Speaker 1: Welcome in What's Right with Nick Wright, a quick Monday
Speaker 1: morning pod after what was a remarkable and unbelievable weekend
Speaker 1: of NBA basketball, and also the weekend that almost assuredly
Speaker 1: marked the end of the Los Angeles Lakers season. And
Speaker 1: that's not even because I think necessarily they are drawing
Speaker 1: dead to execute a three to one comeback. They're obviously
Speaker 1: drawing very slim, but I don't think they are at
Speaker 1: zero percent. However, the present they will get if they
Speaker 1: somehow do execute a three to one comeback with a
Speaker 1: rotation that clearly only has five players the head coach
Speaker 1: trusts is either going to be the Golden State Warriors
Speaker 1: or or the Houston Rockets, both of which present massive
Speaker 1: problem for this team in this moment. And if you
Speaker 1: were like me and you really thought this team's high
Speaker 1: end was not just conference finals caliber, not just NBA
Speaker 1: Finals caliber, but championship caliber, this weekend was a hard
Speaker 1: punch in the face about that. And if you want
Speaker 1: to chalk up Friday to man, Luca was sick and
Speaker 1: played like it and didn't have it and they ran
Speaker 1: out of gas at the end. Fine, but then Sunday
Speaker 1: presented far more problems issues concerns that obviously, as they
Speaker 1: now face elimination games for the rest of their season,
Speaker 1: and the only way to not face elimination games the
Speaker 1: rest of their season is to win three straight elimination
Speaker 1: games and then get a fresh start after a seven
Speaker 1: game war. Then you've got to be honest about what
Speaker 1: we're seeing, and I want to be I want to
Speaker 1: give credit words due Anthony Edwards is having his moment,
Speaker 1: and I know people here want to hear, probably you know,
Speaker 1: me talking about Lebron and Luca in the end of
Speaker 1: that game, and we will. But Anthony Edwards forty three points,
Speaker 1: forty three to nine and six, going to war with
Speaker 1: Lebron throughout the game, suffering what the broadcast seemed to
Speaker 1: think was a catastrophic injury, and Anthony in the moment
Speaker 1: reacted like it was a catastrophic injury. Everyone's heart sank
Speaker 1: when they saw it, and he pops up. It doesn't matter.
Speaker 1: He plays forty four minutes, is brilliant in the fourth quarter,
Speaker 1: and that has been the key to this series, and
Speaker 1: obviously the key to Game four is the Timberwolves, a
Speaker 1: team that was not good in clutch situation closing out
Speaker 1: games It's really where you thought the Lakers were going
Speaker 1: to have a decided advantage in this series, was let
Speaker 1: it be close late and have Lebron and Luca take over.
Speaker 1: The opposite has happened. It's been close late the last
Speaker 1: couple games. Lebron and Luca have been absolutely out of gas,
Speaker 1: and Anthony Edwards has taken over Julius Randall exercising some
Speaker 1: playoff demons, and now you're in a spot that I
Speaker 1: don't think anyone anticipated, even the most ardent Timberwolves fans,
Speaker 1: even after they took Game one. I don't think thought
Speaker 1: it would be three to one in this fashion going
Speaker 1: back to Los Angeles. And so let's get into Game four.
Speaker 1: And by the way, we'll talk Steph was played one
Speaker 1: of the most remarkable playoff games of his career this week,
Speaker 1: and we'll get into that. Dame sadly, i mean tragically
Speaker 1: tore his achilles. That's probably we're going to get into
Speaker 1: that more tomorrow. And obviously Nuggets Clippers with a finish
Speaker 1: for the ages, so we'll try to quickly hit on
Speaker 1: all those. But where we have to start is with
Speaker 1: JJ Reddick and I I am not going to act
Speaker 1: as if JJ hasn't been awesome this year. He has.
Speaker 1: And I'm not going to act as if the you
Speaker 1: know that JJ Reddick is the problem for the Lakers.
Speaker 1: Far from it. However, when a rookie head coach does
Speaker 1: something that, according to you know, the stats and information, folks,
Speaker 1: no coach has ever done in modern playoff history, maybe
Speaker 1: in all of playoff history, which is play the exact
Speaker 1: same five guys for the entirety of a second half
Speaker 1: of a playoff game, and then those five guys are totally, absolutely,
Speaker 1: unequivocally out of gas at the end. That's going to
Speaker 1: be a story. And JJ was left without a lot
Speaker 1: of great options. He decided after the opening couple minutes understandably,
Speaker 1: he couldn't trust Jackson Hayes. I thought he would try
Speaker 1: to steal a few minutes for Lebron or Luca with
Speaker 1: Vanderbilt or Gabe or even Goodwin. He decided not to.
Speaker 1: And he was in a weird spot because the Lakers
Speaker 1: had that great third quarter which allowed them to go
Speaker 1: into the fourth with a lead, a position they have
Speaker 1: been brilliant all year. I don't know what the record was,
Speaker 1: something like forty five and four or something outrageous going
Speaker 1: into the fourth quarter with a lead, they outscore the
Speaker 1: Turbles by thirteen, and I think JJ's thought process was,
Speaker 1: if we can in the opening few minutes of the
Speaker 1: fourth hold or even push this lead a bit, then
Speaker 1: maybe I'll steal a couple of minutes to rest. But
Speaker 1: that's how what happened. Aunt kept coming down and making plays.
Speaker 1: The Timberwolves stayed right in that down four to down
Speaker 1: seven range, and JJ never felt comfortable taking those five
Speaker 1: off the court, and by the very end of the
Speaker 1: game they were all on fumes. Lebron somehow found a
Speaker 1: couple bursts of energy on the defensive end the steal
Speaker 1: in the block, and I thought that was going to
Speaker 1: be the story of the game that Lebron after is
Speaker 1: I think one hundred and fourth career playoff twenty points half,
Speaker 1: plays a wildly efficient game twenty seven to twelve and eight,
Speaker 1: and then makes the key defensive plays down the stretch
Speaker 1: to turn a four point deficit into a six point
Speaker 1: lead after the huge Austin Rui threes. But of course
Speaker 1: that's not what happened, and you saw the fatigue kicking
Speaker 1: in at various moments before the final couple of minutes
Speaker 1: Luca got I think it was Jade McDaniels on his hip,
Speaker 1: or maybe it was Julius had to lay up, missed it.
Speaker 1: Lebron out of a time out, great play, had to
Speaker 1: lay up, missed it, And I said it was Austin
Speaker 1: and Ruy hit the three. Was Austin and Dorian Finney
Speaker 1: Smith that hit the threes. But despite all of that,
Speaker 1: it's Lakers up two with the ball after the Lebron
Speaker 1: block with a minute ten left. And yeah, if I mean,
Speaker 1: this is a keep you up at night restless, bad
Speaker 1: sleep game because there's so many moments that you just wonder, man,
Speaker 1: if they just do this a little bit better, change
Speaker 1: one thing. And by the way, those moments existed in
Speaker 1: the first half. I was watching the game with my
Speaker 1: best friend and co worker at FS one, Danny Parkins,
Speaker 1: over at his house, and the whole first half, even
Speaker 1: in the first quarter when they were leading, I said
Speaker 1: to him, four minutes left in the first quarter, Man,
Speaker 1: they should be up thirteen, they should be up fifteen,
Speaker 1: And this is gonna end up being a situation where
Speaker 1: they're up seven and you feel sick about it. They
Speaker 1: were only actually up four at the end of that quarter,
Speaker 1: Then the second quarter the Timberwolves go on the run.
Speaker 1: All of a sudden, you're trailing at the half. Then
Speaker 1: they do have that great third quarter, and now to
Speaker 1: get back to where we were. The highest leverage possession
Speaker 1: of the season for the Lakers ends up being no
Speaker 1: real ball movement. Guys standing around Luca dribbling the ball
Speaker 1: up to minute left, finds Lebron. Lebron takes an exhausted three,
Speaker 1: and I understand like there is going to be a
Speaker 1: carve out of folks that either why doesn't he drive there?
Speaker 1: Or that focus on Lebron's fourth quarter zero points and
Speaker 1: the turnover, which I'll get to in a moment, which
Speaker 1: I understand, And I'm not even saying that's totally unfair.
Speaker 1: I am saying that when the last two games Lebron
Speaker 1: is played are the two greatest playoff games by a
Speaker 1: super old guy in league history, I'm gonna have a
Speaker 1: little bit of grace. But the Lebron three with fifty
Speaker 1: four seconds left in that spot, you wonder, when JJ
Speaker 1: sees that possession is going nowhere and sees how dead
Speaker 1: everybody is, is that a time to use your final timeout?
Speaker 1: Probably not. You probably don't want to use your last
Speaker 1: time out in that spot. But if you get a
Speaker 1: basket there, you win the game. Then next time Timberwolves
Speaker 1: ball up to forty seconds left, the Lakers understand, just
Speaker 1: can't allow a three. You don't allow a three, You're
Speaker 1: gonna be in great shape tied with the ball with
Speaker 1: a two for one opportunity. They don't allow a three,
Speaker 1: and Austin makes his biggest mistake of the season, fouling Jaden.
Speaker 1: McDaniels on it, no hope to alter the shot foul. Jaden,
Speaker 1: to his credit, makes the free throw, and now all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, you're trailing for the first time in
Speaker 1: basically the entirety of the second half after the opening
Speaker 1: few minutes when you took the lead in the second half.
Speaker 1: That's not true, you were trailing a couple minutes earlier.
Speaker 1: But you're trailing with forty seconds left, down one with
Speaker 1: the ball, Luca gets tripped. I don't think I'll be honest.
Speaker 1: I disagree with JJ. I don't think it was a foul.
Speaker 1: I think it was fine that they didn't call that.
Speaker 1: Lebron with the bad inbounds pass and then this is
Speaker 1: the one. I just hate the challenge the out of
Speaker 1: bounds call that now can retroactively turn into a foul.
Speaker 1: All of a sudden, Anthony Edward's going to the line.
Speaker 1: He was a killer. He makes both three throws, and
Speaker 1: then the Lakers I thought got lucky that the Timberwolves
Speaker 1: didn't foul Luke in the back court or foul lebron
Speaker 1: As on the catch. Austin got a decent look, he
Speaker 1: missed it. Now you're down three to one, and you
Speaker 1: still see moments flashes from this team that show the
Speaker 1: highest end. And I understand some folks are going to say, listen,
Speaker 1: we knew this was a mismatched roster when you traded
Speaker 1: for a guy at mid season that you need an offseason.
Speaker 1: I don't buy all that, or maybe I should buy it,
Speaker 1: but I I knew all that. Going into these playoffs,
Speaker 1: I thought they got the perfect draw. I thought the
Speaker 1: Timberwolves would be athletic and feisty, but I did not
Speaker 1: think that in close games late they would have the edge.
Speaker 1: And they have. And I looked at the Lakers path
Speaker 1: and I said, Okay, you have the Timberwolves in Round
Speaker 1: one with home court. You have been dominant against the
Speaker 1: Western Conference this year. You have been dominated at home
Speaker 1: this year. Then in round two you're going to have
Speaker 1: either a young Rockets team that doesn't have a go
Speaker 1: to scorer or a Warriors team, where again you have
Speaker 1: home court, and the Warriors will have just been coming
Speaker 1: off a seven game absolute war with Houston. It saw
Speaker 1: a real path, a real path, and instead Friday Night
Speaker 1: they waste a Lebron masterpiece where they can't finish at
Speaker 1: the end of thirteen to one run. Luca is sick
Speaker 1: and pretty ineffective, and is once again awesome. Another eight
Speaker 1: assist game for Friday Night. Jaden McDaniels has the game
Speaker 1: of his life, almost all targeting. Luca Julius has another
Speaker 1: good playoff game. You lose that fourth quarter by ten.
Speaker 1: Lebron seems gassed the final few minutes there despite giving
Speaker 1: you thirty eight, ten to four to two and two.
Speaker 1: And then Sunday afternoon JJ goes for it, the smallest
Speaker 1: interval between games they'll have all postseason, from a Friday
Speaker 1: night to a Sunday afternoon. JJ understanding we have two
Speaker 1: days off before Game five, gotta win. This goes for it.
Speaker 1: Plays Austin, Luca, Ruey and Dorian All twenty four minutes
Speaker 1: of the second half and they can't hit the tape
Speaker 1: and can they win Wednesday? Yeah? They should. And if
Speaker 1: they win Wednesday, will I be on here Thursday feeling like, well,
Speaker 1: you know, you got a shot Friday and then it's
Speaker 1: a game seven in your building? Yeah? Maybe? But if
Speaker 1: the goal for this Lakers team and this was the goal.
Speaker 1: When you have Lebron James, I don't care that he's forty.
Speaker 1: He is still unequivocally what top eight playoff guy right
Speaker 1: now this moment, like I'm not I'm not sure the
Speaker 1: what's the full list of guys this postseason who you'd
Speaker 1: say either have been better you'd rather have in no
Speaker 1: particular order, just going through the series, Tatum, Giannis, aunt
Speaker 1: Ants earned it, Joker, Steph who I'll get to, there's
Speaker 1: an argument for it. Fair's fair, Kawhi maybe maybe Jalen Brunson.
Speaker 1: So what's that seven six, seven, eight when you have
Speaker 1: I don't even at his age, a guy who's still
Speaker 1: a top eight, let's go conservatively playoff performer this moment
Speaker 1: and Luca getting bounced in round one when you're a
Speaker 1: minus two hundred favorite is a disaster. And even if
Speaker 1: somehow you are able to dig deep and overcome and
Speaker 1: come back from this deficit. What legs are you going
Speaker 1: to have going into Round two when the series basically
Speaker 1: start going every other day. I don't know that you're
Speaker 1: gonna have them. And so that's why started the pod
Speaker 1: by saying the season ended on Sunday. They needed the
Speaker 1: Round one to be done in six or less, and
Speaker 1: they needed to demonstrate to themselves and their team that
Speaker 1: they had at least seven guys they trusted. Even if
Speaker 1: you don't trust Austin or I'm sorry up Jackson Hayes,
Speaker 1: who I wouldn't. You got to at least trust Vanderbilt
Speaker 1: or Vincent more than you have, and they haven't. They
Speaker 1: can't steal minutes. It's why I thought Kerr as brilliant,
Speaker 1: and it'll get to Steph shortly. As brilliant as Steph
Speaker 1: was this weekend, all the games are running together? Was
Speaker 1: that Saturday? Was that Friday? I don't even remember Friday night?
Speaker 1: Saturday night. Kerr deserves massive credit himself for finding his
Speaker 1: way through without Jimmy Butler, for massaging the rotation the
Speaker 1: way he did, and the Lakers didn't think they had
Speaker 1: that luxury. They play four guys forty plus minutes. They
Speaker 1: play Luca coming off whatever illness he was dealing with.
Speaker 1: Forty six, They play Lebron in his two hundred and
Speaker 1: eighty fourth career playoff game, forty six, and they don't
Speaker 1: get to the finish line. And it's just a damn
Speaker 1: shame to waste. And this is and then I'll get
Speaker 1: to ant. We're all focused on Lebron, every single one
Speaker 1: of these man. Every single time we're watching, we might
Speaker 1: be watching the final great playoff game of the greatest
Speaker 1: playoff performer in NBA history's career. Like Friday Night, the
Speaker 1: odds are, the odds are that's the most points Lebron
Speaker 1: will ever scorre in a playoff game. Again, all the
Speaker 1: none of the records. At this point, it's just he's
Speaker 1: just passing his own oldest ever records again and again
Speaker 1: and again. But thirty eight last on Friday Night, that's
Speaker 1: like a minus three hundred favorite to be the most
Speaker 1: points Lebron ever scores in a playoff game the rest
Speaker 1: of his career. Sunday afternoon twenty seven to twelve eight,
Speaker 1: three and three. The best Laker on the defensive end
Speaker 1: and arguably the best Laker on the offensive end and
Speaker 1: it's wasted. And listen, the Lebron missed the three. Lebron
Speaker 1: turned the ball over on the end bounds, and I Lebron,
Speaker 1: I suppose you can say fouled Anthony Edwards. I'm that one.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna kill him on I thought that the
Speaker 1: US going to the Zapruder review and the Timberwolves challenging
Speaker 1: the out of bounds, not even hoping to get the
Speaker 1: out of bounds, but hoping to then retroactively get the foul.
Speaker 1: I don't love any of that, but the rules are
Speaker 1: the rules, and so now we see. And the other
Speaker 1: story here is, of course Anthony Edwards and Anthony Edwards,
Speaker 1: who is putting a whole lot of pelts on his
Speaker 1: wall at such a young age. We have now seen
Speaker 1: Anthony Edwards not Kevin Durant and Devin Booker out of
Speaker 1: a playoff series, Nikola Jokic out of a playoff series,
Speaker 1: then get bounced by Luca and say I was out
Speaker 1: of gas. And he now is this close to knocking
Speaker 1: Lebron James and Luka Doncic out of a playoff series
Speaker 1: in a postseason where through four games he's averaging thirty
Speaker 1: eight and six on forty three percent from three forty
Speaker 1: five forty three eighty three splits. Listen, he can say
Speaker 1: all he wants about not wanting to be the face
Speaker 1: of the league, and the fact of the matter is,
Speaker 1: as long as Lebron and Steph are playing, that spot
Speaker 1: is probably not really open. But his charisma, his style,
Speaker 1: his competitiveness, his athleticism, his ferocity, his listeners, all of that,
Speaker 1: all of that is face of the league's stuff. And
Speaker 1: it certainly doesn't hurt that folks in the media seem
Speaker 1: convinced he looks like and reminds them of Michael Jordan,
Speaker 1: and so this is a huge moment for Aunt and Ant.
Speaker 1: Then I just mentioned beat Durant, beat Joker, is this
Speaker 1: close to beating Lebron and Luca and then in the
Speaker 1: next round would have a chance to beat Steph. Now,
Speaker 1: I still think Houston has a shot in that series,
Speaker 1: but obviously Golden State's in great position is the favorite
Speaker 1: right now. He's building quite the resume at twenty three
Speaker 1: years old, and it's really really impressive and credit to
Speaker 1: Chris Finch and that entire listen. Jaden McDaniels has been
Speaker 1: awesome they have. I think Rudy Rudy has had his
Speaker 1: moments on the offensive, I mean on the defensive end
Speaker 1: more than his moments. He's been good on the defensive end,
Speaker 1: but he has been His total inability to take advantage
Speaker 1: of the lakers lack of size has been a little embarrassing.
Speaker 1: And I understand he's not an offensive player, but he's
Speaker 1: not a four point a game guy. In the regular season,
Speaker 1: He's a dozen points a game. In this series, he's
Speaker 1: been a zero on offense. Hasn't mattered because An's been
Speaker 1: that good, Julius is exercising some playoff demons, Jaden's been great,
Speaker 1: and then Nas. They've had different role players step up,
Speaker 1: and so they they've gotten away with the fact that
Speaker 1: Mike Connley was about as unplayable as I thought he
Speaker 1: would be. That's the crazy part to me about this
Speaker 1: sies a lot of my pre series analysis of go
Speaker 1: Beart's not gonna take advantage of their lack of size.
Speaker 1: Conley's not going to be playable. You can pencil Luca
Speaker 1: in for thirty a game and Lebron will be great.
Speaker 1: They've come to fruition and it hasn't mattered because the
Speaker 1: Lakers have been The fourth quarter margins in this series
Speaker 1: have been mortified. Game one twenty three to seventeen, so
Speaker 1: the Timberwolves are plus six. Game two, the Lakers won it,
Speaker 1: but it was twenty to thirteen, So now the Timberwolves
Speaker 1: are plus seven. Plus seven there, so plus thirteen overall.
Speaker 1: Game three thirty to twenty, So now the Timberwolves are
Speaker 1: plus seventeen. Game four thirty two to nineteen, So now
Speaker 1: the Timbrelves are plus thirty. You lose the fourth quarters
Speaker 1: by thirty points in an otherwise tightly contested series, You're
Speaker 1: in terrible shape. And so shout out to the Timberwolves.
Speaker 1: This was truly a wake up in the middle of
Speaker 1: the night think about it game, and it is obviously
Speaker 1: a think about all off season game. If this series
Speaker 1: goes the way one thinks it's likely to go, I mean,
Speaker 1: I'll look right now the series odds. They've got to
Speaker 1: be like minus one thousand, right, series markets minus five
Speaker 1: hundred minus on thousand. I guess was too strong, and
Speaker 1: then so that means the Lakers must be big favorites.
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Speaker 1: half point favorites Game five. Yeah, but Lakers who went
Speaker 1: into this postseason with seventeen to one to win the
Speaker 1: title now forty to one, and honestly, that feels a
Speaker 1: little strong because even if they were to execute the
Speaker 1: three to one comeback, what legs are they going to
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Speaker 1: co slash audio. All Right, some other quick hitters from
Speaker 1: the weekend. I thought Steph was unbelievable Saturday evening. And
Speaker 1: it wasn't just that he was getting beat up the
Speaker 1: whole game.
Speaker 2: And it wasn't just that the Rockets understood, if we
Speaker 2: can somehow contain him, the Warriors have no other offense.
Speaker 1: It was his just other worldly stamina from start to
Speaker 1: finish in that game, in a game that it would
Speaker 1: have been really easy for the Warriors, and for Steph
Speaker 1: to say, Okay, we don't have Jimmy Houston was dialed
Speaker 1: that first quarter defense they're gonna be beating us up,
Speaker 1: and Steph very early on didn't have it going Okay,
Speaker 1: no problem, long series, Jimmy, we'll be back, And instead
Speaker 1: stephannswers with thirty six, seven and nine. In his forty
Speaker 1: one minutes, they're plus eighteen, which means in the seven
Speaker 1: minutes he sat, they were minus seven. They needed one
Speaker 1: other guy to show up offensively. They got two other
Speaker 1: guys to show up offensively, Gary Payton the second and
Speaker 1: obviously Buddy Hit the huge threes and the Rockets. On
Speaker 1: the other hand, Jalen Green responds to his thirty eight
Speaker 1: point game with his fifth single digit game in his
Speaker 1: last six games. Jalen Green has not been the same
Speaker 1: guy since they clinched that two seed. Now, his minutes
Speaker 1: weren't the same at the end of the regular season,
Speaker 1: but still he had the one explosion in Game three,
Speaker 1: gets utterly shut down the Warriors, and Fred van Vliet,
Speaker 1: after hitting two threes to open that game, went right
Speaker 1: back to what he had been. He's two for two
Speaker 1: to start the game, three for twelve and one for
Speaker 1: seven from three the rest of the way. He's been
Speaker 1: brutal this series. Shngoon not quite involved enough and probably
Speaker 1: should have been playing more minutes. I know he had
Speaker 1: some foul trouble, but the Warriors playing of Amen Thompson.
Speaker 1: Take all the shots you want, buddy, we don't care
Speaker 1: if they're from seven feet, has been great. Draymond, who's
Speaker 1: been nothing but triple singles in this series, had another
Speaker 1: great defensive performance. They got by with Quinton Posts not
Speaker 1: being able to hit a shot, and you would think
Speaker 1: the Rockets would sign up for any game. The three
Speaker 1: point discrepancy is only three made threes difference. The Rockets
Speaker 1: will say, Okay, no problem. The Warriors only outshot them
Speaker 1: from three, fourteen to eleven. The Rockets got to the
Speaker 1: line nine more times, couldn't make their free throws, but
Speaker 1: the Rockets turnovers, which they've got to win that battle.
Speaker 1: The Rockets have shied from the Steven Adams shingoon double
Speaker 1: big minutes for a reason that I don't totally understand.
Speaker 1: And the Warriors overcame a fourth quarter depicit and it
Speaker 1: is two points, but still for a dominant fourth quarter
Speaker 1: where Steph was brilliant and took control of that series,
Speaker 1: retook control of that series, I should say. And so
Speaker 1: I still think this seven game series. I still think
Speaker 1: the rock and we'll see what the you know, how
Speaker 1: Jimmy looks when he comes back. But that was a gritty,
Speaker 1: great win by the Warriors and by Steph. Great win.
Speaker 1: And I think that it's Steph or Ant for who's
Speaker 1: been the best player this postseason. And Steph doing that
Speaker 1: at thirty seven is remarkable and none of that the
Speaker 1: people Warrior fans. And it's so I said this on
Speaker 1: the pod on Thursday, but I'll say it again. These
Speaker 1: folks who don't have any type of microphone other than
Speaker 1: their Twitter feed. Acting as if those of us who
Speaker 1: have actual platforms are obligated to comment on everything via
Speaker 1: Twitter because that's their platform, is that it's just out
Speaker 1: to launch levels of cluelessness. The idea that all where's
Speaker 1: Nick's commentary now on Warriors Rockets? I don't know, man,
Speaker 1: Probably on the podcast, YouTube show or TV show that
Speaker 1: I'm doing twenty hours of content every single week. You'll
Speaker 1: probably get it there. But those folks that are upset
Speaker 1: about the we know the rules with Steph Curry k
Speaker 1: as if this game contradicts it. No, this game, if anything,
Speaker 1: watch the commentary today we get on Steph Curry, it'll
Speaker 1: just confirm it. When he's great, he's in the Goat
Speaker 1: conversation and he's better than Magic Johnson. And when he's not,
Speaker 1: we move on to the next thing. That's just what
Speaker 1: it is, and it's it. But when he's great, and
Speaker 1: he has been great this postseason and he's thirty seven
Speaker 1: years old, it's the best small guy, old guy season
Speaker 1: ever and he deserves massive credit. And then the other listen,
Speaker 1: I don't even want We'll do it on Tuesday. The
Speaker 1: Dame injury part, but they're the The shock waves of
Speaker 1: Dame reportedly bowing his achilles and therefore being out all
Speaker 1: of next year are going to be felt throughout this offseason,
Speaker 1: and you feel sick for Dame, and obviously people are
Speaker 1: going to jump to what it means for you. Honest
Speaker 1: Dame has a two year, one hundred and twelve million
Speaker 1: dollars contract extension that has not started yet starts next season,
Speaker 1: so Dall Dan will be fine money wise, but you
Speaker 1: worry about, obviously what this means for an all time
Speaker 1: great player's career. So we'll do more of that tomorrow.
Speaker 1: The other story from the weekend is the Clippers furious
Speaker 1: fourth quarter comeback in a game much like the Laker
Speaker 1: game where it was like, and we trust these five
Speaker 1: guys were playing these five guys for the Nuggets, and
Speaker 1: those five guys ran out of gas at the end,
Speaker 1: but thanks to and I thought Jokers in a game
Speaker 1: Joker was awesome. I mean he hit thirty six twenty
Speaker 1: one and eight, thirty six twenty one and eight. I
Speaker 1: thought Joker's decision on that last possession of I don't
Speaker 1: care if it's a good shot or not. I'm taking
Speaker 1: it was very unjoker, like, maybe you have that luxury
Speaker 1: because it's a tie game more so than otherwise. I
Speaker 1: was shocked by that decision when it was clear it
Speaker 1: wasn't gonna be a good look. But maybe it was like, man,
Speaker 1: Jamal doesn't have it tonight. Porter's injured, and I mean
Speaker 1: Porter played tough and played well through the plate through
Speaker 1: the injury, and you're not gonna trust Christian Brown and
Speaker 1: that's spot and Aaron Gordon you're not gonna want to
Speaker 1: play for. I get, so maybe it's more reasonable than
Speaker 1: I thought. But the Aaron Gordon buzzer beating dunk to
Speaker 1: tie a series rather than go down three to one
Speaker 1: is really the stuff of legends. And it is such
Speaker 1: a stomach punch for the Clippers in a game that
Speaker 1: it looked like they were going to It was such
Speaker 1: a weird game, and that the first half is back
Speaker 1: and forth the whole time, as tightly contested as you get.
Speaker 1: Denver then absolutely blitzes them in the second half to
Speaker 1: be up twenty going into the fourth quarter of a
Speaker 1: playoff game up twenty, and the Clippers then more than
Speaker 1: chip away. The Clippers thanks to a great Norman Powell
Speaker 1: game Zubach doing his thing on the offensive end, even
Speaker 1: though he got absolutely crushed on the other end. Some
Speaker 1: time he plays by kawhis you saw playoff James Harden
Speaker 1: show up a bit. And despite the fact that the
Speaker 1: Nuggets were basically telling Chris Dunn, shoot all you want, buddy,
Speaker 1: we're not worried about you, Clippers still in position to
Speaker 1: steal it, and that play by Aaron Gordon changes the
Speaker 1: entire complexion of that series. And now listen, maybe you
Speaker 1: can say, oh, well, the Nuggets could have won and overtime.
Speaker 1: They could have won and overtime, but they were so gassed.
Speaker 1: It's the same way I felt once the Lakers went
Speaker 1: down three with ten seconds left yesterday. When Ant makes
Speaker 1: both those free throws, the game's over, because even if
Speaker 1: Austin makes that shot, the Lakers were on fumes and
Speaker 1: you just felt like that game was going to be
Speaker 1: a rap in overtime. And that's how I felt when
Speaker 1: I saw Jokic put up that shot. It's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: well they're gonna lose. Aaron Gordon by maybe one one
Speaker 1: hundredth of a second saves them, and now we have
Speaker 1: a great series there in Oklahoma City, which I know
Speaker 1: this is going to sound shitty, and Oklahoma City fans
Speaker 1: are going to be upset as unimpressive in a sweep
Speaker 1: as I can remember. It just didn't look the last
Speaker 1: couple games the way you would have wanted it to look.
Speaker 1: But maybe they felt correctly, like, man, we can play
Speaker 1: our c minus game and the Memphis still can't take
Speaker 1: a game from us, And they were right. So now
Speaker 1: you're gonna have Oklahoma City resting and chilling watching what
Speaker 1: is going to be a seven game slugfest between the
Speaker 1: Clippers and the Nuggets. All Right, this was a little cathartic.
Speaker 1: I don't I can't say I feel better, but maybe
Speaker 1: a little bit, I don't know, less anxious about what
Speaker 1: was a what if weekend for the Los Angeles Lakers,
Speaker 1: Lebron and Luca. And we'll see how they look on Wednesday,
Speaker 1: but I'll remember this weekend as the weekend when the
Speaker 1: Lakers championship hopes went to die. And God, nothing would
Speaker 1: make me happier than a month from now. Folks sending
Speaker 1: me this clip, Oh you lost faith? Look at them now.
Speaker 1: I've never wanted to be wrong about a take more
Speaker 1: than I want to be wrong about this one, but
Speaker 1: that's It feels like the Lakers season ended this weekend
Speaker 1: and it shouldn't have. All right, I'll see you guys
Speaker 1: tomorrow with demands. What's right