The Ringer NBA Show - Ep. 8: Conference Finals With Juliet Litman, Travon Free, and Tate Frazier

Episode Date: May 27, 2016

The Ringer's Juliet Litman and Tate Frazier and 'Any Given Wednesday' writer Travon Free discuss the major talking points from the NBA conference finals heading into GSW-OKC Game 6. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Ringer NBA show, and I'm Juliet Littman. You can also find me and all of my colleagues on several other podcasts. We've got the Ringer NFL show with people like Robert Maze and Kevin Clark. We got The Watch with Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald. We have the Ringer MLB show with people like Michael Bauman and Mallory Rubin. Of course, we've got the BS pod. We've got Shackhouse, and we've got Channel 33. We've got pods on pods on pods.

Check them out. I think you're going to like them. Welcome to the Ringer NBA show. I'm Juliet Littman. I'm Managing editor of the Ringer. a new website coming next week. I'm so pumped, Julie. Wait.

That's Tate Frazier. You're a Trayvon free. I am. Tate works on the ringer. Trayvon works on any given Wednesday coming June 22nd. Oh, wait. So excited for that.

There's so much happening. And yet, we need to talk about last night's game between the Thunder and the Warriors. What a game. What a game. So Trayvon, I'm so happy to have you here because you said the Thunder would win in six. I did. And that was not a popular opinion.

It was not. I got so much shit. Like the amount of shit I got for not. not being on the Steph Curry bandwagon was amazing. And now that I'm so, I was so happy that the Thunder got it to 3-1. And I was, I would have been happy to be wrong and they've won in five.

But now I'm even more happy that it can land exactly where I wanted it to land on six. But yeah, people gave me a lot of shit for that. I was very surprised. They really did. And so you were on the BS pod, like two weeks ago or so. And the thing that you and Bill called out was that the Thunder are going to have

this great rebounding advantage. Oh, yeah. And that has been completely. born out, right, Tate? Yes, completely borne out. Until last night. Until last night. They got a rebound.

It was like first time in the series. Yeah. And look what happens. I mean, the Thunder are so good at taking the warriors out of the game from the inside. And you see immediately in this elimination game, Stephen Adam gets two fouls in like the first two minutes. Yeah. By the 934 mark in the first quarter, he had two fouls. It's certain someone who's sitting at this table with me was like classic NBA.

NBA. Oh, absolutely. It felt, it couldn't have been more obvious. It was like, oh, they don't want the Warriors to go home. They want this to keep going. And they made, like, that six minutes was so crucial that he wasn't in the game. It was just enough for them to do all the things they needed to do to get that edge over the thunder and keep that go. Like they, I think they, the files ended up being 26 to 18 or something, but there were, it's close, but there were such crucial files and crucial moments, like Marie Spate's getting a charge from Kevin to, like, charge I've ever seen. Let's just pin it for one second. I need to take a temperature check with Tate right now. Tate to North Carolina and just rides for Steph. I do. I ride for all North Carolina

basketball players. Like from the UNC and also like from the state of. From Carolina. Sure. Blanket statement. Just Carolina basketball players. If you have a connection to Carolina, Tate's with you. Yeah, even Russell Westberg does. Thanks Michael Jordan. Good for you. Good for you, Michael Jordan. You picked the right guy. So you got Russ and Steph in your in your pocket? Whatever way it goes. I'm fine. You can't lose. Yeah, no. I'm all right. What's your analysis of the Steph no-show, this series?

Well, I think... Would you call it a no-show? I would call it just a mental hurdle that he has not been able to cross yet. And I think that was a big thing. We were talking about, like, pounding his chest. Before we got on the podcast, we were talking about Steph. Juliet was saying that Steph was pounding his chest on stuff. Last night.

While the game's still going on. We're not going home, you know, in quotations, even though, like, you're playing at home right now. You got a long ways to go. Yeah. Yeah, you're home. So I think that was like a mental thing that he just wanted to like let everybody know that he's like confident, feeling it, feeling himself, feeling back. But I think the big guy last night was Bogut. Bogot was huge last night.

Oh my God. Was he 15 and 14? Yeah. That was such a difference maker. To me, that was like the biggest. The hymn and I think it was Bogot, the lack of play from Dion Waders. Yeah. Which was abysmal.

He was just gone. There was like one play last night where it was like March Dion, not May, Dion. I love March Dion. I love March Dion. Deon has somehow emerged as like an incredible playmaker for The Thunder, which is truly shocking. And like I think that you could call him in this series a playmaker, right? Yeah. And last night he was definitely down.

Minus 18 last night. Dion was the took a big L last night, but proud of him otherwise. You can't have Anthony Morrow making a three on the same night that, that Dion Wader is a playmaking, I guess. If Dion Wader shows up even a little bit and you get those 10 points from Morrow, it's a different ball game. But you get 15 points from Bogot, you get 14 points from Spades, and then you lose what you got from Ibaka the last couple games. It makes up for that little difference in a 10-point game, 9-point game. Spreader was 11, so good job, Vegas. You call that one.

They nailed it. So let's get back to Steph because he's probably the biggest star of the series, even though there's also Russ and KD. Yeah, Russ just laughed in the background when he said that. That he was the biggest star. I mean, he is, right? Yeah, no, he's obviously on a huge platform right now. I think you and Chris called this out a lot. Like the Warriors are going to kind of catch up with themselves at a certain point.

And it feels like they're at this equilibrium where they're either going to go downhill and have this decline or they're going to overcome all this and it's going to be something that we talk about for a long time. Like Kobe calling Draymond, you know, and Draymond being like, you know, Kobe's seeing the bad and the good. I was like, well, you're setting up for maybe some bad that you're about to see. Like, you know, it was like some foreshadowing there. I think one of the biggest shocks this series has been, not really a shock, but like just a real revelation, has been how important the Dremont staff symbiosis is.

Like, it's always been obvious. Like, that's such a big part of their game. But Dremont looking mortal is something we haven't seen in a while. Did you see him kick Roberson in the face? Yeah. Like, why are his feet always in the air? He's been doing that since Michigan State. It's not a new thing.

Is he a rocket? He might be. He's trying out for another career. He was literally going toward the ground and for some reason his foot blade kicks. Like, why? What's with that leg? I don't know. It's like he can't keep it under control. He played better last night, but he wasn't like his usual dream on self. Yeah, it was, he played better on, I think on paper he played better. But if you watch the actual gameplay, it was very spread out. He didn't seem like a factor in the game early on. And then he kind of came on late. He got 13 rebounds, I think. But it didn't. didn't feel like he had this great game. It didn't feel like he was one of the stars or standouts

of the game, even though he made a big difference. And it seemed like he wasn't going to make a difference in first. He should be there to set the tone of every game. Like, that's what they need him to do. That's what Steph needs him to do. He hasn't done it in one game in the series yet. And last night it was Bogot that did it. Bogot was the big force last night. It was a big win for Australia. New Zealand went down last night. That is true. Like the Battle of Oceania. Oh, I know. It's like one of my favorite back and force. Stephen Adams is so tough, though. It's unbelievable. Apparently he has like two testicle contusions right now.

He does. That's what I heard. He has 17 siblings. He's the youngest one. People are like, how can Draymond not get in his head? If I had 17 siblings that were mean to me my whole life, I don't think Draymond's saying me thinks to me. And he looks like a robot, so like there's no way. Yes.

I don't think you can get into his head because he just seems like nothing. He looks like the kind of guy you give him a task and that's all he knows. Yeah, he's like singularly focused. I love that guy. Like, Adam, go destroy. Okay, I will destroy. Okay. Kick me in the balls. I'll get up. I'll continue to destroy it. Like, that's all he does.

If you had 17 siblings, would you be able to name them all in one breath? Like, could you do that? Is that possible? No, I don't even have 17 friends. I think I can name in one breath. At that point, like, around 10, I think you stop knowing who they are. Like, you just like, I think that's my brother. I don't know. Like, we had the same bedroom. There's a 30-year gap between us. Also, five different moms. So some of them are closer in age, you know? So it's not like it all, like, we're in succession necessarily. You can't be, how can you be that close to 17 siblings? You can't be.

It's not possible. You're like close to two maybe and the rest of them or just kind of like really close friends. It's very clicky. Even when you get to like five, you can't be equally close with all four your siblings. I can barely text my friends on a regular basis, let alone 17 siblings. Oh yeah, absolutely. It's like, it's very, very difficult. He's overcoming odds all the time, I guess.

But apparently if you have these testicular contusions, you're not supposed to, you can't even walk normally. And he has them and he's still playing. That's insane. That's crazy. He's so tough. I love that guy. I don't know what they eat in New Zealand, but good God. There's just been such a turn in the thunder.

Like last night you saw Abaka on the bench, Russ didn't have a great first quarter. On the bench, like Abaka had his arm around Russ, like, pulled him tight, and he was like giving him a pep talk. And those two bicker on the court all the time. They obviously have like a very close and complicated relationship. And it's just like a totally different Thunder team. Like even from the Dallas series until now, it's like watching a different group of guys. Not when they play, but how they get along. Yeah, it's like alone the way they've been.

figuring out that they can do this. Because when you look at the play over the course of the season, you would have never thought this would have happened. Yeah. Like the way they played, it just didn't make sense. But now, like, every series, they've kind of come closer and closer to figuring out, oh, like, we can actually do this if we just jail properly

and we do what we have to do and get a couple of the bench guys to come along. Like, it's those little, because this game, the series has been so tight statistically. Yeah. It's been the play of the bench players and, like, little guys who you didn't get that much from to make that difference. That's a really good point that's been tight statistically because except for game four, I guess games one and three really, like they have been so tight. And so trying to figure out like exactly how the Thunder is winning is actually kind of like more interesting than another tight series. Because on paper they look almost identical.

There's like one of the things I found surprising is the the Thunder have been out shooting them from three. Right. Like over the course. It's because Steph's been so cold. Yeah. Like Steph was three for nine or something, three for eight yesterday and Clay was two for nine. And you just, when you watch the game, though, I felt like Clay was making everything he shot, but it was mostly. Two.

Yeah. It was the first game that they had more points in the paint. It was 45-31 for the Warriors had points in the pain. It was first time they've actually led in that statistic in the whole series, which I think is huge. Steph made one bounce pass when they were on the break. It was Clay and Steph and Clay kicked out the Steph. And Steph made that quick bounce pass and Clay had to lay up. And I was like, that's the first time I've seen them not settle for a three, which is a weird thing.

It's like almost the Thunder wanted to stretch them out behind the three-point line. I'd say try to beat us by shooting. And they figured out like we kind of can't do that. Yeah, these guys are seven feet tall. It's hard to shoot over. Right. Seven feet tall, six 11 and moves their feet that well. It's just tough.

Seriously. It seems like staff is passing up shots he usually loves to take. So do you think he is injured? Do you think he's spooked? Like, why does, what, it's just defend Steph to me and why he's doing that? I think that the Thunder have done a great job of making teams play isolation basketball. They made the spurs play to iso ball. That's why they look so terrible.

It was like, Kauai is terrible off the dribble. Oh, wait. That's because they pass the ball around. that's not how they play. And Steph's doing the same thing. Like he gets around these screens and it's one-on-one with Adams, and he's dribbling there and he's like trying to get a good shot rather than running the offense.

And I think they just have to get out of their own heads. I think it's a real mental thing, and I think Russ is completely in control of that. I think him laughing at that press conference last night is a sure-tale sign that he's not worried. I don't think so at all. And he's fine, you know? They have the mental advantage right now,

which is weird for a team. That's not the defending champion. I think they would already have won this series just based off the fact that if they would, would be better at defending the basket when they're spreading the court out. It seems like every other play, someone was going past one of the Thunder players, and there was nobody at the basket to defend. And it was like, if you're playing this switching office that you guys are using to defend the shooters,

somebody has to be getting back to the basket. Like nobody's watching man-in ball. Everybody's facing up with their man. And then when somebody gets beat behind you, there's no one there to help. No team defense. And they were getting burned so many times on those plays. They really were. It felt like I was watching a high school team because I'm yelling at my senior.

screaming like man and ball yeah there's no peripheral reason somebody should be there helping every uh roberson dunk must just really hurt the the warriors like crush their soul just a little bit i'm kind of proud of robinson though because like he's like a great guy and they just turned this whole series of like let this guy beat us and he was like you know what screw that i love to you i like that i was proud of him uh yeah he's done well yesterday not so great but yeah he did who are you rooting for tate uh i mean i'm rooting for the Warriors just because Steph, Harrison Barnes, James Michael McAdoo. Right, you got to ride with your guys.

Yeah, I'm running with all them. Harrison has had a horrific series. I really, really feel bad for him. But he was plus 12 yesterday. He only played 25 minutes. They don't know how to use him in like the second half. They just have obviously no confidence in him. They do not trust him.

Because he just doesn't get the ball in the fourth quarter. No. No, not at all. Do you think Barnes is going to get Max money? I honestly feel like if they lose this series, which they are. Do you think we can win in seven? Let's say they lose tomorrow or Sunday, whatever it is. If the Thunder don't win tomorrow, they will lose the series.

So the Thunder have to win game six to get to the finals. Because if you look at the way they officiated last night, there's no way the NBA wants the Thunder to beat the Warriors at home. There's no way they want that. And they want that Warriors Cavaliers rematch. So to speak to Harrison Barnes, I think if they lose, he's leaving. So you think, yeah, oh, definitely. So, like, even if he won the championship, I think he leaves. I just don't think he stays.

Yeah, it doesn't seem like the best fit for him. Why would he want to stay? He's good. Yeah. And he doesn't get to touch the ball in the fourth quarter. It doesn't even play sometimes in the fourth quarter. We talked about Abaka being disengaged, like, heading into game four against the spurs. It was like, Abaka seems like he's not a part of the offense or whatever.

Like, Harrison is so disengaged in the game that when he does get a shot, it just seems like, oh, wow, I finally got a shot. And then he doesn't make it. There's just like the confidence just continues to decrease. It's tough. It's also funny that he is disengaged because I love Clay Thompson, like just love him. Claytheism. I'm a clotheism. But he's obviously a weirdo.

Like he talked to himself on the court, not like in like a way to like show off like Steph, but like he needs to do that for himself. He seems so awkward to me. Like I really don't like his face. You don't? He has this face that's always with the same expression and he's got this like, weirdest goatee thing going on. And even when he does something greater

goes on a tear, his expression never changes. And that's so weird to me. He's like a robot. Yeah. And when you see pictures of him, like someone reads a picture of him with two girls, like at a pool, he had the exact same face.

He's confused while there's no basketball goal around. He's like, I don't really do this. Did your expression ever change? It just looks so weird to me. He's really into his bulldog. That's like his favorite thing in the world. It's not surprising. That makes sense.

That makes sense. I was going to say that, like, Clay and Harrison Barnes both come off aloof on the court, but I think that Clay is weird and Barnes is detached. It's like a different kind of aloofness. I agree with that. Just on the topic of, like, players that I'm into, I like Kevin Durant, but I love Kevin Durant and these new Katie Nines and gray. For some reason, like, I'm just, like, really, really into Durant and his Katie Nines. Those are the first pair of Katie's I've ever liked.

They're, like, amazing. That's coming from someone who owns over 200 pair of shoes. Yeah. They're like, I've never seen a pair of KDs if I was like, I want those until I saw those gray KD9s and I was like, I need those. Honestly, that's when I thought they were going to win the series. Those shoes came out and then I saw Russell's Jordan commercial and I was like, oh man, Nike is just taken down under armor.

Like this is the series to do it. Can we get back to KD? Because I just like, I wasn't done talking about how much I feel his value has risen with his sneakers. I'm just like, wow. Like it made me like do like a double take and I'm like distracted like looking. at him because I just think they look so great and he looked so great in them. I don't know.

I mean, he had 40 last night. Yeah. I mean, magical. I'm just really into this Kevin Durant of this series. Like, what, I just feel like, I think that KD went through like a dark period. Like a dark KD were like, I don't know. Everything from like breaking up with his fiance through like kind of. Oh, I didn't know about that.

Oh, yeah. He was engaged to Monica Wright of the Minnesota Lynx and they had a breakup. I don't know why. And then I just feel like he was, you know, he was injured. I feel like he was like at sea a little bit. But I just feel like we're getting fun KD back in the NBA right now. His mom's on TV all the time.

Yeah, we got Wanda all the time. Apparently Wanda and Steve Carr had like a very nice handshake last night. Good, I like Wanda. That's good. It's diplomatic relations that it's wrong is. That's what the Rovey should be doing. Yeah, exactly.

We should talk with Toronto and Cleveland just for a second. Sure. What a boring series? Seriously. God, I don't even want to watch. So let's just like, so going to the casino, it's a non-story, right? Like, who cares?

Yeah. I'm really into, I did a deep dive on Demar de Rosen's fiance. she seems wonderful. Just want to throw that out there. I love De Rosen. That's the other thing. Do you?

I feel like I would like this series a lot more, but Jonas being hurt really hurt, like the fun of us. Yeah, Jonas, Jonas, whatever. Jonas, Jonas, both of them, I wanted him to play a lot more in the series. The Cavs are like set up to go to the finals.

It's not even fun. Yeah, because we all know what's going to end up with that. Yeah, exactly. It's not great. Also, like, it's just, LeBron's dominance is incredible to, like, behold, but, like, I just don't enjoy watching the Cavs that much. It's kind of,

crazy how we've gotten so complacent with LeBron being the dominant guy that we don't even like six straight finals he's incredible no one's never before it's like we become bored by his dominance and we're like but Steph Curry look at this he also has changed his game basically like every for every part of his career like even right now the game he's playing is different than last year we were looking at the ringer yesterday we're looking at some of his stats and like his in the like short range jumpers percentages are like literally out of control like it's beyond historic Remember that shooting chart from a couple games ago. His short range, he was all green.

Yeah, and in one red circle outside of the three-point line. I would guard him like Rondo. I would literally sit in the paint and be like shoot threes. They don't have the team to do that, though. I know. That's what I'm saying, if you're Kevin Durant, like that's how I guard. I don't let him ever drive by me.

That's why the Thunder have a really good shot against the Cavs, right? Because, like, just kind of going back to where we started, that has been part of their entire playoff run, which just bodes well if they end up playing the Cavs. And they have the right type of guys that when they play this offense or this defense where they are switching everything and letting people play. And they play back, let the guys spread the court out of their offense. It works well for them because they rebound well. And against the cavaliers, if you don't really have Kevin Love down there and Kyrie can show up or not show up one day.

And it's those games that get away from you where you end up wondering how you lost the championship again. Do you think the warrior, I mean, I'm like a little worried about the Thunder losing game six. Yeah. I'm actually quite worried about it. I really, really want them to go to the finals. Do you think the Warriors, there's just no way the Cavs beat them? Are you think that's a tighter series? Like, what do you think?

I think it's a better series in what's last year. Yeah, I think it goes seven, but I think at the end of the day, Kyrie Irving's guarding Stefan Curry. And if you're LeBron James and you lose two years in a row to the same team, That sucks. That's, I'm not, if I'm LeBron James, I'm not playing basketball next year and I'm going to film a movie. It's called Space Jam 2. There's no way I'm coming back. Or go play baseball for a season and come back and a river.

What LeBron should do is play football for a season. Like, just try it out. He always, he loves football. He always is into it. He, like, talks about how he, like, you know, he's like his other favorite sport. He should just do it. I don't think he wants the CTE, man. I know.

He didn't hurt. They'd be going after him. Oh, absolutely. Specifically for being LeBron James, thinking you can come play. play our game. They take it very personal. Would they? Because I think they would. I guess like football players wouldn't want to be showed up by like a basketball player. Just going to come in here and think you're going to be a receiver and just score touchdowns

on us. Fuck you. We'll take your legs out. Yeah, for sure. Josh Norman's going at him. No doubt about it. What team is he on now? Redskins. Oh, interesting. The Washington. Yeah, the Washington professional football team. Thank you for your correction. I like that. I like, I do too. I'm just, I've been doing some, my favorite thing is NBA summer. Like I love saying with these dudes. Can you hear this an update? Sure. So top story this week, French Riviera,

the bosses and the wades are on vacation. Do you guys follow Dwayne Wade on Snapchat? No, I got to get better at Snapchat. I only follow NBA players. Number one, Evan Turner talked about it a lot on podcasts. He's so funny and like just so extra. I highly recommend it. But so Dwayne Wade and Gabriel Union are probably like top three couple in the NBA

in my opinion. I do see them a lot. Power couple. They're great. Beyonce JZ of the NBA. They kind of are. They kind of are. It's amazing. So they're on vacation with the Bosch's. Adrian Bosh,

another great wag. So Wade, like, showed off all of his luggage and his stylist packed, packed for him and, like, packed him outfits, like in the equivalent of, like, Ziplock bags

where they're actually, like, you know, for clothes. Everything goes together. Yeah. And it was, like, it was pretty amazing. I was like, wow, this is,

he doesn't have to make, like, any decisions. And, like, even when he's on vacation, every outfit is pre-planned. I just can't imagine living like that. That'd be so great.

Hardable. Packing is horrible. I hate packing and you know he has a really nice expensive clothing and everything's going to be awesome so you don't have to even think about it. You're just like, I'll take, it's like when you, when you're a wife or someone prepares your dinner and you go in the fridge and all the bowls are there labeled and you know put this and that, this and that. You go about your day. It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. No stress. Also in Europe, this is not as much of a powerful duo, but Reggie Jackson and Paul George. So I mentioned this on a ringer slack and no one responded. So now you guys have to engage me in this conversation. I'm here. I saw a picture of Paul George. He's like at the beach in Greece and he's wearing a throwback Pacers jersey, but it's a Paul George jersey.

He's on vacation wearing his own jersey, but as a throwback. Like is there any precedent for that? Do people do that? I feel like that's a faux Paul, man. You can't wear your own jersey. It's really in public. He also is wearing a matching Pacers hat, a snapback. Do you think it was because he suspected that people would see him and Reggie Jackson together and would think that there was some sort of collusion at like a free agency link up so he was like I'm just going to wear my Pacer's jersey like let everybody know where my loyalties lie like that you know

maybe that's the only thing I would let him get away with I mean I wear a New Jersey is whack that feels so weird because now it feels like you're just begging for attention it's also just like a fake throwback is whack yeah like that's not cool like if it was I don't know any other anything

it's just I was it 24 it was PG-13 okay okay so when you said throwback I thought he was wearing like his old 24 jersey. And I was like, man, that guy's, like, having a real tough, like, crisis. It was like a 90s Pacers jersey. And it wasn't Chris Mullin? No, I'm pretty sure it was 13.

That's his number. Yeah, yeah, yeah. In case you guys didn't know that. Yeah, no. I wish it was a, if it was a Reggie Miller 31 and, oh, that's great. That's cool. Like, he's supporting the cause, but no. No. Can't wear your own jersey, though. I know.

Especially on vacation. It was really bad. It was really, really bad. I wonder, like, what it takes. I was thinking about this with the heat and Dwayne Wade. Like, at what point did he decide? he was going on vacation, like, who plans that? And, like, what's the turnaround? Like, does Wayne Wade just, like, snap his fingers and he's off to the French Riviera?

Like, what kind of planning goes into that for an NBA player? Because you don't know when your season's over, if you're lucky. That's true. I'm wondering because those guys have so much money. Like, I'm always worried about the last minute expensive. I don't give a shit. Well, they fly private. We can be sure of that.

If we lose game six tonight, I'll be in France tomorrow. It doesn't matter what the cause or what I have to do. I feel like they get hooked up. I think they get hooked up a lot when it comes to, oh, Dwayne Wade and Chris are coming to the hotel or coming to town. Like, we got you. The sweets are ready. Yeah, because they want to spread that word around the NBA.

They're like, these are the guys we need to get in with. Seriously. I mean, I guess it's like good marketing to get someone that famous to come to your. I love that they vacation together. I never thought of. The Wade's and the Boshes? Just couples vacationing as a whole. It just seems like such a crazy thing.

I know. I didn't see any kids present. And between them, they have like six kids. Maybe. Yeah. I wonder if it's because you're kind of celebrities. So it's different because like you're not. with your friends, you're with Gabriel Union

and the way and Wade. Yeah, seriously. It's just like a different level of hangout. Yeah. I love her. She looks so beautiful. All right. So if the Thunder don't win game six,

we all think the Warriors are taking game seven. I think so. That's really exciting. I think it would be one of the best games. Or I don't even know. Or do you think if the, if it goes to seven, it's tough to be the Thunder three times in a row.

I think the hard is a tough. It's tough to beat them. Yeah. I think the hard thing would be reffing game seven. Sure. Because everything you do is going to be screwed. You're a conspiracy theorist. We just need to caveat this whole conversation.

You're a conspiracy theorist. Me and Bill kind of fall in that same little conspiracy. Watch out Scott Foster. I feel like it's easy to get away with things like that and people write it off. But why wouldn't the league want the Warriors to win or why would like? I think it's a win-win for them though. Like Katie and Russ in the finals against LeBron again like four years later. Like that's awesome.

That's a great storyline too. I feel like when it's too predictable, that's when I get into conspiracy mode. Right. You're like, of course, the Warriors win. How much credit do you give Billy Donovan for the Thunder playing well in the playoffs? A ton. I think the way he changed, when I saw how he changed the way they played defense from series to series, it had to be, you had to give him credit for that.

I mean, looking at the way they were playing and knowing what change to make, and they were working immediately, you had to give him credit for that. The thing about Bogut having a big game five is it's like, it's not hard to figure out Bogot. Like it's harder to figure out the Steph, Draymond, tandem, but I feel like it's easy, not easy, but easier to adjust for Bogot. And it's not, no, he's easier to go to Minta Fowls and something like that. Like he's less nimble and also, he's just like,

it's easier with centers to kind of manipulate that. And when you look at the way they play, they play, the Thunder play so aggressively that you can always call or not call certain things in this series. And last night, they decided to call a lot of stuff. Like if you look at what they were doing in STF in OKC when he was trying to get open, he was getting punished. They're chipping him every time.

He gets beat up on every play. And you could call those, but they chose not to, and the difference was they got their ass kicked. That had been happening to Steph all season. Every team plays him so hard. I mean, the testament to his greatness that he's still, like he has the strength and the conditioning to fight through, like basically getting beat up every game.

It'd still be amazing. Chris Paul was the one who started this. Chris Paul never ever liked this all. All comes back to Carolina basketball. Chris Wall started it. Doesn't it, Tate? Well, I'm looking forward to this weekend in basketball. I can't wait.

I'm kind of excited for the finals to start. Let's just decide this thing. One thing that's been really nice is I just, like, you know, the whole season, we all assumed it would just be the Warriors and no one else would come close. I've liked having more competitive teams. And, you know, I want the Thunder to be this competitive all the time. Yeah. I think the Spurs Warriors, I think it would have been six games of Warriors win.

I think the Thunder added a whole new wrinkle with them coming together. Yeah, and it just feels great to have Katie and Ross back in the spotlight, you know? I love watching Russell, man. That dude is so fun to watch. And his press conferences are even more fun. Yeah, they're a great duo. They're like against everyone. It's us against the world when they're facing the media and it's beautiful.

I also think like their friendship has like, it's amazing that it's worked out with two alphas like that. It's just been great. And obviously the biggest one has just been watching KD and his sneakers. So, all right. Thank you for listening to the Ringer NBA show. We'll be back next week when our website will also be launching. Pretty crazy. Thanks, Trayvon. Thanks, Tate. Thanks, Juliet.