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Speaker 1: The volume, blending Vice's signature dynamic storytelling with the high

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Speaker 2: co slash audio. All right, welcome to Hoops and I

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Speaker 2: here at the volume. Happy Wednesday, everybody. Hope all of

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Speaker 2: you guys are having a great week well. As promised, today,

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Speaker 2: we're going to go through the top five storylines of

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Speaker 2: the twenty twenty five NBA Finals. We've talked a lot

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Speaker 2: of basketball over the last couple of days. We're gonna

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Speaker 2: get into some of the narratives that are surrounding this series,

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Speaker 2: some of the debates, and some things to keep an

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Speaker 2: eye on in terms of stories to follow in this series.

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Speaker 2: we can get to them in our mail bags throughout

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Speaker 2: the remainder of the postseason. All right, let's talk some basketball.

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Speaker 2: So the first storyline that I think we've already seen

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Speaker 2: quite a bit of talk surrounding in the week leading

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Speaker 2: up to the finals, just people complaining about small markets

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Speaker 2: and the ratings. Right like I saw, there's kind of

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Speaker 2: already a theme heading into the conference finals, as we

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Speaker 2: had the Knicks alongside a Minnesota Timberwolves team, in Oklahoma

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Speaker 2: City thunder team and an Indiana Pacers team. But this

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Speaker 2: to me is the inevitable part of the NBA cycle.

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Speaker 2: There's a lot of talk about like having small markets

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Speaker 2: and that being the driving force behind low ratings, when

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Speaker 2: that simply is not the case. We've seen so many

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Speaker 2: examples of teams in every sport be able to overcome

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Speaker 2: whatever perceived limitations sit on in their market to become

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Speaker 2: a very like, a very resonant team in among NBA fans.

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Speaker 2: Classic examples we talked about recently, Golden State wasn't viewed

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Speaker 2: as that type of team. Steph made them into that

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Speaker 2: type of team. Cleveland wasn't viewed as that type of team.

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Speaker 2: Cleveland was one of the biggest rating draws in the

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Speaker 2: league for a while because of Lebron James. You build

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Speaker 2: that sort of ratings monster in the NFL teams like

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Speaker 2: the Kansas City Chiefs. You think the Kansas City Chiefs

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Speaker 2: were major ratings draws ten years ago. This is something

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Speaker 2: that you build through exposure in high stakes moments like this.

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Speaker 2: Very similarly, we remember after MJ retired, there's a phase

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Speaker 2: there where it's like, oh, man, like, who's gonna be

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Speaker 2: the next guy, Who's gonna be the next face of

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Speaker 2: the league. But then it just builds in momentum and

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Speaker 2: all of a sudden, it's okay, here comes Kobe, here

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Speaker 2: comes Shack, Here comes Tim Duncan, here comes Lebron, And

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Speaker 2: all of a sudden, we have a very healthy trove

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Speaker 2: of stars to drive the league forward. Right. It's all

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Speaker 2: part of that natural kind of ebb and flow. We're

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Speaker 2: in a weird spot here. Lebron and Steph are aging out.

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Speaker 2: Some of these younger stars like Tyre's Halliburton and shake

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Speaker 2: yel Just Alexander don't have a ton of exposure to

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Speaker 2: casual basketball fans. Yet this is their opportunity. It is

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Speaker 2: through play style and resonating with people and being the

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Speaker 2: type of culturally resonant basketball force that Steph was that

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Speaker 2: Lebron was combined with sustained success in late May in June.

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Speaker 2: That actually provides them foundation to have a strong set

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Speaker 2: of ratings moving forward for the league again ultimately the

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Speaker 2: NBA Finals. The goal of them is to showcase the

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Speaker 2: two best teams in the NBA. This series may only

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Speaker 2: have one Top five player, maybe only three Top twenty

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Speaker 2: five players between Siakam and SGA and Tyres Halliburton, depending

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Speaker 2: on how you feel about chatter Jdubb. I haven't done

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Speaker 2: my player rankings yet. Maybe JDub lands in the top

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Speaker 2: twenty five, but like maybe as few as three players

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Speaker 2: in top twenty five. But it does showcase the best

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Speaker 2: basketball that has been played this season and specifically within

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Speaker 2: the realm of what works in the modern game. As

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Speaker 2: we've talked about so much, you can increase your offensive

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Speaker 2: efficiency by like roughly twenty percent every time you push

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Speaker 2: the ball in transition. Pushing the ball in transition is

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Speaker 2: low hanging fruit that exists in basketball for you to

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Speaker 2: take advantage of. It is there for everybody, and the

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Speaker 2: pacers in the Thunder have been two of the best

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Speaker 2: to do that. Ball pressure is a simple market inefficiency

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Speaker 2: that makes ball handlers uncomfortable, forces them to work later

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Speaker 2: into the shot clock. On offense, potentially forces turnovers by

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Speaker 2: speeding up those players, and can lead to easier transition

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Speaker 2: opportunities going the other way. This is low hanging fruit

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Speaker 2: that is available to everybody in the league, and the

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Speaker 2: Pacers in the Thunder have just been the two best

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Speaker 2: teams at actually taking advantage of it. This is a

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Speaker 2: showcase of the right way to play basketball in the

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Speaker 2: modern NBA, regardless of who is on your roster, and

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Speaker 2: if you have the ability to replicate these things, you

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Speaker 2: can actually drive more success for your team. And in

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Speaker 2: that case, I find it to be a very series.

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Speaker 2: It's not going to crush in the ratings. It never

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Speaker 2: was going to, but that doesn't mean that teams like

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Speaker 2: this and that players like this can't eventually drive ratings.

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Speaker 2: There's a version. If I would have told you in

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Speaker 2: two thousand and eight that in the twenty seventeen NBA

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Speaker 2: Finals we were going to see the Golden State Warriors

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Speaker 2: and the Cleveland Cavaliers, all of you would have been

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Speaker 2: bitching at the time about how it was going to

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Speaker 2: be a low ratings type of situation. That's not the case.

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Speaker 2: These guys can build juggernauts in the ratings with their

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Speaker 2: presence and their ability to capture their hearts and minds

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Speaker 2: of basketball fans. Number two, Tyres Halliburton, in the line

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Speaker 2: of embarrassment perpetuated by this Oklahoma City defense. I've talked

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Speaker 2: a little bit about this on the show over the

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Speaker 2: course of the last couple of weeks, but Oklahoma City

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Speaker 2: has done some serious damage to some really good players

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Speaker 2: in this postseason run. So I wanted to actually give

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Speaker 2: you guys a rundown of just some of the specific,

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Speaker 2: truly damaging performances their defense has done to some respected

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Speaker 2: players around this league. In the first round, Desmond Bain

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Speaker 2: had a game where he went three for twelve with

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Speaker 2: four turnovers, another game where he went three for fourteen

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Speaker 2: with five turnovers. Jaron Jackson had a game where he

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Speaker 2: went two for thirteen with just four points four points

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Speaker 2: on thirteen shots as a power forward in the NBA.

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Speaker 2: In the sweep game, he went just three for twelve

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Speaker 2: from the field. I talked about Nikole Jokics playing three

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Speaker 2: of the worst games of his career in rapid secession

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Speaker 2: in that second round series. In that series, in Game two,

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Speaker 2: three and four, Nikole Jokic shot just thirty three percent

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Speaker 2: from the field just eighteen percent from three and had

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Speaker 2: sixteen turnovers to just fifteen assists. How often have we

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Speaker 2: thought of Nikole Jokich as a guy who only makes

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Speaker 2: a third of his shots over a week of basketball games,

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Speaker 2: or as a player that has more turnovers than assists.

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Speaker 2: That was the type of damage that Oklahoma City did

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Speaker 2: too Jokic during a stretch where they won two out

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Speaker 2: of three games in regame control of the series. That

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Speaker 2: is the damage they were able to do to the

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Speaker 2: best player in the world. Julius Randall had almost entirely

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Speaker 2: rehabbed his playoff image through what he did through the

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Speaker 2: first two rounds, like on both ends of the floor

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Speaker 2: against the Lakers, and then just successfully breaking down Golden

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Speaker 2: State's defense over and over again the way that he did.

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Speaker 2: He had a two for eleven game for just six

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Speaker 2: points in Game two against Oklahoma City, and then in

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Speaker 2: Game four, a pivotal game at home where they desperately

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Speaker 2: needed him to be good, he was just one for

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Speaker 2: seven with five points. So this is a long list

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Speaker 2: of really good players that Oklahoma City hasn't just had

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Speaker 2: success against, but has flat out embarrassed, like even with

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Speaker 2: Jokich in those games, relative to what we usually see

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Speaker 2: from him. That is quite literally the lowest end of

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Speaker 2: the Jokich spectrum that Oklahoma City's defense showed us. Tyres

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Speaker 2: Haliburton at various points in his career, especially in the postseason,

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Speaker 2: has shown when things get really intense in terms of

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Speaker 2: ball pressure and physicality, he can have a problem with

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Speaker 2: maintaining his aggression and engagement in the game. And I

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Speaker 2: think it's very possible in this series that Oklahoma City

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Speaker 2: could bring out some of those really embarrassing stat lines

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Speaker 2: for Tyrese Haliburt. He's susceptible to those under any circumstances

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Speaker 2: against this particular defense. I think we could be walking

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Speaker 2: away from this series talking very differently about Tyrese Haliburton

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Speaker 2: than we did after the first three series. That is

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Speaker 2: a storyline that we have to keep an eye on.

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Speaker 2: Number three shake Giljes Alexander. If he can finish this

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Speaker 2: off by winning this series and winning finals, MVP is

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Speaker 2: putting together one of the best guard seasons in NBA history.

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Speaker 2: Even if you want to take that guard part and

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Speaker 2: set it aside. To win at least sixty eight games,

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Speaker 2: to make the All Star team, to win the scoring title,

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Speaker 2: to make first Team All NBA, to win MVP of

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Speaker 2: the League, and to tie it off with the Finals MVP.

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Speaker 2: He would be just the second player in NBA history

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Speaker 2: to accomplish all of those things in a single season,

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Speaker 2: with just Michael Jordan in nineteen ninety six being the

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Speaker 2: other one. Now, there's always a natural pushback to this

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Speaker 2: sort of thing, and I totally understand it. It's just

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Speaker 2: human nature. We start talking about it, it's like, holy shit,

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Speaker 2: this is one of the best seasons in NBA history,

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Speaker 2: and then we all immediately want to start bringing other

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Speaker 2: guys up. And I totally get that. It was like that.

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Speaker 2: I mean, I'm a Lebron fan. It was like that

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Speaker 2: with Lebron. I remember it was like, oh my god,

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Speaker 2: he just won a second title, and the jump shots

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Speaker 2: he was hitting against the Spurs in Game seven, and

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Speaker 2: just the way he played down the stretch of Game six,

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Speaker 2: and everyone's like, is this the greatest basketball player ever?

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Speaker 2: And what did we see? We saw this like natural

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Speaker 2: pushback from everybody as it became like no, no, no, no,

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Speaker 2: make him learn it. Michael Jordan did this, Kobe Bryant

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Speaker 2: did that, and it just becomes part of that natural pushback.

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Speaker 2: I understand that that's part of the deal, but that

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Speaker 2: doesn't mean we can't acknowledge what we're seeing in the moment.

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Speaker 2: Shay has an extremely talented roster this year. He has

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Speaker 2: one of the more talented rosters in recent NBA history.

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Speaker 2: This would not be as difficult as some other championships

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Speaker 2: that other stars have won. That goes without saying, but

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Speaker 2: over the course of his career, those circumstances will shift.

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Speaker 2: I don't think any player in NBA history has had

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Speaker 2: a more talented roster than Steph Curry did in twenty seventeen.

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Speaker 2: But he had another opportunity in twenty twenty three or

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Speaker 2: to twenty twenty two, excuse me to demonstrate that he

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Speaker 2: was capable of leading a championship team that had less talent,

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Speaker 2: that was actually operating at a talent deficit in the

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Speaker 2: NBA Finals. And so over the course of Shay's career,

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Speaker 2: we'll see more of those challenges that arise. Maybe as

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Speaker 2: this Oklahoma City roster gets more expensive, Maybe if he

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Speaker 2: forces his way out to some other team hoping for

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Speaker 2: green or pastors. One day he ends up on a

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Speaker 2: more limited team that's maybe too star Layden and doesn't

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Speaker 2: have the necessary depth. There's so many different ways that

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Speaker 2: Shay's career can go and this is just one part

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Speaker 2: of the story. And yeah, like if he wins the

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Speaker 2: finals this year and has this incredible season put together,

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Speaker 2: but over the course of the rest of his career

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Speaker 2: is underwhelming, then he's not gonna be remembered with MJ

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Speaker 2: And he's not gonna be remembered with Steph and Lebron

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Speaker 2: and Kobe and the greatest guards that have played this league.

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Speaker 2: It's all about sustaining and it's all about putting all

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Speaker 2: of those feathers in the cap of your story. I

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Speaker 2: talk about this with with Steph just a minute ago. Like,

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Speaker 2: if Steph only won the two Kevin Durant titles, probably

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Speaker 2: gets remembered differently, but he didn't. He won two others, right, Lebron,

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Speaker 2: same thing. If he only won the twenty twenty title

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Speaker 2: alongside Anthony Davis, you know, different type of story if

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Speaker 2: you only won the two titles with the heat. But

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Speaker 2: that's not what happened. We saw in twenty sixteen him

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Speaker 2: overcoming adversity in a different way. In twenty thirteen, a

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Speaker 2: couple of seven game series down the stretch of the postseason.

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Speaker 2: That twenty twenty title clearly his easiest one. It's not

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Speaker 2: the one everyone goes and tells the story about when

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Speaker 2: they're talking about how great Lebron James is. But in

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Speaker 2: the part of the in the journey of being a

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Speaker 2: basketball player, there are gonna be years when things kind

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Speaker 2: of pan out for you and it goes easier than

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Speaker 2: you're expecting. There're gonna be years when things don't go

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Speaker 2: your way and you face more adversity and you have

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Speaker 2: to dig deeper and you have to reach a different

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Speaker 2: level as a player. In the season, things have gone

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Speaker 2: pretty smoothly for Oklahoma City, but even in that context,

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Speaker 2: Shays had one of the greatest seasons in NBA history,

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Speaker 2: and he deserves credit for it based solely on the

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Speaker 2: fact that no one's ever done it other than Michael

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Speaker 2: Jordan in nineteen ninety six, and it would be an

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Speaker 2: excellent first feather in his cap. No one's gonna put

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Speaker 2: him as the second or third best player of all

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Speaker 2: time unless he sustains this for the better part of

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Speaker 2: the next decade, but this is the first step in

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Speaker 2: that direction, and it's been an incredibly impressive season from

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Speaker 2: shake Kyos as Alexander obviously pending him finishing the deal.

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Speaker 2: Number four is Oklahoma City an all time great team. Now,

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Speaker 2: as I've said multiple times, you do not earn that status,

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Speaker 2: at least not in my book, unless you win multiple

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Speaker 2: championships for all the reasons that I just said. Circumstances change.

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Speaker 2: It's like Boston this year. Boston this year, have a

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Speaker 2: couple guys get injured, don't play as well as they

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Speaker 2: typically do. Right Porzingis is dealing with an illness, Jalen

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Speaker 2: Brown's knee isn't quite where it used to be, and

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Speaker 2: you run into a tough matchup. What we didn't think

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Speaker 2: would be a tough matchup, but what ended up being

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Speaker 2: a tough matchup in the second round, and all of

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Speaker 2: a sudden things were a little tighter. All of a sudden,

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Speaker 2: we had some close games. We didn't have to see

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Speaker 2: Tatum and Brown super surgical clutch time decisions last year

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Speaker 2: in the postseason, in high stakes situations. This year we did.

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Speaker 2: They didn't do the job. New York actually beat them right.

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Speaker 2: It is through multiple seasons that we see teams overcome adversity.

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Speaker 2: It is through multiple seasons that teams can attain that

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Speaker 2: status of being an all time great team in NBA history,

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Speaker 2: But in this single season, would we consider this to

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Speaker 2: be an all time great single season in NBA history. Well,

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Speaker 2: they right now are eighty and eighteen. If they won

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Speaker 2: this series in five games, let's call it, they'd be

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Speaker 2: eighty four and nineteen in that particular case. That puts

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Speaker 2: them pretty far up the list in terms of best

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Speaker 2: records in single seasons. This postseason run has been pretty

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Speaker 2: impressive for them. We talked about the Western Conference being

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Speaker 2: an absolute blood bath, and it was. They were the

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Speaker 2: one team who got a favorable first round matchup. They

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Speaker 2: earned it by all of the regular season games that

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Speaker 2: they did. I thought there were seven good Western Conference

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Speaker 2: playoff teams, and obviously Oklahoma City got to play the eighth.

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Speaker 2: But after that, they beat the twenty twenty three champs,

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Speaker 2: the best player in the world, a team that I

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Speaker 2: viewed specifically as a tough matchup for them, and guess what,

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Speaker 2: they brought some adversity to the equation and we got

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Speaker 2: to see Oklahoma City overcome that adversity. They were down

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Speaker 2: to one in the series and trailing by eight in

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Speaker 2: the early fourth quarter of Game four. They're trailing by

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Speaker 2: nine early in the fourth quarter of Game five. They

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Speaker 2: overcame that that Timberwolves team is a very very good

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Speaker 2: team that has beat a lot of really good teams.

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Speaker 2: That Timberwolves team beat Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal.

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Speaker 2: They beat Nikola Jokics last year, they beat Luca and

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Speaker 2: Lebron this year. That is a team that has done

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Speaker 2: some damage and Oklahoma City survived them. And if they

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Speaker 2: beat this Pacers team, that's a Pacers team that just

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Speaker 2: won an Eastern Conference that had two sixty win teams

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Speaker 2: in it. So Jackson and I were having some fun

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Speaker 2: before the show. We were trying to figure out how

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Speaker 2: we would rank the top five teams since twenty ten.

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Speaker 2: So I'm calling that like kind of the end of

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Speaker 2: that era when Kobe won his last title in twenty ten.

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Speaker 2: So I'm going from the twenty eleven MAVs all the

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Speaker 2: way through to this theoretical twenty twenty five championship of

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Speaker 2: ok I'm a city team. If they were to win,

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Speaker 2: where would they rank? I thought the twenty seventeen Warriors

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Speaker 2: were the obvious number one. That is the most talented

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Speaker 2: roster ever assembled in the history of the NBA. I

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Speaker 2: don't think it's particularly close. They had the second and

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Speaker 2: third best players in the league playing on the same team.

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Speaker 2: They had Klay Thompson, who at the time was one

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Speaker 2: of the highest level starters in the league, an elite

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Speaker 2: defensive player, the second best shooter to ever play the game.

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Speaker 2: That was a phase of his career as well, when

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Speaker 2: he was really starting to come together as a more

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Speaker 2: consistent playoff performer. Klay Thompson was ridiculous. Draymond Green the

347
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Speaker 2: best defensive player of our era, Andre Gudala one of

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Speaker 2: the most gifted role players of our era. Seventeen one

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Speaker 2: Warriors clear the field. In my opinion, I think they're

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Speaker 2: the greatest basketball team ever assembled, even counting the nineties Bulls,

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Speaker 2: even counting the eighties Celtics and Lakers. I don't think

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Speaker 2: anyone's come close. I just think they're far and away

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Speaker 2: the best team in NBA history. Simple way to put it.

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Speaker 2: They were in that blood bath of a Western conference

355
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Speaker 2: and they literally swept them. They swept the entire West.

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Speaker 2: They won fifteen straight playoff games before the Cavs finally

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Speaker 2: were able to beat them once in a game in

358
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Speaker 2: Cleveland in game four of that NBA Finals run. The

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00:19:29,240 --> 00:19:31,679
Speaker 2: twenty seventeen Warriors clear the field. I think there's actually

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Speaker 2: a gap between them and everyone else. Number two for

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Speaker 2: me the twenty twenty five Thunder with Land right there,

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Speaker 2: sixty eight wins, beating the types of teams they would

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Speaker 2: beat on the way. To me, that clears the other

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Speaker 2: teams that are on this list. Where it gets interesting

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Speaker 2: is starting to talk about those teams. Number three for

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Speaker 2: me was the twenty thirteen Heat. They won sixty six games.

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Speaker 2: They were defending champ which is another layer to add

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Speaker 2: to this as well, and beating that San Antonio Spurs.

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Speaker 2: They have back to back seven game series in the

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Speaker 2: playoff run. They beat that Indiana Pacers team in seven

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Speaker 2: in the Conference finals, and then they beat that San

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00:20:09,400 --> 00:20:12,879
Speaker 2: Antonio Spurs team in seven in the NBA Finals. That's

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Speaker 2: San Antonio Spurs team is also on this list as

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Speaker 2: the twenty fourteen Spurs. I have them at number four.

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Speaker 2: They beat Dirk's MAVs in the first round. They beat

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Speaker 2: Kevin Durant's Thunder in the Conference finals, and they beat

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Speaker 2: Lebron and Dwayne Wade in the Miami Heat in the

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Speaker 2: NBA Finals. Not as successful as a regular season, I

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Speaker 2: think they only won sixty two games, but a more

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00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:36,040
Speaker 2: impressive playoff run, so I put them on that list,

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Speaker 2: and then the fifth best team since twenty eleven. The

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty four Celtics kind of a weak playoff field.

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Speaker 2: They kind of just coasted through and beat everyone. I

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00:20:46,680 --> 00:20:49,080
Speaker 2: thought the only real tough teams they played were the

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Speaker 2: Pacers in the MAVs, but they handled both of those

386
00:20:52,160 --> 00:20:55,440
Speaker 2: teams in four and five games, respectively. But they had

387
00:20:55,440 --> 00:21:00,280
Speaker 2: an incredibly dominant regular season, especially statistically, which put them

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00:21:00,640 --> 00:21:04,480
Speaker 2: on this list at number five. So in short, among

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Speaker 2: the last fifteen champions, if Oklahoma City closes this deal,

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00:21:07,720 --> 00:21:11,000
Speaker 2: I'd put them in second place behind the twenty seventeen

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Speaker 2: Golden State Warriors. Then our last storyline to follow in

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Speaker 2: this series. Is this series a sign that you need

393
00:21:18,680 --> 00:21:23,520
Speaker 2: to win with depth in the modern NBA? Yes and no.

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Speaker 2: There is more than one way to win a championship.

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Speaker 2: We were talking about this the other night on playback.

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Speaker 2: There's a bunch of different ways to win any singular

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Speaker 2: basketball game. Don't underestimate star impact. Yes, these are deep teams,

398
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Speaker 2: but Jay GISs Alexander forty points in the pivotal Game

399
00:21:41,960 --> 00:21:47,760
Speaker 2: four against Minnesota, multiple games where he was very good

400
00:21:47,800 --> 00:21:53,000
Speaker 2: in clutch time against the Denver Nuggets, Tyres Halliburton, three

401
00:21:53,040 --> 00:21:56,080
Speaker 2: games that he straight up stole with game winners of

402
00:21:56,119 --> 00:21:58,359
Speaker 2: one of them that ended up sending the game to overtime.

403
00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:02,760
Speaker 2: These guys, their singular talent is a big part of

404
00:22:02,800 --> 00:22:05,600
Speaker 2: why they are where they are. The depth, to me,

405
00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:09,800
Speaker 2: is all about that low hanging fruit. In order to

406
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Speaker 2: ball pressure full court for an entire game, in order

407
00:22:13,320 --> 00:22:16,240
Speaker 2: to push in transition as much as these teams do,

408
00:22:16,560 --> 00:22:20,040
Speaker 2: in order to capitalize on every little detail in every

409
00:22:20,080 --> 00:22:23,800
Speaker 2: single possession over the course of a sixteen game playoff run,

410
00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:27,879
Speaker 2: you do need depth. And so if you have less depth,

411
00:22:28,600 --> 00:22:32,360
Speaker 2: you can't capitalize on as much low hanging fruit. That

412
00:22:32,400 --> 00:22:35,520
Speaker 2: puts more pressure on your stars. But we have seen

413
00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:40,199
Speaker 2: stars carry the load on teams that have, you know,

414
00:22:40,440 --> 00:22:42,919
Speaker 2: six or seven players that they trust in their rotation

415
00:22:43,520 --> 00:22:47,440
Speaker 2: and get it done. So yes, to me, what it's

416
00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:51,720
Speaker 2: proven is that depth certainly is very valuable in the

417
00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:54,359
Speaker 2: modern NBA. It's not the end all be all. I

418
00:22:54,400 --> 00:22:57,240
Speaker 2: don't think the thunder make the finals without Shay. I

419
00:22:57,280 --> 00:23:00,639
Speaker 2: don't think the Pacers make the finals without Tighliburn if

420
00:23:00,680 --> 00:23:03,359
Speaker 2: you replace them with like like kind of like league

421
00:23:03,440 --> 00:23:06,200
Speaker 2: average types of players at their position. Let's just say,

422
00:23:06,600 --> 00:23:09,280
Speaker 2: you know, like if we're looking for a kind of

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00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:13,840
Speaker 2: like a playmaking guard to fill in for Tyrees Haliburt,

424
00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:16,320
Speaker 2: and like if you take like Chris Paul at this

425
00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:19,080
Speaker 2: point in his career, that's not even close to the

426
00:23:19,119 --> 00:23:21,280
Speaker 2: same team. If you take Shay Gills as Alexander and

427
00:23:21,280 --> 00:23:23,800
Speaker 2: turn him into just a scoring guard, like call it,

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00:23:23,920 --> 00:23:26,919
Speaker 2: Devin Booker, I don't think the thunder are nearly as

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Speaker 2: good as they are with Shake Gils just Alexander right now, right, So, like,

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Speaker 2: don't underestimate the star power and the way that those

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00:23:32,640 --> 00:23:35,920
Speaker 2: guys elevate these teams. The low hanging fruit just helps

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00:23:35,920 --> 00:23:38,359
Speaker 2: you win basketball games. And if you have depth, you

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00:23:38,359 --> 00:23:40,560
Speaker 2: have a better chance to capitalize on that low hanging

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00:23:40,600 --> 00:23:45,040
Speaker 2: fruit throughout each season in postseason. All right, guys, that's

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Speaker 2: all I have for the show today. As always, I

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00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:49,160
Speaker 2: sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting us. In supporting the show,

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00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:51,840
Speaker 2: we have Colin Coward coming on with us live after

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Speaker 2: every game in this NBA Finals run. We will be

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Speaker 2: live after game one tomorrow night. After the final buzzer

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Speaker 2: on you Tube. I hope to see you guys then