective fact. That was an objective fact at the time. He made so many winning plays. It was unbelievable. I was thinking of you down the stretch. I'm like,

you've worth every pick now. I mean, ended up eight points, six rebounds, seven assists. Let's look at eight points. Eight points for five drafts. It's not a huge game.

Hold on now. seven assists, six rebounds, three steals, two blocks, and played over 50 minutes, and ripped the ball away from Jalen Brown to win the game. I have another take on that. I've another take on that. First of all, we're going to discuss all of this, but obviously I'm laser focused on this game. I've got my son with me, and he's up late and I'm sitting there.

And, you know, remember Kat had that weird foul, which was, I think, an intentional foul that didn't get called. It's clearly not in the shooting motion. So it was a second out of bounds. and they put Brown all the way in the back court, which is something I always love. I'm not going to sit here and act like I've studied ATO plays. You know what I mean?

Like I'm not that guy, but they put him all the way in the back court to get him momentum running forward. And then they break him away from the ball, which is like so counterintuitive. I thought it was a brilliant play. Do you know what else it was? Bad pass.

That pass didn't hit him the chest. It was in front of him in between him and Bridges. So I read that as honestly like good play by Bridges. But bad pass was my first thought when I saw it happen. And NetNet was just like, I mean, with what was it, three seconds left, right? Yeah, down by three, three seconds left. With three seconds, as you saw when Brunson missed that really good look at the end of regulation. Like that was like a layup for him.

Layup. By the way, how about this? How about I know you say you don't study out of time out? How about the Celtics not even to get it off a shot? Well, that was on the 10. On the Tatum one. That was 0.5 seconds. And he's not even facing the best when he caught it.

But there's, you saw the Knicks say we have five seconds left. I'm going to take the ball out because I can get it back. With three seconds, you can operate a little bit. But they throw this cross court thing to Brown. And it was just a bad pass. It didn't mean get to him. If that hits him in the chest, he can up fake. He can move.

He can do things with it. By the way, we need to give Caddis flowers. No. No. Oh, no. Flowers for Cat. None. Hold on.

That pass, that should have been the game winner. Should have been the game winner. But that's also right in stride. That shot by Brunson goes in. That is scripted. That is scripted. I got it. But that shot goes in 97 out of 100 times.

If we're giving flowers for passes, all of the flowers, I'm taking them from cat that you gave him. Before you're handing them to cat, I'm ripping them out of your hands. And I'm giving them to Josh Hart. for the OG pass. Because everybody, including myself, is like, where's Brunson on the court?

We know he's going to get it. I've watched a million Knicks games. Everybody just gives the ball to Brunson in the clutch spot. And even his eyes were on Brunson. And OG made a great cut, but he wasn't wide open. Like, that was a tough needle thread pass to OG

that Hart gets all the credit for because that was the play that changed the game. It felt like Hart was making every hustle. play on the next side and Drew Holiday was making all the hustle. He was the only one. Derek White. Derek White made some great place.

Yeah, he hit a big three. That rebound he got was just crazy. I don't know how they got that time out. Yeah, that was crazy. I don't know how they, but like Derek White, I thought Derek White played really well. He did. And Drew Holiday played really well. Either way, do you do know Derek White shot 16 threes tonight?

That's not true. Where are you getting these stats? Are these real? The box score. Look at it. He shot 16. 16 threes? Yeah,

it's Curry. How many did Steph Curry shoot in game seven? Like six? He was five of 16 from three. Oh, there's unheard of. But do you know what this did is it gave both of these series juice? And the same same thing with Cavs Pacers was like,

it's like, oh, we got series now. because the way that it was going with the thunder and the nuggets and the way that it was going with the Celtics and the Knicks there's a party that's like oh man like this is it not going to get fun until the conference finals tonight like really reignited my passion and emotion and enthusiasm about playoff basketball dude to Kobe the Celtics were up I think 20 20 6 minutes 6 19 yeah in the third yeah

I mean, that's a, you're toast. Not just that. It's also like, it's also like 65, 85. It's not like it's like, you know, 95, 75 where everyone's scoring and everyone's hitting threes and firing at all cylinders. That was not a good game for the Knicks. Hey, those two Brunson stepbacks. I jumped. Hey, but no, my son was in here.

And it's become this running joke between us over the course of this last weekend. We were together this weekend And I had done a show on Friday locally And we had gotten into a discussion We were talking about like Jersey sales And all this other stuff And I was like you know It's kind of wild

I was like because almost all of like the guards Are like super popular with kids Yep And I was like but Brunson is not like I get it I understand in New York he is But I'm saying like nationwide worldwide Like Brunson is not taking hold like Curry did like SGA has right now. Kids really like SGA, whatever. And so I was like,

you know what? When I get home, I'm going to ask my son because he's, he is a teenage kid who's watching NBA. He's the demo. He's the demo. And I was like, why do kids not like, why do kids not care about J. LaBrunsen in the way I would think they would as a little guy doing the incredible? And he goes, because he's so fundamental. And I was like, what? He's like, he's just like fundamental. It's like, you know, like almost like guards team. Or something.

Yeah. And I said, it's footwork. It's footwork. Hey, and I said, you don't appreciate footwork. And he started laughing. And then tonight, J. LaBrunsen makes those two plays. And I said, footwork.

He started laughing. He's like, all right. It is one of the day. You don't tell my son? said you see that leprechaun in the middle of the court we got a leprechaun too i was like you see that leprecha in the middle of court we got a leprechaun too we got a magic little guy too but also let me say this this needs to be said it's important to me jalen brunson put two fucking hands on the ball and then try to dribble it again and then through the ball between the guy in the court and the guy

in the wing in huge spots like yeah we're all going to remember the two threes You're right. But he missed two huge layups. And he literally grabbed the ball with two. Point guard of the NBA for like nine years. Grab the ball with two hands. It was like, ooh, bad idea. Now I'll dribble it and hope the three referees and the 20,000 people here don't notice.

And then he tried to remember when he was kind of caught in a spot. He tried to kick it to the corner. But he also tried to kick it to the wing at the same time and just threw it into the stands. Like I'm sitting there being like, yeah, greatest closer in the game. He just gave up two home runs. He's not. always the best playmaker. He's not. He's just not.

No. But he is awesome. He is awesome. And it's like, it's one of those guys. Like you like feel you're in a tight game like that. We got a guy. We got this guy. We got a guy. How many, how many times are Jason Tatum settling for those stupid step back three? That was crazy. And as you say it to yourself, I'm like, he's going to take a step back. Going to take a step back. God. Going to take a step back. But he has these stretches like, I think it was the beginning

of the second quarter where he's, you say it's the beginning of the second quarter where he had like three in a row. And it was they went in sort of like Kauai shots. We're just like, oh, this is unstoppable. Like he's just better than anyone that we could put in front of him. Bridges, OG, cat. Like we can't put anyone in front of this guy that could ever stop him. And then he misses four in a row.

And he got hot twice and cold twice. And I know you say you're not persuaded by these game one victories, but man, you steal home court. Like once you get to this level, when you get to the second round, These are now good teams that are usually very good on their home floor. And so now Boston's got to get it done in the garden. Now Cleveland's got to get it done in Indiana, which will be a hornet's nest.

Now, you know, the thunder have to go get it done in altitude. Like it's a major thing to catch that game one on the road. That's not the end all be all. What I'm saying is when you get to this level, these are, these were monstrous. semi-final wins for those road teams. Obviously, uh, well, it's, I guess it's, it's three and no now, right? Yeah, about to say, I was like, I think the it's three and unquote underdog won all three of them because we have tomorrow night.

And we'll see if the warriors, uh, could hold serve and do it against Minnesota, I guess, but three of them have already done it. You say that. No chance, bro. No chance. I'm giving the warriors no chance in the series. I know you are. Neither is anybody.

No chance. No chance. It's this utter disrespect. Utter disrespect for veteran teams. Allow me to tell you, I promise you, the warts you have not seen from Minnesota because the Lakers could not. Well, I mean, the Lakers weren't exactly, yes, fair. And I got it.

Houston is a poor, offensive team that was maybe, a little easier to scheme up than some, but that Golden State defense, when it locks in, and they get you into a half-court execution game, can get the stops. They could get, they, let me tell you what, I say this a thousand times. The playoffs are about problem solving. What the best teams can do, they dictate who has, they dictate the terms of engagement. You're going to have to take this shot. You're going to have to take these shots.

you're not going to get to take this shot you're comfortable with. And your role players that you love so much, they're going to have to beat us. To that point, to that point, I'm not done with the Knicks. I want to say this. I'm a basketball fan for Knicks fan.

I say a million times. Why aren't the Celtics going back to Hackamich when it worked so well in the first? Oh, maybe because they got some integrity. No, seriously. That was horrible. It worked. Why would you not go back to it? I started looking up the first.

I don't care. I started looking at the rules in my phone. I was like, is there a rule against doing it twice? Why would they not do this? It broke the flow of the Knicks offense. I understand. It mucked up the game. It was extremely effective.

And then it's like, didn't do it again. And I don't know why. Are they scared of precious at Chua? Hock 40 is going to come in and score 20. What's going to happen? I think they found some integrity. That's what I hope. I hope they found some integrity because that is a bastardization.

of the game I love. That's ridiculous in the first half. Okay. That's for the competition committee to figure out, not for Joe Missoula to figure out. Okay. The second thing is, I think you probably don't want to keep on adding fouls.

Put in your guy former Grizzly Xavier Tillman. It's going to be a hard fought game down the stretch, you know? Put in your guy. Oh, that is just there. Basketball games turning into intentional fouling. Dude, I don't like it. I don't like it, but that's for the competition committee to figure out, not Joe Missoula. Again, I'm a Knicks fan.

I love that they didn't do it. I love that they didn't do it. But I'm sitting there watching me like, you have to look, I looked up the rules. If you do that, look, if you have, if you do that in the first half of basketball games, you have no dick and balls. And Missoula has dick and balls. So I give him credit. Yeah, I didn't like that he did it, but at least he stopped doing it. That was a, come on. I was shocked. I was honestly shocked. That's it. You know what it reminds me of it reminds me of the people that used to defend like, oh well James Horton's just playing the game that they're you know when he would do the rip

through and he would play for the fouls all they changed they changed that rule I got it I got it I got it like I thought we had this whole conversation in that clip its clippers rocket series with yondre Jordan was like oh we got to change the rules and you can't do it the end of the game the end of the game yeah yeah it's like two minutes dude it was that was nuts the other thing I want to talk about is carlinton towns like I thought that he got two bad fouls called on them the the jason tater him contest. Tatum clearly jumped into him, but I get that call gets called sometimes. But I thought the one where he put his left hand on, I think was Jalen Brown's like stomach and contested with his right. I didn't think that was a call at all. I didn't think there was a foul at all. I'm giving

towns a little bit of a break on this game because he rebounded very well. And the other thing he did was I thought and again, this has been an issue for him in the play. where he's gotten the goofy fouls that takes him out of the game. But like it has been a thing. And then you see it. And it's like he's never back in the flow in the same way that he was. Right. Like I mean, it's his fault for getting on.

But once he went down to the bench with those three early fouls, it really, I mean, it just, he, you're not going to get the, the full towns the rest of the way it feels like. Here's how I feel about Carlinthe Towns fouling. Imagine one night you went to a gentleman's club and you decided, you know what, I'm going to go to the champagne room. And then you don't know what happened, but all of a sudden it cost you $6,000.

Carlyanti Towns will go back to that club the next night. like it's just like don't you learn from your mistakes like it's been years my guy and he's i think he's covering like he's covered like uh there was tatum and tatum is crossing up in front of him and he's reaching his little cat paws out there to try to steal the ball he didn't get a call for him i'm like carly in towns you've got four fouls do you really think you're going to poke the ball away from jason tatum and they get a dunk on the other end like just learn from your mistakes you've earned this reputation over his season after season

after season I know it's gotten to you. Why are you going back to the same gentleman's club that you just had a disastrous situation in the night before? I understand it can happen once, but why are you going Tuesday and Wednesday? Because he's an

alcoholic and he can't help himself. You can't help himself. He can't help himself. So do you look at it and look, I think what, and we're going to get to this one. We talk about Cavs Pacers because I happen to go look up the shot

quality on Cavs Pacers and it was exactly what I thought it was going to be which is the Cavs should have won that game by a tonned. But they missed a million threes that they normally make. One was beautiful. You think the same is going to be true with that. They weren't the same game, but I do feel like there is a regression

to the mean and I'm not an analytics guy or whatever, but it's like yeah, I think the Celtics missed a bunch of shots. they normally make. And I think the Knicks also played poorly. Carlton Towns wasn't even in the game. And they need them. Yeah. So I haven't seen the number yet,

but I bet what we're going to find is this. Again, and I always say this, that's what would have happened if the game was played on paper. Unfortunately for the team that loses, it's not. It's actually played on a basketball court. But there's so much of this,

you know, if you're just saying these are the players that took the shots, these are the kind of shots they took. Here's what normally happens when that happens. And there are a million different extenuating circumstances, not the least of which is many times, you know, look, there's a big difference between Sam Merrill shooting on a Tuesday night, open corner three against the Charlotte Hornets. Of course. You know, at home, then there is, you know, I pressurized second round playoff game. But those, I was I think the Celtics.

had the game one. The place was rocking. Everyone's on their feet. They had just gone through a pretty easy series against the magic. The second half, they just kind of took over of every game except for game three. And they just kind of like coasted through that one. And they kind of looked themselves.

They were playing not to lose. And the Knicks were playing with nothing to lose. Can I just say this to? I hate that basketball. Like I hate it. And I know all threes. Look, I hate it.

And I know that somewhere deep down in his soul, Bill Simmons does too, as a true connoisseur of the game. And I got it. I know it's the math. I know it's the numbers. I know it worked out. And it won him a championship. It's not, it's not enjoyable.

No, I mean, for me, it's not, let's just, let's just talk like. Did you shut up. I don't know.

No, I don't want to talk about the ratings or like aesthetically pleasing or or whatever. For me, it's about winning basketball. basketball games, if you took one two point attempt in an entire 12 minute quarter of basketball, that is not winning basketball. I'm not talking about ratings or what I want to see. It just seems like dumb basketball. It seems like I just don't want to watch it. When you're, if you're behind by 30 and you know the only chance you got is to hit a bunch of threes and you got some horses that can hit threes for you, fine. But like, knowing that Tatum is going to step back, knowing that when you get an offensive. rebound and you're going to try to find an open shooter and knowing that you're going to swing, swing to the guy in the corner, it just to me seems predictable and it seems like, oh,

we know what you're going to do. If you don't have versatility in what you're doing in any profession, that it's going to become too easy to get out. I understand the math of it. I understand the math of it. I just don't enjoy watching it. I don't understand the math of it. I don't understand the math of it.

I don't think you'll ever see that again for the rest of your life. I don't think you'll ever see for the rest of your life one two-point attempt in an entire quarter of a playoff basketball game for the rest of your life. I'm not serious. I'm serious. I didn't think it was real when you texted it to me. That happened. The mismatch is brought to you by Fanduel. The NBA playoffs are finally here and there's no better way to be a part of the action

than with Fandul, America's number one sports book. After another competitive season, the top teams are ready to battle their way through the playoff bracket in hopes of taking home the championship. And if you think you know how it's going to go down, then make those predictions pay off with Bandoul and NBA profit boosts. Simply make your bet, activate your boost, and go for even bigger winnings. We love to you listen to the mismatch. And one thing that you will find on the mismatch is me and Chris don't always agree

on everything, especially the two series that are featured this evening, two May 6th. I think the calves are going to bounce back and get game two in Cleveland. And I think they're going to do it by a lot. That's something I feel. I'll be activating that on my fan duel app. And I also think that the Golden State Warriors, they took the young Rockets to seven. But I think the wolves are just too big and too good. And Anthony Edwards is that guy. I think he's going to score a lot of points. And I think that the Minnesota Timberwolves are going to easily. win that game. So whether you want to agree with me or go with what you feel, open up that Fanduil app and get active because these are the best times to be an NBA fan.

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often required bonus issued as a non-withdrawable profit boost token. Restrictions apply, including any token expiration and max wager amount. See terms at sportsbook.bendul.com. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or visit RG dash help.com. All right, let's talk about what the other series that has already started, which was that Pacers Cavaliers game. Look, when the building was on fire and Donovan Mitchell had raced to the basket, you know, five straight times it felt.

like and and then hammered down that dunk and the crowds going crazy and it was like this thing is turning and then the pacer settled down got a couple buckets got a lead back before the fourth quarter began and then the fourth quarter was just this cavalcade of winning play after winning play after winning play i was like that was it was mega impressive but as you know I was texting you during that one. It was not extreme like what was happening with the Celtics, but I was like, the Cavaliers are generating open three after,

open three after open three. And like eventually these are going to start dropping. And they really never did. I think they ended up nine for 38. And it was like, okay, they're just not winning a game like that. They're not winning a game like that. And I'll say on the Pacer's behalf,

boy, if you miss a shot, it's just pressure. pressure pressure. You just got to keep running the whole time. They just, they fly. And they push the ball up. They pace and space you to death. And meanwhile, like I mentioned, the calves were nine for 38 from three.

Pacer shot 53% from three. I mean, that was their fourth best mark of the entire season. Right. So these are pretty evenly matched teams, much more evenly matched than the Vegas odds indicated. They're not that. off. And calves, I'm saying, especially without garland. Like, the calves need garland back. And if you look at like the last 50 games, I heard Bill

talking about this, the records like, I think there's one game different in the record. Like the Pacers have sneaky been, you know, people have not been paying attention, but the Pacers have been playing at this super high level for a very long time now. And so it feels like this is going to be a series that truly goes back and fourth. I would be very surprised if we're not looking at six or seven in this. I think we'll get there. I think a lot of it is not a ton of national games. And like no real superstar like Seacom, it doesn't show up on like the Instagram feed out. Haliburton has become. Haliburton, Haliburton has shown up, but like, Nemhard, like, dude.

I know. Like, Nemhard. It's like climbing my rankings of dude. I want on my team so fast. You know, the other thing is they, they got an edge to them too. They got some guys, you know, Turner can get real feisty.

And obviously, Matherin is about as feisty as it comes. Neesmith as well. Like, you saw when that scene where Matherin, he's barking at D'Andre Hunter at the free throw line, whatever.

And then there's like a few plays later. And I did not think he, I thought he should have been called for a foul. They challenged it. stayed, but the block he had on Hunter at the rim. Oh, yeah. And then stood over him like, bitch. And I was like, whoa. Well, also there's a reason. There's a reason Yonis had to like a little chit chat with him. There's a reason. Yes. Yes. He was, congratulate him on a good series and say, you got a bright future kid. That's not what

Yonis was saying to him. No, they've got some ads to them too. And so that was super fun game to watch. Yeah. And it, it did like a thousand percent come through on the TV, but I believe the announcers like, it got loud in there. And it also does in the fieldhouse as well. Like I think that that's at least six game series. I still think the Cavs win that one ultimately. But I thought. They need Garland back to do it.

Yes. I think it's like for us to overlook the fact that Garland's wearing a jean jacket instead of a Cavs jersey is kind of like, you know. And I did listen to Bill's pot as well. And I think that might have been a little bit of an overreaction about the Pacers. I'm like, well, they're missing their second best player, which does like everything for them. You know, like, and I...

Well, it changes the whole thing. Yeah, of course it does. I'm picking the Cavs to win that series. And I could never pick against the Knicks, but I think the Thunder are going to win their series. And I think the wolves win their series. Of course you do. All right.

So let's get to the wolves and the warriors. And I saw, much like the wolves and the Lakers, where I think it was 11 out of 12. or no, it was every ESPN personality outside of, I believe, my buddy Tim Bontemps picked the Los Angeles Lakers. And I guess they have not learned their lesson or they just all feel the exact same way. But I think they pulled 12 of them in the graphic I saw this evening. And 11 of them picked the Minnesota Timberwolves.

And I'm like, I thought the Lakers were winning too. Are you going to? I thought the league is winning too. You're going to learn your lesson on this one? I mean, you were at ESPN for 20-something years. So it's the reason. It's good for business.

It's good for business, Bruno. Look, here's what I'm going to tell you. A lot of times we'll sit there. We'll go, oh, well, it took seven games for the Warriors to beat Houston. Like, I think Houstoners are very formidable opponent. And it took everything they had for the warriors to get past them. And then we're going to say, oh, and the wolves, they made, light work of the Lakers.

They just bombed them out. And so then the natural conclusion is, look at how impressive the Timberwolves were and look at how much the warriors had to do just to beat the rockets. And all I would say is this. A, the rockets were the two seed this year in the Western Conference.

Like that is, that is so. They were the two seed. Okay. Also, at the very beginning of this, and again, I know I fall on deaf ears. I talk to you about who's the second best guy.

And you were big on, trust me, Julius Randall is going to let you down. Oh yeah. He's going to let you down. So wrong. But we said he's the second best guy, right? And I said to you at that point,

I said, trust me, we're going to get to this moment. moment. And I'm saying, do not overlook this Warriors thing. Their second best player has been the best player on a guy that carried a team to the finals twice. That's their second best player. Okay. All right. Wait, wait, wait. That was the same voice that was talking about the third best guy on the Lakers and how the wolves had so many great defenders to throw at him. So, So that second Chris Vernon is the one that I'm agreeing with.

Not the first Chris Vernon. The second Chris Vernon is the one that I'm rocking with. Okay. Okay. So now I think what you're going to find, though, is it's not the other end of the court. It's not that offensive end of the court that I'm talking about. It's a defensive end of the court. And what's going to happen, I was actually going to support you.

And I was say, I'm a bet you Randall doesn't look like you did in that Laker series. That's fair to say. I'm a bet you, Jaden McDaniels ain't going for 30. The warriors are great at making you not do what you want to do. That's what they're great at. And they have now evolved into this team that is totally fine with doing a, we'll run a play, you run a play. Now let's have an execution war.

Well, I hope they all evolve four inches taller because they're just too small to beat the wolves. And that is. They're just too small. They're just too small. I've seen, look, I've seen someone on the Warriors sleeper hold the center on the Kimberwolves. I've seen to do basketball. None do a basketball.

And also, I saw that clip like yesterday on my, on my algorithm timeline. And he had Rudy Gobert kind of had nothing to do with that interaction. Just Draymond just saw an opportunity to choke Rudy Gobert. And he's like, I'm doing it. Rudy wasn't even like a principal actor. that interaction. There's no reason to choke on him there. I think this is going to be super fun to watch.

And I think people are vastly overlooking the Warriors vastly. Vastly. I don't know what they have to do over the course. I guess it's just like, yeah, that was a cute round one win. And they're, you know, old and, you know, cool. But like, it's Steph Curry, bro. Put me in that, put me in that camp. Put me in that camp.

Put me in that camp. I'm overlooking the Warriors. How many times do I have to see it? I do not think they have a chance against the wolves. You didn't think they had a chance that everybody thought they were going to lose to the Rock? I'm watching Game 7 of Rockets Warriors. I'm looking at it being like,

neither of these teams can stand up to the Timberwolves. I've been wrong about so many things. I'm wrong all the time. I'm going to tell you this. The Warriors are going to make the Timberwolves look a lot worse than the Lakers ever did, at least for a couple games. That's fair.

They will. That's fair. Because they're going to be able to scheme up a defense that the Lakers just frankly cannot scheme up at all. The Lakers have no perimeter defenders. None. They have one. Well, Dorian.

They've won. Dorian Finney Smith. And have no rim protection. So if you can't guard the perimeter and you can't guard the rim, you're at quite the disadvantage. I felt the same way about the Nuggets and the Thunder and watch what happened tonight. I felt the same way. I was like, the Thunder go 10 deep.

The nuggets have no depth. The Thunder have the number one defense in the league. And the nuggets have Yokic. Yeah. And Russell Westbrook. And look at what happened tonight. Well, Anthony Edwards has said he wants the Warriors. All I'd say is be careful what you wish for, but I'm not saying they are going to win the series.

I don't know the way it's going to play out. I'm saying the way people are talking about this series has made me really go. I don't know how many times Steph Curry has to do this. How many times do this? How many times do you have to do this? How many times is Anthony Edwards who's what, 23, 24? Yep. And he's

beaten Booker and KD. He also lost to the Mavs last year. But he beat Luca and LeBron this year. Yeah. And then then for the next thing to do is to take down Steph. It's just the natural order of things. Oh, wow. How crazy.

It's just the natural order of thing. Okay. This show, literally the first episode of this show began with you talking about him being overrated and now we're to the point where he's going to knock off Steph Curry and why did you put him on Mount Rushmore already. He's still young too. I'm a vet guy. I'm a vet guy. I know you are. I know you are. Let me tell you two things. I'll just be a good transition. Beginning of the third quarter, my Knicks fan group chat started talking about potential trades for Janus. Oh, my God. Come on.

I mean, I got to, I got to feel bad. I got to feel bad for, you know, again, I guess it's exciting if you're a Rockets fan. But I mean, it just turned immediately. As soon as the Rockets lost, it turned immediately into, is it Katie? Is it Yonis? Is it whatever? And it's like, and then like all these guys, like, they just won the two seed. They're so young.

And wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, you, wait, you felt bad for. you felt bad for a young team with a lot of potential that won the two seats. I can't imagine why you. I'm just saying the whole thing turned into trade our team and for a star, which obviously people trading for stars has worked out extremely well for everyone. We've looked over the course of the past. Anthony Davis won championship. That sounds pretty good.

Right. Oh, really? The fake bubble championship? Come on. That was a real championship. Okay. Yeah. You saw that Cleveland environment.

then you thought, wow, the bubble was hard to win in. Get fuck out of here. How does anybody watch these playoffs and then think the bubble championship was hard? That's crazy. Do you see Cleveland on Sunday what the Pacers had to go win in? They're playing in front of a bunch of five people in masks. Don't forget the wall of fans on Zoom. The wall of fans on Zoom.

There's a wall of fans on Zoom. Phoniest title ever. All right. Anyway, let me tell you this. I'm going to give you the biggest zag of all times. Oh, I love to hear. This is bigger than me being the only person somehow that still thinks the Warriors could win. You ready?

Yeah, I'm ready. Man, I would not. I would not trade Jayla Green. I think this is, everybody hates Jalen Green now. Everybody hates him. And I think that's crazy. He is 23. Listen to what E. Meo Doka said.

Listen to what Fred Van Fleet said. Listen to what Stephen Adams said. He just. turned 23 years old. That team doesn't have one player that can shoot on it. One. Not one. Not one.

Van Fleet is their sharpshooter. I'm telling you, I think Jalen Green is going to be one of the top five scorers in the NBA. Ooh, I love this. Okay. Can I can I, can I, I, I'm going to do a mini-zag. I'm going to do a Zaggeto. I think they would rue the day that there ain't no, there's no space on that team. There's nothing.

This guy is one of the most individual. talented players there is. And he got blitzed and they shaded him and they made him C2 and he just fumbled, even terrible. His own admission, he was terrible. What I'm telling you is

that was the first time through, that was the first time experiencing it. He will get better for it. And if you, he is a, there is a very small percentage of guys that have that kind of talent. I'm sorry. And I got it. Everybody,

I don't know why everybody hates Jalen Green so much. But he was, by the way, the leading scorer on a team that just won the two-seat at 23 years old. Sounds so familiar. And everybody's like, oh, just get rid of Jalen Green. I mean, look, if you could. Well, listen, I wouldn't get rid of Jaylen Green because his value is so low right now. Because if I'm in the negotiation table with someone, oh, well, we saw what he just did in the playoffs. So you're not going to get a lot of value for him.

I believe in his potential. here's the guy that really pissed me off is if you look at the box score alpurn shangoon had a great game seven but watching the game he frustrated me so much how many times do i have to watch this man turn his back to his defender do one spin over his right shoulder and then take a jump hook and then miss it and then throw both of his arms in the air acting like he got fouled it's the exact same move every time back into the defender spin move jump hook over and over and over again. And he's had the 23 points and 15 rebounds or whatever.

But he was so frustrating to me. No, everybody. Yeah, when people try to bring up the, the Yokic stuff with him. No, because his highlight passes. He's some fancy passes once in a while.

Dude, you know what he is? He's whiny Sabonis. That's what he is. Is he, he's whiny a bonus. I just, he's got a little bit of those guys.

He has highlight passes. once in a while so people call them yokech but like i was watching that game i was rooting for the rockets because i just like think they're fun to watch and i was like i was so mad at singo they're not fun to watch like offense they can't score i don't know i just like i meant thompson by the one and i and i and i don't think i think i heard ryan say he said something like you know you're not going to get the most out of um it's going to stunt amends development so you got to get jaylin green out of there and i'm thinking of myself last year there was that like whole month and a half that shen goon was out and you finally got his

ass out of the way and everybody created some space and jalen green was averaging like 35 a game and and abad thompson was playing power forward in the dunker spot and jabari smith was going crazy and i'm like to me i'd get rid of shengun before i if we're talking trying to make a trade somewhere. Like, I don't know. I don't get the, I don't get the Jalen Green like. Well, tell me this. I don't get it.

And you know, we just watch the Nixon Piston series. And I'm going to say some unpopular things as well. This is the Zag portion of the podcast. I'm ready to Zag a little bit. You got to, you got to shoot. You got to have a jump shot. Like if you're going to be a top tier guy and you just got to be able to hit like a 12-footer, a floater.

The Thompson twins, I know, because I just went through the Piston series, I watched the Rocket series. Like, they do amazing things around the basket, but you just got, I got to be able to, and like, Tari Isson, you're great defender. But I just want to see you confidently rise up from 17 feet and knock down a jump shot and jog back. You know, hard. And that's why, that's where my defensive green comes in. You know, how hard it is to be a guy that could beat anybody off the dribble, but the corner guy can literally always. come out and get in your way or the big guy can always make you see a second guy. Like there's nobody is honoring you kicking it out to Ahman Thompson, Dylan Brooks or Fred Van

Vleet. You've got you've got Thompson, Schengoon, and Adams on the floor at the same time. None of those people can shoot from outside of six feet from the basket. So where are their defenders going to be? Like they literally can't shoot from further than six feet from the basket. Like they're like restricted area defenders. So then, but my criticism of the Rockets is like, I was texting with my buddy, Ben Dietrich, shout to Dietrich. And he was like, I texted him.

I was like, they're like chess pieces, but none of them are a queen. They all do one thing and one thing only and one thing well. You know what I mean? It's like Schengoon's going to back you down and hit a jump hook. And Jalen Green's going to have a nice, like, clutchy, cool finish layup. And then Thompson's going to make a great defensive play and then maybe dunk or like get a rebound and put back dunk or put him in the dunker spot and he'll dunk but like none of them can do two things offensively none of them none of them i will say this though they lost a game seven to a team

that's won a myriad of playoff games over the years and my prediction is what we're going to find out as this plays out while everybody watch both of those and now thinks the wolves are just going to make light work of the warriors what we're going to find out what we're going to find out is that Houston was better than you thought they were, and the Lakers were worse than you thought they were. That's what that, that's going to be the takeaway from this. I like this. I like this. Just let me finish with one thing because, you know, we watch these games and we watch these commercials over and over again.

And there's a new one that I can't fucking stand. There's a new one. The three guys on the Thunder dressing up in the same outfit. God, I hate that commercial so much. I can't watch it anymore. No, this is, this is. I hate it so much. You can't do that.

can't do that. This is a Thunder Love program. You can't do that. No. No. No. I texted you and I was going to wear this outfit first. Oh, no. That's so crazy. You're wearing the same thing and I'm wearing to this event. It was just for like a banker. I don't even know

what it's for. I have no idea what it's for. But every time it's on, it makes my blood boil. It just would never happen in a million years. And I know how this industry works. Do you know how many millions of dollars? Do you know how many minds worked on this commercial. It's like the ad agency is like,

well, what do we know about these Thunderstars? Oh, they're young and upcoming and they're the number one team. So let's invest in them because then their, their commercial is going to run through the playoffs. Like the Jalen Green one, the people that invested million dollars in that. Like, oh, shit. Like the Wingstopper, whatever biggest, the largest, like the biggest, the largest. I hate that one too.

But now they're like, at least the guys in the Thunder ones that invest in millions of dollars. But then the people in the marketing company, they hired an agency. They get a bunch of like hipster people, you know, doing their hipster thing and there's like 10 writers around the table being like what do we know about the thunder guys oh they like clothing oh sGA likes to wear crazy clothes you know what chet he likes to wear crazy clothes and what's the other guy's name jalen williams they don't even know which jelyn williams they want to pick i'm surprised they didn't pick the wrong jalen williams oh they like to wear crazy clothes do you know what they would really hate if they all went to some fancy event and they

wore the exact same outfit that would really get in their craw and then i just i can't watch it anymore I will pay millions of dollars from them to stop running that. They literally invested like $40, 50 million in that shitty commercial that makes me mad every time I see it. I literally can't even tell you what it's for. I can't. Oh. Okay. This is crazy.

This is crazy. What? I have a TV on in the background. It's on right now. But they've updated it and Aaron Gordon comes and rips their heart out and takes a piss on it. Yes! everything I said, I take it back. They've updated the commercial.

Eric Gordon just strips them all naked. It makes them run through the town square. It just starts urinating. Now you're all wearing the same outfit. My pissed. All right. It's going to do it for tonight show. Jacobi, I'll catch up with you later this week.

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