Speaker 1: Welcome back to bully Ball, presented by DraftKings. I'm Rachel
Speaker 1: Nichols here at DraftKings headquarters. Look, there's like the fancy
Speaker 1: symbol behind me. I'm very official today. And backstate side,
Speaker 1: mister Boogie Cousins in a Lakers jersey? What the hell
Speaker 1: is going on?
Speaker 2: Please?
Speaker 3: You know I'm on a little vacation right now. I'm
Speaker 3: feeling good. I'm feeling great, so I had to throw
Speaker 3: in some greatness. So I threw up. I brought out
Speaker 3: the Kobe eight.
Speaker 1: All right. No, I just want to clare this Kobe
Speaker 1: jersey more than a Lakers jersey. Right. You're not trying
Speaker 1: to send us some signal, are you? Okay? Second, I
Speaker 1: don't know. You could be the next coach who knows
Speaker 1: things have been crazy this last couple of days. Yes.
Speaker 1: By the way, I learned that over in Taiwan. Not
Speaker 1: only did you win the finals in the sweep, not
Speaker 1: only were you MVP, I learned this morning that you
Speaker 1: were voted most popular player.
Speaker 2: I was. I was.
Speaker 3: I thought it should have been most handsome. But you know,
Speaker 3: I'll tell you most popular.
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, this is like your book superlatives,
Speaker 1: Like I just I don't know most likely to succeed
Speaker 1: answer right, yeah.
Speaker 3: I need all that. But you know, I'm grateful for
Speaker 3: my time there. It was an amazing experience. You know,
Speaker 3: we finished off the right way, which was winning the championship.
Speaker 3: So I couldn't ask for a better, you know, experience
Speaker 3: in Taiwan.
Speaker 1: And now you're in the Florida Panhandle and all's right
Speaker 1: with the world.
Speaker 2: Everything's moving moving forward. I love it. I'm in a
Speaker 2: great place.
Speaker 1: Everything's coming up. Fugging it is not coming up to
Speaker 1: Dallas Mavericks though. This is a Celtics series all the
Speaker 1: way so far in these finals. And look, you and
Speaker 1: I talked about this a week ago about just how
Speaker 1: much depth the Celtics had, right that even if you decided,
Speaker 1: you know, I and I got into this last week.
Speaker 1: But I think Luca is still sort of in terms
Speaker 1: of best player overall. I think he's the best player
Speaker 1: in this series. I just don't think that they have,
Speaker 1: you know, Dallas as anywhere near the next maybe what
Speaker 1: three best players. I mean, I just think that the
Speaker 1: Mavericks just don't have the depth to match the Celtics.
Speaker 1: I don't know where you'd put Kyrie in those rankings,
Speaker 1: but if you look at where Boston is, they've got
Speaker 1: every position and they can go five out and we've
Speaker 1: just seen that succeed with them over and over so
Speaker 1: far in these first two games.
Speaker 2: Man, We've talked about it all year.
Speaker 3: To ask what I'm most impressed about is I'm not
Speaker 3: impressed because honestly, this was expected. I've been I've been
Speaker 3: preaching the Celtics all year, and I don't want to
Speaker 3: take credit like this isn't a well known thing, but
Speaker 3: you know, the Celtics were, you know, built for this stage.
Speaker 3: They weren't concerned about regular season, they weren't concerned about
Speaker 3: you know, individual accolades, any of those things. They built
Speaker 3: this team to win the championship. They're the most well
Speaker 3: put together team in my opinion. They fit every need.
Speaker 3: They have role guys that could literally be stars on
Speaker 3: other teams, and obviously that's you know, many other teams
Speaker 3: can say that. But the difference is they have star
Speaker 3: guys that are fitting the role player type of role,
Speaker 3: that are bought in into this role as well. So
Speaker 3: I think that's what you know, separates this team. I
Speaker 3: don't think anybody and obviously it's this bullshit, you know,
Speaker 3: media push to try to continue to push these guys
Speaker 3: apart as far as jalb Brown and Jason Tatum.
Speaker 1: Oh that is not a media push, my friend. That
Speaker 1: was a Jason Kidd special. That was a spil Desoda move, which,
Speaker 1: by the way, he was already doing that. That he
Speaker 1: was already doing that after Game one actually told me
Speaker 1: more than almost anything else between the two games. When
Speaker 1: he brought that out after Game one, I was like, Oh,
Speaker 1: I don't know, this is kind of early to be
Speaker 1: bringing out the Jalen Jason thing. What does that tell
Speaker 1: you about his confidence in his team?
Speaker 3: Then you know, it might it might be they might
Speaker 3: be pressing that button early, Like it's time to panic
Speaker 3: a little bit. These guys are a lot better than
Speaker 3: we thought. But man, this Celtics team, they're they're legit.
Speaker 3: And you know, I don't I see the Mavericks possibly
Speaker 3: getting the game. You know, game three, I can see,
Speaker 3: you know, first home game. You know, they come out
Speaker 3: with a lot of energy. Luke and Kyrie play out
Speaker 3: of that mind. Kyrie will finally find his groove. But
Speaker 3: you know, this is this is the Celtics year, and
Speaker 3: it's it's been said all year. They've been dominant, which
Speaker 3: I've said time and time again. They've shown it throughout
Speaker 3: these playoffs. Obviously, you know, people are a little fans
Speaker 3: and the media a little upset that they don't see
Speaker 3: this team being challenged the way they would like it to.
Speaker 3: But that just goes to show how good this Celtish
Speaker 3: team really really is. And you know it's there, you yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean, look, obviously when they got through Holiday, it
Speaker 1: was such a game changer, and it's there's so much
Speaker 1: irony for Milwaukee that they made the trade for Damian
Speaker 1: Lillard to be able to beat teams like Boston, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, that was the idea, let's get back out
Speaker 1: of the Eastern Conference. Let's be the NBA Finals team
Speaker 1: out of the East. And they were so hot on
Speaker 1: acquiring Dame, and they knew they'd have to give up
Speaker 1: Drew to do it. They lost control of where Drew
Speaker 1: would go. A lot of teams if they're going to
Speaker 1: give up a player of that caliber, they want them
Speaker 1: in the other conference, right, they want to be careful
Speaker 1: about where they're sending them. By sending him to Portland,
Speaker 1: then Portland got control and then it was just about
Speaker 1: what was the best deal for Portland. They don't care
Speaker 1: if he goes to Boston. In fact, better for them
Speaker 1: that he goes all the way out east. So there
Speaker 1: is an irony there if you're Milwaukee and watching all this.
Speaker 1: I think Drew has made a spectacular difference. Christaps Porzingis
Speaker 1: obviously has made a spectacular difference, and it's what this
Speaker 1: team needed. I mean, this was a team that was
Speaker 1: already a conference finals caliber team. They this year was
Speaker 1: their sixth time in eight years going to the conference finals.
Speaker 1: They've been to the NBA Finals two years ago. So
Speaker 1: we knew the roster offense team, and we knew the
Speaker 1: talent level and the Jason and Jalen and all of that.
Speaker 1: But the fact that Drew came in and has been
Speaker 1: able to do what he has been able to do,
Speaker 1: and Kristaps has made such a game changing difference in
Speaker 1: the way their offense can run. I just think going
Speaker 1: into this series, we talked about it, it was so
Speaker 1: obvious sort of all the ways around the court they
Speaker 1: were going to be able to both defend and make
Speaker 1: a press going forward against Dallas. Now everybody was waiting
Speaker 1: for the other shoot to drop though on They're going
Speaker 1: to have a bad three point shooting game, right, I mean,
Speaker 1: that's always the Achilles heel for the Celtics. They take
Speaker 1: the most threes in the NBA. They actually make the
Speaker 1: most threes in the NBA, but they have games where
Speaker 1: they just you know, can't hit the side of a barn.
Speaker 1: And we did see to a degree that's what they
Speaker 1: got in Game two. No one on that Celtics team
Speaker 1: was shooting well from three. They were ten of thirty
Speaker 1: nine twenty five percent from three last night. Now they
Speaker 1: made up for it inside the arc, they were what
Speaker 1: twenty eight to forty five, sixty two percent from two.
Speaker 1: But it was that in a game that Dallas was
Speaker 1: hoping for. That was the game the Mavericks should have
Speaker 1: been able to take advantage of, right when Dallas wasn't
Speaker 1: doing the thing it does best, and they couldn't. And
Speaker 1: I think that was very telling. You said, you can
Speaker 1: see the MAVs winning a game at home. What can
Speaker 1: they do differently to win game three? I mean, they
Speaker 1: don't have that deep challeng advantage, but they do have
Speaker 1: Luka dancrec What do you think could make the difference
Speaker 1: that they could win the Game three at home?
Speaker 3: Well, Obviously, the biggest thing would be, you know, you
Speaker 3: want to get Kyrie Rover.
Speaker 2: You know he struggled so far in this series.
Speaker 3: And you know you can credit Boston's defense because they
Speaker 3: they have so many guys that can guard deposition well
Speaker 3: guard Kyrie.
Speaker 2: You have multiple bodies.
Speaker 3: Everybody in those switch type situations bring length, bring height.
Speaker 3: So that's something that you know could bother Kyrie when
Speaker 3: it comes to scoring the ball consistently. But at the
Speaker 3: same time, I feel like this is something that you know,
Speaker 3: Kyrie being one of the best scores this league has ever seen,
Speaker 3: it's about him kind of figuring out their defensive scheme,
Speaker 3: finding his spots, finding you know, where can I become
Speaker 3: effective in my offensive abilities in this series. You know
Speaker 3: it's gonna be different looks than he's used to when
Speaker 3: it comes to the playoffs. You know, your first, second,
Speaker 3: and third options are studied. Their study hard, your tendencies,
Speaker 3: you're intangibles, all that is study hard. So you know,
Speaker 3: the Celtics defense knows exactly what he wants to do
Speaker 3: with those first, second, and third options. So now it's
Speaker 3: time for Kyrie to get to the fourth, fifth, and
Speaker 3: six options, and everybody doesn't have that ability. But I
Speaker 3: said earlier, this is one of the best scores this
Speaker 3: league has ever seen. So he's one of those guys
Speaker 3: that have that many options when it comes to scoring
Speaker 3: the basketball. So I think he will have a great
Speaker 3: showing eventually. I'm thinking Game three will be that that
Speaker 3: first home game.
Speaker 2: Obviously, you have the home crowd, that energy, you.
Speaker 3: Know sometimes that's needed to kind of get you over
Speaker 3: the hump and to help you find that rhythm. So
Speaker 3: I think he will have a better showing Game three.
Speaker 3: And I think this is a chance for the Mavericks
Speaker 3: to get a game in this series. I don't think
Speaker 3: it changes much, you know, long term when it comes
Speaker 3: to who wins this series, but we will see a
Speaker 3: better showing from the Mavericks. Well.
Speaker 1: Look, I mean they've played The Celtics played nearly one
Speaker 1: hundred games if you count the regular season in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: and they're seventy eight and twenty. So the idea that
Speaker 1: a team that is seventy eight and twenty would somehow
Speaker 1: lose four of their next five is I can't see it.
Speaker 1: I mean, I just don't see a way for Dallas
Speaker 1: to come back, even though we've had some two comebacks
Speaker 1: even somewhat recently, right with Milwaukee winning its series after
Speaker 1: being down oh two. But it's much harder to see
Speaker 1: against the Celtics team. Kyrie is going to have to
Speaker 1: get going if there's anything, anything, any shot of this happening.
Speaker 1: You mentioned that guys are studying him in film. What
Speaker 1: is that like during a playoff series when you guys
Speaker 1: are watching film and breaking down one guy and you
Speaker 1: know everyone's seeing Kyrie irving for you know, fifteen years now.
Speaker 1: But but what is it that the Celtics are doing
Speaker 1: in these film sessions as they're looking at Kyrie and
Speaker 1: the way he scored against Minnesota?
Speaker 3: Well one, well one, you have your you know, you
Speaker 3: have your team film where you know everybody's sitting down
Speaker 3: together and you know we're going over. You know, Kyrie
Speaker 3: likes when he's on the left side of the floor.
Speaker 3: He loves to drive right and get back left or
Speaker 3: spin back left or whatever the case may be.
Speaker 2: But then you you.
Speaker 3: Break it down even further after you have that team
Speaker 3: film session, then it goes down to individual sessions, whereas
Speaker 3: the guy that's the primary matchup in the series, or
Speaker 3: that night where we're going to eat an even deeper
Speaker 3: dive of what his tendencies are, what his habits are,
Speaker 3: you know, his favorite spots on both sides of the floor.
Speaker 2: In the middle of the floor.
Speaker 3: You know, what's his favorite way to finish with his
Speaker 3: right hand compared to his left hand. Then you start
Speaker 3: breaking down the percentages. Well, when he goes left, he
Speaker 3: may shoot, you know, fifty percent, compared to going right,
Speaker 3: he shoots about forty six percent. So in this series
Speaker 3: you want to try to get them more to his right.
Speaker 3: So you know, that's usually the breakdown when it comes to,
Speaker 3: you know, figuring out a guy's tendencies. And you know,
Speaker 3: obviously you can talk about it and preach it and
Speaker 3: study at all you want, but it's a lot easier
Speaker 3: said than done. But as so far, you know, the
Speaker 3: Celtics team has done a good job defensively. But uh,
Speaker 3: you know, Kyrie being the wizard that he is, the
Speaker 3: you know, I do think we'll see a big improvement
Speaker 3: on the offensive side of the ball because not only
Speaker 3: is he not only is he being studied, but he's
Speaker 3: also doing the study in himself. And all right, I
Speaker 3: see how these guys are playing me. He's going back
Speaker 3: watching film as well. You know, they're having their team
Speaker 3: field session, then he's having his individual When I have
Speaker 3: Jaylen Brown on me, when he closes out, you know,
Speaker 3: he closes out left to push me right, so I
Speaker 3: may want to top attack his top foot to put
Speaker 3: him off balance, to get to you know, breaking it
Speaker 3: down in those type of ways. So you know, the
Speaker 3: game is being studied on both sides, and like I said,
Speaker 3: Kyrie being a wizard that he is, I do feel
Speaker 3: we'll see and improved.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think this is skill upon skill, right.
Speaker 1: I mean, if you look at the Minnesota series, he
Speaker 1: topped thirty points in three out of the four games,
Speaker 1: and that's just because as good as Minnesota's team defense is,
Speaker 1: they don't have the individual defenders the way the Celtics do, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, they just don't have those highly highly, highly
Speaker 1: skilled defensive specialists. And you've got two All NBA defensive
Speaker 1: team players on the Celtics. You've got a third in
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown who certainly easily he was the first guy
Speaker 1: left off. He easily could have been on that roster.
Speaker 1: So the idea that you have three individual defenders who
Speaker 1: can really go at Kyrie, I thought Drew Holliday's defense
Speaker 1: on Kyrie in particular for the first two games has
Speaker 1: been exceptional, and there's one of the reasons that, I mean,
Speaker 1: we'll talk about MVP later in this show, but he
Speaker 1: has played so well through the first two games, not
Speaker 1: only offensively, but just defensively. And it's that defense one.
Speaker 1: Because Ryrie is so special, right, I mean, we saw
Speaker 1: during that last round during the Conference finals that he
Speaker 1: can just pick teams apart, even great defenses apart. But
Speaker 1: when you have individuals like Drew Holliday, when you have
Speaker 1: a guy like Derek White out there, I do think
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown, I do think it makes such a difference
Speaker 1: in limiting what he can do. He's shooting just thirty
Speaker 1: five percent overall. He's got no made three pointers in
Speaker 1: the first two games of this series, twenty eight points
Speaker 1: total in the first two games of this series. So
Speaker 1: there's just no question that not only are the role
Speaker 1: players going to have to play better at home, and
Speaker 1: we haven't seen great play out of the role players
Speaker 1: so far, Kyrie is going to have to play better
Speaker 1: at home. I do wonder if in front of that
Speaker 1: home crowd he's more comfortable. He went into this series
Speaker 1: being you know, I'm so zen about the Boston crowd,
Speaker 1: and I've worked this out, and I've talked it through
Speaker 1: off the court, and I know how my feelings are
Speaker 1: and all of those things. He made that comment after
Speaker 1: Game one, he said, Oh, I thought it would be
Speaker 1: louder in here, which I thought was sort of a
Speaker 1: weird tweak of the crowd. I don't know why he
Speaker 1: felt like he needed to get into that. I saw
Speaker 1: him going back and forth a little bit with you
Speaker 1: know fans last night when I was in the arena,
Speaker 1: and I just I do wonder. It's been so long
Speaker 1: since he's won a game against Boston, and I do
Speaker 1: wonder if, as much as he sort of was able
Speaker 1: to categorize it on the way into the series, if
Speaker 1: actually being in the situation was a little distracting for him. Obviously,
Speaker 1: you know, the Celtics closing all his windows was also
Speaker 1: very distracting for him. But I do think in front
Speaker 1: of that home I do think in front of that
Speaker 1: home crowd, I hope that he's more comfortable, just because
Speaker 1: we'd love to see this's become a little bit more
Speaker 1: of a series, and we'd love to see a good game,
Speaker 1: you know, competitive game toward the end. Have you ever
Speaker 1: wondered if Chet Holmgren might be a descendant of Abraham
Speaker 1: Lincoln or if a UFC fighter could beat an alien
Speaker 1: in a fight. Well maybe you haven't, and that's okay.
Speaker 1: But Chase Serrano and Jason Concepsi owned from six trophies.
Speaker 1: Well they certainly have. If you're like me and you'd
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Speaker 1: you can after you're done listening to Bullyball, you gotta
Speaker 1: listen to six trophies. Every week. Shay and Jason serve
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Speaker 1: patented mix of joy banter, pop culture side quests. They
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Speaker 1: You might win some, but you just lost one trophy
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Speaker 1: over to the Boston side and Jason Tatum, you know,
Speaker 1: it's interesting to look at his numbers here because he
Speaker 1: hasn't had a great offensive series. I think the guys
Speaker 1: can call it up here. Let's see, he hasn't been
Speaker 1: scored anywhere near his average in the first two games.
Speaker 1: He has been leading the Celtics and rebounding. He has
Speaker 1: been leading the Celtics and assists. That's one thing that
Speaker 1: Joe Miszula talked about last night was, you know, when
Speaker 1: he came in Joe as the coach, one of his
Speaker 1: big focuses with Tatum was all the ways you can
Speaker 1: impact the game, and that Jason has heard so much
Speaker 1: his young career because he was such remember I mean
Speaker 1: the first Conference finals, he was such a revelation, right
Speaker 1: just knocking the ball down, talking about Kobe being his hero.
Speaker 1: You know, so much scoring that we just thought that
Speaker 1: was all that was the key to any game that
Speaker 1: he would have would be based on scoring. And Joe
Speaker 1: has really worked with him over these two years to
Speaker 1: make sure that if his you know, shots aren't hitting,
Speaker 1: he is impacting the game in a huge way. Do
Speaker 1: you feel like he does need to up his scoring
Speaker 1: or this team is so complete in so many other ways.
Speaker 1: If he comes out of this series and they win
Speaker 1: the NBA Finals but someone else's finals MVP, that's going
Speaker 1: to be just fine.
Speaker 2: Oh man.
Speaker 3: When it comes to this Celtics team, it's they're so
Speaker 3: good and so talented and so deep. Jason Tatum and
Speaker 3: Jalen Brown could struggle and they could steal win games.
Speaker 3: It's that much talent, not only in the starting five,
Speaker 3: but it's just on that roster in general. I don't
Speaker 3: take this as a knock to Jason Tatum. He has
Speaker 3: a partner in crime, and I don't want to say,
Speaker 3: you know, a sidekick, because I don't look at these
Speaker 3: guys as sidekicks. No matter how you want to try
Speaker 3: to put the narrative on this combo. It's funny because
Speaker 3: when you think about we can go to the other
Speaker 3: side and talk about Kyrie and Luca, and nobody says
Speaker 3: it's Kyrie is Luca's sidekick. Yeah, they say it's his
Speaker 3: partner in crime, Like you know, they're one A, one B,
Speaker 3: whatever the case may be. So I don't understand why
Speaker 3: it's not the same narrative when it comes to the
Speaker 3: Celtics team and Jason Tatum and Jylen Brown, And that's
Speaker 3: exactly how I view it.
Speaker 1: With Luca and Kyrie. There's such an age difference there
Speaker 1: that I feel like, even though no one's like, oh,
Speaker 1: Kyrie's lucas sidekick, everyone knows Lucas the better player, and
Speaker 1: there's no battling over that because it's just not even
Speaker 1: a question. With Tatum and Brown, I think because they
Speaker 1: came into you know, a year apart, because they were
Speaker 1: both number three picks, because they're both so close in age,
Speaker 1: I think that's where there's been this natural like, oh,
Speaker 1: who's better, who's the one A guy of the one
Speaker 1: A and one B? Don't you right?
Speaker 3: Well maybe, but it still doesn't make sense because regardless
Speaker 3: of who's one A, one B, who's the first option,
Speaker 3: second option? This combination has found success since they've been together,
Speaker 3: and that's all that should really matter.
Speaker 2: Obviously, they can.
Speaker 3: Play well enough together to make it to where it's
Speaker 3: a team's success. They win games, they're on the ultimate
Speaker 3: stage yearly They're in the playoffs yearly, so I don't
Speaker 3: see the issue with who's better who's It doesn't matter.
Speaker 3: At the end of the day, if they win a championship,
Speaker 3: Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown are champions, and that's all
Speaker 3: it should be talk. That's all that should be talked about.
Speaker 3: But to go back to answering that question when it
Speaker 3: comes to that, I'm okay with Jason Tatum, you know,
Speaker 3: maturing in his game, becoming a better playmaker, becoming a
Speaker 3: guy that can kind of facilitate and make the guys
Speaker 3: around him better instead of focusing on scoring thirty. He
Speaker 3: can give us twenty five and also be just as
Speaker 3: effective on the defensive end, you know, him averaging twenty
Speaker 3: five and Jalen Brown averaging twenty five. I'm okay with that.
Speaker 1: Hit eighteen points in Game two, sixteen points in Game one,
Speaker 1: He's shooting thirty one percent from the floor. To your point,
Speaker 1: he can do all of that and they're still winning
Speaker 1: high level basketball games in the NBA Finals against an
Speaker 1: excellent team and Luka Donca who scored. I think he
Speaker 1: hit twenty points with still ten minutes to go in
Speaker 1: the half last night, So obviously they don't need him
Speaker 1: to do more, but I think he would like to
Speaker 1: do more. And I think that if he can get
Speaker 1: through these finals with having at least one really you know,
Speaker 1: high scoring game, I think that will sort of go
Speaker 1: a long way confidence wise, not that he needs it.
Speaker 1: He obviously is playing pretty confident out there.
Speaker 3: I'm sure individually he would would love to be, you know,
Speaker 3: making every shot averaging thirty. But you know that's not realistic.
Speaker 3: Sometimes you have slumps and sometimes you don't have the
Speaker 3: best shooting series. But I'm a firm believer and if
Speaker 3: you play the game the right way, when with good intentions,
Speaker 3: everything's gonna kind of fall into place. It's when you
Speaker 3: start trying to force I got to make sure I'm
Speaker 3: the MVP, or that's when you start digging a deeper hole.
Speaker 2: For yourself and then shit can go to shit, if
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. So, yep, I appreciate his approach.
Speaker 2: I respect his approach.
Speaker 3: At the end of the day, if we win, we
Speaker 3: all win, and that should be the team mindset, you know,
Speaker 3: finishing out this series. I think they've shown it all
Speaker 3: year that they're a very unselfish team, regardless of you
Speaker 3: know how we try to twist the narrative, but I
Speaker 3: think this approach and how their mindsets are focused on
Speaker 3: just winning the championship is part of the reason they're
Speaker 3: at this point now in the season. Because as much
Speaker 3: talent as they added to this roster, if it was
Speaker 3: a little bit of ego in the way, it could
Speaker 3: have completely crumbled for the Celtics team. So you have
Speaker 3: to give them credit for how they were able to
Speaker 3: manage their egos, play for one another, put you know,
Speaker 3: put their own personal you know, goals aside for the
Speaker 3: ultimate goal, which is winning the championship. And like I said,
Speaker 3: it's the reason they've been as dominant as they are
Speaker 3: throughout the playoffs, as dominant as they've been throughout the
Speaker 3: regular season. And you know, I believe this is their
Speaker 3: year to win the championship.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it certainly looks like it. And it's interesting
Speaker 1: when you look at the Vegas picks we've got. I'll
Speaker 1: take that bet presented by DraftKings and Vegas. Even though
Speaker 1: they went heavy with the Celtics on this series, they
Speaker 1: are saying the MAVs are favorites by one and a
Speaker 1: half points for games three three. Are you going to
Speaker 1: take that bet or do you think the Celtics go
Speaker 1: up three out?
Speaker 3: Actually, I actually do think the Mavericks win this one.
Speaker 3: Like I said, I think Kyrie will find his stride,
Speaker 3: you know, game three, we'll see a better offensive performance
Speaker 3: from him. I think the whole Mavericks team would be
Speaker 3: energized just being in front of that home crowd, you know,
Speaker 3: feeding off of that energy. That home crowd helps you
Speaker 3: make plays that you aren't able to make on away games.
Speaker 3: And that's just the facts behind.
Speaker 2: So I do think it'll be a better shower from
Speaker 2: the Mavericks.
Speaker 3: You know, obviously, the Celtics have had a history kind
Speaker 3: of taken their foot off the gas somewhat throughout the year,
Speaker 3: and you know, they kind of get a little board.
Speaker 3: So I could see that being the case with Game three.
Speaker 3: But long time Celtics win it, Masks may get one,
Speaker 3: possibly two games, and they see.
Speaker 1: I think they kind of got to win game three
Speaker 1: otherwise if they're down three to zero, you know that
Speaker 1: psychology book, like do you really want to get back
Speaker 1: on a plane just so you can lose in Boston?
Speaker 1: I mean, the guys kind of, you know, start to
Speaker 1: play my games with themselves, I think the role players
Speaker 1: are going to have to play better for that Vegas
Speaker 1: line to come through, because we just haven't seen from PJ.
Speaker 1: Washington or Gafford or some of the other guys who
Speaker 1: stepped up. Lively has not been able to make anywhere
Speaker 1: near the impact that he made, you know, in that
Speaker 1: Minnesota series, So I do think he'll be helped by
Speaker 1: being at home. Young players obviously play better at home.
Speaker 1: Role players play better at home, you know, and we'll
Speaker 1: have to see if they can pull it off. But
Speaker 1: to me, Game three is where they'd have to pull
Speaker 1: it off, because otherwise it just starts to feel like
Speaker 1: a snowball gone downhill. We can look at the finals
Speaker 1: at MVP odds, too, which are shaken out. Jason Tatum,
Speaker 1: despite all that we were talking about, still the favorite
Speaker 1: plus one twenty five, which I'm kind of curious about
Speaker 1: because if he's had two poor shooting games, even with
Speaker 1: the rebounds and assists, I'm not sure that makes you
Speaker 1: an MVP. Jalen Brown is next up on the rankings
Speaker 1: at plus one seventy five, Luca is actually next at
Speaker 1: plus six hundred, and then the dark horse is Drew
Speaker 1: Holiday at plus seven fifty. I don't know, man, I
Speaker 1: don't bet on sports, and I don't bet on the
Speaker 1: NBA because I'm an NBA voter and all of that,
Speaker 1: But I will say that that seems like Drew Holiday
Speaker 1: seems like he's he's kind of the leader in the
Speaker 1: clubhouse after the first two games. I don't know, are
Speaker 1: you taking the Drew Holiday bet here?
Speaker 3: Absolutely, I'm a huge Drew Holiday fan. I was, you know,
Speaker 3: blessed enough to be able to take the floor with
Speaker 3: this guy to serve in my career. I know exactly
Speaker 3: what he brings to the floor. You know, he labeled
Speaker 3: hisself a utility man and that and I'm a going
Speaker 3: record saying that's a damn lie. You're more than that.
Speaker 3: You're actually one of the most underrated players in this league,
Speaker 3: and you have been for a very long time. Just
Speaker 3: what he brings, We're not only even talk about the offense.
Speaker 3: I think he's one of you know, he's a very
Speaker 3: very talented offensive player and he and not only is
Speaker 3: he talented, he's smart, which he doesn't get a lot
Speaker 3: of credit, but just defensively, and what he brings on
Speaker 3: the defensive side of the ball is it's unmatched I
Speaker 3: watched the year I told my Achilles in New Orleans.
Speaker 3: I watched him literally destroy Portland's go to guards and
Speaker 3: CJ McCullum and Damian Lillard by himself to the point
Speaker 3: where they sweep, And it was literally just him just
Speaker 3: being himself on the defensive side of the floor.
Speaker 2: And it's it's it's almost it's almost.
Speaker 3: Where you can watch this dude and being awe like
Speaker 3: the same way you can watch a guy perform offensively
Speaker 3: and just like, man, this is amazing. Like it's that's
Speaker 3: literally him on the defensive side of the floor. And
Speaker 3: the sickest part about it is it's almost nonchalant how
Speaker 3: he kind of goes about it. You know, most defensive
Speaker 3: guys there, there's a lot of extras to you know,
Speaker 3: what they bring In Drew, he's just calm, cool and collected,
Speaker 3: super nonchalant. And you look up, he's got six steals,
Speaker 3: four blocks, the guys shooting four for twenty that night,
Speaker 3: and you know, Drew's just laid back, chilling. He probably
Speaker 3: didn't even break a sweat. So you know, I'm a
Speaker 3: huge Drew Holiday fan. I felt like he would be
Speaker 3: the X factor in this series, and I had a
Speaker 3: feeling he would kind of be overlooked and what he
Speaker 3: brings to the game on a nightly basis. But you know,
Speaker 3: I think he's a great He was obviously, I mean
Speaker 3: it's hard to do it now.
Speaker 2: I mean it's right in front of him and it's
Speaker 2: hard to miss it now.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but you know, coming into this year that wasn't
Speaker 3: necessarily the case. He wasn't getting the praise to what
Speaker 3: he brings to the game. So I do feel he's
Speaker 3: a guy that could you know, sneak in they get him,
Speaker 3: you know, a finals MVP and an andre Iguadalar type situation.
Speaker 3: You know, not the most impressive numbers, but it's like
Speaker 3: you have to respect it and what he brought.
Speaker 2: To this series that I can definitely see that happening
Speaker 2: for him.
Speaker 1: I mean without Jason Tatum so far. Obviously we're only
Speaker 1: two games in, but without Jason Tatum putting up numbers
Speaker 1: so far and in fact, particularly not shooting well. I
Speaker 1: mean he's not just being average, he's not just below
Speaker 1: his normal. He's particularly not shooting well. And look, he's
Speaker 1: making it up in other parts of the stat sheet.
Speaker 1: He's making it up on other parts of the floor.
Speaker 1: You can see his impact of the game just by
Speaker 1: watching five minutes. So this is not a knock on
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum. But those are not finals MVP numbers. So
Speaker 1: you're really talking at this point to me, if the
Speaker 1: Celtics continue as they are, and we'll see and Tatum
Speaker 1: may turn in three amazing games in a row here,
Speaker 1: but for now, you're talking about Jaylen Brown and Drew Holliday.
Speaker 1: And the way the voting works is they pick eleven
Speaker 1: media members and they give them little slips of paper
Speaker 1: at halftime of whatever the closeout games are, and they say,
Speaker 1: if this turns into, you know, clinching game, please give
Speaker 1: me your slip of paper. Will collect it with you know,
Speaker 1: thirty seconds ago, five seconds ago, depending on how close
Speaker 1: the game is at the end of that close out
Speaker 1: clinching game. And of those eleven people, you know, you
Speaker 1: kind of look at the numbers they look at obviously
Speaker 1: their impact on winning, and I think there's some sentiment
Speaker 1: there too sometimes. And Drew Holliday is a media favorite.
Speaker 1: I think that media members people like you who watch
Speaker 1: the game closely. I don't even think it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: we like him because he's a good guy. Although I
Speaker 1: do think people like him because he's an extremely good guy.
Speaker 1: I think that anyone who watches basketball regularly, and if
Speaker 1: you are in the basketball media picking Finals MVP, you
Speaker 1: watch a hell of a lot of basketball games. You
Speaker 1: know Drew Holiday's value. So I just think that that.
Speaker 1: I see that seven plus seven fifty odds and I'm like, man,
Speaker 1: I don't know, that seems like something you might want
Speaker 1: to have. I got to draft take advantage of. That's
Speaker 1: all I have to say. We'll see, we'll see. End book.
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown, I talked to him a little bit last night,
Speaker 1: you know. I was chatting with him about the comment
Speaker 1: he made after winning Eastern Conference Finals MVP where He's like, oh,
Speaker 1: I never win this shit, and I was like, look,
Speaker 1: it's time for you to win some of this shit.
Speaker 1: So if Jalen Brown ends up winning, obviously, I think
Speaker 1: that will be you know, overdue too. He also he
Speaker 1: and Jason Tatum pretty much are getting matching have matching
Speaker 1: contracts coming up. The kick in I believe this summer
Speaker 1: three hundred million dollars plus. I think Jalen's got done second,
Speaker 1: so his is a little bigger. The way of these
Speaker 1: all incrementally rise, but with the way the salary cap
Speaker 1: is expected to go up because this new TV deal
Speaker 1: coming in, I think in hindsight those deals are going
Speaker 1: to look not a bargain, but they're going to look
Speaker 1: very reasonable compared to what some other teams around the
Speaker 1: league do. And this is a team that if they
Speaker 1: can get over this hump, if they really can win
Speaker 1: a title after getting close and getting close and the
Speaker 1: psychological sort of are we ever going to get there?
Speaker 1: Is it really going to happen for us? Do they
Speaker 1: have to break this roster up that kind of thing?
Speaker 1: If they get over that hump. These guys are young still,
Speaker 1: They're in their mid to late twenties, and there is
Speaker 1: a lot of room to go. This team is built
Speaker 1: so well. Brad Stevens one Executive of the Year this
Speaker 1: year for a very good reason. It's gonna be very
Speaker 1: interesting to see how these next couple of games go.
Speaker 1: But by the time we talk next week, it's possible
Speaker 1: the finals could be wrapped up. Now, not probable. Sweeps
Speaker 1: are still hard, but it's possible. It's possible that that
Speaker 1: could be that way. I just want to know for you, like,
Speaker 1: once the finals are over, what's the plan for you,
Speaker 1: you have vacation, talking their boat involved. I don't know.
Speaker 3: I'm a monk grind right now, right so you know,
Speaker 3: I'm our vacation a little bit in between, but I'm
Speaker 3: on mynk grind. I got a lot of things rolling
Speaker 3: overseas right now.
Speaker 1: So yes, you did looking forward.
Speaker 3: To that, and obviously, well speak on those things when
Speaker 3: those times come about.
Speaker 2: But you know, I'm on my grind. It never stops
Speaker 2: for me.
Speaker 3: And meantime between time, I'm enjoying my family. We're going
Speaker 3: on vacation, We're going to enjoy his life, the frust
Speaker 3: of our labor, and you know, talk basketball. So everything's
Speaker 3: good and moving in the right direction for me.
Speaker 1: Well, you got the whole basketball world coming to your
Speaker 1: doorstep in Las Vegas next month because Tmosa Training Camp
Speaker 1: is going to be there in a huge exhibition game,
Speaker 1: and then of course Summer League is going to be
Speaker 1: there too, so we will be seeing a lot of
Speaker 1: you in your home. Maybe you can have us all
Speaker 1: over for barbecue. I'm just saying I like, but I
Speaker 1: do think we'll probably have at least one more NBA
Speaker 1: Finals game to talk about next week. Until then, though,
Speaker 1: I'm so psyched to have you back in the state's
Speaker 1: most popular player, and I'm glad to get a little
Speaker 1: favor of time now too. I appreciate it. And by
Speaker 1: next week maybe they'll actually be a Lakers coach. We
Speaker 1: can talk about that jersey you're wearing as well, all right,
Speaker 1: Thanks to all of you out there. You can catch
Speaker 1: all episodes of Bullyball on the DraftKings Network as you
Speaker 1: can see over my shoulder. You can catch us on
Speaker 1: the alf the Smoke Productions YouTube channel. Can catch us
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcast. Rate us, review us. We
Speaker 1: will see you next week. Enjoy the basketball until then,