The Ringer NBA Show - The Warriors Cut the Nuggets Down to Size Again in Game 2. Plus, Do the Nets Have Enough Gas in the Tank to Get Through the Celtics? | Real Ones

Episode Date: April 19, 2022

Logan and Raja join at the end of night three of the NBA playoffs to discuss the genesis of third Splash Bro Jordan Poole after the Warriors again dismantled the Nuggets in Game 2 of their series. They also discuss Utah’s disappointing loss to a depleted Dallas team, the fascinating clash of youngsters in the Grizzlies-Timberwolves series, and one of the most exciting first-round games in a long while: Game 1 of the Celtics-Nets series. Hosts: Logan Murdock and Raja Bell Producer: Sasha Ashall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is Chris Vernon, and me and my buddy Kevin O'Connor, aka Kevin O Everything, host an NBA podcast called The Mismatch. They call it The Mismatch because I'm awesome and Kevin is a gigantic nerd. No, no, that's not why at all, Chris. They call it the Mismatch because I have a brain and you're a loudmouth bozo. Good grief. Anyway, listen to our amazing NBA podcast, The Mismatch. Or don't.

We really don't care. We're probably going to win a million awards either way. Chris, we do care. So don't say that. Please subscribe and listen to the mismatch only on Spotify. Did you really call me a bozo? What's popping? Rewans.

Logan Murdoch here, Roger Bell there. Roger doesn't want to get straight to it. He doesn't want to talk. I just got my creme brule. I am, you know, chilling. Roger, how you doing, buddy? Are you okay, man? This first time, it's Rulman's After Dark.

Playoff edition. You good, bro? I'm good. I've been watching a lot of basketball, so I'm good, so I'm not so good. But those who know me know that I could get really cranky. And right now, it's a little 1220, and I know I got to be up at 6.30. So, like, I just forgive me if I want to skip the bullshit and let's just get to the shits. Let's get to the shits.

Okay, so we're talking to you at the end of the Warriors' Nuggets game. The Warriors are back, baby. They're blowing out teams. They're going on runs. Jordan Poole is balling. Step is balling. Clay's balling. Chase is the –

is trying to do its best Oracle impression. What have you seen? What have you seen from this game? Does it influence your title predictions? What do you see in Rara? Well, I mean, we did a segment with real one, real or fake. I think we said if Steph, or I said, if Steph was going to be back at, you know, 85 to 90 percent of himself, I could see them being real. He looks like that. And this is in a protective kind of, you know, limited minute capacity. But when, when, he's in there, there's just a different flow to that offense. You know, when he's present just in the lineup, whether he's starting or not, but certainly when he hits to court and they can scale down and go with that, whatever they're calling that

lineup, 3G lineup or something close to that, they become just impossible to guard. You know, Phoenix Suns have that feel at times when the ball's flying around and people are flying around and you're getting blown assignments. The amount of blown assignments tonight by the Denver Nuggets on simple pin downs or screenaways where people were slipping wide open to the writ, like they were blowing assignments left and right. And that happens because of the pace and the movement, right? Like, it's not stagnant. On the flip side of that, you saw Boston and Brooklyn come down to stretch. Brooklyn was so stagnant. Like the warriors are impossible to guard. So, yeah, like, I think they're squarely in the mix. I'd still take Phoenix, but if they're playing,

like this with staff, yes. What's interesting, though, is we see the Nuggets and we see Yokas throughout the regular season, right? We see him and how he balls out. He's going to, he has my vote to be the MVP. And when you see him, you see teams during the regular season, they play a certain way, and

they can get away with playing a certain way because it's just a, you know, it's just Tuesday in February, right? A January January, Wednesday, where that, where teams aren't keen in on your best player in the way that they are, Are we seeing just how flawed Denver can be at times, right?

Because they don't have Michael Porter anymore and they right now and they don't have Murray. Are we starting to see the flaws that were probably there all season for Denver that we just didn't pay attention to? Are we seeing that in this series? I mean, yeah, you're seeing a team that is minus two of its three best players. And, you know, it's pretty remarkable what they were able to do over the course of a season, Yokic, you know, especially, but that's a tall order for anyone playing a team like Golden State, let alone a team minus its two best players. And there, you know, Yokic has some moments.

I mean, he had some buckets tonight, but largely in this series, he's looked out of place. I mean, it's moving too fast. When I was with the Sons, we used to play Yao Ming. And Yao Ming, even Shaq at times when we played the heat, they just looked out of place in the game because the game was moving so fast. And, they just couldn't keep up. Like they could never get to a point where they established their physical dominance because we were moving so fast. And so, yeah, that's what you're seeing with Denver.

Now, Mike Malone's an awesome coach, so I'm not trying to second guess anything. But if I'm going to, you know, if I'm out, Nikola Yolkich has to be the focal point of that offense. I don't give a damn whether Draymond's doing a good job on him or not. Like, I'm getting him the ball. And more often than not, I'm getting into it. from the free throw line and down. I don't want him catching it out at the three point line in this series.

If you're going to play six to six on him, even if he's the defensive player in the year, we're going to roll the dice. We've done it all year. You've got to do something. We're either going to catch you in the double or, you know, Nicola's going to score or he's going to get Draymond of foul trouble.

But I'm not going to be, there were too many stretches in that game where clearly he's at a disadvantage defensively, but you didn't even use him offensively in a way that would try to make Golden State have to make a move. It seems like with this, remember those old school Lager games where there was no offense. It was pass the ball to Shaq.

Let's give the ball to him. Just give him the ball. He's the best player. He's the best front court player on the floor, probably the best player on the floor at that point. And it's frustrating when you see that, right? Because this is old school basketball, man. It's there. But I do got to give credit to Draymond because he's a guy that, you know, had the disc injury,

had the back injury throughout the season, was always. is a guy that says, you know, the cliche, don't worry about my regular season stats. I don't, it doesn't matter. You know, sometimes I'm in it during the regular season. Sometimes I'm not. But in the post season, I'm gonna be there. We kind of saw that from Draymond.

And I think, in a lot of ways, we forget how great of a defender, you know, he's not the defender he used to be, but he's definitely showing, showing something this, this, the first two games. No, Draymond's playing fantastic defensively. And he really is just an, an integral piece to that, to that offense when they, when they have that lineup in. It's really remarkable to watch Jordan Poole who, who, who, who?

Yeah, no, it's, it's pretty incredible to watch, you know, he's a shopmaker. You could tell he doesn't lack for confidence or anything like that, but to watch him play like Steph and like Clay, right? Like he's been molded. He's a really great player in his own right. But when he's playing the way they're playing and everything's moving, like, that and then Draymond is the initiator oh my god like it's impossible to guard i'll just say it again i do have a pet peeve and i want to just if you'll allow me a moment it's with the referees

it's been it's been a long time since i got on the rest i don't understand why you have to fundamentally change the way you ref the game in the fucking playoffs it doesn't make any sense to me it doesn't make any sense and you've saw it across the landscape of games yesterday you saw it across multiple games tonight. When you have stars looking around at refs, throwing their hands in the air, like wondering over and over again, not one-offs,

not like a one play where I'm going to complain, but completely baffled as to why they're not getting the call. It's because they got the call. You're talking about Yokic, that shit that Dremont's doing to Yokic, those are fouls on him all year long. They don't call it now, and people don't understand.

Like, you've conditioned a star to get a call, and now you take it away from him. I don't understand why we have to do that. What specific call this weekend just started you getting pissed off? What pissed you off to start? Well, it wasn't a specific call, but like the physicality is I don't agree with, although I know it to be true, that it gets more physical in the playoffs. Why does it have to?

Why can't it just be allowed to happen all through the regular season or not allowed to happen in the playoffs? I don't understand why we change the way we're going to ref the games. That shit that the Boston was doing to Kevin Durant. Like just you were bear hugging him and pushing him off of his spot so he couldn't set screen. I mean, and I'm not

complaining about it. I'm saying they don't ever let anyone do that to him. So why is it okay to do it? They don't keep the same energy is what you want, especially as a defender, right? And you're not seeing that in the postseason. I just think there's consistency. Any player wants consistency, right? Like we all want to know that

the way it got reffed yesterday, it's going to be refed today. And the way it was refed three weeks. ago, I'll get that call in two weeks from now. And just when you get to the playoffs, they just set a whole new tenor in tone about what they're going to allow you to do. And I just don't understand. I mean, I don't care, but I don't understand. Now, do you think, because every season, it seems like there's points of emphasis, right? And you guys always sit down and you guys have this meeting of what things you need to do and what things they're looking for. Do you think that there should be maybe a point of emphasis to start the playoffs? You think that would help? Or, like, because I don't

I feel, because I feel like during the regular season and the beginning, you get a sense of how you're going to be officiating. And the way you're speaking and the way, the games that we're both watching, that doesn't happen in a playoffs. Would a reset be helpful? What would be helpful to ref that shit the same way in the regular season as you ref it in the playoffs? I actually prefer what's happening in the playoffs. Like, I like to see possessions under the rim where Yokic and Draymond and Looney, they're all. down there banging and throwing up. It's what I grew up watching,

so I don't mind seeing that. But they don't let you do that in the regular season. So I'm just saying, keep that consistent. So, Raja, I'm pretty disappointed, man. And? I'm pretty disappointed in one of your old stomping grounds. Shout out, Walter, shout out to all the affiliates. I'm talking about the Utah Jazz.

Now, that was the game before this Warriors game, this Warriors blowout. you know, the Jazz get game one in Dallas without Luca. And I think that, you know, maybe I was hopeful that they would take a step because, you know, they always, you know, whenever we talk about title contenders, somehow the Jazz get into that conversation. And they have a guy by the name of Donovan Mitchell, who is a great player. I don't think he's a superstar, but he's a great player. and when you have a player like that who aspires to be really good and you have a team that aspires to be title contenders, you don't wet the bed.

I don't know if that said that. You don't fumble the bag the way that the Jazz did in game two against a team like the maps who are respectable, who are good, but do not have their best player. If you want to have a title or go to a defense, you have to, they have to win certain games. And I feel like this was a certain game that they just had to win and send a message and they just didn't. Am I wrong on that? Am I out of my mind on this with this take? I don't think you're out of your mind with the overall take. I do think you're wrong in the sense that they had to win that game.

I think what you had to do was win game one. I think you had to go there and put your stamp on the series. Flip the home court immediately without Luca being there. you would have liked to have win game two. I'm disappointed that they, oh, to have won game two. I'm disappointing that they didn't. Like they should have won game two. And so I tend to agree with you that they aren't,

they aren't an upper echelon championship caliber team. That type of team would run Dallas off of the floor without, not just Luca, but, you know, Tim Hardaway, Jr., you know, multiple pieces missing for Dallas. The fact that Utah couldn't do that, it's got to be super concerning for Utah, but they didn't have to win game two. Like I think, I think that they're fine.

And I think, you know, Luca's injury, I've had a calf strain. They can tell you what you want or what they want. Luca is not going to be back for the next couple games, not in any capacity. Is that for the series? I doubt it. And certainly not in a capacity that they would need him to be in to pull off his Luca magic. He ain't going to be that, not with the real castrain. And they said he's not even leaving the floor and jumping off of it yet.

that took me a month, month and changed to heal. Utah's just not. We've talked about this before. You're right there for years and years and years. You know, like you can, you're that close to it. It's hard to sustain that energy. It's hard to keep that focus.

It's hard to continue to buy into the message if the message hasn't produced yet. And so I don't know what's going on with Utah, but they're not the same team. And you're not wrong for feeling that way. I would just say, like, in a playoff series, you wanted to get one. Yeah, you should have got two,

but you wanted to get one, and they got that. It was funny because I just juxtapose it because, you know, I'm in your old stomping grounds, sir, and, you know, you still got love here. That's all I'm saying. People love you. Appreciate that. How was the vibe?

How is the vibe in arena? Phoenix, I'm in Phoenix, by the way. But it was fine, you know, and I, I think it was just because of the opponent, right? It wasn't, it wasn't popping, pop and popping, popping, like, if it was like, if a team that they wanted to, they knew that they might have trouble with was in the building. It was like, oh, we're going to, it's the pelicans. We're going to, we're going to beat the pelicans. They had control throughout the whole game.

It was vibes. Well, it was funny, though, and I would love to get your take on this. During one of the time, a couple of the timeouts. Jay Crowder, there was an ad that was on the the Jumbotron promoting a pool party hosted by Jay Crowder like a party flyer,

I was like, that's what y'all do in Phoenix in the first round of the playoffs? That's the energy all on. I didn't, I didn't, I didn't, that was, that was one of the big surprises. Maybe that's just something y'all do out here. I don't know. I'm not sure.

I've never seen that's a tremendous amount of disrespect for an opponent. in the first round of the playoff. You know, it was Jay Crowder, the Phoenix Suns, you know, come to the pool party at Oasis

is what it was called. I don't know. It was lit. But that told you where, how much they even care about, you know, what their opponent. That tells you the vibe

that was in the building, you know. The arena's nice, a lot of renovations. The game was what it was. I don't, I'm not, it was one of those games

that Roger turns off after the first half. Yeah, that one was shut down. Yeah. But I, The overall point is I see Phoenix and, you know, you see Golden State. And I juxtapose that you see them and they start off a game.

Oh, okay, they're taking control of the game early. There's no playing around. There's none of that. And then I saw the jazz. And that's why I was disappointed because that's something that they always say. We want to win a title. We want to win a title. We want to do all these things.

And you know how I am and you know how we are when teams stick their chest out and don't back it up. And I think that's just my overall point with the jazz. And that's what disappoints me. That's fair. That's fair. I mean, Brunson went off. What do you have? 41?

They hit 22 or 23-3s. The jazz just don't seem to have that offensive pop the last couple of nights. They don't seem to have that, you know, what Golden State and Phoenix have, along with being really, good defensively is they can just go on these incredible runs of and barrage of buckets, you know, that they just distance themselves and gives you space and breathing room. And it always makes you feel like you're in control of the game. And the Jazz haven't looked like that the last couple nights.

I mean, Donovan put on a display in what, the third quarter, you know, Bogie was playing well in the first half in the first game. But overall, they haven't just, you know, hit you in the head with like 25 to 2 run where there's that separation. And, you know, you need that in the playoffs, especially, you know, when other teams have it. Yeah. And also, I think the difference also is between what the Phoenix is in the Golden State

from the, not only the jazz, but I think the, I think the Memphis Grizzles are another example of don't have this. But like the sons and the Warriors just have vets, you know, they just have dudes that you just seen and been around. Not to say that the jazz don't, but. When I see Golda's say there are vets, their star players have been there before. You're not scared when there's a 10 point, you know, there's a 10 point deficit. You're not scared.

And also, as Sasha Mac has pointed out just now, Gobert did not play well in game two. And we're starting to have this narrative again and again during the postseason about his defense. We'll see what happens. I'm just not sure. And I think this is way too much time we're spending on the jazz who are probably not going to last long. Let's take a quick break. We're going to preview Tuesday's games and I'm going to talk to you about a team.

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1-8009-9-7-89, Tennessee, 1-800-2-2-470, Wyoming, or visit www.wobbler.net, West Virginia. I don't want to talk about a team that, I don't know if they're looking funny in the light, but they disappointed me, man. And that's a friend, that's, that's team of the show, friend of the show. The Memphis Grizzlies, dog. I, I, I, hold on.

Go ahead. Are you ready? You locked in. Are you ready to do? Are you ready to do? Go ahead. Are you ready to tell me about myself? If anyone out there is listening, I would just have you go back to that.

I believe it was the last episode when I said that series could be more than any one. He texts to me. You texted me. You checked me this weekend. It was like, hey, bro. Hey, bro, check this out. And when Roger texts you, he's just, it's a lot like how he is right now, what it's like 12 at night. He's not here to say hi.

He's not here for pleasantries. He's here to say, hey, look here. I said what I said. So he texts me after this, after this Grizzlies, this Grizzlies, this grisleys, this is like, hey, bro, I told you. This ain't no picnic. I don't know where to start. Where should we start on this?

What are you disappointed in about the Grizzlies? Let's let you let you start. We go back to the last segment. We go back to the last segment where I talk about the jazz. And also I'm someone that did say, I guess I'm getting validated in this because I did say the Grizzlies were fake. I did say this. But you know how I feel,

because we talked about this in the last segment, about teams and cities sticking their chest out and not following through. You know how we feel about this. Memphis, has stuck their chest up talking to you, Chris Vernon. Hey, looking right in the camera. Looking right in the camera. I'm talking to you, Chris Vernon.

Everyone listening, we're talking to Chris Vernon and the Memphis Grizzies. But they talked a lot of stuff, and I love it. They say, whooped that trick after every win, you know. Joss Pops is out here in the front row talking mad shit. Mm-hmm. And they go in, and it was funny because, you know, we're talking about, we talk about guys we like on this show. We love Jai, but we also love Anthony Edwards. And I was, it was interesting to me that, you know, Jha talks a lot.

He backs it up and all those things. But I feel like he finally met his match with a young guy that will talk that shit back and will, and we'll back it up. We're in for a long series, Roger. We're in. I don't think this says anything about either team. But we're in for a series, man. Yeah, I am still up in the air as to what this series ultimately winds up being. Because I said Memphis was real.

And I do think a game like game one could be what a team like Memphis needs to just remember that you haven't done shit yet. So, you know, if they were to be humbled by that game and really quickly on, the fly, get that energy back. I could see them handling Minnesota where the end result of that series didn't look like it was a whole lot of series. But I'm saying again, within those games, right, four to, you know, I don't know what it's going to wind up being. I don't have a great feel.

I just know those two teams stylistically and with personnel, they match up for good, good basketball. and those things could go either way. I still think Memphis is the better team, and I think Memphis wins it. I don't necessarily think it goes seven, but I do think it winds up being a knockdown, drag-out, kind of like, damn, that was a hell of a fucking first-round series.

Like a hard five, six-game series? Could go seven, obviously, but I'm just saying it could go a hard fight. You're going to feel this series if you're Memphis. You're going to feel it, and fans are going to like this series. It's going to be one of those where it speaks to fans because you're going to have a lot of young stars. They get up and down.

They scored a heck out of the ball. Everyone's about that energy on both sides of the court. You got people, you know, rapping and talking. And, you know, I could see it being like, you know, three, four, two, three point games all the way through it. I think a nice subplot of this, and we touched on it last episode was Anthony Edwards. And I think we're seen right now.

And, you know, it's a long ways. You know, we got a couple more years. We got a few more years. But it seems like over the last two games, or maybe this is just, you know, because we haven't paid attention to Minnesota much this season, but it seems like over the last two games, Anthony Edwards is like,

nah, this is mine, this is my team. If we're going to win, I got to be the number one guy. And it's not to say that, you know, that Cat isn't amazing. He's great. He scored 60 in a game. He's had a hell of a year. But what happens when, what happened when Cat didn't play well?

Anthony Edwards was like in the playing game Anthony Edwards was like no give me the ball well I'll figure it out and then you see how poised he is in this game one against Memphis I feel like we're on the verge of seeing a superstar on our hands man

I think we are and this is good for the league and especially if it's if this blossoms into a rivalry which it has the ingredients to do I think Anthony Edwards is going to be one of them dudes man he's got all the makings of it I mean, he's got the size, the athleticism, the scoring ability. He's got the swag about himself.

You know, you have to do it on these stages for people to start putting you in that air. So you made the point that we weren't tapped in all year long, but he has been doing this. Like, he's been doing this. This isn't like he just started doing it. But this is where those names and those, you know, your images are made, bro. This is where history remembers you in these moments and the playoffs and what you do when the lights are the brightest. You know, this is where legacies are cemented. And so, you know, this is his first time on this big stage and he's taking it kind of and it's starting to run with it.

And it'll be cool to watch. It'll be fun. It will be a fun series. And I imagine he plays great throughout. And I'll tell you like this, if they get a consistent effort at a, if Kat and Anthony Edwards are consistently. good offensively in this series? Memphis, you've got a problem. What does the problem mean, Roger?

Is there a chance that the T-Wolves can, you know, I'm just, I'm capping. It's one game, right? I don't know. Memphis should win game two, and we'll go back one-one to many. But can Manny win this series? Yep. Yeah. They could.

I'm not picking them to win it, but could they win the series? Yeah, they could win the series. Yeah, they could win the series. They were the more aggressive, hungrier team in game one. they have a bunch of cats that project that like Memphis does. And what Memphis was doing to people was they were just out working you, out manning you, out hungering you, on top of being really, really skilled and having a bunch of guys that could do.

But Minnesota has that. Minnesota has pieces like that. And if they're going to be the tougher, hungrier, more physical team, and this is why I said if you get consistent, like really good offensive production from those two? Yeah, they could. I imagine, again, that Memphis wins the series, but could be a good one. Let's go on the Memphis side really quickly for this series. Now, Memphis is still the darling of the NBA, right? They're still one of those darlings in the similar way that Atlanta was last year. We've seen these teams like Golden State 15, where the

darlings of the league where it's, there are no expectations, you know? They're the talented a team, they're not scared of anyone, everyone loves them. But it feels like this is the last year of that, you know, if they, if they mess around in this, if they mess around and lose in this first round, all that stuff that was talking goes for not. It doesn't, it doesn't mean anything. How do they navigate this? This is their first bit of adversity, you know? How do you think they navigate this? I think there has to be a look in the mirror moment for them as a team. And I imagine, you know, they had that in film session. It's got to be shown sometimes to players what exactly they were doing.

Sometimes you'll think when a coach says, hey, man, we didn't get that loose ball or you didn't give 100% on that. He beat you to that ball. You could have had it. Sometimes in our mind, we rationalize why we couldn't have or why we didn't or think he's full of shit. And then you get showed that tape and the film don't lie, right? So there you are on tape and you're like, damn, he did one. want that more than me. Oh, shit. Like, that was a 50-50 ball and, you know, we let them get it. And so they, they have to be showed on film how they got out edged in that game, if you will, because

they can't do that. They're not good enough to do that. They're a really, really good team. But part of what makes them special, like that secret ingredient is their edge and the way they come at your throat. And if you're going to get beat in that facet of the game, you know, you're going to have a problem on your hand. So that's what I imagine they do. Look, first of all, it's one game, right? And so, yes, we've let home court get away, but we're a really good damn team.

We could easily win game two, and then we go on the road and get game three, and we're right back in the driver's seat. But first and foremost, we have to address what happened in that game, which was, you know, we got outworked. And someone came into the house. amongst other things. Like I'm not going to dig into the minutia of how many pick and roll coverages they screwed up or any of that. But if we're just talking about overall big picture, we got outworked and we can't be that team.

Yeah, yeah. All right, man. I want to talk about the series, one of the most intriguing series that I've seen and has so many question marks. I really don't know who's going to win this series. And that's the Celtics and Nets. That game one was one of the greatest games I've ever seen, Raja, from just the game winning shots,

Jason Tatum coming into his own, to Kyrie talking shit to the fans, pulling a Roger, flipping the bird to the crowd sometimes. You know,

just, just, just, it just had everything, right? I don't have a handle on this series, right?

And we kind of did like the, when we talked about the nets were like real fake, real fake, they're real fake? They're fake, real. I don't know,

I don't know what's, I don't know who's going to come out of this series, Roger. What do you think? there's a lot going on in that series. I have a lot of thoughts about it. First of all,

if they're going to allow Boston to do to Kevin Durant, what they allowed him to do in game one, then Boston's going to win that series, not even a question. If they're going to let him, if they're going to let him push him around and manhandle him the way he did,

Boston's going to win the series. I think I know well enough how refs work and what Brooklyn is doing behind the scenes in terms of calling the league and showing tape, they're not going to do that. Like Kevin Durant's not going to be allowed. to be pushed around the court like that. So I don't imagine that's the case.

I had a lot of emotions running through me as I sat and watched with my dad on Easter. Most of it early revolved around, man, if Kevin Durant is playing this poorly offensively, and he's allowed to, he's still great, but if he's playing this poorly offensively, and they're only down by four or five, you've got to be pretty excited if you're Brooklyn.

I mean, you're right there within striking. And this was before Kyrie went off. This was just in the flow of the first half. So I felt like that for a long time during the game. And then Kyrie went bananas. And Kevin got into his mid-20s or whatever he had and then they lost. And then I was left feeling like, damn, this is their problem, though. Like those two, one was brilliant and one was just slightly below average and it's not enough.

Like they have such a slim error from, I mean, margin for error that those two got to be on all the time. I just felt like Kevin got caught up in what was going on with the physicality. I watched it. I could see, you know, as an irritant and someone who gets under people's skin, I know when someone's under someone's skin, right? And so I could see that he was preoccupied with the physicality and all the shit going on, uncharacteristic turnovers, playing super fast, like just doing shit that's out of character for him.

That's okay. That shit happens. But what they're going to do to Kevin, which is, you know, switch any pin down. to a deny and then try to make him catch it out, you know, way out, you know, by the hash mark. We got to find another strategy offensively. Get that ball moving. Get people moving. Let's not get preoccupied with getting Kevin the ball.

And I know that sounds crazy, but that's playing right into what Boston wants you to do. There are plenty capable players around there. Seth Curry is a knockdown shooter. He ain't get no looks. Yeah. Like they're doing all of this to take away Kevin Durant. And Kyrie's going off. and you mean Seth Curry can't get a squeeze up?

I find that hard to believe. Like, Patty Mills is knocked down. He can't find an open jumper. That suggests to me that we're playing, you know, we're either Kyrie's got the ball or Kevin Durant's got the ball, that stagnant offense that's playing right into the hands of the Celtics. We need ball movement. We need people movement.

We need what we were talking about with Golden State and Phoenix, right? Like, we can't be a stagnant offense when they're just trying to take away one of our big two. We got to get other people, you know, 12 to 15. you know, and that'll supplement in a way where you don't have to be brilliant to win the game. Well, that goes to the other point of continuity. And they didn't have a lot of continuing in a regular season, whereas these other teams who do move the ball and who do have all these things, they can do that. You know, as what Phoenix has been around each other all season. They know exactly what's going, who's going to do what, and they've been around each other for seasons and seasons and seasons and Brooklyn don't have that.

So it's harder for them to manufacture that offense and manufacture, you know, that, you know, getting the ball around the way that they do. I do feel like game two is a Kevin game, though, just because of what you just said, they're not going to call it. You know the politic and that goes around the league. You just ventured it. You just talked about it. They're going to complain about the refs subtly and not so subtly. And then the refs are going to call it a bit differently. That's just human nature.

So I do think that Kevin will get his look. But I want to talk about I want to talk about the subjects in a bit But I do want to talk about Kyrie You know He's talking I don't know He's wearing like the Kobe shoes

He's wearing the Kobe hat He's starting to say like the Kobe isms I'm about to embrace the darkness You know, he's flipping all fans What is? What is this version of Kyrie? I don't know what this version of Kyrie is I can't I can't

I I'm not going to say I've never seen it But he is embracing that type of mentality. It feels like, and it's not anything subtle. He wears Kobe's to warm up. He's wearing the like the Mamba L.A. hat. He is saying, he's flipping off

fans. He is taking on that mentality. Am I, am I all based on it? It seems like he's trying to invoke that mentality. You may have a better feel for it than me. I just think he's at a point. He seems really comfortable with just who he is

and where he's at. I mean, he's been unapologetic all year about kind of the stance he took. He's not really concerned with what anybody's saying. He told you, and I have no problem with him flipping the bird, honestly, I got, I have no beef with that. You're allowed to do it. You just got to pay a fine, right? Like, so if you all know when y'all do that, the cameras aren't you going to pay a fine? Absolutely. You're not, it is what it is. You're not doing anything in one of those aren't and not getting caught on film. So once you decide to do that,

you know you're getting fine. And I mean, shit, but he told you, I'm matching their energy. And I didn't have a problem with that. It was a phenomenal display of offensive basketball. You know, it was, he was brilliant down the stretch.

I just, you know, I worry that, and it's why I ultimately, I guess, said Brooklyn and was going to be fake, was because I, too, think Kevin Durant's going to have a fantastic game in game two. I think it's hard for Kyrie as much as I think he'll play well. It's going to be hard for him to duplicate what he did

in game one if Kevin Durant is doing that in game two. And in that space, Boston has Jason Tatum, Jalen Brown, Marcus Smart. You could still get beat like you did in game one. And that's scary. Yeah, man. Yeah. And I just, I don't think Brooklyn has the legs, bro. I just don't think they have the legs for this series or for this playoff friend they just i don't think they do how i i mean i agree with you ultimately i i'm sad to say that because you know obviously a lot of friends of the show there i just they're they're so thin i actually agreed with one of the announcers that who was calling that game i don't even remember but i if i were steve i would have tried lamarcus in that joan i don't know that i would have thrown blake out there but i might have tried lamarcus

in that spot just to see just to see what was going on out there um Boston was bullying them, though. Boston, you know what I mean? Like Boston was just, Boston was dominating them on the offensive glass. They were just bullying them. I'm not even talking about the wrestling that they were doing to Kevin Durant and shit. They were just physically putting it to Brooklyn. It was a old school Celtics game, wasn't it?

It was, yeah. Yeah, it was physical. And so, again, I appreciate that kind of ball. You might have to get deeper into your bench. You might have to see if there's anything over there. And it might not be the same guy. in game two as it's going to be in game four. You know, maybe one of those guys isn't consistent enough

at this point in his career to do that every night. But shit, it might be a different dude every night that would give you whatever minutes you need to chew up. How important would Ben Simmons be right now? Even in the capacity that we talked about where you were like, yo, man, I don't know. And I told you, they're so thin. Yeah.

They're just having a big defensive presence out there. Just his presence defensively alone in yesterday's game, I would bet you they win the game. So, Rob, so, like, there's rumors that's coming around about Ben Simmons. And I do want to give credit to the Celtics, right? Because the Celtics, they beat the shit. I know it was a close game, but they, you coming off the floor on that one, sore as fuck.

Like, this is how it is. But there's rumors now going that, hey, Ben Simmons is going to come back for, you know, what, five or six, there's optimism, right? He's going to be playing one-on-one and things like that. If he comes in a game six or seven, is he effective, right? Because as you go on into a series, especially in a game six or seven,

the game is just different. It's just different than it was even in game one of a first round series. It gets harder each game. Yeah. Would he even make a difference in that, though? Yeah. He would.

Okay. For them, it would. Because that's how thin they are. When Steve looked down at that bench and he's looking down like, mm, fuck. No. Not that one.

God, dog. Yes. Just, he's not going to be great. He's not going to be what you remember him as in Philly. But just having, now the catch is. James Hardin last year, right? Like how James Hardin was last year,

had the hamstring was hurt, but he did, like, obviously make a difference because he was on the floor. He did. And I would make an argument that Ben Simmons would be more of a valuable integration into that lineup something James was.

Because you have to score. You only got to do no scoring. All you got to do is be the physical. We don't get pummeled on the glass like we did. Right. And we have an answer for a Jason Tatum and a Jalen Brown, who were just big boy in people. Every time they got the switch on one of them,

they were just, both of them doers are cold, by the way. But you're not getting that switch because now you're switching on a 6-9, 6-10. Yeah. It changes the map. You know, it's funny.

because I thought that this was the game that got away for Brooklyn. It has that feeling that this was the game that got away. It reminded me I was talking to a friend of the show, Mino Hassan, up in Phoenix. And we were talking about how that compared, that shot that Tatum hit,

compared to the Suns, Sons Lakers, a few years back game in 2010. Sorry, buddy. Well, you weren't on the team, but you weren't on a team. so no sorry. But when Ron Artec hit the

hit the lay-in, right? Just at the buzzer. And one of those two plays happened so fast that you were like, I don't know how you were when you saw Rob, but I was like,

what the fuck? Because you just think that Brooklyn's going to win this game and then all of a sudden they just go all the way down the court and they score so fast and it's like, what?

What happened? And immediately I'm thinking, damn, that was the game Brooklyn should have gotten. And that could change the series because it just could change the series. Just the mighty momentum, man. And I don't know.

I really think that this is the Celtics series to win. That's just how I'm feeling right now. I think they're the better team for sure. Definitely. They're the better more well-rounded team. I mean, you can make the argument that Brooklyn has the better two top two players, right? You can make that argument. For sure.

For sure. But no, I think, you know, they're the Celtics is a better team and their Celtics. are playing, they came in playing really good basketball and they continued to play really good basketball yesterday. And had it not been for Kyrie Irving doing Kyrie Irving things, that would have been a 10 point victory, 11 point victory, right? Like, that's what

they would have done. But you just, hey, you got two wild cards over there, man. You have two of the best, most gifted offensive players to ever do it in Kyrie and Kevin Durant. And that always, you know, is scary if you're, if you're

the opposing team. We'll see. man. Let's get into the predictions. And we've got to get riders in a bit. Thank you. First, let's go Grizz Timberwolves. Game two. You got ready.

I'm taking the Grizz. The gris bounced back at home. That would be unprecedented for them cats to go down 02 like that. Yeah, I think the gris come back and get game two. You know, usually I would just say just some outlandish stuff just to just go against what you said. There's no way. I'm going with the grizzlies. There's pretty much.

It's pretty cut and dry. Wait, did I say unprecedented? Did we go down in O2? We went down O2 to the Lakers, didn't we in 06? No, no, you didn't. It was 1-1. We didn't, it was 1-1. You guys went down 3-1.

You guys went down, Lakers were the original. We did go down 3-1. Yeah, because we went on in L.A. Because y'all was part in the L. I remember that shit. I bet you don't. I bet you don't. Chilling at the lows in Santa Monica.

We ain't going back there. Okay. Hey, you know, something be at the game tomorrow in Raja land. Pelican Suns. This is pretty cutting. Come on, buddy. Come on. There you go.

Go. I saw a lot of your old peeps there, man. I saw Griff. I saw Griff. I saw Gryph. I saw Jupes. I was a little disappointed with the fans, though. I wasn't. Like, they just worked, like I said, we're not tripping. You told me that that was it. That was it, this is a fan base that gets loud. It'd be turned to nair. And it just, yeah, yeah. Anyway, you need to go as they progress through the series, man. You probably, it's the Pelicans. Okay. Let's go Nets Celtics game, too.

I'm going to go first. I'm going to go with the Nets. Let's just go with the Nets. Kevin game, go with the Nets. I just want to make it interesting. But I do think to the Celtics. It's funny because we go back, like, even talking about that game feels like the real or fake segment we did where it's like,

I don't know. Like, I know. I'm just going to go with the Nets because I don't want to, I don't want you getting on my head for switching. So I'm just going to go with the Nets. No, no, no. I feel the same way you feel about that series. And my, my, my heart says the Nets.

And then my basketball mind says the Celtics. And I'm going to say the Nets too. Oh, we're, oh. I'm going to say the Nets. Why do they continue to disappoint us, Roger? Like, you guys can't see this. But we are Roger looking at each other like, why are we doing this? Why are we doing this?

Oh, man. Okay. Well, you know, we're going to go, this is unprecedented. Speaking of a president for a Monday show to do this, but we're going to do it. It's time for a little segment we like to call Rearwin of the Week. I don't think Roger's ready. Roger doesn't have his real one. He's not ready.

Do you want to go first? You got you guys a real one? Yeah, I'm going to go, Rowan. I'm going to go one, Steph Wardell Curry. or as a Wardell Steph Curry Wardell Steph Curry for the comeback light minutes, yes, we're on a minute restriction but through, I don't know

it was 24 through 16 minutes at some point earlier tonight like he looks good, he looks like he's back and he's taking a real one for the team right now man he's taking a real one for the team coming off of that bench okay now I don't know how long that lasts but I don't know a lot of cats that would do that in Steph Curry's realm of superstar yeah good for him real one for that

I guess this is going to be a Warriors one then, man. I got, I got Jordan Poole, in front of the show. He's got Jordan Poole. So I guess this is what we're doing right now. We got a, he just bawled out. Like, his game one was ridiculous. Like, he is, he just has the audacity to be in the rotation, just to be one of the guys. Like, every time we've seen it all season, you know, I've been in the Bay all season.

I've seen all the gas. He's just living up to it. So Jordan Poole, ruined a week. The shot. great real one of the week. The shot that he hit on boogie going hard baseline and he put the brakes on and then like triple foot

replaced step back to a fall away three out of the corner. Do you know what kind of bag you have to be? Do you know where your mind's got to? Most people don't even try that shot. It's a different bag. It is just a different bag. You said audacity, right? That was the word you used, right? He has the awed damn dacity

rather. Yeah. Yeah. In the words of you. Okay, so I want to play something for you. I don't know if you have this. I was going to save this for the, I was going to save this for an inevitable Warriors Paloosa. But since it's right here, you brought him up as your real one at a week, I think I should just do this.

So during the, during the, during the beginning, the midway through the season, I went to go interview, Steph, for a piece that I was doing. And you came up. And, um, He kind of talked about you. So I don't, I would like to have, this is a real one's exclusive here. This is a real one's, uh, ringer NBA exclusive.

I'm going to send this to you. And I want you to listen to it while we're on it. Why was Roger Bill's just a great team? Why was he a real one? Because he brought that Charlotte vibe to the, uh, to the bay. After that trade, I know he'd fight anybody on our behalf, but he'd also hold it down for the rook when I had some questions. So, Raj was, he's a room in a week.

He's definitely a real one. That's what's... So apparently you were steps a rowing a week in January. So, you know, just bring it all full circle. Much love, bro. Much love. And listen, I've said this before.

I'm going to say it again. People that wind up, you know, being who he wound up being, you know, he comes from great stuff. of people, like his dad's good people. But typically when they come into the league, you know, there's a little air. I've had rooks did not, not nearly the type of player as Steph Curry completely balk and bristle at doing rookie duties and going to get shit for people and all of that. And Steph never batted an eye at the stuff that they were asking to do.

I, you know, I got there late. So he was already in his rook duties and shit. But he just go do what he needed to do, keep it moving, like raised right. You know what I mean? So, yeah, I always, I always fuck with Steph, me. I mean, he, typically when I've seen him throughout the season, he is, you know, shown love to you, has said hello, you know, you know, that always raves about you being a great teammate. So, you know, real one to win. That's what I appreciate that.

All right, man. So we are, this is, we're coming in hot, man. We're coming in hot Monday nights, real ones. No Thursday shows for the time being. We will see you guys every Monday night. we're going to make sure Raj we'll go get him out of bed he didn't got the brown the brown with him right now but it's real ones after dark throughout the postseason baby

we're not playing around okay but in the meantime make sure you check out our other shows make sure you check out the group chat make sure you check out the void with KOC fall on the void make sure you dang I'm in this hotel room I'm probably going to get kicked out for yelling as loud as I am but we're good

make sure you also check out the answer make sure you just check out everything on our ring your slave, make sure you check out Black Girl's songbook with who, Roger Bell? Town legend. Miss Danielle Smith. Make sure you check out R2C2 with who, Roger Bell. It's another legend, another legend from that area. He would be the Vallejo legend, also known as the Crescide Clown.

That's C.C. Sabathia. Yes, sir. Shout to all the Florida legends out there too, man, you know. You know, I'm not, you know, shout out to Miami, Arirouac, Trina. Trina, the whole man, the whole bad with Calid, Rick Rose. I think city girls are out there too. Shout to the city girls.

We go, just shout out to everybody out to Miami, dog. We ain't playing around, dog. We'll see you guys. Damn, Reno, U.D. Come on, Andre Dawson, the Hawk, Michael Irving. Bernie Cozard. Bernie Cozard.

We locked in. See y'all next Monday, man. We're going to put Roger to sleep, man.