Speaker 1: Ords crash the ball and with a turnover, myce Denbarde
Speaker 1: put at the other.
Speaker 2: End and he times and he ktch it to go
Speaker 2: pity in the clock cordlink that's intercepted Henry Good at the.
Speaker 3: Time for oh what I.
Speaker 2: Shot right when Minnesota had this in single digits. Two
Speaker 2: turnovers that were huge, a five point swing for the Nuggets.
Speaker 2: I am stunned right now, Ain't nothing wrong a Reggie
Speaker 2: Miller run in the final fifteen seconds of the first half.
Speaker 3: Welcome into the NBA Polster production of iHeartRadio in the NBA.
Speaker 3: I'm Sarahkustag, NBA analyst for the Yes Networking Today is Monday,
Speaker 3: May thirteenth, from our extraordinary core group of NBA journalists
Speaker 3: were joined now by NBA dot Com senior writer Steve Ashberner,
Speaker 3: And oh gosh, we got to going. We got a
Speaker 3: couple series that have tied up, and it's been fun
Speaker 3: to watch just kind of the way things have shifted
Speaker 3: a little bit. Last night you have the Denver Nuggets
Speaker 3: getting back into a little bit of their their defending
Speaker 3: champion form as they beat Minnesota one fifteen, one oh seven,
Speaker 3: even up the series and New York Knicks lost the
Speaker 3: Pacers in Indiana one twenty one to eighty nine. Let's
Speaker 3: first go touch on that Denver Minnesota game, because it
Speaker 3: felt like things really shifted. It was close game, back
Speaker 3: and forth, but closing out the half, the last twenty
Speaker 3: four seconds of that second quarter, things just changed in
Speaker 3: terms of momentum. How Denver was able to make a push.
Speaker 3: Anthony Edwards was spectacular last night. Forty four points, five rebounds,
Speaker 3: five assists, two steals, five of eight from a three
Speaker 3: point line. He hit a three that pulled Minnesota within
Speaker 3: seven with about a minute to go, and then it
Speaker 3: was a series of events, some turnovers, ended with a
Speaker 3: Jamal Murray half court shot that then changed the complexion
Speaker 3: of things put Denver back up by fifteen. They got
Speaker 3: compliments of a lot of players contributing, including Aaron Gordon,
Speaker 3: who did a little bit of everything the entire night.
Speaker 3: What he was doing on the offensive end twenty seven points,
Speaker 3: knocked down some three point shots, six assists, two blocks.
Speaker 3: His defense on Karl Anthony Towns has been exceptional. Nikola
Speaker 3: Jokic with thirty five seven seven and three steals. Jamal
Speaker 3: Murray despite everything that happened in game two did not
Speaker 3: get the suspension. These last two games, it's looked more
Speaker 3: of the Jamal Murray that we've been accustomed to seeing
Speaker 3: when you break down this game and where things are at.
Speaker 3: Because after those first two games, Minnesota just dominated Denver.
Speaker 3: I think you had a lot of people thinking this
Speaker 3: could have in some ways been a sweep or been
Speaker 3: a very short series, and now it looks like it
Speaker 3: may go the distance. What stood out to you most
Speaker 3: about the way Denver played and started to handle that
Speaker 3: Minnesota defense in their win last night?
Speaker 1: Yeah, Hi, Sarah, I mean it's rather probably surfacy, I guess,
Speaker 1: but I just think that those two defeats against the
Speaker 1: Timberwolves in Denver really was, you know, a couple of
Speaker 1: slaps across the face of the Denver Nuggets. They had
Speaker 1: gotten away with that bad habit of sort of easing
Speaker 1: in the games, being able to take control halfway through
Speaker 1: and winning that series against the Lakers in the first
Speaker 1: round in five games. They weren't able to recover when
Speaker 1: they eased into those games in Denver, and I think
Speaker 1: that that reality really hit hard for the Denver Nuggets.
Speaker 1: You know, they had played, they had played hard down
Speaker 1: the stretch, of the season with an eye on the
Speaker 1: number one seed, and they did not get it. So
Speaker 1: there was a little bit of failure. But then when
Speaker 1: they lost, you know, the first two games in this round,
Speaker 1: they were looking get a lot of failure and they
Speaker 1: weren't ready for their defending championship season to end. To me,
Speaker 1: a couple of things yesterday just it. It reminded me that,
Speaker 1: you know, we talk about playoff series and the adjustments
Speaker 1: from game to game, and a lot of times, you know,
Speaker 1: we talk about how, well, yeah, the defense gets tighter
Speaker 1: and they can clamp down and take away options, and
Speaker 1: the coaches have to be more creative in terms of
Speaker 1: the players to whom they turn for, you know, to
Speaker 1: generate the scoring they need. But I think Denver's defense
Speaker 1: has has uh, they've been they've been fine, But I
Speaker 1: think offensively, you know, they have they have done things
Speaker 1: differently in terms of disrupting that great Minnesota defense, just
Speaker 1: screens and angles and things to you know, get the
Speaker 1: Timberwolves a little out of sorts on that end of
Speaker 1: the floor, and that's been as dramatic as as anything.
Speaker 1: And then I look at Jokic and he seemed play
Speaker 1: with as much energy as I've seen him play now,
Speaker 1: I have voted for him for MVP three years, so
Speaker 1: I know he's very good. Whether he seems all that
Speaker 1: energetic or not, but he just seemed to have an
Speaker 1: urgency about him yesterday, whether he was willing to grab
Speaker 1: a rebound and head up court, you know, attack the basket,
Speaker 1: put up some shots. I just thought that Jokic refused
Speaker 1: to let that team fall into a three to one hole,
Speaker 1: and you know that that was striking And maybe Dendro
Speaker 1: has found itself and the Timberwolves are sort of back
Speaker 1: where they were when the series began, having to navigate
Speaker 1: high altitude and figure out a way to win there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's an interesting point. I agree with you
Speaker 3: on just the placement on the floor, not just with Jokic,
Speaker 3: in where they're sending some of these ball screens, how
Speaker 3: they're attacking him, what they use is in terms of
Speaker 3: him as a fulcrum to play off of. But they
Speaker 3: did the same thing with Aaron Gordon a line. For
Speaker 3: as much as I've I've been raving about his play,
Speaker 3: like his ability to bring the ball up the floor
Speaker 3: allowed Jamal Murray to play off the ball, and how
Speaker 3: they're initiating getting into their offense. I think it's a
Speaker 3: lot of little things like that that just shift the
Speaker 3: dynamic of how Minnesota is playing defense, where they're gonna
Speaker 3: come at him, because they were absolutely smothering those first
Speaker 3: two games. It felt like there was six players on
Speaker 3: the floor, which how much ground they were covering, the
Speaker 3: way that they could pressure the ball. I also think
Speaker 3: it was just some solid minutes, whether it was from
Speaker 3: Holiday coming off the bench, Brown doing a good job,
Speaker 3: it was just a good kind of push of Michael
Speaker 3: Malone of who he had and when and how those
Speaker 3: combinations were working that I thought was really impressive. But
Speaker 3: I think this is long from over, as we know,
Speaker 3: and I think for the Timberwolves too, just kind of
Speaker 3: the experience there, the environment, the extraordinary environment. I know,
Speaker 3: you're accustomed to it. To Ash, you've seen it, you've
Speaker 3: been a part of it. In Minnesota, I.
Speaker 1: Yes, to know, you know, they often didn't have that
Speaker 1: much excite at Target Center. I was there during the
Speaker 1: Kevin yardet run and when they went to the count
Speaker 1: and when they went to the conference final. So yeah,
Speaker 1: it was special then, But for the most part, Target
Speaker 1: Center has been sort of a sleeping giant and those
Speaker 1: people have waited a long time for this and it's
Speaker 1: not over yet basketball fans. I hope we get seven.
Speaker 3: Certainly going to be fun to watch and ash. The
Speaker 3: earlier game, Indiana Pacers, as I had mentioned, beat the
Speaker 3: New York Knicks one twenty one to eighty nine, and
Speaker 3: it was a circumstance of which felt like New York
Speaker 3: in some ways, a quick turnaround. The early game just
Speaker 3: ran out of gas. We have talked a lot about
Speaker 3: the players that they've been playing without Julius Randall for
Speaker 3: the better part of the final stretch of the season,
Speaker 3: losing Mitchell Robinson earlier, og Anobi more recently. And the
Speaker 3: Pacers did what they liked to do. They ran, and
Speaker 3: they got to go in transition. Their ability to get
Speaker 3: stops allowed them to get run outs. They had thirty
Speaker 3: eight transition points, six players in double figures, Tyre's Burton
Speaker 3: with twenty. But they also did a good job just
Speaker 3: pressuring up the floor. Aaron nee Smith second straight game
Speaker 3: that he has been defending Jalen Brunson and just been
Speaker 3: extremely physical with him, bumping him, doing everything he could.
Speaker 3: I thought that the game changed in some way the
Speaker 3: tenor of it, and it typically does when TJ McConnell enters.
Speaker 3: He had fifteen points, ten assists. But there was something
Speaker 3: different just with how Indiana was able to play early
Speaker 3: in extend leads. And the Knicks haven't been a team
Speaker 3: throughout the course of this postseason that have necessarily been
Speaker 3: great in the first quarters, but it felt like Indiana
Speaker 3: was just able to shut the door with how they
Speaker 3: continued to play. Brunson finished with eighteen points, five assists,
Speaker 3: and you got a wonder too the sore foot that
Speaker 3: he hurt in Game two. He has played in both
Speaker 3: of these last two games, but oh five from the
Speaker 3: three point line, he just didn't quite look the same.
Speaker 3: Josh Hart just two points one to six from three.
Speaker 3: The only other double figure players were Miles McBride off
Speaker 3: the bench with sixteen points and Alec Burk's with twenty points.
Speaker 3: Got twenty three minutes because at the end of the
Speaker 3: third quarter, Tom THIBODOVII pulled pulled the plug and said okay,
Speaker 3: and the guys finally got some rest, not in a
Speaker 3: way that he probably wanted them to. You saw the
Speaker 3: bench play and everyone play a lot of minutes in
Speaker 3: a manner that the Knicks, certainly we're not looking forward to.
Speaker 3: But now that this shifts back to Madison Square Garden
Speaker 3: for Game five with the series tied up after New
Speaker 3: York won those first two close ones, what's your expectations
Speaker 3: after seeing that, after watching that, for the Knicks to refresh, rebrand, rebound,
Speaker 3: and start to look like the team in some of
Speaker 3: the ways to spite those high minutes despite the high
Speaker 3: usage here in game five.
Speaker 1: Well, I would think both teams will be different, you
Speaker 1: know back in Madison Square Garden, you know, Indiana, maybe
Speaker 1: not with quite the verve and bravado, but but the
Speaker 1: Knicks also a little bit more rested. The best thing
Speaker 1: that happened to them was that being a blowout, they
Speaker 1: could have gotten forty eight minutes of rest and played
Speaker 1: subs the whole game and gotten the same results. So
Speaker 1: you know, you'd say, well, this is the next best
Speaker 1: thing that they didn't have to gut out a close defeat.
Speaker 1: They took this one and can move on, you know,
Speaker 1: one day in between games. Now it's better than the
Speaker 1: regular season. It's not as good as maybe the first
Speaker 1: round could give you, where you have two three days
Speaker 1: between games. The Knicks need as much time as possible
Speaker 1: to recover and rejuvenate. But yeah, I think they'll be
Speaker 1: I think they'll be a better team for this. You
Speaker 1: just wonder about the attrition O g Annobi. To me,
Speaker 1: that's a huge loss if he's not available to play.
Speaker 1: They were a different team when they did have him
Speaker 1: after he arrived from Toronto. And to say, well, and
Speaker 1: I heard Tibbs quote, you know, well he missed a
Speaker 1: lot of time during the season too. Yeah, well you
Speaker 1: at the same team when he wasn't there. He makes
Speaker 1: a difference. He gives you bonus offense and you can
Speaker 1: put him on just about anybody you need to defensively
Speaker 1: at a given moment. So you know that, to me,
Speaker 1: is is the greatest problem right now. And of course Brunson.
Speaker 1: You know, Brunson is less than one hundred percent. I mean,
Speaker 1: he can be effective. If he's less than eighty percent,
Speaker 1: you've got a problem. There was a reason that he
Speaker 1: was on a lot of our MVP ballots, and it's
Speaker 1: that sense that he is their engine. Without him, you know,
Speaker 1: that team is a lottery team, you know, so that
Speaker 1: would be unfortunate if he's not able to get back up,
Speaker 1: you know, to play at a high level of his potential.
Speaker 1: But yeah, Indiana, you know, they have to stick with
Speaker 1: what's what's working, and they have to play that game
Speaker 1: that's theirs. McConnell has earned the right to play in
Speaker 1: at the end of games. I mean, Carlisle, you know,
Speaker 1: has a habit of going back to his starters, and
Speaker 1: I just think McConnell is troublesome enough. He's able to
Speaker 1: bother New York at both ends. And I was surprised.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's fifteen and ten came in the fewest
Speaker 1: minutes ever in an NBA playoff game. I think he
Speaker 1: played twenty minutes and generated that sort of production. So
Speaker 1: you know, he's he's extremely valuable in a certain smaller
Speaker 1: digest level way. He does for that team. What Brunson
Speaker 1: does all game long for the Knicks, I mean is
Speaker 1: a he's a driving force. He's pesky, he's difficult to defend,
Speaker 1: and he's rising to the occasion. I'm not saying he's
Speaker 1: been an underused star or anything like that, but it's
Speaker 1: almost like remember JJ Barrea in the twenty eleven final, Yes,
Speaker 1: I do, that's what this reminds me of.
Speaker 3: One Jose Brea Oh it made a different but that
Speaker 3: always makes difference anytime you're trying to play in the
Speaker 3: postseason and make a run. As some of those individuals
Speaker 3: we talk about, TJ McConnell, I think Obi top and
Speaker 3: two just how he's able to come in and obviously
Speaker 3: he's got a little bit of revenge on his mind
Speaker 3: with the Knicks and the way things had finished with him.
Speaker 3: But yeah, but I think the Pacers did get back
Speaker 3: to playing and the way we saw them play throughout
Speaker 3: the course of the season, the high powered offense sometimes
Speaker 3: as their best defense, but they're doing just enough at
Speaker 3: that end, so to me, more of it is going
Speaker 3: to be interesting to see how the Knicks look and
Speaker 3: if that attrition does actually start to factor in at
Speaker 3: this point of the postseed and with the minutes and
Speaker 3: with the usage that they have been playing. As we're
Speaker 3: going to get to work you are at in Cleveland,
Speaker 3: as we got two game fours taking place tonight on
Speaker 3: TNT Boston at the Calves and the Oklahoma City Thunder
Speaker 3: at Dallas as they tried to even things up as well.
Speaker 3: Get to that right after the RT Welcome back to
Speaker 3: NBA Paul Sarahkustak, joined by the great Steve Asberner and
Speaker 3: Ash Boston at Cleveland. Cleveland got one, but it looks
Speaker 3: like the Celtics are continuing to put things together. They've
Speaker 3: been playing without Christaps Porzingis. For Cleveland, Donovan Mitchell has
Speaker 3: been exceptional, but just not quite enough help, especially with
Speaker 3: the compliments of how Boston can play on both ends
Speaker 3: of the floor. They had a nice win on Saturday one,
Speaker 3: six ninety three in Cleveland. They will play tonight at
Speaker 3: seven pm Eastern on T and T. As I had mentioned,
Speaker 3: what do you have your eye on here for this
Speaker 3: matchup tonight is Boston tries to in some ways take
Speaker 3: a even more command of this series than can Cleveland.
Speaker 3: Even things up here.
Speaker 1: You know, Boston is what it is. They lost Game
Speaker 1: two against Miami in the first round. Miami had a
Speaker 1: crazy good night from the three point line that night,
Speaker 1: and that's that bailed them out and and even that
Speaker 1: series briefly, even though the Heat were undermanned without Jimmy
Speaker 1: Butler and others. Cleveland I thought had a more thorough
Speaker 1: victory in Game two in this one, and it was
Speaker 1: more to their credit than I mean, there there were
Speaker 1: elements of Boston not coming in playing its a game
Speaker 1: and not responding well. And that's why the Celtics you know,
Speaker 1: got taken into the woodshed a little bit after that game.
Speaker 1: But Cleveland did a better job. I think the way
Speaker 1: they had Mitchell sort of feel out the game and
Speaker 1: get his teammates going. He scored six points in the
Speaker 1: first half on his way to twenty nine by the
Speaker 1: time it was over, and it seemed like a pretty
Speaker 1: good formula. But that didn't happen in game three. Game three,
Speaker 1: he was looking to score, teammates were not getting going.
Speaker 1: He didn't have a lot of help. You know. Evan
Speaker 1: Mobley does what he can, but he tweaked an ankle again,
Speaker 1: so that limited him a little bit. And Boston woke
Speaker 1: up and said, you know, we were better team than this,
Speaker 1: were the better team in the series, and they took
Speaker 1: care of their business. I just you know, it just
Speaker 1: seems like they follow their leader. Jason Tatum. Extremely talented.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's so much he can do just smooth.
Speaker 1: But he's not He's not a fire iron, you know,
Speaker 1: he's not somebody who you know, he's not ruthless on
Speaker 1: the floor like as I wrote, I mean, he's not
Speaker 1: Kobe Bryant. He's not Michael Jordan. He might not even
Speaker 1: be Anthony Edwards when it comes to that killer instinct.
Speaker 1: He's just so good he can get away with, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe floating through some games or periods of games. But
Speaker 1: he also has tried to do multiple things. His shooting
Speaker 1: has been off, but he has looked for teammates and
Speaker 1: he has rebounded the ball, and his stats overall are
Speaker 1: pretty good except for the percentages. I just think Boston
Speaker 1: is that that sort of team. They know they have
Speaker 1: the talent, they know they have the depth, and at
Speaker 1: this level, at this at this round, they probably have
Speaker 1: taken things a little lightly and they are without Porzingis.
Speaker 1: Let's not you know, let's not overlook that he's a
Speaker 1: pretty important piece to what they want to do. I
Speaker 1: just don't think they particularly need him until the finals,
Speaker 1: assuming that they can get there.
Speaker 3: Horford, Yeah, Horford though play in a ton of heavy minutes,
Speaker 3: and to see how that factors in. Donovan Mitchell, who's
Speaker 3: on the injury report, is questionable with calf injury. So
Speaker 3: I think you could hopefully assume he'll be playing, but
Speaker 3: how he'll be hampered by that. Jared Allen is also
Speaker 3: questionable on the injury report, which is a positive sign
Speaker 3: for Cleveland because obviously the fact they've been playing without
Speaker 3: him throughout the course of this early part of the
Speaker 3: series has not helped in ways in which he could
Speaker 3: be impactful, in particular on the inside. What's your pick
Speaker 3: for tonight?
Speaker 1: Oh, I have to go with the Celtics. I think
Speaker 1: that they did get doused with cold water with Game
Speaker 1: two and they don't want this to go any longer
Speaker 1: than need be. I think they are the better team.
Speaker 1: I think Cleveland has sort of run out of options.
Speaker 1: Jerry Allen could help defensively, he could help with the rim.
Speaker 1: He must have, you know, a pretty seriously injured rib.
Speaker 1: I've heard that not only does it hurt, you know,
Speaker 1: if he has contact, but it's even when he breathes,
Speaker 1: he feels this thing. Yeah, so hard to play in
Speaker 1: those circumstances. Yeah, it would surprise me if Cleveland is
Speaker 1: able to tie up this thing and make it a
Speaker 1: best of three.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, and obviously got to see him quite a bit
Speaker 3: with Brooklyn in the early part of his career, and
Speaker 3: if he can be out there, you know he will
Speaker 3: the following game nine thirty pm Eastern on TNT Oklahoma
Speaker 3: City at Dallas, and Dallas has won the last two games.
Speaker 3: Kyrie Irving continues to put together on some special, special
Speaker 3: highlight plays. Pja Washington has been fantastic for this team
Speaker 3: afterting twenty eight points per game in these last two games.
Speaker 3: What do you expect out of this one here tonight
Speaker 3: with the MAVs looking to open things up a little
Speaker 3: bit or if Oklahoma City can even up this series.
Speaker 1: Well, I hope Luca doesn't leave some body parts on
Speaker 1: the wrong side of half court. You know, when it
Speaker 1: seems like he's falling, he's getting knocked down, he's hurting
Speaker 1: in his knee, he's hurting other you know, he's landing
Speaker 1: flat on his back and it's a real passion play
Speaker 1: for him. But I do think that, you know, Dallas
Speaker 1: is sort of the saltier, a little more veteran team.
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City is fun to watch. I just think that
Speaker 1: they're not big enough. I think chet Holmgren might be
Speaker 1: wearing a little bit down. He doesn't seem as effective
Speaker 1: against and again it could be a matchups thing. But
Speaker 1: with Daniel Gafford and with Derek Lively, you know, he's
Speaker 1: got his hands full there. Are sort of two sides
Speaker 1: of a coin. And you know, home Grin doesn't have
Speaker 1: a lot of tall help on that team. I think
Speaker 1: they are a little bit undersized there. Fun to watch
Speaker 1: jam all all credit, but this is about where they
Speaker 1: seemed likely to max out. And I just think when
Speaker 1: you've got Irving and Docicch, you're covered if the game
Speaker 1: is close, and you know the way Dallas has played,
Speaker 1: I'm not even sure that we'll need that much, you know,
Speaker 1: close game prowess, because I just think that if they've
Speaker 1: found themselves, adding Washington and Gafford during the season transformed
Speaker 1: that team here and here, and so we're seeing the
Speaker 1: results of that now.
Speaker 3: And I don't think I think there was questions too
Speaker 3: with Washington and Charlotte in Gafford, in in Washington, in Washington, Uh,
Speaker 3: just the concept of what it would look like in
Speaker 3: the postseason the playoffs. Does that translate given how they'd
Speaker 3: played and how they would fit. And I don't know
Speaker 3: if it was you who I was talking to her
Speaker 3: at some point when that trade was I have always
Speaker 3: been high on PGA Washington and just the versatility and
Speaker 3: adaptability that he brings on both ends of the floor
Speaker 3: and those guys have been special for this Dallas team
Speaker 3: and impactful. And I also think that it gives you
Speaker 3: a little bit of leeway with Derek Lively coming off
Speaker 3: the bench and just how you can use him and
Speaker 3: work him in being a rookie being as young as
Speaker 3: he is, So no question, it is going to be
Speaker 3: fun to see how this continues to play out. Ash
Speaker 3: have fun in Cleveland. I hope you get a good one,
Speaker 3: safe travels to your next stop, and as always, we
Speaker 3: appreciate you your time and we look forward to talking
Speaker 3: with you again.
Speaker 1: Thanks very You're welcome.
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