Speaker 1: On this episode of the Heat Check, It's an interview extravaganza.
Speaker 1: This episode not one, not two, not three, but four
Speaker 1: interviews for your NBA enjoyment. We start with Brendan Tobin
Speaker 1: who covers the Miami Heat He drops some knowledge on
Speaker 1: our dome. Kyle Madsen covers the Sacramento Kings and the
Speaker 1: Golden State Warriors from ESPN thirteen twenty out in Sacramento.
Speaker 1: Ryan Edwards gives us a little insight into the Denver Nuggets,
Speaker 1: and finally, generalist NBA guru Kurt Healing for NBC Sports
Speaker 1: this year to all make it make sense, get so
Speaker 1: much to get into, Anthony drop that motherfucking beat that
Speaker 1: should be readers. Today's we Check In what we call
Speaker 1: a check in episode, where were checking in out what's
Speaker 1: happening from around the league with some of the local
Speaker 1: MBA markets and Hot damn we got some pipeing hot
Speaker 1: tea for you all about some of the best teams
Speaker 1: in the weegue. All these interviews were conducted on my
Speaker 1: other show BETMGM Tonight, which airs nationally in most major
Speaker 1: markets as well as live on Twitch and YouTube Monday
Speaker 1: through Friday from seven to eleven Eastern Standard Time. I
Speaker 1: am joined on these interviews by my co host Nick Ashu.
Speaker 1: Check it out when you get a chance. By the way,
Speaker 1: we talk a lot of hoops on that show. We
Speaker 1: started our extravaganz and by checking in on the Miami
Speaker 1: Heat with Brendan Tobin, co host of Tobin and Leroy
Speaker 1: on five sixty Sports WQAM in Miami, an honesty station
Speaker 1: Dodo Do Doo. Tobin and Leroy airs Monday through Friday
Speaker 1: ten am to two pm on ESPN. He gives us
Speaker 1: some great info on the Heat and their chances going fours.
Speaker 2: Brendan Tobin joked on with us five to sixty Sports
Speaker 2: in Miami, also tapped out on Beckul as well. But
Speaker 2: I love this Heat team now, man, like I do,
Speaker 2: even as a Knicks fan. The rivalry is not a
Speaker 2: rivalry anymore. We go way back for that, so it
Speaker 2: doesn't matter. But like watching the way that they now
Speaker 2: play defense, it feels like the Miami Heat team we remember,
Speaker 2: and I know offensively it hasn't been. It's been a
Speaker 2: struggle of times, especially recently even through this winning streak.
Speaker 2: Just all you know, the games they've had. But like
Speaker 2: I look at it and go well, Tyler heroes healthy
Speaker 2: once you get to the playoffs. They didn't have him
Speaker 2: for the majority of that run last year. Terry Rozier,
Speaker 2: if he starts to consistently score for them and do
Speaker 2: what he's done in his last two stops, this team
Speaker 2: can be better offensively than where they were last year.
Speaker 2: Jimmy Butler is Jimmy Butler. I really think that this
Speaker 2: team is better than the team that went to the
Speaker 2: finals last year. You're in the middle of it. You
Speaker 2: hear this every day. You watch this team closely. What
Speaker 2: do you think of this Heat team right now?
Speaker 3: I think they went through some real struggles at parts
Speaker 3: of this year. Part of it was that they couldn't
Speaker 3: get everybody together. But even when they had everybody together,
Speaker 3: it was it was weird because they had this weird
Speaker 3: hierarchy problem with their scoring because it was very much like,
Speaker 3: you know, still try to make it Bam and Tyler
Speaker 3: to like carry in the regular season when everybody knows
Speaker 3: Jimmy Butler still the best player on the team, and
Speaker 3: they go through this seven game losing streak and it's
Speaker 3: finally like just dawns on these guys who have been
Speaker 3: playing together for five seasons. Oh yeah, we realized it's
Speaker 3: Jimmy Butler, spam Autebayo, then it's Tyler hero and it
Speaker 3: was just it was weird that they couldn't get to
Speaker 3: that pecking order playing with each other for so long
Speaker 3: because all the other pieces, I agree with you, there
Speaker 3: are some pieces that make them a little bit deeper
Speaker 3: and make them more intriguing and more versatile in.
Speaker 4: Certain playoff matchups.
Speaker 3: But they had to figure out, you know, their top
Speaker 3: guys first and then how all those things fall in line.
Speaker 3: And you know, simple enough, it is, hey, Jimmy Butler is,
Speaker 3: even though it's a bit of a you know, lazy
Speaker 3: river of him to before he just starts to pick
Speaker 3: it up in the regular season. That time came and
Speaker 3: they started playing a lot better. But certainly there has
Speaker 3: been more emphasis on the defensive side, which Spoe has
Speaker 3: been very happy about.
Speaker 1: When everyone's healthy, who's in the starting lineup.
Speaker 3: It's a great question, Trista, because I think their answer
Speaker 3: was just going to be, you know, Terry Tyler, Jimmy
Speaker 3: Bam and then go with Nikola Jovich. But Duncan Robinson
Speaker 3: has been playing so spectacular as of late, and it's
Speaker 3: It's so interesting to see his relationship with their expulsion
Speaker 3: because it's a guy who's basically gone from the wonder
Speaker 3: child who is a D three guy to a ninety
Speaker 3: million dollars contract to not playing and now spose like, well,
Speaker 3: we're just you know, he can't ignore how much better
Speaker 3: they are, how much better the numbers are with him
Speaker 3: on the court. So that's gonna be the interesting thing.
Speaker 3: I cannot see them benching Tyler Hero because that's that
Speaker 3: feels like it's gonna crush his ego moor anything. I
Speaker 3: don't think they're gonna do that for Terry because they
Speaker 3: just trade him. So the only coin flip is do
Speaker 3: they bench the rookie Yovic because you know he's gonna
Speaker 3: be the good soldier about it, or do they just
Speaker 3: keep Duncan Robinson coming off the bench and go in
Speaker 3: that direction. But the only swab I potentially see once
Speaker 3: everybody is healthy is Duncan Robinson and I guess essentially
Speaker 3: being there four but sticking with a with a Tyler
Speaker 3: Hero terror Rogier backcourt.
Speaker 2: So, Brendan, you got kind of this log jam right
Speaker 2: now from the fourth spot in the east down to
Speaker 2: the eighth spot where the heat are and it's you.
Speaker 2: We're looking at literally a game, game and a half
Speaker 2: difference between the four and the eighth spot. Where does
Speaker 2: Miami stack up in your eyes right now in the
Speaker 2: Eastern Conference.
Speaker 3: I mean, I think, like, look, everybody is marveling at
Speaker 3: what Boston's doing. They've had in this good run that
Speaker 3: they've had since turning around the win streak. I would
Speaker 3: say three matchups against true title contenders Denver, the Clippers,
Speaker 3: and Boston, those are their three losses in this whole spend.
Speaker 3: They've been competitive games. I mean, they've stuck right in them.
Speaker 3: There's been some you know, injury adversity for both teams
Speaker 3: on both sides and that. So I do think that
Speaker 3: there's something to Miami still having that ability to make
Speaker 3: a deep run if they get into it. I'm still
Speaker 3: a little queasy about what the Bucks have become and
Speaker 3: if they're gonna have this all with Doc Rivers. Spoe
Speaker 3: usually coaches circles around Doc Rivers, no matter the teams
Speaker 3: and who changes there. He just seems to have a
Speaker 3: big advantage there and we'll figure things out. Obviously, you know,
Speaker 3: the Sixers, it's all dependent upon Joel andbu though they've
Speaker 3: had success in series against them before.
Speaker 4: Cleveland's interesting.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's just a matter of, you know, everybody
Speaker 3: sees the talent and I think, you know, with their size,
Speaker 3: has some like Denver stuff that could give Miami issues.
Speaker 3: You know, Denver definitely has probably the best blueprint to
Speaker 3: slow down Miami, but as an Eastern Conference team, they
Speaker 3: probably have a lot of those elements that could give
Speaker 3: Miami some troubles. It's just a matter of do you
Speaker 3: believe in what they've done this regular season being able
Speaker 3: to translate into the playoffs. So I just think the
Speaker 3: reason everybody is is still giving Miami a punch of
Speaker 3: chances because the guys who are kind of on the rise,
Speaker 3: the Knicks. Two if the Knicks are you know what
Speaker 3: they were before everybody got hurt. When I watched them
Speaker 3: in the playoffs last year and watching that series with
Speaker 3: Jalen Brunson, I really did think, like, man, if they
Speaker 3: got one more piece, they'd give Miami a lot of trouble.
Speaker 3: They're just a matter of, you know, are they going
Speaker 3: to be all physically right.
Speaker 1: You mentioned the calves. One of the things that is
Speaker 1: a big vulnerability for the Calves. Brendan is just their
Speaker 1: offense at times, it feels like it's sputters, very similarly
Speaker 1: to that match Heat had with the Knicks where it
Speaker 1: was just a brickfest. Miami fifth and defensive rating right
Speaker 1: now in the last five games, but offensively, like Nick said,
Speaker 1: just kind of middle of the pack. That happened though
Speaker 1: last year in the postseason where they were shooting thirty
Speaker 1: three percent from three point during the regular season and
Speaker 1: then damn near forty in the playoffs. How does this
Speaker 1: team turn it up offensively when the lights get bright?
Speaker 1: Not just a scheme wise, but how do they do
Speaker 1: it with these guys this year?
Speaker 3: It's a good question because you know, they don't have
Speaker 3: a ton of guys who can you know, be ignitable
Speaker 3: from three other than Duncan Robinson and Tyler Hero And
Speaker 3: obviously you're you're gonna have some defensive letdown with having
Speaker 3: those guys on the court.
Speaker 4: Terror's year.
Speaker 3: We can all kind of see the idea of Terry
Speaker 3: Rozier in the good spots, but he is not shot
Speaker 3: well since he's traded over here. He said all the
Speaker 3: right things. He hasn't been a bad character guy or
Speaker 3: any of that stuff. It's just he just hasn't been
Speaker 3: making shots, So on that side, you're gonna have to uh,
Speaker 3: you know, lean onto to Jimmy and and Bam has
Speaker 3: definitely picked things up from you know, an aggression standpoint
Speaker 3: and being able to get to the free throw line
Speaker 3: a lot better. But they know what their identity is
Speaker 3: going into these playoffs. They're going to make it ugly.
Speaker 3: You know, some fan bases on NBA Twitter will say
Speaker 3: they're borderline dirty. We all see the montages that they
Speaker 3: put together to you know, to try and to try
Speaker 3: and and call the Heat out. But that's how they
Speaker 3: like it. They like to in a in a league
Speaker 3: that is, you know, going at these crazy offensive numbers.
Speaker 4: They don't have those guys.
Speaker 3: Jimmy Butler's never scored forty points in the regular season
Speaker 3: for the Miami Heat and then when it gets to
Speaker 3: the regular seat, when it gets to the postseason, I
Speaker 3: think he has nine in his career. You know, thirteen
Speaker 3: of his top fifteen playoff scoring performances are with the Heat.
Speaker 3: His top in regular season he has two in his
Speaker 3: top fifteen of his career. So it just shows you
Speaker 3: kind of how he knows to go to a different
Speaker 3: level offensively for them. It has become almost a running
Speaker 3: joke this whole when he turns into playoff Jimmy thing,
Speaker 3: But there is a veteran savviness to it. He knows
Speaker 3: how to build himself up in that regard and when
Speaker 3: to kind of get into that mode, and when he
Speaker 3: gets to the playoffs, he turns into a different player offensively.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I was just about to ask you about that.
Speaker 1: There was but all summer long for the Dame trade
Speaker 1: doesn't happen? Is Tyler Hero now safe from trade rumors?
Speaker 1: And how does the emergence of Haimi Hawkes coming in
Speaker 1: to the mix and really just delivering almost like Jimmy
Speaker 1: Butler two point zero vibes alter the Heats plan for
Speaker 1: someone like Tyler Hero.
Speaker 3: It's very interesting because weirdly enough, I had like the
Speaker 3: heats marketing guy on this year this week because they
Speaker 3: were talking about out uh you know, they had like
Speaker 3: some family fest. And I remember when Tyler Hero was
Speaker 3: like the marketing darling for the Heat and that is
Speaker 3: now flipped because now they're all about Hi May Hawks,
Speaker 3: like he has beloved, He's already done like every autograph
Speaker 3: sign and they love Hi May Hawkes.
Speaker 4: They're all about him. I would have a hard.
Speaker 3: Time believing if this is a Heat team that honestly,
Speaker 3: if it doesn't even end in the championship, I would
Speaker 3: have a hard time believing they're going to run it
Speaker 3: back with Bam, Jimmy and Tyler once again. They're gonna
Speaker 3: have to shake something up just because this is year
Speaker 3: five of those guys playing together.
Speaker 4: And yes, Tyler has had.
Speaker 3: Inconsistencies of either injuries or just poor performances in the playoffs,
Speaker 3: He's the obvious guy that they would go to, so
Speaker 3: that's why he's got the most riding. I mean, bam
Speaker 3: Is is like mister Heat. They've loved him since he's
Speaker 3: walked in the building. They've they you know, Alonzo Morning,
Speaker 3: I remember him telling me when he was twenty, He's like,
Speaker 3: we're gonna raise his jersey the rafters.
Speaker 4: They he's he buys into all Heat things.
Speaker 3: And you know, Jimmy Butler, unless like pull a swerve
Speaker 3: and change Jimmy Butler. I don't think they're going to
Speaker 3: trade him. You know that he says this is where
Speaker 3: he wants to end his career. So yeah, that's just
Speaker 3: it always just by process of elimination, always gets back
Speaker 3: to If they're gonna make a big move, it's gonna
Speaker 3: be Tyler. And that's why you know he probably wants
Speaker 3: to be as physically right going into this postseason because
Speaker 3: there's a lot riding on it for him.
Speaker 2: Area is Brendan Tobin five to sixty Sports in Miami.
Speaker 4: Great to stock again.
Speaker 1: Then next you move on to Kyle Madson of The Insiders,
Speaker 1: which airs weekdays on Sacramento's ESPN thirteen twenty, another Ardissey
Speaker 1: station from ten am to twelve pm. Kyle covers both
Speaker 1: the Sacramento Kings and the Golden State Warriors, and he
Speaker 1: is here to give us a little knowledge on bolts.
Speaker 1: Let's get right into.
Speaker 5: Kyle.
Speaker 1: I'm watching this.
Speaker 4: I'm watching this.
Speaker 1: King's vers Timberwolves game, and it feels like shifting over
Speaker 1: to the NBA, and it feels like the better the
Speaker 1: team that the Kings play, the better the King's play. Right,
Speaker 1: No Deer in Fox Tonight up nine to nine ninety six,
Speaker 1: Malik Monk solidifying his case for six Man of the Year,
Speaker 1: which is just wild that he figured out a way
Speaker 1: to snake to the top of that list. But where
Speaker 1: are we at with the Kings right now?
Speaker 6: We are at a place where the fine like they
Speaker 6: are exactly to me, they're exactly what they were last year.
Speaker 6: I've learned everything I need to know about the King.
Speaker 6: It's Domos, it's Fox. They need Keithan Murray to become
Speaker 6: more of a dude as a as a scorer and
Speaker 6: as a creator. But other than that, like everybody on
Speaker 6: that team is expendable to me, I think they need
Speaker 6: some dogs. I think they need to step up. Yeah,
Speaker 6: Malik's a dog for sure, but he's two up and
Speaker 6: down the.
Speaker 7: Oh.
Speaker 6: I'm sorry, no, no, no, no, no, I'm sorry. You're right. No,
Speaker 6: Malik Mounk is not. He is their most important player
Speaker 6: to me. But but on the other hand, tristed to
Speaker 6: that point. I think it's those four dudes. But also
Speaker 6: I think they need to make another pretty significant move
Speaker 6: if they're going to contend with the Nuggets, if they're
Speaker 6: going to contend with whatever Okac is going to become
Speaker 6: in the next couple of years, if they're going to
Speaker 6: contend with a Minnesota, a Minnesota team where Anthony Edwards
Speaker 6: kind of fully realizes what he's gonna be, I think
Speaker 6: to need to make another major move, and that might
Speaker 6: mean moving on from one of those four guys that
Speaker 6: I just mentioned, Like, that's that's kind of where I
Speaker 6: land with them as for this year. If you told
Speaker 6: me they made the playoffs and won a playoffs seras,
Speaker 6: they wouldn't be shocked. If you told me they lost
Speaker 6: in the plan and I wouldn't be shocked. And they
Speaker 6: are so up and down, and I don't you just
Speaker 6: the fact that you don't know what team you're getting
Speaker 6: on a given night is kind of their their problem right.
Speaker 2: Now, especially too though, I mean just how jammed the
Speaker 2: Western Conference is. It just makes everything that much more
Speaker 2: difficult for a team that if you go to the East,
Speaker 2: you'd be sitting there like outside of the play in
Speaker 2: tournament with not having to worry about that. And that's
Speaker 2: where I mean Golden State right now, we look at
Speaker 2: this Warriors team and say, wait, did they they figured
Speaker 2: things out a little bit?
Speaker 4: Are they?
Speaker 2: I know they're not the Warriors of the past. You've
Speaker 2: got guys coming off the bench that used to start,
Speaker 2: like Klay Thompson, but it feels like the roles have
Speaker 2: been adjusted. Steve Kerrz figured it out and they've kind
Speaker 2: of rounded that corner. Is this a Warriors team that
Speaker 2: can maybe make some noise in the playoffs.
Speaker 6: After all, man, it feels more like that with each
Speaker 6: passing win. I didn't think so at the beginning of
Speaker 6: this year, just because, I mean, you saw last year
Speaker 6: against the Lakers, they just ran out of gas. Man
Speaker 6: like Klay Thompson was dreadful in that series because he's
Speaker 6: just been hurt a couple of times, and he's coming
Speaker 6: off He's coming off a couple of injuries, and he's old,
Speaker 6: and that was kind of a problem for them. And
Speaker 6: then you get Steph I think had a little bit
Speaker 6: of the same problem because he's carrying such a heavy
Speaker 6: workload at thirty four thirty five, I think he turned
Speaker 6: thirty six this year. Like he's They've been reliant on
Speaker 6: those guys for so long. But now you get Jonathan
Speaker 6: come in who has developed into a legitimate scoring threat,
Speaker 6: Moses Moody and Andrew Willgians that's Moses Moody has been
Speaker 6: outstanding and that's something Warriors fans have kind of been clamoring.
Speaker 7: For for a while.
Speaker 6: So now all of a sudden, you have a couple
Speaker 6: of young guys who you can legitimately rely on. And
Speaker 6: Brandon Pajemski, of course, has been one of the best
Speaker 6: rukies in the NBA this year, who's closing games for them? Now,
Speaker 6: all of a sudden, you have some young guys that
Speaker 6: you can really lean on where you're taking some of
Speaker 6: the onus office down and you're putting Clay into a
Speaker 6: bench role where you're taking some of the load off
Speaker 6: of him and he can start being more effective. So
Speaker 6: I am not saying I'm going to go run and
Speaker 6: bet on the Warriors to win a title, but I
Speaker 6: am saying that I don't think that is as outrageous
Speaker 6: as I thought it was, maybe even three weeks ago.
Speaker 1: Yeah, No, they look really good. And what's fascinating to me,
Speaker 1: Kyle's it's like it's the external factors outside of Steve
Speaker 1: Kerr's control that lead Steve Kurr to finally making the
Speaker 1: right decision. Moses Moody only coming in because Andrew Wiggins
Speaker 1: has to leave due to a personal issue, Kaminga fighting
Speaker 1: with him in the media and leaking things to Schaum's,
Speaker 1: Klay Thompson just being asked, and Pajemski emerging really with
Speaker 1: the Draymond suspension, a lot of things shuffling around and
Speaker 1: then Steve Kerr gets the extension. Did you feel like
Speaker 1: when he got the extension that the timeline for this
Speaker 1: team to still contend had been extended?
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, a little bit. And I think that's a
Speaker 6: great point you make, because everything that has happened this
Speaker 6: year has been something go back, don't do this because
Speaker 6: it's awful, but just for argument's sake, go back to
Speaker 6: Warriors Twitter for the last couple of years, or who
Speaker 6: talked to any reader Warrior's blog, listening to the Warriors podcast.
Speaker 6: It's all that it's been. Start Moses, movie star JOHNA.
Speaker 6: Vigaminga move Clay to the bench, and Steve Kerr, I
Speaker 6: think is a really good coach, and I think you're
Speaker 6: kind of seeing that he was just up against this
Speaker 6: this issue of Okay, well Clay has to start and clothes,
Speaker 6: and so does Draymond and so does Steph. And it's
Speaker 6: gonna be relying heavily on veterans because that they just
Speaker 6: won a title in twenty twenty two, and so this
Speaker 6: is what they're gonna do, and they're gonna they're gonna
Speaker 6: ride it out. And that was the wrong thing to do.
Speaker 6: And now he's kind of been pushed him into the
Speaker 6: right thing to do. I think you're seeing that he's
Speaker 6: a he's a really good coach. It just kind of
Speaker 6: took a little bit of a forced push to get
Speaker 6: him where he needed to go.
Speaker 2: So I assume at this point we can just go
Speaker 2: with Clay Thompson is going to be coming off the
Speaker 2: bench the rest of the season, then yeah.
Speaker 6: Unless it doesn't sound like the Brandon Pajemski injury that
Speaker 6: kept him out tonight is going to be major. I
Speaker 6: think Steve Kirk called it day to day, So yeah,
Speaker 6: that would be my That would be my guess. And
Speaker 6: I hate it for Clay because I know it kills him,
Speaker 6: Like you know that he wants to be out there starting.
Speaker 6: He know he wants to be out there clothing games.
Speaker 6: But if you're being realistic, like as awesome as he's been,
Speaker 6: and I mean he's gonna have a jersey in the Raptors,
Speaker 6: he's just I think he should get a statue outside
Speaker 6: of Chase like he's been so so essential and has
Speaker 6: had so many moments. But at this point in twenty
Speaker 6: twenty four, if the Warriors are seriously going to try
Speaker 6: and contend, I think he's and I think they've realized
Speaker 6: this now. He is at his best coming off the bench,
Speaker 6: and the Warriors are their best when he's coming off
Speaker 6: the bench. And frankly, I think that's how it should
Speaker 6: be for him the rest of the way in his career.
Speaker 6: And I think he could probably extend his career several
Speaker 6: years and have a lot of good seasons doing that.
Speaker 6: So I think that's where it stays this year, and
Speaker 6: for him and for the Warriors, say, I hope it
Speaker 6: stays that way.
Speaker 1: The most improved Player market is pretty wide open after
Speaker 1: the unbeat injury. Tyree Maxi is still the favorite at
Speaker 1: minus two fifty, but super Bowl week it was minus
Speaker 1: eight hundred. But Jonathan kaminga slowly but surely working his
Speaker 1: way up. What do you think it will take for
Speaker 1: him to win Most Improved?
Speaker 6: Ooh, that's a really really good question. I think you're
Speaker 6: I think it needs to average like continue putting up
Speaker 6: like twenty plus a nine. I think that's really going
Speaker 6: to kind of have to be and doing so efficiently,
Speaker 6: and then maybe having a couple of big games like
Speaker 6: on National TV. I think I think having a huge
Speaker 6: game at the Garden last night it really helped, especially defensively.
Speaker 6: I thought he was really good last night, so I
Speaker 6: think it's that. And then I think the Warriors too
Speaker 6: have to continue their run. I think they have to.
Speaker 6: They have to finish the season really strong, maybe push
Speaker 6: for the like a seven or eight seed, maybe scare
Speaker 6: a six seed, depending on what happens in front of them.
Speaker 6: I don't think that's going to happen tho. I think
Speaker 6: there's too many good teams in front of them. But
Speaker 6: I think they would really have to make a run
Speaker 6: where they win. I don't know exactly how many games
Speaker 6: they have left, twenty three, twenty four games left. If
Speaker 6: they have twenty three games left, call it. I think
Speaker 6: they have to go like like eighteen and five and
Speaker 6: have Minga be really really good in those games to
Speaker 6: get in there.
Speaker 2: I think, well, Kaminga average twenty points a game in January,
Speaker 2: eighteen in February, so he's certainly getting on pace for
Speaker 2: somebody that should at least be in the conversation more
Speaker 2: and more as the season reps up. Kyle Madson, really
Speaker 2: appreciate you coming on with us. Thanks for the time time, guys,
Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you so much.
Speaker 6: Appreciate that.
Speaker 1: Next, let's do a quick pop in on the Denver Nugget.
Speaker 1: Shall we with Ryan Edwards, who hosts KOA Sports weekdays
Speaker 1: from three to six pm Mountain Time on KOA eight
Speaker 1: to fifty AM ninety four point one FM in Denver, Colorado.
Speaker 1: Of course, of course it's an Odyssey station. Ryan gives
Speaker 1: us a brief but interesting look at the Nuggets, which
Speaker 1: we'll get into right here.
Speaker 2: Nikolai Jokic clearly looks like an MVP this year. There's
Speaker 2: a reason why he's the favorite. Do you think that
Speaker 2: he wins another MVP when it's all said and done.
Speaker 7: I think it's his to lose. I mean, there's certainly
Speaker 7: a scenario where if the Nuggets decide to rest him
Speaker 7: down the stretch, and I think that did impact things
Speaker 7: a little bit. You mentioned the fatigue. I think that
Speaker 7: was absolutely part of it, and there were people out
Speaker 7: there in the NBA community that weren't quite ready to
Speaker 7: give nikola Jokic a third MVP and that would be
Speaker 7: three in a row. And so again, Joel Mbid had
Speaker 7: a tremendous season. I think he did deserve to be
Speaker 7: in that conversation. But the Koli Jokis was actually putting
Speaker 7: up old better numbers than the previous year last year,
Speaker 7: but they did rest him down the stretch, and I
Speaker 7: think the combination of those things ultimately went to Joelle
Speaker 7: and b this year. Yeah, Shay Gildis Alexander is just
Speaker 7: an unreal talent and he will be in that conversation.
Speaker 7: But there's nobody affecting the game like the Koleoks right now.
Speaker 7: And you see the way they've come out of the
Speaker 7: All Star Break, just triple double after every single night,
Speaker 7: that they're making a statement right now. They went into
Speaker 7: the break on a three game slide. People are like,
Speaker 7: all right, are they really bored? Is this a team
Speaker 7: that can sort of sustain and just at least have
Speaker 7: home court in the first round, And they came out
Speaker 7: on fire. They've won every game except for last night
Speaker 7: and double digits, and now you got MPG really doing
Speaker 7: his thing. AG's been great the entire time. So as
Speaker 7: long as they again health remains, I think this team
Speaker 7: they just they just know who they are and that
Speaker 7: that's a very dangerous thing for everybody else.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I was looking at some of the things that just
Speaker 1: the analytics on the Denver Nuggets, and they're not top
Speaker 1: eight in almost any statistical category. Until you start looking
Speaker 1: at their top seven, top eight guys. It feels like
Speaker 1: Michael Malone is fine to play maybe less effective players
Speaker 1: or rotations that aren't as meaningful in the regular season,
Speaker 1: but when you look at what we're going to see
Speaker 1: in the playoffs, I think that they're a monster offensively.
Speaker 1: What do you think the strategy is to keep those
Speaker 1: guys from getting worn out? Like you said, was a
Speaker 1: possibility down the stretch last.
Speaker 7: Year, Yeah, it was. It was interesting and it got
Speaker 7: tested a little bit last year. When I mean Michael
Speaker 7: Malone stuck to an eight man rotation, he just did not.
Speaker 7: He did a mess with it in the postseason, and
Speaker 7: he said going into that he's going to try to
Speaker 7: give these guys breaks where possible. But I would not
Speaker 7: be surprised if once again we get to the postseason,
Speaker 7: he's just gonna say, listen, you're our max players, you're
Speaker 7: our star players. I got to play you. We need
Speaker 7: to take this just as seriously. Everybody's gonna be give us,
Speaker 7: giving us their best shot because you're the defending champions,
Speaker 7: and they've had that mindset for a while. I think
Speaker 7: it was startling for the you know, for a lot
Speaker 7: of the young players on this team to have that
Speaker 7: target on their back coming into this year, and I
Speaker 7: think there's spend some adjustment moments in the season, but
Speaker 7: I think they've kind of figured that out now about
Speaker 7: what they're going to get night in, night out. And again,
Speaker 7: I think I think some of those trials and tribulations
Speaker 7: this year have ultimately led them to a place where
Speaker 7: they're they're comfortable being in their own skin and comfortable
Speaker 7: with teams coming after them. So I think we're going
Speaker 7: to get back to that eight man rotation of the
Speaker 7: postseason starts. But yeah, you might see some weird lineups
Speaker 7: over the next couple of weeks.
Speaker 2: Ryan Edwards, Koi Spards and ed were great to talk
Speaker 2: to you, man.
Speaker 7: Thanks you done.
Speaker 1: Finally, let's talk to Kurt Healin, the NBA writer for
Speaker 1: NBC Sports. Kurt is going to make it all make
Speaker 1: sense for us, So no more filibustering. Let's get right
Speaker 1: into that interview. A lot of great information.
Speaker 2: If you bring on Kurt Healing. He's a lead NBA
Speaker 2: rider managing editor for nbcsports dot Com. And you know,
Speaker 2: we look at the Celtics team, man, and you see
Speaker 2: so much talent. You see, so just every like they
Speaker 2: like adding Kristaps worzinkis brought like a whole new dimension
Speaker 2: in this team. With Drew Holliday on top of that,
Speaker 2: it just feels like you said this during the break,
Speaker 2: So I'm not gonna pretend that this wasn't you that
Speaker 2: said it from the beginning, but we all agreed. We
Speaker 2: kind of feel like we're on a collision course for
Speaker 2: Boston and Denver in the NBA Finals as long as
Speaker 2: both these teams stay healthy.
Speaker 8: Exactly, and like tonight's a great example where we're like, well,
Speaker 8: Denver's been playing a lot better defense, and Gafford really
Speaker 8: fits with them, and that gives them a couple bigs,
Speaker 8: and their minutes have looked really good, and yeah, they
Speaker 8: can't beat Boston. It's just Boston's just the best team
Speaker 8: in the NBA right now. Denver can be that way,
Speaker 8: and frankly has looked that way the last what since
Speaker 8: the break, maybe like for the last few games where
Speaker 8: they're kind of in a tough stretch of the schedule
Speaker 8: and you could see them like gear up and get serious,
Speaker 8: and I would say that's bad news for the Lakers.
Speaker 8: Yet I don't know if anything I haven't seen anything
Speaker 8: officially yet on Jamal Murray unless you guys have seen it.
Speaker 8: I haven't seen it yet, but I can't imagine he plays.
Speaker 8: So maybe there's a door, maybe that door's open a little,
Speaker 8: But even then, I just I don't see anything that
Speaker 8: gets in the way of that collision.
Speaker 5: Course.
Speaker 8: They're just every time I try to talk myself into hey,
Speaker 8: Cleveland's playing really well, you know, I just can't get there.
Speaker 1: We were talking about confidence ratings in the West, Kurt
Speaker 1: and the only other team that I have a high
Speaker 1: level of confidence in other than Denver in the West.
Speaker 1: Not that they they don't have talent, not that they're
Speaker 1: not playing well or they have the horses, but then
Speaker 1: I actually feel good in what they've accomplished before this
Speaker 1: year moving forward, and that's the ten Spot Warriors. They're
Speaker 1: playing really well in their last I don't know, twenty
Speaker 1: five games or so on the road. The road record
Speaker 1: is great against the spread road favorite is also really great.
Speaker 1: They end up getting the dub by, you know, ten
Speaker 1: points or so to the Raptors tonight, even though the
Speaker 1: Raptors kept it close.
Speaker 4: For you, is there any is that right?
Speaker 1: Do you feel like the Warriors have started to figure
Speaker 1: some things out.
Speaker 5: I would say this. I do think they've started to
Speaker 5: figure things out. They found their identity, and it took
Speaker 5: Steve Kerr a long time.
Speaker 8: To get there because it meant not going with Keevon Looney,
Speaker 8: who I don't know. Look, last year he was pretty
Speaker 8: good and this year it's just fell off a cliff
Speaker 8: and Wiggins, you know, is on the back of a
Speaker 8: milk carton somewhere for much of this season. Like so
Speaker 8: like it took him a long time to get around to.
Speaker 8: We gotta play Kamingo, we gotta play pods, you know,
Speaker 8: Klay Thompson coming off the bench. But now that they're
Speaker 8: leaning into that, it worked with Draymond has played great
Speaker 8: since coming back from his suspension. They're playing better basketball.
Speaker 8: But I still think they just you can bully them
Speaker 8: a little bit. They're a little bit small, they don't
Speaker 8: quite have the same depth. I just I feel like
Speaker 8: they can only get there, and I think everybody, a
Speaker 8: lot of teams in the wester this way.
Speaker 5: It's all about matchups and avoiding Denver.
Speaker 8: Like, if they can find a way to get a
Speaker 8: good matchup, maybe they can Maybe they can surprise Minnesota
Speaker 8: or somebody or Okayce who doesn't have the playoff experience
Speaker 8: in the first round and make a little run. But
Speaker 8: I feel like everything's got to break.
Speaker 5: Just right for them. Lakers kind of the same way.
Speaker 8: Right, if everything breaks just right, we've got a chance.
Speaker 8: But those are long odds for that to happen. Man
Speaker 8: the other team, by the way, I have confidence in
Speaker 8: sort of. I do think the Clippers can get there.
Speaker 8: I'm just worried that in the last as much as
Speaker 8: we've talked them up, and I'm one of those people
Speaker 8: like you know, you know, I think.
Speaker 5: They've got the talent al this. They're just not executing
Speaker 5: of late, like the last few weeks. They're just stagnant,
Speaker 5: almost in February.
Speaker 8: And if they don't start executing, if they don't start
Speaker 8: you know, to use Kawi's words, they don't stop winning
Speaker 8: on just talent, They're not gonna get there.
Speaker 1: You mentioned the Warriors and the Lakers, and if the
Speaker 1: playoffs were to start right now, they would have to
Speaker 1: play one another, just like they did in twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1: Nine to ten. Spot loser goes to the crib and
Speaker 1: licks their wounds. That is what I need in my
Speaker 1: veins injected into me.
Speaker 4: Kurt, who wins that game?
Speaker 5: To you, that's a really good question.
Speaker 8: I kind of think weirdly, I think that could be
Speaker 8: better for the Lakers in that the way you can
Speaker 8: beat these Warriors is push them around a little bit.
Speaker 5: Just be too big, too strong for them. They aren't.
Speaker 8: Lakers are a big team with Ruy Hatchamura starting, and
Speaker 8: leron and ad like, they are a physically large team.
Speaker 5: I think this is a pretty good matchup for them.
Speaker 8: But it's one game, and Steph Curry, Steph Curry, he
Speaker 8: could just hey, here's forty and I've gonna hit seven
Speaker 8: threes and there's nothing you can do about it. You
Speaker 8: could also have those I mean, Clay's looked great off
Speaker 8: the bench. They have enough guys who can get hot.
Speaker 8: So I mean, it's one game. It's that NCAA tournament excitement.
Speaker 8: I think there's a lot of people, though, who are
Speaker 8: with you. There's a lot of US fans who are
Speaker 8: like that would be awesome in the first round that
Speaker 8: would or you know, the play in that would be
Speaker 8: so much fun. Win or go home game between those
Speaker 8: two and then a bunch of ABC and TNT executives
Speaker 8: would be crying that night.
Speaker 5: Once it's over.
Speaker 2: The Warriors are in that spot where, like trist had
Speaker 2: just brought up, like they're playing great basketball. We're getting
Speaker 2: to that spot where you go, well, yeah, this is
Speaker 2: the Warriors. They've got the experience, They're turning it up
Speaker 2: at the right time. Maybe they do go on a
Speaker 2: run in the East. We really started to feel that way,
Speaker 2: at least on this show about the Miami Heat. They're
Speaker 2: a team that went out and made, you know, some
Speaker 2: moves this season add a little more scoring punch. Maybe
Speaker 2: if Terry Rozier can stay consistent, if Tyler Hero can
Speaker 2: stay healthy. So you have a lot of these, But
Speaker 2: then we also know Jimmy Butler's Jimmy Butler in the playoffs,
Speaker 2: Bam Autebio's continuing to get better and better. And we're
Speaker 2: looking at a team now that's been in a really
Speaker 2: good stretch of basketball, especially defensively. There's concerns about what
Speaker 2: they do offensively. But do you look at that Heat
Speaker 2: team as a team that can maybe do something similar
Speaker 2: this year that they did last year.
Speaker 5: I don't think they can get.
Speaker 8: By Boston, but beyond that, yes, absolutely, and it's it's
Speaker 8: Jim Hawke is giving them the second scoring option out
Speaker 8: of anywhere. By the way, if you want to watch
Speaker 8: Laker fans cry, bring up that they passed him up
Speaker 8: in the draft, the local UCLA kid that they saw
Speaker 8: for four years.
Speaker 5: It tortures them, but I think they can.
Speaker 8: I think that things again in terms of confidence factor,
Speaker 8: Boston's up here, and then it's what's left with Joel
Speaker 8: Embiid and do you really trust Cleveland?
Speaker 5: And the Knicks still need a guy right.
Speaker 8: As much as I love the way they play, they
Speaker 8: also Tom Thibodeau teams play eighty two playoff games a
Speaker 8: year and sometimes can't find that next gear when they
Speaker 8: get into the postseeds or.
Speaker 5: They gonna be ready all through that.
Speaker 8: You look at Miami and the way they're hitting their
Speaker 8: stride right now, And like you said, we know Jimmy
Speaker 8: Butler's got in a playoff.
Speaker 5: Jimmy, he doesn't want to believe, say that's a real thing.
Speaker 5: It's a real.
Speaker 8: Thing, right, Jimmy Butler is gonna come in and play great,
Speaker 8: and they absolutely could make a run I think to
Speaker 8: the conference finals if things broke their way. I just
Speaker 8: ultimately I don't think they can get past Boston with Porzingis.
Speaker 8: This year that Porzingis creates Porzingis creates matchup nightmares for them,
Speaker 8: but he kind of does everyone.
Speaker 1: Yeah, That's what I was gonna ask you about, is
Speaker 1: that the Celtics right now are making it look so easy.
Speaker 1: You got four or five guys on any given night
Speaker 1: that can be in double digits. You've got Derek White
Speaker 1: having the best season of his entire career, probably gonna
Speaker 1: get all NBA or all defense. Right. You've got same
Speaker 1: thing going on with Drew Holliday, one of the best
Speaker 1: defenders in the NBA, and they use him in so
Speaker 1: many different ways. What do you see with your own
Speaker 1: two eyes about how different this Celtics like makeup is
Speaker 1: since versus say, last year.
Speaker 8: I think two things. It's it's Holiday on defense, that holiday.
Speaker 8: I mean, now you've got Porzingis, who's a big in
Speaker 8: the middle. But now between Brown, Tatum, Holiday, and White,
Speaker 8: you're starting four guys who can switch a lot almost everything,
Speaker 8: who there's no weak linked defensively, that's huge. There's nobody
Speaker 8: you can just target, right, there's nobody you can just
Speaker 8: go at. This's quite the same way. And then on offense,
Speaker 8: it is Porzingis, Porzingis. Boston fans are knocking on Wood
Speaker 8: every time we say his name, right, just like keep
Speaker 8: the knees healthy through the playoffs. But he is such
Speaker 8: a matchup problem because he pulls your big out. He
Speaker 8: can put it on the floor a little. But the
Speaker 8: things he's just he is a ramped up version of
Speaker 8: what Al Horford could give them last year. In the
Speaker 8: last couple of years, he's a better version of that.
Speaker 8: And it's just there's no good answer. I mean, their
Speaker 8: top six is the best top six in the league.
Speaker 2: Kirk got about a minute left tiers. So when you
Speaker 2: talked about the knicks, it made me think of something,
Speaker 2: and it was right. Eighty two eighty two playoff games.
Speaker 2: Tom Thibodeau, we know he's always been notorious kind of
Speaker 2: running his guys into the ground. Are all these injuries
Speaker 2: maybe a little bit of a result of that again, maybe.
Speaker 8: You know it tends to be the more wear and
Speaker 8: tear on that. I think, you know, the the Randall
Speaker 8: things a bit of a fluke. The Mitchell thing, I'm
Speaker 8: not sure we can blame on him, So I think
Speaker 8: I'm gonna give them a cut him some slack this year.
Speaker 8: But Thibodeau feels like the kind of coach where as
Speaker 8: a GM you almost have to put together a roster
Speaker 8: that forces him. You know, hey, let's take this player
Speaker 8: away from him so he doesn't lean on him too much.
Speaker 8: Let's do this to kind of try to get him
Speaker 8: to lean into those other minutes for guys and keeps
Speaker 8: guys minutes down and keep them rested.
Speaker 5: Because it's not in his nature. You've kind of got
Speaker 5: to force him to do it.
Speaker 2: Tell you what is a tortured Knicks ban, Kurt? I
Speaker 2: would love to see. I would love to see this
Speaker 2: team just get healthy, just so there's something to be
Speaker 2: excited about.
Speaker 5: But an you guys even know what to.
Speaker 2: No, no, we just expected Leon Rose to completely ruin
Speaker 2: this whole thing. Thought Jalen Brunson was a complete disaster,
Speaker 2: and it's like maybe maybe he knows what he's doing.
Speaker 2: As long as James Dolan stays out of the way,
Speaker 2: they may actually still have a future here if these
Speaker 2: guys can stay healthy. Kurt Healing, nbcsports dot Com. Great
Speaker 2: to talk to you, man, Thanks for coming on, Thanks having.
Speaker 4: Thanks Church.
Speaker 1: That's all the time that we had for this episode
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