Speaker 1: M hmmm. I'm a recording this on some hotel WiFi,
Speaker 1: so hopefully, hopefully this, hopefully this works. I I didn't
Speaker 1: take too many notes either, because at first half was
Speaker 1: just too insane. There was nothing to really take from
Speaker 1: other than some of the rotations I thought really horrible.
Speaker 1: So so so we'll get into it. It's also one
Speaker 1: of those games where you just wanna like kind of
Speaker 1: sit back and enjoy it too, you know, you don't
Speaker 1: want to over you know, work yourself during that game,
Speaker 1: because I that was one of the most entertaining basketball
Speaker 1: games I've ever seen. Um, just the drama and the
Speaker 1: star power and the new catastrophe that was for the
Speaker 1: Lakers and everything else associated with that. That was just
Speaker 1: an unbelievably entertaining. Look. Two legends, two legends going at it.
Speaker 1: So we got two legends who went back and forth.
Speaker 1: And I don't know what you I don't know what
Speaker 1: Adam Silver could have asked for more than that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I agree, man, it was, it was. It was. You know,
Speaker 1: I cannot say enough about how good Steff is. And
Speaker 1: I want to be clear about this from the from
Speaker 1: the beginning here, because you know, when everyone's healthy, I
Speaker 1: think lebron Is is a small fraction better than step Is,
Speaker 1: even at his age. But I thought step was the
Speaker 1: best player in the floor tonight comfortably. I thought that
Speaker 1: that his run that he took them on in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter after the Lakers kind of grabbed control of
Speaker 1: that game was unbelievable. And I just I he has
Speaker 1: an inevitability to him, Like when he when he kind
Speaker 1: of shook his head there on the bench in that
Speaker 1: little scene right before the time out, you did, You're
Speaker 1: just like, uh, he's coming, like and you knew he was.
Speaker 1: There was no chance he was going to check into
Speaker 1: that game and just and just you know, disappear, you know,
Speaker 1: like it was just he was gonna have an imprint,
Speaker 1: and he damn near stole it. And I have so
Speaker 1: much respect for him. I think he's the second best
Speaker 1: player in the world, and I think he's one of
Speaker 1: the ten best players of all time. And I just
Speaker 1: can't say enough good things about Steph Curry. Yep, he
Speaker 1: was absolutely amazing. Him and Draymond were absolutely amazing today.
Speaker 1: They deserved their credit. Um, welcome everybody to the State
Speaker 1: of the Lakers post game, so to hang out with
Speaker 1: Rose and I we already kind of sort of started.
Speaker 1: Um Man, I don't even know where to start with
Speaker 1: this one. I suppose I suppose we can start by
Speaker 1: the way we're hoping to be joined. Uh friends, I'm here.
Speaker 1: It was good with Man, are you okay? Are you
Speaker 1: okay right now? Are you? Are you? Are you feeling good?
Speaker 1: What's the deal? Man? I'm gonna say this. First of all,
Speaker 1: I respect the Lawyers. Just a tough, gritty team like
Speaker 1: that was. That's the first thing. But I am holding
Speaker 1: on to that the Lakers should have won that game
Speaker 1: by ten or fifteen points. That that first half, the one,
Speaker 1: the rotations and the minute distribution in the lineups, and
Speaker 1: then two they just came out like it was a
Speaker 1: preseason game. Like but I do. But I have to
Speaker 1: get the Warriors credit. Like you said, Steph was off
Speaker 1: the chain. Man. That that he's just like I said,
Speaker 1: it's probably two best players in the world. Like you said,
Speaker 1: But I hope you can't play with Phoenix like that
Speaker 1: in the first round. Man, with with with the with
Speaker 1: the drumming thing. We got to talk about this drumming thing, man,
Speaker 1: that that's that's not gonna work against the Suns. Bro.
Speaker 1: It's it's just it's just not Yeah, I agree with
Speaker 1: you man before before we hit on drum and it's
Speaker 1: Tommy here as well. Yeah, I have them up here too.
Speaker 1: What's your current state of mind? I mean, I'm obviously
Speaker 1: disappointed because the Warriors were winning for most of the game.
Speaker 1: Are a good portion of the game, I should say,
Speaker 1: but we were kind of playing with found money anyway. Um,
Speaker 1: They're gonna be tired going back up home and having
Speaker 1: to play the Grizzly, but I'm confident we can beat
Speaker 1: those guys. Um and it just you know, it was
Speaker 1: one of those games, man, where I didn't really feel
Speaker 1: like anybody lost. The lake who just want it made
Speaker 1: more places down the stretch. Lebron obviously had a crazy shot,
Speaker 1: and um it, if I could say one thing about
Speaker 1: the Warriors, I tweeted at halftime, Hey, if they get
Speaker 1: sloppy with the ball, the Lakers are gonna be right
Speaker 1: back in this thing. And lo and behold, they had
Speaker 1: like nine turnovers in the third quarter. Step and drim
Speaker 1: On both had six turnovers, and if anything, that was
Speaker 1: the difference in the game. They got sloppy with the
Speaker 1: ball and the Lakers turned it into points on the
Speaker 1: other end. Yeah, no, I had to agree. I thought
Speaker 1: that was a D's biggest impact in the second half
Speaker 1: was in the defensively, especially when he shifted to the five,
Speaker 1: getting him involved in those screen and roll actions. And
Speaker 1: that's something that drove me nuts throughout this entire season,
Speaker 1: was you know, it's not just about a D offensively
Speaker 1: having space to operate. It's about the fact that have
Speaker 1: being that ridiculous, freaky defensive player involved in those screening
Speaker 1: actions just makes it that much harder to get to
Speaker 1: get anything open. Yeah, he knewters he knew the step
Speaker 1: Draymond pick and rolling way that no other player in
Speaker 1: the entire league can. Literally he blows up because he's
Speaker 1: able to contest the past the past on step and
Speaker 1: he can still get back to Draymond and cut off
Speaker 1: his passing angles not let him finish at the rim um.
Speaker 1: And then you know, I thought Draymond won that matchup
Speaker 1: pretty easily in the first half, But like you said,
Speaker 1: a D was phenomenal in the second half. He was
Speaker 1: everywhere on both ends, so he I mean, I thought
Speaker 1: if Draymond kept playing like that, they would win going away.
Speaker 1: But a D played amazing in that second half, they
Speaker 1: sat Drummond, the opened up open, it opened up the floor.
Speaker 1: That's it was. It was I put all these tweets
Speaker 1: up before the guys, like this game could be over
Speaker 1: early when the Lakers can make it tough. Off one decision,
Speaker 1: they decided to keep jumping out there. The game started
Speaker 1: off exactly as I thought it would, and then they
Speaker 1: just stuck with its stubbornly and the Warriors got to
Speaker 1: leave their role players had life and there was an
Speaker 1: uphill fight the rest of the game. It's just so predictable.
Speaker 1: And then the other thing is loony loony is Taylor
Speaker 1: made for Mark Gasol, right and Marcus hitting there on
Speaker 1: the bench while Looney is just kicking Drummer's ass on
Speaker 1: the glass and all the first half. It's it's just
Speaker 1: it was a great frustrator and that's why, like, I
Speaker 1: don't want to make Warrior fans mad, but the game
Speaker 1: should not have been. Dude, that that there's so much
Speaker 1: stuff tactically that the that the Lakers just we're screaming
Speaker 1: for the Warriors here comes to this game. We'll play
Speaker 1: for the ag seed. It was it was just ridiculous
Speaker 1: in my opinion, to start the game Now, Ros, what
Speaker 1: did you think, What did you think of the drumming
Speaker 1: strategy there in the first half. Yeah, I mean, I Bob,
Speaker 1: what kind of said you would go to it right?
Speaker 1: I expected Drumming to play and I expected him to
Speaker 1: like start that second half, um, and like we escape
Speaker 1: go drumming a lot. Like I thought on defense, he
Speaker 1: was okay, Like their their idea was to really go
Speaker 1: at step right, like to really trap him, not let
Speaker 1: him get up that many three point shots that he
Speaker 1: got got up against Memphis. Um, he hit six three tonight.
Speaker 1: But still like I thought they did a good job
Speaker 1: kind of running him off the line. Now that Drummond
Speaker 1: was a part of it, I thought, like him playing
Speaker 1: plus a D being that passive Draymond getting into his
Speaker 1: head right, like getting a D to like really go
Speaker 1: at kuantas Kano Anderson, like like Anthony Davis had a
Speaker 1: really tough first half. I think that really like really
Speaker 1: piles onto Andre Drummond, messing up with the spacing, Lebron
Speaker 1: not being himself. Um, But then they went away from
Speaker 1: them the second half. Look, this team goes to a
Speaker 1: D at the five, and that's pretty much the answer
Speaker 1: for any team, Like I don't think any team has
Speaker 1: really solved that. It's just clear a D doesn't want
Speaker 1: to do that full time, and it looks like he
Speaker 1: didn't want to do that until it really mattered tonight either.
Speaker 1: So that's why I thought from the Drummond minutes, I
Speaker 1: thought he was okay defensively. Offensively, it is what it is.
Speaker 1: If Adi is not hitting his jumper or being aggressive,
Speaker 1: it's gonna look bad against any team. So, Tommy, how
Speaker 1: did you feel about the A D. Drummond the match
Speaker 1: A D. Draymond matchup, specifically a D on offense? Uh?
Speaker 1: Coming into this game, and were you surprised at all
Speaker 1: that he psyched out a D as much as he did?
Speaker 1: It was the least surprising thing about the game to me.
Speaker 1: We were talking about it in a in um one
Speaker 1: of our Warriors discord before the game, and I said, look,
Speaker 1: Draymond is gonna be amazing tonight, Um, and that first
Speaker 1: half he was. I he typically does an incredible job
Speaker 1: of shutting down a D in isolation, and he did
Speaker 1: that again tonight. UM. I thought maybe he ran out
Speaker 1: of out of gas a little bit in that second half,
Speaker 1: just because he played so hard in that first time
Speaker 1: maybe the hardest I've seen him play since the twenty
Speaker 1: nineteen finals. Honestly like that. That's the type of effort
Speaker 1: he brought and he definitely I think we're down a
Speaker 1: little bit, but no, I wasn't surprised by it at all.
Speaker 1: That that's your Draymond is man. He's a gamer. He
Speaker 1: always shows up in the big moments. And like I said,
Speaker 1: he got sloppy with the ball, but he gave us
Speaker 1: I think everything that I was expecting tonight. I would
Speaker 1: obviously like a little bit more scoring, but the defense
Speaker 1: was incredible. The playmaking for the most part was incredible. Um,
Speaker 1: they just came up short, and I think I think
Speaker 1: the biggest thing is where you really see where the
Speaker 1: Warriors miss Clay is when step is getting doubled and
Speaker 1: he passes to Draymond in the short roll. There's the
Speaker 1: windows are so much tighter to make those secondary reads
Speaker 1: when when a bays Moors cutting, when a Wiggins is cutting,
Speaker 1: you don't have that extra space on the weak side
Speaker 1: whereas that used to be there, and you know it's
Speaker 1: an easy done for Iggy. Looney has more space because
Speaker 1: Looney takes eleven seconds to get off the ground, and
Speaker 1: finish the lay up. As much as I love loves amazing,
Speaker 1: isn't a ton of incredible things, but that those little windows,
Speaker 1: um that Clay provides even you know, Katie obviously when
Speaker 1: he was there, Um, when those guys are cutting in
Speaker 1: the backside, they just aren't there anymore. And Draymond has
Speaker 1: more turnovers this year as it causes that because his
Speaker 1: windows are just tighter when he's making those reads. Ye
Speaker 1: are like you know, you know, it was so funny,
Speaker 1: was you know, I don't think you could have scripted
Speaker 1: a better start to that game for the Warriors in
Speaker 1: the way that things were going. If you look at
Speaker 1: it right from the start, it was like abundantly clear.
Speaker 1: On the first a D post up like, oh, he's
Speaker 1: not going to be able to go past him, you know,
Speaker 1: like it's like he's this is gonna be a turnaround,
Speaker 1: fadeaway kind of game, like right away on the first possession,
Speaker 1: and then by the by the first time out, the
Speaker 1: Lebron and a D had a couple of attempts at
Speaker 1: the rim, but they were I think one of them
Speaker 1: was an offensive rebound put back from Lebron and then
Speaker 1: another one was like a couple of passes to a
Speaker 1: D where he was kind of shooting near the rim,
Speaker 1: but it was when he was surrounded by bodies and
Speaker 1: nothing was open, and you're like, okay, there's no driving lanes.
Speaker 1: So there's no driving lanes. A D can't post up Draymond.
Speaker 1: And then Lebron was missing like kind of some easy bunnies,
Speaker 1: so you're like, okay, Lebron looks rusty. And and then
Speaker 1: on the other end, uh, Steph wasn't doing anything, but
Speaker 1: the Lakers were devoting so much attention to him. The
Speaker 1: Warriors were still getting good looks, and the Warriors role
Speaker 1: players were making shots and I think I think they
Speaker 1: had ten threes in the first half, and so the like,
Speaker 1: as far as the start of that game was going,
Speaker 1: it was as for the record, it was exactly how
Speaker 1: a lot of Laker fans did a lot of Laker
Speaker 1: fans predicted, including myself and Raj at length in the preview,
Speaker 1: we were like, Drumm is gonna play. The Warriors are
Speaker 1: a fantastic defense, They're gonna kind of shrink the floor
Speaker 1: on the Lakers, and they're gonna have trouble scoring. And
Speaker 1: that's exactly what happened. A couple that with the Warriors
Speaker 1: role players making shots and all of a sudden you're
Speaker 1: down thirteen and then and then they did go to
Speaker 1: a D at the five a little bit there in
Speaker 1: the second quarter, but then Steph got going. And that's
Speaker 1: that to to Maple's point, that's the dangerous game you
Speaker 1: play when you you know, kind of shave points, so
Speaker 1: to speak. With your strategy is you put the stuff
Speaker 1: that's out of your control, like the unbelievable brilliance of
Speaker 1: Steph Curry, and you put that in play as something
Speaker 1: that can swing the game, and it didn't. Put it
Speaker 1: damn near did, And to me that was the dangerous
Speaker 1: But I agree, I think, I think, I think that
Speaker 1: the Lakers are had they attacked it with a D
Speaker 1: at the five throughout, would have been probably a seven
Speaker 1: or eight point favorite and probably the one of the game.
Speaker 1: I tend the fifteen points. Yeah, man, I agree. Like
Speaker 1: I found myself just again the frustration man, with this
Speaker 1: the game play, that five game winning streak. They just
Speaker 1: went away from everything that got from that five game
Speaker 1: winning streak. That's what the frustrating part was just watching
Speaker 1: that as a fans, like you're not doing anything that
Speaker 1: made you successful since you got all these guys back. Correct,
Speaker 1: there's no West minutes, you know what I'm saying. There's
Speaker 1: too many, too big to two big lineups. But the
Speaker 1: second there was, there was way less trash. There was
Speaker 1: ray less Drummond. They opened the floor up. I think
Speaker 1: Lebron got a little loose um with the m one
Speaker 1: in or leaving the third quarter. And there's another big
Speaker 1: player I mentioned was the Warriors look like they were
Speaker 1: about to open up the game. I think Caruso takes
Speaker 1: the ball from Steph and he finds uh West for three.
Speaker 1: So it was set like prossibly going down by fifteen.
Speaker 1: The league goes down to nine. I thought that was
Speaker 1: a big turning point. Uh and the play of the game,
Speaker 1: in my mind, that was the player of the game
Speaker 1: right there. That was on the ball they turned it over. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so that was in my opinion, that was probably the
Speaker 1: turning point playing the game. Also a shout out, we
Speaker 1: haven't missed this guy. But Caruso was just fucking incredible
Speaker 1: in that game. All around he was. Caruso waselivable. It's
Speaker 1: just probably like outside the star players. He probably give
Speaker 1: him the game balls. He was just uh, you know
Speaker 1: Step is step, but Caruso that's as good as you're
Speaker 1: going to get. And he made a lot of timely
Speaker 1: offensive players as well. So Caruso, probably all the nonstar
Speaker 1: players probably had the biggest impact on the game in
Speaker 1: my opinion. But both of the both of the both
Speaker 1: of the young core right CU's Ma and Caruso, I
Speaker 1: thought were fantastic in that second half. They played a
Speaker 1: lot of the minutes UM they just played like grown
Speaker 1: up basketball, Like Cruso being the drive and kick to
Speaker 1: a d there Um late in the game. I thought
Speaker 1: it was just huge for him, just shows his kind
Speaker 1: of development as a passer. And then Cuss making big plays,
Speaker 1: Um finishing inside, and I thought, like Jason, what you
Speaker 1: talked may Puss is what you're talking about. Um with
Speaker 1: the rotation, I think Bogo kind of showed who we
Speaker 1: trust right in that second half, Like Drummond didn't play,
Speaker 1: Treads didn't play Um. He shoved Shrewder out. We can
Speaker 1: talk about Shrewder later because I thought he had a
Speaker 1: really rough game as well, but he stubbed him out
Speaker 1: for West Matthews. Um, you just he pretty much just
Speaker 1: stuck to him. Kuzma and Caruso and those two's saved
Speaker 1: the game. And I thought this was like a big
Speaker 1: role player game as well. Like Tommy, you can speak
Speaker 1: to this, but I thought the Warriors role players like
Speaker 1: stepped up, like they were huge. Jordan Pool Andrew Wiggins
Speaker 1: was a big part of the Warriors offense. It felt
Speaker 1: like like they were really picking on Shrewder and Casey.
Speaker 1: Like I thought they really stepped up. Jordan Pool. I
Speaker 1: don't remember if he missed a shot tonight, Like it
Speaker 1: felt like every time Draymond found him he uh he hit.
Speaker 1: But like it felt like a big time game for
Speaker 1: the role players, even with Draymond showing up. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's what That's what it's been over this this run
Speaker 1: towards the end of the season, especially these last ten
Speaker 1: games or so, Wiggins and Pool have both been incredible.
Speaker 1: Um they're running. They're trying to get wiggers in the
Speaker 1: post war with mismatches. They did at a couple of
Speaker 1: times on Schroder, and I really like those opportunities because
Speaker 1: he actually is a pretty good post scorer in some ways.
Speaker 1: If you get a smaller guy on him, he can
Speaker 1: go to his fade away. He has a nice little
Speaker 1: hook over his right shoulder, over his left shoulder with
Speaker 1: his right hand and then Pools. Pools honestly an incredible man.
Speaker 1: He's super talented, UM, and he can just score. He's
Speaker 1: super crappy around the rim. He's shooting it better from
Speaker 1: three than he did last year, much better actually. Um.
Speaker 1: But I wasn't surprised those guys played well. They've been
Speaker 1: playing like that, um through this entire run. Like I said, UM,
Speaker 1: so I'm gonna hop on with the Light Years guys
Speaker 1: in a couple of minutes year. But I actually have
Speaker 1: a question for you guys, because just it's sometimes going
Speaker 1: to get an outside perspective. Right now, this team is
Speaker 1: playing Michael Molder twenty minutes a game, um, and if
Speaker 1: that doesn't change, what is their playoffs ceiling? Let's say
Speaker 1: second part of that question. If they do get say
Speaker 1: Ubrey or Damian Lee back, what's their playoffs ceiling? Because
Speaker 1: if they have Mulder playing twenty minutes game, I don't
Speaker 1: know if they can win a series. But if they
Speaker 1: get one of those other two guys back, I'm a
Speaker 1: little bit more confident. I picked them to beat Utah
Speaker 1: predict and wasn't Lakers who win this game. I think
Speaker 1: it would beat Utah. Um oh I did. I just
Speaker 1: uh just the small ball. I think Gobert has been
Speaker 1: a little better and in space this year, according to
Speaker 1: some numbers I looked at. But I'm just uh just
Speaker 1: going off playing off a hunch of here. Tommy had
Speaker 1: a question real quick, Uh, j T I didn't play
Speaker 1: in the whole entire fourth quarter? What was up with that?
Speaker 1: I don't know, man, that was really weird. I didn't see.
Speaker 1: It was bizarre, like they're playing Michael Molder a ton
Speaker 1: of minutes in the fourth quarter and jd A just
Speaker 1: sitting there. Maybe maybe curR wanted more shooting because they
Speaker 1: were turning the ball over a lot, and um, they
Speaker 1: needed some more space. They wanted to get Draymon and
Speaker 1: step some more space. But at that point, I'd rather
Speaker 1: just play j T because he's a better passer anyway,
Speaker 1: He's gonna do a better job of cutting, moving, finding staff,
Speaker 1: finding the open guy. It was weird. Kerr has been
Speaker 1: honestly really good, um ever since the Wiseman Industry injury. Um,
Speaker 1: and he'sn't able to just play his best players. But yeah,
Speaker 1: that was kind of bizarre. I didn't get that Yeah,
Speaker 1: I was just I was just hearing stuff was very
Speaker 1: weird to me. He was feeling like he was very
Speaker 1: effective in this game. He's been closing games. He's been
Speaker 1: closing games, so so yeah, I didn't understand that, but
Speaker 1: he's had some games recently where he's been in the
Speaker 1: thirty minutes. I noticed that. UM taught me really quickly.
Speaker 1: Like I went into about a month ago, I thought
Speaker 1: there was no way in hell that the Golden State
Speaker 1: could be, uh, could beat Utah to you know, coming
Speaker 1: into this game, I was kind of in the mind
Speaker 1: frame that I thought it was possible. But I'm likely
Speaker 1: and I've kind of caught onto how good this team
Speaker 1: is here over the past couple of weeks, Um, But
Speaker 1: after what I've seen tonight, I think with how good
Speaker 1: stuff is right now, and he is in an all
Speaker 1: time group, it is such a you know, kind of
Speaker 1: a spitting image obviously steps rendition of it, but it's
Speaker 1: a spitting image of Lebron's two thousand eighteen season where like,
Speaker 1: you know that the supporting cast isn't what you would
Speaker 1: hope it would be, but he's better than he has
Speaker 1: ever been. Do you remember when we were arguing about
Speaker 1: that is he better than he was in two thousand
Speaker 1: and sixteen, That's not a question anymore. He's flat out
Speaker 1: better than he was. I would still I would still
Speaker 1: disagree with that on the whole, because I think he
Speaker 1: was he was doing stuff that the league had never
Speaker 1: seen at that point the league. Even as amazing as
Speaker 1: he is right now. And I'm not trying to take
Speaker 1: anything away from him. He's people know what he wants
Speaker 1: to do to a certain extent now. Um, so he's
Speaker 1: not walking into the same type of easy shots. So
Speaker 1: he's just he's not getting, you know, the same type
Speaker 1: of efficient looks. But in terms of like understanding the game,
Speaker 1: it is very similar to that two thousand eighteen Lebron
Speaker 1: season where it's like his understanding is so much better
Speaker 1: of when to take over games, when to search for
Speaker 1: his shot, when to search for his teammates, as opposed
Speaker 1: to five or six years ago, that in some ways, yes,
Speaker 1: he is better. Um, I don't know, I I'm nitpicking. Obviously,
Speaker 1: he's He's fucking incredible. Man. I didn't think I didn't
Speaker 1: think he had another season like this, obviously, and he's
Speaker 1: been everything that we could have expected him more And
Speaker 1: what this really does is it puts pressure on the
Speaker 1: front office to say, no matter how this season ends up,
Speaker 1: that's they're not going to make the finals. Probably maybe
Speaker 1: a Western Conference final, birth if step gets hot for
Speaker 1: two rounds um and they see the Lakers and probably lose.
Speaker 1: But he puts the pressure on the front office. Now, hey,
Speaker 1: go give me some guys to win with, because I'm
Speaker 1: still ready. I'm still here. I was the scoring champ.
Speaker 1: You guys have no excuse not to give me guys
Speaker 1: that can go win a championship right now because I
Speaker 1: can still do it. That defense fell apart, not fell apart,
Speaker 1: but started to show some cracks on the strength of
Speaker 1: Lebron as a post player in the fourth quarter there
Speaker 1: at the beginning, and as a passer and pick and
Speaker 1: roll with a D and and a d S, you know,
Speaker 1: absolute freak of nature athleticism. I I am more optimistic
Speaker 1: about their chances with that defense to give you toss
Speaker 1: some real problems with the agree creation outside of Donovan Mitchell. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I just they are going to make Clark. I think
Speaker 1: they're gonna make Clarkson and Mitchell beat them. And I
Speaker 1: just Clark Mitchell offer ankle injury against that defense. I
Speaker 1: just you know, Utah is a great team like system
Speaker 1: magically what they were, I'm gonna play off a lot
Speaker 1: of a lot of the game is about Larti buckets
Speaker 1: because the defensive are so good, and I just I
Speaker 1: don't know if I trust that consistently. Just had some
Speaker 1: big playoff games. But the war Is played great defense,
Speaker 1: So I wasn't surprised if if that was a long seriling.
Speaker 1: But I picked the Warrior to win in six or seven,
Speaker 1: so I'm looking for but they have to have to
Speaker 1: deep difference. First. I'm not gonna members there is a
Speaker 1: Gretty team, so you don't see how that goes. But
Speaker 1: I picked one. I think, yeah, they're going to give
Speaker 1: them a touch series. Um, we talked about this like
Speaker 1: in the Warriors preview, right like, you can't do both.
Speaker 1: You can't take away You're you're not supposed to be
Speaker 1: able to do both. You can't take away the three
Speaker 1: and then try to guard everyone else right with Steff
Speaker 1: And it was pretty clearly the Lakers tonight they wanted
Speaker 1: to take step off the three point line. And he's
Speaker 1: still freaking win six for nine from three, which is
Speaker 1: just crazy, Like I thought, none of them were like
Speaker 1: that open or like really good looks um so they
Speaker 1: really went at them. Like against Utah, I still have
Speaker 1: Utah winning that series. I just think that the Warriors
Speaker 1: still play too many guys that just aren't experienced enough,
Speaker 1: And I don't know if Draymond can be this good
Speaker 1: defensively for that long with this series. I don't know
Speaker 1: what you guys think about that, but like, I think
Speaker 1: that's where they're seeing is like ken't dream like as
Speaker 1: he was incredible tonight, But Tommy, I think you're right.
Speaker 1: I think he did get a little bit tired at
Speaker 1: the end there, but yeah, it's great. I'm just wondering
Speaker 1: if he can do that through a whole series because
Speaker 1: he's gonna have to. Like against Utah, was they're a
Speaker 1: good offensive team, Like they rely heavily on three point
Speaker 1: shooting and all that go bears in a D. So
Speaker 1: it's not the same amount pressure he's seen a gay
Speaker 1: possession like A was like in space making j Mon
Speaker 1: expand energy. So he just I don't think he'll see
Speaker 1: the same type of you know, pressure he was getting
Speaker 1: tonight from a D. As far as like trying to score,
Speaker 1: I think it'll be that's a good point. That's a
Speaker 1: good point. He doesn't have to cover as much ground
Speaker 1: as against Utah, so he can kind of focus on
Speaker 1: his primary skill, which is, you know, rim protection and
Speaker 1: just being disruptive of all the all of the action
Speaker 1: that takes place in the paint. I will say this
Speaker 1: Tommy really quickly. I I in the middle of that game,
Speaker 1: I thought to myself, you know, because coming into this
Speaker 1: play and tournament, I thought tonight was a must win,
Speaker 1: because this prospect of single elimination scared me just from
Speaker 1: the standpoint of all of the things that could happen.
Speaker 1: And then it dawned on me in the middle of
Speaker 1: that game, like these two teams are so much better
Speaker 1: than Memphis. There's so much better than Memphis. Like I
Speaker 1: would be absolutely shocked if Golden State lost on Friday.
Speaker 1: I would be pretty shocked. Um. The only thing is
Speaker 1: is it's kind of a quick turn around. Stephan Draymond
Speaker 1: expended a lot of energy energy tonight. Um, they're in
Speaker 1: their thirties, Like they've got to turn around and basically
Speaker 1: play another game in forty eight hours. They're probably flying
Speaker 1: back up to the Bay to night, I would guess, Um,
Speaker 1: But I mean, like you're saying, man, it's a one
Speaker 1: it's a one game playoff, Like, it's still scary no
Speaker 1: matter what. If the Warriors have a first half like
Speaker 1: the Lakers had tonight, they're down thirteen going to the
Speaker 1: second half, then they're gonna have to It's just it's
Speaker 1: a scary prospect. Like I that's why I didn't want
Speaker 1: to be faced for the second playing game because now
Speaker 1: you're worried about a young Memphis team. Um, they are
Speaker 1: traveling a cross country obviously, but they're young, they're gonna
Speaker 1: have they're gonna have fresh legs, they're gonna play hard
Speaker 1: again that we just beat them last Sunday. It's tough
Speaker 1: to be the team twice in a row like that.
Speaker 1: So we'll see. Um, I would still pick the Warriors
Speaker 1: to win the game. Um, but it's it's not gonna
Speaker 1: be I don't think it's gonna be an easy one.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be right down to the wire. Are you
Speaker 1: looking at Memphis potentially making based on the game on
Speaker 1: Sunday that could potentially swing that in Memphis favor? Was
Speaker 1: there anything that scared you that Memphis did that you
Speaker 1: didn't think Golden State could counter? No, Because I thought
Speaker 1: Memphis played pretty well. Valentine has killed them really, I mean,
Speaker 1: he kind of killed them all game. But the Warriors
Speaker 1: okay with that if they're trading you know, steps threes
Speaker 1: for two's. Um, I don't think there are many adjustments,
Speaker 1: just because I've seen it all year with young teams.
Speaker 1: Um that the Warriors play. I saw a time with
Speaker 1: the Thunders. Teams like the Grizzlies, they really don't know
Speaker 1: what to do with steps off ball, but he's so
Speaker 1: good at it now. And young teams just they don't
Speaker 1: have that synergy defensively, they're not connected yet, and he
Speaker 1: just he walks into open shots. You know, he walked
Speaker 1: into probably at least eight or nine open shots against
Speaker 1: me Memphis and some easy midrangers that he usually hits
Speaker 1: that he missed two. Um So like he had forty
Speaker 1: six that game, but I thought he could have had
Speaker 1: close to sixty. And that's obviously asking, Like, don't get
Speaker 1: me wrong, that's asking a lot, but I thought he
Speaker 1: missed him easy looks um. So point being, I think
Speaker 1: STEP's gonna get open shots again. Um. Memphis is solid defensively,
Speaker 1: but there's nothing special. Jaw is an absolute wreck off
Speaker 1: the ball um. So if he plays thirty plus minutes,
Speaker 1: they're going to continue to get open shots. It's just
Speaker 1: gonna be about making them. Nothing that Memphis can do
Speaker 1: really scares me. It's just that they're younger and there
Speaker 1: they might be a little bit fresher heading into that
Speaker 1: game as opposed to a Warriors team who's been playing
Speaker 1: eight guys now for four weeks um. So that'd be
Speaker 1: my only concern that just doors are Yeah, that was
Speaker 1: that for me. The indicator of how big the defense
Speaker 1: is is how many threes you let's Stephs get up.
Speaker 1: They let him get up twenty plus threes right like that.
Speaker 1: That's a map problem you lose with a guy who
Speaker 1: shoot that well. So that was kind of bothers him
Speaker 1: for me. From Memphis standpoint this, you just can't let
Speaker 1: that guy get twenty two. Looks at the past and
Speaker 1: at some point it's just gonna flip and and kill you,
Speaker 1: which is what happens to. Yeah, I let your previous second,
Speaker 1: nd I'm gonna hop out of here taking easy. Tom.
Speaker 1: You're coming on man, okay, perfect later. Lakers are never
Speaker 1: gonna let step get up twenty something threes right tonight?
Speaker 1: Like that I didn't think that was ever gonna happen.
Speaker 1: Like they were going to trap him, make him trying
Speaker 1: to give up the ball. And I thought they did
Speaker 1: that even though he still hit hit his threes and
Speaker 1: got going with tram on it then there. But yeah,
Speaker 1: they were never gonna let him like be able to
Speaker 1: cook like he did against Memphis. The bad defense. Step
Speaker 1: probably has fifty to night, like he just had I
Speaker 1: guess a bad defense. He definitely has a fifty point
Speaker 1: game to night, and the Words played him great. He
Speaker 1: still finished with you know, over thirty five seven boards
Speaker 1: and just he was incredible to night. You know, you know,
Speaker 1: it's crazy about the Steph Curry experience that this is
Speaker 1: something we talked about a lot in the Sunday preview pod.
Speaker 1: Was like you can defend him well for eighteen twenty
Speaker 1: two seconds in a possession, but if you leave him
Speaker 1: for just that end, like he's gonna make you pay.
Speaker 1: And there were the Lakers did such a good job
Speaker 1: on him tonight overall, and yet there were like two
Speaker 1: or three possessions in the game over the entire forty
Speaker 1: eight minutes where they just slipped up for a second.
Speaker 1: And the one that stands out off the top of
Speaker 1: my head, was there in the fourth quarter end of
Speaker 1: the shot clock when Lebron was a little bit slow
Speaker 1: to close out on him on the right wing, and
Speaker 1: he shot like a twenty seven footer and made it.
Speaker 1: Every single time of those two or three times that
Speaker 1: that he that he got open, he made it. Like
Speaker 1: That's the crazy thing with Steff is it's like he
Speaker 1: just makes you pay for the slightest slip ups. But
Speaker 1: you're right, I mean, there's a huge difference between giving
Speaker 1: him two or three of those in a game and
Speaker 1: giving him nine or ten of those in a game.
Speaker 1: And that's the difference between you've given up, you know,
Speaker 1: forty seven in a loss and uh, you know, holding
Speaker 1: him to thirty five or whatever he had tonight in
Speaker 1: a win. Absolutely, Rod, what did you What did you
Speaker 1: think of Lebron tonight? Yeah? I thought he was like
Speaker 1: really trying to just not close to the first half,
Speaker 1: but kind of be passive right, Like it was weird
Speaker 1: he kind of treated this as a series game. It
Speaker 1: felt like like he knew like in the fourth quarter
Speaker 1: he can kind of turn it on. Like that's what
Speaker 1: it felt like watching it, Like he was really passive
Speaker 1: even the ball up um even late, kind of letting
Speaker 1: Shrewder kind of run the offense um down low. And
Speaker 1: then he got going. I thought in the fourth quarter
Speaker 1: really started getting aggressive. Um. He had some awesome passes
Speaker 1: to like Caruso and a Kuzma Um. And like, I
Speaker 1: don't think he's a hundred percent yet still right, Like
Speaker 1: it seems like he's not. He doesn't feel a hundred
Speaker 1: percent on his leg yet. But I thought he was fine,
Speaker 1: like he he was himself, and I think he'll be
Speaker 1: ready when we play Phoenix on Sunday, like if he
Speaker 1: really wanted this one to kind of get that break.
Speaker 1: But he's not add percent. It's it's pretty clear like
Speaker 1: he was. He was favoring it, it it felt like through
Speaker 1: that first half, but he picked it up late. But
Speaker 1: he's not himself absolutely, what do you think he just
Speaker 1: really not film You could tell just uh the bunnies
Speaker 1: he was missing. He usually contact being able to finish.
Speaker 1: He usually excellent, like in that site, just missed so
Speaker 1: many buddies. You can tell a lift just isn't fair yet.
Speaker 1: And I think he got a little bit bit more
Speaker 1: comfortable in the second half. I think we're just getting
Speaker 1: some more gentleman going. But you could just say that's
Speaker 1: that's definitely gonna be something to look at through the uh,
Speaker 1: you know, have a have A playoffs. I'm definitely gonna
Speaker 1: be you know, thing that's gonna be interesting to see. Man.
Speaker 1: And so a little bit nervous because he doesn't doesn't
Speaker 1: have the full burst, but I think he's smart enough
Speaker 1: to steal, be good enough for the Lakers to win,
Speaker 1: especially if they get the correct version of Little Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis too, So that's also you know, works hand in hand.
Speaker 1: So I actually thought he was a little I don't
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't think passive is necessarily the word
Speaker 1: that I would use to describe the way he was
Speaker 1: in the first half, because I felt like he did
Speaker 1: kind of sense the urgency. It reminded me of some
Speaker 1: of the as playoff games where you know, a D
Speaker 1: would float through the first half and Lebron would carry him,
Speaker 1: and then a D would wake up in the second half.
Speaker 1: It kind of reminded me of those games. But you
Speaker 1: could you could tell from the opening tip that Draymond
Speaker 1: completely psyched a D out and it kind of reminded
Speaker 1: me not quite as bad and quite as flagrant but
Speaker 1: it kind of reminded me of what he used to
Speaker 1: do to Kevin Love, and it kind of got me
Speaker 1: thinking about the idea of, you know, Finesse Biggs playing
Speaker 1: against Raymond Green and just how much of a nightmare
Speaker 1: that is for the Finesse bigs, you know, whereas like
Speaker 1: the more slasher type of guys. You know, that's why
Speaker 1: Pascal c Acam had so much success against him, as
Speaker 1: he wasn't intimidated physically and just attacked him, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: at the rim um. But like it was, it was
Speaker 1: interesting because at the start of that game, you could
Speaker 1: tell the Laker role players weren't playing as well. K
Speaker 1: CP made a couple of huge shots in that first quarter,
Speaker 1: by the way, the absolutely momentous shots in terms of
Speaker 1: preventing it from being a catastrophe and just how much
Speaker 1: they would fall behind. And but I actually thought Lebron
Speaker 1: was trying to kind of put an imprint, you just
Speaker 1: in the first half, you could tell it wasn't there,
Speaker 1: Like he just wasn't the touch in the just the
Speaker 1: overall like you know, the polish on his game wasn't there.
Speaker 1: He wasn't quite getting the right amount of lift. And
Speaker 1: I thought that was what primarily heard him. But overall
Speaker 1: the reason why I brought it up, I thought he
Speaker 1: played like I thought he made up for that a
Speaker 1: lot with his brain. Um you know, for him for
Speaker 1: him to usually in his career be so sloppy with
Speaker 1: the ball when he's rusty to go have a game,
Speaker 1: whereas tennisiss with one turnover, Um, I I thought. I thought,
Speaker 1: I thought he put his imprint on that game with
Speaker 1: his brain. And then when a D went to the
Speaker 1: five and Lebron, you know, was attacking and being aggressive
Speaker 1: there at the start of the fourth quarter. You know,
Speaker 1: that was when he finally started to get some stuff
Speaker 1: going at the rim that that unlocked things for him.
Speaker 1: And then he made just enough jump shots, including the
Speaker 1: biggest one. But he made just enough jump shots to
Speaker 1: to kind of a compensate for some of the lack
Speaker 1: of scoring pop that he had in the first half.
Speaker 1: I thought, for what it was, you know, Lebron's third
Speaker 1: game back from an injury that caused him to miss
Speaker 1: literally like twenty seven in the last twenty nine games
Speaker 1: going into that back to back, for what the situation was,
Speaker 1: I thought it was the best possible Lebron game you
Speaker 1: could have got under those circumstances. Yeah, and like I
Speaker 1: felt like they were kind of picking him up full
Speaker 1: court as well. Right in the in the beginning of
Speaker 1: the game, I think Wiggins was picking him up full
Speaker 1: court really gave him trouble and he had a tough
Speaker 1: time kind of finishing at the rim shots that he
Speaker 1: finishes usually. Um, he was kind of looking at the
Speaker 1: rest as well. But yeah, with late he went really
Speaker 1: to his playmaking and I thought it wasn't just going
Speaker 1: to a D at the five, right, it was also
Speaker 1: subbing out Shrewder, putting in west and he just had
Speaker 1: him pretty much controlling everything with like a space floor.
Speaker 1: Again not to scape go Andre Drummond, but like just
Speaker 1: putting a D at the five then the west. Um,
Speaker 1: I think it was a c KCP closing down the street.
Speaker 1: I seen was able to really orchestrate the offense, and
Speaker 1: that's what he does. He didn't have to score as much.
Speaker 1: Um he and I agree with you, he beat them
Speaker 1: with his mind, his passing though that backup by Caruso
Speaker 1: that I think it was a cut by Kuzuma as well. Um.
Speaker 1: And that's where he's that's where he can dominate still, right,
Speaker 1: Like I cheated before. This was two goats going at it.
Speaker 1: I thought Steph was doing it. I thought this was
Speaker 1: I thought Steph was doing it with his shooting, right
Speaker 1: like his crazy three point shooting. I thought Lebron was
Speaker 1: doing it with his passing before he get that that
Speaker 1: big shot at the end um and they needed it.
Speaker 1: A shooter was just really out of control tonight. He
Speaker 1: was not ready for the the elite level defense that
Speaker 1: Golden State was playing. Rather like it just didn't feel
Speaker 1: like he had the ball handling back yet. His conditioning
Speaker 1: is in back here. Maybe um he was driving and
Speaker 1: Andrew Wiggins l and stuff like that. They they just
Speaker 1: couldn't afford. Possessions were too valuable down the stretch and
Speaker 1: they just had Lebron controlling it then. And I thought
Speaker 1: he really picked it up. His scoring is not where
Speaker 1: it needs to be, but his brain was there. Which
Speaker 1: one of them this game? Yeah, yeah, I think we'll
Speaker 1: also plays just the third quarter to kind of get
Speaker 1: a run going. But yeah, just he made a couple
Speaker 1: of questionable decisions, uh down the stretchy and it's that issue. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, when guys haven't played together a lot, you
Speaker 1: kind of get that and I think that's just a
Speaker 1: lack of continuity that the Lakers have been forced due
Speaker 1: to injury and you know, getting his broke COVID protocols twice.
Speaker 1: Just a lack of you know, continuity between some of
Speaker 1: the guys that are out there, and I think that's
Speaker 1: something I have to work through as the as a
Speaker 1: playoffs go. But he was kind of stretch. I like,
Speaker 1: I like West closing games better anyway, just because of
Speaker 1: the floor space and he provides and it's not much
Speaker 1: of a drop off defensively. Credit to Frank by the way.
Speaker 1: You know, he gets absolutely trashed for rotations, including by me,
Speaker 1: So I'm not over here trying to, you know, claim
Speaker 1: superiority or anything, but like we all trash him for
Speaker 1: rotations consistently. Yet when the chips are down, he's always
Speaker 1: made the move. And if you look at tonight, he
Speaker 1: went th HT off the bench, which I thought was
Speaker 1: a little bit questionable, although t h T actually performed okay.
Speaker 1: I just think for all of us that were watching,
Speaker 1: West had been better in the in the month leading
Speaker 1: up to this, just as a consistent role player under
Speaker 1: under what he was being asked to do. There were
Speaker 1: the treads minutes where where I thought, once again the
Speaker 1: classic treads experience where he's getting offensive rebounds on one
Speaker 1: end and giving him up on the other, and then uh,
Speaker 1: and then the drum end experience. And then there at
Speaker 1: the end when when Dennis was you know, his his
Speaker 1: inability to hit three point shot was kind of hurting them.
Speaker 1: And then couple that with the fact that he had
Speaker 1: had a couple of sloppy turnovers. He had like three
Speaker 1: or four sloppy turnovers and pick and role passing where
Speaker 1: he just was forcing stuff that wasn't there. And Frank literally,
Speaker 1: you know, I tweeted out, I said, I wanted to
Speaker 1: see t I want to see KCP, Caruso, Kuzma, lebron
Speaker 1: A D And he ended up going with KCP Caruso,
Speaker 1: Wesley Matthews lebron A D, which you know, give or take,
Speaker 1: you know, westn Kuzma are similar arc types because both
Speaker 1: of them were great options, because both of them were
Speaker 1: great tonight. But Frank just no treads in the second half,
Speaker 1: no drum in the last you know what it was
Speaker 1: the fifteen minutes of the game, you know, got Dennis
Speaker 1: out of there, like Frank put you know, he made
Speaker 1: the necessary moves, and it was it was enough to
Speaker 1: to to Maple's point, though you won by three. Maybe
Speaker 1: if you make those moves earlier, we're not all sitting
Speaker 1: there sweating. But but he did make the moves and
Speaker 1: it hasn't gotten them burned yet. For whatever it's worth. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Like I don't mean a pile all, but just like
Speaker 1: but the ring, it makes a d jump shot dependent
Speaker 1: and he's so much better when he's allowed to put
Speaker 1: pressure on the rim. Like if you watch when drumming
Speaker 1: on the opposite dunker spot, they tried to run any
Speaker 1: pick and roll or any isolation action with a D
Speaker 1: and the mid post or on the wing, like Draymond
Speaker 1: sparking if he knows that drummings back there so he
Speaker 1: knows he can all the way up a D and
Speaker 1: make him take a tough contestant shop because if he drives,
Speaker 1: where is he going? You know what I'm saying, It's
Speaker 1: like going right into a contested paint. So that's that's
Speaker 1: my thing. It's just an overall like I hate to
Speaker 1: pile on the guy because it I'm just but I'm
Speaker 1: just overall step on the space of the team. Then
Speaker 1: you got a d who's jumps out and gets a
Speaker 1: great defender. Like I think it was two for twelve
Speaker 1: first half or something like that was a two for twelve. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was bad, whatever it was. And then like the
Speaker 1: third quarter, they opened up the floor. He gets two dumps,
Speaker 1: he gets the lib and then he makes the you know,
Speaker 1: two jump shots late right after seeing the ball going
Speaker 1: like you could just open up the floor. Man, It's
Speaker 1: just he was he was playing like Jamarca Rosen in
Speaker 1: that first hal like like not like I respect the Warriors,
Speaker 1: you know, I love me some step, but the game
Speaker 1: did not have to be that close. But I just
Speaker 1: in my opinion, I think I'm stop holding that that
Speaker 1: game and I have to be that close, you know
Speaker 1: it was. It was such an overall fascinating basketball game,
Speaker 1: just the ebbs and close of it all, Like honestly,
Speaker 1: like that it kind of made up for a slightly
Speaker 1: sort of kind of made up for what was a
Speaker 1: horrific season in terms of just a lack of drama,
Speaker 1: because that was just some ton of drama in that game.
Speaker 1: And even even a d was horrible in the first
Speaker 1: half and and wasn't that great in the second half.
Speaker 1: Made a huge fourth quarter three. I thought his defense
Speaker 1: on Step on the final possession, him jumping off his
Speaker 1: man to shut off that passing lane and forced the
Speaker 1: high pass that Step ended up fumbling, fumbling like a
Speaker 1: bunch of key Lakers who kind of were foggy and
Speaker 1: unfocused to start the game, kind of snapped into into
Speaker 1: form and made big plays at the end, kind of
Speaker 1: just like whipped into shape by just the drama and
Speaker 1: the fact that Steph was out there kicking their ass
Speaker 1: and the rest of those guys were kicking their ass
Speaker 1: and they had basically no choice but other to show
Speaker 1: up or get humiliated. And uh man, it was just
Speaker 1: an unbelievable game. I had that that was such an
Speaker 1: entertaining basketball game. It felt like a classic Lebron prsus
Speaker 1: Step game to right, like Lebron versus the Warriors. I
Speaker 1: guess we got like the Draymond hard foul, right, and
Speaker 1: then Lebron trying to sell it for the sell it
Speaker 1: for the play grant. Um he didn't get the flay grant.
Speaker 1: But and then they really he picked on Step in
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter right like he had the guards coming
Speaker 1: up to set the screen and then try to pick
Speaker 1: on him. On offense and getting it got a d
Speaker 1: a few duns, got them in the paint, then got
Speaker 1: him an open shot. So it's just a classic game
Speaker 1: between two legends to two goats going uh going back
Speaker 1: and forth. It was it was great. It was really
Speaker 1: stressful during during the game, but being down third, like
Speaker 1: of course that shot by Step went in a halftime
Speaker 1: right like I thought a d kind of went off,
Speaker 1: and but of course that shot went in down thirteen
Speaker 1: and then we got a classic game. So yeah, the
Speaker 1: ebbs and flows were fun, were fun, like after the fact,
Speaker 1: by looking back, I guess it was enjoyable, but during
Speaker 1: it was super stressful trying to it's not fun being
Speaker 1: on the other side of Step like his and so
Speaker 1: uh Maples, like what what is your like to put
Speaker 1: a bow on it? What? What? What? What do you
Speaker 1: make of this particular night as it pertains to the
Speaker 1: Lebron Stepp rivalry. Is it just a tiny footnote in
Speaker 1: a relatively unimportant game or do you think it's you know, like,
Speaker 1: how do you contextualize this in the grand scheme of things? Oh,
Speaker 1: they've battled too much on the ultimate stage and just
Speaker 1: to be super important, like it's just another fun game.
Speaker 1: Definitely after tonight the play and definitely isn't going anywhere
Speaker 1: after tonight. I'm interested to see what the ratings look
Speaker 1: like for those game, to be honest, Like as far
Speaker 1: as the Residents, I'm pretty sure they were off the Yeah. Man,
Speaker 1: just those two man, it's just I think they're the
Speaker 1: very magic of our time. Man just just got to
Speaker 1: be got a chance in these moments, regardless of you
Speaker 1: know who, you're quote uncolle loyalties live with. You just
Speaker 1: gotta cherish man. Even like even some of the Laker
Speaker 1: guys who make their jokes about step even during the game,
Speaker 1: they were like, men, Steph was just incredible, but you
Speaker 1: just like being all have some of the shots he
Speaker 1: was making, just the twisting layups, the contested threes, like
Speaker 1: he was six of nine from three, but probably want
Speaker 1: eight of the threes. It was. That's great defense. It's
Speaker 1: like it's like it's nothing you could do at that point.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be like this guy's gotta make the catches, tough, man,
Speaker 1: So you just gotta I don't think it's big in
Speaker 1: the Stephan Lebron's scheme. I think they played on the
Speaker 1: ultimate stage too much now if they meet in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: which I think would have to be in the Conference
Speaker 1: Vinyls at this point, by correct, yes, it would literally happen,
Speaker 1: I think. I mean, I think the Clippers just have
Speaker 1: too much firepower over the course of a series. Then
Speaker 1: then the Warriors do for that to happen. Uh. The
Speaker 1: Lakers have a average offense, I think, But the Clippers,
Speaker 1: I just I don't think the Warriors can score like
Speaker 1: that over a series to really beat them. But we'll
Speaker 1: see the Clippers always the chip over themself in the
Speaker 1: second round. But it will be fun to get the
Speaker 1: Lakers wors than the conference finals. But I just I
Speaker 1: don't see the Warriors within the two rounds. What do
Speaker 1: you what do you think? Yeah? I just like, look,
Speaker 1: if the Warriors beat the Jazz with like playing eight
Speaker 1: dudes like I think Utah is gonna be, They're gonna
Speaker 1: be pretty much a joke of the summer. Like I
Speaker 1: think this. I think this Warriors team is really good.
Speaker 1: I just I don't see them beating Utah. I don't
Speaker 1: think they have the represent enough enough talent to beat them.
Speaker 1: Um step is gonna go crazy and a few of
Speaker 1: those games if they get things to the conference finals. Man,
Speaker 1: that would be a crazy year for them. That's that's
Speaker 1: a lot of credits to Steff and Draymond and I
Speaker 1: guess Kurt with with what they did because they play
Speaker 1: a lot of young guys like Quanta Scott Anderson, Jordan Pool.
Speaker 1: Those are young dudes like playing what their first playoffs like.
Speaker 1: I think that would be pretty pretty crazy. But you
Speaker 1: know they can win any game, like they're gonna give
Speaker 1: you task series. I still think they'll win. I just
Speaker 1: think it will be tough. I think you've taught still
Speaker 1: a legit team, Like you don't win that many games
Speaker 1: in the regular season, in my opinion, without being some
Speaker 1: kind of legit, legit team. I think their offense is
Speaker 1: is real, um even though the three point shooting might
Speaker 1: fall off. So I have them, I have them being
Speaker 1: the Warriors. I still think it'll probably go six. I
Speaker 1: don't know if the Warriors can push it to seven,
Speaker 1: but yeah, like that would be crazy if the Warriors
Speaker 1: are able to beat that team and Utah I think
Speaker 1: would have a really rough summer if they lost to this,
Speaker 1: uh this Warrior squad, I'll be I'll be rooting for them. Um.
Speaker 1: I I find step to be so likable. I love
Speaker 1: his mentality and I love his disposition, and you know,
Speaker 1: his fan base can be reprehensible, but at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, so or as every fan day. So
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna I'm not gonna catch him for that.
Speaker 1: And uh and you know, and I've I've had I've
Speaker 1: had my moments as the irrational thing myself. So I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna I'm not gonna say anything. But you know,
Speaker 1: the thing that I would say to put a bow
Speaker 1: on on the Lebron step thing is like, you know
Speaker 1: what I appreciated about tonight is it's like another chapter
Speaker 1: in this saga between the two of them, and it
Speaker 1: kind of helps you realize that, like so much of
Speaker 1: this is subjective and just what you prefer because they're
Speaker 1: so different. Like Roger said earlier, Lebron's out there literally
Speaker 1: manipulating the game with his passing and with his brain.
Speaker 1: Those backdoor cuts he hit to Caruso, who's about those
Speaker 1: windows were tiny. As he was throwing the past I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: that looks like it might be a turnover, and it
Speaker 1: just flips through. It's like and then Steph, just there's
Speaker 1: no words to describe what he did offensively as score tonight,
Speaker 1: And so like the way that I see it, it's
Speaker 1: like there's no way to to line things up on
Speaker 1: a table and be like, here's how one is clearly
Speaker 1: better than the other, because they're both so different and
Speaker 1: and it is a team sport and so much is convoluted,
Speaker 1: and and so I'm kind of at the point with
Speaker 1: two of them where you know, it's just like like
Speaker 1: it's like like like the bird magic thing. It's kind
Speaker 1: of like fire and ice, these two completely different, uh
Speaker 1: you know, entities that are you know, at the top
Speaker 1: of this game, but you know, they're both so different,
Speaker 1: and it's kind of like just people are going to
Speaker 1: gravitate one way or another based on their own personal
Speaker 1: preference and and and I thought tonight was just another
Speaker 1: example of like, regardless of what other supporting pieces you
Speaker 1: throw into this rivalry, like this wasn't Kevin Durant and
Speaker 1: Clay Thompson and and Kyrie Irving. It was Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: and Andre Drummond and Andrew Wiggins and all and all
Speaker 1: these different pieces, but it still ended up being Lebron
Speaker 1: and staff doing Lebron and step stuff. And that was
Speaker 1: the final you know, iteration of the game, and the
Speaker 1: game basically came down to Lebron and Step in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter making plays, and Lebron made one more play
Speaker 1: this time, you know, and it was just I I
Speaker 1: look at it as just like awesome, and I hope,
Speaker 1: I hope that they get to play in a series
Speaker 1: against each other at some point in the future, and
Speaker 1: it's very possible that they will next year when Clay
Speaker 1: comes back. Yeah, I said that the Warriors a little
Speaker 1: closer than I thought, uh, because my biggest they were
Speaker 1: a healthy Clay away from doing something serious this year,
Speaker 1: looking at how they bought into the small ball thing.
Speaker 1: So their off season will be interesting because they're not
Speaker 1: that far If they get that version of Step again,
Speaker 1: the second best player in the league, it's not you know,
Speaker 1: they do not that far off. Benis the off season
Speaker 1: moves you guys want to be on the Suns, let's
Speaker 1: do it. Raj, what's your early impression of the Sun series? Man,
Speaker 1: I was gonna I was gonna write sit down for
Speaker 1: the Suns, but like the Lakers, trigging this game off
Speaker 1: that long, Like, I wasn't even thinking about Phoenix until
Speaker 1: until now. But yeah, like I think they have a
Speaker 1: really side. They have a good size advantage downlow. Like
Speaker 1: I think they have Anthony Davis issue right, they have
Speaker 1: no one for a D and then their stars are
Speaker 1: their guards. But I think kind of works in the
Speaker 1: Lakers favors. Lakers favor Like, I think they're really good
Speaker 1: at defending the guards. Chris Paul and Devil Book are
Speaker 1: are special what they do. I just think we have
Speaker 1: enough guards to kind of contain that, and then we'll
Speaker 1: see if Aton and all those guys can play against
Speaker 1: a D who who destroyed them the last game. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that's like the initial look at it. What
Speaker 1: do you guys see from it? Um? I think that
Speaker 1: Phoenix is not very good depending the room, and I
Speaker 1: think that plays right into the Lakers hands. They're just
Speaker 1: not very good at it. And I think Lebron and
Speaker 1: a D are just gonna give them hell in that regard.
Speaker 1: And you kind of feel bad because you know, Chris
Speaker 1: Paul has this amazing season. Uh it helps turn that
Speaker 1: team around and his prizes, you get Lebron James and
Speaker 1: every it was in the first round at the second seed.
Speaker 1: So I just don't think they defended the rim well
Speaker 1: the defense their defensive weakness is play right into what
Speaker 1: the Lakers want to do, which is, you know, get
Speaker 1: to the rim. And I just I don't think I'm
Speaker 1: trying to be respectful, Like I don't see it going
Speaker 1: past five, but you know, maybe Chris Paul Booker has
Speaker 1: a moment and it goes six. But I just think
Speaker 1: the Phoenix's weaknesses fall right in line with the Lakers
Speaker 1: strengths and it's not going to be a long series
Speaker 1: in my opinion at least. Yeah, I agree with you
Speaker 1: know what's funny is like, look at what Draymond did
Speaker 1: tonight to disrupt things around the rim for the Lakers,
Speaker 1: and how it's gonna almost feel like a breath of
Speaker 1: fresh air to all of a sudden DeAndre eight and
Speaker 1: trying to make the same place right, you know, Like,
Speaker 1: you know what's funny is in a weird way because
Speaker 1: I think this is a terrific matchup for the Suns,
Speaker 1: and I think the Lakers are primed to potentially win
Speaker 1: the series in five games, which is huge for a
Speaker 1: bunch of reasons. First of all, they get three days
Speaker 1: off before the series, and if they end the series
Speaker 1: in five in Portland and Denver have a six seven Gamer.
Speaker 1: That's more time for Lebron to rest and recover and
Speaker 1: get that ankle right. So it's it's primed up perfectly
Speaker 1: for them. The downside is is this is the type
Speaker 1: of series that will trick the Lakers into thinking they
Speaker 1: can win playing big again. Yeah, and that's all I
Speaker 1: expect them to go. I I think there's a good
Speaker 1: chance that they fall back into some habits here where
Speaker 1: it's a lot of treads and a lot of drumming. Again,
Speaker 1: that's my concerns. Well, definitely, that's a good point. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're gonna start They're gonna start drumming for sure. I
Speaker 1: feel like again against Phoenix and again, like I think
Speaker 1: the theory of it kind of makes sense, like they
Speaker 1: want to kind of dominate the boards, right and stuff
Speaker 1: like that, and it maybe a Phoenix says Chris Paul Devin.
Speaker 1: Book are going, Um he gets out early like on
Speaker 1: it like Maple. Do you think Treads can play against
Speaker 1: the Suns? Because I thought like he kind of could
Speaker 1: if they have Dario sorry as the backup five would
Speaker 1: you think would you think Treads is playable in that series?
Speaker 1: Would you still kind of just stick to kind of
Speaker 1: a d at the five there and I leave him
Speaker 1: out the rotation. My thing with trans is like he's
Speaker 1: okay if drop coverage is possible against the opponent, and
Speaker 1: drop coverage is not passible against you know, Chris Paul
Speaker 1: and Booker because there's a profession shooting off screen. So
Speaker 1: it'll be rough with him and pick and roll because
Speaker 1: he just sees his drop guys. That's who he is, um,
Speaker 1: so it'll be rough. Like And when when we signed Traans,
Speaker 1: I was like, I think it's the regular season signing
Speaker 1: because it's easy night tonight. All those down Knights would
Speaker 1: be great, and I think you know he was in
Speaker 1: that regard. But in the playoffs, I just I don't
Speaker 1: see it beyond beyond like the first round, and not
Speaker 1: even then because Lakers got the seven season, not even
Speaker 1: playing the team that he can really play big minutes
Speaker 1: beyond the in the playoffs. And like he said, he'll
Speaker 1: be a spot guy like the guy arrest, I just
Speaker 1: don't think you can. It's just too exploitable. Like I'm
Speaker 1: trying not to be mean, but I just don't see
Speaker 1: an avenue for him to play big minutes in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: like maybe eight to ten minutes of spot. He's just
Speaker 1: he's just too exploitable on defense. I expect the game
Speaker 1: or the series in general to kind of break down
Speaker 1: the way that this game did tonight, in the sense
Speaker 1: that kind of like first half, second half, different mindset.
Speaker 1: I expect in the first two or three games of
Speaker 1: the series to see a lot of Drummond and Tres
Speaker 1: But then when it comes down to it in games
Speaker 1: four or five and six, if it gets to six,
Speaker 1: you'll see the you know, Frank get more serious. But
Speaker 1: I agree. My thing with Tread's from the beginning has
Speaker 1: been if you if you if you have him just
Speaker 1: defending and pick and roll as a traditional big, you're
Speaker 1: asking him to fail. Um. But he's got athleticism, and
Speaker 1: he's got the quickness, and he's got a motor. So
Speaker 1: if you kind of have him defend as a perimeter player, um,
Speaker 1: then he'll have more success. Whether that's trapping in pick
Speaker 1: and roll instead of putting him in some sort of
Speaker 1: drop or or catch head or anything along those lines,
Speaker 1: or if you have him you know, uh, just you know,
Speaker 1: outright double or anything that can allow him to use
Speaker 1: his length and and and and speed to compensate for
Speaker 1: the fact that he's not a great traditional pick and
Speaker 1: roll defender. Anything along those lines I think is better
Speaker 1: for him. He outright was excellent on the offensive end
Speaker 1: in their last matchup, and there was a bunch of
Speaker 1: really interesting stuff where the Sons had to throw extra
Speaker 1: bodies at a D, and so they kind of developed
Speaker 1: a little bit of a high low type of chemistry
Speaker 1: there where you know, a D would try to post
Speaker 1: up and Phoenix would throw multiple bodies at him and
Speaker 1: Tread's would flash to the semicircle or to the free
Speaker 1: throw line, and he catch and he turned and Treads's
Speaker 1: man would kind of sink onto a D to take
Speaker 1: away the high low pass and he'd either have a
Speaker 1: floater or there was even a play in the second
Speaker 1: half where he just took a power dribble and went
Speaker 1: right into Frank Kaminski's chest and just caved his chest
Speaker 1: in and had to lay up. And I think there's
Speaker 1: some good stuff there, potentially offensive we with him next
Speaker 1: to a D, capitalizing on the ridiculous amount of attention
Speaker 1: they have to throw at a D. Because they're gonna
Speaker 1: be games in the series where the Sun's just throw
Speaker 1: the kitchen sink at a D and the Laker role
Speaker 1: players are going to have a party because they're not
Speaker 1: gonna sit there and let him go for forty every
Speaker 1: night like you did know last matchup and they just
Speaker 1: stay just again, don't defend the defend the paint that will.
Speaker 1: So that that that's what the series A little hinge
Speaker 1: joined my opinion. Yeah, it's a good series for Lebron
Speaker 1: to right, like where he can kind of work his
Speaker 1: way in, like he doesn't have to be the Lebron
Speaker 1: scoring like thirty five a night. I'm against the Suns.
Speaker 1: I feel like a d can kind of pick up
Speaker 1: most of the slack in the series. I guess, like
Speaker 1: my issue only with I think you guys would agree
Speaker 1: with me, isn't like the Drummond tres matchup minutes is
Speaker 1: like Gasolve being totally out of the rotation, right Like,
Speaker 1: I think that's kind of annoying for me, and I
Speaker 1: think you guys would agree with that. Like him, I
Speaker 1: don't want him to go a whole first round without playing,
Speaker 1: which I don't think he will. It's just like that's
Speaker 1: what it kind of feels like. Because Bogel said he
Speaker 1: has his cations kind of picked before the game, right,
Speaker 1: So we'll see if a Gasol that's a Gasol series
Speaker 1: for them, Like I think if things things don't work out,
Speaker 1: then he'll play. But it just feels like they go
Speaker 1: into a kind of predetermine who they're who they're going
Speaker 1: to play. Yeah, I don't know. Tonight was kind of
Speaker 1: odd because loony, like the slow plotting, that seems like
Speaker 1: it was Taylor made from Mark to play and he
Speaker 1: still didn't play, so like completely lost. I won't even
Speaker 1: try to guess when you know Marc Gasol will be used.
Speaker 1: I think i'd imagine if you play the Nuggets, he
Speaker 1: would see some minutes, and or if you play the
Speaker 1: Sixers Down a lot of that will be in the
Speaker 1: finals if if they even got there, like that would
Speaker 1: be well only times I would like be for sure
Speaker 1: that Mark was gonna play. But as a right now,
Speaker 1: I can't even guess when he putting the game because
Speaker 1: it seemed like tonight was perfect when what the Warriors
Speaker 1: playing Looney, one of the few guys markin might beat
Speaker 1: faster than I. I tend to think that that, like
Speaker 1: Maple said, you know, because alls match up dependent and
Speaker 1: putting him in a situation, you know, like against Looney
Speaker 1: you would expect to have seen him. You know, you
Speaker 1: never would want to put him on the floor when
Speaker 1: the Warriors go small. I mean, you're setting up Mark
Speaker 1: to fail in a situation like that. The But at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, like eton Is is another
Speaker 1: one of those guys that is tailor made for Marcusol matchup,
Speaker 1: like eton Is not, as he's not gifted enough offensively
Speaker 1: or athletic enough to really make you pay for having
Speaker 1: Marcus all out there so you can reap all the
Speaker 1: offensive benefits that come with having Marcusol on the floor.
Speaker 1: But I mean, I guess, I guess we'll see. But
Speaker 1: tonight doesn't bode well for that, Like you said, um,
Speaker 1: And I just like my favorite part about this matchup,
Speaker 1: and it's my favorite part about this team in general,
Speaker 1: is like the Lakers are like a like a really
Speaker 1: really well filled out toolbox in the sense that whatever
Speaker 1: problem you encounter, they seem to have a good option
Speaker 1: to throw at it. You know, like you're you're sitting
Speaker 1: there thinking like, oh, well, what do you do about
Speaker 1: Devin Book? You know, because the Suns are sitting in
Speaker 1: there and they're like, what are we gonna do with
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis? What are we gonna do with Lebron And
Speaker 1: they just don't have good options, you know, But the
Speaker 1: Lakers have these options like they can go actually, you know,
Speaker 1: like if we put Alex Crusoe and Chris Paul like,
Speaker 1: he can make him work pretty damn hard. He's not
Speaker 1: gonna stop him, but he's gonna make him work pretty
Speaker 1: damn hard, you know. Or whether it's Crusoe on on
Speaker 1: Devin Booker or Wesley Matthews on on Devin Booker. You know,
Speaker 1: k C. P has has proven to be, you know
Speaker 1: here in the last couple of months to be a
Speaker 1: really really good defensive player. The Lakers just have all
Speaker 1: of these like options that they can go to and
Speaker 1: and it makes them so dangerous in these long seven
Speaker 1: games series is because they just have all these different
Speaker 1: options that they can go to. And I think and
Speaker 1: I think the Phoenix series is a particular one where
Speaker 1: the Lakers are just really well equipped for this matchup. Yeah.
Speaker 1: They It felt like they really kind of figured out
Speaker 1: the Warriors tonight as well, kind of like as the
Speaker 1: game got on. And I think they like to do
Speaker 1: that in a series. That's why I wanted to get
Speaker 1: out of this stamp playing game because I'm pretty confident
Speaker 1: in like Vogel and Lebron and all of them kind
Speaker 1: of finding a solution, Like you said, having a whole
Speaker 1: toolbox of players to go to. We didn't see Markie
Speaker 1: Morris either tonight. Right, He's another guy they can got
Speaker 1: to kind of go to if they need shooting and
Speaker 1: want to go small with a D at the five.
Speaker 1: I think the Sons are a team you can do that. Again,
Speaker 1: they just have all these dudes. I think Kuzman Caruso
Speaker 1: just stepping up a level as well just makes that
Speaker 1: rotation even better. Um, I think it's pretty clear those
Speaker 1: two um KCP are also the guys that they're gonna
Speaker 1: go to when it matters. So against the team, like
Speaker 1: the Sons will see, um, they don't have anyone inside
Speaker 1: for a D. And then like when you put all
Speaker 1: the attention to a D, then you have Lebron be
Speaker 1: able to cut to the basket and you get their
Speaker 1: shooters and get our shooters kind of going. So I
Speaker 1: agree they're a really tough matchup. That's why I kind
Speaker 1: of feel bad for Phoenix, Like I think they've had
Speaker 1: a great year. I think Chris Paul has been amazing
Speaker 1: this year, but it's just a tough way for them
Speaker 1: to go out in the first round, and it's this
Speaker 1: was the worst matchup for them in my opinion, but
Speaker 1: that's how it shaped out to feel like they will
Speaker 1: probably ruined like hell for the Warriors tonight. And by
Speaker 1: the way, what a crappy predicament that is, Like, please
Speaker 1: please give us maybe the best player in the world instead,
Speaker 1: you know, like that, that's just it's outrageous, Like, Okay,
Speaker 1: so what did the Suns finished one game back of
Speaker 1: Utah or two games? I can't remember. I thought my head,
Speaker 1: I think it was one game yea, So so we're talking,
Speaker 1: we're talking. You go out for seventy two games. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the one game back. You you go out for seventy
Speaker 1: two games, and you proved that you are no worse
Speaker 1: than one game behind the best possible pace, you know,
Speaker 1: win pace in the circumstance, and you're rewarded with sitting
Speaker 1: down on a Wednesday night, literally three games before you
Speaker 1: have to play, and you're sitting watching Lebron and Steph
Speaker 1: just put on this incredible performance. Both defenses just absolutely stifling.
Speaker 1: And meanwhile, uh, meanwhile, the uh uh you know, the
Speaker 1: Philadelphia seventy sixers are going to get some you know, garbage,
Speaker 1: you know, Pacers team or not Pacers teamer that like
Speaker 1: maybe the Celtics that are extremely limited, or um, gosh,
Speaker 1: who else is it in the Indian Is it Indie?
Speaker 1: I can't remember? In one Indie one. So they get
Speaker 1: the seventh seed and it's the Celtics seven. Celtics got
Speaker 1: the seven, that's right, and then Indie plays the Wizards. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so it's like they're gonna get a Wizards team that
Speaker 1: can't guard to save their life, and or or you know,
Speaker 1: or this Pacers team that's you know, they're starting lineup
Speaker 1: is completely decimated, you know. Or you know, you're the
Speaker 1: Sons and the Jazz and you're flipping a coin between
Speaker 1: Lebron and Staff. It's just it's just it's just ridiculous
Speaker 1: life in the Western Conference. And that's why we kind
Speaker 1: of saw that kind of jockey on the last day,
Speaker 1: right Like in respect to the Sons, they actually won
Speaker 1: their game. I think they beat the Spurs on the
Speaker 1: last day, but we saw like the Clippers do that
Speaker 1: weird tank job and then um who else who else? Tank?
Speaker 1: That game? After that? Denver Denver also had that terrible
Speaker 1: tank job as well, so I just ended up being Phoenix.
Speaker 1: I think it really worked out. I want to ask
Speaker 1: you guys, like the Brackett really worked out. I guess
Speaker 1: um JT. You were talking about how it was so
Speaker 1: important to win this game, right because you win this
Speaker 1: one and now you get to play Phoenix, then you
Speaker 1: play the winner of Denver Portland, and then from there
Speaker 1: you play whoever gets in the Western Commerence Finals. I
Speaker 1: think that like really worked out for the Lakers in
Speaker 1: terms of their their seating and going into these teams
Speaker 1: they haven't advantage over them, and then Denver Portland I
Speaker 1: think are really good teams but just not the top
Speaker 1: crop of the West. Did you guys kind of agree
Speaker 1: with that that the Brackett kind of worked out for
Speaker 1: them perfectly? Absolutely? Yeah, this was the best case scenario.
Speaker 1: I mean. And there's another side of it too, Like
Speaker 1: the Lakers played a couple of bad teams on Saturday
Speaker 1: and Sunday, and before that they had taken some losses
Speaker 1: and excuse me that they had played Houston, another bad team,
Speaker 1: So they had won five games in a row, but
Speaker 1: their defense had kind of taken a step back. And
Speaker 1: I actually thought that the Lakers, I mean, Maples, you
Speaker 1: actually called this out at halftime, that the Lakers effort
Speaker 1: wasn't quite there in the first half. There was like
Speaker 1: a lack of urgency just in general and their hustle
Speaker 1: and and in their focus. And like, I think a
Speaker 1: game like tonight, in a weird way, is was a
Speaker 1: great tune up for the Suns, especially if they end
Speaker 1: up having to go to any sort of crazy trapping
Speaker 1: pick and roll coverage against Chris Paul if he gets going.
Speaker 1: So I thought the it broke out with the matchups.
Speaker 1: Lebron's Lebron had this crazy game tonight, but he had
Speaker 1: two days off before this, and he gets three days
Speaker 1: off now, um and then and then in terms of
Speaker 1: the matchup, it's it's definitely not a guarantee, but the
Speaker 1: Lakers now have like a super super achievable path to
Speaker 1: the Western Conference finals. And so now you're talking about
Speaker 1: four and a half weeks potentially between having to get
Speaker 1: ready between now and having to be ready for a
Speaker 1: matchup with the Clippers. Four and a half weeks. You know,
Speaker 1: like if you think of Lebron's injury timeline, that's a
Speaker 1: significant shunk of time. You know that he's gonna be
Speaker 1: up over what he's gonna be up around like week
Speaker 1: thirteen or week fourteen of his recovery at that point. Um,
Speaker 1: if I'm math is correcked so like literally that the
Speaker 1: way the matchups broke out, it kind of compensated for
Speaker 1: some of the bad luck that the Lakers had in
Speaker 1: terms of their their injuries this year. Yeah, I agree
Speaker 1: with that. I guess, like I want to ask you guys,
Speaker 1: because we kind of hit a lot of positives for
Speaker 1: the Lakers, Like I have my ideas, but well, what
Speaker 1: is the way the Sun's kind of beat the Lakers?
Speaker 1: Like what's your what are you most worried about with Phoenix?
Speaker 1: Is it their guards? Is it Chris Paul demon Booker
Speaker 1: like hitting mid range pull ups on on the Lakers,
Speaker 1: trying to trap them off off screens or like what
Speaker 1: or is it eight and kind of getting a postgames
Speaker 1: like what is your biggest worry with the Sun's? Uh,
Speaker 1: like in the Suns in the playoffs them getting hot
Speaker 1: from three and that that you know that's always a
Speaker 1: issue on today's inn bea for sure, Um, I think
Speaker 1: like you said, I think you were or Jason missioned
Speaker 1: this earlier fact because Aidan plays that forces them into
Speaker 1: more uh Drummond minute and that kind of lux up
Speaker 1: the floor offensively, and that's also could be a factor.
Speaker 1: So and he those are that have I was like,
Speaker 1: I just this is the worst matchup to seven could
Speaker 1: have pulled. I just is rough for me finding them
Speaker 1: away from to beat the Lakers four times. It's it's
Speaker 1: it's hard because you you respect what Chris Paul's like.
Speaker 1: I like Chris Pauls and then in his career, you know,
Speaker 1: I've been rooting for Devin Booker forever finally gets to
Speaker 1: Champs on the big stage and just you know, just
Speaker 1: lucky to draw. But I just I can't. I can't
Speaker 1: find an avenue for them to beat the Lakers four times.
Speaker 1: I just think even if they get where but it's
Speaker 1: still a game or two, you know, with the drummer
Speaker 1: beating on the floor. Frank's history shows that he's in
Speaker 1: a jester and he would rectify that. You know, after
Speaker 1: even one game last year, you know, you saw like
Speaker 1: he would yank the white and Javeil out when necessary.
Speaker 1: He would tell him beforehand, you're not gonna play this series.
Speaker 1: But he was good about that with the chips down,
Speaker 1: So I don't see Frank's taking or something that's going
Speaker 1: to be Dutchment and the Lakers in that regard. Yeah, Manaples,
Speaker 1: I'm exactly in the same frame of mind, like, yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: what if what if Jay Crowder does a pretty good
Speaker 1: job on Lebron, Well that's not going to be enough.
Speaker 1: But what if those Suns make a ton of threes? Well,
Speaker 1: well that's not really gonna be enough. Like, you know,
Speaker 1: even if the most crazy outland of scenario, what if
Speaker 1: Devin Booker literally transforms into prime Kobe Bryant in this series,
Speaker 1: like his playoff debut is just the most surgical twenty
Speaker 1: eight points per game ever against this Laker defense, I
Speaker 1: don't think that's enough. I think this is one of
Speaker 1: those things that I'm not trying to be overly optimistic here.
Speaker 1: I think it would require a Lebron or a d
Speaker 1: injury for the Suns to win this series. I really
Speaker 1: think that, yeah, that they really don't match up. Well.
Speaker 1: I guess the only way is if like Chris Paul
Speaker 1: and Devin book could really get hot right for a
Speaker 1: few games, I think that's the way they would steal
Speaker 1: one Um, they don't match up well. Mccau bridges. I
Speaker 1: think it's a nice defender. I don't think he'll be
Speaker 1: able to stay um with Lebron. I don't think he
Speaker 1: has the length or he has the lane, doesn't have
Speaker 1: the strain to kind of keep up with him, and
Speaker 1: then they have a D issue. Um, That's my only
Speaker 1: way is if Devin Booker and Chris Paul there, they
Speaker 1: can hit tough shots right like like they go to
Speaker 1: tough shots like they look for them, like Devin brook
Speaker 1: who loves those mid range jumpers. Chris Paul loves them.
Speaker 1: Can they hit them at enough efficiency for it to matter,
Speaker 1: We'll see, But I think that's the only way. I
Speaker 1: think the Lakers have a big size advantage. Um. I
Speaker 1: think they'll still start with Drummond early, try to beat
Speaker 1: them up on the boards, and if that doesn't work,
Speaker 1: they can just always go to a D at the five,
Speaker 1: which I don't think any team has solved really Like
Speaker 1: through the last two years we've been We've been watching
Speaker 1: this Lebron in a D for like two years now.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure any team has really solved the a
Speaker 1: D at the five lineup with Lebron at the four
Speaker 1: um and I don't think the Suns will be the
Speaker 1: first one to do it. So I just was curious
Speaker 1: what you guys thought, like how how the Sons can
Speaker 1: make this a competitive series because they're gonna be really
Speaker 1: the underdogs here. Yeah, I mean I picked the Lakers
Speaker 1: in six years out of respect, like the number two scenes,
Speaker 1: you know, I think Booker or Chris Paul has a
Speaker 1: moment or two. So I'm not gonna say, I'm not gonna,
Speaker 1: you know, to say you're being the Bruins out. But
Speaker 1: it is six, but like a comfortable six, like the
Speaker 1: Lakers are up three one and then they win, like
Speaker 1: not a two to you know type thing. So that
Speaker 1: that's kind of how how I feel about the series
Speaker 1: as far but as far as the only thing that
Speaker 1: are going to be able to, you know, combat that
Speaker 1: whether either defensively or being able to still generate good looks,
Speaker 1: and I think are the are the Clippers and in
Speaker 1: the in the Brooklyn Nets that ends up being a
Speaker 1: matchup that we see like that's alyswer that they who
Speaker 1: have to even the possibility even slowing that down. I
Speaker 1: think it's gonna be the Rockets, Blazers, Nuggets, special from
Speaker 1: last year. I think the Lakers is gonna win in five,
Speaker 1: and I think the game where the Lakers lose, We're
Speaker 1: all gonna be pulling our hair out watching clips of
Speaker 1: them botching rotations and just kind of putting forth a
Speaker 1: really putrid defensive effort. I really think that. I think,
Speaker 1: like I think, I think the Lakers will lose a
Speaker 1: game by just giving up on the defensive end, either
Speaker 1: in Game three because they already have a lead, or
Speaker 1: Game one because they don't respect their opponent, or something
Speaker 1: like that. But I just think that there is I
Speaker 1: don't I understand that. I have a ton of respect
Speaker 1: for Chris Paul and Devin Booker. Two, it's just so
Speaker 1: hard for me to fathom and losing multiple games in
Speaker 1: this series. But I mean, maybe I'm wrong, and maybe
Speaker 1: we'll all be sitting here in a week going, you know,
Speaker 1: you know, Lakers are down to one. What's gonna happen next,
Speaker 1: you know? But I just it's it's hard for me
Speaker 1: to even map out how that would work. Um, do
Speaker 1: you guys have anything else from tonight or from the
Speaker 1: Sun's game before we call it tonight? I'm leaving at
Speaker 1: five thirty in the morning. He drive to Texas tomorrow
Speaker 1: for a family reunions. I gotta I gotta get some
Speaker 1: sleep eventually. No, man, just a great night at basketball. Man,
Speaker 1: Like that was like legitimately fun to watch like that,
Speaker 1: That's all I can say. Like that was two best
Speaker 1: players in the NBA fighting for something real of like
Speaker 1: that was the playoffs will go because that would be special. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but it was crazy. It feels like we were more
Speaker 1: worried about this playing game than like the t see right,
Speaker 1: Like it feels like all of a Lakers Twitter and
Speaker 1: all Laker fans are kind of more worried about this game.
Speaker 1: Winning this game than like playing the Suns on the
Speaker 1: Sun feels like a much much more not easier road.
Speaker 1: But we can kind of settle in, let them kind
Speaker 1: of get into the Suns and breakdown breakdown film against them.
Speaker 1: A yeah, yeah exactly. Yeah. That was really nervous through
Speaker 1: that one. So it was good to get that out
Speaker 1: of the way and now we can everyone including the team,
Speaker 1: can focus on Phoenix and just getting through that one.
Speaker 1: But yeah, this was fun to two legends going at it. Um.
Speaker 1: I don't want to disrespect Memphis as well, I think,
Speaker 1: Maples said, that earlier, but I feel like Utah is
Speaker 1: going to have a hell of a first round on
Speaker 1: their hands. Yeah, I I had I used more nervous
Speaker 1: for this game than I was for any playoff game
Speaker 1: last year. Um, I have such a I thought this
Speaker 1: game was so important, not just for the seating things
Speaker 1: we discussed, but also if they went the other route,
Speaker 1: they'd have to play again on Friday and then go
Speaker 1: into Utah. It was a little bit more physically capable
Speaker 1: of matching up with the Lakers and then have to
Speaker 1: play the Clippers potentially in the second round. It just
Speaker 1: it was such a much. It was so much more
Speaker 1: of a dark kind of like uh less optimistic path um,
Speaker 1: but just like going and then just the fear of steath,
Speaker 1: like just the I I never thought the Lakers were
Speaker 1: really threatened last year, and I I was unique among most.
Speaker 1: I mean, there were there were some people in Lakers
Speaker 1: Twitter who were like me, but I felt like most
Speaker 1: Lakers Twitter was very optimistic going into this game. I
Speaker 1: just I just had this feeling. I was like, man,
Speaker 1: the Warriors are playing really good basketball and the Lakers
Speaker 1: are good, but they're not playing as well right now.
Speaker 1: And I thought there was a real I told Row,
Speaker 1: I told it, just send out a tweet that I said,
Speaker 1: I thought it was sixty forty Lakers. There was my chip,
Speaker 1: my pick for the game, and I thought it was
Speaker 1: that close to being a coin flip. And and it
Speaker 1: was just because of my respect for step and my
Speaker 1: respect for Draymond and Steve Kerr in that defense, and
Speaker 1: and so that just added this whole layer of like
Speaker 1: dread throughout throughout the game because it was they were
Speaker 1: actually threatened by a team that really went out their
Speaker 1: next in a in a in a game that they
Speaker 1: had to win. Um, and Uh, I agree with you.
Speaker 1: I couldn't have said it better than New Maples. I
Speaker 1: just thought it was a great night of basketball man
Speaker 1: where we live Forest fans baby. Hell yeah, Um Maples,
Speaker 1: I really appreciate you coming on all of you guys
Speaker 1: who hung out with us here over the last hour.
Speaker 1: I sincerely appreciate it. Immediately after I closed the space,
Speaker 1: I'll get the screen recording up in a podcast format
Speaker 1: so you can catch the whole thing, Um, Roger, and
Speaker 1: I sincerely appreciate all you guys, you know, kind of
Speaker 1: just hanging with us to these last couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: And I'm thankful to say that we will have at
Speaker 1: least one series of playoff basketball. It's a cover with
Speaker 1: you eyes as well. Yep, we plan to do this
Speaker 1: after every game as well. So um, I guess we'll
Speaker 1: see you on Sunday. Then we will see you all
Speaker 1: on