The Ringer NBA Show - Dallas Runs Away From OKC, Boston Reanimates, and More. | Group Chat

Episode Date: May 12, 2024

Justin, Rob and Wos recap Saturday nights games starting with the Mavericks taking a 2-1 series lead over the Thunder (3:25). They discuss Kyrie’s second half heroics, another big PJ Washington game, and more. Then they discuss Boston’s bounce back victory over the Cavs to take a 2-1 lead (32:35). Lastly they quickly touch on Nuggets-Timberwolves, Pacers-Knicks series, and the Phoenix Suns hiring Mike Budenholzer as their new head coach (48:33). The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Hosts: Justin Verrier, Rob Mahoney, Wosny Lambre Producer: Isaiah Blakely Social: Eduardo Ocampo Additional Production Supervision: Ben Cruz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is Danny Hyfitz here to remind you that it's never too early to start thinking about football. Join me with Danny Kelly and Craig Korbleck on the Ringer Fantasy Football Show all offseason. As we dive into the biggest news and topics are in the 2024 NFL season. Also, we probably get into really stupid arguments too. That's the Ringer Fantasy Football Show on Spotify. Hello and welcome to the Thunderdome. I am Justin Barrier. Joining me as always, Rob Mahoney, Big Was.

Rob, thanks for parking your war rig today. And join us is on the pod. Is this more SpondCon? part of the Furiosa cinematic experience? Damn, we should have gotten on that. That would be nice. That's right. Three men enter the pod today.

Hopefully all three of us will leave. I hope we have that kind of relationship. I pray. We'll see. We were talking before we came on. We sent us a Drew Holiday text at 9.30 in the morning today. So it really set the tone for today's podcast. Not early enough.

I was up at 6.45 this morning, okay? Worked out all of that. By 9.30, it was. I was already in peak form. So y'all got to understand these weekend Texas because I'm just feeling great. We're doing deadlifts? What's going on here? No, no, no, no.

Just a quick hike and then some calisthenics, pull-ups, push-ups, dips, that type of thing. Nothing crazy. Secret jacked. Yeah, every now and again, I'm on camera for the ringer, man. And I'm just like, wow, I am so out of shape and just puffy and just woof. I used to be a specimen back in the days, believe it or not, folks, but now I'm just, you know, a slubby mid-30s, late 30s guy these days. These are the trials of being capital T talent like Waz.

You know, you're on camera all the time. You know, the self-consciousness, the analysis, the navel gazing. It really comes with it. I know. They didn't tell us this about going on and being YouTube celebrities that, like, you need to lean into, you know, the visage here. We need to get those veneers going. We need to get to the gym.

Yeah. next year's pod is going to be much much more handsome I believe can we expense a tanning booths do you think is that in the carts hell yeah they don't have one at Spotify offices that's crazy to me

I bet they got them in New York we'll get on that all right two games on the docket and probably just that not talking about any of the other series no yeah yeah Justin before before we get into the two games I mean

well right off the jump I at least gave you guys the intro to the pod I just want you to have this opportunity before game four of Nuggets and Timberwolves and whatever happens is going to happen. I just want to know if there's anything you want to recant, Justin. If there's anything you want to soft pedal or walk back at all. I'll be honest with you,

I blacked out at the midway point of last time podcast, so I have no idea what I actually said. I know there's something about tasting ass. I don't know. Maybe it was coming from you guys. Definitely doesn't sound like the type of thing I would say. but you know I'm I'm looking forward to a spirited competition as per usual oh wow love that we'll get to that eventually probably but let's start with the first game on Saturday's

docket Mavs 105 Thunder 101 Rob how are you going to remember this game if we're going to crystallize it in with one play is it Kyrie Irving basically taking 18 seconds of a harassment from Jalen Williams and then scoring with a left-handed scoop shot basically to win the game or Derek lively running away from a hack of foul like the roadrunner. I think it will be the roadrunner treatment. If you're running from an intentional foul, does that qualify as running from the grind? Can we get a ruling on that?

I don't think so. I don't think so. He wasn't running from the grind. He was just trying to disrupt their game plan, if you will. Because if you think about it, if all of the Thunder guys think they're about to take a foul, that means they're not playing regular defense. defense, right? So, you know, he might have been 10 steps ahead of everybody on that. But

that is, that will be an indelible image in my mind because I've never seen it before. A seven footer dead sprinting away from someone trying to foul on. Because at first I thought he was just crashing to the rim, like maybe getting good positioning or whatever. But no, he kept going. Then he ran out of bounds on the baseline. Then came out the other side. Then finally got fouled, a chase down hack of foul. Just nuts. This postseason has been excellent, by the way. It has been excellent.

I will say, I also didn't really get the logic of it, to be honest with you. OKC is a good defensive team. They were top two defense in the regular season. This was a single-digit game basically the entire time. Why are we doing something as the Thunder so desperate as to foul Derek Lively, admitting Derek Lively was a big difference maker in this game, and I understand why they would want him off the floor. But are you really that?

desperate in these circumstances. So that's what I thought. I assumed it's because the Mavs are playing such good defense on them. And, you know, he's a shaky enough free throw shooter. It's a very big spot. He's a rookie. You might think that he misses enough. And at one point, J-Kidd did take him off.

I thought it was kind of both. It's like, this guy stinks and it would be nice to have him off the floor. And, you know, Gafford messed up his finger the game before. So even if they put him back in, and he was doing an excellent job on defense as well. So did Chet. The big man defense in this game was just otherworldly. I didn't mind it as a strategy now. Carmically,

should they be doing this kind of Bush League crap with a young team who you're trying to, you know, imbue with confidence and like, yo, you guys can do anything. I don't know about that. But that strategy, I don't think it was the worst strategy I've ever seen. It did work to start with.

I believe he was one for four for his first two trips to the line. What about the next four? The next four, unfortunately, did not work, which is when they stopped it. I will say it also disrupted the flow of the game in a way that did kind of throw things off. It really seemed like the Mavs were ready to run yet again. And at the very least, it halted whatever momentum was building. And so, like, it had a practical effect, but clearly not enough. And you have to wonder, like, you're right.

Like, OKC's defense has been one of its strengths this entire season. Why aren't you just leaning into that? Yeah, I just think I would have trusted that a little bit more. But what a compliment for Derek Lively, who is worth trying to get off the floor in this series in particular and in this game especially. I thought what he was doing defensively was so important. He needs to settle down a little bit when he tries to score,

not because he's doing anything particularly audacious, but like slow down, catch the ball. These guys are seven inches shorter than you, bro. It was better in this game than in game two. But he still fumbled a couple of dunk opportunities. He still had some change. that were literally in his grasp that he let slip away. And part of being a high-level player is having this kind of defensive impact

and punishing teams when they go small with your size and attacking the rim. And let's be honest, like Luca and Kyrie are attracting so much attention to the pick and roll. That Gafford and lively both are getting clear runs at the rim. And they need to take advantage of them. And I think for the most part, they did. Well, it's not just the bigs who are benefiting from it. It's also guys like PJ Washington in those corners. Because at this point, I think we have to think about PJ Washington

is maybe like the third of what this big three or at least a big two and a half because there's just so much consternation and attention going on in this pick and roll combination. And for good reason, because it's Kyrie and Luca operating with vertical spacers, right? But I think you saw in this game the difference between Grant Williams and PJ Washington. Washington's not only making those threes, but he could actually put it on the deck a little bit and do something with it. Yeah. And post guys too. You know, if you put smaller defenders on him, if you try to let Josh Giddy guard him, just going to put him in the stanchion, get basically a free layup out of it. And what he's doing on defense is like, look, he's not good enough to guard Shea one-on-one all game.

But guess what? He's going to do a respectable job against J-dub. He's going to do great at help defense. He's doing great at helping with the boards. Like, he's just filling in the little gaps. He had 11 rebounds in game, too. guys. Like, he's doing all of the off-color stuff, right? Like, all of the fill in the gap stuff where, you know, you get, the ball gets swung to you. And it's not like, you know, OK,

seeing their athletic ass wings aren't closing in on him. He has a split second to get a decent shot off. And he's firing with absolutely no conscience and all the confidence in the world. And, yeah, that, you know, I think a lot of people, I'm not going to front. A lot of people did sort of poo-poo this deal. They felt like they gave up a lot to do it. And, you know, this is a sort of all-in kind of thing and it better work and blah, blah, blah. But so far, man, him and Gafford have been worth their freight, man. They're paying for themselves. And it's really cool to see. And also, and I want to ask you guys this, because I think I was somebody who thought that Luca was most unlocked by playing a more five-out, modern, futuristic style.

but I'll be damn, man, if these big men that can't shoot it past four feet but guard the hell out of the paint, grab boards, erase mistakes from the wings, this is better. It feels like it anyway. Am I crazy for thinking that? No, they need that balance.

And to be honest, with where Luca is physically right now, with not just the bad knee, but getting beat up all throughout this game, if the Mavs had a more traditional, and I say traditional to the way that they've been built previously, five out offense, space for Luca, let him cook every possession, I think they would be in really dire straits.

They need the finishing at the rim. They need guys who can attack off the dribble. They need dynamism. And they're getting it from PJ Washington. You know, Derek Jones Jr. has been kind of opportunistic with his drives. Tim Hardaway Jr. even had some moments. He's had some incredible moments.

Obviously, Kyrie is going to do a lot of heavy manufacturing in really tough situations. And you need all of that stuff to accommodate the fact that Luca is a little bit compromised right now. is still really, really good and making shit happen and making it work. But he can't be putting up 35 a game under the current circumstances. It just doesn't really look like he has that in him right now. Yeah, PJ just strikes a balance between the two approaches that in Charlotte,

he kind of fell on the other side of that, right? He kind of was a tweener in the worst possible ways where it's like you expected more from him, but he would like kind of be at his best mostly in a small ball five lineup. But here it's just like he's kind of just straight ahead. You just sit in the corner, hit those threes, and then do all that. stuff on top of that. And so to your overall question was, just like, I think it's actually both. I think there's still long-term concerns, but PJ Washington playing the way he is in the playoffs alleviates some of those as they go along because he looks not only like a playoff guy, but like a

real deal guy that they can keep building and actually may have more of his ceiling in his game and playing next to Luca. So playoff playoff guy, real deal guy. I was thinking about this, you know, I think it was the part that I missed that. you and Waz were bringing out the difference between guys and dudes. Yeah. Is there a broader spectrum there? I'm thinking, like, at the low level, it's like, this is a thing. And then maybe this is a player, and then this is a guy, and this is a dude.

And now there's a playoff dude. So who's a dude? Yeah, I think you... Luca and Shere dudes. Kyrie is a dude. Yeah, yeah, yeah. J-Dubb, we think one day will be a dude. Yeah.

He's obviously a playoff guy, but one day he's going to be an actual dude. Yes. we expect Chet to be a dude yes oh yeah I would say he's already a guy but

I think PJ might be a guy he's proven to be a guy PJs and a real deal guy too real deal is a sub classification that gets a little thornier but you're right

he looks like a real deal guy more taxonomies for Rob here this is just your corner now but we should talk about Kyrie because once again he just is able to turn on Cab's finals Kyrie

at the turn of I have him with 14 points over the final 15 minutes. He was six for six. So fourth quarter plus the end of the third quarter. And in context, 22 points in total. So, like, he turned it up and did most of his scoring work during that very concentrated period of time. Just like for anybody who missed this game, go back and watch Kyrie getting hounded by

J. Dub on that crucial play there. I just want to see Kyrie be put into, like, various escape rooms. Like, maybe this is like a Nike commercial they could set up here. and just watching him dribble his way out of this because it's remarkable. So there was that play, which was at the, towards the end of the game.

Then there was another play where he dribbles towards the left. Chek comes and gives a hard double. He splits the double and fires a deadly accurate bullet pass under the rim too. I think it was Gafford for a dunk. And it's just amazing to watch

what Kyrie's doing, man. Like, he is really just making himself into the most indispensable, just winning player. The way that he's trying on defense is incredible. He's spelling Luca with ball handling duties when Luca needs a breath or even when he's on the bench, right? And just taking over the facilitation role.

And then in the fourth, he's just like, you know what, this is my spot where I'm going to go into Kyrie, turn around, fadeaway bag. Kari, clap him up with the dribble, floaterback. It's, it's amazing what he's doing right now, bro. The ultimate winning guy, winner guy,

like doing all of the scrappy stuff and doing all of the dude stuff, man. Like, taking on a dude who's seven inches tall and you quick as hell, long as hell, and just get in a clutch bucket anyway. I'm like, I'm, I don't want to say proud. That sounds so condescending. Like, he's freaking karees.

earned like $500 million in his career. You are proud of Steph Curry's accomplishments, as we know. So you should just go up to Kyrie. This should be your best. That was in person. It's a little different. I just, it's just so cool to watch because towards the end of that Nets thing, where his reputation was basically in the dumps.

Everybody thought Dallas was foolish to trade for this guy. They thought they were even more foolish to give him all the money that they did and to see what he's doing right now. man, it's very cool to see. Clap it up for Kyrie, man. Yeah. I mean, look, Dallas took on a lot of risk in a variety of these deals. And we talked with the PJ Washington one in terms of what they gave up to get him.

I think you could make a similar conversation out of Daniel Gafford, not because they gave up a ton. But him and PJ, those are two players we hadn't really seen in deeply competitive situations before. And I think these are the most fun conversations for guys like us, as we're kind of debating would-be trades and things like that and seeing guys in the playoffs for the first time, who can actually perform in this kind of context, in this sort of dog fight, who can actually show up? And PJ Washington is absolutely proving to do that. Daniel Gafford has had better moments some games than others, but overall I think it's been what the Mavs need him to be. He's been freaking good. Like, did y'all see Daniel Gafford is like before the Dallas trade? I'm not going to front eye and watch a ton of this guy's

minutes. Did you guys think like, oh, he's going to be like the anchoring center? Like people going to be afraid to drive against him in the freaking paint and big playoff. Did y'all see this for him at any point earlier in his career? I thought he was a backup. I thought he was going to be a career backup. I think he was a guy who's kind of

on that borderline of maybe lower tier starter or very good backup, but he's always been an incredible energy player and he has been a good shot blocker. He has been a good finisher, but we just never saw all those skills in like tandem with Luca Doncha just playmaking or with this kind

of spacing or really just a team that has its shit together in the way that the Mavs do right now. And so all those trades are paying off, whether it's what they gave up for those guys, whether it's all of the kind of risk inherent to what Kyrie's reputation was at the time the Mavs traded for him. I mean, you have to tip your cap to Mavs management. They really did exactly what they set out to do in terms of forming this into a playoff caliber, whether they win the series or not, the kind of team and the shape of a team that can go deep into the playoffs.

just look at the Lakers as the path not taken where it's like if they had made the same risk assessment and brought Kyrie in, things would look a lot differently now. Maybe they would be able to be coached by Jason Kidd as opposed to the Mavs quickly extending him and now you're like maybe give us Sean Sweeney as our next guy. And so it's weird.

I mean, Kyrie's on this whole like straight edge positivity thing, which at a certain point I'm like, are you just trying to sell shoes at this point? But when he was like, he tapped up Hubey Brown at a certain point. And I was like, that's legitimately touching. He got us with that one, I think. That was kind of nice, man.

And Hubey on the broadcast was like, you know, Jersey guys. You know, he grew up in Essex County, went to St. Pat's afterwards. Like, it was a genuine connection. That was freaking cool, like basketball as community, right? Like legitimately that these guys are in community with one another. And the love was so felt. That was genuinely a touching moment. Justin, what are you going to adopt the straight edge positivity?

That's not what I'm doing right now? I would say not, no. Well, I have to say, like, I don't think Kyrie is a different person because everyone around the league seems to love him and that's pretty much a telltale sign that, like, guys just, like, want to hang out with him. I think the difference is he's just kind of got the idea that PR actually works. Like, just don't say this shit publicly and just tell people what they want to hear. And now everyone is like it's a goddamn love fest.

I mean, honestly, I should be taking all of these lessons. If I was just a nicer guy, maybe I would just be running my own podcast. You'd be president by now, I think. Yeah, I think so. But look, some of it is what he's doing publicly. Some of it is the way he's playing. Some of it is like playing great defense, being a great, being a great teammate in not just the way that that endears you to people in a locker room.

No, like on the court, bro. Getting after it all the time, playing super hard. even in this wasn't just a playoff that he was this guy in the regular season too. I think he deserves a lot of credit for that. And in the first round too. Yep. And also, because we want to get into the OKC part of this, but like J-Kid, man, pushing the right buttons. J-Kid is a damn good coach.

And he's also proof that a coach can evolve because the Milwaukee stint was a disaster. The net stint was a disaster as well. Now he's just really freaking good and sound and is good at the substitution thing, is good at like switching up game plan and coverages. The way these guys, he's coached them up to be a top tier defense. And that's what I think OKC's dealing with right now. They're dealing with a really good, fine-tune defense. And that's what they're having trouble with.

And J-Kid is part of that, man. Shout to J-Kid. Yeah, as we're talking about, you know, Luca and Kyrie. playing off each other and Kyrie taking over in those moments. The Thunder don't really have a secondary player like that. J-dub is really good and I think has the skill set to be an ideal second-side guy, but it's not really what his game is yet. And in fairness to him, turned his ankle, looked like something nasty in the third quarter of this game

and missed almost a full quarter of action. Like he's not quite himself to the point that I think at one point he threw a layup over the backboard. It was just kind of a weird, desperate attempt. A couple of weird passes too. For sure. Did it came back? did his best, no fault of him

specifically, so much as the way the Thunder are built is Shea is going to get to his stuff and he did. He was cooking guys one-on-one as expected. But Dallas did an awesome job of keeping up with the Thunder's flow where you might get the corner on Derek Jones, but Gafford

is going to be right there waiting for you. And you may even get a foot in the paint with Gafford, but PJ Washington is going to be digging down and swiping at the ball. The Mavs are super physical. They're really well coordinated right now. And they're just swarming these guys in a way that makes it really hard for the Thunder to get into that kind of ping-ponging rhythm of swinging the ball around to everybody. Well, that probably brings us to the

giddy conversation because he played 13 minutes in this game. Wasn't terrible, but probably because they pulled him pretty much as soon as he showed signs of turning into a pumpkin. Again, I have in my notes, I believe this is in the third quarter, Giddy left open, drills top of the arc three, now seven points in 10 minutes. Giddy drives up. a closeout from the corner. Never mind Giddy's thinks again. That's how quickly it turned and they pulled them out. And like, I don't think it's a coincidence that a lot of the pop you're talking about missing alongside Shay has been coming from the Wiggins types. Door in the first round had a pretty good game shooting from the perimeter. And it's just like that leftover spot just seems like

it's slowly creeping toward somebody else. I think they're still cycling through what they want to do there was. To me, I understand what Giddy brings in terms of ball handling and size and he has a nice court vision. But honestly, man, I rather see Kays and Wallace. I'd rather see Wiggins in there instead of Giddy. Like, just the idea that these guys got space and have to be guarded, like those close outs have to be serious on those guys, right? Like, it's just Giddy doesn't, he's not providing what you want ideally, right? And he's never been anybody's idea of some plus defender either. And that's always been the thing. It's like if his strong suits cannot be like fully leveraged, what's the point? Like, all of his weaknesses are still

going to be there and you're not actually using the things that he's good at because you have people that are way better suited to do this stuff against Dallas. And so, yeah, I think the Giddy thing is kind of random. And I wonder, because they're at a different stage of development, like, at a different stage of development, Giddy would just be out of the lineup, out of the starting lineup, yo, we got it. Like, we're down the game now. It's nut crunching time. Like, we're playing all of our best lineups all the time.

Now, we're not experimenting. We're not putting it out there. I wonder if OKC has the stones to do that. Yeah, I was going to say, we may be jumping too far ahead because they might end up doing that. You know, the fact that he is getting such a quick hook, overall in the series, minus 28 and 41 total minutes for the series. I thought this was distinctly his best game yet.

And that's not just by single game plus minus. You could feel him trying to find ways to be a factor, cutting. I mean, he's been attacking really hard in transition when he gets rebounds, like trying to put pressure on the maps in the ways that he can, working the baseline a little bit, like trying to make himself more of an active threat beyond just sitting in the corner and not being guarded. I think that's important.

It's just going to be tough whenever he's in that spacing role. And with OKC, all of their parts being so interchangeable, makes it difficult for him to do anything that doesn't involve space. at some point and the Mavs will not guard him when he does. And I think, you know, they've shown that they will also not guard Wiggins sometimes or put, put Lively or put Gafford on Wiggins and see what they can get away with. But it's just a totally different bargain with Giddy. And they can get away with so much more?

That's actually my question for you guys is like, can he not even spell Shea for a couple minutes and just like move the offense along? Like we have campaign out here running second units. Like Josh, can he can't even get a little. Yeah, not anymore. But you know what I mean? It's just like, can he not just be a backup point guard for at least some stretches? I mean, Chase's playing 42 minutes.

Yeah. True. Yeah, that's all he's going to do. He's not going to play very much. Yeah, that's a six minute stretch for the people doing the math at home. And I think part of the problem, too, is the things that we admired about the Thunder in the regular season, they can't go to that. anymore. Like, just the idea that the, like, Shay did not monopolize possessions, right?

That, you know, everybody had the freedom to dribble and attack a closeout. Whereas, like, now is it like, yo, Lou Dort, do not dribble the ball. In the regular season, it was cool. It was cute. It was great. It was part of what made our team fun. And, you know, everybody's involved, and the ball finds energy. Get that shit out of your game.

Every time you drive is a disaster. Same for Jay Williams. Stop. I get it. We empowered the big man in the regular season to do it. Get that out of here. Same with Chad. All of his drives. Most of his drives have been disasters, right?

We got to let the driver's drive at this point. And I think that these are the growing pains you go through in the playoffs as a young team where you're learning like, all right, that was a regular season thing. And everybody has to be fine with receding into the background and letting our MVP candidate sort of carry us home. And even Shea, who I thought had a really good, if not great game. I think part of the stuff that he wasn't doing well was when they loaded them up, passing it quick, dishing it off quick.

His playmaking game was not A-plus today. And then, you know, J-dub, you know, he had his welcome to the postseason moment where it's like, yeah, young fella, we get it. Everything was smooth sailing in a regular season. This is a wholly different animal, man. And he deeply struggled today. He played all right, but it's just not enough. And they need him to be that.

Like they need something next level from their dudes and their guys, et cetera, all the way down the chain. And if J-Dub is going to be in that kind of role, that's what he needs to be able to provide. And he wasn't quite there. I thought he did well enough. But what Dallas has on its side is exactly what you're talking about was, which is all the role players will fade into those slots. And they will find their space in the corner. They're not going to do too much, really. I would say with the exception of

clearly Derek Jones is feeling the pressure also of not being guarded as a shooter sometimes and is driving headlong into traffic and for as impressive as that guy's hang time is is jumping without much of a plan and hoping to find a way before he lands. And his jumpers, when they're off, oof, boy, it can get tough for him offensively.

But that's where Dallas has been able to plug in other guys and make it work too. That's where the Tim Hardaway Jr. minutes are big. That's where Josh Green having a positive influence on this series is such a big deal. They need that kind of interchangeability in the same way that OKC does with Giddy.

And everything you guys are kind of talking about J-dub being good but not necessarily great, being like a star level, being a dude-level sort of guy. Like that was the case for not trading Giddy preemptively, right? This was for all intents and purposes a feel-out postseason for the Thunder. Like clearly they could go as far as these guys will take them

and like maybe they still won't make the NBA finals. I keep reminding myself like after every loss like that this isn't the end. I just hear Vince Carter from the dunk contest in my head. It's like, it's over. It's like, no, no, no, this is game three. But this is why you played through Giddy's mistakes in these postseason and see what he's about. I think the flip side of that is like, does it now become harder to make the trade to fill that void in the offseason?

Luckily, OK, so he has 39 first round pick. So maybe it's not that hard. But I do think his market is probably suppressed going forward. Well, also, I mean, we're so far removed from the offseason concerns for the thunder. as you said, it's so tempting to think that that's the big picture question for them, though. I mean, it is. Giddy is the sore spot, has been the sore spot this season. It isn't the size necessarily this series.

It's like it's that one guy. Yeah, they are, look, they're wrestling with it in real time. And Mark Dachnall has hard decisions to make because it's so clear that they want to be able to trust him and at least give him some chance to see, are you going to hit shots tonight? Are you going to find other ways to kind of exert your power in this game? Are you going to be able to find anything for us? And when he doesn't, he gets the quick hook. But it is tempting, as you said, to think that, like, the rest of the series is going to go exactly the way the last thing we saw was. And for what it's worth, this is a four-point win.

A four-point win in which the Mavs never were ahead by more than 10 points. These are very small margins. And so it may seem like we're nitpicking. It may seem like we're being particularly harsh on some guys. The reality of the series is, if PJ Washington is, if PJ Washington is, isn't shooting out of his mind for two games straight effectively. Maybe the balance of this thing looks pretty different. But that's playoff basketball.

It comes down to are your supporting guys going to hit their shots? Are the stars going to show up in exactly the way that you need them to? It creates a lot of pressure. It creates a lot of whiplash for us as we're trying to navigate these series that they bounce back and forth. But this one's close. And honestly, it has all the makings of a series that could really go the distance. This feels like a deeply competitive, potentially seven-game series.

Yeah, I like to Dallas and Seven just for the veteran know-how, just because they could steal these exact kind of games, you know. I haven't really been dissuaded of that. I just, I'm honestly just blown away by Dallas's defense. And another thing I want to highlight Luca, man, because he knows he's not really giving it on offense the way that he's supposed to. He's kind of stepped it up on defense. It's kind of right.

Obviously, he's not shutting anybody down in the one-on-one, but it's helped. Like when he's the guy helping on Shay where he just gets in his way and then as soon as the other defender recovers, he's getting out of there. Like, he's hitting his marks in his spots and is really like laser-focused on it

in a way that I'm like pleasantly surprised by Luca meeting the moment, even in his limited capacity, that he's doing it on defense, which again, we're just not used to seeing from the guy. And not for nothing, seven steals in these three games for Luca. And he's had a couple of kind of...

That interception? Those are the ones that kind of like pick six action that he's getting, getting the Mavs out on the break. And he's had a couple of those in this series in a matchup that's this tight. Those are huge, huge momentum plays. 15 rebounds tonight. It's a big old boy getting down there.

Pretty good. Again, for a dude who got elbowed in the face who fell hard on his back when he got tangled up with Lou Doord on that kind of like... Oh, job, man. Austin Rivers knew what he was talking about. when he said the NBA guys got that NFL in him, boy. That was a fade route right there, that's for sure. Telling you, boy.

The difference is Luca will tell you all about every single injury or non-injury or almost injury that you'll ever see in like a football player. It's consistent. Yeah, at the very least. With Fandle, it's never too late to get in on the action this NBA playoffs because right now new customers get $150 bucks in bonus bets with any winning $5 bet. That's $150 to use on. same game parles, live bets, championship futures, exclusive markets, and so much more.

All right, we're looking ahead here. Monday. I kind of like Dallas in game four, minus two at home. Seems like they kind of figured out the thunder here. I know the series could go seven at this point. It seems like these teams are pretty evenly matched, but it seems like Dallas just might have the edge here. So give me Dallas at home.

And remember, there's no better place to bet all the playoff action than America's number one sports book. just go to fandul.com slash ringer MBA to get started. Fandul official sports betting partner of the NBA. Must be 21 plus and 18 plus in D.C. And present in select states, excluding North Carolina. Gambling problem, call 1,800 gambler or visit RG-Help.com.

First online real money wager only, $10 deposit required. Bonus bets are non-withdrawable and expire seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fandle.com. Let's look to the next series now, because speaking of teams that just needed to hit some shots, that was practically Joe Missoula's diagnosis of the loss in game two for Boston.

And well, it's not all that comforting to keep hearing that from him. There was a certain amount of truth to it, I guess. Nice to see Drew come alive, realize that he's maybe the strongest guy on the court against a small ball, Evan Mowgli at Center, Cavs lineup was. And then Jason Tatum didn't have quite the breakthrough performance that I think I was waiting for,

or it seemed like he was on route to, but he was pretty good in this one. And so, I mean, 33, 13 and 6 isn't enough of a breakthrough for you? Wasn't he like two for eight from three? I'm not worried about the three. The threes are not what concerned me about really the Celtics and especially Jason Tatum.

Oh, I disagree. I disagree. Because like so much of Tatum's concerns stem from not getting to the basket and he settles for so many threes. So he's going to take a hardy amount of threes regardless and they're just not falling. But he took 17 shots inside the arc.

Like that's what I'm excited. it about. This just wasn't, to suggest that this was like a takeover, Tatum grabs it by the throat sort of game, that wasn't it. But he was good enough and enough of a star in the type of way that he hasn't been this postseason. I said this on Bill's show that I don't think Tatum needs to be that. I don't think Tatum needs to go out and be Shea or Luca on the ball and, you know,

just hoard possessions and have to drop 40. And like, I really don't believe that. I thought he played a great floor game in the sense that the times that he chose to attack made perfect sense to attack. He wasn't playing force. He was within the flow, what was on the offering based on the advantages that his team as a collective had created. I don't need to see Jason Tatum just be like, give me the rock, you know, 40% usage,

Westbrook in 2017. Like, I don't want to see that from Tatum. I actually think his approach to this game tonight is the ideal approach. And I think it will keep teams off balance and not be able to load up on this stuff. Because let's face it, with teams are loading up on Tatum, like, he got nothing for that. He ain't the best playmaker. He's not reading three passes ahead. He ain't doing all of that.

I like that they kept Cleveland off balance tonight, you know? And it did feel like more of a team effort where holidays doing what he's doing. And, you know, Derek White is letting it bomb at every single turn. And Al was able to bully some people for a couple of layups. Like, I like the balance of this game. Like, I hear you, Justin. Like, this definitely didn't feel like, you know, what we saw from Aunt Edwards saying game two of his series, right?

It was like, holy shit, this guy just completely took over this thing and looked like a man amongst boys. But I don't think on this team, Tatum needs to be this overbearing force. I would, yeah, I think we're saying similar things. I would couple slightly because I do think the series tend to go a certain way where you need that guy to take the game by the scruff and really make those happen. And the Celtics in particular are just prone to some of those disjointed possessions and stretches where you want that guy to stop the bleeding. And they had that this tonight where if not for Peyton Pritchard's like three-pointer from the logo basically like things could have gone a different way because like all of a sudden White was forcing up three

like the offense was just kind of off in a way and they were sort of spinning out in the way that they typically do it would be nice if Tatum would step in and really like be that guy to do that but you're right they do have a lot of options this is the beauty of the Celtics is that it's a five deep sort of team you don't need just Edwards to go and do it and they will wobble In basically every one of these games, there will be that stretch where the offense is not clicking the way it should. The defense is breaking down for whatever reason. Or in all fairness, like Donovan Mitchell is just going crazy, right? Like sometimes it's just superlative shot making going the other way.

But yeah, I think we're all in agreement that we would love to see a version of the Celtics that has a little more stability in that way. And the eyes naturally draw to Jason Tatum to do that. And sometimes he succeeds and sometimes he fails. I thought in this game he actually did have some stretches in response to Cavs runs where he would get the ball a couple of times on the midpost and look I know we don't support Bag Twitter on this podcast

But sometimes you got to sit back and admire the setups And the footwork and the space he's able to create down there He was way more aggressive Tonight yeah definitely man I don't know I enjoyed This version of Tatum man Because it's like you know Some of the counters

Like the amount of spacing that the Celtics provide where it's just like he could do his move, beat his man really quickly, and the help just couldn't get there in time. Like, this is him leveraging the talent, the whole great talent that was assembled and blah, blah, blah. Like, it can't be both things that the talent is like super great and daunting and Tatum still has to carry these guys on his shoulders, right? Like, I just don't believe that. I loved, again, I know I sound like a brokerage.

I love the way he looked confident against Max, he got into his stuff fast and it was pretty effective I felt like he also looked pretty confident every time he got that Donovan Mitchell cross match or switch and the cat look the cats are doing a lot of switching to stay afloat but some of these guards just don't really have the size to contend with Tatum on these drives donovan Mitchell doesn't have to be terrible at defense though can he just be decent like I have a very hard time faulting Donovan Mitchell for putting a boulder on his back and carrying it for 43 minutes in this. There were points in the fourth quarter

where they were just trying to see the calves, can we let Donovan Mitchell stand in the corner and breathe for 90 seconds? We're not even going to take him out of the game, but can we just buy him one possession to breathe because he's having to create so much for us? So I have a hard time kind of pointing the finger his way. I will say the cabs look...

The calves have looked significantly different this series than at least in the last two games, than they did previously. Like, I'm almost like caught wondering, like, are the Celtics just not playing up to the level they should, or are the calves in this sort of Mobley at the five lineup, kind of unleashed in the way or at least playing with more freedom than they typically did, because there was a lineup where it was like Mobley, Dean Wade back from the dead, Struce, Mitchell Garland. And I'm like, there's just like oceans of space in the way that there are for the Celtics.

And I'm like, is this version, I guess it can't be sustainable because Mitchell won't stay there. but all of a sudden, something with that team just feels right in a way that they typically do not. I think it was just a matter of Orlando plays with so much physicality. And when you think about the calves,

who are the players on their roster who can score through a lot of contact? And the answer proved to be basically only Donovan Mitchell. And you can see it at times in this series too. When Evan Moby tries to post up Al Horford and ends up moving more than Al Horford does.

Dude, did you remember to travel? Yeah, three spins in a row trying to get a shot off. And it was just like, bro, like, how are you not moving yet you're three feet further from where you started this move at? Actually, I think it might have been worse than a travel. I think it ended up being a three-second violation just with him trying to get a shot off against Al Horford. And so that's the difference for the most part is there's more space to work with

because the Celtics are a very good team and a very dynamic one, but they're a less physical team than the magic guard. They're just, they're not holding Cleveland and bumping them in the same way. I think that's my kind of overall question that keeps going through my head, though, was with Mobley, because it's like, what's the future with him? On the one hand, I agree with you guys. I wonder, like, why wouldn't they give another shot with the Allen Mobley front court? If only because I don't think Mobley can sustain a full regular season at the full five, but like it seems like things are trending in the way where he seems unleased,

at least offensively in that setup. He was definitely attacking and scoring more off of the attention that Mitchell would get and he would just cut in and score off of that a lot. So, do you think like next, let's say next season or even down the road with him? Is he a five or would you still say he's too slight? He has to be a four. No, I think he can be a five, but you have to be able to beat up Derek White when he's guarding you. You got to beat up Drew Holiday on a cross match.

Shit, you might have to be able to beat up Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown when they're get cross matched against you because like a real five can do that. You know what I'm saying? And so that's what, like, I don't ever expect him to get to the point where a guy that says good, even at his old-ass age, is Al Horford, good, strong, stout, veteran, understands positioning, understand leveraging his center of gravity. I don't need him to get to a point where he's burying guys like that under the basket as if he's like embita Yolkich.

Like, we don't actually need to see that. But when smaller people are on you, fam, turn around, make a hook shot over them. Go up for it. Don't get filed. Like, come on. Like, I think that's a reasonable expectation. No, Rob? I want to put something to you guys on this front.

I saw A.J. Diggs, who's a skills coach and coach who's been in the NBA before, put this on Twitter. He's a bad coach, okay. A bad coach, among other things. What's worse? Being a big guarded by a guard because you can't score. Or being a guard guarded by a big because you can't score. Big guarded by a guard. You think so?

You're big for nothing. Big for nothing. We got to bring back that phrase. When I was younger, we used to call dudes that all the time. Look at them. Big for nothing. To me, that's way worse. It is tough when you can't turn and score over Peyton Pritchard.

That is just crazy. There was a play where Pritchard boxed out mobily, just like squarely on the glass to the point that he had no chance at a rebound. It's just like, that can't happen. I'm sorry. They still won't let Bronn forget about J.J. Barreya. Come on now. That's true.

Are you calling LeBron James big for nothing? No, no, no. I would never dream. I'm just trying to clarify what's happening here. Crazy hashtag and clutch we trust. What's wrong with this guy? Well, the flip side of this, Rob, is then Mobley has to shoot and shoot a lot.

I think he has to get to the point where he's taking like five threes a game and he has to be a spacer at that point. And like the percentages were good this year, but obviously on low volume. Like maybe he gets there. But like, I think that's the only way you, you fit both him and Allen in the same front court going forward.

Yeah. And two things can be true in this game too where it was clear that Mobley was having a hard time finishing through contact or even really going up and creating an opportunity to finish through contact. But I did think he did a better job of freeing himself up for kind of breakaway opportunities within the half court, right? Like going down the lane basically undeterred because of the space in Cleveland had.

I loved some of the looks that Darius Garland got him. Dumpoffs, yeah. The dump offs. And those were off of good cuts from Mobley oftentimes. So some of it is that too. He's going to need to space. He's going to need to be able to hit shots consistently when those opportunities are there for him. But he also needs to make himself active and involved in ways that don't require

him to go up through Biggs who are going to muscle him off his spot. Also, get better at the catch, please. The bobbling doesn't help. Like, bobbling three feet away when it's just like, all right, you finally gather and it's like defense recovery, get better on the catch. He's, I, but I, you know what the thing is too? Yeah. This playoffs is the first time that I've seen a path for in his career where like there's enough moments where I'm like you know what I could see this actually one day clicking for this kid he's super intuitive but it doesn't necessarily translate to the offensive way in a way that's like kind of dissonant and hard to understand yeah it's weird that NBA players brains work that way

where often they're either very intuitive on offense or defense but obviously only the rare special superstar level players are both yeah like yokeet doesn't translate I don't know I can see the series going six though I think you snuck that one by Justin. I didn't see that. I didn't hear it. I said some stars are intuitive on both ends like Nicola Yokic. It's because he can't move his feet enough.

You've got to be intuitive. I can see the series going six at this point. Caves are feisty. Rob. They're doing what they can. I worry about the role players' inability to hit shots in games like this. It felt like they were really on the precipice of closing the gap, and then they would spray out and just guys could not convert.

And that's where it really felt so much like a Donovan Mitchell operation without a lot of supporting help in terms of the scoring. I thought the defense was mostly there. I thought they were able to disrupt Boston for long stretches of this game. We even saw some smaller than small ball line. I was like basically Dean Wade at center. That was kind of a disaster though. They were getting kind of creamed when that happened.

The rebounding didn't go great, I will say. Did not go great. Don't pick on Sam Merrill. Like, you know, you can sneak those guys in a little bit more freely than you would against some other teams. This is the thing. I would say Cleveland has a good shot to extend the series and get to six and be even more competitive in these games.

If the role players start to hit some of those threes, and that's touch and go, depending on, you know, those are not high percentage shooters in all. cases. Some of them have done better in the regular season, but pretty inconsistent at the very least. And also, they got to get back in transition defense a little bit better. I thought every time Boston ran, they got something great out of it. They didn't always convert, but those, the frequency of those opportunities would scare me if I were J.B. Bicker staff. A couple of things, the Dean Wade's and the Merrill's like, these guys got to be quicker to fire than they are, man. Like, there was too many record scratch possessions

where Wade is like putting it on the floor and it's like, Dean, I got news for you, you're not out there to dribble. You don't want to be cook? Let Dean Wade be great. Let it fly. And you know what? I would say the same thing for Garland.

I think he's a little bit too timid not chasing his shot enough. He needs to be hunting his shot, both on the dribble and when he catches it on the swing and attacking the closeouts. Like, these guys need to be more aggressive. Like, Donovan Mitchell is the only person playing. And honestly, Max Truce is kind of aggressive too.

He's just very limited in his talent. But he's pretty aggressive. He's trying, yeah. And how he's attacking out there. These role guys got to remember, like, bro, it's the Celtics. You're not supposed to be beating these guys. Let that thing fly, man. I want to see guys shoot more often.

When all of those guys are even just a little bit hesitant, I think they're trying to find ways to make the offense go, but they're a little bit hesitant. When all of that is happening at once, plus your other stars on the floor right now are Mowgli and Darius Garland, two guys who themselves are not really looking to shoot all that frequently. You're just giving a lot of oxygen to Keros Lavert. You're giving a lot of oxygen,

and I don't necessarily appreciate that. Yeah. I think we need 20 to 30 minutes to talk about Darius Garland, but if we want to sneak in some of these other series here, We should move along. If Donovan Mitchell weren't so obviously going to be high tailing his way out of town at the first opportunity, you trade.

Garland would be on the market, bro. Totally. Quickly. Yes. I'll say it again. Mitchell is doing too much because he has to. It's just like Garland isn't doing it enough there. All right.

Let's talk about the nuggets. Let's just do one thing from each of these other two series. I might say, you know, the officiating seems to have changed. A little bit in the three-day span Between game two and three. Known for having a tight whistle, though. So he's consistent. Suspicious that you know your personnel, Justin.

All of a sudden comes aboard in game three, you know? Adam Silver, working with Gru and the minions, just like collude all over the place. Well, I mean, he doesn't get suspended. I'm just saying the NBA just rakes in cash when the nuggets are in the NBA finals, as we know. than anything. Yeah, it's just a, they're just a cash cow,

a ratings bonanza whenever the basketball team from Denver is involved. Definitely, the, the tighter whistle is going to, the looser whistle, I should say, is always going to be in favor of the bigger, more physical team every single time, right? Because you just, like, they're just able to impose their physicality on you,

bump you, take you off your routes and your spots. Like, that's just, a tried and true, you know, circumstance as far as the whistle goes. I just think Denver just played offense with way more force. Obviously, their defense was obviously better, but their offense is like they played harder on offense, which is like something we don't normally say,

like teams not working hard enough on offense, but Denver needed to work harder on offense. And some of it, man, ooh, Yokic was planting them boys with them screens. Oh, my goodness. That was huge. And honestly, I thought the screens were a big part of what kind of frayed the wolves a little bit. You could see Alexander Walker and Kyle Anderson, especially at the end. They were getting really upset about some of the contact on, if I'm being honest,

what I thought were pretty legal screens by the definition. And certainly by the way that those things are officiated in the playoffs, I thought pretty clean. But that's what Denver needs is they need real screen contact to get Jamal Murray into space, to get these actions, some actual room to breathe and work and develop, because part of the reason everything was getting stifled and swallowed up by Minnesota's defense is there wasn't any clearance to begin with. And so because they do that, Murray gets the corner.

And because Murray gets the corner, Yokic can get the space in the middle, in the pocket, to start making plays and actually reading things. And that's when the nuggets look like the nuggets. Yeah, I'm curious to see what happens in the next game. Obviously, Murray will have fewer games. Fewer games before this one. So let's see if that was the long layoff or exactly what you're talking about. But I don't think this is like great analysis, but I think this is the swing game here.

I can still see it going six or seven. But he who wins game four controls the series. There you go. The prophet Wozni has declared. That's right. Nick's Pacers. The Pacers can't guard for shit. It's really embarrassing how bad their defense is.

Like it's nice that they won that game. Nemhard? Bobbled that ball about three different times on that play. Like, his heart was clearly pumping out of his chest on that play to the point where he barely could muster it up to celebrate the biggest shot he's ever made in his life because he knew, like, bro. Okay. That was pure luck.

But, like, the paces should be, like, they just can't guard. It's just kind of crazy. But it was nice to see Hallie return to, like, Like, return to being aggressive, hunting his shot, hunting that spot up, like, shooting his many threes. I think the drive game was better than it's been. It's still not crazy, like, you know, effective. But it's nice that he's even willing to do it now.

And yeah, him hunting his threes, man, like, that's what the Pacers need from him. I take your point, but the Pacers not being able to guard, generally speaking. I'm not saying they did a great defensive job in this game. You should be able to guard this next, this, this version. in the Knicks. Here's what you should be able to do is prevent Dante DiVincenzo from getting 35 points. That seems within their power to do. But I do want to give credit because they did take Nemhard off of Jalen Brunson,

put Aaron Neesmith on him in a way that for a player who's playing on a bad foot, make sense, like make him beat length, make him beat athleticism and effort and kind of a different kind of doggedness, not to take anything away from Andrew Nemhart, who I think did the best he could, but just like was not able to really get into jail and Brunson's line of sight. Take it away from him. He was getting smoked. He was getting absolutely smoked. I thought Aaron Neesmith did an amazing job of getting around screens,

staying at least somewhat attached to Brunson in ways that he had to separate and rush. And you saw that part pay off defensively, if nothing else. Should we also differentiate between the type of playoff dogs that are out there? Yeah. What are the breeds out there, do you think? I feel like Nemhart's kind of like a collie, you know? kind of nice, but just a working dog.

Yeah, exactly. So, like, he's not like a mean dog. Like, the mean dogs are the best dogs, right? Yeah, that's where I'm confused on the metaphor. Like a German Shepherd is like the kind of dog you want. I think that's ideal because the German Shepherd is highly trainable, right? Like, very precise, surgical, but also. Was it Coogh Joe a German Shepherd?

I can't speak to any ghost dogs or zombie dogs. That's a little bit beyond our purview, I think he was a killer dog. Was he? Yeah. Yeah, I think he was rabies. I think I'm getting pet cemetery and Kujo confused maybe. I think so. Kujo was just a regular dog that, you know, had some bad turn.

He was, he wasn't a German chef. He was just, he was just a killer dog. That's the highest level. Above German Shepherd is you want your Kujo's in there. Yeah. Like most of the Knicks are pit bulls, you know. Okay. Oh, yeah.

at least pit mixes. Yeah, totally. Totally. I completely derailed us now. One thing I will say is I wonder if the Knicks are going to regret letting that game slip away toward the end there. If only because every game from here on out was going to feel like two games for this team with seven healthy players. I know they technically played eight in that game. But like I imagine by the time we get to game five and six is going to feel like the Patriots and Raiders snowball out there.

Because like the minutes are showing and it's obviously going to be worse as the same. series goes along. I don't even know where the minutes are going to come from. Like when Alec Berks isn't giving you 21 good minutes, where do you turn? Alex had a nice little show in, man. That's what I mean? Like, it was a great game from him, but what happens when he doesn't have a great game?

McBride is going to do 40 off the bench. He has to. He has to. He's already at 30. Next man up. At what point is that one of us? At what point are we lacing up for the Knicks? Are we on the platform? We may not be a playoff eligible.

got a couple of Jericho Sims finally, you know, took the splinters out his ass and got in the floor. Shout to Jerry. Sims. Is out there somewhere? He is theoretically available, yeah. Before we go, I wanted to talk about the sons hiring Mike Boodenholzer. Yeah.

I think they're going to shoot some threes next year. That's my big prediction. One would hope. One would hope. And so for that reason, I'm oddly bullish on this because I almost feel like they can't do anything, right, with their roster because if they pull any lever, the. whole thing just spontaneously combusts. So they have to buy in and kind of make this work in a way that like the big three

he after losing to Dallas like Bosch worked on his three point game. Obviously different layers of this, but bear with me here. If they just like buy into Bud's system and he like figures how just shooting three pointers like at the very least like maybe they're not a complete catastrophe at this point. If they buy into Bud's system. Yeah. He's great. He's great at that.

Like Bud is great at coming into a team. finding a task manager, a task manager, but also find all of the low-hanging fruit that is going to be very easy for us to fix with the personnel that we have. And usually that starts at the three-point line. This is just a team that is unusually resistant

to actually taking threes, and I do hope that changes. I think Bud will make them a better offense next year. And I know that's a low bar, considering how badly they underachieved on that end, and it can't be said enough. They were the league's worst fourth quarter offense for the entire season.

And so, yeah, I think, I think Bud is an improvement for sure, for what they need. You know, I think if this team is going to take off is because they're like a hyper efficient offensive machine. It's not going to be because they, like, dig in on defense and they're, like, gritty and scrappy. They have to become an offense first team and Bud is an offense first coach. Yeah. But is 484 and 317 lifetime.

That's a 60.4 winning percentage. That is 24 all time in the NBA. He's a two-time coach of the year. He's won a title. Good coach. He's no Hewby Brown, but good coach. I know. It's so like it's weird to say this because he seems like he just has so much dirt on him

for how much he just took so much shit in Milwaukee. But like this is one of our better coaches in the NBA, of coaches. And so I have to imagine good things are going to come out of this. And I think one way in which he and the sons could fit quite well is he can do all these things to clean up kind of their baseline performance. And then what you would hold against Mike Boodenholzer or wonder if he's capable of is kind of the game to game series to series sort of adjustment in the postseason. Worry about that when you get there.

Well, first of all, yeah, worry about that when you get there clearly. But also, guys like Devin Booker and Kevin Durant are fairly adaptable in navigating the those sorts of things, if the rest of the team has the structure to give them a chance to do it, right? If the defense is holding up, it's into the bargain. If you're getting all of these threes to help kind of buoy your offensive efficiency, then all this mid-range stuff starts to look pretty good. And it elevates your team rather than kind of defines it. So I had this stat teed up from JV. Stats and Info for Tatum, but it didn't come to bear. Did you just call your own research stats and info? Yeah. JV. Stats and Info. Yeah. Okay. It's for prior to

Cherry Software. You can sign up if you want. What do you have? What do you have for us? Niel pain over here. 40 point playoff game since 2020, 2020, 2021. So past four or three in this postseason. Devin Booker leads the list.

Eight. Was not expecting that. Booker, Janice with seven, Donchish, Butler, Brunson at six, Tatum with four. Yeah. There you go. There you have it. Well, in part, a lot of guys who have and had the chance to play lots of series too, which that is one thing that was so weird

about this son's implosion was this is a team that we're used to at least putting up a fight and getting into the second round. And they made no-show in game seven of the second round now and again, but for the most part, they're at least going to have the chance to advance.

Yeah. Charles Lee also went to the Hornets off the Celtic staff, but I love the two roads diverging from the Buckstaff where Lee is now going to take over the most low-stake franchise and NBA history versus Darwin Ham who went to the Lakers and I was also looking for a job.

I like that hire though. I'll just say that. I do too. It's a good hire. I'm bullish on the Hornets. Did you want to say something? I just want to ask if you wanted to remind people about our live show coming up

and the potential to buy some tickets. That are listening all the way through to the end of the podcast. Give them some sugar, Justin. You already started. Why don't you go for it? Well, I just think everyone should know that group chat.

look, as much as you enjoy this show and this podcast, the opportunity to see us in person live is the kind of luxury you should treat yourself to by purchasing tickets this upcoming Tuesday for our eventual live show on June 18th in the midst of the NBA finals. What better way to celebrate basketball's biggest stage than with us on a stage making terrible jokes? I think that's how you should spend your time. Rob has even promised to let us talk about the offseason because basically the entire NBA has been eliminated at that point. You think I'm going to let us talk about the offseason in between games like five and six of the NBA finals?

Do you think that's going to happen? Don't think I'm not clocking whenever you try to divert my offseason questions out here. We're in the playoffs, right? The games matter so much. They're relevant questions going forward. It is relevant questions. Sometimes it's relevant.

That's why Woz gets my vote for teammate of the year. That's all I'm saying. Josh getting benched is relevant because I called him a bust after the first possession of his first game in NBA Summer League. That's why it's relevant to you. All I'm saying is

maybe let's hold off on the Josh Giddy trade machine until, you know, the series is two one. We can give it 10 days. We can give it 10 days. That's all I'm asking. 10 days. Bring a residency at the L.Rae Theater in Los Angeles. We're doing our live show on June 18th

between games five and six if they need them. of the NBA finals. Tickets go on sale 10 a.m. Pacific. 5.14. That's Tuesday. Right. Tuesday. Okay. The ringer.com slash events. Oh, also watch us on YouTube if you're into that, I guess. You could see us yell at each other as opposed to just the audio experience. But in person, you can feel us yell at each other. And that's, I think, a richer experience. Know what I like about the YouTube video is that when Rob tries to not laugh at my hilarious jokes on the mic, you could actually see it. You know?

He's trying to keep something from you guys. But he knows he's laughing. Literally never happened before. Okay. That's it for us. Thank you to Isaiah Blakely. Thank you to Ben Cruz. We'll be back Wednesday night, as usual.

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