The Ringer NBA Show - Is Warriors-Suns the NBA’s Best New Rivalry? | The Answer

Episode Date: December 3, 2021

Chris and Seerat discuss the exciting Suns-Warriors game on Tuesday night and share their predictions for the Friday rematch and the rivalry moving forward. Hosts: Chris Ryan and Seerat Sohi Production Assistant: Chris Sutton Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Let's help everybody. I'm JJ John Gistramski. And I'm Jason Gough, and if you haven't heard, the ringer has gone local. I'm bringing the fire. I'm bringing the rain from the Big Apple with my show, New York, New York. And I'm reping Shy Town with my new show The Full Go on All Things Chicago. We've got episodes three nights a week with all the reaction to the local teams and guests. Plus bonus episodes around all the big games and storylines.

So whether you're uptown, downtown, downtown, in the burbs, or a transplant. Make sure you follow New York, New York, and the full go on Spotify or wherever you get your podcast. Hello and welcome to the Bringer NBA show. It's The Answer. I'm Chris Ryan. I'm joined as always by Siritt. So you, what's up, Siritt? What's up, Chris? Today we're talking about the Sons and the Warriors who played obviously on Tuesday night

in one of the sort of minor classics of this NBA season as we get to the quarter point. And they are playing again on Friday night. So we're recording this on Thursday afternoon, assuming that the Sons beat the Pistons tonight, they will have won 18 in a row in what Devin Booker has termed, no loss. November as it bleeds into December. And yeah, it's very exciting. You know, as many people probably already know, that game on Tuesday was the first time in the history of the league that two teams from the same division played each other with 850 or higher winning percentages after at least 20 games. That's a long way from Elias Sports Bureau of saying these were two really, really good teams

playing at the height of their powers. It was a classic on Tuesday. I'm really looking forward to the return match. It's not really. I can't remember the last time we've had two, two of these games in a week between the two top teams in league. Can you? No, I think, I think, like, what the Elias stat is trying to get at is that, like, this was kind of a playoff atmosphere. It was just, like, first of all, both teams really wanted to win. It was, I wouldn't really necessarily call it a slug fest as much as it was just, like, you know, like, really precise defense on both sides. Like both teams seemed like they really knew each other really well. And the Warriors were also, I mean, this was something that really caught me off guard.

The Warriors were really upset about losing this game. Yeah. And that was something that like even at the height of like, you know, their 72 win run, they just didn't really seem to care when, you know, like when the game was already kind of over. you wouldn't see them be like totally completely frustrated. Like I think the one game it ever was was like the one where the Clay Thompson meme emerged because it was like the first time ever that he looked upset about something. I can't remember what the game was.

But like yes, both teams really, really cared. And I think it was the best game of the season. And I think we might have gotten like the best game of the season early. Because I guess like Booker's not going to play in tonight's matchup. It'll still be a good game. but yeah, this was, this was exciting. Yeah, and it's a classic. I mean, you know, if you want to call this a rivalry

or if you want to just look at this as a matchup, my big takeaway watching this, and I completely agree with you, it was like the pinch me rivalry. Like, pinch me, this is really happening. I'm not dreaming. And I think for both teams, there's an element to that. Like, for the Warriors,

they have now returned to prominence after a couple years in the wilderness, after KD, and with all the injury ravaged seasons that they had and maybe some of the questionable personnel moves, the Ubre Jr. era, et cetera. And for the Sons, you know, like, if you could go to the finals and still be a nobody believes in us team, they are that, you know what I mean? Like, where I think that there was probably some cynicism, while it was like a feel good

story, it was a, there was some cynicism about like, yeah, well, if AD plays, like, are the sons really going to the finals if AD is healthy in the playoffs, right? Like, from last year. Like, there is a little, you think so. Yeah. You think that the Sons could have beaten the Lakers if they had had AD health. healthy last year. Yeah, I mean, there's a reason, like, the Lakers were a seventh seed. And I think, like, some of, some of the problems that they had really had nothing to do with AD, honestly. Like, there were rotation. I mean, like, we don't have to get into the Lakers. Let's do it. Yeah, I mean, I just, like, you know, there were rotation decisions in the playoffs that, you know, like that Vogel made that made zero sense. And they couldn't shoot. That had nothing to do with AD. I mean, I guess you could have created more spacing, but they were getting wide open shots. Like, you know, like, you. That team had all the, like, makings of the problems that this Lakers team has.

This one is a little bit more explosive. Yeah. But. You mean the problems are more explosive or the team is more explosive? The problems feel a little bit more explosive, even, like, on the court, you know, as far as explosive problems go. I mean, I don't know that Westbrook is, you know, that should be like the dictionary definition. But, yeah, no, let's get back. Let's get back to this.

So I was just, I mean, that was a long way of saying that, um, I, I think. that if you had told me even before the season or like even after the finals last season that in late November we were going to be watching the two best teams in the league square off against one another and it was going to be Phoenix and Golden State and they would just be far and away both in terms of the advanced metrics and record and I test and just vibe check the stories of the season would be these runaway these runaway teams I would have been like I don't know it's going to take a little while they're waiting for clay to get back. The whole Warriors thing is stay afloat until they get clay or maybe make a trade in the midseason

and the suns, you know, they just played a long season and can Chris Paul stand up and they didn't pay Aiton and the Sarver thing. It's going to have a cloud around the whole team for the whole season. And despite all those things, these teams are the elite of the league. I thought we could get into some of the stuff that we saw on Tuesday some of the stuff that we're looking forward to on Friday. But big picture, I mean, I know that you probably aren't going to be like, and now I know this. that I didn't know the day before.

But did you leave that game with any huge takeaways that you want to share? I think because of the playoff environment, because of the care factor of both teams and just some of the adjustments that we saw throughout the game, which we can get into, there are some takeaways. I think the biggest one just being that the Warriors are actually going to have a real challenge with this team.

Every single thing we say about this obviously comes with a caveat that Clay wasn't playing. and Iguodala also. I thought I thought Iguodala could have had an outsized impact on this game and really could in a series. Like I feel like he's kind of like one of the better Chris Paul neutralizers

or like Chris Paul understanders out there. But yeah, like let's start. Let's start there. I thought Chris Paul just really like picked apart the Warriors in this way. Like it reminds me like what you said about pinch me rival really like

I really felt that because like I just felt like all of the years that Chris Paul has like struggled against this team is like almost been there and is now like kind of cleaned up a few things that I think he needed to clean up in order to like beat a team like the Warriors whether that's like just off the court with you know the way he you know handled his teammates and everything or even just like relinquishing some things on the court becoming more of like a score for his player and this team too is uh in his sort of image but yeah like it was just it was really almost nice to watch him pick apart the warriors because i don't know i don't really

even know what i'm getting at except for like i had this moment where like for the first time in my life i really felt myself like rooting for chris paul against the team like the warriors yeah well at least like against a team like the warriors like i it just I started to have like a soft feeling towards Chris Paul. I was like, man, like this guy has been like he should get a ring. Yeah. He should just get a ring. That's just what I was feeling.

Like I just feel like I might I might have. I think my biggest realization was like emotional investment in Chris Paul for the first time in my life. That makes totally sense. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This last like post-Clippers part of Chris Paul's career, there has always been a clock ticking. Whether it is the clock that ticks with his.

him wearing out his welcome at a place, whether it's because there is like a finite amount of time. I feel like put guys like to play with Chris Paul at a point. And then there comes a point where they're like, this is just I can't get yelled at for not rotating or making a cut or doing whatever. Or it's like, yeah, you know, like whether, you know, we can't pay Chris Paul again at this age. So we need to move him on.

And that's sort of what happened with the Houston, Oklahoma and then Phoenix situations. So there's been a feeling of like he's got like a, he's like transient like he's going to be moving through the league and now he gets to phoenix like you said a team very much built in his own image he's obviously sharing a brain with monte williams and then we underrate the fact that you know he comes from oklahoma city he goes to phoenix they make it to the finals it seems like it was all you know in the stars but this is like their i feel like this is almost like their first real season together and you can see some of the continuity paying off there's a play on tuesday at the end of the second half where he

Aiton's essentially being triple covered. He's got Curry and Wiggins kind of draped on his back. And Dremond is fronting him, but kind of sagging. He's also cheating out towards Chris Paul who's out on the wing. And Chris Paul just fires like a hip pass through two guys to Aton who dunks it. And you're just like, well, I don't know if he would have made that pass last year. I'm sure there were examples of him doing that. But it felt like there was almost like we have been playing this jazz for a little while now.

And I know when you're going to go and I know when I'm going to stop. Yeah, and you know, I think that's what it is. I think it's like, it's kind of the same feeling you get watching the Warriors, like not as exciting, but it's nice to see somebody thrive doing exactly what they were designed to do. Like, he has figured out, like, you know, like a pass like that. He has figured out his teammates. And now they're just kind of finding, like, the next gear of their chemistry. And all the players that were, like, learning to,

you know, play not necessarily completely in his image, but, you know, like, I think the, the way that the Phoenix offense is tailored, like, definitely suits a player like Chris Paul, like just, you know, like how pick and roll heavy it is. So now naturally, like, you have players like Miles Bridges who are starting to run their pick and roll more because, like, that's how you're going to grow within this offense. And it's just like, it's built in the same style as it's built with the same intention in mind, I think, actually, as Steph and the Warriors, where you pair a team and a system and, like, the personnel in order to, like, basically, like, take on the entire identity of the best player.

Right. So, like, you know, with the Warriors, it's like, you have, like, the Dremont side of it, like, just a bunch of really physical guys, good screeners that'll switch and defend. And then, like, you know, you got, like, the emergence of Jordan Poole on the other end who's, like, learning to play a little bit more like Stefan Clay. And it's just, that was, that was probably like what was so fun about watching this game because it was like two completely different styles that, first of all, like, the suns really just got the warriors out of theirs.

But they're uniquely theirs. And like, they both just hit this point of mastery where, like, you know, like the warriors can go into a triangle and two when they want to. and the sons like can just get into his own and like just muck things up in the perimeter for for the warriors. And yeah, it was just, I mean, it was like a kind of like really ugly symphony. Yeah, I mean, it was almost in some ways I thought it felt like watching really great football where coaches are taking away the other team's favorite play, favorite player,

like that they are trying to neutralize like you could just see that entire game I'll be so fascinated to see what the difference is between playing in Phoenix and playing in the Bay. You could see Aiton and Bridges just blowing up that Draymond's step pick and roll over and over and over again. Maybe not blowing it up at least like making it as uncomfortable as I've ever seen anyone make it. And whether that was like Monty Williams's like grand design in the first place or not, it was just like, okay, so we've eliminated this. Now it's going to be up to Otto Porter and Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole to beat us. and Jordan Poole did his best in the first quarter. But at the end of the day, it was really like,

once Steph is kind of taken out of things on the offensive side, the Warriors are still probably that clay-shaped figure away from being, like, the, like, odds on title favorites. Would you agree with that? Yeah, I think that's what kind of, this was the first time this season that I thought, oh, like, they're going to need clay. Yeah. And, like, and Wiggins had back spasms, I know.

And, like, we can do the whole, like, bean counter thing where it's like, well, Booker was out. but then Wiggins was hurt, but Clay wasn't there, but this, but that. But, you know, I, sorry, go ahead. I just wanted to point that out. I think there's actually some, even though he had the spasms, I think there is, like, a kernel of insight into his struggles because I think what the Sons did really well,

because they took away the Curry, Draymond Pick and Roll, was that they forced the young players to make decisions against, like, a defense that wasn't tilted. and then it just became like Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins in the pick and roll trying to like trick a guy like Aiton. Yeah. Which is just not going to happen. So you had like a lot of, you had some pull-up jumpers and like, you know,

Poole is still, he is still even, you know, it doesn't have to be the suns. He's still in a place where he's figuring out his game and he's making some like overaggressive decision sometimes, underaggressive decisions sometimes. And that exposed like another one of the warriors, I guess, not, not weakness. but it is a weakness in that like you know these young guys they still aren't all the way there sure it's worked out it's worked out because like they're still really good and like you know i have some faith that they'll get there by the end of the season but they still have to get there yeah and they still have to get clay back and like you know a guy like iguodala still has to be healthy and those

are the ifs that like i was starting to feel more like questions again and like we had this moment we were caught up in like the warrior's inevitability almost and I still feel like they'll figure most of those things out um but like this team can actually beat them sure oh absolutely did you feel like watching aton because I wanted to get into the eighton part was that uh a testament to aton which I think it was and it could be both things but was it a testament to aton or was it hey the warriors are thin up front and like this is what happens when you've got a really determined, really skilled big man who's getting basically like basketball hall fame level service in the post. And he's, and he's like getting to the rim at will. He's cleaning up on

the boards, all this stuff. Like, did you feel like that was all Aiton? Or did you feel like that was a, um, that was a flaw basically in the Warriors construction where it's like, it's essentially Draymond and that's it down low? I think it's a little bit of both. Um, you know, I think, I think Looney has like really emerged as somebody who can handle a lot of the bigger matchups this season. You know, he's always been really great on switches against stronger players. But there were a couple this season where you like, you kind of thought like, okay, he's, he's going to struggle or the Warriors are going to struggle down low. And he's really like up the physicality.

But I think this was kind of always going to be a fundamental issue with the Warriors. But it's an issue that most teams have. Like, Aiton kills everyone. And like, you know, they struggle with Yokic, who's another guy who's going to do that to everybody, right? So it's just, to me that's just like kind of a reality of playing the suns. Like, you know, in last year's playoffs, Aitin did not get shut down until the finals, until it was Brooke Lopez and Janice and attrition and like having to handle those guys on the other side.

And just like, you know, one of just one of the most physical defenses I've seen in a really long time. So that's just, you know, that just is what it is. Like he's going to be really patient in the post. Like he knows he has a size advantage. he knows he has a touch advantage. Like, he is deceptively strong. And, like, you know, he's really athletic and energetic, and he's a menace on the boards.

And I think, like, the biggest thing is, like, and we learned about this about Ait in the playoffs, but, like, he matches physicality. Like, they are not going to punk him. It's not going to be a situation where, like, you know, Ait looks like a skinny seven footer and, like, you know, Draymond can get into his head and, like, he'll get frustrated. And, like, you know, I'm sure those moments will happen

over the course of the seven-game series. but like for the most part this has been a guy where when he gets challenged physically like he ups the ante himself. Yeah. You know, I with him, I suppose there were some questions about, you know, when he didn't get paid at the beginning of the season, whether or not his focus was going to be there.

And if anything, I think he looks even better than he did in the playoffs last year. Yeah. You know, and it's like an all-time ego death, by the way, for this guy. No, really, like number one, and then like the whole he gets like 2010 all year but all he has to hear about is how like

he's not Luca he's not two guys yeah he's not Luca he's not Trey the sons are going to regret it forever like the Igor stuff like they should have taken Donchich why didn't they take him and then like he has to just like within that has to like just stop you know trying to score because

the sons need him to turn into like a defensive god and he does it which is like you know a testament to skill but also like well and then he doesn't get paid yeah and he's not out there on the perimeter like when we're watching him on tuesday night that's not like uh-huh i mean i don't know he's guarding step out on the perimeter when they switch that and uh bridges takes draymond and then d'andre aton is essentially in charge of one of the greatest scorers in the NBA history and step had it off night but step was also like a lot of people have pointed out step was getting rushed by rangy long

defenders in a way that very few other teams can send against him. Did you think that are Bridges and Aiton so unique in their defensive qualities that there is no blueprint to that? That's just talent versus talent. Or did you think that there was any, hey, you can blow that Draymline, Steph pick and roll up. Like you can get into Steph's comfort zone a little bit with a guy like Aiton. Did you think that there's anything to learn if you're like a Vogel, if you're an opposing

coach looking to game plan against the words because like that one thing I will say about this game and you said you know it felt like a playoff game afterwards it did a lot of the quotes coming from staff from Kerr from Monty from a lot of the people involved in the game were like it almost felt like there was enough so much film prep it felt like game four or five of a series where they were like well we knew they were going to do this so we were going to do this and then they were going to countermeasure our countermeasure it seemed so strategic it gave me like to the point of the defense on Steph. Like it gave me kind of vibes of

of like the thunder. Just using a bunch of size and physicality in 2016 in the playoffs against Steph. You know, just like a guy like Roberson who can really bother him. Like this isn't, you know, there are situations where Steph has trouble and then it's fine. And like, you know, that could happen.

Like he could just come out tomorrow and it's like, you know, he just drops 40 on them. I think with Steph, it's like, they definitely got him out of his comfort zone, but throughout the course of a series and as he gets like more shots at a team, like he hasn't had, he hasn't had a lot of reps against like this new contender, right? Like he finds a new comfort zone and he like, he tends to like solve most, most defenses throughout the course of a series. But at the same time, like this is not like Matthew Delavid over.

Sure. Right? Like this is like, like, they, they have like, they, they figured out a way to, um, like it was like to me, the thing that was most troubling about Steph's performance was not the fact that he was four for 21. It was that he was minus 17. He has not been that low this season. As a podcast, we should get super into single game plus minus. Yeah. No, I, just like that's the single most important statistic. I'm on one right now. Should we zag back to single game plus minus? minus 12 points four for 21 field goal percentage these are these are the numbers that matter single game plus minus exactly exactly exactly I did check his his net rating it was a it was a negative 21 um but most of the time when when step has a bad game or if you take him out of the offense like the warriors find a way to neutralize that and he ends up having like a pretty good plus minus whether it's like you know over the course of the season or or in a single game and that is something where like I think you know when you get clay back like you know they shaded off of him like you know off of like Gary Peyton or I think like you know

even at times Jordan Poole who you know ended up running quite a lot of this game you know that's clay in that situation like that's just going to look different like you might not even necessarily be able to use that scheme but in general I think that like what the Suns did really well was that They didn't cheat. They switched smart and they didn't let him cut back door. Like that's usually the key with Curry. Like when he's being defended by like players that are denying him the ball,

like which, which McHale was is that he can just cut back door on them. But McHale is like, he's really long and he's really smart and he's really fast. So he can keep up with him. And they were really trying to too. And like Cam Johnson kind of has similar characteristics. And then like in the, like I think in the second half they were just kind of like, there was really good communication. where for the most part, Aitin and Mikhail weren't switching the pick and roll on Steph,

but in the instances where they couldn't, Aiton would just hightail it from like the low post, like first just really impressive speed and control and, you know, give Steph issues. And that was like those two for the whole game were like kind of the main factors. but the thing that was interesting to me too was just that like it was all kind of interchangeable as well where like multiple defenders kind of got a shot at him and multiple defenders kind of got like a shot at you know being like being the help too um but yeah I just I just thought it was really smart you know like just take the ball out of his hands and like make the rest of the guys beat you like it's usually like you know it's usually just not like that easy of a bargain though so like that's that's where the clay factor

and the improvement of the young guys comes in. It was a Wiggins litmus game too, because I think if you had any, if you wanted to be at all cynical about the Warriors start, which I'm not, I'm a true believer. I think they looked in any single game, I think they look like the best basketball team in league this season.

But they've played some cupcakes. Like they have not had like the strongest strength of schedule. I think that they've gotten to play the Thunder a few times the Rockets a few times and like you know the games that they've had so far has not been like a gauntlet and i would say the same thing phoenix's run that they've been on i mean they've done it's a really impressive one and like they're starting to get up into close to 20 games unbeaten you start to talk about this team being like not just good this season but historically good but i was kind of thinking with wiggins you just want to see it in the biggest moment right you want to see that

30 point outburst in like a moment where they need it to happen. It's like not about his personal revenge. Right. Exactly. Like it's like or they need to somehow get him traded from every single team in the league so that he can, you can have that motivation. Did you notice anything from Wiggins' game here that give you pause and made you concerns at all?

Or did you just feel like this was one of those nights where he got erased a little bit? Yeah. I mean, I think this is, he's going to come up against the limits of like, his decision-making ability, I guess, right? And that's, you know, we'll see where he goes from there. He could continue to grow. But, you know, I think somebody who can keep up with him like Aiton can is just going to be incentivized to give him the shot every time.

And I think from there it just becomes a matter of like, can Wiggins attack Aiton like that? Should he? And, like, the answer with him tends to just, just be like sometimes you know like that's just that's just how it goes but I think um one of the issues was just that he was put in a position to make decisions um and that's where I think that they really missed uh missed Iguodala because like he's kind of like the essentially like the point guard for for the second unit um and while like the second unit made made runs in the second and

fourth without without Steph it was mostly it was mostly defense oriented and they just kind of looked like for the most part in their half court offense like they look they look really ugly so yeah i think i think it's just getting those getting egodala back would kind of change it kind of just shows you up what he is i guess i thought the the booker absence was like really no yeah because that's that's supposed to be the gut punch we give up a nine nothing run or you know maybe it was almost good that it happened towards the end of the second quarter so that they could go into the locker room and kind of take stock and realize this guy just did hamstrings he's probably not coming back out but i've seen other teams lose a player that just

winds up sucking the air out of the building and like it's it wasn't like they didn't miss a step but they certainly did not ever look like they they were intimidated after booker's loss like the absence of booker it's been it's been a different kind of season for the sun this year because i i almost think because because the finals i've been taught to like look at this team more holistically than just as like Booker has a better backcourt partner and now and now is like that it's still his team it feels like it feels like a very classically great NBA team we've talked about this before about how these guys all sort of fit different platonic ideals of their position they do things in a very specialist kind of way how big of it I mean like can you quantify the absence

of Booker if he's gone for 10 days two weeks like do you think that that this team misses that big of a step um yeah like i don't know i feel like as long as it's not a major injury i'm kind of with you where i look at a little bit more holistically like i don't really as you know to me it's like you guys are already 18 and 3 if you lose every game with booker out i don't really don't like who gives a shit honestly um like give a bunch of touches to mckel mckel bridges and and cam and let you know let's see let's see what aton looks like in the post without booker's gravity like you know, I think it's, they're a team where everything's an opportunity. Like, they're not really in a position where any of this really matters.

Everything's graver from here, you know. It's December. Something interesting is happening on Friday. And, you know, we've obviously talked about Tuesday night's game extensively here. We're still hanging with this. I wanted to, like, there are other games from this week that I found intoxicating. Like the Buck's Hornets game was amazing. And there have been other really cool moments.

I just thought that Sixers Celtics game was just like, So aesthetically pleasing, you know, just even as a neutral, you know, but also just like so heartwarming to see where those two franchises are. But, you know, we have this Friday night clash between the Warriors and the Suns that ESPN flexed into the national game, taking the two LA, the battle for L.A. out of the spot. I honestly did not know that the NBA did this, especially this early in the season, which if this is a possibility, I would ask. like can we just do

with all due respect to Brandon Ingram like any non-Zion pelican against games can we get out of national television for the sake of humanity? Yeah, I actually did a rating story about this last year and they have started to flex out games like they've been doing it since last season I think

Was it like a pandemic thing like a kind of a wrinkle that happened after that or was it just they've just started getting a little bit more creative? I don't know the reason. I imagine it is just like they realized that there was a natural problem with like the load management. And, you know, sometimes you predict that one team's going to be really good. And then like it just like it makes it a little bit different.

Like I was my kind of premise with it was that the schedule kind of makes it hard for like stories, new storylines to emerge. Because the surprise team just doesn't get on national TV. But yeah. So that's something that they started to. do, but it's like, it's also something that's a little bit more difficult than say, like, you know, like the NFL does it all the time. And I think, I can't remember exactly why, but I think it's just something with like the logistics of it, but they're trying to, they're basically, like, they're doing it more and they're trying to do it more. Right. And I, but I thought that that was, you know,

there's nothing, I'm sure the Lakers Clippers game will be like fascinating in its own right, but there is a real like, uh, of the moment urgency to Warrior's sons. And it reminds me. me like when I was watching Warriors Nets a couple of weeks ago, which I think even going into it while there was all those storylines with Durant facing his former team and the Nets kind of trying to, you know, the Nets are like the worst best team where they're like they're just comfortably at the top of the Eastern Conference. But I feel like if you only based it on like what people said about the Nets, you'd think they were at 500. Do you know what I mean? But watching that game and it was like kind of apparent pretty early on that the Nets were like, eh, we'll take a mulligan on this one. And that, that's, That is like the death knell. Like I don't think the NBA can can really tolerate those kinds of games for that much longer. I mean, obviously they can't control what happens, but they can kind of, if they've got a good thing like they do here with the Sons and the Warriors, I think it's like really right for them to to kind of put it out front and center as much as they can. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, like they have to, right?

Like this is, Steph being back has just been, or the Warriors being back have been like a ratings boost for the NBA. There's like a thing that came out, I think like two weeks ago. about like the Warriors I think they were like the top viewed game like three out of five or something like that and like you know we know this you don't even like you don't need evidence to to know that people flock to Steph Curry we're aware of this um but yeah like I think I think it's great because I think it just allows these things to like naturally emerge like this can now kind of like it's not going to be it's not a rivalry yet but when you get like a two game series where like you know there's going to be adjustments.

Like, they probably, like, the Warriors were really upset about losing. I think they probably will really want to win on Friday. I think they'll tag them on Friday, and that's why it's that much cooler that they're playing on Christmas. Yeah. Because they play the rubber match on Christmas. Yeah. And then you get, like, you kind of have three marquey matchups already.

And then, like, you probably, like, you hopefully get a playoff series. But if you get one, you already have, like, a little bit of a baseline. to work off of. Which is the thing that the league needs. Like, that's like that, I mean, like, I was even watching last night, you know, with the, with the hornets and the bucks. And speaking of pinch me, I was just like, this is like, this is like Lamello is going to will these guys to win.

This is pretty amazing. But I was like, I can't out. I really would love to see a Bucks hornets, like, whether it's a first round series. Like, that would be incredible. Like, if they all go into that relatively healthy, I was like, this, the league needs more, like, naturally occurring rivalries or like matchups like this. I love the idea of Lamello Ball's like final boss to get to an NBA championship being Janice.

Yeah. I don't know if he's gone through enough levels yet if we're talking in terms of video games. Well, yeah, everybody, every great player has, well, not everyone, but like, you know, there's a lot of great players that have the guy that they couldn't figure out for a really long time. And I think Lamello and Yannis just present like such a wonderful contrast to each other. It was also just like Lamello just didn't like the thing and this, this, this, that you saw this a lot with the players in the Sun's Warriors game, but like Lamello didn't know any better than to be, like, to be scared or to be intimidated by the fact that they was playing against the champs.

You know, like it was just like I will, I'm going to take this game to them like every single time down the floor. And there was really nothing they could do because if they, they closed out on him, he was just throwing these like absolutely telepathic passes. Lamello not really being an NBA fan, turning out to be like the best thing for his NBA career is just like, it's so good. Yeah, the bucks. I'm not familiar with their work.

Do you want to do a prediction that will be saved for time and memoriam on this, on this podcast for Friday nights warriors' sons clash? Yeah, yeah, let's do it. Okay, what do you think? Yeah, I think, I think Step's going to have a better game. No Booker. I think the Warriors will win. I think Golden State, because the Phoenix will be coming off a Detroit game, they won't have Booker.

I think that there will be a little edge to the Warriors. And I think we'd set us up for a really, really good Christmas Day matchup. Sir, thank you so much for joining me today. Thank you, Chris.