The Ringer NBA Show - The Bucks Beat the Celtics, and the Celtics Also Beat the Celtics | The Mismatch

Episode Date: May 7, 2019

Giannis Antetokounmpo takes advantage of the imploding Boston Celtics to propel the Milwaukee Bucks to a 3-1 series lead (0:34) while the Houston Rockets hold off a late run from the Golden State Warriors to tie the series (25:04). Plus: The Portland Trail Blazers need to reactivate Dame Time to defeat the Denver Nuggets (42:19), and the Philadelphia 76ers need to address their inconsistent play to compete against Kawhi Leonard’s historically great playoff stretch for the Toronto Raptors (51:10). Hosts: Chris Vernon, Kevin O’Connor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Before we get into today's show, I want to remind you to join our Ringer NBA community on social media. If you're looking for a place to share your hot playoff takes with other like-minded folks, search Ringer NBA on Facebook. And if you're in need of a hub for all things who related, make sure you follow Ringer NBA on Twitter. Welcome to The Ringer NBA show. I'm Chris Vernon. Joining me as he does every Tuesday from the Ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor, aka Kevin O'Bomber, aka Kevin O'Connor, aka Kevin O'Connor. aka Kevin O'Climber, aka Kevin O'Candyland.

Kevin! How are you doing this morning, Chris? I'm great. We had two game fours last night that saw two different series go radically different directions. We'll start with the Celtics and the Bucks because you were in the arena. It ends up 113 to 101.

The Bucks win by double digits on the road to take a commanding three to one lead over the Celtics, and this seemed like a rather miserable place to be last night. Yeah, I mean, the second round so far as a whole has lived up to the hype. As a whole, we got three two to two series, but then we have this one three to one with Boston just falling flat on their face the last three games after an epic game one win for them. I think Kyre Irving summed it up last night.

after the game, John Corrales from Mass Live.com asked Kyrie Irving about it seems like when this Celtics team doesn't have the shots falling on offense, it affects their defense. And Kyrie's response was, quote, when the ball doesn't go in the rim, the energy of the basketball can translate into the other end as well. That's just basketball 101. That's a choice we have to make. And it's a choice that the Celtics have not made in their own favor this entire season,

where when offense isn't working, they let it dictate their energy. on defense, it dictates their effort. And I haven't seen a team in the Brad Stevens era or even in the Docker Rivers era with the Celtics where they have let their offensive production dictate their defense. Usually it's the inverse, especially

under Stevens, where their defensive energy is what's generating offense for them, either on the break or it's just translating into energy on the offensive end of the floor and the half-court. This team just is lacking that type of character, even after having Marker Smart return last night, it was

one of seven from three, even his energy, did not give them a boost on the defensive end of the floor. Personally, I think it's absolutely embarrassing that a team with this much talent is performing at such a piss poor level that they have. Granted, they're going against an unbelievable team against Milwaukee Bucks, and granted this has happened all season with the Boston Celtics. In a way, Chris, we shouldn't be surprised. I actually am kind of surprised that that's the,

Kyrie quote you used. I was expecting when asked about going 16 for 62 in the last three games, I thought you were going to go with the Kyrie quote, Who cares? And the dead. Could have got a little of the number of them. Who cares?

His dude said, Who cares? Like, what? Are you serious? I mean, look, I don't want to like blow this particular thing out of proportion, but we're walking off the court

with 13 seconds left in the game. It's like, yes, the game was over. It was over. However, for a player who is supposed to be the leader of the team,

you would think you would give more consistent effort on the defensive end of the floor. You would think that you would show more leadership qualities at the end of a tough loss. You would think that you wouldn't just walk off the court. You would think you wouldn't say, who cares when you're sitting at the podium

talking about how garbage you've been on the offensive end of the floor the past three games? And also, Chris, he followed that up saying, I should have shot 30 times. Maybe you should. Maybe next game you should, but I'm not sure that's the answer because right now for Kyrie Irving,

he's forcing a lot of his offense and the shot just has not fault for him. did anybody in the locker room or at the podium ask why don't you guys pass to each other this is one place where you have to give Milwaukee credit in the sense that I think their defensive adjustments with the increased amount of switching that they've been using has taken Boston out of some of their offense but Boston has not responded well I mean I would love to know like what makes Terry Rosier think it's a good idea to take a step back three from the corner contested with around the first.

like 15 or 16 seconds up in the shot clock. Rozier's shot selection is horrible. Smart last night was not shooting the ball well from three at all. And Gordon Hayward coming off the bench, Hayward has regressed back to what he was earlier in the season when people were calling for his benching. I thought last night he was borderline benchable. I don't think you can bench Gordon Hayward because of the upside of what he can give

off the bench because of the stability he provides as a ball handler and playmaker. However, the guy just does not get any lift around the rim. I don't know how much of it is. is mental. I don't know how much of it is physical. But regardless of what the cause is, he just does not look at all what he was, even towards the end of the regular season, when he had a little bit more pop driving to the rim. He just looks awful on the floor. And it's actually just sad to watch right now. I mean, go back and watch Gordon Hayward highlights when he was with the Utah Jazz in the

playoffs. It is a completely different player watching that Hayward compared to now. Why about watch Gordon Hayward two weeks ago? I mean, it looked like he had come into form. I read all the articles about Gordon Hayward, and, you know, it was a long process, but now the Celtics are finally seeing the guy that they signed or starting to see the guy that he signed. He was absolutely useless last night, as were the rest of the guys off the bench. I mean, he's one for five, smarts one for seven, Rozier's one for five. I mean, you're, you are three of 17 from the three guys.

that got legitimate minutes off of your bench. But just what is more perplexing to me is that starting unit and that you saw, and I was tweeting this out as the game was going on, they had gotten down, two possessions in a row, they come down, they passed it a couple of times, got a good look, made it, right? It was like after that, it went right back to one pass shot, or I got the ball coming up the court. It's my turn.

And that even included Marcus Morris at one point. Marcus Morris got the ball on an inbound. He dribbled the whole way up the court and then just jacked a three. And I'm like, what in the hell is going on? And it is weird to me that Brad Stevens, who we all have a lot of respect for, as a coach, like, I don't understand how he cannot get through to the. them. He sees this happening. We all see this happening. It stands to reason you could say share the ball. Share the ball with each other. This is not how can we be good as a collective,

but it is just one guy on his own literally every possession. Nobody cutting. It's just, it's crazy to me. And I do think an element of that goes on, Steve. because it has continued over and over again. I even said in, I guess it was game three, I jokingly said that if there was, you know, Brad Stevens is this genius at out of timeout plays. How about we do a not, not out of a timeout play? Like, how is that the only plays they run is when they come out of timeouts.

The rest of it is just preposterous. I tend to think coaches get too much credit. when it comes to situations like this. I remember a couple of years ago, I wrote an article at a time when everybody was blowing Brad Stevens. I think it was during the 14, 15, 15, 16 Celtics season, and Brad Stevens just getting blown by the media for the team overperforming. And it's like, you're going to give the players some credit here, too, with the effort that they played with and how connected that 15, 16 Celtics team was. And the improvement some of those individual players made and the sacrifices that a lot of them made. I think the players didn't get enough

credit at that point. And you're right, Brad Stevens does deserve some blame. I still think it's puzzling that they don't run more pick and roll, setting a high ball screen around the logo area that you see the rockets do for James Hardin, that you see the Blazers do for Damian Lillard, that you see so many teams across the league do for point cards to get the player running downhill so they can get essentially a runway to the basket. They don't do that for Kyrie Irving. They set screens around the three point line oftentimes at the wing area. I would like to see Kyrie Irving and getting more downhill. I think little things like that

would be encouraging to see from Brad Stevens' offense from a systematic point of view. However, Chris, I think, Marcus Morris has always been this guy who calls his own number. Jason Tatum has gotten better at it in his second year in the league,

but he's always been like that guy since high school. Terry Rozier, since high school, again, and definitely at Louisville, was always a guy who just induced face palms with some of the decisions he made in the court, as was Marcus smart. A lot of these guys on the table

team have tended to call their own number. Oh, no, by the way, Gordon Hayward, going back to Utah, is a guy who really is comfortable living in the mid-range. So a lot of these players are just who they are. And I think it's just for whatever reason, the mix just has not worked out. I mean, so many of these players are versatile forwards who can theoretically switch and defend multiple positions. It's just the mesh has not worked on the offensive end, especially when Kyrie Irving, the shot is just not falling for him right now. It's nice when those mid-range fadeaways that look like Kobe Bryant are falling, but they have not fallen the past three games for Kyrie Irving. And this entire Celtics team just does not have enough.

Knockdown three-point shooting. They do not have enough players who are past first, as you're suggesting. They just have a big mix of guys who like to call their own number. And maybe that's on Brad Stevens for not making these guys play together. But it could also just be an overall chemistry thing that stems from Kyrie Irving, the leader who puts in average level of effort on defense, average level of effort around the board, who leaves the court with 13 seconds remaining, who does not show leadership qualities either in the locker room or at the podium. I think that's where it stems for more than anything else. I think with basketball, Chris, I tend to put the praise on the players and the blame on the

players more so than the coaches, just because of the nature of the game. Yeah, we are way far down the road from the, would you rather have Brad Stevens than a player debate that was last year. Wasn't that question would you rather have Brad Stevens or Yonacenza Accompos? Wasn't that the question at the time? I mean, good grief.

One other thing, one other thing though. Like, I think when it comes to coaching changes, like this is a way, like almost a way to pivot to the bucks. I think like for me, it's a system that I tend to look at. Like with Budenholzer, they overhaul their system. They are taking threes and layups. They are

willing to overhaul their defense system this series by going to a more switching scheme. I think those are the types of changes that I look for from coaches more so than the way a player is playing. Sometimes I don't think you can change that. That's hard to change. But Bootintholdzer rightfully should be the coach of the year, I think. I don't think it's even really close. There's a lot of nominees this year, but Boonholy should win it. Okay. And a lot of those changes paid dividends for the bucks this season. I'm glad he brought up the bucks because Chris Middleton was asked about what's wrong with the Celtics last night. And I don't think he was being flippant in saying, this isn't about them.

This is about us. And it made me really think because this all becomes about Kyrie Irving and how disgusting the Celtics are, as if we don't remember that there is a reason they are the four seed. There is a reason they failed to win 50 games. They didn't win 50 games this year. The Celtics didn't. And meanwhile, the Bucks had this unbelievable point differential. So almost a tick under three points better than every other team in the league. Okay, they were 8.9 on their point differential. Second place was the Warriors at plus 6.5. I mean, this is a historically good team.

They won 60 games. They had this point differential that's almost nine points a game. Just to put that into perspective, okay? The 85-86 Celtics, which is known as one of the great teams ever, the 67 and 15 year, right? Their point differential was 9.4. The Warriors, that 73 win year, it was 10.8, which was obviously tremendous. But we're talking not far off from the range of the 99, 2,000 Lakers that won 67 games.

Their point differential was 8.5. I mean, it's a 60-win team that played well enough all season long. that they have a plus nine virtually point differential for the year. And it all becomes about what's wrong with the Celtics, what's wrong with Kyrie, what's wrong with Brad Stevens, on and on, and less about what Chris Middleton said. This is about us. And I do think, and it's because you have to prove it in the playoffs, right? Is this real when it comes playoff time?

And what they have proven is definitively, it is real. and Janice has proven after what was one minor struggle in game one, he has absolutely demolished them and has been totally unstoppable and unguardable in this deal and has established himself worthy of every single bit of praise. And it's not just a regular season thing. Like he's been even better now when it comes to playoffs. So I do feel like there's part of this where we're going, hey, maybe this is about the Bucks, a little bit less about the Celtics and more about the Bucks. Definitely.

I mean, I think our reason for leading with the Celtics is primarily just the fact that their season could be over Wednesday. And it might be the last time we're talking about him until the summer. Well, and it was shocking. Let's be fair. Yeah, exactly. It was shocking. Yeah. I mean, we thought this was going to be a good series.

Yeah. We thought it was going to be a good series. We're going to have a lot of time. We're going to have a lot of time to discuss the bucks in the coming weeks. That's for damn sure. And I'll tell you this, Chris, I think what we're seeing from Janice to the Kumpo, I wrote about this a little bit yesterday on the ringer is maybe right now,

this is just a little bit of a hot shooting stretch for him. And he's not going to continue to shoot over 40% from three like he is against the Celtics. However, what we're seeing is a preview of what can be when he is where you can't sag off him. He took two pull-up threes and made two last night. Yes, he had one lay-up on a side. spot up three. I'm sorry, he had won air ball on a spot up three, but the two pull-ups are devastating to a defense when you, the only solution to stopping him right now, or even hoping to stop him, is sagging off him, protecting the paint, packing the paint, but him pulling up from three

is just backbreaking for him to have the ability to do that. Never mind, everything else he does on the floor, man, with what he does on defense defending every position at a high level, what what he does on the boards, crashing the offensive boards, getting second chances, tip-ins, put-back dunks, what he does on the defensive board, ending defensive possessions, what he does as a passer, what he does across the board and as a leader as well, developing his role as a vocal leader and a leader by example. What we're witnessing right now is two things. I think we might have to reconsider the Greek freak nickname to the Greek god,

but also he's looking a lot like the strongest candidate to be the new candidate. of the East. I mean, Toronto with Kauai Leonard, we'll see what happens there. And then if Philly wins that series with Joel Lambede and Ben Simmons and everybody, that would be a challenge for the Bucs. But Janice on the Kumpur certainly looks like the guy to me that for the foreseeable future, teams are going to have to get through the Milwaukee Bucks in order to get to the NBA finals. Well, this is the minor difference. And I understand what you're saying about Janus. And, you know, obviously you've got to try to back away. There's two things I notice. Number one, that was always the game plan right against LeBron.

What LeBron ended up doing was he would post up, he would attempt to post up more. But more often, he's banging the ball into the ground. And then he's using that space to get a running start at you, which is what Janus has become brilliant at. It's like, okay, if you're going to back away from me, now all of a sudden, now I'm going to get a running start at you. The second thing is, unlike those old LeBron teams where you could play, we run a play, you run a play, and now it's just guarding him in the half court. It feels like the bucks are constantly in motion. Constantly.

How much stuff did they do last night, especially when that, how many times did you watch that, even off of like free throws from the Celtics, where the other way they're racing down the court and somebody's flying down the lane for an open dunk or a layup or something uncontested. It just feels like there is so little pounding the ball into the ground and everybody's always moving. And he's in transition so often and playing so little, you know, we're throwing him the ball on the wing. And now it's just somebody's got to guard him. Like that basketball is just few and far between in these games. just made it to where, and so much of that is because he's grabbing the rebounds.

It's like, imagine if Westbrook was amazing, you know what I mean? If he was seven foot tall and could just go down the lane and make a play every time because that's when he can be devastating because he's grabbing so many rebounds. Well, Janus can just grab that ball off the rim and you don't get to set up to play half-court defense against him. It's over. Like, once he's got a head of state. forget about it. And that's from the damn half court line in. He's taking two, three steps from

there. I told you earlier this year he travels all the time and he does, but he is brilliant. With your description of Milwaukee pushing the pace, the play that comes to mind to me came around six minutes left in the game, Jalen Brown driving on the break. Milwaukee had Brooke Lopez on Jalen Brown and had Jalen Brown made the layup, their lead would have been cut to six. It would have been 94 to 88 with six minutes from remaining, but Yonatan Tocompo came flying out of nowhere, blocked Brown shot from behind. And then suddenly, as is always the case, when one team misses the layup, it means the team that gets the ball is going to have numbers going the other way.

And Conantin pushed the ball up the paint. George Hill missed a layup, just an open layup. But boom, out of nowhere, Yonacenton to Dacucoombo flies out of nowhere, grabs the ball out from above Val Horford and lays it in back to a 10 point lead for the bucks. It is a four point swing because of the block and then the offensive board for two points. It just for me showed the overall impact from Yoninacompo because this is a guy who is constantly bringing it, a guy who constantly wants it, who is who is hungry to win, who is hungry to win a championship, hungry for success.

He has a hunger to improve. What we're witnessing is a guy who has a chance to become one of the greatest. players of all time, if he's able to continue building on the success that he already has, if he continues sustaining the success, we're witnessing a guy blossoming into that player in this postseason. And it's really beautiful to watch, man. I thought that moment in last night's game summed it all up for me, because I thought when Jaylon Brown was driving, Boston had a chance, and then Janus took it away. And he's going to be doing a lot of that in the future. One of these teams' best player is Janus Ante Kuntitoupo. The other ones is Kairi Irving. And I think

that's about all we need to say about that. I'm glad you brought up George Hill. I almost text you to ask me to, I know it's against protocol. I was going to say, can you give me a George Hill autograph after this game? I mean, what the hell? George Hill and Scott Connaton. He rose from the dead. He rose from the dead, Chris.

It's unbelievable. It's unbelievable. Like, Conitin and Hill have come in the game two times on the road in Boston and just rip their hearts out. I'm sitting there. I still am not believing what I'm watching. Is there, is there a moment where we're going to look up and, you know, we bury teams especially. And Boston totally deserves to be buried. And I think there's very little chance they could win three games in a row. But it does feel like one of those things where if Game 5, Hill and Conantin came even somewhat back to Earth and we're like, yeah, well, like, we need to remember it's

George Hill and Pat Conantton, but it's one thing to do it once. They did it again last night. And I'm like, my God. I mean, one team has got Gordon Hayward, Terry Rozier, Marcus Smart coming off the bench. The other team has George Hill and Pat Conanty coming off the bench and just killing them. It's unbelievable. It's something else looking at the box score and you see Milwaukee shot eight of 37 from three. You see Chris Middleton was just four of four. 19 in the game. Merytitch was just three of ten and you're like, man, but bucks are going to lose that game.

They're going to lose that game if you just see those numbers. But it's the effort of guys like George Hill and Pat Connison coming off the bench that can help make up that difference. Obviously having Yannatha Sondipa Gupo is the biggest difference maker. But George Hill has arguably outplayed Kyrie Irving the last three games because of the overall play. Obviously, he doesn't control the offense as much as Irving does. but the fact that's even a question sort of says at all.

George Hill has, I thought he was done. I thought he was done the past couple seasons that, you know, he's now 33 years old. I thought after his time in Utah with the calves and kings, he just looked done to me. And even portions of the season, he looked done. And suddenly in the playoffs, he's back,

at least for the time being, as you said, maybe he'll regress at some point. But the George Hill that we're seeing today is the George Hill that we saw for quite a long time in the NBA, bring a two-way effort, playing really hard on the defensive end of the floor, defending well on the ball, but also on the offensive end, making some big plays. It's been a lot of fun to watch him come off that Milwaukee bench and make a positive

impact because they need it without Malcolm Brogden. They needed it. It is the craziest thing. And if I, you know, we talk so many times about sometimes with these players, or in fact, all of the time with these players, their success can be dependent upon their system and their fit, right? And let's just say I had a random NBA team. Okay. And I told you, I went out and spent some money and I didn't really overpay, but I wanted to add George Hill and Pat Conninton to my bench.

Prior to a week ago, you'd have been like, what? Like, what are you taught? Like, oh, great, you're really going to have a troublesome bench. I'm really panicked about that. And then you look and like this is the highest level that this team has played at yet. And they are flipping games. They'll come in and immediately it's like over and over again they're in on plays. And it just goes to show like how much perception can change. Because you would agree. If I added those guys in the offseason, you'd be like, yeah, whoopty do. I didn't like what they did in the offseason. Like that would be our offseason review, right?

Like, oh, great, they added Torchill and Pat Conerton. Cool. Who cares? Karee. It's funny, all these ex-cavaliers. You get George Hill coming up big off the Bucks bench. Rodney Hood hitting big-time shots and quadruple overtime for the placers. We have Eamon Shumpert playing big minutes for the Rockets.

All these ex-cavaliers, these cast-offs performing well in the playoffs. It's pretty funny to watch. All right. Let's get to the game that took place after that one. So the Bucks are in total control of the Celtics. And now we have an unbelievable. series on our hands with the Warriors and the Rockets. The Rockets were in control of that game all night and then had to hold on for dear life

at the end. Two amazing looks from Durant and Curry to tie that. I can't believe those looks. I couldn't believe those looks. They got great looks at the end in order to tie the game. Paul goes and ices the game, misses the front end, but then hits the big free throw to go up by four at the end of the game. And they end up with a four-point win and we go back to Golden State.

Obviously, as we compare and contrast to what took place in that first game to the second game, the level of intensity was much, much, much, much greater in the second game. I think we both would agree on that. More importantly, Kevin, this feels like it is five on five in this series. We talk about the guys in the bench and playing such a role and how, The Celtics bench did literally nothing, and the Buck's bench, their second leading score last night, I believe was George Hill, who came off their bench. You look at this Rockets and this Warriors series, and it is the starting five for the Rockets, the starting five for the Warriors, because nobody else. Now, Austin Rivers got some minutes.

Amon Shumper got some minutes. That's really it. I mean, Neyne and Green got in the game, but both played less than four minutes in the game. And then you have Cabon Looney, McKinney, and Livingston, got a little run each for the Warriors. But the benches have very, very, very little to do with this. And this is the starting five of the Warriors versus the starting five of the Rockets. And the Rockets were able to even it up last night. What did you think?

I don't know if I agree with that. I think it might not necessarily be the benches, but I do think it's the non-star players that are helping swing this series to an extent. I mean, I think you look at Austin Rivers. Yeah, I know, but like I do think it's like the non-stars, though. It's similar in the sense that it's like Austin Rivers has been critical, you know, as a intense on ball guard defender and also another playmaker on offense. Slow down. His defense was a troche. No, no, I'm not going to slow down.

Austin Rivers is good. He's a good player. And also like it's not just him. I know PJ Tucker starts, but man, like this guy is not a star player and what he's been giving to the Houston Rock. There's not many players in the league that can do this. I mean, I know a lot of people talk about small ball. More teams should play small, but there's not many guys that can do what PJ Tucker does. As a versatile defender, as an excellent rebounder for his size, as a guy who can hit spot

up threes for you and make smart plays on offense, there aren't many PJ Tucker's out there, whereas with Golden State, not only is Clay Thompson not producing, not only is Stefan Curry underperforming, but they just don't have anybody else. Sean Livingston looks like he is ready to retire. L. McKinney is a solid young bench player, but not somebody that you can rely on at a high level. And they don't really have anybody else that they can turn to. If you're going to bench Sean Livingston, you can give Quinn Cook a chance and he'll

provide better spacing for you as a three-point shooter, but he will get cooked on defense. You could put Jonas your repco on the floor, but Jonas, again, is an above-average three-point shooter, an average defender. Andrew Bogot is too slow for this series. Jordan Bell is not reliable. And so for Golden State, I wonder what the adjustment is, maybe to your rotation, if they need to just trim it even more. If you need to give Looney and McKinney more minutes and Bench Livingston,

because to me, he just looks done. He does not look like he can stay on the floor defensively. He does not space the floor for you on offense. His shot creation has diminished as well. Golden State, I think, would benefit for making a tweak to the rotation further increasing the minutes for some of their stars, but also increasing the minutes for some of those bench players. But ultimately, Chris, like, this series comes down to Curry and Clay Thompson,

are just not hitting shots. And when you're not hitting shots, I would really like to see Golden State try to attack the basket more, especially when Clint Capella is out of the game. He only played 21 minutes last night. I think if you're the Warriors, you need to try to get to the rim a little bit more against this Houston team when they don't have their rim protector in the game. PJ Tucker's been a great player for them, a really impactful player. but I do think Golden State should be trying to get to the basket more often.

They are trying to match three for threes. And if Clay Thompson's not hitting threes and Steph Curry's not hitting threes at a reasonable rate, you're dead on, Kevin. I mean, you got real problems on your hands. You brought up Tucker. I always, for anybody's listening to show for an amount of years, I always extoll the virtues of having bulldogs on your team. And PJ Tucker was not going to let them lose last night.

and every big play that was made were PJ Tucker and Chris Paul. I was perplexed this morning. And this is just how quickly narratives can change, right? Because I wake up and I know you're going to say it. Everybody's going to say, they're going to say, oh, you just don't like James Hardin and you're just hating on James Hardin, whatever. But let me tell you what the narrative would have been. You don't like James Hardin.

I hate the way they play. There's nine minutes left in that game. They are up by 15 points. They're up by 15 points with nine minutes left to go in that game. And I wake up this morning, it's like, oh, Hardin's moving into a different class, and that's the best playoff game I've ever seen James Hardt play. And I'm like, what? Am I living in a bizarro world?

He vomits all over himself again. He's one for eight from that point on. And this is the difference between what Yonnas did last night, where it was like every time the Celtics did something, he's like, to hell with this, we ain't losing this game. And he came up with a big play. Hardin goes down, takes another contested 31-footer. The only shot he made was when he chicken-winged Kevin Durant six feet

and then hit one in the lane. Other than that, the Warriors put Durant on him and he did nothing. As a 15-point lead totally disintegrates. And only by the virtue of Durant, missing an open top of the key three. Does that game not go to overtime? Possibly the Warriors win that game.

And we've got the graphic going around everywhere today that says, first 30 minutes of the game, James Harden with 30 points and this, this, last eight minutes of the game, one for eight from the field, misses game clinching free throw. I mean, that's exactly what happens. And instead, it's like, oh, he played one of the great games ever. Get the hell out of my face. This guy threw up all over himself again.

They blew a 15 point league. It's unbelievable. What are we watching? Chris, you must hate James Harden more than anybody on this earth. With James Hardin, Chris, listen, last night's game,

he did not finish well. One for eight down the stretch, 0 for 5 from 3, 1 for 2 from the line over his final 7 minutes and 32 seconds on the floor. You're right. He did not hit shots towards the end of that game. But he was,

magnificent in building that lead for Houston throughout the entire game. He was in complete control of the game, scoring against anybody at will, getting where he wanted on the floor. Control. They blew a 15 point lead. Yes, I understand. You're correct. I'm not disagreeing there.

He was poor down the stretch of the game and that happens. But he was magnificent to start to help build them. It does happen. It does happen. Are you going to, are you going to talk about Steph? Curry's a choker? No, you're not. Because you're a rational person, are you?

It would be silly to say that about Stefan Karii. Listen, did you watch game three the other night? James Harden hit daggers down the stretch of that game. And you're telling me how another game James Hardin chokes down the stretch. Please, game three, here's the reason why they won the game again. Because of those big shots, in those big moments, in the fourth quarter, and overtime. I would have told you. I would have told you that was the case in game three. That's what I would have told you.

But you're saying again, again, he chokes again, like always. Chris, James, Tijuana was unbelievable last night. You didn't appreciate what he did last night. He was unbelievable. Some of the shots he hit were outrageous. There's like very few guys in league history who can create some of the shots that he make and then make those shots. He was awesome, dude. I guess I'm the only one to watch the last nine minutes of the game where a 15 point lead went to three.

Oh, my God. I mean, did that happen? No. It didn't happen? We all watched the last seven minutes and 32 seconds of the game where Hardin went one for eight. Yes, he struggled scoring down the stretch. How the hell did Golden State have a three to tie that game? How did they have a three to tie the game?

I'm curious. How is the final stretch of this game about James Hardham, not about Kevin Durant hitting gigantic shots, Stefan Curry coming alive, Draymond Green hitting big time shots as well. How is it not also about them? Because I got to wake up this morning hearing about, oh, that was one of the great playoff performances. And this is about James Hardin.

Like, what the F did you people watch? He threw up all over itself when it mattered most. Okay. If it's not for PJ Tucker, this is like PJ Tucker and Chris Paul made every big play. Every big play. It's like, dude, without PJ Tucker, they lose. End of story. and a story. He's the only thing that saved their ass. And listen, Clay, invisible. Curry's been

atrocious, atrocious. Like, I don't have a problem talking about when these guys play well or play poorly. I don't understand how Steph Curry is taking more shots in fourth quarters than Kevin Durant. Bizarro world, especially after Durant went for 16 in the third quarter by his lonesome. He's clearly been the best player on the floor for either of the teams. And Draymond has become a different human being than he was for the whole season. I don't know if you read that story. I didn't catch this, but Marcus Thompson, you know, who's covered for the Warriors for a long, long time, wrote a story, I don't know if it got passed around enough a couple of weeks ago saying that Bob Myers, did you read this, was going to go to

Draymond Green saying, like, dude, we have no chance of winning a title if you don't get in some kind of shape. Did you see this? Yep, yep. And Draymond said, I know, I know, and I've already got it planned out, and I've got a chef, and I've got this, and I've got that. And he lost 23 pounds in six weeks. I was like, what?

23 pounds in six weeks, and he has looked like old Draymond, for sure, after we had kind of decided that old Draymond was gone. No, no, no, no. I don't want it to sound like I was lumped into that. I'm pretty sure during the season with Draymond Green, it's like, well, the Warriors might be coasting. We'll see what happens in the playoffs. It did turn out it was a weight issue, though.

But I think it was wrong to bury Draymond Green during the regular season. Well, and then he's also hit threes at a reasonable clip. But you see how spry he is, both offensively and defensively, and he's playing Huminich. But when I talk about the dogs on those teams, guess what? It's Draymond and it's KD. The rest of those guys, right, whatever. but when it's winning time,

those are guys that I feel like are going to come up with plays. And this series is great. It's great. You think it goes seven? I kind of think it does. Yeah, I definitely see this going seven games. I picked Houston and seven before the series.

I picked Golden State and seven before the playoffs, and then I flip-flop to Houston. I think this is going to remain close. Through the four games so far, Golden State has scored 448 points, and Houston has scored 4404. 47 points. I would expect it to remain that close. I think these teams are incredibly even. Both of them have made the necessary tweaks. I think the fun game to watch within the game is Houston trying to get switches for Hardin onto Curry and Golden State doing everything in their power to avoid those switches by switching before the screen is actually set by veering late in the possession by switching Curry onto somebody else. If he is matched up onto Hardin, they are going to great lengths to avoid.

avoid Harden isolating against Stefan Carrey. And that's been a lot of fun to watch within the series. I think, as you said, KD did a great job on the ball against Hardin late in that game. Maybe that's something to turn to more often instead of Andre Iguadala, who has not done a poor job by any means. But Kevin Durant is just a superior overall defender, a longer defender who can probably disturb that step back jumper a bit more on the ball. But that's a lot to put on Katie's shoulders when he's already been putting this team on

his back offensively. If he's also the guy that needs to be tasked with containing James Hardin, it's just been a fun little chess match to watch with that matchup, because not only are they trying to get Curry matched up onto Hardin, but it's probably wearing him out a little bit, too, having to hedge on all of those screens that they're running him through. I would imagine that's wearing him down quite a bit. That's been something that I've watched,

and I don't think that's going to stop anytime soon for as long as the series goes. Okay, two questions before we move on. Number one, you pick the Warriors, then you pick the Rocket. There are three games left in the series, possibly. Do you want to change your pick again? No, I'm sticking with Houston. I felt last round what Houston showed, beating that Utah defense, which, by the way, I would like to see Golden State take some elements from that

and defending hardened from behind to stop the step back moving forward. I like to see them try to incorporate that a bit. If they're not going to go with Katie, I'm sticking with Houston in seven in the series. The Golden State just seems like they are what they are in the sense that they are a team going for a three-peat, and they're just lacking a little bit of that juice they've had in past years. You see it on the boards. You see it in their lack of energy boxing out. You see it across the board, really.

They just seem like a team that's been through a lot the last couple years because they have. And it's really hard a three-peat. It's a captain-obvious thing to say. But we're seeing that right now against the team that, again, has a hunger to finally get over the hump. against this Warriors team. I don't think Durant's going to let them lose. And I think, so I'll take the Warriors. The other question that I did have for you was,

and I don't know how far in advance you lay things out, but will you wear the red, hardened jersey, or the white one for game five? Well, I mean, I don't have a hardened jersey, but I would be happy to have one. It would be great. I'd love to have a hard of jersey. Just text Darry.

Listen, man, I don't know. You understand. You and I are on a different page with him, but personally, he's one of my favorite players that I've ever watched because he's somebody who is constantly, I'm not going to wax poetic about him, but he is somebody who has constantly improved and added to his game. That is something that I respect. And I know moving forward, he's going to improve his offhand, his right hand, that right hand floater is going to improve, the right hand dribble and finishing is going to improve because of how defenses are defending him. Never mind, just the fact that he is one of the players changing the game. and pushing the envelope of what's possible with the three-point shot. He's masterful at getting into the lane and drawing files and finishing around the rim. I love watching James Harden. I love him as a player, dude. I really do. I'm not going to deny that.

He's great. I wish we agreed on him, Chris. But in many ways, I'm glad we disagree on James Hardin. I'm glad we do. We've got to take a quick break. When we come back, we'll talk about the games that are set up for tonight. Last night, we had two game fours tonight. We have two game fives.

We'll do that on the other side. Today's episode of The Mismatch is brought to you by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It can be a little frustrating, especially when you're in a hurry or running late, to find yourself at a railway crossing waiting for a train. And if the signals are going and the train's not even there yet, you can feel a bit tempted to try to sneak across those tracks. Well, don't. Ever.

Trains are often going a lot faster than you expect them to be, and they can't stop. Even if the engineer hits his brakes right away, it could take a train over a mile to stop. By that time, what used to be your car is just a crushed hunk of metal. And what you used to be, well, it's better not to think about that. The point is, you can't know how quickly the train will arrive. The train can't stop even if it sees you. The result is a disaster. If the signals are on, the train is on its way.

And you just need to remember one thing. Stop. Trains can't. All right, Kevin. So we got a couple game fives to this. We'll keep this quick because people will have the opportunity to hear this probably shortly before those games are getting going tonight. And I know there's going to be another recap being done by Bill Simmons, Ryan Rissillo, and Joe House after these games are over. But earlier, you mentioned that through four games, the Warriors have scored 448 points and the Rockets of that scored 447.

How about this? Nuggets, 464, Blazers. Nuggets 464, Blazers 462. I mean, so we have one point separating the two teams in four games for the Warriors and the Rockets, and two points separating the Nuggets and the Blazers. Game 5 is in Denver, where they have the opportunity to take a three-two lead. This has been a great series. Obviously, we had the four overtime game, and I was mega impressed with,

Denver going on the road. You know, it's a do-or-die situation. You can't go down 3-1 and a big effort to tie that thing back up at 2 and get this Game 5, which is a big, big game at home. Tell me what you're thinking on Nuggets Blazers. This has been a great series. I think we expected a very highly competitive series, but it has lived up to all the billing so far.

It's been a joy to watch this series for sure. That four-over-time game was special. with Rodney Hood coming in late, it's just being a big time impact. It's been a lot of fun with bench players making a difference for each team. For the star player stepping up as well, Nicole Yocach has been his series so far.

And Damien Lillard, the shot has not fallen for him. And Denver's done a good job helping off Harkless and Aminu in order to clog the lane from Lillard. With Damian Lode, if there's one reason to feel optimistic with Portland,

he is getting his shots. The shots are just not falling right now. dame time has not been activated yet and if some point that happens it's hard to find ways that denver can stop him just by the nature of their defense and their personnel because damian lord is creating the shots that he wants to and maybe that's what we'll see tonight where damy lord finally has a big explosive game so far in the series besides game one when he was 12 for 21 from the floor he's been five for 17 10 of 24 and nine for 22 lillard is the guy who could make a lot of these close games not so close but denver's in a nice job containing him, but Lurit also just hasn't made shots. Sometimes it's about adjustments. A lot of times it's just about making shots. Yeah, one of the things that's interesting is you mentioned earlier, rightfully so, how many times you're seeing whoever Curry they're trying to hide him on is setting the

screen, so they're trying to get him switched on to Hardin over and over again to try to make him work on defense, you have seen this over and over again with Denver. and they are constantly trying to get Lillard on Murray. And so now he has to work double time on defense. And that does take a toll. When you are these smaller guys, it's nice to be able to take some plays off. And it's nice to be able to be the hidden guy on defense,

the guy that's just kind of stretching the defense and you can kind of stand out there and every once in a while go and grab a defensive board or grab a long rebound. but having to be focused at having to, you know, bend your knees and move your feet and really fight on defense. And I think it's very wise by Malone to constantly, the same way that they're trying to get Curry over on Hardin as much as they can, you see that happening. And I think that that's probably at least part of why you have seen Lillard. It's a little bit harder, especially as the games go on as you get deeper into the game, to be able to knock down.

shots and you don't feel as much spring to be flying towards the basket. They're really putting pressure on him defensively. Yeah. And even on the perimeter, I think Yokic has done a pretty good job, especially considering the minutes that he's playing the workload that he's had on him this season, hedging or showing out to Damien Lillard trying to get the ball out of his hands. And Lillard, with Denver's pick and roll defense, they're having Torrey Craig or Gary Harris go over that screen. And Lillard, I think, can do a little bit of a better job, probably taking more threes and instead of those deep two pointers. That's just one little thing.

I think those shots are there for him. They're available. Look, Damien Lillard is due for another explosive game. Yeah, I don't think he's going to continue to have nine for 22s and five for 17s. He's going to have another big time performance like he did in game one when he was 12 for 21, four for 12 from three for 39 points.

That's inevitable at some point. And again, like that's one reason why I think if you're a Blazers fan, part of you should be feeling pretty good because those shots will be available for Damien Lillard. that's not going to change in the series. It's just a matter of those shots falling. Yeah.

And the other thing is obviously you've seen, you've seen Gary Harris get a lot of work on Lillard. And Gary Harris made us forget that Derek. He's been so good, man. Oh, God. Well, I mean, it made us forget that Derek White existed. You know what I mean? In that Spurs series,

Gary Harris is like the guy that you can deploy on these guys that are really giving you problems. And the other thing is that also, likewise, that makes Lillard also work on, defense because Harris is running around so they can't hide him on Torrey Craig or whoever it may be. Yeah, Gary Harris has been good, really good. He is a hell of a defender. My God, he's good on defense.

Speaking of the young guys on the Portland side, I'd be interested in trying out Zach Collins for a little bit longer in these games. I know it's tough. Collins is young. He's only 21 years old. He still gets into foul trouble all the time. so far the series in game one, four files, and five files, three

files, and five files. He's, and that's only averaging 18.8 minutes per game is the 4.3 files per game. He's a foul prone player. However, I do think the spacing he provides all the offensive and the floor is a solid three-point shooter can give Lillard

and McCollum a bit more space when it comes to attacking and generating baskets either for themselves or for others. If you can get, if you can get Collins up to 25 or 30 minutes, even just for one game and bump Cantor's minutes down a little bit. I'd be intrigued in seeing how that works for Portland. With that said, like, it's not a knock on Cantor.

You know, he's made an impact with the way he rolls to the rim with his rebounding and just his overall effort. But still, Collins is a better defensive player and a better shooter. I think that's something worth exploring for Portland. But again, that comes down to Collins, is he in foul trouble or not? And he's been in foul trouble his entire career. Going back to Gonzaga, it was a problem. It's a problem now in his second year in the pros,

and it's not going to get fixed for a while until he gains experience. But it's just something for Portland, do I think, think about. I think you're right. I like Collins. I think Collins has been very good for them. You know, the problem is they get less than nothing from Turner. It's like he's got three baskets in the playoffs. Can you believe that?

Three, three baskets. He has made baskets three times in the playoffs. I mean, that is a killer. I can believe that. Sorry, it's true. It's believable, though. Just to be clear, he's not three for three. He's three for 19.

He's not three for three. I don't think anybody thought that he was three for three. I don't think when I said that Evan Turner's made three baskets all play. They were like, wow, he's 100%, huh? Only shot it three times. Just wanted to clarify, that's all, for our listeners. We're always about accurate information, Chris. I thought Portland was going to win this series at the beginning of this series.

I know you thought Denver, and I will tell you, I do not feel good about my pick right now. But, hey, listen, time is running out for Dame time. If Portland's going to come through, Dame time needs to show up because I do think that this game tonight, You know, so many times we have seen in the past, if it's 2-2, whoever wins game 5 has X percentage of going on to win the thing. I mean, this is clearly a pivotal game tonight.

And HomeCorn Advantage has not proven to be ridiculous in this. I mean, all these games have been close. So I'm very excited to see this. I really have no idea what's going to happen. I'm fired up, man. I'm excited for tonight with Portland, Denver, and then we have Philly Toronto as well. It's going to be a good time.

Yeah, yeah. Philly Toronto is the first game that's going to get going on tonight. We talked earlier about Janus and this, I don't even want to say Ascension, because he's probably going to be the MVP this year. But taking the world by storm in these playoffs and just constantly looking like the best player on the floor, that has also been true in the Philadelphia Toronto series. Sometimes Kauai has had some buddies come along with him. Other times he has not. But when you add up, when I talk about points added, you know, one of the godfathers of basketball analytics, Dean Oliver, every once in a while he'll tweet some stuff out that I find extremely interesting. He'll show up and tell you something about what's going on with one of the series.

And so it's offensive points added per 48 minutes, defensive points added per 48 minutes, and then kind of add them up to who's having these great post seasons. So far this year, efficiency-wise, Kauai Leonard, is having the best postseason of any player in the last decade, according to this metric, second only to Kauai Leonard in 2017. I mean, so we've got, and this is the list for anybody interested, 2017 Kauai, 2019 Kauai, 2017 Curry, 2014, LeBron, 2017, Duranth, 2010, LeBron, 17, LeBron, 19, Durant, 2016, Kauai, 2015, Curry. So you go back a decade, the best playoff performer has been either Kauai Leonard,

Steph Curry, LeBron James, or Kevin Durant in every postseason. Unreal. And the only one that's been better than Kauai this year was Kauai the last time he saw him in the playoffs in 2017. He has been absolutely amazing on both ends, but you really don't know what to make. This is such a strange series, right? Because Embedd looks like the best player in the world.

You know, in game three, he's sick or whatever in game two, and then game three is the best player in the world, and then he's sick in game four. And so not knowing, like, do you get 30 and 15, Joel Embed? or do you get relegated to sickness, Joel Embed? And then obviously, do you get the miserable Lowry from the first three games or the Kyle Lowry that looked like, you know, a big time player in the series in game four?

I don't know what the hell to make of what's happening in this series, Kev. Just one thing on Kauai. I thought another stat that really sums up his brilliance this round is from Micah Adams, who works for DeZone. I'm just going to read his tweet. He wrote, Kauai is averaging 38 points per game on 62% shooting so far this series.

Michael Jordan averaged over 35 on 60% shooting in one playoff series. LeBron has never done it. Durant has never done it. Kobe never did it. We are witnessing truly one of the best series by a perimeter player ever. And it's the truth.

It speaks to what you originally said, Chris, where sometimes Kauai is getting the help that he needs and other times he is not. I think Toronto's bench has, for the most part, been quite underwhelming. Nick Nurse tried out Pat McCaw for five minutes in game four. Van Fleet has not been productive. Norman Powell has not been productive. Right now, Toronto was really a six-man team with Siakum, Leonard, Gasol, Laurie, Green, Ibaka.

Man, let me take a quick little 20-second timeout. What the hell happened to Fred Van Vleet? Is it injury? Yeah, I don't know. I mean, he was like a flip-a-game guy, and he has been. a nothing like really a nothing bad i don't know what happened to him and i know that he has gone through injuries the last couple of years and maybe it'll be one of those deals that we'll look up at a couple weeks somebody will report you know turns out fred van valet was playing with blank blank

blank right but damn man he had a toe injury earlier in the season he had the thumb injury but for him to be performing at the low level he has it is definitely quite shocking especially from what he was as just a rookie, as a rookie. And then last year especially, it's pretty shocking to see. All right. So what are you feeling on the series? And it's just so hard to know when Philly gets the MB that we saw in game three, they look unstoppable.

When they get the guy that they had in game four, I mean, it looks like it could be, you know, a six game series for Toronto. And it's just a roll of the dice. Which MB do you get that night? And I could kind of tell you how I feel about the game. but I literally have no idea which Embed you're going to get tonight. I think in tonight's game, you know, obviously with Joel Ambid and Ben Simmons and Jimmy Butler, like those are the three guys to watch on Philly.

But I'm especially going to be monitoring the production of Tobias Harris, because in game four, what Toronto did was going with their double big lineup with Ibaka and Gasol. They did that, but they also were helping off of Tobias Harris a bit more often. They were more willing to let him take those open jump shots. He shot only two for 13 in game game. four. He's not shot the ball well at all against the Raptors so far in this series. However, Tobias Harris, over his career, over the last three, four seasons is shooting close to 40% on catch and shoot three pointers. And so if Toronto is going to continue to help off of Harris,

he's a guy who historically has made teams pay and catch and shoot three situations. So he's somebody, you know, in addition to the obvious star players that could swing this game in Philadelphia's favor if Toronto does continue to help off of him. Do you have any confidence in picking who would win that particular series? I mean, I picked Toronto before the series, and I thought Toronto was going to win the series either in five or six games, to be honest. I was wrong about the series already. I think they're pretty evenly matched more so than I even expected.

And, you know, that's despite the fact, Embed had that horrific game for performance. That's despite the fact Harris's shot has not fallen. That's despite the fact, Ben Simmons, like, it's sort of an overshadowed. he's still neutralized in the half court. A lot of factors have worked against Philadelphia in the series, but it's definitely an evenly matched series. I think I see this going seven at this point, Chris. I'm not sure who I would pick the win.

I think I would lean slightly towards Toronto just because of the fact they have home court and the fact that they have the best player in the series and Kauai Leonard. But Kauai needs help from some of the other guys in that team. Gasol really needs to pick it up on the offensive on the floor, be more willing to take those open pick and pop three-pointers that he's getting. getting. And one of those bench guys, whether it's Van Vleet or Norman Powell, needs to elevate their play. And also, we didn't even mention the name Pascal Seacom yet. Seacom's had some big up and downs. The series, Game 4 was a big time down coming off that, uh, calf contusion that

that he had. So if he's healthy, um, another guy that can continue to swing the series in favor of Toronto, because he was only two for 10 in game four. I'm curious, Chris, like with you, is there one way that you're leaning with this matchup through four games? it's simply because of, I mean, again, I don't feel great confidence because I'm aware that I could look up tonight in Joel Embedas, 32 and 16. But given that you kind of saw Mark Gassol and Kyle Lowry go through the really getting beat up, where the hell are you? You know, Gassault took more shots than he's taken in maybe his time with the Raptors. I get 13 shots or something the other night. Obviously, I've covered Mark his entire career.

he was not going to go down without swinging or let somebody say that he was just a non-innocent bystander to a beating. So I actually think that the Siakam being banged up probably helped them because they probably looked around and said, hey, this isn't Kauai and Siakam. Like, you know, we've been getting 20-something out of this guy. Like, you can't count on 20-something. So you guys better get your heads out of your asses. And Lowry and Gasol did. So that being said, I think I would be surprised if Toronto dropped. game five at home.

And it's best two out of three now, and I would go with the team that has home court advantage. It's fair. Very fair. Yep. Yep. All right. Let's get to the most important subject of the last week, which is you made the decision to write about something as personal as it gets, which is your father.

A few months ago, you guys found out what no family wants to find out, which is that your father was diagnosed with cancer. you've been going through this for the last couple of months. You and I have talked about this a lot. We debated prior to about bringing it up on a podcast because sometimes it's easier to just talk about it. But I'm glad that we didn't until you wrote the article that you wrote. The article's amazing, Kev.

It really is. And I can only imagine the amount of outpouring that you have gotten. I saw a lot of it. Well wishes, prayers for your family. And also people saying, hey, I've been through this. before. So if you can, just kind of speak to what the last week has been like in your quarters. The response has been overwhelming for sure. That's not something I expected before the article went up or after it went out for that matter. I forget if you just mentioned like

with Marcus Smart giving the jersey, something like that, a lot of it's been overwhelming, man. I think like on Friday night, me, my mom and my dad went to the Celtics game together. around half time, we got a little package and said it was a gift to us. And inside was a signed jersey from Marcus Smart that basically said, you know, to Paul, that's my dad's name, you know, make today great, signed, you know, by Marcus Smart. And I mean, Marcus Smart is a guy who lost his mother to cancer. He lost his brother to cancer. You know, now my dad dealing with stage four cancer, it's originally bile duck cancer that's

also in his liver and his lungs as well. It meant a lot for Marcus to do that. And like generally, Chris, it's not something that Marka Smart had to do. you know, but something he did anyway, and he's a person, as I said, who lost his mother and his brother to cancer. It's something he can relate to. But the truth is that Marcus Smart was just one of many people who reached out. Like, we got hundreds of messages and tweets and emails and the response was overwhelming from so many people. Like, people offered their thoughts and prayers and good vibes. But I thought what was most powerful was the amount of people who shared their

own stories, just like Marcus Smart did. I received messages from people who told me how cancer impacted them with a family loss or how they're a survivor or how they're trying to beat it right now. People reached out about family. Some said how they're thankful to have a relationship with a parent like I do with my mom and dad or how they're forming that type of relationship right now with their own child. Some people said how they don't have a connection at all with their family. That's what pains them deeply. And people told me how the reminder to be mindful is what made them call their dad or their brother or sister and stayed on the phone just a little bit longer. they normally would. Maybe they were a little bit more attentive than they normally would be, too. And like, my family has never felt so much love from friends and strangers in the way we did this past weekend. And I hope more than anything else that it was felt by other people, too, because like I said,

what I didn't expect from the story, but it's what I've realized is that the response was powerful because it wasn't just my dad's story. It wasn't just my family story. It was your story, too. In some way or another, a lot of people could relate to it. It's, it's, it's, It's reminded me of like when Kevin Love said on the Players Tribune, everyone is going through something that we can't see. And Kevin Love is right. And if someone isn't going through something today, they have before or they will someday. So the love and support that was shown to me should be shown to everyone, even if they

aren't broadcasting their personal situations to you like I did with that article. Though I do think it gives me comfort since it shows that when you are vulnerable and you are honest and you are positive, that love will be given to you as well. So I really just wanted to say, thank you for showing my family so much love. And I hope it's love that can also be felt by everyone. Well, and I do think that your choice to express it and let everybody see what's going on. Do you think about how much joy that's given you and your family over the course of the last week? And, you know, you say it affects everybody.

In the interest of full disclosure, you and I talked about this immediately when this happened with your father, the day he got the diagnosis. Because for those of you that don't know, I mean, me and Kev goof around a lot, but we're like truly friends, right? And stuff like this happens. And it's well beyond the fact that you work with somebody. And I told you then, you know, I was young or much younger than I am now. I believe it was eight years ago, but my best friend. And we were both in our, I guess we were both in our young 30s at the time. But he had gotten diagnosed with stage four. And I told you, I said, listen, it was three years. I mean, they told us. me he was going to be gone. And it was three years. And so, but I didn't really talk about it. You know what I mean? And then when I lost him, I didn't really talk about it. And I hope that, you know, now that I'm older and I can look back on it all, I just held it all in. And I just cried and cried all the time. And, you know, I mean, the people that were closest to me knew what was going on. But I lost him and it just killed me. And I hope that a lot of people see your example about this. And I'm not saying, go out.

out and tell everybody everything that goes on with you personally. And some people are more private than others. But I see the effect that this has had on you and I see the response you have gotten and you see so many people saying, I've been through that too or this is part of my story too or whatever. And I don't know. I guess now I look at it and I see how you handled the whole thing. And I wish I probably would have done some things differently. And I hope people take from your example that it's okay, you don't have to hold it in, right? And everybody's, like you say, everybody's got something that's either happened to them or will happen to them. And there's something incredibly therapeutic about knowing that you're not the only one, right? Yeah, absolutely.

I think especially, you know, from my dad reading the comments, I think, you know, more than anything else, it's, I mean, it's affected all, all three of us deeply, myself, my mom and my dad. But I think it's gave him a lot of comfort just to read the amount of love that was shown to him, you know, to really just, like I said, it's not, it's not about us necessarily. It's about, I hope it's about anybody that's going through something like this. If somebody else is going through something, it's like the gift from Marcus Smart to my dad, to me, represents a gift, you know, to anybody going through something. You know, the comments, you know, in response to my article, I hope is a comment to somebody else who's going through something. That's really just

the way I feel, but I don't think it's about my first. family. I really don't because everybody's going through something. But being open and being vulnerable, for me, that's been the most powerful thing. I got some really emotional emails from people. A couple of people who said, like, I'm typing this on my phone. Just read the article. I'm at work. I got to type this quick. But I want to follow up later and, you know, tell you more about my story and, you know, DMs on Reddit, like people who otherwise, you know, never, maybe ever cared, you know, or heard of like my basketball running, but read that. Yeah, I just think the outpouring of support, it's overwhelming, really, man. I, I, I,

I just did not expect that. It's like I are rationally worried. And I said to this to Chris Ryan, who did an unbelievable job helping shape the article. I said to him, like, I worry that it's going to come off as like, my dad has stage four cancer and we liked basketball. But it wasn't that at all. No. I was worried about that going in, though. But I've never, as a person, had issues just being myself in the sense that, like I've never been afraid just to say how I feel.

you who I am. But for me, it's like in a moment, you know, where my family is personally going through something like this. It has just shown the power of just being yourself and being open and being vulnerable and being honest, but also most importantly is just being positive and loving towards other people. It's been really powerful having that, like, reciprocated back, you know, feeling that from so many others during a time where my dad especially needs that. And it helps and it feels good. I just hope others can feel that love as well because what was shown to me should be felt by others and would be shown to others in this type of situation. It's all been very powerful and all been very moving.

Yeah, I'd really just thank you. It's meant a lot to us. You can't say it any better than that. Kevin, I can't wait for all of these basketball games over the course of the next couple days. Oh, by the way, tell your pops, I'm sorry about the Celtics. That's BS. I bet he was super pissed. He was super pissed, wasn't he?

He's like, oh, come on. How mad was he about that game last night? Oh, my gosh. That is the one thing about sports, right? It doesn't matter what you're going through. Your team's your team. And that was, seriously, guys, will you please pass?

Oh, my goodness. Yeah, I was texting with him last night. It's like, what a bummer that Celtics team is, huh? Jesus, unbelievable. Kevin, we'll catch up next week. Thanks, brother. Give special thoughts to your family and your pops, and we will run it back next Tuesday.

Looking forward to it, Chris. Have a going, man. Thanks, brother. Everybody, go give us a rating and review on iTunes. It really helps. It really helps. Five stars, five stars. And we will talk to you next week.