The Mismatch - Wolves and Bucks Pick Up Statement Wins, Quick Rookie Check-in, and Reacting to the Second MVP Straw Poll

Episode Date: February 13, 2024

Verno and KOC begin the show by talking about the games they attended last night, starting with the Timberwolves' victory over the Clippers. Then they discuss the Pelicans' win over the Grizzlies (12:31). Next they talk about what kind of statement the Bucks made with their win over the Nuggets (18:40). After that, they talk about a few other notable results and performances, specifically from a handful of rookies (39:16), before wrapping up by giving their reactions to the second MVP straw poll results (55:17). Got a question for Verno and KOC? Send them an email at [e-mail]! Or you can send the guys a tweet @ChrisVernonShow and @KevinOConnorNBA! The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please check out http://theringer.com/RG to find out more or listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Producer: Isaiah Blakely Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There are a lot of quarterbacks in the NFL draft this year. My name is Danny Kelly, and I host the Ringer NFL Draft Show with Danny Hyfitz, Ben Solac, and Craig Boralbeck. We cover trades, free agency, and the draft, obviously. We'll tell you about everything, including which quarterbacks are good, which quarterbacks are not as good, and which quarterbacks are just Kirk Cousins. Search the Ringer NFL Draft show on Spotify. Welcome to The Mishmatch. I'm Chris Vernon, and joining me on this Tuesday morning from the ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor,

aka Kevin Obama, Kevin O'Connor, Kevin O'Colmer, Kevin O'Clymer, Kevin O'Candee, Kevin O'Brien, Kevin O'Feerean, Burdow! We both went the games. How did you have fun last night? I had fun. We did not record late last night, which was Monday night, because you were on the West Coast. Let's start with that one. You went to Clippers Wolves, which could be an extremely good playoff match. matchup and I think probably got more than you bargained for with that Wolf's performance.

If you were looking to be impressed with the team, I got to imagine you left Staples Center, now Crypto Center, pretty impressed with what you saw from Minnesota. Incredibly impressed from Minnesota. I mean, if you're looking for a game that gives you a reason to believe in the Tim Wolves as a legitimate finals contender, I think you would want to watch that Minnesota Clippers game last night. That third quarter, tremendous defensive performance by them to help build that lead. Obviously, offensively, they were very good as well, creating buckets Anthony Edwards, Rudy Gobert at the basket on rolls to the rim. They did a great job offensively. But in the middle of that third quarter, I know it's going to sound very expected coming for me,

Chris, but as soon as Russell Westbrook came in the game, they had Rudy Gobert helping off him, staying in the paint. And then when Gobert was out, they had Kat doing it to end the third quarter. And I thought it really just screwed up that Clippers' offense. They weren't getting any paint penetration at all. Their individual defenders were doing a tremendous drop throughout the entire period,

even before Russ got put in the game. Anthony Edwards, McDaniels, both against Kauai Leonard, forcing multiple turnovers, creating hard shots for him, not letting them get to the rim. I thought overall that defensive performance by Minnesota

and they've always been a great third quarter team this season, really was a good example of what they could become postseason time, relying on their defense as their foundation, and then being good enough offensively with Anthony Edwards when he's on, Mike Conley creating some good shots, hitting threes off of screens, they showed some versatility on offense, in addition to having their dominant defense in that third quarter. Is it possible that Minnesota is just a uniquely bad match?

for the Clippers. We always see this when it comes to postseason time. That there are some teams that it's just, it's matchups. And they've got big wing defenders. They've got somebody that can guard the basket. And they've also, you're not,

you're not at a massive disadvantage in terms of the point guard. You don't have some explosive point guard that is going to put Mike Conley make him a detriment to you or whoever they put out at their guard positions that they, because of their size, because they're able to match the physicality and because of the length that they have on the wings, that they just happen to be uniquely equipped

to deal with what makes the clippers great. And so that is a team that if I'm the clippers, I kind of want to steer clear of because there's not a lot of teams that are uniquely equipped to deal with that. But they just happen to be. Or am I overreacting it as just one game? I mean, it is just one game. But I do think you're right on when it comes to like projecting that matchup on paper because Minnesota has great wing defenders. I mean, they have the best one arguably.

And size, you know. Yes. And then size. Most people like Kauai and Paul make teams look small. And not them. And they got, you know, a bunch of bigs. They're rolling out there with Goberra in towns at the same time or Nasreid coming off the bench. So I think with Minnesota, they are a difficult matchup for the Clippers.

I mean, it is just one game. But ultimately, I came away highly impressed by the Timberwolves last night. And I mean, the Clippers and their own right are still, you know, a great team. one of the teams that you can look at and say they as is are a finals contender. But that third quarter I thought was pretty special for Minnesota last night if you're looking for a reason to believe in them as a finals contender. Yeah, in terms of believing them as a finals contender, I think it's gotten to the point in the season where most of the rhetoric that you hear

feels like people think that the nuggets and the clippers are on a collision course, that these are the teams that when you hear most people saying who they think can come out of the West, the Clippers have won a lot of people over in the past month and a half. And obviously, Denver is always going to be a pick to be there at the very end, as long as they have Yokic and they are the reigning champions. That being said, do you react in a way from watching that going, you know what? Minnesota should be in that mix, too. Like we are, people, they have been fantastic all season long.

No, I don't think so, Chris. No, I think, I don't think Minnesota belongs in that class yet. I mean, you look at the Clipper side of things. They have Kauai Leonard, who's won championships and who is playing. You know, I had him, we'll talk about the Bon Temps MVP poll later. I had him in my top five for MVP. I didn't see where he finished. I haven't looked yet.

I want to be surprised when you say out of the pod later. But I think they have James Hardin, who's been to game sevens in the Western Conference Finals against Juggernaut Warriors teams. They have Paul George, who is an all-NBA talent, and they have perhaps the best coach in all of basketball and Ty Lou with a great rotation as well. Minnesota, they have a lot of guys who have been in the postseason, you know, largely go Barron Conley. But Edwards, despite, you know, having some success in the postseason, he's still young. He still has a lot to prove. The Clippers have elite ISO scorers and Kauai Leonard and James Harden.

Minnesota has ants. And like after that, they don't, they don't have the depth of guys who can be used to just crush mismatches on their side when it comes to those endgame situations. So I think Minnesota has a lot to prove if they're going to do it, they're going to do it behind having a historic playoff defense. They're going to have to do it like the Pistons did 20 years ago where they had an amazing defense anchored by Ben Wallace and Tashon Prince and Chauncey Billups at the point of attack and all those great Pistons teams in 2004.

And their offense needs to be clutch, good enough. That's where Billups really made his name, right? Big Shot Billups. That's where he did it was in the postseason. So I think Edwards, Conley, they're going to have to have guys kind of, you know, just be clutch in end-game situations and show that they don't need to have that star ISO score

behind Edwards, that they can be good enough offensively and dominant defensively to go all the way. But the clippers have so much more proven on their side of things compared to Minnesota. I think a lot of Wolves fans would even agree with that. Well, and the other thing is, as you've mentioned a couple different times in your game that you went to last

night, they got their work done in the third quarter. So the fourth quarter became inconsequential. and that's where they have really struggled this year. Minnesota has at a rough go in fourth quarters, and we know when it gets playoff time, to your point, about how it's like Edwards and then, all right, who else is going to get it done for me?

We know how playoff games go, that the margins are so thin that these teams end up knowing each other so well, and that once you get to games four, five, six, those games are going to come down to the last couple minutes of the games. And so who can be Mr. Big Shot for Minnesota like Chaunty Bill was became for Detroit and their finals run. So who can who can be that for Minnesota? It might just be aunt.

It might just reach an even higher level come postseason time. That's possible. Like this could be a, this could be the year of Anthony Edwards. That's what it could turn into where he becomes that guy. But, you know, I guess we'll see who elevates their play in the postseason. season for Minnesota offensively because they're going to need to have that because their defense is going to be great. I have no doubts about their defense at all. People, people last night I tweeted out how Gobert is the defensive player of your favorite right now. It's been, I said, it's amazing

to see him reaching an even higher level defensively now that he's surrounded by great perimeter defenders compared to Utah. And, you know, some people always respond, well, he's going to get played off the floor in the postseason. I think, I just don't think, I don't think that's fair at all. I think you're just not watching the wolves right now if you feel like because it's so different with this team. They have more support. If Gobert does get pulled out to the perimeter, they can still have cat inside. They can still have McDaniels as a help defender inside. They still have size.

If offensively he is being helped off of or not respected, I think he's a better finisher at the basket now than he was in his Utah days. He had a finish against the clippers on Monday where like he had, he received the ball around the free throw line, dribbled a couple times. to get into for the paint or a finish. He can put the ball on the floor once if he needs to. Before, if he dribbled once, it was like going nowhere. He's gotten better at some of those finishes to punish smaller guys, whereas in past years, he wasn't capable. So I think Obert has improved in the ways that, and the rosters improved around him in

the ways that I don't think he can get played off or neutralized in quite the same ways that he did with the jazz. So I don't even worry about that with Minnesota at all. It's purely about, do they have enough firepower on offense with spot up shooting, reliable spot up shooting? Do they have enough ISO scoring? It's not even anything to do with Gobert, Kat. It's just about really, I think, or Edwards for that matter, it's about everybody else.

All right. So I'll half agree. He will get played off the floor. But I agree they are infinitely better equipped to deal with it than they have been and their Utah teams. That's why they've got $100 million. soaked up in centers. I mean, you know, like, seriously, fine. Go five wide.

Play small against us. Force us to not have him on the court because he's not going to kill you offensively, but we've got to get him away from the basket. That's fine. But now I have Nasreed. Now I have Carl Anthony Towns that can man those positions. And I've got real size on the wings. So I'm still big all across.

That was always the problem with Utah. They're so small. And then they got like, what, like 50-year-old Derek Favors or whoever the hell they would bring in. You know, if they got to go. If somebody's trying to play him off the court, it was tough. I mean, they are equipped to deal with if you want to play that way. Okay, we've got the goods to be. They can even go Kyle Anderson.

Because Kyle Anderson is one of those like massively switchable defenders that, can give you minutes on different guys. The game I went to last night was about one 1,000 as entertaining as the one that you went to. Yeah, tell me about it. I saw, I mean, it's, look, in a season that began with John Moran, Desmond Bain, Marcus Smart, Jared Jackson, Jr. and Stephen Adams. And the only one that remains is Jared Jackson Jr.

and you literally have no idea who's playing any given night. We're on the pregame show last night, and I turned to the host, Rob Fisher, and we ran some B-roll of going through the layup line. I said, who the hell was that? Because they showed this guy, like making a layout from the side, and he was like, that's Lamar Stevens. And I was like, oh, oh, Lamar Stevens, okay.

It's like, who he played for to me. Yeah, Lamar Stevens, he's playing. By the way, Lamar Stevens is good, but it's like, you know what? I should do, I'm sure like they wouldn't allow it, but you guys could do a who he play for a segment for the Grizzlies. Like you can show faces of players to like that have played that play for the Grizzlies currently. Tucson, Ola Wamba or whatever. I'd be like, it's crazy. It's every game.

So anyways, it is of no account to watch, you know, the Pelicans play against a group of guys that might be different every single night. That being said, if anybody out there. because I know nobody's paying attention to this, but it's what I was at, so I'm going to talk about it. If anybody out there is tired of the amount of explosive offense that goes on in the NBA. Is the scoring too great in the NBA? I would encourage all of you.

It would be an absolute delight for you to pull up your league pass. And fast forward and watch the fourth quarter and watch the Grizzlies beat the Pelicans in the fourth quarter, 14 to 10 it was one of the worst things I've ever seen in my life 14 to 10 I mean we had it

I see the scores 96 to 87 Pelicans win so that that's like a score from you know the pre pre-warriors days in the mid-2010th we got those every night 96 87's that's that's normal I mean look Here's what I'll say about seeing the Pelicans in person again.

And look, I know Pelicans fans always get mad at me anytime I give an opinion about them. I'll say this. They would have been dead without Herb Jones and Larry Nance. Those are the kind of guys you have to have in a game like that. There's still guys that care no matter who they are playing against. The rest of the guys were like totally going through the motions. The Zion body language still just drives me crazy. It's just moping all the time.

And I, watching that fourth quarter play out, like, it got to the point where they, like, needed to score. They needed to get buckets. And the Ingram ISO is always there, which he hit the two biggest shots of the game. They still, like, I would go out and look for a veteran point guard. I mean, Lowry actually would have been nice for them. Just somebody to settle it down and organize it. I swear to God, in the fourth quarter and like down the stretch, it's just, it just the ball never pops around. And it's whoever's got the ball.

And it's like Zion driving into three guys or McCollum trying to do a step back or it's Ingram getting to his elbow fadeaway jumper. But it's just they just need, they got so much firepower, but they just need somebody to organize it. I feel like, and I am shocked that they did not go that route or acquire somebody. And that's all I'd say. Again, these games come down to fourth quarters. We know that. Whoever they play in the playoffs, and they are such a high-ceiling, low-floor team. Defensively, they're just not good enough when they've got their best,

their best offensive players aren't good enough defensively. and their best defensive players, I actually think can get it done on the offensive end enough. And it's just going to be about Willie Green mixing a match in that. Because, I mean, this Rat Grizzly team last night, Kevin, I mean, they shot literally six wide open threes down the stretch. Side of the backboard, Briggs. It's like the offense generates it because you're putting them on skates.

And I'm just thinking about that through the prism of this is what good teams are going to be able to do. Is they're going to be able to generate these open shots. And you're giving up too much, too many of those. You're giving up too many corner threes, wide open looks. You just happen to be playing a team that can't make them. But really, you know, like I said, the high ceiling, low floor. and I just don't know about the connectivity of them. And I also don't know about getting it in order.

It's very, very Phoenix S in the sense of that's another team without a point guard. And you saw this with Minnesota. And they've had their own problems even with Conley in the lineup. But certainly when Conley was out of the lineup, it became kind of a mess. Just somebody to bring the ball down and organize those scorers and get them the ball. in a good position. So anyways, there's my thoughts. It was a ridiculous game, honestly.

I mean, come on. 96 to 87, 14 to 10 in the fourth quarter. That's ridiculous. So I'm jealous. I would have rather been at Clips Wolves. And I would have much rather been at Buck's Nuggets. So that was my finals pick. and that felt like a yonest statement.

When I got back and was flipping through everything that took place last night, boy, oh boy, he cares and tries to put up numbers every single game. And he's always like 30, 15, and 5 seems like no matter. But it feels like there are certain games as we get, especially now headed towards the All-Star break, where a lot of themes can start to mail it in. but with their eye is already on vacation in a couple of days. There's certain games that clearly teams still take very seriously, and it felt like the Bucks took very seriously that Nuggets game,

and certainly the most impressed we've been with the Bucks in a long time, I think. Yonis definitely. I mean, it feels like a statement game for him, you know, and going against Yokic, 14 of 19 from the floor, 36 points, 18, 18, Rebounds, five assists, three steals, two blocks, plus 18 in the game. He was purely dominant. But I think more than anything else, the Bucks win against the Nuggets was a statement game for Doc Rivers.

Their defensive changes that have occurred ever since Adrian Griffin-War was fired on January 23rd, were really put on display I felt against the Nuggets. They have been a below 500 team since that happened. So on paper, on the surface, it looks like, well, they got rid of their coach and now they're worse. But like I said to you at the time of the firing, it won't surprise me if they end up having a worse record without Adrian Griffin. But they actually look like the better team where you feel like they have a chance of going deep in the postseason and actually winning it all. And I think that's exactly what's been happening. and they finally get the biggest win they've had last night against the Nuggets because of their defense. Janus, we look at the scoring numbers, but the 18 rebounds are in part because they're keeping him closer to the basket.

He's grabbing defensive rebounds, sparking transition offense. He's there at the paint roaming off ball, helping off of non-shooters, causing havoc near the rim. There for rebounds. There for rim protection. There to help out Brooke Lopez, who was awesome individually. against Yokic. He did a great job deterring him, making things harder on him, waving his arms around, constantly active throughout the game. And when Yokic was involved in two-man actions, the Bucks seemed to be doing a way better job fighting over screens. Like they have

AJ Green playing in their rotation right now. Like he did a great job defensively. It's clear why Doc Rivers is giving him minutes. They're just fighting over screens instead of dying on screens, which, you know, I'd imagine it's more of like a tactical thing that the coaching staff is informing their players to do. Like, they're not just dying right on the screen, right? So I think the bucks, like, they're doing some little subtle things defensively, you know, that I think look more like some of those bud defenses of old. And it shows up in the numbers ever since Griffin was fired. They are fifth in defensive rating in the NBA. So ever since January 23rd, they're under 500, but their fifth in defensive rating.

And that was what needs to be fixed. That's exactly what had to be fixed. And I think the last couple of weeks for the Bucks, they look more like a team, even though they're five and six, ever since Griffin was fired with Punti for a couple of games, and then Doc, there have been three and five with him,

even though their record is worse. To me, they look more like a team that you could, by the end of the year, when we have a larger sample size, say, oh, they're the favorite in the East. I think that they could steal that from the Celtics right now,

who they have their own issues as well, their own concerns. But the Bucks, to me, that win against the Nuggets is more indicative of like the changes that are happening defensively, even more so than what Yonis did offensively, which was in part because of those changes with that transition offense that was smarts. And for all the doc critics, that is something he has always been able to do. He's created a great defense. He has routinely had top 10 defenses. in the NBA and get guys to buy in and get guys to really play on that end.

And you're right. That's been their problem this year. And this has been a trick because, you know, I mean, it's, your point of attack defender is Damien Lillard instead of Drew Holliday. So it is a different deal, right? It's not what Mike Budenholzer coached. You know, things change. And so you've got to try to figure out,

Okay, how do we deal with what we have on this roster? And what do I have on this roster that can help me get it done on that end of the floor? And I think very impressive. They took that game clearly very seriously. It mattered to them and it mattered greatly to Janus. And if we're talking about like MVP versus MVP level player, that's a monster Janus performance in a game where everybody's looking like, What did the two guys do?

Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I mean, I think, I think people, Janus is going to have probably a lot more of these games. I mean, Janus could very well play, play himself, you know, into that top, top two MVP candidate. Again, I don't know where he finished in the straw poll. I want to be surprised. Okay. I had Janus, I believe, third on my ballot, if I remember correctly. Don't reveal yet.

I mean, I can sprinkle three. I said I had Kauai fifth. Yeah, third. But by the time I get to it, I'm going to know your whole order. That's okay. But I don't know.

I mean, I think that Bucks game, I mean, Patrick Beverly, tremendous as well. Definitely, I mean, they have some dogs,

Jay Crowder getting him back as well. They have those energizers that I think help the roster from that standpoint as well. But I don't know. Like more than anything else, I mean, I thought Brooke Lopez was tremendous in that game.

Like Brooke Lopez start to finish, just his activity on Yokic, making things hard on him. Like, you can never stop Yokic. He still finishes with 29 points, 13 of 25 from the field. He's still dominant. But you're not letting him go 20 of 25, 22 of 25. I think there were ways that Brooke Lopez limited him and the Bucks did collectively. Because in that first half, like first quarter, I thought the Bucks did a good job.

They had a game plan. Like, that's one of the things they talked about. We don't have a plan. They played with their typical drop coverage with Brooke Lopez against Yokic. And then as soon as DeAndre Jordan came in the game, they started being aggressive. They were doubling, trapping, blitzing on every two-man action. And then when Yolkich came back for the second time, it felt like they were still going back to their standard. But occasionally, Janus was helping aggressively off ball more.

Like I would imagine that was the plan. We play conservative to start. Yokich out. We're aggressive. And then when Yolk when Yolch comes back, we blend. Like they were still playing more conservative, but Yonis began helping more off and off ball. It was just, I don't know, they just looked like a prepared team that knew what they were doing and knew what the plan was going in and they just had to execute.

And that's what was missing with Adrian Griffin was a lack of communication, lack of having a plan. And with Doc Rivers, like you said, Chris, that's one thing we know he can do. He can communicate with his players. He's one of the better coaches in the league at doing that. The question, what doc is going to be adjustments come postseason time? Can he make the tweaks necessary? That's how he's blown some of those three one leads in past years,

just being too slow to make adjustments. But I mean, he also, I mean, when you have Damien Lodin and Janus, though, sometimes those guys just drag you to victory no matter what the coach staff is doing, which is what we saw the whole first half of the year with Griffin. Like, they, those guys, the game winner against the Kings from the logo, Yana, some of the dominant fourth quarter performances where the opponent could not stop them. many, many times. So, like, they played like, what was it?

At one point, we were like, played like 25 clutch games or something. It's like, why does every game go to the end? Right. Yeah. I mean, ultimately, though, I've been, I've been very impressed with the Bucks ever since they made the change. And I think, you know, I wrote this on the site last week when I did my post trade deadline power rankings.

I was like, they're in a transitional phase right now. Like, I'm not even looking at the record as much. It's more like the process of how things. are happening. I'm ignoring the record right now. But like that they're installing stuff every practice. They're doing different schemes. I think you're going to give them time right now. And those wins will start piling up and the nuggets could be the first of many to close the year. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, be breaking news in the middle of our podcast while we were recording it before I get to the news. Really? What happened? The sons have signed Faddeus Young.

Oh, okay. How dare you? I thought there was breaking news. Can you believe? That's just news. You want to know how old I feel? I feel so. I covered daddy as young at high school.

Oh, yeah? At Mitchell High School in Memphis, Tennessee. Guy's been in the league for like 50 years. He's played for like 10 teams. By the way, one of my favorite NBA players. Like the reason he's stuck around so long and he should be a great mentor to young players in the league is he is a great teammate and a great guy.

And just real quick on a side note, about five, six years ago, they have a thing as they do in many different cities. You'll like this. It's called Race for the Cure. And it's the 5K that they run in different cities to raise money for breast cancer awareness. And about five, six years ago, I host. it and it was in downtown Memphis. And so the morning of the 5K, it's like pouring outside.

There's still thousands of people that show up for it. There's all kinds of breast cancer survivors. There's people that have different reasons. Maybe I lost my mother. Maybe I lost my grandmother. Maybe I have somebody in my life that's going through it. And so no matter what, rain or shine, they showed up to do this 5K. Okay. So I'm standing up on the stage and doing like the announcements like, hey, you know, here's where the refreshment stand is. Here's where this is. Here's the Survivor's 10th. All this kind of stuff. And it's probably 8 a.m. on a Saturday morning. It's dark. It's cold. It's rainy. And all of a sudden, Daddy is Young walks up unannounced in the middle. I'm getting shit.

He walks up unannounced. He walks up on the stage. And I said, there he is. He had come in town the night before. I believe he was playing for either Brooklyn or the Pacers at the time. And they had flown in the night before. And he walks up on the stage and I hand him the microphone. And he proceeds to speak to everyone out there in the audience.

I mean, there's thousands of people out in front of him that are ready to do the race. And he proceeds to speak. And he said, I knew this was destiny this morning and I had to get over here. He had lost his mother to breast cancer the year before. And he said, and it just so happens. My team is playing on the road. The one time we're in Memphis all year, this happens to be going on. And he starts giving his speech about breast cancer awareness.

And please encourage all the females in your life to get checked and all this stuff. And I'm like, I can't believe. leave this. I mean, it is 8 a.m. It's a game day. And he was not like scheduled to be there. Nothing. Just walked up, walked up on the stage and gave this speech out to everybody that

was there. And I was like, I've been a part of some pretty like where the hair on your arm stands up moments in my life. But it's pretty high up there. And he is

he is a Absolutely. Great guy. Great example. I see him out, like during the summer, I see him out at the soccer fields with his kids, you know, rooting them on just like a regular old dad. And so, look, I know it's not a big deal that the sons brought him in. But I think that he is, he's a great example of what it is to be a true professional. And I'm happy that he's, you know, going to be part of another team. And I'm glad that he's still in the NBA. Because, I think that there are guys like that that have an impact outside of basketball that maybe you wouldn't know about unless I like, you know, just told you that that happened. That wasn't like some kind of big news out there. But I think it tells you what kind of guy he is. I think that also tells you why teams still want him in their locker room after a decade plus. It's a good story. Really.

Yeah. I mean, I didn't know that about him. I don't think I've ever heard that from you in all the years we've been new in the podcast. Yeah. Crazy story. That's, you know, sometimes it's the, you know, like you said, he wasn't scheduled to be there or anything like that. And it was raining. Yeah.

Yeah. He didn't have to go. Sometimes it's the things that you do that you don't have to do that make that type of lasting impact. And probably I'm sure, I'm sure like if he heard that story, he probably looks back at that moment fondly and probably in every single way feels thankful that he ended up getting up early on a rainy day to go. that. I'm sure that probably, you know, made him feel full, made him feel joy to do something like that. My timeline was full of people going crazy over the Jalen Brunson foul call. That's night. I didn't. I know yours was too. I didn't see it live, but I was scrolling through. I'm like, oh my God, people are losing it. Holy mother. I'd say in terms of like calls that, like,

The only thing I can remember that overtook the timeline like this was the last time was, I think, like, the Draymond Nurkich thing. Like, it was that big a deal. It's where it gets aggregated and viral in a way where it's like every single site that you follow and every single person is commenting on, oh my God, the Knicks were robbed. and I've seen it from a couple of different angles. I don't know if it's going to hold up in the two-minute report or not. They may do the minor contact thing, but that is so bogus. Well, Ed Beloy, the referee after the game, he said, after seeing it during post-game, the offensive player was able to return to a normal playing position on the floor of the contact,

which occurred after the release of the wall, therefore, is incidental. and marginal to the shot of 10th and should not have been called. So that's what Malloy said right after the game. Yeah. Sorry, we cost them the game. Yeah. Sorry.

You know, look, when they do the review, though, it's going to be funny. If it disagrees with Ed Malloy, they're going to say, oh, no, the reps were right. Yep. Yeah. Dude. I don't think it was a foul for what it's worth.

Of course it wasn't. We get to the end. And if we get to the end of the season and the Knicks miss their seating, one game, you better believe it's going to come back. That one's not going away because it's like a regular old, regular season, one of 82 games, but it's so egregious and it literally costs them a game that that one will get brought up.

Let's just hope that they're either too back or too clear of whatever they need to happen when it comes at the end of the season. that the one game difference would not have made a huge difference in their standing. You know, whether it met, you know, because, I mean,

shoot, you never know. This stuff could come down to whether or not you get to host the first round or not. Mm-hmm. I know. In a four or five matchup. Like, it does.

We could say, ah, it's just one game. But, like, we know, we get to the end of the season. And you catch,

you know, you catch the wrong tiebreaker. It's like, bro, if they wouldn't have robbed us in Houston, it'll come back up. So let's just hope that it doesn't end up costing the Knicks in some kind of more significant way than just having a random, you know, middle of the season lost to the Rockets. But that sucked.

Also, who wants a game to end that way? What a dick for calling that. Seriously. Like, seriously, you got to get mauled. I know that it's like, the rules are the rules. And you got to call anything. you know, whether it's the first minute of the game or the fourth or the last minute of the game, you got to call it by the, you know, there's always those friggin nerds on Twitter.

But that's not the way it goes. It's got to be bad for it to end a game. Got to. It's got to. One of my favorite things on Twitter is how Ben Stiller, all he does is tweet about the mix. You're aware of this? No, I don't follow Ben Stiller. Bill Stiller.

Yeah, Ben Stiller. He, uh, all he does is tweet about the Knicks. Last 90, he, uh, went at NBA official. Oh, no. 700 retweets. How are you going to deal with the Houston Knicks off a call? Brunson getting fouled entire game by Brooks and then a no call, then a call to end the game to take it out of the player's hands.

Brunson is an all star. And that was not a foul on this game. Wrong call cost overtime. 700 retweets, 4,000 likes. Do you know what's crazy? I actually thought about Ben Stiller this morning. How come?

Wow, that's crazy. And I bring him up? You're going to laugh at this. Yeah, tell me. I was scrolling through Instagram, and of course my algorithm is just a bunch of stuff that makes me laugh. And somebody posted like a split screen,

of what Ludacris was wearing when he came out of the Super Bowl and what Ben Stiller was wearing in Dodgeball. It's like this black and purple like shoulder pad outfit. Oh, I was howling. It really looked like the exact outfit that Ben Stiller was wearing in Dodgeball.

If you go back and look at what Ludacris was wearing during the Super Bowl, just silly. It was silly, but it was funny as hell. That's good. What's your favorite Ben Stiller? movie. I think it's Meet the Parents for me.

I love the character. I love the character at Dodgeball. Yeah, Dodgeball is a great one, yeah. Like, I love him being the bad guy in that. Like, he makes me laugh every scene. Every scene. He's funny. He's got the stupid mustache

and he plays this great bad Globo, Jim. I love the whole thing. How about Starsky and Hutch? That was really good too. I didn't see it. That was really good. It was. Do I need to go back and watch it? I don't think I've seen it since it was in theaters like 20-ish years ago. But that I'm just scrolling through, man, like he's got a lot of great movies. Kevin O's Cinema. Yeah. Night at the Museum. That was good when I was a teenager.

Meet the Fockers. Yeah. Really good. Something about Mary, obviously. Real quickly, I do want to mention in that Knicks game, which will forever be marred by the horrible call that ended it. Alman Thompson became the first rookie in over 40 seasons with 10 or more rebounds, five or more assists, five or more steals, and shoot 80% from the field in the game. Crazy. How about that? Boy, those Thompson brothers could do everything but put it in the bucket, huh?

Yeah, everything but shoot. They can do it, but they do everything else, brother. They are long as all get up, and they are athletic, and they really rebound. both of them can rebound. Oh, yeah. And get in the mix. And so they kind of do all the little stuff. That's the kind of stuff that are, honestly, it is the kind of stuff that coaches will play you for.

If you go out there and rebound and get steals and wreak havoc, you know, they'll play you much more often than if you can go out there and get me 12 points. It's kind of funny how similar that they are. And this is like, they truly are twins. Like, Amman Thompson on the season. 6 of 38 from 3, 15.8%. Osar Thompson on the season. 12 of 82 from 3, 14.6%. Amen is 64.7% from the line.

Osar is 63.8% from the line. They're like basic numbers are similar. Amen, 7.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists. Osar 8.3 points, 6.6 rebounds, 1.9 assists. Like, their numbers like up and down the line are just so, similar. It's hilarious. Well, it's nice to see

Ahmed getting an opportunity coming on here because we talked about like rookies that are going to make a mark like, you know, especially as we head into the All-Star break and then post All-Star break. And your guy, Brandon Miller, has been unbelievable. I watched him

play over the weekend, came out and had like double digits, I think, at the first quarter against Biffis on Saturday. and, man, he could score from every level. And there's no doubt about it, Kevin. The one thing that you were dead on about was preaching patience with him. And it is very fascinating the trajectory that mirrors what took place with him at Alabama.

And you kept saying, like, hey, he started slow at Alabama. and then he figured it out. And then he was an MF. And it's like, I watch him now. I'm like, that is not the same guy from the first 20 games if you flipped on a Charlotte game. Like, not only has he been more empowered. But this guy, you would not know he is a rookie in terms of the way he plays. And some guys, like, you know, some guys look, it could take years before they figure things out and what they truly are within the NBA.

but this feels like a very fast progression within his rookie year. And he has been absolutely dynamite for the last three weeks to a month. And one of the big things that we're seeing from him is something that he only had in high school. Because at Alabama, they play like an analytically happy system on offense. They shoot threes and they go to the basket. They are last in the nation at taking mid-range jumpers. They just don't do that. Hey, Kev, real quick, they don't even shoot threes.

Have you ever seen those stories they do on their practice, Jim? Nate Oates has a four-point line. Oh, yeah, yeah. That is drawn on their court as to give them more space. So they attempt to become proficient from what they call their four-point line, which is a couple feet back from the three-point line. And it's all because of the spacing of it all for the trade-it-up, lay-it-up offense. 100%.

Like, that's their objective. when they're playing, right? And Brennan Miller, one of the reasons why I really liked him entering the college season, I was like, hey, this guy, like, he seems underrated. He could be a top five guy, maybe even a number, like number two guy behind Victor was because of the mid-range. And in high school, he was a great mid-range score. That was gone at Alabama because it wasn't part of their system, but it's back in Charlotte. You saw it in that Memphis game. Everybody that's seeing Brennan Miller right now is seeing it, the flu. pulling up for mid range from difficult awkward angles is there.

It's a little young ingramy, honestly. It is, it does look like Ingram, except I think like Miller is an even better three-point shooter than Ingram. Ingram's still reluctant from three. He loves the mid-range almost too much. But like Miller has that fluidity like Ingram from mid-range, but also he has it from three-point range, which gives him that three-level scoring ability. But I don't know, it's highly impressive the passing as well within the flow of that offense. Miller's defense he had a play recently where he was like screaming at his teammates, get back. Like it's cool to see some of the intensity from him on a losing Charlotte team. That's what they're going to have to have.

He's going to have to grow into becoming one of those guys who's a tone setter on top of being a score, on top of being a creator. But I'm very impressed with Miller this year. And I think with him, he's looking like the right choice. Yeah, there's no question. He looks like the right choice as of right now, given Scoot's struggles through his rookie season. Also, I just want to mention Grant Williams, good fit with that team. Good fit.

He's had two really good outings to start with them. And sometimes things work out just changes the scene. or he can work out for both guys. And you see what Great Williams done. And my God, how about the Gafford debut? The debut was incredible. And in the first two games, he's played 20.6 minutes per game. And his average 17.5 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks.

I'd say that's, I'd say it's working out. In fact, his first start that he just had, 16.7.7. 17 rebounds, two steals and five blocks. God. It's crazy. Daniel Gaffert. Dude, it really is crazy. Like sometimes it is just about situation and fit.

And you plug him into that situation. That's why Derek lively made so much sense as a draft pick for them. And now Daniel Gafford, same exact thing. So we're seeing him play some of his best basketball. We talked about Alman Tops. We talked about Brandon Miller. We'd be remiss. It took us entirely too long to get to the freakish Wembe triple double with 10 blocks.

That like, it kind of got buried. I know that their record stinct. And I know that, you know, Wembe Yama is a constant on everyone that follows the NBA's feeds and everything he does, you know, becomes known about. But Jesus, man, a triple double with 10 blocks. I mean, what the hell? Like, that's crazy. That's crazy. 10 blocks.

I mean, I turned last night as that was going on and, you know, people were tweeting it out his numbers. I showed my producer was sitting by me at the grizzly game, but I was like, bro, look at this. It's like 27. I said the guy had a triple double with 10 blocks. And he's like, can you imagine we get three or four years down the road? Like, what the hell is anybody going to?

to do with him. This is year one. Frigant triple double with 10 blocks. Like that is just like I'm playing, I'm playing it in a, like I belong in a different league because these guys are too little for me. Like I need to, I need to be in a Giants league.

Well, that's what some of the blocks are like. Like he had a block in the third quarter. I think this was probably my favorite of the 10 blocks. I'm not sure. Like there's a lot of them could be the favorite. But he was defending an manual quickly pick and roll. And quickly's coming down the lane.

And he's kind of around the left elbow. And Wemby's kind of like swiping his arm at him, making sure he doesn't take the little mid-range pull up. And then quickly makes the pass to the center. I think it was a hurdle who was on the floor. And Wembe, like, barely even takes a step across the lane and reaches over with his right arm. And he just blocks the shot easy. Like it looks it looks like he was there the whole time because he was it's unfair. It's unfair because he can be in two places at once.

He's that big. He's guarding somebody at the free throw line and guarding somebody at the rim. Yes. You remember that? That happened with the honest in the finals a couple years ago. You remember that? Yeah, the DeAndre Aten block where he kind of spun in the middle of the lane. Like that was that was one of the best playoff finals blocks that I've ever.

scene. Yeah, he like showed on a pick and roll and blocked the, and blocked the pass, like after the roll was hit. That was crazy. That's a great callback. And Wembe, if he's, and when he's someday in those situations, it's going to have blocks like that in the playoffs, when the spurs are that great of a team. You can't, you can't be allowed to guard both actions of the pick and roll. That's illegal. That's,

it is, it is genuinely nuts watching this guy. He is a, a transformative defender already. I know Michael Pina, my ringer coworker, tweeted last night that he thinks Wembe should be a defensive player of the year finalist. I would agree with that. I mean, I don't know if he'll finish in my top three because the Spurs as a team are not a great defense,

but they're way better when Victor's on the floor. Victor changes everything. I think it's kind of fair to say right now. To say Victor Wenbenyama is the best defensive in the league? Is he the defensive player of the year? You've seen a lot of those memes, though, going around. I see it, like, regularly. The whole Gobert, you know, defensive player of the year season,

Wembe season, if we're just doing counting stats. Like, he's already surpassed some of those. It's freakish. It's freakish. How many shots he blocks? And he's been on a minute's restriction part of this season. Right. He's kind of out of it now, but I mean, dude, it's also like,

not just like the thing that makes him so special is it's not just the fact he's big it's the the hustle like yeah the the mindset he has yes like he had like you mentioned you talked about that yannis block against aeton in the finals like he had a block on barns at the rim where he was i think it was bruce brown on the on the perimeter that he was defending and he was like contesting his shot the pass goes into barns at the basket and wemby just quickly turns his feet, flips around, and blocks them from behind, and they're up 30 in the game. Like, you don't need to be hustling like that, man. But he's still flying around, and it's like that all the time with him, dude.

It's mindset, awareness, you know, just the intelligence, the hustle, the heart. I mean, he is, like, he is truly going to be, like, Rudy O'Barre might win his fourth defensive player of the year this year. if you're taking the over under for Victor Wenbanyama and his career staying healthy I'd probably bet on the over for Wendy with defensive player of the years

he might win seven, eight in his career it might get to the point voters get bored to voting for Wendy try to find somebody else but I don't know man like it's going to be the error of wemby

he is unlike anyone we've ever seen last two things before we get out of here Warriors back Are you a believer? You think so. You believe in this streak. Yeah, I believe in it. I think there's something happening here with the Warriors.

They've got five straight wins. They have been dominant with Draymond on the floor. He is another transformative defender. Andrew Wiggins and Jonathan Kaminger are playing incredibly well together. Stefan Curry looks like his MVP self right now. the warriors have figured out their rotation, the guys that they want to lean on. Paws are still playing really well in that rotation for them as a rookie. I'm a believer, man.

I think Cominga has really figured things out and Steve Kerr has found his guys. And Draymond, as long as he can avoid suspension again. Draymond's been great. He's been sensational, dude. He's been absolutely unbelievable. And when Draymond's unbelievable, he's helping activate Steph. And on defense, he is lifting everybody up. I think they're for real.

And they are going to finish this season as a team that you want to avoid in the playoffs. That's what I'm thinking right now with what we're seeing. To your point about comminga, since the whole losing faith in Steve Kerr. Oh, those numbers are amazing. It's 21 points per game, 5.6 rebounds per game, 57% from the field, 40% from 3, 78% from the line. So free throws can get a little bit up. But to your point about Cominga, figuring it out a little bit,

and certainly since he made that statement. Now, the Phoenix win is an extremely good win. The schedule when you go and look, I think it's going to be super instructive. Let's see them. The Phoenix game was great. And obviously the Curry shot was just, I mean, come on.

Oh, dude, that was absolutely majestic. They, this week, Wednesday night, they play against the Clippers. I think that's going to be, that's going to be a great mark for, okay. And that's a, it's a, ESPN game on Wednesday night. That's a, that is a great premier game. So they've won these games. you go look at the schedule.

Obviously, the Phoenix one is really good. The other ones, you know, you could poke holes in, you know, the opponents. I agree. There's no hole poking in the Clippers. So we're about to find out, you know, if we should really buy into this warrior streak on Wednesday night when we see them against a team that, and it's a home game. And you know, the energy is going to be huge. And it's the last game kind of before the break, I think.

I don't think. They play Thursday, too. They got a back and back. Oh, they play Thursday. Okay, yeah, they play at the jazz. Okay. But they'll go, they'll go hard Wednesday night. That will be a, that'll be a statement type game.

Yeah. So we'll see. You're right, though. I mean, like, I think, you know, if I'm placing a bet after kind of like, you know, some easier opponents, I'd say I'm a believer. And I think some of the changes we're seeing them from them are for real. But the big tests are coming up, like you said, Clippers on Wednesday. Out of the break, their first game is against the Lakers.

And then they have a game against the Nuggets on. the Sunday after the All-Star break. So they have three games before the end of this month. Actually, four. I see they have the Knicks on the road on the 29th. So four games before the end of this month that'll be really the real, the best barometers for who the Warriors really are right now. So those games I'm very much looking forward to that Wednesday game against the Clippers. I'm excited. Tune in for that one. Last thing, the Bontep Straw poll. I participated in it. You participated in it. Yep. Yep. Here it is. Tell me. Tell me your top five first. I want your top five first. Give me yours. Okay. Here. I'm going to tell you, let me go find my text of Bantams because I can't

remember what order I put them in offhand. Oh, I got mine. I'll tell you mine as you pull yours up. I had, I had Yokich 1, SGA 2, Luca 3, Yonis 4, Kauai 5th. That was mine that I sent on last Friday. That's what I had last Friday. Okay. I literally only have Luca and Yannis flipped. Okay. So I had Yokic SGA, Yonis, Luca, Kuai. Cool. So we were very similar. So what was the actual top five?

I have not looked. Like I said, I have not looked. Yokic SGA, Janus, Luca, Kauai, my list.

Wow. Good job. Yeah. So I, and look, I did not confer with anybody. Yeah. So sometimes these can be,

you know, you're guilty of group think. When it comes to this, I didn't, the next is I mean Tatum is like pretty far back from

he's 17 votes back from Kauai so it seems like most everybody had the same thing it might have been a matter of you know which guys what order you had him in somebody gave Brunson a first place vote and somebody gave Anthony Edwards a first place vote

Wow. What? Come on, bro. I don't know. Come on. Yokic 69 first place votes. SGA 24 first place votes. So right now, Yokic, I mean, it's still early. It's not before the All Star break. We're midway through. But 69, he's in the lead. Yeah. The leader in the second straw poll, Embed in 2022, and Yoneman. Yokic last year has been surpassed by the second place finisher and official award voting the past two seasons. So if that trend continues, it would be SGA.

If Oklahoma City ended up the one seat, I could see that. Yeah, me too. You know? Yeah, I could see that as well. Somebody, they like to give the award to somebody else. Yep. Yeah. All right. Kevin, it is always a pleasure.

Thanks to Isaiah for filling in for Jesse Lopez. today and producing the show. And I will talk to you on Thursday. Thank you, Ford, and have a great week. Must be 21 plus in present in select states. Fandul is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under an agreement with the Kansas Star Casino, LLC. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler, or visit fandul.com slash RG.

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