The Ringer NBA Show - Raptors-Sixers Might Be the Big Matchup We Were Promised After All | The Mismatch

Episode Date: April 30, 2019

The Philadelphia 76ers defeat the juggernaut Toronto Raptors in Game 2, tempering concerns of a one-sided series (0:47), while Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets present a big-man problem for the Portland Trail Blazers (14:36). The Milwaukee Bucks need to address how to combat the Boston Celtics’ suffocating defense (28:38), while Warriors-Rockets remains derailed by officiating controversies (45:16). Hosts: Chris Vernon, Kevin O’Connor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's episode of The Mismatch is brought to you by Turro. Turro is a peer-to-peer car-sharing marketplace where you can book any car you want, wherever you want, from a community of local host. From exotic sports cars to practical daily drivers, you can choose the best car for you, whatever your budget. Download the Turo app, that's T-U-R-O, on the App Store or Google Play or visit turro. Get $25 off your first trip when you sign up for Turo and use the promo code Ringer. at checkout. Terms apply. Welcome to The Ringer NBA show. I'm Chris Varner, and joining me as he does every Tuesday from the Ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor, aka Kevin O'Bomber, aka Kevin O'Conflict, AKA Kevin O'Campure,

aka Kevin O'Colk, aka Kevin O'Connor. What's going on, Berna? Oh, well, we do have the second round of these NBA playoffs that are going on. Let's start with yesterday's game. which saw in the first game the 76ers not up the series with the Toronto Raptors after a super impressive first half where they were up by, I believe, is 13 going into halftime. It looked like the Raptors were really going to make a run at them, did make a run at them. And the Sixers, the whole way down the stretch via Jimmy Butler, were able to hold them off. another huge game from Kauai Leonard, several missed threes, big open misthrees by Danny Green down the stretch and some very weird plays at the end.

The Kyle Lowry weird play, the Siakum, one versus the world put back. This ended up being a very, very entertaining game, but I was super impressed with the Sixers to be able to get that road win. What do you think? An entertaining game for sure, for us watching, but also for the, the Sixers obviously a pivotal win, especially with Joel and Bede limited. Two of seven, 12 points, six rebounds in 32 minutes, also had five assists to six turnovers. And Bid had the big bucket at the end of the game that spin move in the lane. But other than that, they overcame their best player being extremely limited. As you said, Chris, with Jimmy Butler down the stretch

running a lot of pick and roll, hitting big buckets, playmaking as well, rebounding the ball. They got the effort that they needed from their other guys on the team, specifically Jimmy Butler. But ultimately, I think one of the keys in this game for the Sixers was their defensive change, putting Ben Simmons and Kauai Leonard. And even though Kauai had 35 points on 13 of 24 shooting, Ben Simmons from the jump made him work. And Simmons played 44 strong defensive minutes. And a lot of those points Kauai scored came against somebody else on the floor.

After switches or screens, Simmons had an outstanding defensive game. and then other than Simmons, putting Joel Embed on Pascal Seaccom and Tobias Harris and Marcus Sol did two things. It baited the Toronto Raptors into posting up Markers Sol and also led to 25 shots by Pascal Seacum. He does that sometimes, but playing a little bit outside of himself, it baited the Taranto Raptors that are doing what they don't want to do. So those two changes, I think, by the Sixers coaching staff made a pivotal difference in the game. It did make a difference in the game, but I'll tell you this. If these games are going to be played in this range, like 94 to 89, that is going to severely favor the Toronto Raptors.

This is their speed. Why, though? I'm curious. For Philadelphia, like, isn't it possible for them with this big team that's a little bit hampered, that having a slower, you know, bully ball type of game could be beneficial for the Sixers? You would think so, except they have been a team that is built to run. And typically when in their half-court defense, their defense, Their defense breaks down.

Kevin, the Toronto Raptors missed a million open shots. I know. Danny Green, one of six, Marcus Sol, one of four, Seacum 2 of 7. And I get that Danny Green has not been a great three-point shooter in the playoffs the last couple of years. But this is a guy that shoots over 40% for the year. That cannot be what you want to take place. I will tell you, as an opposing fan for Danny Green for many years, the last thing you want to see is the ball swing to green.

green and him be standing wide open for a three. I understand that he has not hit those at a super high clip in the playoffs the last couple of years. I still don't want to see it. This is a guy that is, I mean, that's his speed. And you look at the pace of the games that Philadelphia was playing at, not only throughout the year, but even in the first round of the playoffs and much higher, which has led to success. The other thing is there is some truth.

into what Jared Dudley said. If you don't want the devastating Ben Simmons, play the, you run a play, we run a play basketball. I promise you that will greatly help the Toronto Raptors. They are much more equipped to be able to play that kind of basketball, especially with Siakum being able to drop step from the damn free throw line

and finger roll it in. And Kauai Leonard being able to get to the elbow. and Mark Gassau being able to make passes out of it, and then you've got that knockdown shooter. I felt like there were a couple of plays. The MB play, which was absolutely monstrous when they needed it most last night, where he takes it in off the dribble and makes a play.

Everything else was Jimmy Butler, Kev. Everything. I mean, I tweeted this out. It felt like Jimmy Butler versus the Raptors. And I think that that will favor the Raptors as the series goes on, if these games are going to be played that way. Well, Jimmy Butler, I believe, scored or assisted on nine of Philadelphia's final

11 points down the stretch of that game. But isn't that why they got him, though? Jimmy Butler is that end game scoring, playmaking presence. That's what he's always been. And that's what the Sixers lacked in last season's postseason run. They were one of the worst fourth quarter scoring teams in the league last season. And entering this season, they were as well before the Butler trade. That's why they got him.

You need a guy like that in today's league. We talk all the time about ball movement and the need for shooting and all that. But ultimately, at the end of a game, you need a guy who can break down a defense with or without a screen. You have to have it. We've seen it in the finals. We saw it with the Golden State Warriors a couple of years back facing the Cleveland Cavaliers. We're both those teams. The Warriors especially value ball movement.

Then at the end of games, it's Katie and Steph one-on-one. we see it every single series where you need a guy who can break down a defense with or without a screen. And Jimmy Butler did that last night for the Sixers. But the thing is, Chris, is the Raptors also have a guy that can do that too in Kauai Leonard. And the other thing is they got 13 off the bench from James Ennis. They got 10 from Greg Monroe. I mean, what cannot happen is they got nine from Tobias Harris. And Greg Monroe got hurt.

Well, and you talked about this. You wrote about this in the first round. I don't know if there is anybody like this in the NBA. And kudos to you for writing it when you did. The extremes are so great. Like if Ben Simmons has 22 points, 16 rebounds, and 11 assists, I'm not shocked. And yet if I pull up a box score and he had like he did last night, six points, seven rebounds, five assists, four turnovers.

That's like a reasonable thing. It's so bizarre to me. It feels like he is so given to extremes. And for them to win last night without, I mean, listen, holding the Raptors under 90 is spectacular. But that was not a good Joel Embed. And I know he said he had the shits. He might have Marcus All guarding him. That's possible.

And Ben Simmons, three for six. It's funny, everybody's always got, you know, some reason. And I get it. He's a shell of himself. And everybody will make excuse me. Marcus whole has given Joel Embed many a problem. Absolutely. You're right.

But now it's he's injured. He's sick. He's everything else. I mean. Yeah, it is all of those things, Chris. It is the fact that historically Marka Sol has been a headache for Joelle Embed his entire career he has. and Bede the past two seasons during the regular season shot 10 of 29 and a total,

I believe, 178 possessions against Mark Rossol for 29 total points. And then obviously in game one, and Bid shot only one for eight over 29 possessions when defended by Mark Rousal. Gassol has given Abed trouble, but he also has an injured knee. He also had the shits yesterday. And there's a lot, there's a lot working against Joe Lombid right now. And like you mentioned Ben Simmons, like, yeah, he didn't score. Yeah, he didn't make.

a significant impact in that area, but he did defend at an elite level for 44 minutes. He played all but four minutes in the game. So Ben Simmons gave the Sixers what they needed in that performance. They needed that from Ben Simmons, and they got it. I thought it was a great overall performance by Simmons, even though he didn't put up the raw numbers. Well, and here's the other thing about last night, and that is the benches. This is not, this is supposed to be a massive. massive advantage for the Toronto Raptors because they don't play a ton of guys off the bench.

And last night, you've got, as I mentioned, 13 out of James Ennis, you've got 10 out of Greg Monroe, and you've got three out of Jonah Bolden. The Raptor scored five points off of their bench. I mean, there's no amount of money in the world, I wouldn't have bet you, that they would at least get double digits. Usually one of those players gets double digits. They scored five total. This is, by many accounts, the best bench in the league. If not, it's certainly in the conversation and routinely gets you over 20 points.

And so for them to have five off the bench last night to only make two field goals out of that. When Norman Powell made a three-pointer and Sergei Baca made a shot, that's it. The whole game. I mean, Van Vleet taking the offer and only take. two shots. It was just, I don't know, a little strange, honestly, because of the things I expected, I would have never in a million years expected the Sixers Bench to outscore the Raptors 26 to 5. Yeah, it's interesting. I mean, there's always been debate about the value of a bench in the postseason. I tend to think that it's something that can swing a game, right? I think we've seen

that a little bit in the postseason already in both conferences. And for Toronto, there are a team that once had a great bench. In the trades they made for Marcosol and Kauai Leonard were necessary. They made the team obviously better. That goes without saying they raised their ceiling. But with that said, they need more, especially from a guy like Sergei Baca. And you mentioned the points that they weren't getting buckets. I thought Ibaka, like, it's kind of fun watching Ibaka and Joel M.Beeb battle for positioning

inside. And Bid is obviously bigger, stronger. But Ibaka, I thought, did a solid job of Bucca. as well as he could about holding Abed off some of his spots. Granted, he did pick up four fouls. I think three of them were against Joel, were when he was defending Joelle Ambide, which was part of what I wrote about before the game yesterday.

Actually, all four of them were defending Joelle and Bid. That's part of what I wrote about getting Toronto into foul trouble earlier in the quarter or late in the quarter when Embaka is defending Abed. It'll be interesting moving forward in this series of Mike Scott can return for the Sixers. they've had to have played Marianovic. Obviously, Greg Monroe played well last night, then got hurt. Both these teams are severely limited.

Or are we just going to see all of these starters start playing 40 plus minutes? Already Toronto went 40 plus for Siakum, Leonard, and Kowler. But Simmons and Butler were the only two for the Sixers. Maybe the starters are going to have to play a lot more often as the series gets deeper. Well, and really interesting,

you wonder if we will have a T.J. McConnell citing? who we did not see at all and has been, I mean, routinely playing. I mean, you had 44 minutes and 43 minutes from Simmons and Butler, as you mentioned last night. No McConnell, no Jonathan Simmons. He didn't play last night. And, you know, when we were talking about the bench, I get it that there's, it does matter less when it comes to the postseason. But a night like last night where Toronto can't really get anything going, I mean, they end up, the first quarter, they end with 17.

points. That's the moment, right? When those subs are made and you need that game to be ramped up, I mean, Fred Van Vleet has flipped tons of games over the course of the last two years. And what you don't expect is for it to get worse for you when those guys come in. Typically, that is your advantage. And what cannot be is for Fred Van Vlead and Serge Baca and Norma Powell and these guys to come in the game and James Ennis to be the big bench performer. And for the lead to grow, it went from bad to worse when they brought in their bench, which is not what I expect. That being said, let's put a little bow on this game.

Did your feelings of who will win this series, were they altered at all by the outcome of yesterday's game? No. I had Toronto in five, maybe six. I would lean towards six as far more probable at this point. I would still pick the Raptors in six. Okay. I think the Raptors are going to win also. The other game that took place was the late game last night.

And I do think that we were all taken in by what we saw from the Blazers. And one of the greatest moments in playoff history with Damien Lillard hitting a 50-foot shot and disposing of Oklahoma City and waving goodbye to him. And his legend continued to grow and everybody swept up with how fun it is and how fun the Blazers are to watch. And especially Damien Lillard. And then we had the seven game series with the Spurs and the Nuggets, which Game 7 goes down to the very end of the game. And we walk away, not all that impressed with Denver, mega impressed with Portland and how fun they were to watch. And so I was swept up with it too. I wouldn't necessarily change what I think based upon what happened in game one.

But I do think Denver last night, led by Nicola Yolkich and Jamal Murray, gives everybody that was swept away by the Portland stuff a little cause for pause because for them to turn around after having to play a seven-game series and play a well-rested Portland team and handle their business last night at home. I mean that? I tip my cap to them. I thought it was good. I feel like there's a little bit of a surprise

when people talk about the nuggets. There's a lot of doubt with them in the regular season. And for me, it's like, yeah, it's good to see Yokic's just play translate to the postseason, but it's really not a surprise. He was a top 10 player during the regular season. He was a very legitimate top five NBA candidate. He was an all NBA player.

And all of the positive traits that he showed, not just this season, but in past seasons as well, are easily translatable things to the post season. particularly on the offensive end of the floor with his versatility, and we saw that last night. Yokic, the Nugget scored 13 points on eight possessions where Yokic was the pick and roll screener. They scored eight points on four possessions when he was the pick and roll ball handler. Yokic can play with the ball or without the ball.

He can play off ball and spot up for you. He's a smart carter. He can bring the ball up the floor. Yokic does everything, everything on the offensive end of the floor for the Denver Nuggets. And last night, Denver utilized that to the fullest with Yokic and Murray screening or handling the ball for each other. And those two were unstoppable from the jump, particularly down the stretch of that game when they had to clinch that game and put the dagger in Portland. I thought those two were tremendous. Yokich and Murray give Denver a foundation to contend for the long term, not just this season.

Well, and I think with the Yokic, then, Kev, I mean, obviously he was fantastic. and yes, it is translating to the playoffs. And last night was a bit extreme. I mean, he's typically not a guy that goes out and gets 37. He can, though. He can when he needs to. But the point total was high. 37.

The nine and six, that's always there. And usually the six is higher assist-wise. Exactly. Like usually he needs to pass more. But in a series where you're being defended by Ennis Cantor, we talked about how Cantor could have a hard time in the last series, but this series, it seemed like on game one, he had a hard time defending effectively

that Yokich Murray pick and roll was really a lot to handle compared to the Adams-Westbrook pick-and-roll last round. And that is because the big is awesome. Oklahoma City could not make them pay for not having their big guy. The guard can shoot from outside a foot too. Yeah, oh, for sure.

But, I mean, it'd be nice if you could have a... It's not a shot at Westbrook. It's just the truth for what it's worth. Yeah, no, for sure. If you had a big guy that could punish you, whether by drawing you all the way outside or a guy that you can throw it to that can get you a bucket, neither of which apply to Stephen Adams. You can't make them pay for playing canter. Whereas you watch Denver and you immediately are like, oh, yeah, now I get it. Now I remember, right, why this can be troubling.

And then they got to throw all these guys at you. They got to try Zach Collins out. They got to play Myers-Lunders down there. That's really the only three big bodies they have because they don't have a big power forward. They play on their wings. They play Aminu and Harkless. And they really don't have another guy off the bench. I mean, they bring off Turner and Hood.

They don't have anybody that's got any size to them. So this could be a massive Yokech series. I look up and down that Portland roster and I go, I don't know where they are finding an answer. Now, kudos to Canter for the 26 points, but still, it's 37 from Yokic and him being able to do everything he wants, and he plays with such swag and confidence in that game. And to your point on him, by being a tap 10 player, he's not on House of Highlights. He doesn't lead SportsCenter. His Twitter highlights, you know, it has to be a super amazing pass that he makes, like a cross-courtway.

He makes them all the time. They happen every night. Of course he does, but I'm saying they're not given to highlights. He is a fundamentally sound great player. It's a little like the Kauai thing. Kauai's not dunking on people and crossing people over all that much. These just really solid basketball player. Damian Lillard's on every other tweet you see every game he plays.

Hell, I swear to God, the first highlight I saw, the morning after people are all tweeting out the videos from the night before. But it was like, look at this. crazy step back three from Lillard. It was like, yeah, they lost. Like, but the Yokic highlights aren't made for House of Highlights or whatever else. The Lillard highlights are. I think this is going to be a great series.

What do you think? I heavily favor Denver in the series because of the guy, because of the two guys we've talked about, Jamal Murray and Nicola Yokic. With that said, I do wonder moving forward if there's an adjustment Portland can make. Amino and Harkless yesterday were not good. They had a very poor performance, and Lillard was the primary defender on Jamal Murray. If I'm Portland, I would think about putting Aminu or Harkliss on Jamal Murray.

There's a little bit of risk in that, but they're superior defenders to Damian Lillard. That's the way I would go with that, put some length on Murray, make things a little bit more difficult. There's other issues, obviously, with Cantor as well. And then with your debt, Zach Collins was fine. Leonard, there's difficulties with him on defense. Portland has a lot of holes that Denver matches up well against. I know he is, I know he's a great passer. I know he can destroy your double team by passing,

but I absolutely, with my lack of bigs and knowing that kid went for 37 last night, I'd get the ball out of his hands. You know, I'd make them pay for playing Millsab, Tori Craig, aka Daniel Craig. Dude, that was great. It's hilarious. I could have believe LeBron deleted his tweet last night about that. First on background, people who aren't aware of what it was.

Last night, LeBron James tweeted out how three Nuggets players were wearing his sneakers. And instead of calling Torrey Craig, Tori Craig, he called them Daniel Craig. It's great. It's a wonderful moment. LeBron, how many glasses of wine was he in last night? Three, four, two bottles? At least. To his credit, he made the correction and said he would love for 007 to wear his shoes.

also. It was great. That was pretty good. But no, I would I would get the ball out of Yokic's hands. I mean, honestly, what you are most worried about is guys... Easier so the dumb. Killing you from the three point line when you're jumping out on the big guy and he swings the ball around.

But of the guys out there, Gary Hairs has not been shooting the cover off the ball. Tori Craig, Paul Millsap, if they get the twos, they get the twos. But I can't be letting Yoke. go for no 37 again. So I'm getting the ball out of his hands, and I bet you see that's what Portland does, because they simply don't have a guy that can deal with him one-on-one. And so what they will use, multiple guys.

It's not like getting the ball out of the hands of a guard, though, where you might blitz or trap on the pick and roll. With Yokic, it's the type of thing where, sure, if you get the ball out of his hands from a double on the post, he's kicking it out to an open shooter. If you're trapping him when he's bringing the ball up the court, which I don't think he would do, he can still operate as the screener in the high pick and roll.

Yokic is someone who can be used anywhere on the court. He's a 275-pound point guard who can also play as a big because he is big. Yokage can be used anywhere. He can be used anywhere on the court, Chris. I think if you're taking the ball out of his hands, he can still score for you. He can still playmate for you.

Well, the other thing is, I'd put my other defenders on. on him. I'd go more Zach Collins. I'd go more plumbly or more Leonard. I'm sorry. I always get those guys confused. Myers Leonard is like, he's like an unofficial plummet to me. The bastard son. Is he the John Snow? Is he the John? I would tell you this, I would use more of those two guys. I just don't, I mean, this is not for Canter. It's got to be somebody more fleet of foot. Maybe they get mutilated too, but maybe they they don't get mutilated for 37. And so I'd say if I'm not going to run two guys at him all the time,

and that's going to be a game playing, then I'm rocking with Collins or Leonard. And I'm giving those guys big minutes against him, because I do think they got a better crack at it than Cantor does. He'll put up historic numbers if he's going up against Cantor one-on-one all series. Just can't be. It's tough, though, because Zach Collins, as good as he someday could be, He's still thin right now.

He's not fully physically developed. He still has not gotten over his habit that he had back in college, falling a lot. He had four fouls and 19 minutes last night. That's not going to change overnight. I know, but I'm just saying at least those guys can move their feet. Those guys can at least move their feet.

You know what I mean? Well, Collins especially. Yeah. I'm not saying they're going to stop Yokic. I'm saying they can stop him from, you know, let him get his 20 and then make everybody else beat you. What I can have is him going 37. And I'd imagine that their game plan will be, you know,

hey, how about we stop this guy from getting a third of their points? Well, you know, the tough part is, though, is regardless of the adjustments you make, there's still the question of stopping Paul Millsap, too, who had a great game last night against Aminu. So if you're pulling Aminu off of Millsap and putting him on, Murray to have a longer, lengthy defender against their best perimeter player, that means Paul Millsap could have somebody that he's taking advantage of, whether it's Harkless or whether it's a small.

It's a difficult match-up series for the Portland Trailblazers. Again, it's the type of thing where with this team, it's similar to last round what we talked about with Indiana being without Victor Oladipo. The fact that they're even here and the fact that they're playing this well without Yusef Nurkich, their third best player. by father, best big man. It's pretty admirable. It really is.

It's a shame that they don't have Nurkich in the series who wouldn't necessarily neutralize Yokic, but would be a lot stiffer competition and make this matchup a lot more difficult for the Denver Nuggets. It could be a long series, as you're saying, Chris, but without Nurkich, I have a hard time finding the right answers and the right matchups that could be beneficial for the Blazers. Yeah, I'll be shocked if this doesn't go six or seven games. You sound like you feel differently. I mean, I think it goes six.

I think it could go six for sure. That was my prediction before the series, Denver and six. I just don't see seven, no. Okay. I think that's going to be a highly competitive, very good series. I'll tell you, I'll tell you this, though. I also underestimated Portland in the first round against Oklahoma City, for what it's worth. I think we all did.

I think we all did. Because we thought that the Nirkich injury, that that was, I mean, it's showing up now, right? And we will actually talk about an injury that is really showing up now as we get into the games that are going to be. going on tonight. We'll do that after these words. Today's episode of The Mismatch is brought to you by Turo. Turro is a peer-to-peer car-sharing marketplace where you can book any car you want wherever you want from a community of local host. Turo is available in over 5,500 cities across the U.S., Canada, the UK, and Germany with over 9 million users worldwide.

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and many hosts offer to deliver the car right to you. Insurance options are available on every trip. Skip the rental counter with Turro. Download the Turro app that's T-U-R-O on the App Store or Google Play or visit Turo.com. Get $25 off your first trip when you sign up for Turo and use the promo code Ringer at checkout. Terms apply. All right, Kevin, we were just talking about injuries that are showing up now.

and after game one of the Milwaukee Boston series, you started to get a lot of the, see, they could get by without him in the first round. It wasn't a big deal, but now you're starting to see where Milwaukee really misses Malcolm Brogton. And obviously, in the first game, their back court was absolutely destroyed by Boston.

Boston was a heavy underdog going in there, Interestingly enough, they are still the underdog in the series, but they were mega impressive in game number one. It sounds like Brogden could be back in time for the games in Boston, though he will be still unavailable for tonight. But biggest takeaways from watching Boston, Milwaukee for the first 48 minutes that they played. Well, the bucks are going to have to figure out how best to defend the Al Horford,

Kyrie Irving, pick and roll. Heading into the series, the conversation was right. about how with Milwaukee's drop pick and roll defense with Brooke Lopez that worked so effectively during the regular season the question was how would it work against Boston a team that can space the floor with five shooters a team that's going to pick and pop them to death with Al Horford and they did in game one Kyrie Irving had 26 points on 12 of 21 Al Horford had 20 points on 8 of 16 including three or five from three and many more points derived from that combination

that turned into hockey assist for other players. That's something with Milwaukee. Charks wrote about this on the ringer yesterday, about the idea of minimizing Lopez's role and putting Yannis into the Kumpo at the five. I think there's some merit in doing that, playing a more aggressive style of defense with more switching. But it's harder to do that without Malcolm Brogg than being available.

And not to mention that Brooke Lopez has also been very good this season. and I think adjusting after one game might be a little bit too soon. I think you need to be ready to make a shift within game two, but also with only one day off, only one game off. It's kind of hard to overhaul your entire system that was unbelievable for you all regular season. It's hard to flip that switch overnight and change your whole defensive scheme.

I think from Milwaukee, they talked yesterday at their practice about sticking with what they've done all season, just playing better, playing harder. I think there's things they can do in the offensive end, getting up the floor quicker, getting into their offense quicker. They took a lot of poor shots early in the shot clock as well that ended up turning into early offense for Boston, cross matches and transition as well. I think the Bucks can need to solve some of their offensive end issues that could as a result help their defense. But still moving forward in that series, that question is going to persist whether the drop coverage. will work against Al Horford and Kyrie Irving.

Yeah, this was obviously a defensive masterpiece. Milwaukee shot 34.8% and had 11 shots blocked in that first game. And Jan has shot 4 for 15 in the paint. I mean, that is impossible, Kevin. That's impossible. Four for 15 in the paint. And you were talking about Horford and then obviously Aaron Baines, drew some coverage on him.

They went big, big, guarding Janus, and he did not make them pay for that. When those two were guarding him, he was two for ten. Two for ten. Four for fifteen in the paint and two for ten when guarded by Horford or Baines in that game. George Hill said they just hit us in the mouth.

Yes, they did. There are not many players that you would rather have starting for you at a front core position than Al Horford in the postseason. With his defensive versatility, with his ability to space the floor as a shooter and actually hit those shots and playmake and bring the ball up the floor after he gets defensive rebounds, Al Horford's value in the postseason far exceeds so many players across the league. And I think at the big man position, you'd rather have Yokic right now because of the scoring punch that he can also provide.

And you would rather have him beat if he were healthy. but he's not. Al Horford in the postseason right now is one of the most valuable players that you could have, just with all things that he can do on the floor. Well, and you know that when it comes to these top 10 players that are on these teams, and I'm speaking of Janus, the reason it becomes even bigger,

obviously you'd want him in any series, but specifically in this series against the Bucks, at least in the one-game sample size, it looks like he could be the most valuable he could possibly be. Check this out. Horford was on the floor with Janus for 22 minutes. Okay? Same time.

During those minutes, Janus made two of his 11 shots, had two shots blocked by Horford, and the Bucks posted a 63 offensive rating in those minutes. In the 22 minutes, a 63. If Janus and Horford were on the floor at the same time, So this is at least a storyline to watch, right? At least for one game, he was the Yannis killer, how Hortford was.

It's also a team effort, though. It's not just Horford, though. It's the entire team. They build a wall in transition with hands up, pants to their side on defense, playing big. Everybody's playing big, protecting the paint with Yonis. And not to mention, it's like when Horford is defending Yonis, granted Yonis hit three of his five threes in game one, which was a big. from Milwaukee, Horford's ability

to help off of Yanis when he's off the ball and a clogged lane with Milwaukee's other players is beneficial as well. And Boston can do that as well with Aaron Baines or at some point in the series we might see more than eight minutes from Shemi-Ojolay. Boston is a lot of guys that they can

effectively put on Janus. You're not going to stop him, but at the most you can at least try to contain him. The Celtics have done a good job of that in the postseason. This is an easy one considering how heavily the bucks were favored to really overreact to. I mean, you saw after the game, they went back to the studio,

and Paul Pierce said, this is over. Like, they just don't have, and I was like, oh, hold the phone now. To wit, how about this, Kevin? I was reading this on the Action Network this morning. Boston is just the 26th team since 2000 in the playoffs to win game one on the road when entering a series a plus 300 or greater under. dog, meaning if you would have put $100 on it, you'd win over $300 or more if you bet on Boston. Okay.

Of those 25 that have one game one, and though they were a huge underdog in the series, only three have moved on to the next round. So this is one of these, right, like, hey, don't overreact too much because history will tell you that only three of the 25 teams that shocked us in a game one actually went on to win that series. Do you think Boston is just a lot different than everybody else? I mean, I think it's fair to say that plus 300 is a very good price for Boston, right? We know they have the requisite talent. We just waited the entire season for them to put it together.

But as fast as it feels like they put it together, if Janus goes for 45 and they get run out tonight, then people be like, oh, what's wrong with Boston? Like, I mean, we've done this all year, right? So I don't really know what to make of it. I was rather persuaded,

but not as much of the Janus struggles, because I think Janus can still have a big series. He'll be better. I do think that their back court could get shattered all series. If they don't get Brogden back, I mean, I do not. I don't trust. Brian, I don't trust Bledsoe.

Do you? This is what you got to have, especially when you're going up against, you're trying to make Kyrie have a hard time. This wasn't even a good Tatum game, really. And Middleton was mad too. I mean, Middleton's got to be good, but when you're talking about, he's playing a wing position, when you're starting a back court of Eric Bledso and Sterling Brown, and they're combined two for 12, neither of them are really going to kill you from three.

I don't know. I think I'd worry. I think I'd worry. Hell, he played George Hill and Pat Connitton 24 minutes each in that first game. So I just, I don't know. I feel like I am overreacting to game one, but I was like, good grief. Their backcourt looks so overmatched. You may be overreacting.

I think in terms of that stat you pulled up, that's worth considering. Dan Feldman of NBC Sports Pro Basketball Talk had a similar staff that he tweeted out the other day. there were five teams this decade, that five road teams this decade that won game won by 15 plus points. The Clippers beat the Thunder in 2014. The Clippers beat the Rockets in 2015. The Rockets beat the Spurs in 2017. And then the Pacers beat the Cavs last year.

And then, of course, now Boston over Milwaukee in 2019. And those four other teams, Clippers, Clippers, Rockets, Pacers, all ended up losing the series. There's a long way to go in this series. And as you're saying, Chris, Yonison to the Kumpo will be better moving forward. I think Eric Bletso will be better as well. I thought his shot selection was pretty poor in that game and game one. That's something to monitor moving forward.

I think for me, the big question with Milwaukee again comes down to, of course, the health of Malcolm Rogden. But how he performs coming back from injury, how much is he in basketball shape? That's a question for him, just like it will be for Marker Smart. if he comes back at some point this series for the Celtics. But for me, it still comes down to all their front court players, Brooke Lopez, Nicola Mierich, Ersanilio Sova, and then if you're going to elevate DJ Wilson's role at some point in the series, those guys are going to be pivotal in determining who actually wins this series.

Because I think you have to play Lopez. He's been so good for you all series. He's a guy that you should have to play. Maybe you post him a little bit more if Boston puts a smaller guy on. him as he's been a great post player for so many years, but how those guys defend and how many minutes they play. For me, that's the big question from Milwaukee and the question that Mike Boodenholzer needs to find answers to as the series progresses.

Yeah, I think we will both agree on this. Well, I don't know. I'll ask you. To me, it's a hundred percent must win for Milwaukee tonight. Oh, yeah. I see, absolutely. And I get what the odds switch to. and I know that they're going to get Brogden back too.

But Boston will get Marcus Smart at some point too. I get it. But now by by game two, I do think the bucks like I think this is their season tonight. I do. If they drop down 02, I would see absolutely no circumstance they come back. You agree with that? It's hard to foresee. I think with Boston the last couple weeks, especially first round series against the Pacers,

something clicked with them. something is still continuing to click with him with the effort that they're playing with the connectedness on the defensive end of the floor the understanding of their roles those are the questions with this Celtics team all season long the talk was about chemistry and

guys fulfilling their roles and embracing their roles and that's what they're doing right now and that's what they've been doing recently so with this Boston team right now I'm trying when analyzing them I'm trying not to think too much about what they were at their

lows during the regular season because all that really matters is what they are now. And what they are right now resembles the team a lot of people expected to see before the season begin. That's what they look like right now. And so that's what they are. It made me wonder, you know, as you watch them coming out and you watch how devastating their back court was, it was like, man, they wasted a lot of time with Gordon Hayward being in that starting lineup. That's really what I felt. I really felt that. Like, yeah, you could say a waste, but you could also say that putting him in that roll, throwing him into the fire is something that was necessary to just get back into it. That's bull crap.

I'm just playing devil's advocate. Yeah, well, that's a dumb devil. It's a dumb devil. I mean, I'm just playing devil's advocate for the sake of conversation. I wrote earlier in the season about how Hayward was getting too many minutes and too much of opportunity. I mean, there was the moment as I'm watching this game where I'm thinking, you know what? maybe it did just take the playoffs because now they're all freaking happy. Nobody's splitting minutes.

Tatum's getting 30. Jalen's getting 36. Hayward still got to play 30. Terry Rozier. Scary Terry gets to come off and play his 20 minutes. You know, and then Aaron Baines gets nine minutes and then the other guys, you know, scattered and garbage time. But throughout the year, it's like, you know, oh, I lost my starting spot.

And what's my role now and how do we play together? And now it's kind of like, all right, these are our. eight guys. Everybody's going to be happy because they're all going to get to play a bunch of minutes. Hayward seems a lot more comfortable this last month for certain. And coming off the bench, he's good, whereas you didn't know what Jaylen. You didn't know when he came off the bench what was going to be happening. But now he feels like he's, you know, an entrenched starter. And he gets in a rhythm and he plays great. And so, I don't know, that at least flashed through my mind as one of the overreactions as you're watching them stomp the bucks in game number one.

Like, look, oh, this is a team that appeared to be malcontent. And now look at them. They all seem pretty happy and they all seem pretty comfortable in their roles because they're all going to get to play. Isn't that the tough part about talking about something like team chemistry, right? I mean, I wrote about it during the season in regards to the Celtics and how their chemistry wasn't right. And it wasn't.

Then they had that big cross country plane ride where they allegedly have conversations and, you know, fix things. And granted, they still lost some games after that. That did seem to help things out in that regard. It's a tough part in talking about the Golden State Warriors. I was on Bill's pod a couple weeks ago talking about how Golden State just doesn't seem right. They don't seem connected in the ways that they were in the past. And that's the truth. But ultimately, it doesn't mean that they can't change. It doesn't mean that they can't put any grudges aside and play with each other for each other. And I think we're going to see that moving forward in that series as well.

as we're seeing right now with Boston, that teams will, not always, but some of the time, ended up just playing for the greater good by just forgetting about their egos, forgetting about who they want to be, and just maximizing what the role is that they're given.

Well, and I think the Jalen thing is big. I do. He played the most minutes of anybody on the team, but the most minutes of anybody on the team. You know? And he didn't lose his job because of, he lost his job because of salary,

not because of play, right? and that's always very hard. Salar and reputation and all that. Yeah, that's always very hard. He was on a team that was one game away. He started and was an integral part to a team that was one game away from playing in the NBA finals just a year ago. And I do think when you've got young guys on a team,

you saw the weird quotes from him and from Kyrie and, you know, and them searching for the greater good that never really took place throughout the regular season. And the hell, you know, they get stumped the next game and they look and they look pissy. This whole conversation could be laughed at. You know what I mean? But I think Jaylon Brown deserves a lot of credit for getting himself fixed. It happened early in the season too.

It happened before Boston did it as a team. Jane LeBron Brown was horrific until early December. And then ever since then, he's been really good ever since early to mid-December. Yep. All right. And let's move on to the last one, which is the. official series, so it seems, all anybody wants to talk about is officiating when it comes to the Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets. This drives me crazy, truly crazy. And the NBA, who evidently assigns their officials before the series ever starts, they must be murmuring to themselves back in the home office as they realize that officials.

has gotten on center stage for this. Everybody's going to be paying attention. And to make matters even worse, veteran official Scott Foster is assigned to the game tonight. Chris Paul, James Hardin, and the Rockets have all had problems with Foster. And in fact, Hardin was fine for criticizing him after fouling out of a game in L.A. Chris Paul has been fined for saying he should never officiated. a Rockets game again, and the stat was already thrown out today. I saw Tom Haberstro say,

James Harden has played in 265 games in the last three seasons, including postseason. He has fouled out in four games over that time. Three of them were officiated by Scott Foster. And so, I mean, to make matters even worse for this being a big topic of conversation leading into tonight's game, now Scott Foster, one of the officials, literally who has been framed as arch nemesis of the Rockets, this is just not good for the NBA. It's just not, Kev. I mean, it's frustrating. It depends on how the game ends up being officiated.

It could be the best game of Scott Foster's entire officiating career for all we know. It's just a hard thing to talk about. It's a hard game to officiate. And that's one of the frustrating things in this whole conversation is it's not like refereeing a game is easy. And this does not be defending the officials. We've had we had Tim Donahy years ago. gambling on games. We've had officials who hold grudges

against other players for their relationships. Refereeing and the officials is not great and it sucks that Scott Foster is officiating this game with the issues he's obviously had with the Rockets players in the past and with the Warriors as well. That's annoying. But with that said,

I think it sucks that the whole conversation has taken away from the actual basketball being played between the Rockets and the Warriors with so much emphasis being placed on the third team on the floor. That's been annoying. Well, and this needs to be stated. I saw a basketball reference put this out earlier today. Since the 2017 postseason, the Rockets are 0 and 6 when Scott Foster rests their games.

They have averaged more free throws and free throw attempts and fewer fouls than their opponents in these games. However, Houston has shot 28% on threes, while opponents. have shot 40% from three. And so if you're talking about, oh, Scott Foster kills us, Scott Foster kills us, yes, they are 0 and 6 in the games that they have been officiated by Scott Foster,

but they have gotten to the free throw line more and they have had less fouls called on them than their opponents. This whole Houston bitching thing makes me want to throw up, as you know. I mean, I know. You want to throw up. I mean, you already think you were like Joe L.

Embeddinged. I mean, you've got to be kidding me. And how about them leaking their entire memo out to ESPN? What a joke. Oh, the memo just happened to get out? And then, like, the story says, they leak it after game one, of course, right? Look, we put together a whole memo showing how it should have been a different NBA champion last year. And it says, you know, and it reminds you three times in the article, though they did express these views to the NBA.

they actually never sent the letter. Yeah, because it's embarrassing as shit. Of course, if anybody, how could you send that? If anybody sat there and watched any game ever, if they can watch, if you want to take, you know, I understand that we live in a world. I'm sure Darrell wants drones to call the game. But these are humans.

And imagine if every fucking football team sent in game tapes and said, to hold here, and they missed a hold here, and they missed a hold here, and according to our calculations, that would have been four yards per rush. And according to our calculations, we would have then been in field goal range, which cost us 0.7 points per 30 yards that were gained in the game, and there was another pass interference that was missed here. I mean, give me a break. They say, 81 calls, and they, like, pine over, and they say, okay, fine. If you want to say, hey, this is, if a robot got literally every single thing correct, every single thing correct,

then that's what would have taken place. But the whole idea that it cost them a championship and that the officials are so bad that there are 81 missed calls. I mean, can you imagine if we did this in every sport? And now I don't think it plays in their favor at all. because they said basically the veteran officials are the ones that don't want to change. And so this is why we're doing this. I mean, if you're a veteran official, it's almost impossible for it to not have some effect on you, right?

I mean, what if somebody took hours of research to talk about how crappy you were at your job? They went over every podcast we ever did and every article you ever wrote and said, According to my calculations, you know, Kevin O'Connor sucks. I guess, yes, there would be a part of you in your mind where it goes, man, I'm trying, I better try not to suck. I better try not to suck. And the other part would be like, F them. You know, because you're dealing with humans and not computers, of course these officials are going to be like, F them. You kidding me?

This guy gets more calls than anybody in the league. and this team gets calls all the time, and now we're the terrible ones. I don't think it behooves them to be out there talking about how terrible the refs are at their job. And for them to leak that entire memo is goofier than hell to me. All right, I'm done. You mentioned the human element, Chris, and that's the big thing here and what it's going to be so fascinating to watch moving forward in the series.

It seems to me that, you know, with that memo, it's about getting. getting the right officials who aren't going to hold grudges and all that. But the fact is that the human element is part of it. And it's not like you can give these referees a lobotomy. A lobotomy can't be a requirement to be an NBA official where you have no emotion on the floor. I would love to see robot officials someday, too, where there is no emotion, where Chris Paul can smack the robot ref across the face and it's not going to matter. I would love to live in that world where that didn't enter the equation where an umpire

in baseball might stretch the stretch the street. strikes out a little bit more to prefer certain pitchers compared to others. You know what I mean? It would be great if we lived in a world where that wasn't the case. But we do live in a world where I think with Houston, the point of their memo, and I'm not defending the release of it. I'm not defending the leaking of it. I think their intent with talking to the NBA about it was valuing the accuracy of officials

rather than their reputation, how long they've been in the league and all their experience. I think that was the point of the memo that they put. put in there. And I've texted with a handful of executives yesterday about that memo. And they told me that very rarely do any teams go to the full extent that Houston does, but there are teams that track that stuff or have in the past and do talk with the league about it. So it's not unheard of. The weird thing is the timing. The other thing is to leak it to the public. I know. And that's the part that's going to be so fascinating to see because, A, it obviously

does not look good for Houston because of the perception people already have about James Harden, people already have about Chris Paul, people already have about this entire team. It doesn't help the perception of the Rockets. And then with the referees, as you just said, Chris, it's essentially saying, you suck at your job.

Well, the other thing is this. It also, it also says we would have been the NBA champions if it weren't for the officials. Nobody wants to hear that shit. Get out of here. You wouldn't, you would have been the NBA champions if it wasn't for Kevin Durant.

You'd have been the NBA champions if it weren't for James Hardin. Here's a memo. Oh, for 27. Yeah, here's a memo over the Rockets past four games. James Hardin's shooting 32% from the field and 28% on threes. The only reason he's average of 28 points a game is because they're putting them at the line 11 times. 32%. Let Russell Westbrook shoot 32%.

Let Russell Westbrook shoot 32% and see what happens. For God's sakes, they went 0 of 27 from 3. Oh, of 27. How many of those did Scott Foster block? How many of those did, did Ed Malloy kick his leg in front of them? Can we talk about basketball? I mean, I know, I know referees are important. They play a factor in how the game is played.

Hey, listen, hold on now. The media is not making this a topic. The Rockets made this a topic. I don't know. I'm pretty sure the media has also made it a topic too. All right. Well, that's fine, but they did nothing to dissuade this. That's exactly what we're doing right now.

too. No, well, listen, Steve Kerr spent more than 20 minutes talking about officiating. You just got done saying how Scott Foster didn't block a shot, how Scott Foster didn't kick his legs out, this and that. Yeah, you're right. Scott Foster also didn't have Clint Capella play like garbage in game one. I'm aware. And unfortunately, the Rockets have made this about officiating.

That's what's happened. That's why Steve Kerr had to talk about it for 20 minutes yesterday. Now, you can say that the officials have made this about officiating. But Kevin Durant put the team on his back. And Brian Winhorse wrote a really good column today about Durant out playing Hardin when it matters most and about what has taken place over the course of the last few years. Their last five games, Durant did the I'm Kevin Durant, little press availability. Since then, 55% shooting, 40% percent. from three, 91% from the line, 40 points per game.

And in game one, he had 24 in the second half to carry the Warriors. I mean, Durant has been the best player in basketball. And it's by a decent margin. And he's going up against last year's MVP. He's arguably the best score of all time. Well, and it's crazy because one of the things that I didn't necessarily notice, which is really, it's good for Winhorse to put this in here. I did not realize this.

Durant has not finished in the top five of the MVP voting since he came to the Warriors. Last season, when Hardin won't win, Damar de Rosen was on as nearly as many ballots. He probably won't finish in the top five this season either when Hardin is a serious contender to win again. And it's one of the taxes Durant has paid for joining a super team. Recognition for his individual greatness has been somewhat diminished. He's walked away with two finals MVP's, but for whatever reason, that hasn't earned him the respect it should. Perhaps because those finals were so lopsided, it has been unfairly undervalued. Super interesting.

I did not realize he has not been in the top five in MVP voting since he went there. It's that second word. It's valuable. That makes it a more of a subjective vote. You know, by the way, like just this is kind of an aside. I would love if the NBA were to add an offensive player of the year award to reward the player who just had the best offensive season. We have defensive player of the year that rewards the best defensive player. I think it would be great to have an offensive player of the year because this season, the debate of MVP was James Hardin or Yonacinth and Acupun.

I ended up giving my vote to Yonisantan to the cup. But I would have voted James Hardin for offensive player of the year. Well, he averaged 36 points a game. I'll tell you who you won't vote for. I think, I'd be cool to reward that. Well, and you'd have a hell of a run right now with Lillard and Durant going at it in these playoffs, right, in terms of scoring output. By the way, we didn't mention Lillard. He was freaking awesome again last night.

You know what I mean? He was unbelievable. This guy is, he has elevated his game to a different level. And so while the best of the best, the Damien Lillard's and the Kevin Durant's, their game gets enhanced once it gets to the playoffs. Let's get back to Hardin, who last year. was two of 13 in game 7 on three-pointers, had another game where he was 0 of 11 on threes. No, I just think it's interesting that the best players in the world,

we have them elevating their games. You just think it's interesting. No, I just find it. I just find it interesting. You got a franchise that's telling us they would have won the championship last year, and their best player has fallen on his face over and over again. Like, I just, I can't believe it. I seriously can't believe it.

I've watched a guy go through the line 28 times in a frigging game. We've been through this before when it comes to drawing fouls. You can get annoyed by it and I understand why you might be annoyed by it, but it is a skill. Driving to the basket and

using your body to initiate contact and to finish through that contact or draw that whistle. There's a skill in doing that. Never mind the fact that he's also been a tremendous playmaker as well. It's more than just scoring. Yeah, he hasn't shot the ball as well as he would.

and want to as well as he can. I'm not sure how much of that is due to fatigue. I'm not sure how much of that is due to that wrist injury that he has, wearing the brace that he had a couple of years ago as well. But the fact is that, wait, wait, no, no, no, no. Whether it's, whether it is, no, no, if it is durability or if it is the injury, that matters, because health matters. Just like we talked about in regards to Joelle-on-beat and Ben Simmons earlier,

Ben Simmons playing 44 minutes is a commendable, admirable act. He is in tip-top conditioning to do that. Joel Lombie being limited right now is unfortunate because of his injury proneness, because of the fact he's a little bit out of shape. That all matters. It all plays into how great these players are. The fact, Yokic right now, is playing the amount of minutes that he is, despite having the amount of blubber he has,

is really amazing to actually see and watch with James Hardin and Chris Paul. for that matter, part of the conversation has always been, can they sustain their elite level play deep into the postseason? And right now, that's a topic of conversation. And I don't think it's not defending James Hardin to bring that up. In fact, I would say it's a detriment to him by bringing that up. It matters. Listen, I'm obviously goofing a little bit, but the truth is there, and we do this when it comes to the playoffs, I do think it is worth at least acknowledging that throughout regular seasons, you're in one-off games where you're playing against people. And you don't necessarily know who's going to be guarding him or what your game plan is

to try to take him out as best you can. And that when you get to the playoffs, that now all of a sudden you know exactly who you want to be guarding him, you know exactly which way you want to guard him as the series goes on. And so maybe there is something to, I mean, Listen, he is an amazing player and one of the greatest offensive players the league has ever seen. Okay. I goof a lot, but that is the God's honest truth. I do think it's reasonable to wonder, given the lack of postseason success and that the numbers have gone precipitously down, especially when the stakes get higher, is his game more the type?

Whereas, like, Durant, there ain't nothing you can do. there's nothing you can do okay he can score any kind of way he shoots over people um he goes around if you try to put bigger guys on him he just goes around him whereas with harden that if you have the ability to watch all the gate is to hone in to know exactly who you want to guard him and that his game is given to being able to be subdued more so than other great players We can talk about being not built for it or fatigue or his hand hurts or whatever else. But I do have to wonder when it's year after year, is it one of those that when you play him for one game and one night, you got no chance.

But if you decide here's our game plan against this guy that it's different than some other superstars in terms of being able to make it harder on him. How about that? Yeah. That is also something I was just thinking about earlier. you're going to give some credit to these defensive players as well. We saw Utah try shading him to his left, and they did force him into a lot of floaters and mid-range shots off the dribble.

They prevented him from getting to the line at the same rate he has in the regular season. And in game one with the Golden State Warriors, both Andreigodala and other guys that they've had to defend him, like Kvon Looney, did a really good job of shading him on the left side and forcing him right. They didn't do it to the extreme extent that we saw Utah, do it, or that we saw Milwaukee do it during the regular season, but Iguidala and Clay Thompson and Kevin Looney and a handful of others did a really good job in that game getting on that left

side, on that left hand when he elevated for the shot or forcing him to his right on drives. The defense deserves a lot of credit too in their ability to execute coach's game plans. Yeah, two things. Regarding this series, I resent the fact that it has been made about officiating. I do think this is going to be a great series. I also think that if these games are in this range, and I talked about this all last year, that the lower these scores are, I absolutely think it favors Houston. And 104 to 100 is a tick over where you probably want it to be,

considering the way they were able to win those games last year. but I think you take 104 most nights against Golden State. And the truth is when you have 75 field goals attempted for the Warriors and 74 field goals attempted for Houston, especially given the amount that they shoot from three, they shot 47 of their 74 attempts from three. I do think that at least game one, that's in the range that you want to be playing Golden State.

What you don't want to be doing is getting a lot of, up in the 110s, 120s to that range. But the closer these games are to 100, the much better chance the rockets have. And that's a very slow pace. That's a very slow pace. 74 shots. Yeah, I mean, I think with both these games tonight, it's going to be indicative of how the rest of the series might look.

Houston's getting Austin Rivers back and people will laugh about that. But he's been a very important two-way player for them over the course of the season, a hard-nosed defender who can playmake as well. who can be a shot creator aside from Hardin and Chris Paul and Eric Gordon. That'll be important for them. Clint Capella needs to get himself fixed, man. He's had a hard time against the Warriors historically, but I don't think the answer for Houston is to diminish his role entirely.

I think Capella is somebody that needs to contribute. It seems like everything regressed with him in game one. That's for sure. And why you say this year he was actually good against them. I know we think about it in the playoffs, he has to pay for them. being small and especially for them not having cousins during the four games versus golden state how about this 56% from the field 15 points 15 rebounds where was that if they got that

clincapella they'd have run them out instead they got four points and six rebounds you know what I mean 15 and 15 and again of course there were missed calls they were right there at the very end of that game. They're right there. So I would not feel down on this if I'm the Rockets. I think this is going to end up being a great series where we'll be talking about it for we'll certainly be talking about this one again next week on the mismatch. I think we'll probably be talking about all of these series. Do you think any of them are over? I don't get, well, I guess the timing wise, it'd probably be hard for any of them to be over. But I think all of these series are going at least six games, don't you? I mean, I guess you get back to me tomorrow.

Boston wins tonight. It won't go six. I mean, next Tuesday is game five between Philly and Toronto, Portland and Denver. Then Wednesday is game five between Houston, Golden State, Boston, Milwaukee. So, yeah, all these series will still be going next week. The question will be, who's there on 14th, on May 14th, the night that the conference finals begin. That'll be nice. I'm looking forward to that. May 14th, Chris, how about that night?

The morning of the draft lottery and the morning of the start of the conference finals. So we'll have a good show of that then two weeks from now. I can't wait. Kevin, it is always a pleasure. I'll catch up with you next week. Cool, man. Have a great week, Chris. Thanks to everybody for listening to another episode of The Mismatch. Go give us a rating and review on iTunes, five stars, five stars. It really helps. And we will talk to you next week.