The Ringer NBA Show - Can the Warriors Force a Game 7 Against the Lakers? Plus, the Impressive Play of the 76ers and the Ups and Downs of the Suns | Real Ones

Episode Date: May 11, 2023

Logan and Raja are back to discuss Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Golden State Warriors and the chances that the Warriors can force a Game 7 (2:22). Along the way, they talk about what the Lakers need to do to close out the series and the importance of Anthony Davis’s availability (19:28). Next, they preview Thursday’s matchups between Boston and Philadelphia and between Denver and Phoenix (31:30). Finally, the guys close with their Real Ones of the Week (47:31). Hosts: Logan Murdock and Raja Bell Producer: Jonathan Kermah Production Assistant: Kai Grady Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You may find this hard to believe, but 60 songs that explain the 90s. America's favorite poorly named music podcast is back. With 30 more songs than 120 songs total. I'm your host, Rob Harvilla, here to bring you more shrewd musical analysis, poignant nostalgic reveries, crude personal anecdotes, and rad special guests, all with even less restraint than usual. Join us once more on 60 Saws that Explain the 90s every Wednesday on Spotify.

What's popping? Logan Murdoch here, Roger Bell there. Thursday, real ones. We're in the motherfucking building. Roger last night, I attended Warriors, Lakers game five.

Warriors got it done. Bring the series of three, two going back to Los Angeles. Roger, don't let me ask you real quick. I want to ask you real quick. I want to ask you, because I've never been to Chase.

I've never been to chase. What is the, what is Logan's go to, if he's not down in the press room, like go to concession? because at the old Oracle they used to have these fire like noodles like a low main

that I would sit up in the stands and eat when I was with the front office like what is it at Chase it's one of I just let Nike to know they got a bake sale Bettys which is the North Oakland establishment that's pretty good that's all I really know man

because I don't really go to the Chase Center like media food ain't bad at all so I usually fuck around with the with the Chase Center media food I'm sorry, pal. I'm working, dude. I ain't got time to fucking... Fair, that's fair.

Fucking eat. Just like, you know, in the stands, bro. I'm out here working, bro. I'm out here trying to get content for this podcast. I know people in Oakland when we were at... We were playing in the finals. I don't know that any of them really knew what I was doing at the time, but I was there like in a three-piece suit, you know,

all jazzies sitting in like sitting in the general manager seats. They had to be like, you know, what is this dude doing, standing in this line getting low main like twice a game bro what is going on with him i'd just be standing there actually was good well to be fair the oracle media dining was left much to be desired so i understand what you're saying pal now back to my monologue the warriors have pushed have pushed into the lakers leaders back three to going back to los angeles raja bell what are the chances that the warriors around the table here and come back from a 3-1 lead and maybe win this series.

I mean, it's doable first and foremost. It hinges on a few things. And, you know, Anthony Davis, anytime you're dealing with an apparent head injury, that's a very unclear kind of fluid situation. You know, if it approached concussion protocol and, you know, whether his baseline is one that can keep him out of the concussion protocol. So whether he's available, that's first and foremost. If you were watching, there were multiple times.

LeBron looked like he tweaked his foot or his ankle on one play. And then there was another time where it looked like he was kind of pawing at his back a little bit, grimace in there in the third and fourth quarter. You know, there are some of those things that play into it. I thought the fact that the Lakers hung around as long as they did. And a game that really felt like Golden State controlled it for most of it was a terrible recipe, ultimate end game for the Lakers because you just had to keep trying to win the game. you know, like they didn't really concede that game

until probably two and a half minutes left. And so you played LeBron and everybody. Golden State can do it. I really liked what Golden State came out and did in that game. Whether they can do it again remains to be seen. But, you know, they didn't shoot the ball great. But even before that played itself out, you saw them determined to get into the paint.

And Steph Curry, in a lot of instances, not settling for like, a deep three when you got the switch, but just saying, I'm going to put my head down and get to the rim. And he was able to score in some of those scenarios. Some of them weren't fruitful. You got a shot block.

And then in a lot of other situations, it collapsed the defense in a way that allowed someone else to either make a shot on an assist from Curry or Curry had the hockey assist, which is, you know, he swings it and then someone else makes a play for someone else. And so it just collapsed that defense. And the Lakers played this really nice shell.

They're long, they're athletic, They can challenge a lot of shots. They have hands up and they can really board. But when you break down that wall and that shell and you're in the interior of it, whether you score or not, let's say you just make a good hard drive and you draw the big across to block a shot and you get it up on the rim. Well, you saw multiple opportunities on the offensive glass for people that when they're getting 8 to 10 to 12 on offensive, you know,

a rebound, putback points, second chance points, those are critical. And I liked what Golden State did last night offensive. Now, they didn't shoot it well. They'll have to shoot it well in L.A., but I like the mindset. It was interesting. Let me look at the rebounds right now. Warriors outrebounded the Lakers, 48 to 38. They outrebounded by 10.

And it was a lot of gang rebounding, man. It was like in the last series with the Warriors, it was Looney just getting every single rebound. But they pushed it, right? They collapsed on the glass. Draymond had 10 rebounds. Wiggins had seven. Clay had six.

Gary Payton second had six. Kvall Looney off the bench had eight, right? Yeah, they were flying. Like Gary Patens were the ones that I thought spoke to their mentality, right? Because he just come flying in out of nowhere and just smack it out. They were committed. You're right. The thing is, though, they're going to have to, like, when I look at the Lakers front line,

it's AD getting boards, but they don't have any a lot. other than Anthony Davis and the Interior. So like if you gang rebound for the Warriors, you can get fruitful results. And then that, when you get defensive rebounds and offensive rebounds the way they're doing, you could continue to dictate the pace and then push the pace the way you were

talking about earlier in the series. And that could, I mean, there was a lot of things that if you're a Warriors fan, you should be excited about going into Los Angeles. Now, will the supporting cast carry? We'll see, right? Anthony Davis has to play the way he's played he played last night in Los Angeles.

Traymond Green, who had a 20 point who had a 20.10 rebound game who was actually looking for his shot this time around. I asked him after the game, when do you differentiate when you look for your offense first when you don't? And he says when the other guys aren't going, I have to get my offense. I have to look to score. And he has to look to score in these postseason, right? I think he has to look to score, especially when Clay Thompson isn't hitting the way he's supposed to hit, right? Especially when Jordan Poole isn't hitting the way he's supposed to hit. I think Jarmond should take more of advantage on the offensive end when he sees those chances.

But its overall point is he's going to have to be good. And the supporting cast for the Warriors is going to have to be good. Supporting Cas for the Warriors is good. Then the Warriors have a shot, not necessarily. I don't know yet to come back, but at least to force a game. seven at Chase and then all bets are off by then. All bets are off at that point. Well, what's scary if you're a Laker fan on top of what I just kind of talked about,

which was, you know, Anthony Davis and what his injury looks like and so on and so forth, is that you were beaten last night by a team that, for the most part, shot the ball very, very poorly. Like, they won in a way that if they can beat you playing that game and then they heat up, it could get scary for you, right? And I would just say that I like Draymond in another space, like not the space of, hey, when my teammates aren't going,

I look to be aggressive. I like him in just being aggressive. Because those shots are there for him. Maybe not the late shot clock jumper where Clay found him, which was a critical shot as the horn went off. And maybe not in those, but in those catches with no one's on you and you're not deliberating about what to do,

you're just getting downhill. And I saw that from a lot of Golden State players last night. Defenders, like I am at my most vulnerable as a defender. As soon as you catch that ball, Logan, as soon as you catch it, because there is a split second in time where I'm still, you know, either getting into position or working my way to where I want to be where you know what you're going to do. And if you just do it, you've got me in a reaction, like reactive way.

Right. now I got to try to catch up. Where if you let me sit down and really dictate where I want to push you, I'm dictating that action, right? Like now you got to go where I want you to go. And that's advantageous to me. And I saw a lot of decisive, really quick catches and just, we're not playing around.

We're getting downhill into the paint. And I think Draymond needs to play like that. And if you score out of it, great. And if they wind up coming over and taking away your ability to score, then now you've become this facilitator. But I think that's the approach when the Lakers are playing you the way they are. Hey, I'm going to have eight to ten first quarter points. If you're just going to let me catch this shit around the elbow or the deep elbow and no one's guarding me,

I'm not going to accept that you're just sitting in the paint waiting for me. I'm coming right at your hit. Clay did not play well at all, right? Clay looked like he still was himself. He was still aggressive. Still gives you a chance to be yourself in the next game. I'm worried about Jordan Poole and they need Jordan Poole. because last night it was Steph, although he didn't shoot it great.

He closed great and he set everyone up great. Andrew Wiggins was good. Draymond was good. Clay was bad. Jordan Poole was awful. You're going to need Jordan Poole. That championship team, you know, was Steph, Clay, Wiggins, Jordan Poole, offense. For the most part, count on them.

Jordan Poole looks like something has gotten into his head. He looks like he's second guessing. He looks like he's trying to. to make it happen. And usually when you're pressing like that as an offensive player, it doesn't happen. You just got to, don't second guess, bro, just go out there and let it ride. Shoot your shots. Play the way you played all year.

And that was kind of, remember when you asked me about the shot and what do you do to him after that shot, that uncharacteristic shot? And I said, you don't want to fuck up his mojo. I'm not saying anyone in Golden State did, but it looks like his, you know, his mojo's fucked up. He's second guessing whether or not he's as good offensively as he's proven to be, you know, over a season and a half now. Yeah, it's been an interesting thing.

It's been an interesting roller coaster ride for Jordan Poole this season. I mean, I think from a human element, you forget, the man got punched in the face, right? Yeah. And the ramifications of that, right? Like, not only do you, after that happens with your teammate, and then your teammate doesn't get suspended for that. We talked about this. You guys go to the real ones archives, right? We've talked about this in the ramifications that could happen.

And those ramifications are bearing fruit right now, right? Like, he's still adjusting to figuring out his role in this team and also how the rest of the team feels about him, right? Like, another thing, like, there's always this media narrative that goes out about Jordan Poole. Who do you think is pushing that narrative behind the scenes, Raja? Like, the people that are in the locker room, right? that are the people, like, if they're going to, if they're going to, if the Warriors players are going to publicly defend him publicly, they got to do it privately as well, right? They got to be the whole totality because I think in a lot of ways, he's felt like he's been on an island this whole season.

And that's something that the Warriors have to figure out how they bring him back into the fold, right? Because there's no way. Here's another thing that is very interesting, right? Game four, which we haven't really discussed. Game four, the Warriors' three best players all fumbled the bag down the stretch. Draymond Green would a bad pass. Clay Thompson, what a terrible shot down the stretch. Steph Curry throws the ball out of bounds. What is that question for it?

What was the biggest storyline of that game, Roger, of game four? What was the biggest storyline after what I just told you what happened down the stretch in a game that could have tied the series? What was the biggest storyline? Jordan. It was Jordan Poole played 10 minutes and didn't really have any effect on the outcome of that game, right? That's what I'm saying, right? Like, that's where he's at right now.

And he's just trying to, like, he's just gasping for straws because he's trying to figure one his game out and figure out how to not be on an island with that team. And that's, that's the conundrum at this point. Jordan Poole bears a lot of blame, but he is not the only one that bears blame enough. It feels like whenever the Warriors lose, he is the one that is getting all. of that blame. And the game four is a perfect example of that. All of that can be true. And what I'm telling you is a lot of times, despite everything you just said, the answer isn't to try to figure it out or to get deeper into the analysis of what's going on or the psyche of the team or how I fit into that. The answer is to just let go, like simplify. I'm not worried about any of that shit.

I'm not because all of that is slightly distract. and slightly, you know, causing some anxiety or tightening me up or whatever you want to call it. And the answer for a lot of athletes at times is to just clear your brain, play with freedom, get back to, you know, I watch Jordan Poole play when he's at his best and there's this level of creativity and I don't give a fuck in what he does offensively. that borderlines obnoxious at times. It really does. Like some of the shit he does, you're like, what? Remember some of the shit he did last year where he was just like,

where he was just in a different bag? Now this year he's just shaking himself. Like he'll do a crossover and he's falling down himself. I watched him last night giving the ball up to people, giving it up and looking out of sorts because, you know, that's not what he did do most of the season. Those people aren't used to having the ball. Not even looking at the basket.

Not even looking, Logan. And so my point is, the answer isn't always to dig deeper into it and figure it out. It's to just let go and do what I do, man. Look, this is what I do. This is what I've always done. This is how I do it. I'm just going to hoop. I'm going to go out there.

I'm going to relax and I'm going to play my game. If Steve Kerr doesn't like it, he'll sit me down. But me trying to fit in isn't really working. So I'm not trying to figure it out. I'm going to play. I'll have Coach Kerr figure it out. That's his job, right? If it ain't clicking and I'm not making shots, I sit down.

But if I can tap into like 75, 80% of that good offense, man, that helps Steph Clay, Draymond, Wiggins in a way that, that, you know, would, in my opinion, really get Golden State over the hump. I'll say this. Like, Clay Thompson and Jordan Poole have both not played well. The difference is Clay Thompson is going to shoot that out. He going to shoot it every single time. He's going to stay aggressive. It's not going to affect his aggressiveness. And that's how you get those periodic games from Clay where it's, it's just going in.

Because he doesn't give a fuck. I think that to your point, or your point, Jordan Poole gives the fuck a little bit too much at this point. You know? He's doubting it. He's a little doubtful. You get what I'm saying? It's like, he's just like, I remember when I was a young whippersnapper, right? And I used to play, I played football.

My dad was taking me to the park. And he would always, and there were these trees. right, because I used to play quarterback. I wasn't as good as your son, but I used to play quarterback and he would do drills, right? Where I would throw at a target, right? Yep.

And when I was, you know, I guess the target, it would be a tree back in the day, right? And it would be try to hit five in a row, right? And when I would just be slinging it, like I would hit four in a row, pop, pop, pop, but on that fifth one, I would do, you know,

where you kind of just try to wheel the ball in and you aim it, And you would miss it every single time. Jordan Poole is on that fifth tree, aiming the ball, trying to hit it very perfectly. But he's doing that every play right now because all the shit that I just discussed at the beginning. But also, there's another argument to this is that this is the league, man. Like, this is the NBA. You know, everyone is going through this, but through some way, shape, or form.

The key is to how are you going to overcome that? Because we all got shit, right? Like that always happens. That's the league. Like fucking Roger, you've done this, you've been through, you know, this media cycle before. It's ugly and it's unfair. But you still got to go through and win that game. And you still got to just fucking overcome that.

Absolutely. You're describing pressure, right? That fifth throw was pressure. There was pressure associated with it that the first four didn't have. And so, yeah, when you get tight and you try to will something to happen, a lot of times, you can get in your own way. And so the answer to coming out of funks like that that players get into isn't universal

in terms of like, you know, everyone just go out there and feel free offensively. Like that wasn't my answer because I wasn't that kind of player. The answer lies in what kind of player you are at your core. Who are you? What do you do? What makes you tick?

For me, it was energy. Right? So whenever I would get in my own head and start missing a bunch of shots and start worrying about my shot and trying to aim my shot, I just had to forget about my shot and say, you know what?

It's not why you're here anyway, man. Like, let's go out there and run a thousand miles an hour. Let's guard the shit out of some people. Let's rebound the hell out of the ball, take a couple charges. And then I got back to being me. And when I got back to being me, everything just kind of relaxed and fell back into place.

Boom, there went a shot. And you're like, oh, my God. There goes another shot. And you're like, oh, it's working again. And so Jordan Pool is not an energy guy. What Jordan Poole plays with, in my opinion, is an offensive swag and a kind of like like a Hugo Bonito if you will like to take a soccer term right

like they've got this real this real like flavor to their all no but that's the way he plays so just get to it like I don't give a shit what the stage looks like just let's get in the bag let's see what it looks like I'm not telling you to pull you know 35 foot threes but let's dance a little bit my boy that's what you do let's dance and if it doesn't work Steve Kerr's going to sit your ass down anyway. So just go out there and be you, man.

Get back to what makes you you. And that gives yourself the best chance of being good and ultimately would help Golden State be the best version of themselves. We'll see what happens, man. I want to go to the Lakers sort of view. Anthony Davis got a head injury midway through the game, right? Look pretty bad. Did it.

Live? Yeah, that was a fucking bum. I don't know, man. I don't plan the, Hey, hey. I'm not going to do it. I am Logan Murdoch staff writer of the ringer, not Logan Murdoch 16 year vet, NBA vet.

No, I'm sure you got, no, I'm sure. There's no way to tell me. He got injured. He got to tell me. He got dinged. He got dinged. I'm not going to do that.

I'll just say this, right? I'm not questioning. It didn't look like a bow, though, Logan. It looked like he got hit by my man's forearm. And it did catch him in the temple. And I'm sure he was woozy. But my first gut reaction. action was that didn't look like a vicious blow to the head.

Well, Anthony Davis' bell got wrong, Braja. And it seemed like Lakers' brass and everyone around the Lakers were very quick to say that it wasn't a concussion, even though the man went to the locker room in a wheelchair. Bro, don't see. You guys can't see. Raj's face. Roger is beside himself. I don't know if he's going to do the rest of the pod. I don't know if we're here.

You said he went to the locker room in a wheelchair? Yeah, he went to the locker room and a wheelchair. Stop playing. Stop playing. That's what happened. He went to the locker room in a wheelchair. And the Warriors, the Lakers vast, excuse me,

were very quick to say, initially there were no signs of a concussion. He was just a little woozy and ended the, and just at that end of his night. So we'll see what happens, like going into game six. I think he's going to play, but this is just a lot, Roger.

This is a lot from the whole. Anthony Davis experience. And I feel like if he was, I don't know, I feel like if he was good, he would go back out and play. I feel like this is a more serious thing than people are letting on.

And all that to say, I still think he's going to play. Yeah, I don't. I mean, I'm sure his bell was wrong. I don't think he's concussed. I don't.

I mean, I saw him walking out of the arena last night. He ain't look concussed. Now, here's the crazy thing about concussions, though, in all fairness. Like,

those symptoms can pop up today. You know, I mean, like you could, they could pop up later. in the evening, you know, so you, it really is a, a kind of touching go, wait and see. They suck. Yeah, yeah, no, I'm not making light of those at all. And so, but I don't think he's concussed. And I think, I think he'll be fine. You'll have to wait and see though. And the reason,

the reason the Lakers did not touch the word concussion is because it immediately puts into play concussion protocol. I don't know what it is in the NBA versus the NFL right now, but you want to stay as far away from that as possible because you don't control it. Yeah. You know what I mean? And so, like, if you get too close to it and, you know, that third party who's supposed to be impartial steps in and says, oh, we're talking, we're talking head injury. We're talking concussion. Well, remove yourself Lakers brass. Remove yourself AD.

You've got nothing to do with this. Let's make our independent evaluation. Boom, concussion protocol. You're in trouble. So if he wasn't presenting any kind of, yeah, you don't want to touch the word concussion just for that reason, you know? And the Lakers say this game goes seven. or the series go seven, you have a game between both games. If you get diagnosed with a concussion, you damn, they're out of the series, bro.

Lakers don't want that. It's just interesting. The Lakers need AD in the worst way, man, because LeBron, I don't know. Like, I know he can get to that gear, but it's tough for him to sustain that gear, man. Like, there was a, I don't know if he can, like, say if AD doesn't play Friday, that's going to be tough. I don't know if LeBron can, based on what I've seen from him in this postseason, can do much if AD's not in the, not to say he can't do much, but it's going to be hard to overcome this Warriors team with this aging LeBron at this point in his career.

That would be tough. They need AD. They do need AD. And I think that's fair. And it's not taking anything away from LeBron. LeBron's most prolific scoring outburst this year haven't always translated into wins the way that when AD has his prolific offensive knights translates into wins, right? Like so I think LeBron could go off and it still wouldn't or could, may not be enough, is what I should say, may not be enough.

Even if LeBron is able to summon this, you know, four year time machine type of performance. Because the other thing where we're discounting is, man, these are, and you spoke about them as they related to concussion protocol, but the schedule is on their back right now. Like, did you see the look in the Lakers? eyes last night when they couldn't catch up. I mean, and they were fighting. They were there to fight. I thought they were going to win the game in the second quarter when LeBron was hitting all them damn threes. I thought it was like, I was like, oh, it's cooked. It's done.

They want it now. Even that is telling, right? Like, LeBron at this stage, when these games start stacking up in this small amount of time, the damage is coming from out there versus always being on top of the rim and cratering your defense. You know what I mean? he had some moments like that slash

put back dunk on clay you know and he was in there shaking off three defenders and big body draymond like he had his moments but at the point in the career where he's at with these games coming as quick as they are you know that's that's it's not conducive to lebron just

putting a team on his back and and scoring 45 and riding off into the sunset the way it was five six seven years ago and so yes they need anthony davis and if they don't have him, LeBron could still be really, really good offensively, and they could still wind up back in Golden State for game seven. Roger, what is the difference between going to a game six at home against the Grizzlies

and going against the Warriors at game six at home from the Lakers point of view? I mean, you start with just Steph Curry, you know, Clay Thompson. You got multiple guys that could give you the game. Like, you know, I know Jock can give you the game, but you have more people. on Golden State that could give you the game, which means they shoot it and go like, you know, nine for 15 from three and, and they're, you know, it just catapults them to a level of offense that you can't keep up with. And then from there, we'll just talk about like championship pedigree. Like, this isn't a team that is trying to figure out how to do this. This is a team that

has done this for years and years and years. They've been in a lot of situations. I think the last time they came down three one was Oklahoma City. Was that what year was? that? 16. Is it 16? 2016, yeah. That was the,

yeah, that was the clay game, the first clay game, six game series. Right, but then they turned around and, and fumbled the bag to the,

to the calves that year. But the point is, like, they, they, they have a level of, of polish and a level of, of experience that is very,

very, it's very, very scary when you, when you're talking about having to close them out. And it, it would, it would just behoove you

if you were the Lakers to come out there and really take care of the ball, number one, and execute the shit out of what you want to do. There's not a lot of room in this next game for the Lakers to be off of the game plan. These games are critical for you to come out and operate well in the spaces that you've been asked to operate well in. You know what I mean? Like off script can happen, Logan.

We can make these mistakes, but this has to be a level of dialed in. When you go to bed at night, like I would go to bed at night in a situation like this. repeating in my head what my job was, running those scenarios over in my head, visualizing them. I shit you not. I do it the night before the game, whatever that assignment was. And then, you know, we do it and shoot around. And I come back and before my pregame nap, I go to sleep, almost chanting it to myself

and visualizing it in my head again. So then when I got in there and I saw it for the first time, second time, third time, I've been there already. That's done. Now, you're not going to get it right every time. but you want to be as close to perfect on execution of game playing against a Golden State team that's experienced and has the weapons that they do because you don't want to have to go back to Chase Center.

Let's go with predictions really quickly to close out this segment. I've been pretty good on our predictions. I mean, like, last night, yeah, no, because last night, last night didn't count because we were going for game four. We both picked the Lakers. Lakers won. All right, all right. I'm going to go. Hey, man, I just want chaos. I'm going to go with the Warriors to go win games.

James six. Bro. You got Rob. I'm going to go with you, though. And I don't, I mean, I'm going to go with you. We've been agreeing. Hey, hey, hold on real quick. We've been agreeing too much.

I just have to say this for the record. Hey, Roger, fuck you. All right. I just have to say that. So people don't think we agree all this. We've been agreed a lot lately. And I don't, I just had to just get that out there. So fuck you, Roger.

What is your, um, heavily mutual, my bro. But no, here's, here's the deal. I don't know what I'm going to get out of AD. even if he's even if he's not concussed and and like you know you don't know

well I mean I just feel like they had an opportunity last night with Golden State not shooting the ball well you know like in Golden State handled their business the Lakers I don't think fumbled the bag Golden State they showed why they're champions

they could do it in multiple ways but this was the game you had to get bro this was the game that was the game and so I worry about it I'm going to take I'm going to take Golden State too man a yo If that happens, game 7 at Chase will be epic. We'll be epic.

Let's take a quick break. We're going to go back east. The NBA playoffs are in full swing and you can turn crossovers into cash with Fanduel. Just visit fanduil.com slash ringer NBA right now and place a $5 bet and you'll get an instant $150 and bonus bets. Win or loose. I'm a little on the fence with my picks this week. I think I'm going to take the Sixers to win the series against the Celtics.

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in Kansas, 1877770 stop in Louisiana. Visit www. Mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland, 1,800 522470-7-0 Wyoming or visit www.1-800 gambler.net, West Virginia. All right, Ra, I want to talk Celtic Sixers. The tenor of the series has completely been turned upside down.

since the last time we potted. I don't know what the hell was going on. I think we potted what Monday. And then since that happened, the fucking Sixers systematically demolished the Celtics in Boston. Dolan B played like an MVP. Just completely controlled the game. The Philadelphia 76ers are in prior position

to close out this series too many. night, Rajah. What are your thoughts? I don't mean this in any disrespectful way to anyone on the Sixers. I just thought that Boston was the better overall team. I felt like that. I thought it kind of played itself out through the regular season. I thought they were deeper. I thought this would be a problem defensively for Philly more so than it was going to be a problem for Boston to figure out Philly defensively. And I was wrong. I was wrong.

Philly has just, you know, stuck to the game plan. They're out there in space, like out there screening for James Harden. Just as he crosses half court, they're springing him with the screen. Now you've got Joel and Beat on this short roll to around the free throw line. Boston has not figured out how to handle that yet. I was wrong. And I think, I think my gut says Philly wins it tonight at home. And that place is going to be electric.

Yeah, I just didn't see that. coming, man. I didn't see you getting, you know, a zero ball from Al Horford and a seven from Derek White and, you know, nothing of Malcolm Brogden with the seven at home. I, you know, I always talk about those, when those guys go on the road, you know, but and then conversely, I mean, you know, Maxie's got a 30 ball and, and Daniel House Jr. chipped in with 10, like, on the road. And so when that happens and you get beat in every real shooting percentage, you know, like, you're going to lose. And so kudos to Philly. Shout out.

And here's the last thing because, I mean, I don't have a full breakdown of it. But, you know, I think you were seeing a team to some degree that, and we wondered if this would happen, right? And we gave Joe Masula a lot of credit and deservedly so. But if you remember way back and we talked about. would this be a thing? And I said at some point it becomes one. At some point, at some point, and it might not be when everything's, it's usually not when everything is, you know, going well. It's usually when we're in a critical situation, feet to the fire, we're in this huddle. Everyone's looking around. Everyone wants to see the look in the coach's eyes to assure them, yo, we got this.

What's the plan? Here's the plan. Yeah. And while I'm not in that huddle, and I don't know that that's not happening. I've seen some slippage from them, you know, down the stretching games, just looking like they don't understand the severity of the moment. Like, we've, we've had these conversations. And so I have to, I have to, you know, give some credence to that as well. Maybe there's just a little bit of a bit of a slippage with the first year head coach. This part of the think conversation is very nuanced, right? Because Joe Missoula, right? Rivaleseo is getting his criticism, right? But I think people are forgetting, and I've said this on the pot a lot, that those players, specifically the stars on that Celtics team, had a lot of affinity for M.A. Udoka, a lot. And were blindsided when he was placed on leave, dismissed, however we want to call it.

they were blindsided and take away everything that happened leading up to why he was blinds why he was dismissed think about it from a player level where this coach is someone you guys believe in and you guys just went to the finals with this guy and are expecting to go back to the finals with this guy because you trust him and then he gets dismissed. And you're having to learn on the fly not only a new person, a new coach in Joe Missoula, but a new philosophy. Joe Missoula, Joe Missoula is all of a sudden saying,

no, we're an offensive first team. We're going to go with the offense, right? After years and years of being defensive stalwart and being one of the best defensive teams in the leagues year and year out, no, we're going to go prioritize offense. And then, on top of that, where M.A. Udoka is,

is a guy that calls a lot of timeouts and really takes control of the game, right? Also calls people out. You have Joe Missoula who lets guys play through their mistakes, which has been a tried and true thing. Phil Jackson was the king of that, right? That's not a bad necessarily

bad philosophy on things. Coaches let guys play through their mistakes all the time and don't call timeouts to save them. But at this point, this is like to your point this is where you figure out if you trust this guy or not and I don't know if the

the the I don't even think it's Joe's fault necessarily but I don't know if the guys trust him as a coach right now because of all the things I just described to you. A lot of that is out of Joe's control right

that's I think what we're seeing right now with this Boston Celtics group Yeah, I think that was very well put. And this isn't, and I don't mean to come off like, I don't think Joe Masul is capable at all. I think there were a lot of the circumstances of him gaining the reins there in Boston, not having, see, I want to make sure I get this right.

Like throughout the course of a season, like an NBA coach, I don't mean to marginalize what. they do. But sometimes that thing can kind of run itself a little bit, like through the course of 82, right? Like, you're working, but it's, it's, you know, it's, it's, it's, it could be boiler played in some instances. While there are different games, scouts and different things we want to do from night to night, like, we might not always be put in the fire in these pressure cooker situations late in games, you know, down three, minute and a half, how are we going to execute up for two and a half minutes? What do we want to do? You know, like, you're, you're, you're not always working

through those things with your team situationally, right? And that's really where, that's really where guys, you know, separate themselves and the adjustments of critical games and, you know, hey, we're going to flip out of this fucking man to man real quick and we're going to run this high three two zone or, you know, we're not trapping now. We're pushing up high. We're getting under. Like, we're making these calls on the fly.

And they don't always present themselves through the course of a regular season a lot. And for guys to be familiar with your philosophy and comfortable with what your calls are, there's got to be some familiarity there. There's got to be some background. There's got to be some sample size. And they just didn't have that in a way. Right. And so when you're in these situations now, whether we think they're sound coaching practices

or not is besides the point. Sometimes it's just a little foreign for guys that may be used to getting some. something else. And that doesn't mean that they don't want to do what you're saying, but it's just not the most comfortable space. They've been operating in another space for the last two years. And again, in NBA games, when you're talking about a three-point game, a four-point game, you know, these are just slight trust issues or slight non-capitulation to what's going on there. Like, these are just, I'm holding on to this feeling about it and I haven't submitted all the way to your philosophy and that costs us a bucket. And I was, oh, man, it was,

my fault. And it's as, it's as, it's as, it's as, it's as, it's as simple as, hey, this is a new voice with not enough time to really be in these situations. And there's not a complete trust factor there right now. I don't know though, but I have to, I have to watch it, Logan, if I'm being fair and say that I have some of, at least some of what's going on has to do with something like that. And also like, you got to realize, man, not talking to you, but like the audience like joe mazoula is still going through the trials and tribulations of a first year head coach that all first year head coaches are going through them taking about you know the the um the game the loss the celtics had in houston earlier this season where jaylin brown

is cooking but you give it to jason tatum for the for the game winner and then that in turn you know makes the other guy roll some eyes. And I'm talking about Jalen Brown, right? Like I fucking put this team on my back and I'm not getting rewarded for it, right? Right. But like, that's something that can be easily fixed. But when those things get compounded with a team that has championship aspirations, that's when you get into a little bit of murky grounds.

And that's why it's so hard, especially for a first year coach, to inherit a championship aspiring type team, which the boss of Celtics are, right? And Missoula, it's not like he hasn't been around. He's been an assistant for a set of his centers for a few years now, but it's different when you're in that big chair. It's way different when you're making the decisions for everybody, right? And that's what's going on right now. And then you're going against the team like the Sixers with the veteran coach and Doc Rivers

and two guys with something to prove and Joelle Embed and James Harden. you, it's, it's just a hard time right now because everybody's figuring out a new normal in front of the world. So I don't know what's going to happen, but I guess that'll lead into my prediction around you. I think I'm going with the Sixers to close this out tonight. I mean, I'd like to say that Boston has a heart of a champion and you're going to get great performances from Jalen and Jason Tatum. But I'm going with the Sixers too, man. I'm going with the I'm going with the 76ers. That place is going to be bananas.

there's going to be some energy in that building and I think you get a Joel and B game. Sounds about right. Let's take it to the West Coast and your old stomping ground, Sky Harbor. I think you're welcome. I don't know. You're probably welcome in the PJ

a lot of Sky Harbor. Going to Phoenix. This matchup with the Suns Nuggets. So we're going into Game 6 at a per Sun's Nuggets in Phoenix. Chris Paul has been ruled out.

DeAndre Aiden is questionable. It's going to be interesting, man, because I think Phoenix can pull this out in force of game seven, but I just don't know if they have enough to win this series because the role players play really well at home. But it never, it's never able to carry at Denver. But I think this is one of those games.

Katie's going to show out. He's going to score big. And so will Devin Booker. it's just an interesting series, man, because it feels like if Phoenix had home court advantage, they'd probably win this series just because they win all home games. The Nuggets are weird, man.

They're so weird because they have an all-world guy and I think what it boils down to with Denver is that they have an all-world guy in Yokic and they have a Jamal Murray, really, really good player, but is he Tier 1? No.

and that's, I think that's always the difference when you put it, when you, when you put it into perspective, right? Like, say you put, and this is obviously, this is the wild thought to even consider, but say you swap Jamal Murray for like KD or whatever, completely different team for the Nuggets, obviously, right, because of Hall of Famer. But that's what I'm talking about. Like, Jamal Murray is a great player, but it just, and that's the, that's the argument. it's like the Chris Middleton argument right now, Roger with the Nuggets. And that's what gives me like, I think that's the reason why I don't always show them

the respect that they deserve. Because I just don't see Jamal as like the top tierist of guys, not to say he's not ball and not to say he's not killing it, not to say that his return from that injury, that ACO injury isn't so impressive. But that's the conundrum that I see with this team is that Yokic is good, but the rest of the team can't match that or even get close to that, Roger.

Here's the problem with that argument, although there is some fact to it. I wouldn't say Jamal Murray right now is the number one type of player, and I think the sons have two of them. I think that Denver has more of the next tier of player, and they're a little deeper, and they're more dialed into what, they want to do because they did this together for a while now. And I think if anyone travels, I do think Jamal is going to be good tonight. He's a big game kind of guy. He showed me that.

I think he'll be good. The Joker will be good. And the question for Phoenix, or better, the question for Denver would be, does anyone else travel with them? Does Michael Porter Jr. travel? does Aaron Gordon travel Does Contavius Caldwell Pope travel Are they going to be able to chip in Not just travel and do your job defensively There's got to be offensive output Does Bruce, does Bruce Brown who had 20 in change in Denver

You know, good player But classic like he's going to play much better at home Than on the road does he travel offensively Or is it going to be You know the supplemental players from Phoenix That hold the upper hand with the Landry Shamitz And company and I think that's what it's going to boil down to tonight.

And, you know, pick-wise, I probably lean sons. Probably lean sons. But it's going to be a tough one. It could go either way. Because if any of those guys don't show up in a way, you know, it's going to swing the balance of that game in that team's in the other team's favor. So I'm going to look for all supporting cats. Who's got the most guys coming with them tonight?

I got book locked in. I got Katie locked in. and same for Yolkits and Murray. And then who shows up around him? I'm going with the Sons, but I'm going with the Nuggets to win the series. I just also, I said everything I said about Jamal Murray

and the tears and stuff like that. If there was every year for the Nuggets to go sneaking and win a title, this is the year. You better get it done this year. That's the feeling that I'm getting right now. With the way the NBA is setting up, you know,

where Yannis is out. out with Janice is out in the Eastern Conference, right? And the Celtics might not be there, right? I think this is the year. If you get a good match up. Yeah, well, we've said that for a while. This is the year. Everybody's got their flaws.

Everybody looks vulnerable. Everybody's been in a situation where you're like, how the hell they get there? You know what I mean? And so it is wide open. And I would take Denver, too, if it winds up, if it winds up going seven. I like Phoenix tonight. I like Phoenix tonight, but I wouldn't be surprised, but I like Phoenix tonight.

Let's get to a little segment. We like to call Real One of the Week. You know what, man? I'm going to give it to Nicole Yokic. Because we defended him on this program last episode about his little kerfuffle-ish, little disagreement with the son's owner. And then he made light of it.

the next game. That was great. You know what I mean? Yeah, they were all good. This is the NBA. Good shit, Nicola. Real one of the week. Who's your real one of the week, Rob? I'm going to give up a real one of the week to a group of people right now. NCAA college football recruiting people. This is one of their most active times a year. They are at every school in South Florida every day. The grind has to be incredible. I mean, these cats are at four and five schools a day. And then, I mean, I'm assuming

they get in their car and bump up to somewhere else in Florida and they do that again tomorrow and then they bump in their, you know what I mean? Like this is a daily for them where they're at, you know, five high schools a day

in the metro, Miami and Fort Lauderdale area. Then they're in Tampa and it's got to be a grind. But they're making kids dreams come true. They're out there hustling. They're building teams. But it's got to be a grind

and I respect that. And so that's there to Real ones. Getting that mileage up. Bro, there's nobody that that travels more than a recruiting coordinator in T1 sports. Real ones. All right, man. That was our Thursday edition of Real ones.

It should be a great weekend slate of games. I can't wait to get back on Monday, dog. It's going to be a whole different landscape in the NBA. Commerce Finals on the way. Talk to you guys soon, man. tap in, holler, ah, all the shits. Bye.