The Ringer NBA Show - The Nets and Timberwolves Advance, Plus Title-Shot Power Rankings | Group Chat

Episode Date: April 13, 2022

Justin, Rob, and Wos start by discussing the Nets and Timberwolves securing their spots in the playoffs and they look ahead to Nets-Celtics and Timberwolves-Grizzlies in the first round. Then they all rank their top five teams in order of who has the best shot to win the title (40:34). Hosts: Justin Verrier, Rob Mahoney, and Wosny Lambre Associate Producer: Isaiah Blakely Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hi, everyone. I'm Ian Wright. Make sure you check out my podcast. Righty's house every Wednesday on Ringer FC. Each week, I'm joined by a rotating panel guest to talk about football, life, films, everything. Search of Ringersc on Spotify or wherever you get your podcast. Take it easy. And welcome to Guchat. I am Justin Verrier, joining me. Playoff Rob, playoff was, gentlemen, we're here. Well, we're almost there, but we're basically in the playoff zone. So, Rob, are you excited after a night of exhilarating playing basketball? Hell yeah. It was good playing basketball. It wasn't that bad, yeah. Was? Yeah, it felt good. That familiar feeling of like the intensity is so ridiculously ratcheted up high that people are just screwing up left them, right? Like, that's the sign of playoff basketball, like the nerves, the jitters, the intensity and the crowd, especially in Minnesota.

It was legitimate playoff basketball last night, and I was happy to have it. Rob, you're so excited that after the Wolves win last night, you were ready to jump on tables in your living room. No, I just went outside and howled at the moon, you know, really, really give into the solidarity of the moment with the wolves. There you go. We're going to talk big picture playoffs in a little bit, but let's start with those plan matchups last night.

We got the seven and eight ones, Nets, Cavs, Wolves, and Clippers. Was, where do you want to start here? I mean, definitely want to start with the Nets Cavs, especially since it was the first game. I think we saw what we expected from the Nets, excellence, from Kyrie and KD individually. I thought they were just brilliant at moving the ball around whenever the calves tried to show extra help.

They got it out so quickly. Both of them were in double digits and assists. Oftentimes leading to dunks and layups right at the cup. They were just incredible. I think I saw somewhere that they had, after the first quarter, they had a 173 offensive rating, which for those of you at home, that's pretty fucking good.

Yeah, like the, nets looked like we expected, um, offensively. And defensively, the wolves didn't really present that many problems for them realistically. So they, you know, sort of hell serve on that, on that end. And they looked like the nets to me, which I don't think is necessarily a great thing. Yeah, well, I was going to say, I walked away from this thinking two things. Like, you could look at it two ways, basically. Katie and Kyrie can give you a shot in any series. And Katie and Kyrie can only do so much because they were incredible in this game and they both played into the 40 minutes range

in a game that they probably should have won handedly but became pretty close down the stretch there. So Rob, where do you kind of fall on that spectrum? I think I fall more on the pessimistic side because I've heard this same line of conversation about oh, they can only do so much, oh, it's going to fall on these other guys. This was a great Bruce Brown game. This was a great Nick Claxton game and they needed every point to squeak by a Cavs team that just like cannot score right now. And Darius Garland did everything he could. He had a sensational second half in particular. Incredible stuff from him. But if, I mean, if you need Kyrie Irving to basically be perfect to beat the calves, I don't think it's going to go great against the Celtics in the first round, for example.

Yeah, they aren't getting much out of the, like, tiny guard rotation that they actually like defaulted to toward the end there. I would imagine it's going to be something of their death lineup where it's KD surrounded by point guards and like, drop. doesn't look great. Seth Curry hasn't been right for a little while now. Patty Nills, too. He showed a little bit of a side of life. He's got an ankle. Yep. Yeah. And so like, that's what I'm most worried about. If those guys were all healthy and producing, I'd be like, oh, they can get like something from one of those guys, maybe two of those guys. And this is going to be a very dangerous offense. And like, who can keep up with that? But like, I don't know, man. I mean, I guess if you want to

talk about Ben Simmons here, we can. But like, he could potentially reportedly, allegedly, maybe be looming in the distance in round one according to recent reports. Why do we have to do this? Why do we have to pretend that the guy who completely stunk up the joint coming off of probably his best regular season ever is going to come off the streets with a bad back and be this panacea for the nets?

I just don't understand how that's going to be the case, right? Because his athleticism is going to be limited. because of the back, his endurance is just not going to be there because he has not played since last years. He hasn't played NBA basketball since last year. So this idea he's going to come in and he's going to be this big boost to what the nets are doing right now. I just find that to be sort of laughable.

Although theoretically, the thing that I think, what I'm sure we're going to talk about, about their Celtic series that's going to tank them, Ben Simmons would help a lot with, which is perimeter defense, size on the perimeter, because the four-man guard rotation of tiny people that the Nets are going to trot out against the Celtics. I don't know how if you're a Nets fan, you feel good about that. You don't feel great about Patty Mills guarding Jalen Brown for random possessions. You don't feel great?

No. It's a real, it's a small world happening out there a lot of time. But no, but if you get 15 minutes, let's say, 10 minutes of perimeter. from Ben Simmons, who, let's just remember, despite all of his flaws, was like a defensive player of the year candidate last year. Like, I do think that matters because what we're talking about is things on the fringes, on the margins, just making up the difference so that Katie and Kyrie can be awesome. I just don't trust it. Yeah. And it's, you know, 10 minutes of elite perimeter defense in theory sounds great. Ten minutes of screen navigation with a bad back.

that's just not a realistic thing to ask a guy to jump into the middle of a hyper-physical playoff series having played no basketball this season and B, what he was, which is one of the best perimeter defensive players that we have in the league. Just not a realistic thing to ask.

And then on offense, what's happening in those 10 minutes is you're accommodating the weirdest star in the league, probably in terms of fit and skill set and how much you have to go out of your way to make it work. There's a reason why Philadelphia

could never really get Simmons into a short roller kind of situation, and yet you're just expecting him to jump into the Bruce Brown role here? I don't think it's realistic at all. I'm glad you brought up Bruce Brown because he hit a couple of corner trays last night, which let's suggest that for a minute.

Not only did he hit corner threes, he took them. And the defense knew that he wanted to take them, and so they had to react in kind. When you have Ben Simmons in the corner, and a defense can just literally just, stand there and be like, I'm not reacting to you more than three feet from the basket. That's a completely different proposition, right?

Like, and again, bad back, you're supposed to be firing off threes. You won't even do it in practice, alone in a gym, let alone. I don't know if you saw the videos, my friend, the propaganda videos coming out of Brooklyn. Oh, God. Yeah. Yeah. I think they have enough shooting, though, where he can, Simmons can effectively slot into the drumming role. Like he could be a backup to Andre Drum.

But again, you're asking you're asking to bang with Biggs off an injured back. Yeah. I don't believe it. I'm just trying to play devil's advocate here. No, we got to kill it. We got to drive a night through the heart of that concept because Ben Simmons ain't doing dick this playoffs.

I promise you that. Yeah, wherever on the dark web you found these reports that he might come back. We need to nix that. So let's talk about the Celtics series then. So you guys are saying no chance. Not to me. I don't see how it happens. Because here's the thing.

Kyrie was getting off against, let's face it, not a great defensive backcourt that the Cavs have. Like, as much as I love Garland, that's not his strong suit. We know Karas Lavert ain't never been much of a defender his entire life. And so the only person that gave even a little bit of resistance on that and was Rondo, right?

And now, in comparison, you have the Celtics. Derek White, Marcus Smart, who is not only first team all defense, he's in the defensive play of the year conversation, which is not to mention Brown and Tatum. It's just a completely different monster. So it's not to say that Kyrie can't get off against those guys. It's the level of resistance, the amount of energy that he has to exert to get his 30 points is at a way different level.

And then you got to guard people on the other end too. So not only are you working your ass off to score on offense, they're going to make you work on defense too, Kyrie. And the same goes for KD. Like, it's not that he's not going to score. It's going to be difficult. And he's going to have to do it at a 45 minute of the night clip. Because we've seen even against the Cavs,

once one of those guys came off the court, Brooklyn was just like, okay, what do we do now? So, like, they're just supposed to play 45 minutes a game. and score against some of the best defenders in the NBA every single possession. And then have to, KD, tonight he played like a madman on defense. Three blocks, man in the paint, switching out on defenders on the perimeter. He looked inspired, but like, okay, he's supposed to just do that all series? Well, this is ridiculous.

I think the answer is yes. And, like, I actually don't think it's that wild to suggest that he might do that. It's basically what he did last postseason. And I keep going back to this. Like, they almost beat the world champions. by doing that exact same thing with less. And so I wonder, like, I don't even know if the, like, defense is going to be as complicated as you're making it seem because, like,

yeah, Tatum is incredible. But, like, I don't think they have a lot of guys that could hurt you, particularly on the perimeter. Like, maybe they'll get the ball moving and then they'll get guys in rotation and whatnot. And that just causes so many, like, issues. But I don't know, man. I think, I don't think the Celtics are a particularly bad matchup for the Nets, I'll say.

No, they're not a brutal one. And if the question is, do the, Nets have a chance. If you have Kevin Durant on your team, you have a chance. You have a chance to beat anybody, any game, especially one series. I think if we're talking about what they're going to do all playoffs long, it gets hard when Katie is playing two ways, 45 minutes every game. That is, that is taxing.

Yeah, Katie even admitted pretty recently, I forgot where he said it, that like after he beat the Bucks, like, he didn't know what was going to happen. If they'd beat the Bucks last postseason, because they were just playing so much and giving so much every single game, we might have had like the Hawks in the finals. He mentioned in that game that he was, there were possessions in overtime against the Bucks where he like lost a sense of where he was on the floor. He was so exhausted.

Like he was just completely out of it. And you want that guy to do that for four series? I know the Bucks are a uniquely taxing kind of proposition, but the Celtics are going to be too. They're going to be really hard to score on. And especially to like, whatever Boston loses not having Rob Williams, the Nets are not a team that drive you to the cup.

They're not a team that put pressure on you by attacking the Bull. basket. And that's where I worry about Kyrie and even Kevin Durant, who can get his shot off against anybody, he's going to have a lot of length in front of him all game long to try to get those shots off. Yeah, and to be clear, I think the Celtics offense is not one that presents like the most problems with the Nets don't do well

defensively, especially when you consider that like they don't have a lot of downhill guys. Like Tatum kind of does it every now and again. Brown theoretically does it. But it's not like these guys are going to live the paint and live at the cup. So, yeah, your point is taking there. I just think what they do best, the Nets, is going to be exhaustive. Like, they're not going to have a 40-1705 rating quarter against the freaking Celtics.

And again, like, there's moments in the game where the calves are just like, okay, Karis Leverth finally is just like, all right, Kyrie's my matchup. I'm just going. I'm just going. And he was bare, those possessions were bearing fruit. And I think they have a lot of guys who you can do that against. And I think in those moments, that's where the Celtics, you know, their inability to get stuff out of basically their motion. They'll just be able to put their heads down and beat up these little guys, man.

I don't know. I'm not seeing world beaters in the nets, especially watching them in the last few weeks where like Katie and Kyrie playing 24 minutes against the freaking Knicks in the second half. And I'm just like, y'all barely beat in the Knicks. And these two guys have to play the whole second half. I'm not seeing it. I'm just not. I'm still not betting against Katie and Kyrie in a series. We can get to that later when we get to our power rankings here.

But let's talk about the Cavs briefly, though, because they are still in this. They'll await the winners of Hawks and Hornets tonight on Wednesday. Rob, how are you feeling about the Cavs? Do you think like they can get through whichever team comes in that next game? are you a little bit worried considering what you saw in this one? I'm a little bit worried, not just because of what we saw in this one, but really over the last couple weeks, where their defense has not been the same without Jared Allen.

If he's theoretically available, which he could be, he's kind of inching back toward the possibility that he could be available. Maybe that changes things. But the teams the Cavs are going to be playing against, whether it's the Hawks or the Hornets, those are high-powered offenses. Those are teams that are going to stretch you and press you. They're going to make, you know, they're going to stretch Lauery-Marie. to the fullest extent of what he can accomplish defensively,

which as we saw in this next game, comes and goes, depending on the matchup. It's like if you want Lowry on the perimeter, he can hang. If you want him being your paint protector, eh, you know, not ideal. And so I do worry about how,

you know, the Cavs are a team that win defense first and when you're going against offenses that are that prolific, do you really have enough to hang with them right now? When you're down, not just Allen, but three and four rotation guys on the season, really, due to injury. Yeah, to me, of course, you guys, as you guys know,

I've been in the Hawks tank all year, and I'm not going to get out now. I think without Jared Allen, if you're the Cavs, what do you do? Well, what's your thing, your go-to thing? When you have Jared Allen and Mobley, it's like, we're going to beat you up down low, you're going to have trouble getting, you know, scores against us in the paint. We're going to attack the glass. like, you understand, like, they're pressing their size advantage. And that's a thing that they have.

Like, that's our thing. Without Jared Allen, like, what's your thing? You don't have one. And whereas the Hawks, like, I have Trey Young and pick and roll. I'm going to Trey Young and pick and roll you to death. That's been great offense all year. You don't have your best defensive player. And so we're attacking you.

And I think where the Hawks get in trouble, because I do think they're going to beat Charlotte with teams, is teams that are just beating them to the punch, out-physicaling them, just out-hard-hating them, you know, to make up an adjective, right? Like, like, I just don't think that the calves are going to present that problem, you know, to the Hawks because they're short-handed. And Mowgli, as much as I love me, he's not this out-physical you beat you up on the glass type of guy.

Like, he's not going to draw a bunch of fouls with his physicality. he's not doing any of that. And so I think the Hawks are in a great position right now to grab that eighth seed. Yeah, Nick Claxton at one point, like brutalized Evan Mobley. Yeah, that was nasty. It's like two twigs going against each other

and just ones happen to be a little bit bigger. Know who it would be great to see Step Up in this moment for Cleveland? Karis Levert. You know who I can't like stand watching Karas Levert? He's like watching Anthony Edwards last night after that. I'm like, oh, it's kind of a similar thing where, like, Levert, like, recklessly drives into the paint and you hope that, like, he'll create something, but then nothing ever happens. Like, maybe he'll get a kick out, but most of the time, you just can't finish over anybody in the paint. And I'm just like, what does this guy do for this team?

And why did they actually trade for him? Because I don't see a long-term vision for him with this team. Listen, Rob, just group chat is not the place where we, you know, you come to here. I told you so, but we told you so. We did. We did. We did. We killed the Karis-Levert thing when it. what's happening. I think me and Justin were very high on the idea of bringing in Eric Gordon, who, again, shoots it, guards people, knows what spot to be in every single time.

That could have probably possibly helped last night. I don't know, guys. Yeah. It's tough because what LaVert theoretically does well is something they need a lot, which is creation from the perimeter, somebody who, you know, they really want to play Garland off the ball some because he's so. a good shooter. He's so good moving and cutting. Karas Levert is not that guy.

He's going to create on the perimeter, but it ain't going to be no Picasso's. I'll tell you that. It's going to be some finger paintings on the perimeter with his creation. But to reiterate the Cavs problem here, Karris Levert was still better than Isaac Akoro, who was just said nothing offensively, than Lamar Stevens, who was just getting a record scratch guy all game long because you couldn't and wouldn't take some of the shots that were available to him.

Coral bricked a couple of corner threes and J.Bickerstab was like, yeah, done, done. I'm out of here with this. They really need so much perimeter help in terms of what they're getting out of their wing guys and they just don't have the bodies right now. And that leads you to Chetty Osman

playing big minutes and guarding Kyrie Irving and the full Chetty Osman experience, really. When they move that team to Seattle in 50 years, Chetty Osmond is going to go with them. Like that guy comes with the furniture, man. He's really still dining out on being friendly to LeBron like five years ago. It's great. But yeah, I mean, obviously the Cavs have a bright future ahead of them.

But I don't know. I think it's going to be a little bit more complicated than I think maybe some people will expect. They have a lot to figure out. And if we're saying like a lot of other issues are on the perimeter, like those are the guys that are toughest to get in there. And Justin, like, you know, people have yelled at me and said, oh, mobile, he's going to develop into a shot creator. Maybe he will. I have my doubts, but maybe he will, and that's where your secondary shot creation comes from, right? Like, he becomes a hub, maybe on some, like, you know, at the elbow type of working type of stuff.

And he's shown, especially his passing ability, he's shown that he could be a threat to pass and score out of those positions. So maybe he becomes an offensive hub. But, like, Garland, man, he is so brilliant, so fun to watch. There was a pass he made underneath the basket where he looked. the guy off and just lasered it to a dude for an easy score. There was a couple of passes where

if you watch winning time where like magic is throwing passes and guys aren't expecting him, Garland had a bunch of those moments last night where dudes was like, oh shit, I didn't even know all was open type of stuff. He's so electric, man. And so they got something special with him, but they need something else

to be like, you know, to revolve around that sun. But that's the formula to make the playoffs. is Garland is going to have to be that good again. And worth noting, he tied Kyrie Irving with 34 points in this game as the leading score. He was everything that they needed him to be, especially in the fourth quarter, especially in the second half. You just need guys to hit those crazy wraparound kickouts for threes or for dunks inside. It's just enough of those kinds of shots didn't go that cost the calves of the game here.

And they could again, unless those guys really step up in bigger spots next time. Speaking of young guards emerging in the second half, let's talk about the mighty Minnesota Timberwolves who vanquished the mighty Los Angeles Clippers last night. So I wrote down four things as Patrick Beverly was jumping all over things and Colin Anthony Towns was crying or whatever was going on there. Anthony Edwards, 30 points.

DeAngelo Russell, 29 points. Towns follows out with 11 points. Pat Beverly potentially unmeth. Listen, I've seen the World Cup celebrations that were more muted than what the wolves did last night in that damn stadium, which, you know, more power to you won, but that was a bit much, the standing on the score throwing your jersey in the crap. Like, guys, like, yes, you got the seventh seed in the Western Conference playoffs. We're happy for you.

I think the Memphis series is going to be fun, but relax just a little bit. But, you know, you got to be encouraged by what you saw from Anthony. Edwards. I'm, look, I'm not going to believe in DeAngelo Russell till I see it. I thought I thought the clippers just had some stupid defensive fuck-ups down the stretch where like Zub was doing like some extreme drop coverage against him. So he could just walk so he could just walk into practice threes. They kept letting them get to his left hand, which is like, this guy is one of the most one-handed ass players in the NBA and you just let him walking to his left hand.

Whatever. He responded. I don't want to hate on him. I should stop doing that. Anthony Edwards, man. Just when he puts the jet packs on, on the perimeter, where it's like, get the fuck out my way. I don't need a screen.

I'm just going to run past this dude. With no runway whatsoever, I just detonate on cats. That was just electric to watch. And you could feel the Timberwolves crowd. Every time he gets the baller, collective, who's he about to do?

And he was just, he was magic last night. They needed every single one of those 30 points for them to win because Carl Towns was playing like, you know, a freaking two-year-old with pudding. It was, it was crazy.

Yeah. Well, as we saw over the back half of the season, Edwards is just a totally different player when he's hitting threes. And he freaks you out in totally different ways. Like there was a play where Norm Powell made a late close-out, and it was just from the from his first step was completely dead in the water. Edwards blew past him wide open dunk coming down the lane in the fourth quarter.

And that was kind of what was freaky about this is like this is a team of good perimeter defenders and I'm not sure any of them could stay in front of Anthony Edwards. Yeah, the best part was watching Marcus Morris get into a stance trying to guard Anthony Edwards, like making a big show of it. And then Edwards is blowing by him immediately. Like as much as Beverly is a pest, Like Morris is somehow worse than him. And just to see that happen was beautiful.

But yeah, Edwards has that thing, and I've said this before, where it's like young Russell Westbrook, where he's so quick he can get to the rim. And it doesn't matter what he does at the rim. He's either going to score or he's going to get to the line because he's just so like physical and big that something good is going to happen. And that's kind of what happened in this game. And it's weird.

And I'm curious what you guys think about this, that that really took off when towns went out. I don't know if it was a mindset. difference. I don't know if it was a spacing on the floor because Nas Reid was hitting like three-pointers, but like it did see like, it seemed like they turned the keys over to him and Russell after towns went out and good things

did happen. I'm not sure how much of a mindset difference it was because when Anthony Edwards woke up yesterday morning, he was like, I'm going to shoot every time I touch the ball. And it's going to go great. But that was kind of what he was playing with from the jump. Yeah. And, you know,

I know we're going to get into the towns of it all because it's just like, bro, what? Do you want to do now? Yeah. Yeah. Some of these files, Carl Anthony Towns, were horrible. Really bad.

And I said situational basketball. It's like down the distance. A receiver runs around its five yards when it's third and seven. Like, bro, you got to know where the sticks are. Carl Anthony Towns doesn't know where the sticks are. This fool for his six foul got an over-the-back call while Paul George. was good. This wasn't some little guy getting the rebound. It's like, no, I can easily take this. It's Paul freaking George huge ass soaring up for a rebound and you just filed him. And Towns had no chance to get that rebound.

You had no shot at this rebound. You just filed this guy to get out of the game and you pretended like somebody shot your dog. It was ridiculous. The offensive foul where he filed the guy, he filed them five times on his way to the rack. And I'm somebody who hates to charge foul. But he close. I think it was Nicola Batum. He clubbed with his right arm, shedded him, and then he just bowled his way to the back. And it's like, yo. Through Marcus Morris, it was like how many offensive fouls

could you commit on one possession? I have to say, though, I do give Ty Lou and the Clippers some credit here. Yeah. Because, like, he played into their hands perfectly. Like, this is what you're playing for when you put smalls on bigs is, can we freak them out, can we bother their dribble, can we force them into shots they don't want to take? And can we draw offensive fouls when they try to bully their way to the rim?

And Towns just fell for it over and over. I think he had at least two, maybe three offensive fouls in this game. He just couldn't use his size advantage at any point, which I pointed out on Twitter. I'm watching Nas Reid. Anytime he catches the ball near the basket, he's like, I got six, six guys on me. I'm putting this up and I'm scoring. I'm way bigger than these dudes. Towns couldn't do it.

What I thought was brilliant about what Tylood did, he kept switching up his looks. and he kept keeping Towns off balances, so he was so hesitant. And there was no decisiveness to his game. Anytime he was semi-decisive, it was sloppy, like those offensive files that he got. The late doubles, doubling with length, late crowding his right arm, which obviously we know he's another very one-handed-ass dude. They were brilliant against Towns all game. And this is the number one offense in the league this year. year, you know, by offensive ratings. So, like, masterful job on defense, even though late in the

game, they had some, some bone-ups that I was just like, what the fuck are y'all doing? But overall, they played great defense against this team. Yeah. And not to take anything away from the wolves, but there was a point in this game where the Clippers went five out. And I was like, there you go. This is going to win this right now. Paul George started hitting shots after a pretty brutal first half himself. And I was like, oh, this team has it. Somehow they have a more dangerous switch lineup than they did during last year's Western Conference finals, which is really scary. And you put Kauai Leonard in there at any point, like, good Lord. I don't want to face that team like ever. But like once again, the Clippers kind of fell flat on their face when they needed to most. And I don't

know if it was just happenstance. This is one game. Maybe we're overrating it just because this has happened before with the Clippers. But I don't know, Rob. Did you see anything like long term that made you worried about it? Or was this just like poor adjustments, maybe just missing a couple of shots on the stretch? It felt more like that to me. And really it felt more like the wolves were the charmed team for once, which was kind of cool to see with that building was so charged.

Obviously, the players were a little frenetic at times, but were totally revved up. And it was cool to see stuff like, you know, we get to the ends of these games and Waz is exactly right. Like, Zhu playing that far back on D. Angelo Russell on a pull-up three, that's killer. But you know what else is killer is Pat Beverly hitting a desperate one-footed three-pointer two quarters earlier.

Or, you know, at the end of the third quarter, they get this hit ahead, bang, bang, play in which they whip it to the corner and get another three to Malik Beasley. And it was like all of the Pat Beverly shit was working. All of these hustle plays were accumulating. I really, I felt like it was a really cool moment for the wolves to the point that I don't begrudge them too much. Like jumping on the table, okay, let's. chill out.

Sir, please. This is a Wendy's. Like, come on down. But it was such a cool moment for that team in that franchise that I don't begrudge them too much for celebrating it. So I want to address some a couple of people because, like, I was complaining about the Clippers late game offense. And they're isolating against Vanderbilt and McDaniels,

who are the best defenders that the Bulls have, right? Like, like, I get it. Paul George is your best player. You want to get the ball in the sense? I get it. Like, when we say in the playoffs, you got to beat guys one-on-one, it doesn't mean when you're playing the Raptors. You say, hey, OG Ananoby, I'm going to try to beat you one-on-one on the perimeter.

Or, hey, Clippers, Kauai Leonard, I'm going to try to... No, that's not what we mean. We mean, run a cross-screen, run a pin-down, run... Get... I don't know, DeAngelo Russell on Paul George. Get Beasley on Paul George. Get anybody else besides their freaking... lanky-ass super athletic wing defenders on Paul George with seven seconds left in the freaking shot clock and try to manufacture offense.

It was just weird. They were just like, here, Paul, do an extreme amount of work against the best defender on the team and let's just deal with the results. I just thought that was weird, particularly since Tailu invented bum hunting. Like, they literally invented it in 2016 on the Cavs that like, yo, we're going to for force a switch at the top of the key every single possession link. This was Tyloose strategy, or maybe it was LeBron. Who knows?

But like to watch them just do this dumb shit over and over, I'm just like, come on, you guys are smarter than this. So what do we think about going forward for the Clippers? Because they'll get the winner of Pelicans and Spurs. You assume the Pelicans come out of that one, no offense to the Spurs. But they kind of limped in. Bill was trying to convince me that the Pelicans are frisky. The Pelicans love needs to like slow down.

man. They were like what? Like the ninth best team in the NBA in the Western Conference? Here we go again. Justin pouring cold water all over the Pelicans. Unbelievable. Just like if you think like Pat Beverly jumping on a table is bad, good Lord,

the celebration these 10 people have. I would assume that the clippers match up pretty well with the Pelicans. But Rob, do you think they'll have any difficulty? Should they get either of those teams? I think the clippers are in a pretty good spot. And this is why you want to be in the 7-8 is to give yourself two chances at this thing.

The clippers are still such a stout defensive team overall. They still have so much optionality to throw at guys like C.J. McCollum, assuming the Pelicans make it out of that game, which I would assume they would. I just don't think they're going to have enough offensively. Like, again, all credit to the Pelicans for turning their season around.

I think it's a great story, Justin. No, you may not. I think it's a great story. Ten games under 500, by the way. Well, it could have been 20. without Zion Williamson. But I think the clippers are a better story. And for a reason, it's just like all of the flexibility they have gives them everything

they need in a game like this. Yeah. All right. Let's flip to the playoffs at large here. So we will get our first official postseason. Wait, do you want to talk about Wolves, Memphis? Are we going to save that for another? Oh, yeah.

No, no. Let's talk about it now. Unless I just assumed we hit Memphis in the power rankings, but we'll talk about it. What do you think? Look, Coach Kwas, give us the breakdown. Look, I've loved, I've loved what Memphis is done all year, the cohesion, the effort level, the execution level. I've enjoyed it, but I think that advantage gets, you know, muted a bit in the playoffs where everybody's doing that. Everybody's geared into their matchup.

Everybody's tuned in to what the game plan is. everybody's playing 110%. So I think what made them a very effective and great regular season team will not be as huge of an advantage in the playoffs. And I think they are a really athletic, tenacious team. But we saw last night the wolves can get to a very athletic and tenacious level as well.

I personally think they're going to give Memphis everything that they can handle. This ain't going to be some boom, boom, five-game series, y'all. They're going to have to scratch and claw this thing. I want to pick the wolves. But I'm not. I think Memphis is going to get this thing done

in probably six or seven. I'm leaning towards seven games. I think this is a seven-game series because of the inexperience on Memphis. Of course, Minnesota has that same inexperience. But I think, you know, I just think it cancels each other out. And I think, you know, the coaching is pretty close there as far as game plan and that type of stuff preparation. I just think it's going to be a tight series from two young, really inexperienced, fun teams.

And I think it's going to go seven games. Was, how much tenacity do you have in your game is my question? Do you have the, you know, the Pat Bev level of... No, I can't. I want to. I want to pick an upset here. And in fact, I'm not going to lie. if they were playing the Clippers, I probably would.

Just because the Clippers have so much more of that experience, veteran know-how, Ty Luz. Like, as a playoff coach, has been incredible his whole career. Maybe the first two or three games is not always excellent. But, like, down the stretch of playoff series, he's always coming up with shit. You know, so, like, I probably would have picked the Clippers over Memphis for an upset. But the Wolves are just too inexperienced for me to do it. could see the clippers because they

weren't the same team that they were in the regular season, right? Paul George makes them a different team. If they had had him all season, not even Kauai, but just Paul George, we'd be talking about them as like the fifth or sixth seat, at least, right? I'm a little surprised to see the wolves love because the inside the NBA guys were also

big on the wolves. Is it mostly because of, well, it also seems like people are discounting the grizzlies because of lack of experience, and I'm just like, what was last year? You know, like, they did do pretty well against the jazz. Yeah. Knock missed.

I look, you know, I just got to see it. I got to see it from Memphis. Like, the regular season, again, like, when you're chirping at guys in the regular season and you're this upstart and, like, you know, you're basically playing with found money, that's one thing. When you miss two straight threes and that third swing pass comes to you and you hesitate just half a second, and that half a second makes all the difference in how effective a defensive possession is, like, that stuff accumulates in a series.

When there's actually stakes, right? Like, it actually matters now, you know, in a way that it just doesn't in a regular season where you're supremely confident, whatever, like, bro, now these shots, all these possessions have stakes. You turn it over, you dribble it off your foot the one time. Are you going to feel comfortable attacking again? The next possession? Like, that's why the playoffs are just different, like the stakes.

That ball becomes so much heavier. You know, we've seen experienced guys get the swing and be like, I don't want it to beat me this time. Like, I wonder are Memphis's guys going to be ready for that challenge when, you know, it gets tight in these games. You know what I mean? So that's all I'm saying. I don't doubt, like, the skill level of this team.

but these guys haven't been there. The regular season is just different, man. It's different when you're making these shots and your crowd is into it. It's different. Your crowd even behaves differently in the playoffs when you miss three straight open threes. And you get that fourth one.

Yeah, my worry is that Anthony Edwards and Daniel Russell won't be afraid of the moment and they'll just take all of those shots and they'll miss them because that's the flip side of what happened last night, right? Like there's like a 50-50 shot. that that could have gone very, very wrong. Yeah, I'm not really worried about this with the Grizzlies.

I kind of think this is going to be a four or five game series. And it's a very different matchup for Towns because it's a much bigger team. It's more traditional. And we saw him against the Clippers. When Towns went up against Zubach, like, he felt pretty comfortable. He kind of knew how to get to his spots. He knew how to get to his stuff. It will be similar depending on how the Grizzlies decide to match up with him in that kind of series.

But I just trust what Memphis does. especially defensively, way too much. I trust in John Morant way too much to think that the wolves have that realistic a chance in a series like that. But I don't know. We'll see. Maybe they'll surprise me.

Yeah, and it's not like the Grizzlies don't have some dogs, right? Like, Stephen Adams is a mountain of a man. Like, Dylan Brooks is someone who will match bullshit for bullshit with Pat Beverly. Like, they've got guys. If both teams are chirping constantly, does it just create a wall of sound that cancels that?

It's like a negative zone in the middle of the court somehow. Yeah, I almost wonder. The chirp zone. Yeah. There was a point like midway through last night's game where I was like, good lord, is like everyone going to get thrown out of this game because they keep complaining about every goddamn call and get foul calls called on them. That's going to be a fun series though.

I can see five or six games, but yeah, I feel pretty comfortably if John Morant is indeed healthy that Memphis can take care of business. Yeah, but they're 20 and two without them. What do they need a healthy job of Ramon? for it's so good. That's true. In the NBA play in tournament, there are no sure things except one. Bet at least $20 in same game parlays on Fandual Sportsbook and you'll get an instant bonus,

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Yeah. All right. Let's turn the page here. Power rankings. So I asked you fine gentlemen to come with your top five tile shot power rankings, basically, who you think has the best chance this postseason. Let's start with number five. Rob, do you want to kick us off? So my number five is Brooklyn. And we've already covered it a lot. If you have Kevin Durant, you're on the list. That's my five. Yeah. It's not really that much more complicated than that. I think they have a kind of a tough road to get to the fine. But you have a guy who can score for anybody, a great one of the best two-way players we've ever seen. I don't know. That counts for something for me. Seems pretty good. Wise you also have the Nets?

The Nets are my number five, definitely. Again, it's just like if these guys can catch lightning in a bottle, if they could, you know, make every single game into executing down the stretch of a close game, KD, getting to a spot and firing a 12-footer. over a guy who just can't contest him because he's freaking huge. That's good offense. As simple, simplified as that is, to me, like, when it got tight for that little bit of stretch

of that Cavs game, and Katie's just like, yeah, I'm just going to shoot a 15-footer over no matter who is guarding me because I'm tall, I'm long, I'm one of the best shooters ever. That's like, damn, there's no game plan for that. So, you know, I think Brooklyn, of course, has a chance because in tight games, I put them up with anybody.

Justin, do you have Brooklyn on your list? I do, but we'll get to them later because I have them much higher than you guys do. My number five team is the Boston Celtics because I'll be honest. Like, I'm not sold that this team, which is based around defense, in particular, the stout rim protection of one Robert Williams and L. Horford and everything else that goes into. that. If they don't have him, I'm a little bit worried that this team's like basic identity is all of a sudden

jumbled at the worst possible time. And now you're relying a lot on Jason Tatum to save you. And while that's worked throughout the course of like what, this post all-star break, I don't know. Like, I think they have enough to go toe to toe to with Brooklyn. But like I honestly

favor Brooklyn in that series, which is why I have Brooklyn higher. If you have Brooklyn higher than this, can you have Boston here? Because these aren't abstractions anymore. One of those two teams is going to be done in two weeks. Right. Well, Rob, you're a man of probabilities.

I'm just saying that if Boston gets past the Nets, then all of a sudden things become a little easier for me to go for it. So I have the Nets at three, I'll say. Okay. I am just so convinced that Katie and Kairi is everything you need in a playoff series. Like, obviously the margin for error is slim. as we mentioned before, but if we're going...

Hope one of them doesn't step on somebody's foot coming down on a jump shot, because it's over if they do. Yeah, but I could also say a similar thing about the Celtics, because they've already been, like, riding the rails a little bit with just like a playoff rotation

for the past, what, like 40 games? And you see when one of those guys goes down, like you start to have pretty significant questions about it. I don't know. Is that a surprise, Rob, would you say, having the nets that high? A little bit.

I just don't trust them as much as you do, but I get wanting to put your fate in Kevin Durant's hands. I understand that instinct. It's just everything we've talked about. The rest of the rotation, how much he has to play, how much he has to do.

I don't know. Well, I'll say this. You know who also values surprise? Our friends at State Farm. That's right. When the standings have been close all season, the play in picture changes by the day. And some fans assume that certain teams won't make it,

but then a team puts up a surprisingly great performance to clinch a sixth seed in the playoffs. Wise, have you been surprised by any team going into this year's playoffs? Surprised. I think I'm surprised by how consistently dominant the Sons have been all year. To be a 64-win team and go wire to wire, just beating people up all year, despite injuries to several of their best players to just be that consistently unstoppable,

definitely surprised me this year. But is that more surprising than the Celtics just completely turning it around? The way we were talking about that team in November, December, to where we are now, to the fact that they're even in consideration as a team that could win the title, I don't even know how we got here. I don't know how we got from point A to point B other than, okay, there's some great defensive adjustments. but the mojo of that team,

the energy of that team, feels completely different. You might even say that they're surprisingly great, right? Yeah, you would. You could. Even when you assume it won't be a big year for certain teams, there are always a few surprises at the end of the season. It's like people that assume they can't afford great insurance.

But then they discover that State Farm has surprisingly great rates, like a good neighbor. State Farm is there. Get a quote today. All right, let's continue on with our lists. So I had Boston at five. You guys had the Nets. Was, who do you have at four?

My number four team is the Golden State Warriors. And that's because their two best guys are hobbled. Like, you can't understate how important Jermon is to what they do on defense. And to an extent what he does on offense as well, as far as being a connector. And Steph, who he's the engine that makes this whole thing go. and if he's not at 100%, it matters, like disproportionately, then say, say like KD's giving you 90% on the Nets, Kyrie can be an engine for them, right?

Like, there is no other engine besides Steph and what he's doing both on and off the ball. So I just think injury-wise, it's hard for me to think Golden State has this great, you know, chance to win the championship this year. And the nature of Draymond's injury, like it's a back, right? It's not like he tweaked his ankle and, you know, he's going to put some tape on it and he's going to get some shots in it. It'll mostly be fine.

It's a back, man. That's a debilitating type of thing. So, yeah, I got the Golden State Warriors at 4 just based off of their two Hall of Fame guys being hobbled right now. I also have the Warriors at 4. Staff is supposed to practice this week, which gives you a little bit more encouragement. But, like, he hasn't played in what, a couple weeks now? So I don't know. I think when healthy, obviously, they're going to be a really tough out.

But if they're not, Rob, how do you feel about them even against the Nuggets? I don't feel great about them against anybody at the moment. Until we see Steph out there, not just, oh, he's cleared to play. I want to see him out there. I want to see how him and Dremont interact. And really, I want to see how this rotation comes together in a way that's going to make sense for three and four playoff series. That's something we just don't know. We haven't seen this group fully together, fully health.

all hands on deck much this season. I don't trust it. I don't really trust the Warriors at that level where they're not a team that I'm betting on to win the title right now. They're really honestly not even a team I'm betting on to make the Western Conference Finals. This to me feels like a Grizzlies year

for the conference finals. It feels like there's an opening there that Memphis could jump on. But I wouldn't put Memphis in this top five either, to be honest with you. So you don't have the Warriors in the top five? I don't, no, I do not. Okay.

Who do you have at four then? I have Philadelphia at four. And it's not going to be pretty, but they have the best player in a series thing on lock for at least the first two rounds. And really, they have a nice path to get at least to the East Finals. Like, that's what I'm looking at is Boston and Brooklyn, those teams are going to beat the hell out of each other.

But if you're Philly, Toronto is going to be tough. I wouldn't blame anyone for picking Toronto on an upset. I think that's possible. But you get... I like where your heads at with that one. But you get past them. And then it's like, okay, Miami or the eighth seed. I think that's a series Philadelphia could potentially win.

And so then you're like really on banking on who can get to the conference finals as kind of my first qualifier. And I think Philly has a shot. I think they have a shot to get there. I am not as convinced. Needless to say. Me neither. Who...

Me neither. Are already struggling and all of a sudden don't have a team. Stuybill for at least two games. It's tough. Why is that? Personal choices. Personal choices. Homeopathic medicine.

Can I just say, could I just say, like, of all the, like, wild COVID things that we've encountered, getting the shot, but then not getting the booster is one of the most insane things I could ever think of, but. No, because the shot, the shot doesn't work, guys. The shot allegedly doesn't work. It's not 100%. It's not 100%. So don't ever take a shot from the fields.

It's only like a 50-50 even if you're around the basket. I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't do it. So just take some tussing, rub some dirt on it. That'll probably be better than a booster. Yeah. Yeah, I'm just not convinced at a team that completely hates their coach, a team who is so reliant upon James Hardin,

our most notorious playoff flame out superstar of the, the era. I mean, the only person that even comes close is his alleged best friend in the world, Russell Westbrook. Yeah, I just, I don't see it for the Philadelphia 76ers. I'm just not seeing it. I love Joelle.

I think he's going to, you know, he's going to come out and hopefully actually play up to his regular season level for the first time ever in his career. But yeah, yeah, yeah. you know, I'm not seeing it. Y'all know how I feel about this team. Yeah, I mean, I think the Sixers are decidedly on upset watch, uh, going into Toronto.

Yeah. But I have to say, I like Rob's thinking here because we probably overcorrected on the Sixers. And their path doesn't seem particularly difficult here. Because if they get through the Raptors, the heat are beatable, you know, we've talked about them being kind of like a soft one. I could see them making a finals almost by like happenstance, right? Like just how the bracket broke and here they are. they've got a guy no one can guard.

Like that seems like a pretty decent premise to win a series. Right. Yeah. A 300 pound scoring champion who will finish number two in MVP. Yeah, it's pretty good. It's pretty good. All right. Rob,

why don't you hit us with number three then? So my three is along the same lines is I'm looking at the softer side of the East playoffs and I'm picking Miami for that number three spot. I just think they're a very good team with a favorable path that's going to have some time to figure things out. And I like that formula as a potential championship team. Wow, did you have the heat? Like that, I know that they got things right in the last two weeks,

but that little stretch and the Jimmy dust up and I'm not feeling the juju around Miami right now. And I know that's like, you know, that's not some empirical data reference point, right? I just don't like how they're coming in. And, you know, Rob makes a good point. They might be able to get healthy against the Hawks or the Charlotte Hornets for sure. You know, they might be able to get things rolling and look more well-rounded and look more like that group that was, you know, just a complete Terminator, Punisher on defense earlier in the season and maybe so. But I don't have them in my five. I have Brooklyn at my three.

Just like, for all the reasons that we stated, just Kyriek, A.D., close games. I love their execution level offensively. they can get to a level of just bare minimum competence on defense when everybody's getting into people and it's super locked in. So I do like Brooklyn as number three just more so than I do Miami or then of course Philadelphia than I just know. But it sounds like we're in alignment on the top two, all three of us. Yeah, but mine is flipped.

To me it's the bucks one, the sun's two. I don't, I think the bucks, Janus is right and Janus is just, just beating up on your freaking front line game after game. It's almost like a running back, right? Who just throughout the game is just gashing you and gashing you and gashing you and gashing you. And that offensive line is leaning on you. And I know this is like my second football reference.

I'm just saying, Janice just has just like a wrecking ball to defenses. is like, how many times are you going to take those fouls near the rim? How many times are you going to step in front of that freight train? How many times are you going to do it over the course of a series? And he did it last year. He got better as the playoffs went on. That's the key.

He got better and better and better every single series where he's like, hold on, I know exactly what I need to do against every single opponent. And, you know, like, this is the dude who dropped 50, 17 rebounds, and he's making 17 and 19 threes in the biggest game of his life. I mean, free throws, excuse me. How am I supposed to pick against this dude? He's in the prime of his life physically. He's got the mental part of the game down.

He's added some adjustments with that little baby turnaround eight-footer. He didn't have that last year. He's more confident his three-point shot. I just think Janus is just, he's ready. He's ready, man. Wait, so, was what is your full five-to-one? I got, who's my five? Golden State is five, Boston is four, Brooklyn is three,

Phoenix is two, Milwaukee is one. Rob is crunching the numbers here. Yeah, sorry, just punching things into my calculator. Just want to make sure we're all straight. No, I think what I come down to on the Phoenix, Milwaukee thing, is Phoenix, to me, is so head and shoulders about everyone else. That I kind of felt like I had to put them number one. they've been so dominant

versus the rest of my list, I've got Phoenix and four Eastern Conference team. So as confident as I am in Milwaukee, this is still a pretty crowded field. Yeah, who is the Sun's biggest competition in the West? Chris Paul's hamster. Right, because we're saying that the Grizzlies

are a bunch of high schoolers with emo haircuts, according to Waz. The Golden State Warriors are too old and their two best players are injured, not to mention Clay Thompson coming off of two devastating injuries. The Dallas Mavericks were on a tear going into the playoffs, but all of a sudden Jason Kidd can't remember what grade of a sprain,

Luca Donchitad, which is huge disappointment. I know. Lucas hurt. Huge disappointment. Yeah, I would pick them probably in my top three, maybe top four, if I knew what Lucas status is,

but that's just like, that's a huge bummer. The Jazz, no. The Nuggets, no. And then like, unless Kauai comes back, Like, who's putting up a fight here? So I think they're going to probably waltz to the finals again.

It feels that way. And I get it. I get it. When you comes to odds, they have the easiest path, therefore they have the most chances to win. Like, I get that. Yeah. I just, you know, I've seen this play out. I've seen this movie too many times, guys.

You have the best player, especially again, in a playoff setting, right? Because there are defensive matchups that become problematic for Joelle where he's just a little bit less versatile defensively than Janice's. So, like, Janice is just a way better playoff player. And his

team is not, like, as talent deficient as, say, the Rodney Hood calves. You know, like, or the Boobie Gibson calves, right? Like, that's not the talent disparity there. So he's clearly,

the best player. He's got a reasonable amount of talent surrounding him. That's why I'm just like, give me Janus all day, baby. I'm just glad we could come together here in the end. I've been trying to convince you guys that the Bucks are the favorite all season long, but we're here, we're here now, gathered

around the hearth, the campfire, soaking it in together. I appreciate the journey, is what I'm saying. Do we want to go out on finals picks here? It sounds like Wads, you're going with the Grizzlies? Sons, Bucks. I've been on this for like four months now. Sun's Bucks, and I just think

the Bucks are going to pull it out. But then of course, like, I know there's going to be moments in several playoffs series with Budenhousers getting on my last goddamn nerves with some of the boneheaded shit he's putting out there. But I just think they're going to overcome.

Rob? Yeah, I'm in the Sons Bucks camp, obviously, as well in terms of who's going to make the finals. I think I'm going to take the Sons. I don't feel great about it. I'm at that point where I don't want to pick against Yonis. for pretty much anything. But I think the Sons have such a well-rounded team,

so many options in terms of figuring out how to proceed through a series. I think it's going to go along, but I think they're going to be the champions. I'm going to go to the Sons as well. For the sake of variety, I'm going to put a big old bet

on our Brooklyn Nets. And just like from a viewership standpoint, I really want to see a different finals. I don't like this when it's just rolling it back year after year. Like, oh, we have to focus on the nuance of the matchup in like this new seventh man and like what Pat Conantin and Grace and Ellen can do

just like give me something new, you know? So your anti-rivalry is what you're saying. I guess so. But I just... Yeah, let's see something new like Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in the NBA finals. We've never seen that before. They're wearing different jerseys, man.

All right, we'll be back next week. And we'll have Surefire playoff basketball to discuss. Thank you to Isaiah Blakely. I'm production. We'll see you.