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Speaker 1: absolutely everything about this game tonight. Then we're gonna bring

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Speaker 1: Carson on and we're gonna do three questions from this series,

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Speaker 1: and then we're gonna do a lot of a lot

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Speaker 1: more of talk about tomorrow night's game between the Golden

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Speaker 1: State Warriors in the Dallas Mavericks. Before we get started,

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Speaker 1: a couple of quick housekeeping notes. Make sure you like

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Speaker 1: this video and subscribe to the Volumes YouTube channel so

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Speaker 1: you don't miss any more of our shows. We're basically

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Speaker 1: gonna be going live for every single NBA game the

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Speaker 1: rest of the season. If not live, then at least

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Speaker 1: some sort of YouTube content, So definitely after every game,

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Speaker 1: come to the YouTube channel after the game. Don't forget

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Speaker 1: to follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason lt for

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Speaker 1: any video content. I did a bunch of uh. I

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Speaker 1: recorded a bunch of video on my TV during the

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Speaker 1: game to try to demonstrate some concepts that I'd like

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Speaker 1: to get into tonight. So if you hear me talking

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Speaker 1: about something and you want to see a video example

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Speaker 1: of it, go to my Twitter feed. So I want

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Speaker 1: to start with Boston. And I know it sounds crazy

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Speaker 1: because obviously Miami put forth a great performance tonight, and

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Speaker 1: we are going to talk about Miami and what they

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Speaker 1: do really well, what they did really well tonight, and

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Speaker 1: some signs of optimism looking forward in the series. But

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Speaker 1: Boston is the better team. They've clearly demonstrated that basically

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Speaker 1: since January, and I think they've clearly demonstrated that in

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Speaker 1: this playoff run. However, they just got out of a

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Speaker 1: seven game war with Milwaukee, and there's not just physical

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Speaker 1: wear and tear, there's emotional wear and tear and literal

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Speaker 1: injuries that manifested in the form of Marcus Smart having

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Speaker 1: this I think I believe it was the hip contusion

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Speaker 1: that left him out again. I'm not sure exactly what

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Speaker 1: it was, but I would imagine that the people in

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Speaker 1: Boston just simply thought, hey, I'd rather give Marcus Smart

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Speaker 1: three days, three full days off before we get into

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Speaker 1: game too, rather than have him turned right around after

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Speaker 1: Game seven, especially if you're confident in what you can

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Speaker 1: do in the series, which I believe Boston is. The

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Speaker 1: Al Horford thing is super weird health and safety protocols.

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Speaker 1: I suppose that means COVID, although we're not certain. I

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Speaker 1: think the fact that I believe Shams Serenia reported that

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Speaker 1: he's probably out for Game two as well, and that

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Speaker 1: obviously kind of strongly hints at it being COVID. When

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Speaker 1: I saw those two specific injuries, you know, or two

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Speaker 1: specific uh guys being out of the lineup for Marcus Smart,

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Speaker 1: less concerned. Obviously, Marcus Smart is very important to the

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Speaker 1: best Boston lineups, which we will get to here in

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Speaker 1: a few minutes, but without Horford in particular, it takes

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Speaker 1: away Boston's ability to run five out basketball, which is

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Speaker 1: when they're at their best. We did a whole thing

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Speaker 1: about this towards the end of the Milwaukee series when

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Speaker 1: they said Rob Williams was available for Game seven, and

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Speaker 1: I said I wouldn't play him because they're four out

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Speaker 1: one in offense is not as good as their five

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Speaker 1: out offense, and when they have Al Horford and he

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Speaker 1: can pop and or just spot up off the ball,

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Speaker 1: it just gives a lot more room for driving lanes,

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Speaker 1: which become obviously way more important as the game progresses,

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Speaker 1: especially when Miami gets more aggressive. But that fatigue was

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Speaker 1: inevitably gonna play a role, and I thought Boston came

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Speaker 1: out and played a really good basketball game to start.

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Speaker 1: I've talked a lot about how Boston's offense and their

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Speaker 1: decision making is the driving force behind everything that they do.

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Speaker 1: Tonight email Udoka in his first quarter interview on the

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Speaker 1: live broadcast said that it's the first leg of their

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Speaker 1: transition defense, which is something that we've talked about at

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Speaker 1: length on the show. It's something that you made Udoka

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Speaker 1: specifically talked about in them in the second round series

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Speaker 1: with Milwaukee. Their offense is so important to just the

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Speaker 1: transition into their defense so they can get set rather

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Speaker 1: than giving up transition opportunities. Well, to start this game,

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Speaker 1: they had excellent offensive execution but Miami switches everything, right,

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Speaker 1: and as we've talked about on the show, you have

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Speaker 1: to attack switching defenses rather than settling. If you turn

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Speaker 1: a switching defense into an isolation contest, you stagnate yourself,

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Speaker 1: you stagnate your teammates, and you put the outcome of

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Speaker 1: the game on the strength of whether or not you

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Speaker 1: can make pull up jump shots, because you're not just

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Speaker 1: gonna beat people straight to the rim. There's gonna be

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Speaker 1: help side, right, and so a lot of times in

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Speaker 1: those isolation situations, you're getting to the rim and turning

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Speaker 1: and taking fade away jump shots, or you're not even

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Speaker 1: attempting to drive to the rim and you're taking step

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Speaker 1: back jump shots around the perimeter. Right. Well, Boston on

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Speaker 1: their first five offensive possessions got the basketball into the paint,

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Speaker 1: which is a huge part of how they got off

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Speaker 1: to such a good start, and Jayson Tatum in particular

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Speaker 1: was the driving force behind that. But over the course

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Speaker 1: of the game, I don't know if it was fatigue

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Speaker 1: a little bit I thought was defense of pressure from Miami,

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Speaker 1: which will get a little bit further into but they're like,

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Speaker 1: go with the rope. They gave up two thirty point quarters,

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Speaker 1: which is extremely uncommon for this Boston defense. And you

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Speaker 1: know what, that's how it goes. Sometimes when you're in

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Speaker 1: a Game one of a playoff series, right after a

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Speaker 1: Game seven, you're run out of gas. Miami second half run,

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Speaker 1: I thought, was completely fueled by ball pressure in aggressive

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Speaker 1: defense in the passing lanes. Now, to be clear, ball

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Speaker 1: pressure is actually something that should help your offense if

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Speaker 1: you're disciplined, because pressuring the ball puts you out of position.

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Speaker 1: When you're reaching, when you're lunging, you put yourself out

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Speaker 1: of position as the defensive player. So if you were

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Speaker 1: the offensive player and you're disciplined, and you take care

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Speaker 1: of the basketball and you weaponize their pressure against them,

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Speaker 1: you can get a lot of straight line drives in

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Speaker 1: passing lanes. If a guy is overplaying a passing lane,

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Speaker 1: then the back door is wide open for everybody. Right, So,

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Speaker 1: aggressive defenses are basically purposefully compromising their own defense for

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Speaker 1: the sake of trying to get you to get sloppy

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Speaker 1: with the basketball. And that's what was so smart about

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Speaker 1: what Miami did because Boston's biggest weakness, as I've talked

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Speaker 1: about through this entire playoff run, is game management having

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Speaker 1: a player who truly understands the flow of the basketball

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Speaker 1: game and can get them into their stuff and understand

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Speaker 1: exactly what's happening. Jayson Tatum played a magnificent first half

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Speaker 1: of basketball. You know, our guy calling Cowherd opened up

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Speaker 1: his show today on FS one with the rant about

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Speaker 1: how he said Jayson Tatum was a top three franchise

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Speaker 1: corner stone in the NBA. Now I disagree with him

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Speaker 1: because I wouldn't take him third, but he's certainly in

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Speaker 1: that conversation, which is absolutely wild, the ascent that Jason

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Speaker 1: Tatum is on. But then we're gonna get a little

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Speaker 1: bit further into what Jason did well. But in that

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Speaker 1: second half Miami, when they brought the ball pressure, it

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Speaker 1: was Jason Tatum who got sloppy with the basketball. It

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Speaker 1: was Jason Tatum who wasn't handling the ball pressure. It

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Speaker 1: was Jason Tatum that wasn't reading the defenders that were

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Speaker 1: gambling in the passing lines. That's a hole in his

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Speaker 1: game right now. It was a hole that manifested in

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Speaker 1: the Milwaukee series. And it's exactly why I picked Miami

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Speaker 1: to take this to six games. Even though I believe

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Speaker 1: Boston is the better team and they will win. I

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Speaker 1: said frequently that Boston would have extended stretches in this

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Speaker 1: series where they would not be able to score, and

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Speaker 1: that happened in that third quarter. I believe they had

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Speaker 1: two points the the first like seven or eight minutes.

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Speaker 1: I think Miami started on a twenty two to two

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Speaker 1: run when things were going south. When Miami came with

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Speaker 1: all that pressure and aggressiveness on defense, there was no

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Speaker 1: savvy floor general to weaponize that aggression against Boston. And again,

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Speaker 1: there's not that many guys like this in the lead,

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Speaker 1: So it's it's a it's a difficult problem to confront.

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Speaker 1: You basically are limited to the top guys like Lebron

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Speaker 1: and Luca, you know, a Yoki or or a Chris

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Speaker 1: Paul right, Like, they're only a handful of really high

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Speaker 1: level initiators. Then you've got guys that are pretty good

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Speaker 1: at it, Guys like Steph Curry, Kevin Durray, Janice, guys

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Speaker 1: that do feel the flow of the game, even though

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Speaker 1: they're not fantastic playmakers. Right. But it's just once you

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Speaker 1: get off of that, it's like you're looking at role players,

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Speaker 1: you're asking that's where you're looking at like a Ricky

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Speaker 1: Rubio to come in and do that for you, which

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Speaker 1: then that presents a whole bunch of other issues. But

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Speaker 1: this is gonna be a person sent problem for Boston

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Speaker 1: throughout this entire last two rounds. I said on Twitter

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Speaker 1: earlier today that Boston's best punch is better than anybody's

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Speaker 1: best punching basketball. The question is going to be how

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Speaker 1: frequently can they get to that best punch, because right

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Speaker 1: after an incredible first half, they utterly and completely fell

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Speaker 1: apart to start the second half in their basic offensive,

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Speaker 1: fundamental decision making. And so it will be on Jayson

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Speaker 1: Tatum to make that adjustment to understand that Miami's aggression

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Speaker 1: can actually be used to his advantage as long as

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Speaker 1: he understands that that's what's happening. Miami is gambling, Miami

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Speaker 1: is putting themselves out of position. But to Miami's credit,

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Speaker 1: this is what they do. You know, as much as

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Speaker 1: we criticize Joel Embiid and James Harden for crumbling in

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Speaker 1: that second round series, so much of what they did

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Speaker 1: is Miami making them crumble. Miami is the definition of

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Speaker 1: a team. We we've called them on the show a

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Speaker 1: sponge in the desert that you squeeze until every last

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Speaker 1: drop is out. They maximize their talent and ability. They

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Speaker 1: are so incredibly tough that they will expose teams that

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Speaker 1: aren't tough. I believe this Boston team is tough, and

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Speaker 1: I believe they will respond. But that's what happened to Philly.

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Speaker 1: They got met by a tough team that challenged them

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Speaker 1: and all of the toughness areas of the game of basketball,

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Speaker 1: and the seventy sixers wilted. And in that second half tonight,

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Speaker 1: when Miami punched Boston in the mouth, Boston took a

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Speaker 1: little while to respond. Wasn't until the early fourth quarter

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Speaker 1: when they went on that ten o run to cut

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Speaker 1: it from twenty to ten that they actually kind of

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Speaker 1: started to respond and make something happen. But I thought,

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Speaker 1: you know, this is this is what Miami does so

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Speaker 1: incredibly well. They're in better shape than you. They're more

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Speaker 1: disciplined than you when they amble, even they're gambling, even

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Speaker 1: they're aggressive front facing defense. That's that's always looking to

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Speaker 1: attack you on the ball and always looking to attack

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Speaker 1: you on the past. All of that stuff is extremely polished,

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Speaker 1: and everybody's in the right place. I wanted to look

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Speaker 1: at the other side of the ball for a minute,

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Speaker 1: so when Miami's on offense, because Boston did not have

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Speaker 1: a good defensive night. If you guys remember in the

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Speaker 1: preview that I did, I talked about how I expected

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Speaker 1: Boston early in this early in the series to not switch,

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Speaker 1: because every team tries to start the series by not

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Speaker 1: switching as much as possible, except for Miami. Miami does

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Speaker 1: it the the They're relentless with it. But the reason

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Speaker 1: why they try not to switch is you don't want

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Speaker 1: to give up size mismatches as like in large sample size.

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Speaker 1: Coaches don't want to because they don't want their smaller

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Speaker 1: players to be banging with Bam at a bio in

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Speaker 1: offensive rebound situations all night long. They don't want to.

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Speaker 1: It's it's a physical wear and tear play. The more

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Speaker 1: you can keep Tyson on BAM, the more you can

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Speaker 1: keep keep you know, I think they started Grant Williams

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Speaker 1: on BAM. The more you can keep those guys there,

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Speaker 1: the easier it is for all your other perimeter players

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Speaker 1: to not have to bang bodies as much. That's what

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Speaker 1: they think. I thoroughly disagree with that. I've always said

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Speaker 1: that the advantages of switching cancel that out because you're

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Speaker 1: asking these Boston guards and Wings to blow up screens NonStop,

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Speaker 1: to fly through screens, and early in the game they did.

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Speaker 1: Derek White single handedly blew up to dribble handoffs for

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Speaker 1: for runout dunks. Jayson Tatum blew up two additional dribble handoffs.

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Speaker 1: They literally were blowing up every Miami action. Just just

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Speaker 1: get like, when a dribble handoff is happening, the way

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Speaker 1: coaches teach is you want to literally be in between

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Speaker 1: the offensive player and the guy who has the ball.

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Speaker 1: You want to you wanna sandwich yourself in between that

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Speaker 1: dribble handoff and disrupt that change. And they were doing

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Speaker 1: an amazing job of that in the first quarter. Here's

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Speaker 1: the problem. That's exhausting, and they just got out of

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Speaker 1: a war with Milwaukee, and so over the course of

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Speaker 1: the game, suddenly they started dying on those screens. Now,

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Speaker 1: Boston switches perimeter actions, So if Jayson Tatum and Jalen

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Speaker 1: Brown there two guys are involved in action, they'll switch.

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Speaker 1: But anything that involved Daniel Tys, anything that involved Rob Williams,

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Speaker 1: or anything that involved whoever was guarding BAM, so at

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Speaker 1: the beginning of the game, it was Grant Williams on BAM.

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Speaker 1: Those three guys, so those three situations, they were in

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Speaker 1: a drop coverage, dropping off of BAM or dropping off

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Speaker 1: of whoever Tyson Rob Williams were guarding. And so what

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Speaker 1: got Miami back into this game, and what I thought

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Speaker 1: was really smart was they persistently attacked whoever Thys was guarding.

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Speaker 1: They not as not as the the the offensive player

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Speaker 1: looking to score, but just as the screener. Because if

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Speaker 1: you set a pin down with tyss Man, Tys is

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Speaker 1: sitting down in the lane, and so you've got guys

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Speaker 1: like Gabe Vincent Max True's coming off of these screens

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Speaker 1: and Whoever's guarding them is getting hit by Tyson's man

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Speaker 1: in their wide open. That's how Tyler Harrow came in

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Speaker 1: and instantly had an impact on this game. They were

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Speaker 1: just he was just coming off of bhy ball screens

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Speaker 1: and Daniel Tys or or whoever it was that was

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Speaker 1: guarding the screen or was just sitting down in the lane,

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Speaker 1: and he would come off and score. So at some

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Speaker 1: point in this series, Boston's gonna have to try to

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Speaker 1: take that away. At some point they're going to have

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Speaker 1: to look to make them an isolation team. And my

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Speaker 1: thing is with Marcus Smart back in the lineup, coming

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Speaker 1: back probably in Game two, and without Horford, whether that's

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Speaker 1: Game two or game through, we'll see they'll have a

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Speaker 1: better opportunity to do that. Those are their best switchable groups.

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Speaker 1: A huge part of this was a personnel issue. Now,

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Speaker 1: what was encouraging for Miami fans. Jimmy Butler did in

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Speaker 1: a easing job attacking mismatches in the second half. Jerry

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Speaker 1: Butler is is interesting player for basketball fans. We had

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Speaker 1: a little conversation my producers and I earlier today about

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Speaker 1: whether or not Jimmy Butler is an interesting basketball player,

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Speaker 1: and for casual fans not so much, because he doesn't

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Speaker 1: bring above the rim flash and he doesn't bring perimeter flash.

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Speaker 1: And if you don't bring one of those two, then

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Speaker 1: you're not a very highlight oriented player, and a lot

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Speaker 1: of fans aren't going to be interested in what you do.

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Speaker 1: But for hoop Heeds, for real people that are in

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Speaker 1: love with the game of basketball, there's something so impressive

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Speaker 1: about what he does. He's an inch taller than me.

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Speaker 1: He's about six ft seven, but he's really short arms.

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Speaker 1: He's got a six eight wingspan shorter than mine even,

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Speaker 1: and you not nothing's really impressive going on there as

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Speaker 1: a physical wing player on either end of the floor.

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Speaker 1: But what he does have is he's incredibly strong and

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Speaker 1: he's an incredibly good shape, which is a huge part

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Speaker 1: of why he thrives so much in these environments. He's

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Speaker 1: got the toughness up here and the physical tools to

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Speaker 1: actually inflict that toughness on people. And most importantly, Jimmy

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Speaker 1: supplements everything he does with easy offense. I had a

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Speaker 1: coach at Arizona Christian University my last year playing in college,

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Speaker 1: and he used to tell me there's an easy way

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Speaker 1: to get twelve points every game by running in transition

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Speaker 1: for a layup once a half, by crashing the offensive

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Speaker 1: glass and getting a put back once a half, and

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Speaker 1: by getting to the foul line once a half. If

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Speaker 1: you do that, you'll score six points in each half,

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Speaker 1: and you'll get you'll be a person who averages double figures.

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Speaker 1: And I always thought that was super interesting, and it's

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Speaker 1: something that I tell all of my high school kids

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Speaker 1: because it's such a it's a it's an easy way

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Speaker 1: to get them to understand that effort and focus on

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Speaker 1: details actually gives you offensive production, the things that help

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Speaker 1: get the girls and get the love and get all

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Speaker 1: the attention, right. And Jimmy Butler is an absolute monster

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Speaker 1: at those specific things. He's gonna get a steel in

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Speaker 1: a passing lane and a runout dunk every single game.

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Speaker 1: He's gonna get an offensive rebound put back every single game.

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Speaker 1: He is going to run the floor and transition on

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Speaker 1: the wing after somebody else makes a play in every

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Speaker 1: single game he gets to the foul line. He manufactures

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Speaker 1: points with the officiating every single game. And that is

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Speaker 1: how a guy that doesn't have the physical tools of Janice,

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Speaker 1: doesn't have the perimeter school a skill of a k D,

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Speaker 1: doesn't have the vision as a playmaker of a Lebron,

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Speaker 1: doesn't have any of that. But he's a hell of

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Speaker 1: a lot closer to them than he is to a

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Speaker 1: Jalen Brown, Right, And that's just a testament to everything

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Speaker 1: that he does. It's it's another smaller example of squeezing

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Speaker 1: the sponge, of getting every last drop out of what

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Speaker 1: you have in your ability. If you're a Miami fan,

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Speaker 1: the encouraging thing is in that second half, he was

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Speaker 1: able to attack mismatches frequently when Boston did final start switching,

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Speaker 1: particularly Derek White and Peyton Pritchard. Now, if you're a

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Speaker 1: Boston fan, the counter to that is if you have

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Speaker 1: the opportunity to have Marcus Smart and Al Horford out there,

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Speaker 1: suddenly those mismatches don't exist anymore. Boston's best lineup with

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Speaker 1: Tatum and Brown and with Grant Williams and Horford and

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Speaker 1: with Marcus Smart, there is nobody for Jimmy Butler to

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Speaker 1: attack except for maybe Marcus Smart, who's the defensive player

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Speaker 1: of the year. And so especially in those groups, if

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Speaker 1: they go to their switching and they take away all

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Speaker 1: those dribble handoffs and easy shots that Miami gets, that's

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Speaker 1: their best chance to win. Boston eventually is going to

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Speaker 1: have to start switching everything and they need to get

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Speaker 1: all their guys back. You know, with Jayson Tatum, I

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Speaker 1: want to talk about him for just a couple of minutes.

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Speaker 1: This is this is exactly the difference between being a

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Speaker 1: guy who's ascending into superstardom and being in that group

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Speaker 1: and being a staple in that group, being in that

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Speaker 1: group to five to ten years, being the guy that's

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Speaker 1: consistently at this level, night in and night out, for

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Speaker 1: the for for your entire prime. You have to be

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Speaker 1: able to adjust. You have to be able to thrive

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Speaker 1: in different environments. Jayson Tatum did an amazing job attacking

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Speaker 1: the paint early in the game against their switching defense,

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Speaker 1: but he was facing single coverage. He was getting middle penetration,

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Speaker 1: which is so important to compromising the defense because it's

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Speaker 1: so much harder to help in the middle of the

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Speaker 1: floor than it is to help on the baseline. That's

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Speaker 1: why every coach when they're telling you to guard perimeter players,

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Speaker 1: you want to funnel to the baseline. Funnel to the baseline,

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Speaker 1: never funnel to the middle, because if you funnel to

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Speaker 1: the middle, it's a lot harder to help and recover.

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Speaker 1: Tatum was getting middle penetration, but then in the second half,

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Speaker 1: they started picking him up full court, a ton more

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Speaker 1: ball pressure, playing passing lanes, trapping him on some of

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Speaker 1: these ball screens, and sending double teams when he tried

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Speaker 1: to put the ball on the floor. And Tatum adjusted

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Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter, but it's too late. The game

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Speaker 1: is over. He has to be quick. You have to

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Speaker 1: be quick with that adjustment on your feet. You have

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Speaker 1: to be you turn the ball over once you understand

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Speaker 1: exactly what happened. Okay, it's ball pressure and they're playing

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Speaker 1: the passing lanes. This is what I have to do

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Speaker 1: to counter. When Jimmy reaches, I need to beat him

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Speaker 1: to the basket and then make a quick read to

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Speaker 1: a shooter. Then work the ball around and I'll get

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Speaker 1: it back in a position where I have a chance

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Speaker 1: to attack. I expect Tatum to make that adjustment, but

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Speaker 1: these are part of those growing pains. He has to

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Speaker 1: find a way to get that disastrous third quarter out

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Speaker 1: of here, because they had a good stretch in that

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Speaker 1: fourth quarter, got it two single digits. This was a

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Speaker 1: game they almost stole in spite of all of that,

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Speaker 1: but they did too much damage to themselves in that

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Speaker 1: in that third quarter that it became too big for

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Speaker 1: them to overcome. Last note on Miami. One of the

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Speaker 1: things that makes that I find so important about what

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Speaker 1: Miami does on offense is they are constantly trying to

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Speaker 1: give their guys advantages. I was so annoyed with the

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Speaker 1: Lakers all year because they never did any of this stuff.

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Speaker 1: They never did they never had their guys coming off

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Speaker 1: of pin downs consistently. They never had their guys coming

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Speaker 1: off of dribble handoffs consistently. That those are little details

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Speaker 1: that give advantages to players. We talked about this a

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Speaker 1: lot like it's call we call close that attacking or

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Speaker 1: you know, essentially, any time the defense is already compromised

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Speaker 1: when you have the ball, you have a better chance.

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Speaker 1: If you are facing a set defense and the defenders

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Speaker 1: right in front of you and you have to break

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Speaker 1: him down to get by him, that it's a lot harder.

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Speaker 1: And so what I've always found so impressive about Miami

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Speaker 1: is even though Jimmy Butler is capable of walking down

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Speaker 1: some of your defenders on the floor and getting isolation baskets,

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Speaker 1: they want Jimmy coming off of pin downs all day

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Speaker 1: long because he's gonna get Jimmy Butler on his or

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Speaker 1: he's gonna get Jason or Jalen Brown on his hip

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Speaker 1: and work him into the lane. Right. They know Max

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Speaker 1: Strus can knock down spot up threes, They know Gay

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Speaker 1: Vincent can knock down spot up threes. They know Tyler

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Speaker 1: Harroll can knock get down spot up threes. But you

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Speaker 1: know what they all be come a lot better, will

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Speaker 1: you give them an advantage every time, and so they

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Speaker 1: have Tyson's man go down instead his screen. So that's

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Speaker 1: how gay Vincent got going in that second half, and

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Speaker 1: then he started making tough shots over the top of

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Speaker 1: the defense. But Miami understands that you don't always have

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Speaker 1: to make it hard. Boston made it hard on them

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Speaker 1: in that fourth quarter by doing more switching. They're going

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Speaker 1: to be extended stretch of this series where they do

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Speaker 1: that in Miami is gonna struggle. So during the opportunities

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Speaker 1: that you have to give your guys advantages. When Boston

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Speaker 1: is going to drop and not switch those screens, you

431
00:24:31,800 --> 00:24:33,800
Speaker 1: have to keep doing that because that those are your

432
00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:37,439
Speaker 1: chances to float your offense for extended stretches. So that

433
00:24:37,480 --> 00:24:39,920
Speaker 1: with things that so that when things get stagnant late,

434
00:24:40,080 --> 00:24:42,320
Speaker 1: you have a twenty point lead and it's too hard

435
00:24:42,359 --> 00:24:47,520
Speaker 1: to overcome. Looking forward in this series, I expect Smart

436
00:24:47,560 --> 00:24:50,120
Speaker 1: back next game. I expect Corford back in Game three.

437
00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:52,359
Speaker 1: I expect a lot more five out which is gonna

438
00:24:52,359 --> 00:24:54,720
Speaker 1: make it a lot harder for Miami to play their

439
00:24:54,760 --> 00:24:59,280
Speaker 1: physically aggressive passing lane and ball pressure defense. They'll have

440
00:24:59,320 --> 00:25:01,560
Speaker 1: a lot more space us to work with and I

441
00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:04,320
Speaker 1: think Boston will get it to get it together. Also,

442
00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:07,560
Speaker 1: just buying Marcus Smart that time off, buying Al Horford

443
00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:10,880
Speaker 1: that time off, that's important, you know. Obviously, Jalen Brown

444
00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:13,159
Speaker 1: and Jason Tatum are younger, so they can recover quicker.

445
00:25:13,920 --> 00:25:15,840
Speaker 1: They have a really good chance to bounce back here

446
00:25:15,840 --> 00:25:19,040
Speaker 1: in Game two. I expect Boston to win Game two.

447
00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:20,639
Speaker 1: All right, we're gonna bring my guy Carson on and

448
00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:24,960
Speaker 1: we're gonna get a little bit further into the weeds here. Yeah, Jason, Well,

449
00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:27,760
Speaker 1: I am here as I often am, to ask you

450
00:25:27,880 --> 00:25:30,120
Speaker 1: some of the biggest questions on our minds tonight. We're

451
00:25:30,119 --> 00:25:32,240
Speaker 1: gonna touch a little bit on the Western Conference Finals

452
00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:34,679
Speaker 1: in a second, but we'll stick with this game first.

453
00:25:34,880 --> 00:25:38,480
Speaker 1: And obviously you have been a huge Celtics advocate. You've

454
00:25:38,520 --> 00:25:41,560
Speaker 1: talked about them as a title favorite since the late

455
00:25:41,560 --> 00:25:44,080
Speaker 1: stretch of the regular season, and as you said earlier,

456
00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:46,960
Speaker 1: you picked them to win this series in six. Obviously

457
00:25:46,960 --> 00:25:49,480
Speaker 1: they come out, they lose game one. So on a

458
00:25:49,560 --> 00:25:52,960
Speaker 1: scale of one to ten, how concerned are you about

459
00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:57,679
Speaker 1: your Celtics pick in this series? So in terms of

460
00:25:57,720 --> 00:26:00,600
Speaker 1: the basketball, I'm not concerned at all. I didn't see

461
00:26:00,640 --> 00:26:04,040
Speaker 1: anything today that would sway me on that pick. The

462
00:26:04,119 --> 00:26:07,119
Speaker 1: one thing that has me a little bit concerned about

463
00:26:07,119 --> 00:26:10,200
Speaker 1: my pick is this Horford thing. And if you would

464
00:26:10,200 --> 00:26:12,120
Speaker 1: have missed one game, I wouldn't have thought twice about

465
00:26:12,160 --> 00:26:15,560
Speaker 1: it because I expected Miami to win tonight. But if

466
00:26:15,560 --> 00:26:18,639
Speaker 1: he misses game two and they have to play this

467
00:26:18,760 --> 00:26:21,119
Speaker 1: much tice again in game two, and they have to

468
00:26:21,119 --> 00:26:23,800
Speaker 1: play Rob Williams this much again in game two, and

469
00:26:23,840 --> 00:26:26,160
Speaker 1: they play four out one in instead of five out,

470
00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:28,720
Speaker 1: and Rob Williams and again Rob Williams had some log

471
00:26:28,840 --> 00:26:31,280
Speaker 1: lob dunks tonight. Vertical spacing is a real thing, But

472
00:26:31,320 --> 00:26:33,840
Speaker 1: what do I say? Vertical spacing is not the same

473
00:26:34,280 --> 00:26:37,880
Speaker 1: as perimeter spacing. It makes it significantly harder. And really,

474
00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:39,879
Speaker 1: when Miami shrunk the floor on Boston there in that

475
00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:42,720
Speaker 1: second half, you could see that. So Horford being out

476
00:26:43,320 --> 00:26:46,440
Speaker 1: will make them stealing game to a lot more difficult.

477
00:26:47,359 --> 00:26:50,800
Speaker 1: But I still expect Boston to steal game two. That said, yeah,

478
00:26:50,800 --> 00:26:52,760
Speaker 1: I would say that on a scale of one to ten,

479
00:26:53,720 --> 00:26:56,960
Speaker 1: I'm probably at like a four just because of the

480
00:26:57,000 --> 00:26:59,480
Speaker 1: Horford thing, Like because falling down to oh just makes

481
00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:04,240
Speaker 1: it super applicated because of the home court advantage situation.

482
00:27:04,840 --> 00:27:09,040
Speaker 1: So losing Game one against Milwaukee, you know, you know,

483
00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:13,000
Speaker 1: coming back, like you still had three additional home games left, right,

484
00:27:13,640 --> 00:27:16,800
Speaker 1: and in this case, like if you drop both of

485
00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:20,600
Speaker 1: these games at home in Miami, then suddenly you now

486
00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:24,520
Speaker 1: have Game seven facing you in Miami. So now you

487
00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:27,879
Speaker 1: basically have to win the next four games to steal

488
00:27:27,920 --> 00:27:30,320
Speaker 1: the series in six, or you have to go on

489
00:27:30,359 --> 00:27:32,600
Speaker 1: the road to Miami to play game seven, which is

490
00:27:32,680 --> 00:27:35,440
Speaker 1: extremely difficult to do as we know. So from that standpoint,

491
00:27:35,440 --> 00:27:37,720
Speaker 1: the Horford thing is definitely concerning. But I still think

492
00:27:37,760 --> 00:27:41,760
Speaker 1: Boston gets game too. Do you think at all that

493
00:27:41,840 --> 00:27:45,760
Speaker 1: Miami has been underrated just in broad conversations or that

494
00:27:45,800 --> 00:27:53,919
Speaker 1: you've underrated anything about them individually? I Boston, to me,

495
00:27:54,160 --> 00:27:57,280
Speaker 1: excuse me, Miami to me has the highest floor out

496
00:27:57,280 --> 00:28:01,800
Speaker 1: of any team in this field. That's coaching, that's every

497
00:28:01,800 --> 00:28:03,920
Speaker 1: player on the roster having a chip on their shoulder.

498
00:28:04,440 --> 00:28:07,720
Speaker 1: There's a lot of things like that. But I I

499
00:28:08,119 --> 00:28:11,159
Speaker 1: very closely watched this game, charted a bunch of things,

500
00:28:11,480 --> 00:28:13,240
Speaker 1: tried to go play by play. I was actually watching

501
00:28:13,280 --> 00:28:16,200
Speaker 1: the feed behind because I kept having to fast forward

502
00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:18,119
Speaker 1: on commercial breaks as I was going back to watch

503
00:28:18,160 --> 00:28:23,679
Speaker 1: film and rewatch possessions, and when Boston switched, Miami did

504
00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:28,760
Speaker 1: not get great stuff. When Boston, especially with Tyson on

505
00:28:28,760 --> 00:28:31,600
Speaker 1: the floor, would ran drop for the handoffs and the

506
00:28:31,680 --> 00:28:33,760
Speaker 1: high screens, they got a lot of really good shots,

507
00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:37,440
Speaker 1: not just threes, but specifically Jimmy Butler is really good

508
00:28:37,480 --> 00:28:41,240
Speaker 1: at weaponizing those pin downs to get downhill. Jimmy Butler,

509
00:28:41,320 --> 00:28:43,360
Speaker 1: we talked about him earlier. One of the things that's

510
00:28:43,360 --> 00:28:46,240
Speaker 1: so underrated about Jimmy Butler is his short range game.

511
00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:49,719
Speaker 1: You know, everyone talks about the mid range these days, right,

512
00:28:49,720 --> 00:28:52,960
Speaker 1: because the analytics movement drove everybody towards attack the basket

513
00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:56,600
Speaker 1: and take threes, right, And so there became this inefficiency,

514
00:28:56,640 --> 00:28:59,360
Speaker 1: this market inefficiency, and all this space that you could

515
00:28:59,360 --> 00:29:03,120
Speaker 1: operate the mid range, especially his lineups got smaller and

516
00:29:03,160 --> 00:29:05,360
Speaker 1: you had all these guys that had opportunities to attack

517
00:29:05,400 --> 00:29:08,320
Speaker 1: mismatches for pull up jump shots in the mid range. Well,

518
00:29:08,600 --> 00:29:10,920
Speaker 1: Jimmy is great at the short range, which I think

519
00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:14,720
Speaker 1: is frequently glossed over as an offensive skill set. These

520
00:29:14,720 --> 00:29:18,720
Speaker 1: are the little push shots and floaters and hooks and

521
00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:22,760
Speaker 1: short spinning jump shots and things that are like five

522
00:29:22,800 --> 00:29:24,840
Speaker 1: ft away from the rim, like five to seven ft

523
00:29:24,840 --> 00:29:26,840
Speaker 1: away and Jimmy's really good at that. And what they

524
00:29:26,840 --> 00:29:29,840
Speaker 1: would do is, you know, they Jimmy would work Jalen

525
00:29:29,880 --> 00:29:32,080
Speaker 1: Brown down to the short corner and they'd have Taisko

526
00:29:32,160 --> 00:29:34,320
Speaker 1: set the Tysons man go set a screen and he

527
00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:37,040
Speaker 1: curl around it, and Jimmy get Jalen get on his

528
00:29:37,080 --> 00:29:38,760
Speaker 1: backside and you just kind of work his way into

529
00:29:38,760 --> 00:29:41,040
Speaker 1: the lane and make short shots in the lane. And

530
00:29:41,080 --> 00:29:45,440
Speaker 1: so from what I could tell, the shots that Miami

531
00:29:45,520 --> 00:29:48,520
Speaker 1: was getting that were quality shots were pretty We were

532
00:29:48,800 --> 00:29:51,600
Speaker 1: fixable by a pretty simple adjustment from Boston, which is

533
00:29:51,640 --> 00:29:53,720
Speaker 1: do what you did when you were at your best,

534
00:29:53,720 --> 00:29:55,600
Speaker 1: when you were healthy towards the end of the regular season,

535
00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:58,320
Speaker 1: which is just switch. You know, bam At a Bio

536
00:29:58,400 --> 00:30:00,640
Speaker 1: guards some dribble handoffs for bo Austin. You know what

537
00:30:00,680 --> 00:30:03,000
Speaker 1: Bama a Bio does. He jumps out and guards the

538
00:30:03,000 --> 00:30:05,640
Speaker 1: guy who's coming off the handoff. It's hard, you have

539
00:30:05,680 --> 00:30:09,000
Speaker 1: to communicate. It presents its own set of issues, but

540
00:30:09,080 --> 00:30:12,000
Speaker 1: it's proven to work, especially in this setting, and so

541
00:30:12,320 --> 00:30:15,960
Speaker 1: I think I think in general, as good as Miami is,

542
00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:19,520
Speaker 1: what this was tonight was Boston through a really good

543
00:30:19,520 --> 00:30:22,960
Speaker 1: first half punch and then hit their absolute floor in

544
00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:25,360
Speaker 1: the second half, which, as we've said, Boston has one

545
00:30:25,400 --> 00:30:30,200
Speaker 1: of the lowest floors in this field. In Miami hit

546
00:30:30,240 --> 00:30:33,200
Speaker 1: their little ceiling in terms of transition runouts and things

547
00:30:33,240 --> 00:30:36,120
Speaker 1: like that. But to me, Miami didn't show me anything

548
00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:40,280
Speaker 1: that I didn't already know about them tonight. Let's go

549
00:30:40,360 --> 00:30:43,360
Speaker 1: a little bit deeper into that second half change in

550
00:30:43,440 --> 00:30:46,600
Speaker 1: dynamic because sus came out first half, they had sixty

551
00:30:46,600 --> 00:30:49,520
Speaker 1: two points as a team, Tatum was pretty much sparkling,

552
00:30:50,040 --> 00:30:52,760
Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden second half forty five

553
00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:55,400
Speaker 1: points overall, but just fourteen in that third quarter in

554
00:30:55,480 --> 00:30:59,560
Speaker 1: absolute dude, So, Jason, do you think that that second

555
00:30:59,560 --> 00:31:02,080
Speaker 1: half of Austin was more about bad offense on their

556
00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:06,920
Speaker 1: part or was it good defense from Miami? To be clear,

557
00:31:06,920 --> 00:31:12,440
Speaker 1: it was good defense from Miami, but Boston played into

558
00:31:12,480 --> 00:31:15,040
Speaker 1: it with their I mean, Jayson Tatum went through like

559
00:31:15,080 --> 00:31:17,240
Speaker 1: a five or six possession stretch where he just walked

560
00:31:17,280 --> 00:31:19,640
Speaker 1: across half court and turned it over like four times

561
00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:22,240
Speaker 1: before they even got into their sets. And it wasn't

562
00:31:22,240 --> 00:31:25,080
Speaker 1: even like it wasn't even like he was losing control

563
00:31:25,080 --> 00:31:27,120
Speaker 1: of the basketball. It was like he was bringing the

564
00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:30,880
Speaker 1: ball off the floor, they would be fronting the high

565
00:31:30,960 --> 00:31:32,560
Speaker 1: post when he would try to make a high post

566
00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:34,720
Speaker 1: entry so that the gate could get into their offense,

567
00:31:35,160 --> 00:31:36,840
Speaker 1: and so like they would fight for position and he

568
00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:38,680
Speaker 1: got to throw up, but he wouldn't even see Jimmy

569
00:31:38,720 --> 00:31:41,760
Speaker 1: Butler just completely cheating off of the week side to

570
00:31:41,840 --> 00:31:43,920
Speaker 1: come in and get that steel off the entry to

571
00:31:43,920 --> 00:31:47,760
Speaker 1: the high post. Like just basic fundamental. Like Miami's doing

572
00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:51,800
Speaker 1: a great job. They're playing textbook aggressive defense, but the

573
00:31:51,840 --> 00:31:56,840
Speaker 1: counter to aggressive defense is fundamental, disciplined offense. And Boston

574
00:31:56,880 --> 00:31:59,480
Speaker 1: didn't run any of that in that third quarter. So again,

575
00:31:59,520 --> 00:32:02,760
Speaker 1: when you got two run it's disingenuous for me to

576
00:32:02,760 --> 00:32:06,800
Speaker 1: say one thing happened. It was obviously great Miami and

577
00:32:07,120 --> 00:32:11,640
Speaker 1: terrible Boston. But to me, the adjustment moving forward, Miami

578
00:32:11,720 --> 00:32:14,440
Speaker 1: is going to have extended, extended stretches in the series

579
00:32:14,440 --> 00:32:16,720
Speaker 1: where they play aggressive like that, where they pick up

580
00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:19,960
Speaker 1: full court, where they deny passing lanes, where they jump

581
00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:23,000
Speaker 1: off of off ball players to try to gamble for steals,

582
00:32:23,480 --> 00:32:26,080
Speaker 1: and Boston has an easy counter to that, which is

583
00:32:26,240 --> 00:32:31,640
Speaker 1: just calm down and take care of the basketball. Alright,

584
00:32:32,080 --> 00:32:35,320
Speaker 1: let's slip to the offensive side for Miami and You

585
00:32:35,400 --> 00:32:38,680
Speaker 1: touched on this a bit earlier, but it was really

586
00:32:38,720 --> 00:32:42,400
Speaker 1: a Jimmy masterpiece overall. He now has had his last

587
00:32:42,560 --> 00:32:46,800
Speaker 1: five forty pieces all come in the playoffs. No regular

588
00:32:46,840 --> 00:32:49,280
Speaker 1: season forty point games in the last three years, Jason,

589
00:32:49,360 --> 00:32:51,680
Speaker 1: but five in those same post seasons. He's just that

590
00:32:51,760 --> 00:32:54,520
Speaker 1: kind of guy. And he's putting up overall these playoffs

591
00:32:54,560 --> 00:32:57,160
Speaker 1: thirty eight five and a half on better than sixty

592
00:32:57,800 --> 00:33:01,760
Speaker 1: true shooting. So is he a guy who doesn't get

593
00:33:01,840 --> 00:33:04,120
Speaker 1: enough respect? Do you think Jimmy gets enough respect around

594
00:33:04,160 --> 00:33:08,200
Speaker 1: the league? He doesn't, but it's because of the regular

595
00:33:08,240 --> 00:33:11,160
Speaker 1: season stuff. Like I would argue Lebron hasn't gotten nearly

596
00:33:11,240 --> 00:33:13,560
Speaker 1: enough respect over the last half year a half dozen

597
00:33:13,640 --> 00:33:16,000
Speaker 1: years because he mails in a lot of nights in

598
00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:17,720
Speaker 1: the regular season and there are guys at the top

599
00:33:17,720 --> 00:33:19,960
Speaker 1: of the league who don't you know, Jimmy Butler is

600
00:33:19,960 --> 00:33:23,200
Speaker 1: a man who understands the long term vision. He understands

601
00:33:23,240 --> 00:33:26,160
Speaker 1: that there are sixteen games to be played in the

602
00:33:26,240 --> 00:33:28,200
Speaker 1: late spring early summer that are a hell of a

603
00:33:28,240 --> 00:33:30,320
Speaker 1: lot more difficult than what they're doing in the regular season,

604
00:33:30,400 --> 00:33:32,600
Speaker 1: so they'll take a lot of nights off when he

605
00:33:32,640 --> 00:33:36,440
Speaker 1: does play. Sometimes he will float through games. But you know, Carson,

606
00:33:36,480 --> 00:33:38,560
Speaker 1: you asked me after our last show, you said, is

607
00:33:38,640 --> 00:33:42,600
Speaker 1: Luca don Chich the best offensive player in basketball? And

608
00:33:42,720 --> 00:33:45,960
Speaker 1: if you remember, I said yes. But one of the

609
00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:48,080
Speaker 1: reasons why is I said, the guy that I'm always

610
00:33:48,120 --> 00:33:52,080
Speaker 1: going to be drawn to is the big power wing

611
00:33:52,520 --> 00:33:56,280
Speaker 1: that can punish mismatches, score and pass. That's always going

612
00:33:56,280 --> 00:33:57,760
Speaker 1: to be the guy that I'm drawn to. And that's

613
00:33:57,760 --> 00:34:01,360
Speaker 1: what Jimmy Butler is. It's not it's not a coincidence

614
00:34:01,720 --> 00:34:04,720
Speaker 1: that he raises his game in this environment. He brings

615
00:34:04,800 --> 00:34:07,479
Speaker 1: all of those things to the table. He can defend

616
00:34:07,520 --> 00:34:09,680
Speaker 1: like crazy, he can guard the other team's best player.

617
00:34:09,880 --> 00:34:14,320
Speaker 1: He's a defensive playmaker, meaning he understands like momentum plays

618
00:34:14,320 --> 00:34:17,600
Speaker 1: on defense, gambling for steals. That's there's no two baskets.

619
00:34:17,600 --> 00:34:20,680
Speaker 1: Are like what Luca did to Phoenix in this in

620
00:34:20,719 --> 00:34:23,719
Speaker 1: that first half. Yes, he only scored eight points in

621
00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:25,680
Speaker 1: the first four possessions or whatever, but it's not just

622
00:34:25,760 --> 00:34:30,120
Speaker 1: eight points. It's making you feel helpless. It's it's sucking

623
00:34:30,120 --> 00:34:31,920
Speaker 1: the life out of the other team. It's not just

624
00:34:32,040 --> 00:34:35,200
Speaker 1: two points for Jimmy Butler to gamble a passing lane

625
00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:37,880
Speaker 1: and get a run out dunk. It also sucks the

626
00:34:37,920 --> 00:34:40,719
Speaker 1: life out of the other team. It's a psychological blow there,

627
00:34:40,719 --> 00:34:42,960
Speaker 1: like like a pick six in football has a similar

628
00:34:42,960 --> 00:34:46,120
Speaker 1: type of vibe. It is such a disastrous outcome for

629
00:34:46,200 --> 00:34:49,279
Speaker 1: the other team even though it's just two points, that

630
00:34:49,360 --> 00:34:52,160
Speaker 1: it has a psychological impact. Jimmy Butler understands all of that,

631
00:34:52,239 --> 00:34:54,080
Speaker 1: and then on the offensive end of the floor, he

632
00:34:54,160 --> 00:34:55,880
Speaker 1: brings all of that to the table. He can score

633
00:34:55,880 --> 00:34:58,239
Speaker 1: at all three levels. He can playmake the hell out

634
00:34:58,280 --> 00:35:01,440
Speaker 1: of the basketball. He can any your small, skinny, whatever,

635
00:35:01,480 --> 00:35:04,040
Speaker 1: slow footed defender on the floor. He can attack them

636
00:35:04,040 --> 00:35:06,840
Speaker 1: in any way if you send the extra defensive attention

637
00:35:06,880 --> 00:35:08,600
Speaker 1: his way. He's not going to force the action. He's

638
00:35:08,600 --> 00:35:10,680
Speaker 1: going to kick the ball out. He's got isolation moves

639
00:35:10,680 --> 00:35:12,680
Speaker 1: that it can go to and crunch time. The dude

640
00:35:12,760 --> 00:35:16,359
Speaker 1: is is just He's the definition of a guy who

641
00:35:16,520 --> 00:35:19,440
Speaker 1: is built for this environment. And then he has the

642
00:35:19,440 --> 00:35:22,320
Speaker 1: physical strength and endurance to thrive as well. He's built

643
00:35:22,320 --> 00:35:25,000
Speaker 1: to survive in this environment. And I think, I think,

644
00:35:25,239 --> 00:35:26,880
Speaker 1: I think, even though the public may not get it,

645
00:35:26,920 --> 00:35:28,560
Speaker 1: I bet you all the guys around in the league

646
00:35:28,880 --> 00:35:33,160
Speaker 1: have the appropriate fear of Jimmy as a superstar. Yeah,

647
00:35:33,160 --> 00:35:34,799
Speaker 1: and it feels like in this game it's kind of

648
00:35:34,840 --> 00:35:39,040
Speaker 1: his signature tenacity and relentlessness that really shines through. He

649
00:35:39,040 --> 00:35:42,360
Speaker 1: gets to the line eighteen times. He's so aggressive attacking

650
00:35:42,360 --> 00:35:46,200
Speaker 1: those mismatches as this game went on, and there's just

651
00:35:46,239 --> 00:35:48,000
Speaker 1: something about him where he elevates his game. I mean,

652
00:35:48,040 --> 00:35:50,279
Speaker 1: he had a brutal midrange shooting season this year. He

653
00:35:50,360 --> 00:35:52,759
Speaker 1: was thirty eight percent overall, But in a game like this,

654
00:35:52,800 --> 00:35:55,000
Speaker 1: it's like all of a sudden, he has some dazzling

655
00:35:55,040 --> 00:35:57,960
Speaker 1: moments there. And you mentioned the defensive playmaking like his

656
00:35:58,040 --> 00:36:02,640
Speaker 1: two fourth quarter blocks. He going for show stopping momentum plays.

657
00:36:02,719 --> 00:36:05,960
Speaker 1: That block on Jayson Tatum, that's not a discipline traditional

658
00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:08,160
Speaker 1: close out, that's what I'm trying to block this shot.

659
00:36:08,200 --> 00:36:10,520
Speaker 1: And then he had the other block from behind. Hyper

660
00:36:10,560 --> 00:36:13,920
Speaker 1: aggressive play, and that's just kind of what he does, right.

661
00:36:13,920 --> 00:36:15,759
Speaker 1: He brings that fearlessness and we saw it in the

662
00:36:15,800 --> 00:36:20,879
Speaker 1: finals where he again overperformed expectations. If he leads this

663
00:36:20,960 --> 00:36:25,359
Speaker 1: team two another NBA Finals, and even if they don't win,

664
00:36:25,480 --> 00:36:29,600
Speaker 1: he's the clear best guy on two finals teams. That's

665
00:36:29,640 --> 00:36:32,480
Speaker 1: something that not a lot of players throughout NBA history

666
00:36:32,560 --> 00:36:36,040
Speaker 1: have on their resumes. So what do you think the

667
00:36:36,160 --> 00:36:38,879
Speaker 1: legacy of Jimmy Butler looks like if he does that,

668
00:36:39,200 --> 00:36:40,960
Speaker 1: and maybe even if he doesn't, but he just has

669
00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:44,000
Speaker 1: another phenomenal series here and continues to have that playoff

670
00:36:44,160 --> 00:36:48,560
Speaker 1: over performance. That's a really interesting question. You know, there

671
00:36:48,560 --> 00:36:51,680
Speaker 1: are there are a handful of guys like this in

672
00:36:51,880 --> 00:36:57,080
Speaker 1: NBA history that have had extensive winning impact that hasn't

673
00:36:57,200 --> 00:37:02,359
Speaker 1: necessarily manifested into anything. You know, um and like when

674
00:37:02,960 --> 00:37:06,440
Speaker 1: the way I defined it is like a guy that

675
00:37:06,800 --> 00:37:09,600
Speaker 1: isn't on the same level as the top players in

676
00:37:09,600 --> 00:37:13,239
Speaker 1: the league, but on any given night, he damn sure

677
00:37:13,360 --> 00:37:16,759
Speaker 1: can be. And I like another a great example of

678
00:37:16,760 --> 00:37:18,600
Speaker 1: this of this, I think is like Paul Pierce in

679
00:37:18,640 --> 00:37:21,120
Speaker 1: the late two thousand in the late two thousand's, Like,

680
00:37:21,800 --> 00:37:23,520
Speaker 1: I don't think there's ever a moment in time where

681
00:37:23,560 --> 00:37:26,480
Speaker 1: Paul Pierce anybody thought he was like a real m

682
00:37:26,560 --> 00:37:31,520
Speaker 1: VP candidate, right, a real full crumb centerpiece of a team.

683
00:37:31,560 --> 00:37:33,279
Speaker 1: But like that, that dude would go toe to toe

684
00:37:33,320 --> 00:37:35,360
Speaker 1: with Kobe, that dude would go toe to toe with Lebron,

685
00:37:35,440 --> 00:37:38,120
Speaker 1: he would be in that in that setting, and up

686
00:37:38,160 --> 00:37:40,360
Speaker 1: here he thinks he's at that level. Up here, he

687
00:37:40,400 --> 00:37:44,200
Speaker 1: has that same audacity as those guys. He has that fearlessness,

688
00:37:44,200 --> 00:37:46,960
Speaker 1: like you said that, that understanding of what it takes

689
00:37:46,960 --> 00:37:50,600
Speaker 1: to win in that environment. Now inevitably what's happened to

690
00:37:50,719 --> 00:37:54,680
Speaker 1: Jimmy is he keeps just running into the better player, right,

691
00:37:55,080 --> 00:37:57,200
Speaker 1: And I believe that's gonna be what happens in this

692
00:37:57,239 --> 00:37:59,360
Speaker 1: series with Jayson Tatum over the course of the series,

693
00:37:59,440 --> 00:38:02,000
Speaker 1: Jayson Tate, m will make that clear. In the NBA

694
00:38:02,080 --> 00:38:07,480
Speaker 1: Finals in Jimmy played about as well as you possibly can,

695
00:38:08,360 --> 00:38:12,200
Speaker 1: but he ran into Lebron freaking James and and that's

696
00:38:12,200 --> 00:38:14,960
Speaker 1: just how that goes. But at the end of the day,

697
00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:18,960
Speaker 1: like like Jimmy Butler's legacy to me is the definition

698
00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:23,560
Speaker 1: of a player who absolutely maximized his individual potential, which

699
00:38:23,600 --> 00:38:25,319
Speaker 1: is all you can ask, how many how many six

700
00:38:25,320 --> 00:38:27,359
Speaker 1: seven wings with short arms do you know that could

701
00:38:27,400 --> 00:38:29,759
Speaker 1: be theoretically be a finals MVP if a couple of

702
00:38:29,760 --> 00:38:33,400
Speaker 1: things break their way that also aren't really great shooters,

703
00:38:33,440 --> 00:38:36,759
Speaker 1: and like like it's it's it's an incredible it's an

704
00:38:36,800 --> 00:38:42,560
Speaker 1: incredible testament to just just you know, Eric Spoilster talked

705
00:38:42,560 --> 00:38:44,120
Speaker 1: about this. I've talked about this on the show before.

706
00:38:44,400 --> 00:38:46,960
Speaker 1: Eric Spolster talks about the type of player that Miami

707
00:38:47,080 --> 00:38:49,960
Speaker 1: is drawn to, and he talks about how they win

708
00:38:50,080 --> 00:38:53,160
Speaker 1: games with extra efforts, and there's a lot of truth

709
00:38:53,200 --> 00:38:55,600
Speaker 1: to that. Any coach will tell you that. And when

710
00:38:55,600 --> 00:38:57,520
Speaker 1: you've got a team full of guys that are like that,

711
00:38:57,880 --> 00:39:01,120
Speaker 1: and your superstar is like that and sets that example,

712
00:39:01,520 --> 00:39:03,080
Speaker 1: you're gonna win a lot of basketball games that you

713
00:39:03,120 --> 00:39:06,600
Speaker 1: might otherwise lose. And I thought, you know, again, Boston

714
00:39:06,680 --> 00:39:09,800
Speaker 1: is the better team with more talent, and Miami handled

715
00:39:09,880 --> 00:39:12,400
Speaker 1: him tonight. And that's a big part of That's a

716
00:39:12,440 --> 00:39:13,840
Speaker 1: big part of why I picked this series to go

717
00:39:13,880 --> 00:39:16,080
Speaker 1: to six. It's a big part of what Miami's upside is.

718
00:39:16,120 --> 00:39:21,200
Speaker 1: It's they they grind out basketball games on the margins. Yeah,

719
00:39:21,239 --> 00:39:24,320
Speaker 1: and Jimmy is the ultimate grinder. It feels like of

720
00:39:24,440 --> 00:39:27,319
Speaker 1: any star basketball player of this era, that is his

721
00:39:27,400 --> 00:39:30,160
Speaker 1: brand and he has certainly found a fitting home in

722
00:39:30,200 --> 00:39:33,800
Speaker 1: Miami for that. All right, let's flip to the Western

723
00:39:33,880 --> 00:39:40,120
Speaker 1: Conference Finals. Warriors MAVs obviously tips off tomorrow. We talked

724
00:39:40,160 --> 00:39:42,720
Speaker 1: a few days ago, and you refer to this earlier

725
00:39:42,920 --> 00:39:45,440
Speaker 1: about whether or not Luca is the best offensive player

726
00:39:45,440 --> 00:39:47,400
Speaker 1: on the planet, and he's firmly in that conversation, and

727
00:39:47,440 --> 00:39:50,160
Speaker 1: you said that you were even leaning yes in that

728
00:39:50,200 --> 00:39:54,440
Speaker 1: conversation at this moment. So is there any answer for

729
00:39:54,560 --> 00:39:58,640
Speaker 1: him in this matchup with the Warriors? Jason, Yeah, It's

730
00:39:58,680 --> 00:40:02,880
Speaker 1: so funny because, yeah, I I've been in the various

731
00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:05,600
Speaker 1: versions of this conversation, either on Twitter or on other

732
00:40:05,640 --> 00:40:08,759
Speaker 1: podcasts for the last couple of days, and you know,

733
00:40:10,239 --> 00:40:15,080
Speaker 1: the Warriors fan base rightfully is very confident, and they've

734
00:40:15,120 --> 00:40:19,680
Speaker 1: been given a reason to be very confident. But to me, like,

735
00:40:21,040 --> 00:40:23,880
Speaker 1: it's it's okay to be confident in your team and

736
00:40:23,920 --> 00:40:27,160
Speaker 1: to be a fan of your team and acknowledge certain realities,

737
00:40:27,600 --> 00:40:30,759
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Like, even even with the

738
00:40:30,840 --> 00:40:33,440
Speaker 1: Laker team in which I covered, and obviously as a

739
00:40:33,520 --> 00:40:36,920
Speaker 1: Lebron fan, I was rooting for that team, like I

740
00:40:37,040 --> 00:40:42,239
Speaker 1: knew that they were always do you remember the exhibition

741
00:40:42,360 --> 00:40:45,319
Speaker 1: games before the Bubble playoffs, like the whatever they called them,

742
00:40:45,320 --> 00:40:47,919
Speaker 1: the seeding games or whatever, and the Lakers were so

743
00:40:48,040 --> 00:40:51,360
Speaker 1: horrific offensively that there was a ton of pessimism surrounding

744
00:40:51,360 --> 00:40:53,799
Speaker 1: that team. That team was always at risk of going

745
00:40:53,840 --> 00:40:55,960
Speaker 1: ice cold from three. It was It's just a reality

746
00:40:56,000 --> 00:40:57,960
Speaker 1: that you have to be aware of and you'll be

747
00:40:57,960 --> 00:41:01,560
Speaker 1: better as a fan when you're to acknowledge certain realities.

748
00:41:02,320 --> 00:41:06,440
Speaker 1: I think this series, I'm very confident in Boston to

749
00:41:06,440 --> 00:41:12,080
Speaker 1: to beat Miami. I'm picking Dallas, but I'm not super

750
00:41:12,120 --> 00:41:15,080
Speaker 1: confident in that. I think this series is close to

751
00:41:15,080 --> 00:41:18,319
Speaker 1: a coin flip. I just him giving a slight edge

752
00:41:18,320 --> 00:41:21,160
Speaker 1: to Luca, and as the team that doesn't have home court,

753
00:41:21,200 --> 00:41:23,840
Speaker 1: I believe they would win in six on their home floor.

754
00:41:23,960 --> 00:41:26,360
Speaker 1: That's why I made that pick. The reality of the

755
00:41:26,400 --> 00:41:29,600
Speaker 1: situation is something that Golden State Warriors fans have to acknowledge.

756
00:41:30,000 --> 00:41:32,880
Speaker 1: Even if you win this series, Luca is gonna light

757
00:41:32,920 --> 00:41:36,280
Speaker 1: your ass on fire every night. There's not a soul

758
00:41:36,320 --> 00:41:39,120
Speaker 1: on that team that can guard him. The only game

759
00:41:39,160 --> 00:41:42,040
Speaker 1: that I could see him potentially struggling is Game one

760
00:41:42,080 --> 00:41:44,960
Speaker 1: because Luca, similar to Lebron, is very much a feel

761
00:41:45,000 --> 00:41:48,719
Speaker 1: things out type of player. He's going to be going

762
00:41:48,719 --> 00:41:54,040
Speaker 1: into that game testing what works and what doesn't. Hey.

763
00:41:54,320 --> 00:41:56,680
Speaker 1: I like, for instance, I expect Andrew Wiggins to guard

764
00:41:56,719 --> 00:41:59,480
Speaker 1: him from the opening tip. It'll be like, Hey, let

765
00:41:59,480 --> 00:42:02,600
Speaker 1: me see what we're on. Andrew, Like, if it's a

766
00:42:02,640 --> 00:42:04,440
Speaker 1: late clock situation and I have to score on and

767
00:42:04,560 --> 00:42:06,120
Speaker 1: let me see if this move works. Let me see

768
00:42:06,120 --> 00:42:08,720
Speaker 1: if that move works. Can am I capable of backing

769
00:42:08,760 --> 00:42:10,360
Speaker 1: him down in the post? Or am I gonna have

770
00:42:10,400 --> 00:42:12,080
Speaker 1: to work for him from the perimeter? Does he have

771
00:42:12,120 --> 00:42:14,640
Speaker 1: the length to bother these shots or those shots or

772
00:42:14,680 --> 00:42:16,360
Speaker 1: whatever it might be. He might do the same thing

773
00:42:16,440 --> 00:42:20,320
Speaker 1: to Draymond. He might call for a bunch of switch

774
00:42:20,680 --> 00:42:23,399
Speaker 1: screens from Stepsman and Jordan's pools Man just to see

775
00:42:23,400 --> 00:42:26,280
Speaker 1: what Golden State does to try to prevent those switches,

776
00:42:26,840 --> 00:42:28,960
Speaker 1: just so that he can document all that information. Lebron

777
00:42:29,080 --> 00:42:32,719
Speaker 1: used to do that all the time, and Cavs fans

778
00:42:32,719 --> 00:42:34,839
Speaker 1: would complain like, why isn't Lebron being more aggressive? Why

779
00:42:34,840 --> 00:42:37,279
Speaker 1: isn't Lebron being more aggressive? And sometimes he would just

780
00:42:37,400 --> 00:42:39,200
Speaker 1: screw with you to prove a point and come out

781
00:42:39,200 --> 00:42:41,480
Speaker 1: in the next game and shoot every time just to

782
00:42:41,520 --> 00:42:44,359
Speaker 1: show like, hey, I can do this, but I'm not

783
00:42:44,480 --> 00:42:47,200
Speaker 1: worried about a scoring spurt. I want to win the series,

784
00:42:47,360 --> 00:42:48,840
Speaker 1: and the best way for me to win the series

785
00:42:48,880 --> 00:42:51,200
Speaker 1: is to understand what works and what doesn't. And so

786
00:42:51,200 --> 00:42:53,080
Speaker 1: I expect Luca to kind of feel things out in

787
00:42:53,120 --> 00:42:56,680
Speaker 1: game one, but outside of that, like, Luca is going

788
00:42:56,680 --> 00:42:58,759
Speaker 1: to be amazing in this series. It's it's one of

789
00:42:58,880 --> 00:43:01,640
Speaker 1: it's a very safe bet because he just is going

790
00:43:01,680 --> 00:43:04,360
Speaker 1: to have a physical mismatch against everybody on your roster,

791
00:43:04,840 --> 00:43:06,440
Speaker 1: and even if you're a Golden State fan, and even

792
00:43:06,480 --> 00:43:07,960
Speaker 1: if you're rooting for them to win, and even if

793
00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:11,360
Speaker 1: you expect them to win, which again, I will not

794
00:43:11,400 --> 00:43:13,640
Speaker 1: be the least bit surprised. I will be shocked if

795
00:43:13,680 --> 00:43:16,959
Speaker 1: Miami wins this series. I will not be the least

796
00:43:16,960 --> 00:43:19,320
Speaker 1: bit surprised if Golden State wins. But you, as a

797
00:43:19,360 --> 00:43:21,520
Speaker 1: Warrior's fan, have to acknowledge that, even if you win,

798
00:43:22,040 --> 00:43:26,680
Speaker 1: Luca is a mismatch problem. Just acknowledge it. It's the reality. Yeah,

799
00:43:26,719 --> 00:43:28,759
Speaker 1: And I don't know if there's many situations in which

800
00:43:28,800 --> 00:43:31,480
Speaker 1: he is not just a brutal mismatch. Right now, and

801
00:43:31,640 --> 00:43:33,720
Speaker 1: as we said, he's in the conversation for best offensive

802
00:43:33,719 --> 00:43:37,200
Speaker 1: player on the planet. So let's look at the superstar

803
00:43:37,239 --> 00:43:40,480
Speaker 1: opposite him, because it does feel like right now, Luca

804
00:43:40,560 --> 00:43:42,680
Speaker 1: is the premier guy in this series. He has had

805
00:43:42,719 --> 00:43:45,000
Speaker 1: the advantage over Steph as of late in terms of

806
00:43:45,440 --> 00:43:49,240
Speaker 1: physical imposition, which he always will, scoring and playmaking volume

807
00:43:49,320 --> 00:43:52,520
Speaker 1: really even just pure shot making, like he has been

808
00:43:52,880 --> 00:43:55,439
Speaker 1: the better guy consistently throughout these playoffs, throughout the latter

809
00:43:55,480 --> 00:44:00,360
Speaker 1: stretch of the regular season. But Jason can steps still

810
00:44:00,400 --> 00:44:03,040
Speaker 1: be the best player in this series, and if so,

811
00:44:03,120 --> 00:44:06,879
Speaker 1: how does he go about doing that? Yes, he can,

812
00:44:07,440 --> 00:44:09,840
Speaker 1: and he has to be. He literally has to be

813
00:44:10,360 --> 00:44:12,640
Speaker 1: for Golden State to win this series. Steph has to

814
00:44:12,680 --> 00:44:15,040
Speaker 1: be the best player. And if they do, I don't

815
00:44:15,080 --> 00:44:17,759
Speaker 1: I believe it will be because of him. Now, the

816
00:44:17,800 --> 00:44:21,799
Speaker 1: thing is is that Dallas isn't Dallas is two things

817
00:44:21,800 --> 00:44:24,680
Speaker 1: really well. On defense, they do. They're very good dribble

818
00:44:24,719 --> 00:44:28,560
Speaker 1: contained team basically everywhere outside of Luca and maybe like

819
00:44:28,880 --> 00:44:32,319
Speaker 1: Kleiba right, but like like Reggie, Bullock is great at

820
00:44:32,320 --> 00:44:34,320
Speaker 1: sliding his feet and keeping keeping people in front. So

821
00:44:34,400 --> 00:44:36,720
Speaker 1: is Dori and Phinney Smith. Even Jalen Brunson and Spencer

822
00:44:36,719 --> 00:44:38,320
Speaker 1: didn't what he do a pretty nice job at sliding

823
00:44:38,360 --> 00:44:41,320
Speaker 1: their feet and keeping people in front. There. Dallas is

824
00:44:41,360 --> 00:44:44,800
Speaker 1: also extremely well coached. We talked about how they basically

825
00:44:44,840 --> 00:44:47,600
Speaker 1: shut down every single Phoenix pick and roll action that

826
00:44:47,640 --> 00:44:50,520
Speaker 1: they run towards the end of that series. I expect

827
00:44:50,719 --> 00:44:54,160
Speaker 1: Dallas over the course of the series to solve that solved,

828
00:44:54,160 --> 00:44:58,560
Speaker 1: but become become capable of adequately guarding a lot of

829
00:44:58,880 --> 00:45:02,959
Speaker 1: Golden State's actions, their off ball actions, they're split cuts there,

830
00:45:03,000 --> 00:45:05,200
Speaker 1: everything that they do to try to generate shots off

831
00:45:05,200 --> 00:45:09,080
Speaker 1: ball right, and so's at a certain point there will

832
00:45:09,120 --> 00:45:12,320
Speaker 1: be a time in this series where Steph and Jordan's

833
00:45:12,360 --> 00:45:15,520
Speaker 1: Pool in particular, are going to have to create shots

834
00:45:15,520 --> 00:45:20,120
Speaker 1: for themselves and beat people to the rim and engage

835
00:45:20,160 --> 00:45:21,920
Speaker 1: help defenders so that they can get open shots for

836
00:45:21,920 --> 00:45:24,360
Speaker 1: their other shooters. Jordan Pool is a wild card. I

837
00:45:24,400 --> 00:45:26,120
Speaker 1: don't know what to expect from him in this series.

838
00:45:26,600 --> 00:45:29,560
Speaker 1: But Steph is the guy. Steph is your two time

839
00:45:29,640 --> 00:45:32,719
Speaker 1: m v P. Step is your most reliable player two

840
00:45:32,800 --> 00:45:35,759
Speaker 1: thousand sixteen, Steph, you know, the the at the very

841
00:45:35,800 --> 00:45:37,520
Speaker 1: peak of his career. I won't even say, I'll say

842
00:45:37,600 --> 00:45:41,200
Speaker 1: last year, when I thought he was at his very best, Steph,

843
00:45:42,000 --> 00:45:43,920
Speaker 1: I would I would be picking Golden State to win

844
00:45:43,960 --> 00:45:47,839
Speaker 1: this series because he would just have his way with

845
00:45:47,920 --> 00:45:49,880
Speaker 1: Dallas over the course of the series as a score.

846
00:45:51,000 --> 00:45:53,719
Speaker 1: And you know, as I said, like there was there

847
00:45:53,800 --> 00:45:58,320
Speaker 1: was a shot profile with Steph last year that existed

848
00:45:58,360 --> 00:46:01,960
Speaker 1: basically from two thousand fifteen two last year where he

849
00:46:02,080 --> 00:46:06,360
Speaker 1: had that audacity to relentlessly attack people off the dribble

850
00:46:06,360 --> 00:46:10,239
Speaker 1: and take incredibly you know, step shots, right, and the

851
00:46:10,320 --> 00:46:13,640
Speaker 1: step shots are almost not entirely out of his repertoire,

852
00:46:13,640 --> 00:46:15,279
Speaker 1: but they're kind of out of his repertoire. And a

853
00:46:15,280 --> 00:46:16,799
Speaker 1: lot of that has to do with they have a

854
00:46:16,800 --> 00:46:20,040
Speaker 1: lot more offensive talent now because of Jordan Pool's elevation

855
00:46:20,120 --> 00:46:24,160
Speaker 1: and Klay Thompson being back, and you know, Clay Thompson

856
00:46:24,160 --> 00:46:26,480
Speaker 1: wasn't even in the picture, and Jordan Pool was le

857
00:46:26,880 --> 00:46:29,279
Speaker 1: a lot less consistent, especially early in the year, right,

858
00:46:29,680 --> 00:46:32,720
Speaker 1: So he doesn't need to. But my point is Dallas

859
00:46:32,760 --> 00:46:35,239
Speaker 1: is gonna make him have to. Dallas is going to

860
00:46:35,360 --> 00:46:40,239
Speaker 1: make step have to create shots in those types of situations.

861
00:46:40,680 --> 00:46:43,960
Speaker 1: And so again, like I think Luca is the best

862
00:46:43,960 --> 00:46:47,080
Speaker 1: player in the series for the record, I I have

863
00:46:47,120 --> 00:46:48,600
Speaker 1: to think about this, but I probably think Luca is

864
00:46:48,600 --> 00:46:50,880
Speaker 1: better than Lebron now too. So to me, this is

865
00:46:50,960 --> 00:46:54,440
Speaker 1: just as much about Luca's rise in Lebron and steps

866
00:46:54,520 --> 00:46:56,960
Speaker 1: age into Klins. So this is not an anti Steph thing.

867
00:46:57,400 --> 00:46:59,640
Speaker 1: I'm just saying that in order for Golden State to

868
00:46:59,640 --> 00:47:01,560
Speaker 1: win this series, Steph is going to have to tap

869
00:47:01,600 --> 00:47:03,800
Speaker 1: into his prime. He's going to have to tap into

870
00:47:04,200 --> 00:47:07,000
Speaker 1: the best version of himself in order to beat this

871
00:47:07,080 --> 00:47:11,839
Speaker 1: Dallas defense. How big of a legacy moment is this

872
00:47:11,880 --> 00:47:17,880
Speaker 1: series for staff? Not at all? I mean I know that,

873
00:47:17,960 --> 00:47:20,040
Speaker 1: I know that's not first takey. I know that's not

874
00:47:20,680 --> 00:47:23,439
Speaker 1: some something super entertaining. But for me, like when guys

875
00:47:23,480 --> 00:47:27,920
Speaker 1: start undergoing their physical decline, Like, the only way that

876
00:47:28,040 --> 00:47:31,040
Speaker 1: I get critical of guys at this phase in their

877
00:47:31,080 --> 00:47:34,000
Speaker 1: career is not related to their ability to reach their

878
00:47:34,560 --> 00:47:38,320
Speaker 1: basketball ceiling. It's related to controllables. Like got all of

879
00:47:38,360 --> 00:47:40,800
Speaker 1: you who listened to me all year. I was super

880
00:47:40,800 --> 00:47:43,479
Speaker 1: critical of Lebron this year as a leader. I thought

881
00:47:43,480 --> 00:47:47,120
Speaker 1: he came out with a way lower intensity from the

882
00:47:47,120 --> 00:47:49,920
Speaker 1: start of training camp. He waited half the season to

883
00:47:49,960 --> 00:47:51,919
Speaker 1: even attempt to try on defense, and then he tried

884
00:47:51,960 --> 00:47:53,440
Speaker 1: for a couple of weeks and then stopped again. He

885
00:47:53,440 --> 00:47:57,000
Speaker 1: did passive aggressive stuff. Lebron was a bad leader, and like,

886
00:47:57,640 --> 00:48:00,319
Speaker 1: I'm never gonna criticize him for his physical a clin

887
00:48:00,400 --> 00:48:02,400
Speaker 1: He's in his He's about to go into his twentieth

888
00:48:02,400 --> 00:48:05,759
Speaker 1: season this fall, but there are controllables there. Steph in

889
00:48:05,800 --> 00:48:10,000
Speaker 1: the controllables has been magnificent this year. I think he's

890
00:48:10,040 --> 00:48:12,120
Speaker 1: the best leader in the NBA. I've compared him to

891
00:48:12,160 --> 00:48:16,040
Speaker 1: Tim Duncan. Everything that he has, the that that is

892
00:48:16,080 --> 00:48:18,399
Speaker 1: not you know, that is not a wild card. He's

893
00:48:18,440 --> 00:48:20,759
Speaker 1: done what he's had to do. He just has lost

894
00:48:20,840 --> 00:48:22,960
Speaker 1: a quarter of a step. It's made it difficult for

895
00:48:23,000 --> 00:48:24,680
Speaker 1: him to create his own shot and as a result,

896
00:48:24,719 --> 00:48:28,160
Speaker 1: his percentages have plummeted once again. He's shooting just barely

897
00:48:28,200 --> 00:48:31,200
Speaker 1: over thirty from three in this postseason after he had

898
00:48:31,239 --> 00:48:34,640
Speaker 1: a down year shooting in the regular season. That stuff that,

899
00:48:34,760 --> 00:48:37,680
Speaker 1: to me is just physical decline. And if Steph loses

900
00:48:37,719 --> 00:48:41,000
Speaker 1: this series as a small guard towards the tail end

901
00:48:41,000 --> 00:48:44,200
Speaker 1: of his career coming off of a sprained foot, like

902
00:48:44,280 --> 00:48:47,120
Speaker 1: I think if you're ripping down step at that point,

903
00:48:47,200 --> 00:48:52,400
Speaker 1: you're being You're being a nefarious, disingenuous, you know, online

904
00:48:52,400 --> 00:48:57,320
Speaker 1: Twitter troll. That's fair. I think Steph has certainly done

905
00:48:57,360 --> 00:49:00,600
Speaker 1: what's necessary to prove that he's a top fifteen guy

906
00:49:00,640 --> 00:49:03,160
Speaker 1: all time, and this isn't, like obviously a top tier

907
00:49:03,239 --> 00:49:05,960
Speaker 1: legacy moment for him. I do feel like it's kind

908
00:49:05,960 --> 00:49:09,000
Speaker 1: of big in some ways though, just in that his

909
00:49:09,040 --> 00:49:12,919
Speaker 1: career has been so unique because obviously he was late

910
00:49:13,080 --> 00:49:15,319
Speaker 1: rising to his absolute prime and then he had two

911
00:49:15,400 --> 00:49:18,440
Speaker 1: years like that pre Katie, and all of a sudden

912
00:49:18,480 --> 00:49:20,680
Speaker 1: everything he does is intertwined with Katie, and then he

913
00:49:20,719 --> 00:49:24,400
Speaker 1: misses the season with injury. Last year's his peak self,

914
00:49:24,680 --> 00:49:27,200
Speaker 1: but the team just isn't obviously, you know, capable of

915
00:49:27,200 --> 00:49:30,320
Speaker 1: really contending. And now he finally has this contender caliber

916
00:49:30,360 --> 00:49:32,759
Speaker 1: team around him again. Even though you're right, it does

917
00:49:32,760 --> 00:49:35,360
Speaker 1: seem like he's regressed. He's so close to his prime

918
00:49:35,680 --> 00:49:38,400
Speaker 1: that you sort of still have those superstar expectations for him. Actually,

919
00:49:38,400 --> 00:49:41,760
Speaker 1: I would say most people just will. And it feels

920
00:49:41,760 --> 00:49:44,600
Speaker 1: like most people would probably view the Warriors is the

921
00:49:44,600 --> 00:49:46,880
Speaker 1: better team overall. So I agree with you this is

922
00:49:46,880 --> 00:49:50,040
Speaker 1: not going to define Steph's legacy in any way, but

923
00:49:50,320 --> 00:49:51,800
Speaker 1: I do feel like it's kind of a big moment

924
00:49:51,800 --> 00:49:54,120
Speaker 1: just because there are so few years we have of

925
00:49:54,880 --> 00:49:58,600
Speaker 1: quasi peak Steph with a contending caliber team around him

926
00:49:58,640 --> 00:50:01,560
Speaker 1: matching up against like another superstar kind of guy, and

927
00:50:01,760 --> 00:50:06,000
Speaker 1: this is one of those moments. So it's interesting, you know,

928
00:50:06,719 --> 00:50:09,840
Speaker 1: that's the key there is, Like it's not a legacy

929
00:50:09,920 --> 00:50:12,799
Speaker 1: defining thing. What it would be is a signal of

930
00:50:12,800 --> 00:50:16,120
Speaker 1: a change in the times, Like if the Warriors lost

931
00:50:16,160 --> 00:50:20,400
Speaker 1: this series and looka outplayed Steph. I wouldn't start relitigating

932
00:50:20,440 --> 00:50:25,440
Speaker 1: Steph's career. What I would say is, hey, the changing

933
00:50:25,480 --> 00:50:29,319
Speaker 1: of the guard, like here comes Luca and Janice, and

934
00:50:29,440 --> 00:50:32,040
Speaker 1: the days of Lebron and Steph are probably over, not over,

935
00:50:32,200 --> 00:50:35,120
Speaker 1: but they're on the tail end. And now now you know,

936
00:50:35,360 --> 00:50:38,239
Speaker 1: when Lebron and Steph were at their peaks, when things

937
00:50:38,280 --> 00:50:41,319
Speaker 1: went their way, they won every single time, right, and

938
00:50:41,360 --> 00:50:44,239
Speaker 1: then when things didn't go their way, sometimes they still won.

939
00:50:44,880 --> 00:50:47,160
Speaker 1: And then there were other guys that sometimes one because

940
00:50:47,200 --> 00:50:50,200
Speaker 1: things broke their way, right, Well, Lebron and Steph will

941
00:50:50,320 --> 00:50:52,960
Speaker 1: enter into a phase of their careers where they need

942
00:50:53,000 --> 00:50:55,279
Speaker 1: things to break their way, now you know what I mean,

943
00:50:55,320 --> 00:50:57,560
Speaker 1: which is how it goes. And it's just one of

944
00:50:57,600 --> 00:51:01,920
Speaker 1: those deals where like as you age, your margin for

945
00:51:02,040 --> 00:51:05,440
Speaker 1: error shrinks and and you you have to play at

946
00:51:05,440 --> 00:51:07,479
Speaker 1: your absolute ceiling to reach where you need to reach,

947
00:51:07,880 --> 00:51:12,279
Speaker 1: you know, like it's one it's one of those it's

948
00:51:12,360 --> 00:51:15,960
Speaker 1: it's one of those deals where if as a as

949
00:51:16,000 --> 00:51:19,040
Speaker 1: a player, you have to understand your opportunities and how

950
00:51:19,080 --> 00:51:22,080
Speaker 1: few they are. That's why I was so critical of Lebron.

951
00:51:23,360 --> 00:51:27,040
Speaker 1: You're an eight year in year nineteen and you literally

952
00:51:27,640 --> 00:51:33,000
Speaker 1: came into training camp and didn't try like or mailed

953
00:51:33,040 --> 00:51:36,840
Speaker 1: it in. Expected expected Russell Westbrook to come in and

954
00:51:36,920 --> 00:51:40,439
Speaker 1: carry the load for you so that you can ease

955
00:51:40,480 --> 00:51:43,799
Speaker 1: your way into the season. Anthony Davis did the same thing. Now,

956
00:51:43,840 --> 00:51:47,400
Speaker 1: guess what, the season's gone and next year you're older

957
00:51:48,600 --> 00:51:50,440
Speaker 1: and and that's the gamble that you play with this

958
00:51:50,520 --> 00:51:53,960
Speaker 1: kind of stuff, Like the opportunities are few and far between.

959
00:51:54,520 --> 00:51:56,360
Speaker 1: And I think for the record, you know, because Steph

960
00:51:56,400 --> 00:51:58,400
Speaker 1: has rescued Gold State on a handful of games in

961
00:51:58,400 --> 00:52:01,040
Speaker 1: this playoff run that could have swung series. And for

962
00:52:01,360 --> 00:52:04,239
Speaker 1: I think Steph senses that urgency and he like, you

963
00:52:04,320 --> 00:52:06,120
Speaker 1: just don't know. You you don't know if you're gonna

964
00:52:06,120 --> 00:52:08,120
Speaker 1: go into next year and then suddenly become Chris Paul

965
00:52:08,160 --> 00:52:10,839
Speaker 1: and you're hurt all the time. There's not there's never

966
00:52:10,880 --> 00:52:14,239
Speaker 1: a guarantee of next year. And so from that standpoint, like, yeah,

967
00:52:14,920 --> 00:52:17,920
Speaker 1: it's not a it's not a career defining moment for staff,

968
00:52:17,920 --> 00:52:20,719
Speaker 1: but what it is is it's potentially one of his

969
00:52:20,840 --> 00:52:28,080
Speaker 1: last opportunities. Alright, guys, that is all we have for tonight. Alright, guys,

970
00:52:28,080 --> 00:52:29,880
Speaker 1: that is all we have for tonight. I sincerely appreciate

971
00:52:29,920 --> 00:52:33,520
Speaker 1: your support. A couple of quick housekeeping notes um this episode.

972
00:52:33,600 --> 00:52:35,160
Speaker 1: If you missed any portion of it you don't have

973
00:52:35,200 --> 00:52:36,600
Speaker 1: time to look on YouTube, you can always find it

974
00:52:36,640 --> 00:52:38,560
Speaker 1: on our podcast feed. You can find that link on

975
00:52:38,600 --> 00:52:41,000
Speaker 1: my Twitter feed. Follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason

976
00:52:41,080 --> 00:52:43,279
Speaker 1: lt to see video content. I'll probably do a deep

977
00:52:43,320 --> 00:52:46,120
Speaker 1: dive into this game tomorrow morning. Uh don't forget that

978
00:52:46,160 --> 00:52:48,720
Speaker 1: we're gonna be going live after every game this week,

979
00:52:49,160 --> 00:52:51,040
Speaker 1: so come hang out on YouTube after the final buzzer.

980
00:52:51,040 --> 00:52:53,680
Speaker 1: I'll see you guys then, very excited for Warriors and

981
00:52:53,840 --> 00:52:56,120
Speaker 1: Mavericks tomorrow night, game one. I will see you guys.

982
00:52:56,160 --> 00:53:10,280
Speaker 1: Then the volume