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Speaker 1: welcome to tonight. You're at the volume. Happy Friday, everybody.

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Speaker 1: Hope all you guys are having a great start to

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Speaker 1: your weekend.

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Speaker 2: Gonna hit both of tonight's games.

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Speaker 1: The Denver Nuggets show some unbelievable championship medal, go into

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Speaker 1: Minnesota and somehow do a worst number on them than

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Speaker 1: Minnesota did to Denver in Game two and completely change

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Speaker 1: the psychology of that series. Obviously a lot of work

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Speaker 1: to do still to get the win if that's what

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Speaker 1: they're interested in, but a very dominant first step in

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Speaker 1: that direction tonight, and then the Indiana Pacers get a

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Speaker 1: much needed win to avoid the the vonted three to

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Speaker 1: zero hole against the New York Knicks to get another

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Speaker 1: crazy clutch Knicks game that the Pacers escape on a

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Speaker 1: game winner from Andrew Nemhard and a little bit of

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Speaker 1: a grifty mistake from Jalen Brunson late.

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Speaker 2: Two excellent playoff games.

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Speaker 1: We're gonna hit them both from the perspective of all

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Speaker 1: four teams. You guys are the Joe before we get started.

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Speaker 1: Subscribe to a brand new YouTube channel so you don't

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Speaker 1: miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter

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Speaker 1: at underscore JCNLTS. You guys, don't miss an announcements. Don't forget

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Speaker 1: about a podcast feed wherever you get your podcast under

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Speaker 1: hoops tonight. In the last but not least, keep dropping

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Speaker 1: mail back questions in those YouTube comments. We can keep

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Speaker 1: hitting them throughout the post season. So let's talk some basketball.

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Speaker 1: I was so excited for this game. Honestly, like the

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Speaker 1: build up of the three full days off was actually

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Speaker 1: kind of nice because it just kind of built the

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Speaker 1: suspense for this specific game. I think these sourts of

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Speaker 1: situations are what generate the great moments in NBA history.

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Speaker 1: No one ever talked about a great moment in NBA

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Speaker 1: history that was a sweep.

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Speaker 2: No one ever did. Sweeps are boring, they're dominant.

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Speaker 1: What really brings the memorable the NBA history moments the

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Speaker 1: once we watch on NBA TV when we're watching old footage,

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Speaker 1: the one we tell stories about. They usually involve some

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Speaker 1: kind of adversity. This was one of the things, especially

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Speaker 1: as a younger basketball fan as I was in the

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Speaker 1: mid twenty tens, It's one of the things I didn't

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Speaker 1: like about the KD Warriors. They just beat the shit

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Speaker 1: out of everybody, and everyone was like it was cool

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Speaker 1: and it was a beautiful brand of basketball, and obviously

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Speaker 1: it was cool to see KD get to the mountaintop,

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Speaker 1: but like they won fifteen straight playoff games, Like they

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Speaker 1: won fifteen straight playoff games, so like it never had

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Speaker 1: that real, that feeling of like overcoming adversity. And I

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Speaker 1: got in trouble with some Nuggets fans yesterday for a

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Speaker 1: social media clip where I basically said, hey, this is

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Speaker 1: their first time with some real adversity, and everyone pointed out, well,

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Speaker 1: what about the you know, trying to win with faku

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Speaker 1: Compazo and and Will Barton, and it's like, yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: those were that was bad shit happening to your team.

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Speaker 1: But that wasn't adversity in the sense that there weren't

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Speaker 1: There were no expectations on that team. No one on

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Speaker 1: those teams, No one really expected Denver in twenty twenty

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Speaker 1: one or twenty twenty two to win with Nikola Jokic

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Speaker 1: by himself. If anything, it was like incredibly impressive that

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Speaker 1: he managed to beat that Portland team by himself. Right,

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Speaker 1: oh yeah, but we were down three to one in

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Speaker 1: the bubble. It's like, yeah, but that was kind of

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Speaker 1: your coming out party. No one really believed in in

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Speaker 1: that core until that. But the bubble is where Jamal Murray,

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Speaker 1: Nicole Jokic, that's where they kind of came to the

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Speaker 1: forefront as the as the one of the next great

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Speaker 1: kind of playoff corps that we see around the league.

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Speaker 1: Right the last year was the first time there was

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Speaker 1: real expectation on the Nuggets, and they passed with flying colors,

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Speaker 1: dominated most of the regular season, dominated in the postseason.

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Speaker 1: Came into this year, I thought it was a more

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Speaker 1: than fine kind of Denver regular season. Most of the

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Speaker 1: issues they had had to do with beating good teams

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Speaker 1: without Jamal Murray, which again is difficult. Anytime you're without firepower,

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Speaker 1: you're going to struggle against the good teams. But in

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Speaker 1: this series, this is the first time they have faced

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Speaker 1: true adversity where there's real expectations. You have the consensus

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Speaker 1: best player in the world, you are favored to win

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Speaker 1: the series, you have home court advantage, and you get

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Speaker 1: your ass kicked in Game two to go down two

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Speaker 1: before you head on the road to Minnesota. And again

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Speaker 1: this is what These are the types of scenarios that

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Speaker 1: breed those big moments. When you think back to the

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Speaker 1: best moments of Steph Curry's career, what do you think

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Speaker 1: you think about Game four against Boston in the twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty two NBA Finals when Boston Stolehork home court from

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Speaker 1: them and Boston beat them handling in Game three, and

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Speaker 1: Game four was like, we have to win this game

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Speaker 1: or we are going to lose the series. And Steph

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Speaker 1: has forty something, they win, he gets Finals MVP, they

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Speaker 1: win the trophy. That was an amazing moment, arguably the

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Speaker 1: best moment of Steph Curry's career, and it happened because

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Speaker 1: of adversity. In order for Lebron to go on the

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Speaker 1: road into Boston and drop forty five and humiliate that

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Speaker 1: team to tie the series and send it back to Miami,

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Speaker 1: there had to be adversity. They had to fall down

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Speaker 1: three games to two. They had to face a road

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Speaker 1: close out game. That's why I love these moments, and

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Speaker 1: that's why I was so excited for this particular game.

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Speaker 1: This was our first chance to see what desperate Denver

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Speaker 1: looked like.

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Speaker 2: And Wow, that was unbelievable. They beat the shit out

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Speaker 2: of them.

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Speaker 1: They completely dominated them mentally and physically throughout the game.

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Speaker 1: And I can't overstate how huge psychologically tonight was. Because

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Speaker 1: when you have a long shot task in front of you,

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Speaker 1: you need to believe that you can do it. Like

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Speaker 1: if you're trying to get into Harvard Law, you better

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Speaker 1: believe that you can do it, right, or you have

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Speaker 1: no chance. You're trying to be a professional athlete. It's

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Speaker 1: a one in a million shot, right, you better believe

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Speaker 1: you can do it. And I thought it was so

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Speaker 1: interesting after Game two when they had that practice and

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Speaker 1: Mike Michael Malone was quoting stats, is like, yeah, something

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Speaker 1: like this. Many teams have come back from down oh two.

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Speaker 1: This smaller number of teams have come back from down

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Speaker 1: oh two with losing the first two games at home.

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Speaker 1: But what was the first thing he said after that?

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Speaker 1: He's like, well, we've come down from three to one twice.

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Speaker 1: You can tell there's just that little inkling of belief

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Speaker 1: there at the beginning, Like, yeah, like having to win

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Speaker 1: four games in five tries against a team that has

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Speaker 1: like that's been literally constructed to beat us, That's a

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Speaker 1: lot to ask. It's a very difficult challenge that lays

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Speaker 1: in front of you, and you.

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Speaker 2: Have to believe.

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Speaker 1: And by virtue of going in there, you did two

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Speaker 1: things tonight. You got the series to two to one,

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Speaker 1: and you have effectively erased what happened in Game two,

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Speaker 1: not in the standings from the standpoint of the way

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Speaker 1: the series shook out, but simply in the psychological element

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Speaker 1: of that game. That game, as Mike Michael Malone Michael

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Speaker 1: Malone pointed out, was the game where Denver crumbled in

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Speaker 1: a way he had never seen them crumble before. And

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Speaker 1: the way they crumbled it they crumbled under physicality, they

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Speaker 1: crumbled under intensity, they crumbled under emotion, and like getting

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Speaker 1: into it, the refs, and like all of those factors

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Speaker 1: shifted heavily towards Denver. In game three, they conquered those demons.

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Speaker 1: Those demons popped up for one game and they immediately

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Speaker 1: conquered them. In game two. You not only did you

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Speaker 1: win in a domint fashion, you did so with your

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Speaker 1: offense breaking out in a way that it couldn't in

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Speaker 1: the first two games. You did so with Jamal Murray

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Speaker 1: looking like Jamal Murray again. Twenty four points, twenty one,

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Speaker 1: shots above fifty percent, shooting above forty percent from three

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Speaker 1: that that is huge.

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Speaker 2: You demonstrated I'm Jamal Murray.

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Speaker 1: I can do this, and I think that's important because again,

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Speaker 1: like coming out of that game, what did I say,

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Speaker 1: everyone was talking about the calf, And everyone was talking

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Speaker 1: about the calf again tonight, and I'm not gonna sit

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Speaker 1: here and underplay that and pretend like three full days

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Speaker 1: off doesn't help a guy with the calf injury. Of

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Speaker 1: course it does. And he definitely looked physically good tonight.

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Speaker 1: But the majority of the reason Jamal struggled in game

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Speaker 1: two had to do with him getting into it with

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Speaker 1: the refs and getting all worked up in emotional and

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Speaker 1: he lost sight of the ultimate goal, and he played

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Speaker 1: shitty basketball.

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Speaker 2: That's why he lost.

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Speaker 1: And in tonight's game, he handled the ball pressure better,

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Speaker 1: he set up his man for screens better, from the

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Speaker 1: from the opening tip, he just had a much more

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Speaker 1: focused basketball, non emotional basketball approach, and he was able

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Speaker 1: to flip the script. So many factors tilted his way

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Speaker 1: and so many factors tilted Denver's way, and it completely

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Speaker 1: changed the psychology of the series. I would argue you

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Speaker 1: even won convincingly enough to do some damage to Minnesota's belief.

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Speaker 1: That was the first time in seven postseason games that

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Speaker 1: Minnesota looked like the regular season Timberwolves. There are reasons

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Speaker 1: why I picked against Minnesota against Phoenix and why I

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Speaker 1: picked against Minnesota versus Denver, and it had to do

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Speaker 1: with actual things that happened on the court in the

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Speaker 1: regular season. Bad shot selection, inconsistent defensive effort like foul trouble,

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Speaker 1: all of these different things that ended up being issued

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Speaker 1: from Minnesota periodically throughout the regular season. They have avoided

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Speaker 1: those things in this postseason run, and man, did it

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Speaker 1: look like they regressed in a big way tonight. And

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Speaker 1: we're gonna get more into that later, but that to

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Speaker 1: me is the other part of this. You tilted a

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Speaker 1: lot of the mental dynamics in this series. So again,

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Speaker 1: I just before we get into some of the more

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Speaker 1: some of the more nitty gritty stuff with the basketball,

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Speaker 1: I just was so excited for this game because this

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Speaker 1: is where this stuff happens.

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Speaker 2: This is where you get the cool moments.

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Speaker 1: This is where when you tell the story of Nikola Jokic,

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Speaker 1: You'll when you tell the story of Jamal Murray, when

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Speaker 1: you tell the story of the Nuggets, you'll talk about

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Speaker 1: these kinds of moments.

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Speaker 2: Right. They're the moments when things aren't going well. When

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Speaker 2: you look back, like.

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Speaker 1: What's the least discussed championship in Lebron James's history, it's

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Speaker 1: usually the Bubble. Why because they dominated the regular season,

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Speaker 1: started twenty four and three, kicked everyone's butt, got into

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Speaker 1: the postseason, kicked everyone's butt. Even though they beat good

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Speaker 1: teams along the way, no one cared because they just

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Speaker 1: dominated everybody. You know, what are the ones that everyone remembers.

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Speaker 1: Coming back from three to one to beat Cleveland, Right,

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Speaker 1: coming back from three to two to beat Boston, coming

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Speaker 1: back from uh three two to beat San Antonio, Right,

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Speaker 1: that's that's where these big, real moments in NBA his

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Speaker 1: three come from. Let's talk about some of the basketball, though,

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Speaker 1: because like one of the things that I thought was

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Speaker 1: the defining characteristic of this game was if you had

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Speaker 1: to come put it down to one specific thing, it

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Speaker 1: would come down to Denver competing physically better. But that

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Speaker 1: manifests in a bunch of different ways. And the main

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Speaker 1: thing I want to focus on is how Denver got

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Speaker 1: their offense working.

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Speaker 2: Now. I actually thought one of the the we're going.

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Speaker 1: To talk about it, Denver did a number on Minnesota's offense,

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Speaker 1: and I've talked about that all series is what they

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Speaker 1: have to do, and we're going to talk about that

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Speaker 1: in a minute, but I want to start on the

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Speaker 1: offensive end of the floor.

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Speaker 2: First of all.

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Speaker 1: One of the things I thought was interesting early is

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Speaker 1: Chris Finch went back to Anthony Edwards on Jamal Murray.

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Speaker 2: I thought that was really weird because started.

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Speaker 1: On Jamal Murray in Game one and lost him like

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Speaker 1: three times off the screens just in the first few minutes.

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Speaker 1: And they pulled him off of Jamal at the first

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Speaker 1: time out and they went to Jade McDaniels and Jade

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Speaker 1: McDaniels did the majority of the work on Jamal Murray

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Speaker 1: and game time two, and so it was really interesting

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Speaker 1: to me that they went back in game three because

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Speaker 1: he's not as good at this.

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Speaker 2: Phase of his career.

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Speaker 1: He's got a lot of work to learn in terms

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Speaker 1: of screen navigation, not as good as a screen navigator

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Speaker 1: as Jaden McDaniels, right, So I thought that was a

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Speaker 1: little weird, and that probably helped a little bit with

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Speaker 1: Jamal getting that initial kind of set up. But regardless

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Speaker 1: of what defender was on Jamal, whether it was Nikhil

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Speaker 1: Alexander Walker, Anthony Edwards, or Jaden McDaniels, from the early

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Speaker 1: part of the game, I thought the two things physically

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Speaker 1: that got Denver's offense going was better screening and better

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Speaker 1: setting up your man for screens. So let's start on

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Speaker 1: the setting up your man for screens thing. So when

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Speaker 1: you're on the ball, it's about a ball handling move,

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Speaker 1: some sort of dribble combination to get your defender onto

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Speaker 1: one side of you. When you get that defender onto

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Speaker 1: one side of you, it's much easier for the screener

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Speaker 1: to find an angle for him to actually set a

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Speaker 1: good pick. So for instance, if I want to get

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Speaker 1: on a screen going this way, if he's up in

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Speaker 1: my business, he can take that big step over the top.

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Speaker 1: I've shown this on film, and our film breakdown is

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Speaker 1: a bunch. If I'm chasing a guy over screen this way,

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Speaker 1: I didn't get my left foot over the top of

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Speaker 1: the screener's left foot so that I can get the

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Speaker 1: leverage to get over the top and meet you on

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Speaker 1: the other side. But if you make a dribble move

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Speaker 1: on me and I end up on this side of you,

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Speaker 1: if you get me way off onto the ball handler's

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Speaker 1: left hand side, then now I'm just in a trail

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Speaker 1: position the whole way through right and so on the ball.

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Speaker 1: Setting up your man for screens is about dribble combinations

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Speaker 1: to get the defender on the side away from the

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Speaker 1: screen right. Then when you're off the ball, it's about

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Speaker 1: getting contact. I thought Jamal did a really good job

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Speaker 1: of this from the opening tip of the game. When

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Speaker 1: he was off the ball, he'd sit down with his

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Speaker 1: hands on his knees and kind of relax and bite

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Speaker 1: his energy. And then what he would do is when

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Speaker 1: it was time to cut to the screen, he'd get

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Speaker 1: connected to the body right, he'd get into the defender's

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Speaker 1: body and then he would just take off and give

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Speaker 1: a little shove. Just take off, little shove, by the way,

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Speaker 1: totally legal. It's something you train kids to do from

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Speaker 1: the younger, right. That's just basic fundamental basketball. And again,

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Speaker 1: that's what's so frustrating about what happened in Game two.

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Speaker 1: Jamal got so worked up that he lost sight of

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Speaker 1: some of the fundamental things he could do to fight

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Speaker 1: through the ball pressure and to fight through some of

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Speaker 1: the physicality he was dealing with. We even talked about

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Speaker 1: just passing out of double teams, which he was doing

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Speaker 1: a poor job of in game two. Right, But in

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Speaker 1: this game, patience, hands on knees, waiting for the time

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Speaker 1: to cut, get connected, little push off, take off by

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Speaker 1: virtue of doing that everything I just described, whether it's

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Speaker 1: the ball handling piece or the off ball piece, it's

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Speaker 1: about getting that initial separation right. Once the initial separation exists,

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Speaker 1: there's a gap for Jokic to set in instead a

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Speaker 1: good screen. Second piece is Jokic setting a good screen.

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Speaker 1: And again, this is where it's you being the physical

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Speaker 1: aggressor you being the guy that's kicking their ass rather

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Speaker 1: than the other way around. As Jokic sets that good screen.

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Speaker 1: After Jamal Murray gets his man set up for the screen,

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Speaker 1: now there's a lot of separation as a Jamal comes

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Speaker 1: downhill right from there. We talk about the bracket all

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Speaker 1: the time in pick and roll coverage. Right, the bracket

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Speaker 1: is the drop coverage. Big is the bottom end of

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Speaker 1: the bracket, and the top end of the bracket is

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Speaker 1: the back pressure. It's the guy that's chasing over the

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Speaker 1: top of the screen and trying to funnel when you

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Speaker 1: have real separation from the on ball defender. That is

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Speaker 1: what allows Jamal Murray to go in different angles after

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Speaker 1: he comes off the screen and find a little soft

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Speaker 1: spot in the drop coverage for him to find his

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Speaker 1: pull up jumper. If Jaden McDaniels or whoever it is

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Speaker 1: that's on the ball is attached to Jamal over the screen,

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Speaker 1: then he can funnel. That's where the bracket can force

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Speaker 1: Jamal to drive into traffic. When he forces Jamal to

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Speaker 1: drive into traffic, his options are limited. He can't get

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Speaker 1: to the pull up because there's back pressure. Now he's

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Speaker 1: driving into the rim and he's gonna have a bunch

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Speaker 1: of issues there. Right, So everything comes down to getting

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Speaker 1: good separation from the on ball defender through setting your

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Speaker 1: man up for screens and setting a good screen. Once

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Speaker 1: that happens, Jamal has the freedom to work in that

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Speaker 1: mid range. That is what brings extra defenders over. That's

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Speaker 1: what actually for is the drop coverage big to come out,

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Speaker 1: because if this bracket can stay down here because this

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Speaker 1: guy's chasing him in, then then Rudy Gobert or Carltown's

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Speaker 1: whoever it is that's there, can easily guard both. But

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Speaker 1: as soon as he actually has to come out a

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Speaker 1: little bit, that is where you start running into issues

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Speaker 1: where the pocket pass gets open. And that's where we

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Speaker 1: see Jokic catching on the roll. And then when catches

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Speaker 1: on the role, then Rudy Gobert has to step up.

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Speaker 1: When Ridy Gobert steps up, that's where the lob passed

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Speaker 1: to Aaron Gordon is open. But none of it works

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Speaker 1: if you can't get separation from the on ball guy.

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Speaker 1: It is the initial cog in what makes Denver's offense work.

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Speaker 1: If I had to simplify it down to one thing,

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Speaker 1: Jamal Murray just got free so much easier tonight through

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Speaker 1: setting his man up for screens and through setting good screens.

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Speaker 1: From there he got his confidence. Then the tough shots

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Speaker 1: start going again. Now it's like, now it's the superstar

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Speaker 1: ability that Jamal Murray has to hit tough contested shots

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Speaker 1: when things are defended way well, that started to come

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Speaker 1: to the surface. But early on it was like easy

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Speaker 1: little driving layup, like easier shots in that in that

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Speaker 1: mid range and at the rim he got a wide

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Speaker 1: open catch and shoot three on the right wing. That

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Speaker 1: came more off of the virtue of their defense, which

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Speaker 1: we'll get to in a minute. But again, like I thought,

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Speaker 1: that was the main piece of it. From there, Denver's

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Speaker 1: offense functioned again. Once Denver's offense started functioning again, functioning again,

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Speaker 1: all of the role players started playing better. You got

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Speaker 1: what's his forty six points on twenty three shots out

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Speaker 1: of KCP, Michael Porter Junior and Aaron Gordon just way

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Speaker 1: better production than what you had been getting. Right, And honestly,

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Speaker 1: I thought, Nicole Jokicic, you know, I was expecting tonight

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Speaker 1: to go differently.

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Speaker 2: I thought Minnesota would bring a better punch.

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Speaker 1: I thought that this game would be closer, and I

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Speaker 1: thought that Jokis would really have to assert himself as

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Speaker 1: a score and to his credit, one of the things

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Speaker 1: he did in this game he identified early Jamal's got

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Speaker 1: it going, MPJ, Aaron Gordon and my and CACP.

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Speaker 2: All look more comfortable.

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Speaker 1: I don't need to force the action any functioned more

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Speaker 1: as just a cog in the offense and put up

385
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Speaker 1: a classic Yokic stat line twenty four points, fourteen rebounds,

386
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Speaker 1: nine a sis and then plus thirty and thirty eight minutes.

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Speaker 1: But by far, I would argue as even though we

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Speaker 1: broke down all that offensive piece of it, by far.

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Speaker 1: Going into the series, the biggest key I said for

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Speaker 1: Denver was this is different than the Lakers series in

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Speaker 1: the sense that the Lakers, you're just so much better

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Speaker 1: than them offensively that you can just out execute them

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Speaker 1: in any sort of late game situation. This series Minnesota

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Speaker 1: for the regular season, and in terms of their personnel,

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Speaker 1: they're not as good offensively. They've been amazing offensively in

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Speaker 1: this postseason run through the first six games. I want

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Speaker 1: to say they're the best offense in the in the NBA.

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Speaker 1: And Anthony Edwards was playing like a bona fide top

399
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Speaker 1: tier superstar and Nikhil Alexander Walker's been on fire. Carl

400
00:19:52,840 --> 00:19:54,440
Speaker 1: Towns has been amazing. They've been doing all this good

401
00:19:54,440 --> 00:19:58,280
Speaker 1: stuff right and so in a lot of ways. In

402
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Speaker 1: a lot of ways, like like we forget the fact

403
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Speaker 1: that Minnesota has had a tendency to be compromisable offensively,

404
00:20:05,080 --> 00:20:07,760
Speaker 1: teams have been able to get them out of rhythm

405
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Speaker 1: and cause some problems.

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Speaker 2: Right.

407
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Speaker 1: Well, what I said before the series is you have

408
00:20:12,920 --> 00:20:16,520
Speaker 1: to do more damage to Minnesota's offense than they do

409
00:20:16,640 --> 00:20:18,800
Speaker 1: to yours. And that was the most impressive part of

410
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Speaker 1: this Denver performance. They brought the physical ball pressure Nikole Jokic,

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Speaker 1: who fairly has been lambasted for being a bad defender

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Speaker 1: in this postseason. And guess what, He's been a bad

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Speaker 1: defender in this postseason for the first six games. By far,

414
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Speaker 1: his best defensive game of the playoffs tonight, three steals,

415
00:20:35,440 --> 00:20:39,680
Speaker 1: three blocks was way two things. In particular, way better

416
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Speaker 1: when he would come up up to the level of

417
00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:44,880
Speaker 1: the screen at containing Ant and not letting Ant get downhill.

418
00:20:45,320 --> 00:20:47,359
Speaker 1: And then secondly when he was in his deeper dropper

419
00:20:47,359 --> 00:20:50,919
Speaker 1: when he was helping active hands getting deflections and swipes.

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Speaker 1: There's that play where Ant got downhill right into the

421
00:20:53,320 --> 00:20:55,320
Speaker 1: short range and tried to rise up, but he exposed

422
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Speaker 1: the ball in the shooting pocket and Jokic swiped down

423
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Speaker 1: at it. As a team, I thought Denver to much

424
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Speaker 1: much better. Like it was weird out, Like in Game two,

425
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Speaker 1: you'd see Denver kind of over penetrate and like lose

426
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Speaker 1: control of the basketball, and then like four dudes would

427
00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:10,840
Speaker 1: be swiping down at it and somehow Minnesota would come

428
00:21:10,840 --> 00:21:13,280
Speaker 1: away with it. The same thing was happening for Denver tonight.

429
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Speaker 1: It'd be Minnesota that'd be over penetrating a little bit,

430
00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:18,120
Speaker 1: and then Jokis would knock the ball loose, and then

431
00:21:18,160 --> 00:21:19,800
Speaker 1: like four dudes would get on the ground and try

432
00:21:19,840 --> 00:21:21,920
Speaker 1: to go after the ball, and somehow someone with Denver

433
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Speaker 1: would come out from it and go the other way.

434
00:21:24,119 --> 00:21:26,320
Speaker 1: And that really is the key. They dominated the physical

435
00:21:26,320 --> 00:21:28,840
Speaker 1: battle tonight. They won the rebounds forty to thirty two.

436
00:21:29,080 --> 00:21:32,080
Speaker 1: They won offensive rebounds eight to five. They won turnovers

437
00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:35,040
Speaker 1: sixteen to eleven. They had seventeen points off of minnesota

438
00:21:35,119 --> 00:21:37,520
Speaker 1: sixteen turnovers. They won points in the paint thirty eight

439
00:21:37,560 --> 00:21:41,159
Speaker 1: to thirty four. Completely flipped the script. And again, like

440
00:21:41,200 --> 00:21:45,399
Speaker 1: that to me is the big psychological benefit from this game.

441
00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:48,720
Speaker 1: In addition to getting a win in the win column

442
00:21:48,760 --> 00:21:50,919
Speaker 1: that you desperately need because you need three more in

443
00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:54,480
Speaker 1: the next four games. In addition to that, you proved

444
00:21:54,520 --> 00:21:56,919
Speaker 1: to yourself that you are capable of hanging physically with

445
00:21:56,960 --> 00:21:59,440
Speaker 1: Minnesota in a way that you didn't in the first

446
00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:02,479
Speaker 1: two games on the Minnesota front, and like this, this

447
00:22:02,560 --> 00:22:05,680
Speaker 1: to me is a credit to Denver's defense. But they

448
00:22:05,680 --> 00:22:08,679
Speaker 1: played Minnesota into a lot of their bad tendencies. What

449
00:22:08,920 --> 00:22:12,399
Speaker 1: was the issue with Kat and aunt offensively throughout the

450
00:22:12,400 --> 00:22:15,679
Speaker 1: regular season, Like missing easy reads, settling for jump shots,

451
00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:18,000
Speaker 1: not using your physical tools to get close to the basket.

452
00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:19,480
Speaker 2: Early in this game.

453
00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:22,200
Speaker 1: Anthony Erwards just coming off of ball screens with seventeen

454
00:22:22,240 --> 00:22:24,640
Speaker 1: on the shot clock and pulling up from three over

455
00:22:24,640 --> 00:22:27,640
Speaker 1: a contest like it looked a lot more like regular

456
00:22:27,680 --> 00:22:31,160
Speaker 1: season Anthony Edwards. Now, he's been amazing for six games,

457
00:22:31,160 --> 00:22:32,639
Speaker 1: So I'm not about to like be like, oh, this

458
00:22:32,760 --> 00:22:35,840
Speaker 1: is the real ant. I'm just saying like he As

459
00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:37,600
Speaker 1: a team, they kind of functioned a lot more like

460
00:22:37,680 --> 00:22:41,240
Speaker 1: the regular season version of themselves. Inconsistent defensive energy and effort.

461
00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:43,359
Speaker 1: Like Chris Finch said after Game two, that was the

462
00:22:43,359 --> 00:22:45,480
Speaker 1: best defensive effort he had seen from that group. I

463
00:22:45,480 --> 00:22:47,840
Speaker 1: would venture to guess he's gonna say the exact opposite

464
00:22:47,880 --> 00:22:50,680
Speaker 1: tonight in his presser. It just was inconsistent from the jump,

465
00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:53,360
Speaker 1: not as good screen navigation, not as scrappy, not as physical.

466
00:22:53,560 --> 00:22:54,200
Speaker 2: Now here's the thing.

467
00:22:54,280 --> 00:22:56,960
Speaker 1: The whistle kind of turned a little bit against Minnesota,

468
00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:00,480
Speaker 1: And you know, I agree, it's infuriating that it's not

469
00:23:00,600 --> 00:23:03,119
Speaker 1: more consistent, Like I wish they just kind of pick

470
00:23:03,160 --> 00:23:05,280
Speaker 1: a level of physicality and stick with it. But for

471
00:23:05,320 --> 00:23:07,000
Speaker 1: the record, that's kind of a thing at every level

472
00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:09,239
Speaker 1: of basketball, at every level of basketball. You know, you

473
00:23:09,280 --> 00:23:11,399
Speaker 1: go into the game, it's like, we don't know how

474
00:23:11,440 --> 00:23:13,800
Speaker 1: this game is going to be reffed. And sometimes you

475
00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:16,720
Speaker 1: identify early like oh, they're letting everything go. Sometimes you

476
00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:19,160
Speaker 1: identify early like, oh, this is much more tiki tack,

477
00:23:19,359 --> 00:23:23,880
Speaker 1: right like Game one OKC Dallas, super ticky tack. Game

478
00:23:23,920 --> 00:23:26,680
Speaker 1: two OKC Dallas way more physical, a lot more stuff

479
00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:29,879
Speaker 1: gets let go, right Like, it's unfortunate that it's inconsistent,

480
00:23:29,920 --> 00:23:31,960
Speaker 1: but it's kind of part of the game, right. And

481
00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:34,280
Speaker 1: it was actually interesting because I didn't think Minnesota handled

482
00:23:34,280 --> 00:23:36,880
Speaker 1: it very well. They were complaining at the refs, they

483
00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:38,879
Speaker 1: were getting all worked up and again, that kind of

484
00:23:38,920 --> 00:23:42,200
Speaker 1: goes more to that psychological flip that I was talking

485
00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:46,200
Speaker 1: about earlier, but the poor shot selection and the foul

486
00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:48,200
Speaker 1: trouble too. Like Jade McDaniels, I think he's the best

487
00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:50,800
Speaker 1: perimeter defender in the league. You pick up three foulsand

488
00:23:50,800 --> 00:23:53,240
Speaker 1: in the first half, early second half. You have this

489
00:23:53,400 --> 00:23:57,159
Speaker 1: beautiful possession on Jamal Murray where you block him and

490
00:23:57,200 --> 00:23:59,960
Speaker 1: then after you block him, you foul him for no damnary.

491
00:24:00,400 --> 00:24:03,760
Speaker 1: After you cleanly defend him and block him, you just

492
00:24:03,880 --> 00:24:05,879
Speaker 1: hack him for no reason at the end of the possession.

493
00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:09,520
Speaker 1: That is a regular season issue that Minnesota had. Now,

494
00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:12,240
Speaker 1: as the game was kind of winding down, he was

495
00:24:12,240 --> 00:24:12,840
Speaker 1: on the sideline.

496
00:24:12,840 --> 00:24:14,679
Speaker 2: He was like, hey, guys, this is just a this

497
00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:15,320
Speaker 2: is a series.

498
00:24:15,359 --> 00:24:17,280
Speaker 1: This is just one game. There's a lot of basketball left.

499
00:24:17,280 --> 00:24:19,680
Speaker 1: They gotta be these four times out of five. He's right,

500
00:24:20,440 --> 00:24:23,400
Speaker 1: but it's not gonna be easy there. You can if

501
00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:26,320
Speaker 1: they continue to come out and play like regular season Minnesota,

502
00:24:26,400 --> 00:24:28,119
Speaker 1: Denver's just gonna win three more games in a row

503
00:24:28,119 --> 00:24:30,280
Speaker 1: and this series is gonna be over. Looking forward to

504
00:24:30,359 --> 00:24:33,359
Speaker 1: Game four, I expect it to be much closer. I

505
00:24:33,359 --> 00:24:36,320
Speaker 1: think you're gonna get a much more desperate Minnesota effort.

506
00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:38,240
Speaker 1: I think this game, the winner of this game is

507
00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:42,200
Speaker 1: gonna win the series. Just think about it. Minnesota wins

508
00:24:42,359 --> 00:24:45,199
Speaker 1: Game four, They're up three to one. Now Denver has

509
00:24:45,240 --> 00:24:47,280
Speaker 1: to beat you three times in a row, including a

510
00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:50,160
Speaker 1: game in Minnesota. That's not gonna be very easy. Minnesota's

511
00:24:50,160 --> 00:24:53,359
Speaker 1: already demonstrated they can win in Denver, right, Denver wins

512
00:24:53,600 --> 00:24:56,360
Speaker 1: to two, They've just won two straight on your home floor.

513
00:24:56,400 --> 00:25:01,159
Speaker 1: They're going home for Game five, the game five, and

514
00:25:01,200 --> 00:25:03,960
Speaker 1: Denver the arena is just gonna be on fire. That's

515
00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:06,440
Speaker 1: gonna be a really hard game to win. Now they're

516
00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:08,520
Speaker 1: coming back to Minnesota up three to two, and they

517
00:25:08,520 --> 00:25:10,120
Speaker 1: know they can beat you there because they just beat

518
00:25:10,160 --> 00:25:12,280
Speaker 1: you twice. Right, So, like I think the winner of

519
00:25:12,320 --> 00:25:14,520
Speaker 1: Game four is going to win the series. I think

520
00:25:14,520 --> 00:25:17,159
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a super close game. I think it's

521
00:25:17,240 --> 00:25:20,479
Speaker 1: gonna be more or less functioning as a game that

522
00:25:20,560 --> 00:25:23,280
Speaker 1: both teams view as a must win. I expect a

523
00:25:23,359 --> 00:25:26,560
Speaker 1: much better defensive effort from Minnesota from the jump. I

524
00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:29,600
Speaker 1: expect Chris Finch to likely go back to Jaden McDaniels

525
00:25:29,960 --> 00:25:33,119
Speaker 1: on Jamal Murray from the start of the game. I

526
00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:35,800
Speaker 1: expect a whistle that is a little bit less tight

527
00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:38,879
Speaker 1: and a little bit more physicality allowed. That's gonna be

528
00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:42,280
Speaker 1: a hell of a game Sunday evening, if I'm not mistaken.

529
00:25:42,320 --> 00:25:45,720
Speaker 1: I think myself and Colin Cowherd are going after that game.

530
00:25:46,720 --> 00:25:49,960
Speaker 1: But I'll keep you guys posted on my Twitter feed.

531
00:25:52,760 --> 00:25:54,600
Speaker 1: All right, let's move on to Nicks Pacers before we

532
00:25:54,640 --> 00:25:56,480
Speaker 1: get out of here for the night, and let's start

533
00:25:56,520 --> 00:25:59,800
Speaker 1: at the end first, because every Knicks game is completely insane.

534
00:26:00,280 --> 00:26:02,840
Speaker 1: Was the eighth time in nine postseason games that the

535
00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:05,480
Speaker 1: Knick sev ended up in a clutch situation at the

536
00:26:05,560 --> 00:26:07,800
Speaker 1: end of a game. They were six to one in

537
00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:10,399
Speaker 1: their first seven. Remember, clutch means within five points with

538
00:26:10,480 --> 00:26:12,720
Speaker 1: less than five minutes left. I want to start with

539
00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:14,920
Speaker 1: the late game sequence and we'll work into some of

540
00:26:14,920 --> 00:26:16,879
Speaker 1: the bigger picture concepts from there. So it's one O two,

541
00:26:16,920 --> 00:26:20,240
Speaker 1: one oh two, and Tyris Alliburn's running on a ball

542
00:26:20,240 --> 00:26:21,600
Speaker 1: screen on the left side of the floor hard and

543
00:26:21,600 --> 00:26:24,760
Speaker 1: signs in a high drop. Devincenzo's on the ball and

544
00:26:25,080 --> 00:26:27,359
Speaker 1: Halliburton just picks up his dribble for no damn reason,

545
00:26:27,520 --> 00:26:30,120
Speaker 1: and Siakam has a hard time disengaging from the screen

546
00:26:30,160 --> 00:26:32,160
Speaker 1: from Devincenzo, so he throws like a pass over the top,

547
00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:32,760
Speaker 1: ends up at.

548
00:26:32,680 --> 00:26:34,640
Speaker 2: A turnover and they're running out the other way.

549
00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:37,199
Speaker 1: Josh Hart's booking it towards the rim, and on that

550
00:26:37,240 --> 00:26:39,679
Speaker 1: play it kind of reminded me of the famous block

551
00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:43,800
Speaker 1: tyres Alliburtn swipes down on Josh Hart, makes him change

552
00:26:43,840 --> 00:26:46,080
Speaker 1: his release a little bit, which buys the time for

553
00:26:46,200 --> 00:26:48,280
Speaker 1: Miles Turner to get it back in. He swipes it

554
00:26:48,280 --> 00:26:50,040
Speaker 1: off the glass. They come running out the other way.

555
00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:52,600
Speaker 1: On the other the floor. In transition, Andrew Imhard gets

556
00:26:52,600 --> 00:26:54,919
Speaker 1: a close out opportunity on the right wing. He beats

557
00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:56,520
Speaker 1: brunts into the left and gets all the way to

558
00:26:56,520 --> 00:27:00,480
Speaker 1: the rim. Kind of sneaky little gamesman ship from Yakham.

559
00:27:01,600 --> 00:27:04,720
Speaker 1: When Hartenstein goes to help, Siakam kind of holds on

560
00:27:04,800 --> 00:27:07,280
Speaker 1: to him and as a result, there's no help at

561
00:27:07,320 --> 00:27:09,560
Speaker 1: the rim. And Andrew Nemar gets a layup, so it's

562
00:27:09,640 --> 00:27:12,919
Speaker 1: one O four to one O two. They go out

563
00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:16,920
Speaker 1: the other way, and Brunson's working against Nie Smith way

564
00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:19,960
Speaker 1: out at half court, and Haliburton throws a random double

565
00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:22,720
Speaker 1: team at him, and in the double team, Brunson just

566
00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:25,520
Speaker 1: drives to go around him and Haliburton just trips him.

567
00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:27,760
Speaker 2: It was a stupid, bad foul. He goes to the line.

568
00:27:27,760 --> 00:27:29,560
Speaker 1: He only goes one for two though, which by the way,

569
00:27:29,720 --> 00:27:32,480
Speaker 1: miss free throws continue to be a problem for the Knicks.

570
00:27:32,520 --> 00:27:34,000
Speaker 1: So at this point it's one o four to one

571
00:27:34,040 --> 00:27:36,679
Speaker 1: oh three Indiana. And this was a kind of a

572
00:27:36,680 --> 00:27:39,679
Speaker 1: crazy sequence. And this sequence ended up in a stop

573
00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:42,159
Speaker 1: for New York. But I thought it kind of in

574
00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:45,119
Speaker 1: a weird way set the stage for what was the

575
00:27:45,200 --> 00:27:48,320
Speaker 1: game winner later on. So it starts with Tyres Haliburton

576
00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:51,200
Speaker 1: rejecting a screen, quickly getting the defense in rotation, kick

577
00:27:51,240 --> 00:27:52,639
Speaker 1: out past the Miles Turner in the corner.

578
00:27:52,640 --> 00:27:53,560
Speaker 2: Miles Turner kicks.

579
00:27:53,359 --> 00:27:57,800
Speaker 1: It up the wing wide open, like check the wind,

580
00:27:58,280 --> 00:28:00,320
Speaker 1: you know, to sit there and take your swing as

581
00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:03,000
Speaker 1: time on a catch and shoot three for Andrew Nemhart

582
00:28:03,040 --> 00:28:04,240
Speaker 1: on the right wing, and he misses it.

583
00:28:04,560 --> 00:28:06,560
Speaker 2: But on that play Miles Turner comes in.

584
00:28:06,600 --> 00:28:08,640
Speaker 1: He gets a rebound, and by the way, he had

585
00:28:08,680 --> 00:28:10,720
Speaker 1: a couple of big offensive rebounds at the end of

586
00:28:10,760 --> 00:28:13,840
Speaker 1: this game. Then Haliburton just beats brunting off the dribble

587
00:28:13,880 --> 00:28:14,920
Speaker 1: on the left side of the floor, gets all the

588
00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:17,080
Speaker 1: way to the basket and smokes a layup. Turner comes

589
00:28:17,080 --> 00:28:19,080
Speaker 1: in again and taps it out, so it ends up

590
00:28:19,160 --> 00:28:24,680
Speaker 1: back in Halliburton's hands. He runs another ball screen, gets

591
00:28:24,920 --> 00:28:27,320
Speaker 1: hard and signed up to the level. Perfect pocket pass,

592
00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:30,960
Speaker 1: bang bang in rotation. Another wide open catch and shoot

593
00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:32,840
Speaker 1: three for Andrew Nemhart in the right corner, and he

594
00:28:32,880 --> 00:28:36,480
Speaker 1: misses it. Dante Divencenzo finally gets an offensive rebound. Two

595
00:28:36,520 --> 00:28:38,480
Speaker 1: reasons why I wanted to highlight that play. First, of

596
00:28:38,480 --> 00:28:41,600
Speaker 1: all those misses for Nemhart to two wide up a

597
00:28:41,640 --> 00:28:44,080
Speaker 1: catch and shoot misses, they allow him to kind of

598
00:28:44,080 --> 00:28:46,760
Speaker 1: build rhythm and to kind of think of it as

599
00:28:46,800 --> 00:28:50,080
Speaker 1: like dialing in his release. Oh, I left that one short.

600
00:28:50,160 --> 00:28:53,920
Speaker 1: He left the corner three short at the right corner

601
00:28:53,960 --> 00:28:56,120
Speaker 1: is dead on straight, but he left it short right.

602
00:28:57,080 --> 00:28:59,720
Speaker 1: Also Tyres Halliburton, who just continued at the end of

603
00:28:59,720 --> 00:29:02,680
Speaker 1: this game to generate quality shot after quality shot. Tygers

604
00:29:02,720 --> 00:29:04,120
Speaker 1: Haliburton was amazing. We're gonna get to him in a

605
00:29:04,120 --> 00:29:06,640
Speaker 1: bigger picture in a minute. So but anyway, New York

606
00:29:06,680 --> 00:29:08,200
Speaker 1: gets the stops one of four, one O three. They're

607
00:29:08,280 --> 00:29:09,880
Speaker 1: running out the other way and there on the other end,

608
00:29:10,440 --> 00:29:13,880
Speaker 1: Brunson gets aron Empart on a cross match, and remember

609
00:29:13,920 --> 00:29:16,560
Speaker 1: this was this was the matchup where adren Empart was

610
00:29:16,560 --> 00:29:20,600
Speaker 1: getting cooked all series and that was why Carlisle finally

611
00:29:20,640 --> 00:29:24,080
Speaker 1: switched over to Nie Smith on Brunson and he Brunson

612
00:29:24,080 --> 00:29:26,880
Speaker 1: tried to back him down, he's bullying him. Nemmar took

613
00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:30,280
Speaker 1: the contact, held his ground, forced Brunston to spin into

614
00:29:30,360 --> 00:29:32,600
Speaker 1: like a scoop shot with his offhand, which is obviously

615
00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:34,480
Speaker 1: a lower percentagehot and he missed it. So shout out

616
00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:37,200
Speaker 1: to adren Emhard. He's been getting barbecued by Brunston all series.

617
00:29:37,240 --> 00:29:39,760
Speaker 1: Got a huge stop on that play. Haliburton makes a

618
00:29:39,760 --> 00:29:42,160
Speaker 1: beautiful kick ahead pass because Siakam ends up up the

619
00:29:42,160 --> 00:29:44,640
Speaker 1: floor and beats everybody there. And again this is another

620
00:29:44,640 --> 00:29:47,880
Speaker 1: great thing about Halliburton. He just never misses the easy

621
00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:49,560
Speaker 1: reads that are available.

622
00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:49,880
Speaker 2: In these games.

623
00:29:50,280 --> 00:29:53,640
Speaker 1: Got a simple kick ahead pass right well, Seeaca beats

624
00:29:53,640 --> 00:29:55,640
Speaker 1: everyone down to the floor and we get the first

625
00:29:55,680 --> 00:29:59,000
Speaker 1: of the two giant Nick's mistakes at the end of

626
00:29:59,040 --> 00:29:59,320
Speaker 1: the game.

627
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:01,960
Speaker 2: Actually misses the layup in traffic.

628
00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:06,320
Speaker 1: And Dante DiVincenzo, who was unbelievable all night, just was

629
00:30:06,360 --> 00:30:10,800
Speaker 1: an absolute monster. It was dead on from three was

630
00:30:11,040 --> 00:30:13,520
Speaker 1: doing some off the dribble creation, great in transition, great

631
00:30:13,560 --> 00:30:15,680
Speaker 1: in defense, just a great Dante de Vincenzo knight.

632
00:30:15,680 --> 00:30:16,680
Speaker 2: But he makes a big mistake.

633
00:30:17,320 --> 00:30:20,960
Speaker 1: Uh uh Siakam misses the layup and and uh brunt

634
00:30:21,200 --> 00:30:23,280
Speaker 1: or de Vincenzo comes in and swats at it and

635
00:30:23,280 --> 00:30:25,840
Speaker 1: gets called for goaltending. It had like no chance of

636
00:30:25,880 --> 00:30:28,239
Speaker 1: going in, So big mistake. Now it's one oh six

637
00:30:28,320 --> 00:30:31,000
Speaker 1: to one oh three. But to Jalen Brunston's credit, who

638
00:30:31,360 --> 00:30:33,840
Speaker 1: has had Aaron Nesmith in his face all night long,

639
00:30:34,040 --> 00:30:36,440
Speaker 1: just sticks a step back three in his face. Now

640
00:30:36,440 --> 00:30:38,760
Speaker 1: it's one oh six to one oh six. And again

641
00:30:38,800 --> 00:30:40,480
Speaker 1: Niemith did a great job on him all night. Just

642
00:30:40,520 --> 00:30:43,120
Speaker 1: a tough shot that Brunson made. So we go down

643
00:30:43,160 --> 00:30:44,920
Speaker 1: the other end. It's one o six, one oh six.

644
00:30:46,040 --> 00:30:49,440
Speaker 1: Haliburton gets a quick ball screen in transition, like a

645
00:30:49,440 --> 00:30:52,640
Speaker 1: little semi transition ball screen, gets a great look at

646
00:30:52,720 --> 00:30:56,400
Speaker 1: it right from that right wing spot, and just misses

647
00:30:56,400 --> 00:30:58,440
Speaker 1: the three. And I actually liked the shot too, because

648
00:30:58,440 --> 00:30:59,720
Speaker 1: even though it was early in the clock, there was

649
00:30:59,720 --> 00:31:02,080
Speaker 1: like thirty one thirty two seconds left in the game clock,

650
00:31:02,280 --> 00:31:03,720
Speaker 1: so it was like a two for one in a

651
00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:06,680
Speaker 1: tie game. So like, even if you miss that and

652
00:31:06,720 --> 00:31:08,640
Speaker 1: you give up the rebound, the Knicks are gonna go

653
00:31:08,680 --> 00:31:10,360
Speaker 1: down and if you get another stop, then you'll get

654
00:31:10,360 --> 00:31:11,400
Speaker 1: the final shot of the game.

655
00:31:11,680 --> 00:31:12,320
Speaker 2: But Aaron E.

656
00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:15,080
Speaker 1: Smith comes in, comes flying in and gets a tap

657
00:31:15,120 --> 00:31:17,440
Speaker 1: out rebound. And again this credit to the Pacers, and

658
00:31:17,440 --> 00:31:19,040
Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about why because the Knicks had to

659
00:31:19,080 --> 00:31:21,440
Speaker 1: go to a four guard lineup late. But the Pacers

660
00:31:21,480 --> 00:31:23,760
Speaker 1: got a bunch of key offensive rebounds late, so credit

661
00:31:23,800 --> 00:31:26,720
Speaker 1: to them. But in the cross match, off of the

662
00:31:26,800 --> 00:31:30,080
Speaker 1: chaos of the offensive rebound, Hartenstein ends up on Halliburn.

663
00:31:30,360 --> 00:31:31,680
Speaker 2: Halliburn's working him off the.

664
00:31:31,720 --> 00:31:35,080
Speaker 1: Dribble and the Knicks throw a random double team from

665
00:31:35,120 --> 00:31:37,240
Speaker 1: a Duce McBride with about four seconds left in the

666
00:31:37,280 --> 00:31:41,800
Speaker 1: shot clock. Haliburton basically throws a grenade to Nemhard because

667
00:31:41,800 --> 00:31:43,440
Speaker 1: he has no choice. He's not going to attack the double.

668
00:31:43,840 --> 00:31:46,080
Speaker 1: Nemhard has brunts and on him with four seconds on

669
00:31:46,120 --> 00:31:48,440
Speaker 1: the shot clock, and he just goes into that pound

670
00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:50,640
Speaker 1: table between the legs and to his step back. And

671
00:31:50,680 --> 00:31:54,160
Speaker 1: again he had dialed on that, he dialed in that release.

672
00:31:54,200 --> 00:31:57,120
Speaker 1: He just had two good looks and he's sure as

673
00:31:57,120 --> 00:31:59,960
Speaker 1: hell wasn't gonna leave this one short. Got a great lift,

674
00:32:00,880 --> 00:32:04,000
Speaker 1: I've got a great release and drills like a twenty

675
00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:06,840
Speaker 1: five foot step back three. And it was crazy because

676
00:32:06,840 --> 00:32:08,480
Speaker 1: it's the toughest one of the three. It was deeper,

677
00:32:08,520 --> 00:32:11,080
Speaker 1: it was more contested, it was off. The dribble didn't matter.

678
00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:13,200
Speaker 1: Huge shot from Andrew Nemhard. Now it's one o nine

679
00:32:13,200 --> 00:32:15,080
Speaker 1: to one oh six. Then we get to the second

680
00:32:15,240 --> 00:32:19,000
Speaker 1: big Knick's mistake. Late Jalen Brunson gets hacked by Andrew

681
00:32:19,040 --> 00:32:22,160
Speaker 1: Nemhard and in the process he just throws up a

682
00:32:22,200 --> 00:32:25,720
Speaker 1: bad shot. And here's the thing. You can't count on

683
00:32:25,800 --> 00:32:29,800
Speaker 1: the refs in that situation. Yes, occasionally a ref will

684
00:32:29,800 --> 00:32:31,480
Speaker 1: get whistle happy at the end of a game, and

685
00:32:31,520 --> 00:32:33,400
Speaker 1: it always is a big deal and we all hate it, right,

686
00:32:33,640 --> 00:32:36,480
Speaker 1: but most refs want the players to decide and they'll

687
00:32:36,520 --> 00:32:39,120
Speaker 1: sit back. If anything, I actually thought the ref, because

688
00:32:39,160 --> 00:32:41,000
Speaker 1: there was one ref in the right corner, had a

689
00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:43,680
Speaker 1: good angle on it. I think he didn't think Brunson

690
00:32:43,720 --> 00:32:46,440
Speaker 1: was gonna shoot. I think he saw Brunson holding the ball.

691
00:32:46,560 --> 00:32:48,440
Speaker 1: I think he saw nem Hard hack him, and I

692
00:32:48,520 --> 00:32:51,560
Speaker 1: think he thought Brunson's gonna pass it here. Anyway, I'm

693
00:32:51,560 --> 00:32:54,400
Speaker 1: not gonna worry about blowing the whistle, and then Brunson

694
00:32:54,440 --> 00:32:56,360
Speaker 1: decided on a delay to throw up a shot, which,

695
00:32:56,360 --> 00:32:57,640
Speaker 1: by the way, even if they called the foul, it

696
00:32:57,680 --> 00:33:00,920
Speaker 1: would have been on the ground right, And so Brunson

697
00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:02,680
Speaker 1: kind of tries to grift and throws up a really

698
00:33:02,720 --> 00:33:06,120
Speaker 1: bad shot. There were fourteen seconds left on the shot clock.

699
00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:08,080
Speaker 1: Now the one little bit of leeway I'd give to

700
00:33:08,120 --> 00:33:10,440
Speaker 1: Brunston there, and I don't think it's enough to justify it.

701
00:33:10,480 --> 00:33:13,600
Speaker 1: But in those kind of late game situations down three,

702
00:33:13,800 --> 00:33:16,160
Speaker 1: you are sometimes cognizant of the fact that they might

703
00:33:16,240 --> 00:33:19,400
Speaker 1: intentionally foul, and sometimes guys will throw up bad three

704
00:33:19,440 --> 00:33:21,560
Speaker 1: point shots to try to turn an intentional foul into

705
00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:25,120
Speaker 1: three points. But I thought Brunson rushed that because usually

706
00:33:26,200 --> 00:33:29,480
Speaker 1: that's under It's like outside of three seconds, inside of

707
00:33:29,520 --> 00:33:31,480
Speaker 1: ten seconds is usually where you see teams look to

708
00:33:31,520 --> 00:33:34,880
Speaker 1: intentionally foul, because inside of three second, outside of three secs,

709
00:33:34,960 --> 00:33:37,280
Speaker 1: like with less than three seconds left, you're usually scared

710
00:33:37,280 --> 00:33:39,400
Speaker 1: about the guy throwing up a shot right. And then

711
00:33:39,400 --> 00:33:41,840
Speaker 1: outside of three seconds left, it's almost like too early

712
00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:44,120
Speaker 1: to get into a free throw contest, and one misfree

713
00:33:44,120 --> 00:33:46,160
Speaker 1: throw and you're in some trouble right, So like I

714
00:33:47,280 --> 00:33:49,680
Speaker 1: didn't like that specific shot, but it is what it is.

715
00:33:50,120 --> 00:33:52,920
Speaker 1: The Pacers get the rebound, they close it out from there,

716
00:33:52,920 --> 00:33:55,320
Speaker 1: and the Pacers cut the series to two to one.

717
00:33:55,720 --> 00:33:58,200
Speaker 1: A couple of notes from the game, switching n Smith

718
00:33:58,280 --> 00:34:01,160
Speaker 1: onto Brunson. Brunston at twenty six point on twenty six shots,

719
00:34:01,320 --> 00:34:03,440
Speaker 1: six assists in five turnovers. It was his worst game

720
00:34:03,480 --> 00:34:06,520
Speaker 1: of the playoffs since Game two against Philly, and they

721
00:34:06,520 --> 00:34:09,600
Speaker 1: were just like Nie Smith was just in his jersey

722
00:34:09,640 --> 00:34:12,320
Speaker 1: from the jump, and the big thing is here. He's bigger,

723
00:34:12,360 --> 00:34:15,399
Speaker 1: he's stronger, he's a better athlete, he's better defender than

724
00:34:15,400 --> 00:34:18,759
Speaker 1: Andrew Emhart. I called for Nie Smith on Brunson at

725
00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:20,680
Speaker 1: the beginning of the series, and then I said it

726
00:34:20,719 --> 00:34:23,160
Speaker 1: needed to happen after game one because it was abundantly

727
00:34:23,239 --> 00:34:28,040
Speaker 1: clear that Jalen was really comfortable operating against Andren Emhart. Specifically,

728
00:34:28,120 --> 00:34:30,640
Speaker 1: he felt comfortable shooting over the top of him.

729
00:34:30,680 --> 00:34:31,279
Speaker 2: Now here's the thing.

730
00:34:31,640 --> 00:34:34,680
Speaker 1: Is Aaron Nee Smith some sort of magical Jalen Brunson stopper. No,

731
00:34:35,400 --> 00:34:36,760
Speaker 1: but he's your best chance.

732
00:34:37,200 --> 00:34:37,480
Speaker 2: Again.

733
00:34:37,840 --> 00:34:40,000
Speaker 1: I always talk about it like a range of outcomes

734
00:34:40,200 --> 00:34:43,000
Speaker 1: on any given night. Sometimes a guy's super dialed in.

735
00:34:43,040 --> 00:34:45,319
Speaker 1: He can go for forty something. Right, Sometimes a guy

736
00:34:45,400 --> 00:34:46,959
Speaker 1: is a rough shooting night and he goes for twenty

737
00:34:46,960 --> 00:34:49,680
Speaker 1: six points on twenty six shots, and then there's everything

738
00:34:49,719 --> 00:34:54,160
Speaker 1: in between, right, And really, when you when you play

739
00:34:54,239 --> 00:34:58,680
Speaker 1: better defense, you just make it more likely that player

740
00:34:58,719 --> 00:35:00,600
Speaker 1: will end up in the lower end of the outcome.

741
00:35:00,760 --> 00:35:03,879
Speaker 1: When you play worst defense, you make it more likely

742
00:35:03,880 --> 00:35:05,960
Speaker 1: that they'll end up in the high end of that outcome.

743
00:35:06,160 --> 00:35:06,359
Speaker 2: Right.

744
00:35:06,600 --> 00:35:08,680
Speaker 1: And so to me, it's not about a magic fix

745
00:35:08,719 --> 00:35:11,719
Speaker 1: for Brunson, it's just he's your best perimeter defender. So

746
00:35:11,880 --> 00:35:14,920
Speaker 1: why would you put a guy like Nemhard on who's

747
00:35:14,920 --> 00:35:17,360
Speaker 1: a good perimeter defender. But Brunson's been one of the

748
00:35:17,360 --> 00:35:19,200
Speaker 1: top five players in the league in this postseason, is

749
00:35:19,239 --> 00:35:23,160
Speaker 1: barbecuing everybody, and he's clearly having great nights, and he's

750
00:35:23,200 --> 00:35:26,360
Speaker 1: clearly very comfortable against Andrew Nemhart. So I like to

751
00:35:26,440 --> 00:35:29,880
Speaker 1: move to Neie Smith simply because give you the best

752
00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:33,239
Speaker 1: chance of playing Brunson into a rough shooting night, and

753
00:35:33,280 --> 00:35:35,000
Speaker 1: he had a rough shooting night. Honestly, it was a

754
00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:36,799
Speaker 1: testament to Jaylen Brunston that he was still able to

755
00:35:36,800 --> 00:35:38,600
Speaker 1: get going the way he did in that second half.

756
00:35:38,920 --> 00:35:41,120
Speaker 1: Tyers Halibert sixty nine points in the last two games

757
00:35:41,120 --> 00:35:43,120
Speaker 1: after I begged him to start scoring after Game one,

758
00:35:43,320 --> 00:35:46,760
Speaker 1: finally starting to look more explosive. Too early in the game,

759
00:35:46,880 --> 00:35:49,120
Speaker 1: there was a play two plays in particular in the

760
00:35:49,120 --> 00:35:50,879
Speaker 1: first half that kind of stood out to me. Get

761
00:35:50,960 --> 00:35:52,959
Speaker 1: hard and signed on a switch on the right wing,

762
00:35:53,480 --> 00:35:56,360
Speaker 1: late shot clock situation, and he beat him off the dribble,

763
00:35:56,440 --> 00:35:58,520
Speaker 1: low gather through a dig down and then made like

764
00:35:58,600 --> 00:36:01,400
Speaker 1: a tough scoop shot. Those were the beating the bigs

765
00:36:01,400 --> 00:36:03,799
Speaker 1: off the switches was a big thing that he was

766
00:36:03,880 --> 00:36:06,120
Speaker 1: doing in the early part of the season before his

767
00:36:06,160 --> 00:36:08,000
Speaker 1: hamstring injury, so I thought that was a good sign.

768
00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:10,000
Speaker 2: And then that transition play.

769
00:36:09,880 --> 00:36:12,279
Speaker 1: Where he just elevated and hit the finger roll over

770
00:36:12,360 --> 00:36:14,760
Speaker 1: like when he was getting sandwiched by like two athletes

771
00:36:14,800 --> 00:36:16,640
Speaker 1: at the rim like that was one of those plays

772
00:36:16,640 --> 00:36:18,200
Speaker 1: where I'm like, oh, he started to get some of

773
00:36:18,239 --> 00:36:20,560
Speaker 1: his explosion back. And then late in the game, I

774
00:36:20,560 --> 00:36:25,440
Speaker 1: thought he consistently generated quality shots just getting into ball screens,

775
00:36:25,440 --> 00:36:28,400
Speaker 1: getting downhill, getting into the lane, drawing in help defenders,

776
00:36:28,400 --> 00:36:30,920
Speaker 1: making the kickout passes. He was the guy who drew

777
00:36:30,960 --> 00:36:32,719
Speaker 1: the double team on the late possession that led to

778
00:36:32,760 --> 00:36:35,400
Speaker 1: the game winner. This is the tyress Alliburton that had

779
00:36:35,400 --> 00:36:38,600
Speaker 1: me so excited before the season. He has the potential

780
00:36:38,640 --> 00:36:42,120
Speaker 1: to be a bigger and more athletic Steve Natch. That's

781
00:36:42,120 --> 00:36:45,319
Speaker 1: his upside and I thought I like and he just

782
00:36:45,360 --> 00:36:47,440
Speaker 1: hasn't been able to kind of recapture that since the

783
00:36:47,480 --> 00:36:49,480
Speaker 1: hamstring injury. But these last two games have been the

784
00:36:49,520 --> 00:36:51,360
Speaker 1: first time that he's really started to look more like

785
00:36:51,400 --> 00:36:53,880
Speaker 1: the Tyres Alliburton from the start of the season. That

786
00:36:54,000 --> 00:36:57,200
Speaker 1: is super exciting that Tyres Alliburton has the potential to

787
00:36:57,200 --> 00:37:00,120
Speaker 1: be a top five player in this league. But the guy,

788
00:37:00,200 --> 00:37:03,239
Speaker 1: the guy between that, the guy after the injury, he

789
00:37:03,400 --> 00:37:06,600
Speaker 1: just wasn't explosive enough and not as consistent and efficient

790
00:37:06,680 --> 00:37:08,880
Speaker 1: enough as a score to do so. So really encouraging

791
00:37:08,920 --> 00:37:10,520
Speaker 1: to see him to get some of that back. Miles

792
00:37:10,520 --> 00:37:13,200
Speaker 1: Turner twenty one points and ten rebounds, several huge rebounds,

793
00:37:13,840 --> 00:37:16,560
Speaker 1: several huge offensive rebounds late in the game. Huge win

794
00:37:16,600 --> 00:37:20,600
Speaker 1: for Indiana, But you know how the Knicks are. Game

795
00:37:20,640 --> 00:37:23,160
Speaker 1: four is gonna be just as tough, right And I

796
00:37:23,320 --> 00:37:26,200
Speaker 1: just continue to be completely amazed by the Knicks. They

797
00:37:26,280 --> 00:37:30,320
Speaker 1: keep losing bodies, no Julius Randall, Noboy and Macdonovich, no

798
00:37:30,440 --> 00:37:33,640
Speaker 1: Mitchell Robinson, now nog And and Obi as well. Yet they

799
00:37:33,680 --> 00:37:36,240
Speaker 1: just keep finding guys that come in and contribute precious

800
00:37:36,239 --> 00:37:37,839
Speaker 1: to Chewa has been able to slot into that og

801
00:37:37,920 --> 00:37:40,719
Speaker 1: Anobe spot. Alec Burks came in in the first half

802
00:37:40,719 --> 00:37:43,440
Speaker 1: and was hitting jumpers and kind of recreating some of

803
00:37:43,440 --> 00:37:46,080
Speaker 1: that athleticism and shooting pop that og And and Obi had

804
00:37:46,480 --> 00:37:51,040
Speaker 1: at Duce McBride has ever since, really ever since the

805
00:37:51,080 --> 00:37:53,799
Speaker 1: Emmanuel Quickly trade, has stepped in and taken on more

806
00:37:53,840 --> 00:37:55,120
Speaker 1: responsibility and being great.

807
00:37:55,400 --> 00:37:56,600
Speaker 2: Guys just keep coming.

808
00:37:56,400 --> 00:37:59,440
Speaker 1: In and they keep continuing with the basketball character that

809
00:37:59,440 --> 00:38:02,040
Speaker 1: comes from their coach down and it just makes them

810
00:38:02,040 --> 00:38:04,120
Speaker 1: an incredibly likable team. There were three or four points

811
00:38:04,160 --> 00:38:06,080
Speaker 1: in the game tonight where I thought the Knicks might

812
00:38:06,120 --> 00:38:09,080
Speaker 1: just punt, and instead they won on a run, and

813
00:38:09,120 --> 00:38:11,200
Speaker 1: they came very close to winning that game. Dante de

814
00:38:11,239 --> 00:38:13,960
Speaker 1: Vincenzo doesn't commit a goaltend, you're right there and you

815
00:38:14,840 --> 00:38:16,200
Speaker 1: have a very good chance to win that game. And

816
00:38:16,239 --> 00:38:19,280
Speaker 1: even with that goaltend, it took an andream heard bailout

817
00:38:19,280 --> 00:38:21,359
Speaker 1: step back three in the final minute, right, So, like

818
00:38:21,680 --> 00:38:24,160
Speaker 1: I can see why Knicks fans love this team. They

819
00:38:24,760 --> 00:38:29,480
Speaker 1: just have truly remarkable basketball character. One basketball note though,

820
00:38:29,960 --> 00:38:31,880
Speaker 1: because of the ogn Andobe injury, they did have to

821
00:38:31,880 --> 00:38:34,200
Speaker 1: go to four guards late and went to duce McBride,

822
00:38:34,480 --> 00:38:37,759
Speaker 1: Josh Hart, Dantete de Vincenzo, and Jalen Bronson. I thought

823
00:38:37,760 --> 00:38:40,280
Speaker 1: it was the right call because I think duce McBride

824
00:38:40,360 --> 00:38:43,839
Speaker 1: was a little bit better and more reliable offensively than

825
00:38:43,880 --> 00:38:46,520
Speaker 1: Alec Burks was. But they did struggle to clean up

826
00:38:46,520 --> 00:38:49,080
Speaker 1: the offensive glass late, and that is the reality of

827
00:38:49,080 --> 00:38:51,600
Speaker 1: losing og Anobi. And as we heard from Adrian Morjanowski,

828
00:38:51,640 --> 00:38:53,880
Speaker 1: he's gonna be out for Game four and he's probably

829
00:38:53,920 --> 00:38:56,000
Speaker 1: gonna be out for Game five as well. So it's

830
00:38:56,000 --> 00:38:58,280
Speaker 1: gonna be tough. And this is gonna be a challenge

831
00:38:58,280 --> 00:39:00,440
Speaker 1: for the Knicks because their best line line up right

832
00:39:00,440 --> 00:39:02,680
Speaker 1: now really might be that four guard lineup in a

833
00:39:02,760 --> 00:39:05,720
Speaker 1: center and that's just gonna put you into some physical

834
00:39:05,800 --> 00:39:08,120
Speaker 1: predicaments and that showed up in that late game situation

835
00:39:08,160 --> 00:39:11,640
Speaker 1: against Antianda tonight. But again, even despite that, this close

836
00:39:12,280 --> 00:39:13,759
Speaker 1: all right, guys, that is all I have for tonight

837
00:39:13,880 --> 00:39:16,120
Speaker 1: is always I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting me

838
00:39:16,160 --> 00:39:18,800
Speaker 1: and supporting the show. The plan as of right now

839
00:39:18,960 --> 00:39:21,520
Speaker 1: is we're just going live after the morning game tomorrow,

840
00:39:21,560 --> 00:39:29,120
Speaker 1: which I believe is Thunder. That's the Thunder MAVs game. Yeah,

841
00:39:29,160 --> 00:39:31,640
Speaker 1: so we're going live after the ABC game on Thunder MAVs.

842
00:39:31,640 --> 00:39:35,200
Speaker 1: We're gonna hit Boston Cleveland on Sunday morning. But I

843
00:39:35,239 --> 00:39:38,480
Speaker 1: will see you guys live on YouTube tomorrow after the final.

844
00:39:38,239 --> 00:39:41,120
Speaker 2: Buzzer of Dallas of Dallas US case

845
00:40:05,600 --> 00:40:06,240
Speaker 1: The volume