The Ringer NBA Show - The Heat Blitz the Celtics and Win Game 3 | Weekends With Wos

Episode Date: May 22, 2022

Wos is joined by Bleacher Report and The Athletic’s Mo Dakhil to discuss the impact of Kyle Lowry's return for the Heat and what adjustments Boston can make to get back into this series. Then they discuss the shake-up on the Brooklyn Nets coaching staff. (19:25) Host: Wosny Lambre Guest: Mo Dakhil Associate Producer: Isaiah Blakely Additional Production Supervision: Benjamin Cruz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is Dan Zistremski, host of the Ring of Gambling show. You want to join my buddy, Joe House and I every Tuesday and Friday. We break down all the lines, the liens, totals, props, and so much more for the NBA playoff action. And JJ, you never know when the podfather himself Bill Simmons is going to stop in. Plus, we are dropping special episodes in the feed around all the big events. We have some major golf coming up, JJ. You want to get in on all of it.

So whether you fancy yourself as a sharp or, Someone who likes to just throw up through Shackles down. Get on the action with the ringer gambling show on Spotify. Ladies and gentlemen to another edition of Weekends with Waz. Of course, I'm your host, Big Waz, aka Wazney Lambray, and I'm joined by my man. You catch his work at Bleacher Report, pods with the athletic.

He's a Twitch streaming star now. This guy's literally the definition of multimedia. MoDakil was going on, brother. What's up, Waz? doing today. I'm good, man. I can't complain. You know, I'm actually recording live from beautiful Fairlawn, New Jersey. Shouts to my sister Mel for allowing me to use her parents' office to record this podcast. Shouts to my man, Max Zetas, my favorite person from Fairlawn, New Jersey in the world. Man, last night, yo, everything that I love about the playoffs last night embodied it

because I think there was a narrative beginning to form that Boston got their guys back. They were big, they, you know, they handled their business in game two and that, you know, Boston was going to sort of have a chokehold on this series going forward. And the Miami, he came out and absolutely blitzed them in game three on the road in Boston.

Jimmy Butler, of course, we'll get to that later. He had to leave at halftime because of knee inflammation, something he's been dealing with, basically the entire postseason. Kyle Lowry came back. Bam out of bio, finally, finally found his form. No, no, he showed up. He showed up.

It wasn't, he showed up. He just showed up. He finally came. Finally arrived. I think a lot of people have been waiting for that. So, yeah, I mean, what did you think about Kyle and what he brought to the game? Because I thought that was pretty important. He felt like a really steadying hand being back out there in the lineup.

Well, it's funny because, like, you know, you were saying game two, the whole narrative was the Celtics get their starters back. Well, this is what happened when Miami gets their starter back, right? This is a big difference over, you know, him starting over Gabe Vincent. And you saw the most surprising thing was the pace immediately looking to kick it out, looking to get the ball ahead, quick attacks. I mean, within the first like seven, eight possessions, every heat player had a bucket. It wasn't an accident, right?

It was Lowry feeding and finding those opportunities. I felt like they had eight fast break points in the first quarter. I mean, they didn't, they're not a fast break team, but it's a tempo and the pace. And I think Lowry is what got bam off. And I think that's the important thing for what we're talking about in the discussion. And that's what Lowry brings, you know, besides what he does defensively and everything like that and in the half court, very steady hand. Like that's a great term you use their wise. But I think he just kicks up the pace to another notch for Miami.

And I think that's what makes them special. When he's on the court, he makes them special. Yeah, and I sound like a broken record oftentimes when I say this. But when you're playing a team like Boston and even Miami, scoring in the half court is going to be very difficult. You need to find ways to generate easier baskets and looks because you cannot subsist by just trying to score. I don't care how sophisticated your stuff is.

you don't have enough great players that you can just attack Boston and the half court and, you know, do so efficiently. So Lowry coming back and getting them stuff in transition, which we know this. Transition baskets are just generally speaking, more efficient offense than half court. That's always the case. And so whenever you can have an opportunity to do that,

that's found money. Yeah, I mean, they just, they were flying up the court. And it was things like, you know, it wasn't even so much just transition, early offense, right? Bam gets an opportunity to attack Horford in space. You know, he's catching it on the wing. The defense isn't set. It's him versus Horford with all that space. He's going to blow by him. And he was on a mission last night. And I felt like this is, this is a key thing for them, right?

The different attacks, the different looks, they were able to get Bam and different opportunities. We're all part of the game there. And kind of what led to like that, that's how they built that massive lead. Yeah. And, you know, to me, the most important thing about, last night's game. Like obviously, bam, 15 of 22 of 31 points plus 17. Of course, he got his customary 10 boards. Six assists, which again, I think is huge, which means that they're running stuff through him, right?

So the rhythm of the offense is based on how he's getting going. To me, the most important stat, though, he got 22 shots up. Like, that tells you he's being aggressive and he's hunting his shots. And, you know, you get people, I like to get people credit for being these team-oriented guys sort of get your stuff within the flow. We hate these guys that dribble the air out of the ball or constantly need an ISO or constantly need a dis. In Bam's case, he can be too team-oriented to a fault. And tonight, I guess he got the message, man. Like, no, like, you need to be an all-star caliber player if Miami is going to get to the next round.

And he was that. He attacked Horford. He attacked Grant Williams, who, you know, we know they got a history there going back from high school to the SEC and now in the NBA. It was just dope to see his – you said he showed up. It was just like, yeah, man, like your team needs you to be great. There's no other way this thing is going to get done. He's supposed to be the second best player on this team.

Like there's no question about it. And that's part of the responsibility of being the second best player is, yo, at point, you got to go get yours. And that's, you can't be shy about it. You can't be bashful. And that's exactly what he was doing in this, in this game. Like he was demanding the ball and things like that. And when you talk about the assist, I think he's so important for the Heat's ecosystem

offensively. You know, the dribble handoff game and things like that. There were a bunch of plays last night. And, you know, it wasn't all just banned, but on opportunities where they would, heat would go to their handoffs. And two Celtics would jump at the guy before he gets the ball. And, you know, like PJ Tucker comes to example. He just turns the corner and gets an easy layup.

You know, and I think those are the things that they need to get more of. Like, I felt like Miami won away from that in the first two games, especially in game two. That's where you get it. When Bam has six assists, it's the offense ecosystem is alive and well for the Miami heat, and it's growing. And I think that's the important thing with that. But on top of that, it only works if he's aggressive because the threat of him going to score is what's going to open up the other guys. Yeah, and so let's get to the Boston side of all of this Because again, I picked them to win the series

And I still think they're in a decent position to do so, right? It's not like all is lost because you're down to one But I think to last night, what you saw was, you know, the ugliest side of Boston rear its head Where its offense can get, you know, kind of bogged down at times When the ball is in whizzing. The stuff that he made, Doka spent the first, portion of the season

constantly bitching about in the media. I think we saw a little bit of that last night. Yeah, I mean, I think first I thought they came in with a very, very blasé attitude kind of coming into this game, you know, almost like

as you were saying, the narrative was kind of after game two. Look, the Celtics have won, you know, all the quarters except for one. You know, like they've been dominant. Like really, if it wasn't for that third quarter in game one, they'd probably be up 2-0. There was a very, you could feel

that attitude coming from them on the court in the first half and, you know, they start throwing the ball all over the place and the heat. Listen, that's the wrong team to have that attitude against, because the heat are coming through your throat. Every game. Yeah, and you know, and culture, Mo. Culture, right. Or just

like a really great strength and conditioning program. But the the the whole fact, though, is like Lowry comes back and now they're pushing, right? And now they got their guy and they get their confidence. They lose Butler. They didn't really miss a step. And it wasn't, he wasn't very aggressive in the first half. Like it was funny. I felt like, wow, it's weird. They're doing all this without Jimmy, not knowing

what was going to come in the second half. And then you kind of hear them. I'm like, well, that makes sense. Jimmy was kind of taken a back seat this game. But that's the opportunity. Boston's got a step on their throats. And that's that killer instinct that you docas really, really wants from these guys. And that's the stuff he's been screaming for. And they, they just did not have it at all. in that game. We got the bad Tatum game. Three of 14, one of seven from three. You know, 10 points overall.

It's just, you know, it's going to be tough. Six turnovers. That's untenable for a guy that's basically your offensive hub. He can't just be throwing the ball around. Jalen Brown, who his handle is somehow regressed. I don't, like, he's, like, the ball just seems so, like, loose now, he had another seven turnovers. What's going on with that?

It's so funny because it feels like it regress and progresses, play to play, right? Like some plays are like, yeah, oh, wow, look at those ball handings. And the next place, like, oh, there the ball goes. Like, it's so weird with Jaylen on that. The one thing I'll say to his credit, he attacked with a purpose though, right? Like he didn't make, you know, he went three and nine from three,

but his four, you know, his two's, His attacks into the lane were aggressive and purposeful. And even though he had some turnovers in that mix, it was, I'm going to the rim. I'm going to attack. You get Max Druss out of my way like he can't guard me and things like that. Like I thought that was important there. But listen, you can't win a game if you have 23 turnovers. 19 of them was live ball turnovers.

You're basically just handing the ball to the other team and saying, go, go attack while we try to chase you. Right. Get layups. You know, like as a coach, if I'm going to have 23 turnovers, I want all of them to be balls thrown out of bounds or 24 shot clock violation so I could go set my defense. This is, this was a complete disaster on that end. And I mean, you're not going to win a game.

And the fact they got back in this game was impressive with all those turnovers. But man, like they were way too loose with the ball, you know, just sloppy passing, like trying to squeeze it into areas where you can. I was just, it didn't make sense to me. Yeah. And I think, you know, if we can spin it forward here, the solutions are there for Boston. And I think it's within their will to achieve them, right? Like, not give the ball away.

Get your ass back on defense. You're playing a real NBA team who's looking to run your ass off the court. Get back on defense. Obviously, Tatum, that's the thing about today's game. Like when you are a very jump shot oriented player, there are going to be ebbs and flows to your games, right? Like there will be a game with Jason Tatum, Mrs. Schottes.

I think we saw that tonight. And, you know, he'll have other games where he gets hot. So I'm not overly concerned about that. I don't think I saw Miami doing anything special or specific to get him, you know, messed up or out of rhythm. Did you see anything with Tatum that would make you think, all right like making him not as efficient as he possibly be seems like something that Miami can do going forward I don't think there was anything that's like groundbreaking I mean

I know I'm not going to uh shattered the earth here when I say oh they were just more physical with him but they were into him a little bit more right like they were bumping him a little bit more you know I think um it's funny the the the heat had a ton of fouls the Celtics went to the free throw line a ton but I still don't feel like they called all the fouls like It was a very physical game. And like, you know, they're still philosophy mode. They can't call everything. Well, yeah.

I mean, well, that's the whole thing, right? They're not going to blow the whistle on every play. We're going to challenge them too. And they were extremely physical with them. I think he's going to counter that and he's going to be fine. I think they'll work him off the ball a little more and get him into quick actions, kind of come off a pin down and quick curl opportunities and things like now I'm getting super nerdy. This is what I do.

No, no, no, no, no. We need this. But I think there's going to be more things like that on the move. for Tatum in that so that it's harder to stay physical with him and really kind of body him up with with all of those things he's going to adjust you we've seen it from him at this point especially in these playoffs when he's had a bad game he kind of figures it out you know he's he's better later in the series as he figures out the defense more and I think that's something we'll we'll see more of but you know it's it's for Boston fans it's not panic time at all no like it even I mean

it feels bad close but you battled back in this game. Like, listen, I'm not going to lie to you, Waz. I was making plans at half time. I was like, cool, I'm probably not even going to watch the fourth quarter. This thing's going to be a blowout. I mean, then they start to make that run at the end of the second court. And I'm like, oh, like, I might have to delay these here a little bit. So, I mean, like, they battled back into this game, give them a lot of credit. They made it a one point game with under three minutes left. Yeah. I mean, you know, and the heat obviously got some timely shooting. Max Drews hit a big shot. by the way

I called Max Truce the found fries at the bottom of the bag somebody said that I stole that from Mark Jones I'll have you guys know I stole that from my buddy that I was sitting next to

having a beer with I do not I still No it was not I steal from my friends all the time they say that they ghost write my Twitter account

I feel that I feel that after our coffees I feel that after we go have coffee We're letting you guys behind the curtain. And just to further let the listener in behind the curtain, we had somebody booked, Celtics beat buddy of ours, booked.

But after getting waxed, the Celtics decided they had to practice today. So he ended up having to go to practice. So I think what Mo's talking about, some of the stuff they'll probably work on, making life a little bit easier for Tatum, figuring out the transition situation. I think they'll tighten that stuff up. And because, man, I really feel like

the modern NBA and the playoffs is a war of attrition. It's literally the last man standing is going to win this thing. Time Lord couldn't play because of need. Jimmy left the game. What do we think? Because I feel like with knee inflammation,

you would know more about this than memo. especially having been on the team side. I thought you were saying because I was old. No. No, no, no, no. Isn't that just straight up like, he has to just get off of it and hope that he can withstand the pain going forward?

Yeah, there's not much you can do with knee inflammation. It kind of just flares up at times and things like that. I mean, look, he missed the game against Atlanta in the playoffs because of that. And, you know, I don't remember him missing a game against Philly with that. But it wasn't, it's not. a shock that hey like yo it's it's sore and that means like hey look he's not doing much in practice you got to stay off of it you almost just need him to go as much as he possibly can and and get going in that i think the i don't think it's a something i'd be too concerned about it chris

haines had tweeted out not long after the game that it doesn't seem like this is going to be something that he's going to miss a game with and things like that but it's something you have to manage as a coaching staff you know and and it's it's beyond just in the game All right, how much can Jimmy do in practice, if anything? What do we have him do and walk through? You know, like, what's the training staff sits with you as a coaching staff and you start kind of figuring out what he can. And you're not practicing much in the playoffs anyways,

but like you're still trying to kind of figure things out. And you just want him off of it as much as possible going into, you know, game four. Yeah. And, you know, again, spinning it forward, I think the Celtics, their main dogs, Horford, Brown, Tatum are relatively healthy. Marcus Smart is going to do enough

on his bad foot. And I just think, again, their mistakes are correctable. And overall, they just, I feel like they just have more bullets in the gun to go to than Miami does in this series specifically if Jimmy Butler

is not going to be, let's face, he's been incredible this entire postseason, man, dropping 30, 40 regularly on fools. So if he's not going to be that level of wing, I got to give Boston the edge going forward. But I'm looking forward to the rest of this series because these guys are going to battle

and they're going to grind. We want to get you on the record, Mo, to give you an opportunity to be a man and be right. Who you got going forward in this series? I love how you phrase that. Oh, man. I had Boston winning this and I had Boston actually winning this in seven

because I think this is one of those series. You're right. Like Boston has more options they can go to. I think they have to go to it. I think there are some stuff rotation-wise that they should change and things like that. Maybe put more Pritchard minutes in than Derek White. I think, you know, you get a lot more offensively from him.

Maybe a touch, just a little bit lower defense, but still pretty good compared to White's shooting on offense. I think the tradeoff is fine. I think they just have way too many options for them. You know, even, you know, we didn't even mention it, but even heroes dealing with a little something with this leg. His leg was wrapped up. That's something I'd be concerned about.

But Miami's going to make you earn it. It's not something that they're just going to be able to walk into and do it. If they have to go and fight for this. And that's going to be the important thing for it. So I have Boston and seven. It also wouldn't surprise me if they win the next three games. And they win this thing in six and just go on a run. But the most important aspect,

of it is they have to come in here with the appropriate amount of fear, you know, and respect as well and understand that, like, hey, we can't walk through these things. We got to take them serious at every level of this game and really attack them. All right. So that's that for the Boston-Myami series. I wanted to talk to you about something that I thought was interesting. And I want to get your opinion because, again, as I mentioned, you worked on the team side, both for the Spurs.

clippers which organizationally as far as like functioning in a healthy manner are on the opposite ends of polls particularly in the sterling era when you were there mo but in Brooklyn they let go of some assistance uh this week and i just thought it was interesting what did you think when you see that happened down in Brooklyn where they're letting you know what you know what guys and Nash's staff go, but obviously he's still coming back next year. No, I think that stuff kind of happens. I'm not going to read too much into it. I feel like certain times it say this is not really working anymore or clicking or whatnot,

you know, or we need to go a different route. I mean, here's the thing was, and this is, I was on the record of this way back when, when Nash assembled the staff. I didn't like the idea of some of the guys he brought on. Like I didn't, I don't see the value of Amari Stodemeyer on the staff. on the staff. You know, somebody that's never coached and things like that. And I think at one point he was trying to get Dirk on board or something.

And I just felt like, yo, like, you're a first time head coach. Like, you need to surround yourselves with experience. And he did for the most part for a while, right? Because look, you doca came from there. Yep. You know, Jack Vaughn former head coach. You know, Mike D. Antony was there. And then he left after this season.

That stuff changes. It's all about who you bring in and how do you kind of adjust. and so on. Like, look, when I was with the Spurs, incredibly stable organizationally with that. Everybody knew their role and things like that. But everybody also had a lot of experience and opportunities when they came in and everything that went with it. You know, I think this is going to be important for Brooklyn is finding the right staff. It's going to help Nash grow as a coach because that's the thing.

You know, we need to see something a little more creative offensively. We need a little bit more defensively from them. you know, strategy wise and things like that. I think it just can't be, all right, just give the ball to Kyrie, give it the KD, let them cook. We'll figure out the rest. Like, no, you need to put them in a system and you need to kind of put something together. And I think you need to put the right staff around them. And yeah, the organization is going to help.

They're going to have, they're saying it. But it's also Nash has to be ready to work with these guys. And ultimately, he's got to pull the trigger on who's being brought on. I get nervous when a front office decides who's on a staff. Well, let's make you into. a tall Australian really quickly. And let's just say you're Sean Marks. Who are you bringing in?

Like, do you just look around the league a bunch of experience, qualified assistance and say, hey, we're just going to throw some money at them and poach him? Like, what would be your approach to filling out that staff? Because look, man,

they're probably going to give Kyrie's money and it's going to be right back into the pressure cooker. You guys are going to be, they're going to be expected to win a damn championship next. year. So what would your approach be to filling out those vacancies? First off, I'm going to be Sean Marks. I need to correct you and let you know that I'm a Kiwi and not an Aussie. Oh, excuse me. That's offensive and I'm offended now. They're going to

kill them. Oh, man. They're going to fucking kill me on Twitter. Oh, man. You know, I think you just got to go find guys. Like, you know, one guy I would really try to poach if it's, if he, if he doesn't get a head job, it's Phil Handy of the Lakers. You know they're going to have a They're going to have a new organization. But, you know, listen, Phil's had his hands on a lot of great teams, right? He was with Kyrie in Cleveland with with LeBron when they won a championship. The bubble championship. He was in Toronto with Kauai when they won the championship.

Like he has a championship pedigree in there. I think eventually he'll be looking for a head coaching job. But there weren't a lot of opportunities this year. And if he doesn't get any of these that are available, I think that's super smart. probably my first phone call. Let me get a dude that can also talk to Kyrie and really, and not only talk to Kyrie, but call him on his bullshit when he's acting like an idiot, you know? And by the way, every player acts like an idiot.

Every player needs to have somebody bring him down at some point. Listen, I'm going to be honest with you. I act like an idiot 90% of the time. I need my girlfriend to bring me down, you know, and remind me like, hey, you're being stupid. I'm like, okay, yeah, you're right. So, like, it's not like anything about that, but you need that. And I think it's important on a staff and just having him.

and that respect level that he would bring in automatically, I think, takes you another level and it kicks you up another notch in terms of, you know, somebody there. That elevates your staff right there. And I think that'd be the first call. And I'd be like, man, sucks, man. You didn't get a head coaching job. How much do you need to come to New York? You know?

Like, that's just, just tell me what the number is. Like, it's going to be here for you. Come on. Like, let's go. Get on a plane. We talked to feel handy for, like, an hour plus over at the old. old job. And that dude is extremely impressive.

He just comes off as somebody who gets it, has a presence about him, and knows his shit, you know, more importantly. So that would be really dope if Nash could get him. I bet you people didn't think we were going to get into the weeds of assistant coaching world in the NBA when you turned this podcast on today. But Mo, thank you for coming on, reminding people where they could get your stuff and what they should be on the lookout for. Yeah, just follow me on Twitter, M-O-D-A-K-H-I-L-N-SORN-B-A.

That's where I have all my stuff. I write for Bleacher Report podcast for The Athletic. I post just a crap ton of videos, live tweet during games, and, you know, my one-moth thing series of videos. Just come follow me on Twitter. You'll find all my stuff because I have no problem with the self-promotion. Yes, sir. More is a must-follow. If you guys are wondering how I am so sharp and amazing, yeah, I still a lot of shit from Mo's Twitter account too.

Don't even get it twisted. That's happening on a regular basis. That's our show for today. Of course, make sure you're checking out everything else we have on the Ringer NBA podcast feed. Of course, make sure you're checking out the mismatch. Obviously, the big dog with Ricillo every single Sunday talking NBA playoffs. We'll see you guys next time. I'm out of here.

Peace. any