Speaker 1: On this episode of the Eat Check, did we just
Speaker 1: come to realize that we are witnessing the most skilled
Speaker 1: offensive backcourt in NBA history. We get into that, the
Speaker 1: controversy surrounding, well, I don't even know if it's controversy.
Speaker 1: It's a scuttle butt. It's a scuttle butt about Jalen Brown.
Speaker 2: And Steven A. Smith. Oh, stephen A, You in trouble,
Speaker 2: You in trouble.
Speaker 1: We also talk a little bit about nas Reed, one
Speaker 1: player in this playoffs who has broken out the most,
Speaker 1: and I think this man has going is going to
Speaker 1: make absolute cheddar Anthony, let's jump into it.
Speaker 2: Let's drop that motherfucker beat.
Speaker 1: The shitty un.
Speaker 2: All right, it's nine nights, these.
Speaker 1: Masks for these mines, it's moves. Unfortunately, hate to say it.
Speaker 2: The Timberwolves really should be up two to one.
Speaker 1: The MAVs absolutely deserve to win Game three, and yet
Speaker 1: the MAVs are up three zero in the Western Conference Finals,
Speaker 1: which has been as good of a series as we've
Speaker 1: seen this entire playoff run. Let's talk about something though,
Speaker 1: that Stan Van Gundy said towards the end of their
Speaker 1: win the game where Luca had thirty three seven and five,
Speaker 1: where Kyrie Irving had thirty three, three and four, and
Speaker 1: they just bawled out once again in fourth quarter performances
Speaker 1: that you've never just seen. The clutch shot making, off
Speaker 1: balance jumpers, the step back threes, just the like try
Speaker 1: to make me go to rehab, and I said, no, oh, no, no.
Speaker 1: It was like you cannot guard me. No, no, no,
Speaker 1: this is we are bad men right now.
Speaker 2: And it is winning time.
Speaker 1: Van Gundy, by the way, he had a heartbreaking and
Speaker 1: touching and inspirational and moving an interview with Dan LeBatard
Speaker 1: the other day. I think yesterday about his wife and
Speaker 1: his wife's passing almost he said as an afterthought at
Speaker 1: the end end of the game, though, he said, this
Speaker 1: is the best offensive backcourt in the history of the NBA,
Speaker 1: And I think he's right. Here's why Luca and Kyrie
Speaker 1: are the first backcourt to score thirty plus three times
Speaker 1: in a playoff run in the last fifty years, in
Speaker 1: the last half century, folks, that is how great Luca
Speaker 1: and Kyrie have been. It is kind of like I
Speaker 1: know that Kyrie, we didn't know what was gonna go
Speaker 1: on with them, and like he was unhappy in Brooklyn,
Speaker 1: and like some people thought maybe he wouldn't even be
Speaker 1: playing basketball in the next three years because who knows,
Speaker 1: like he likes to burn stage. But like when we
Speaker 1: watched this version of Kyrie Irving and the version that
Speaker 1: we've seen when he played with Lebron James and the
Speaker 1: Caps that version, or even before he sprayed his ankle
Speaker 1: with the Brooklyn Nets when they were dismantling the Milwaukee Bucks, Like,
Speaker 1: there's no reason that the NBA.
Speaker 2: Should have allowed Luke and Kyrie to be on the
Speaker 2: same team.
Speaker 1: Like, these two dudes are top five in the NBA
Speaker 1: and they play with one another. I know that we've
Speaker 1: seen this before with Harden and Kad and Kyrie, it
Speaker 1: just feels different to me, Doug, this is a are
Speaker 1: a problem. I told a friend recently that the problem
Speaker 1: for the Wolves was that they are facing two of
Speaker 1: the five best players in the NBA right now, and
Speaker 1: both of those guys happened to be two of the
Speaker 1: most also clutch players in the.
Speaker 2: NBA, the closer closers.
Speaker 1: They can hit some of the most difficult shots that
Speaker 1: you've ever seen while they're being double teamed, while they're
Speaker 1: being blitzed, and somehow they find a way to split
Speaker 1: that double team, to find a way to kick to
Speaker 1: the open role player in the corner, who just happens
Speaker 1: to turn into Prime Ray Allen before our very eyes.
Speaker 1: How the fuck did PJ.
Speaker 2: Washington turn into Ray Allen? How did Josh Green become
Speaker 2: this good?
Speaker 1: How did Derek Lively turn into Tyson Chandler his rookie
Speaker 1: year in the league. Anyway, back to the backcourt offensive duos,
Speaker 1: Stephen Clay top the list, right, They're probably one of
Speaker 1: the best that we've ever seen. The MAVs, by the way,
Speaker 1: really quick before I go back to this, the MAVs
Speaker 1: have outscored the Wolves twenty four to eleven, despite all
Speaker 1: three games being within one possession in the last like.
Speaker 2: Two minutes of the game.
Speaker 1: Anyway, back to the other backcourt offensive duos that are
Speaker 1: really good. Stephen Clay, They're like on top of the mountain.
Speaker 1: Chris Paul, Devin Book are really good. Chris Paul and
Speaker 1: James Harden really good, Magic and Byron Scott really good,
Speaker 1: Tony Parker, Monogenobli really good, Isaiah Thomas, Joe Dumar is
Speaker 1: really good, Harden and Kyrie really good. But I don't
Speaker 1: think any of those folks are as good as Luca
Speaker 1: and Kyrie. Now we look at a Celtics MAVs finals
Speaker 1: because both teams are up three zero, one hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty four to zero in the history of the NBA,
Speaker 1: so it feels like it's kind of a rap. But
Speaker 1: holy shit, two series that could have gone seven, which
Speaker 1: would have been awesome, all look like they're gonna be
Speaker 1: a sweep. And the major reason is somehow, somehow we
Speaker 1: blocked Chris Paul to the Lakers and we did not
Speaker 1: block Kyrie to the MAVs. With Luka Doncic made, that's
Speaker 1: your reason is the best backcourt that we have seen
Speaker 1: in the history of the NBA. And oh my god,
Speaker 1: remember all those people who said that they could not
Speaker 1: play together. How dumb do those people look right fucking
Speaker 1: now with all the egg on their face. Cannot wait
Speaker 1: to talk to those people. Go call a.
Speaker 2: Friend, Go call a friend.
Speaker 1: All right, let's move on. Yeah, we got little Jalen
Speaker 1: Brown's scuttle, but woooo multiple Jalen Brown rhetorics going on.
Speaker 1: You hear that, and I assume your first question is
Speaker 1: what did Jalen Brown do? What kind of things did
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown do that would cause this level of controversial conversation.
Speaker 2: I don't know nothing. He did nothing. All he did
Speaker 2: was his.
Speaker 1: Job, and he did it at an extremely a high level.
Speaker 1: Bawled out averaging twenty five six and three with one
Speaker 1: and a half stocks per game and an incredible plus
Speaker 1: seventeen point two net rating per game in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: So it is certainly not his game that's causing controversy.
Speaker 1: What it is is other people, and by other people,
Speaker 1: I mean ESPN and what they've been saying about him.
Speaker 1: Let's start with Kendrick Perkins. Kendrick Perkins went on ESPN
Speaker 1: and he had the goal to say that it was
Speaker 1: not Jason Tatum, it was Jalen Brown, who is the
Speaker 1: best player on the Boston Celtics. Let's listen.
Speaker 3: What statement did Jalen Brown make? What statement he's been
Speaker 3: trying to make all postseason long that he's the best
Speaker 3: player on the Boston Celtics. He's the best player on
Speaker 3: the Boston Celtics, and he's willing to stand on business.
Speaker 3: Last night was a prime example of a guy taking
Speaker 3: it personal and responding in great fashion. He may try
Speaker 3: to downplay it, but we could see it in his
Speaker 3: face that he was pissed off he didn't make an
Speaker 3: All NBA team and how he handled it. All Right,
Speaker 3: y'all take this forty piece you look at when before
Speaker 3: the Calves series, before that that series started, Jaylen Brown
Speaker 3: was on record talking about how much the last time
Speaker 3: they played the Calves, how much it haunted them because
Speaker 3: the Calves and Lebron James sent them home. Had nothing
Speaker 3: to do with Donovan Mitchell. What are you doing?
Speaker 1: YadA YadA, YadA. You know what. Anyway, Perk basically said
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown standing on business.
Speaker 2: And it's true, he's been great.
Speaker 1: He shot fifty five percent from the field, although he
Speaker 1: is struggling a little bit from the line.
Speaker 2: But is our man Jalen Brown actually better than Tatum?
Speaker 2: I do not think so.
Speaker 1: In the twenty two twenty twenty three season, we had
Speaker 1: to go to the lab here, folks, Tatum faced the
Speaker 1: third most double teams in the entire NBA, behind only
Speaker 1: Luka Doncic and Trey Young.
Speaker 2: Jalen Brown was not even in the top fifteen. And
Speaker 2: to me, that's that's the significant.
Speaker 1: Factor, because who's gonna go off when your star player
Speaker 1: gets doubled? It very much to me, feels like when
Speaker 1: Juju Smith Schuster went crazy because Antonio Brown. I know
Speaker 1: it's a football analogy, because Antonio Brown was always being
Speaker 1: double covered. Brown benefits from playing with someone who attracts
Speaker 1: so much attention from opposing defenses and he does his job.
Speaker 2: Does that mean that he's not as valuable?
Speaker 1: No? Should we look at Brown differently? No? Should we
Speaker 1: say that he's not very good? No, But what he
Speaker 1: is not is better than Jason Tatum. Otherwise he would
Speaker 1: get more double teams than Jason Tatum. And when teams
Speaker 1: are scheming and thinking and using all of our attention
Speaker 1: on one player AKAA Jason Tatum, that other player, that
Speaker 1: secondary player who's very good, goes crazy and they may
Speaker 1: look better than the one A because one.
Speaker 2: A is being game planned for. Get it.
Speaker 1: You may look at his stats and by contrast JT's
Speaker 1: truble in the clutch and say that he's playing better.
Speaker 1: But the truth is other teams do not perceive Jalen
Speaker 1: Brown to be better AKA. Otherwise, if so facto, he
Speaker 1: would get more double teams. Get it anyway, that's not
Speaker 1: the end of the controversy at all at all.
Speaker 2: So Stephen A.
Speaker 1: Smith has been it's been an electric twenty twenty four
Speaker 1: for Steven A.
Speaker 2: Smith, he's been on a tear.
Speaker 1: He's been saying crazy shit, and so the crazy shit
Speaker 1: does not stop with Jalen Brown. Let's go there, because
Speaker 1: it's out of hocket.
Speaker 4: It's not so much that he's underrated, it's that he's
Speaker 4: just not liked because of his quote I am better
Speaker 4: than you attitude. He knows it. It's the same reason
Speaker 4: he is not as marketable as he should be. That's
Speaker 4: what an NBA source just sent me. I don't know
Speaker 4: that to be there.
Speaker 2: Oohe oh boy.
Speaker 1: So Steven a Recap says that an NBA source he
Speaker 1: was reading it from his phone like you got a
Speaker 1: text message, which I'm not saying that he didn't, is
Speaker 1: telling him that Jalen Brown has an off putting attitude.
Speaker 1: And then he is quote not liked because he has
Speaker 1: a I am better than you attitude, and he knows it.
Speaker 1: It's the same reason that he's not as marketable as
Speaker 1: he should be. To this, Jalen Brown decided to get
Speaker 1: into the mansions and quote tweeted that video and said,
Speaker 1: state your source. First off of all, if I'm Jalen Brown,
Speaker 1: I'd be thinking the same thing. Who the fuck is
Speaker 1: talking about me like that? Who is saying I'm all
Speaker 1: high cindity because I went to cow and I'm like active.
Speaker 2: In the community. Who's that? Who's doing that? To stephen
Speaker 2: A's point, I don't state sources. That's not how journalism works.
Speaker 1: Otherwise I'm not gonna be able to get that information
Speaker 1: if I have to call out names every time I
Speaker 1: do so. Hence the reason that his sources are allowed.
Speaker 2: To be anonymous.
Speaker 1: It is kind of bullshit, though, to bring up something
Speaker 1: about a guy who has done literally nothing but ball out.
Speaker 1: Why is something good the jump off to something bad?
Speaker 1: That's really the fucked up thing. Let's only let's bring
Speaker 1: up bad things when bad things happen, not bring up
Speaker 1: bad things when good things happen.
Speaker 2: I as someone who has had that done to them.
Speaker 1: That feels like shit. All I'm doing is outperforming expectations,
Speaker 1: and what do I get for that?
Speaker 2: Nothing but a load of garbage shit.
Speaker 1: Anyway, my question about this isn't just about timing. It's
Speaker 1: about why are you doing this? Why? What's the purpose
Speaker 1: of bringing this up? It kind of seems mean spirited,
Speaker 1: and it's not like you can make a defense against
Speaker 1: this kind of innuendo. It's very damaging to someone's brand
Speaker 1: on a national platform coming from a quote anonymous source
Speaker 1: in the NBA, I think, I think NBA's the NBA's
Speaker 1: coverage on ESPN is what is quote off putting.
Speaker 2: I think, uh, the NBA.
Speaker 1: Coverage on ESPN seems like they have a better than
Speaker 1: you attitude. I think they know it, and I think
Speaker 1: it's also the same reason that ESPN is not as
Speaker 1: markable as they should be. How about that? And I
Speaker 1: have a lot of sources telling me that it's on
Speaker 1: these internet streets and people are putting their good names
Speaker 1: with blue badges attached to that. ESPN's NBA coverage for
Speaker 1: a very long time has been a.
Speaker 2: Miss for me, an absolute miss.
Speaker 1: And this is now another example of why there is
Speaker 1: an absolute reason the NBA's coverage on ESPN has been
Speaker 1: getting ravaged and savaged. ESPN told Tim Legler, who told
Speaker 1: Ryan Riscilla the following I wish I had video of
Speaker 1: all of the meetings I've been in this year at
Speaker 1: ESPN when I wanted to talk more about the Indiana Pacers,
Speaker 1: particularly after they got Pascal Siaka, and they said the
Speaker 1: Pacers are not sexy enough. Fuck that.
Speaker 2: By the way, the Pacers are a very sexy team.
Speaker 1: And they happen to be in the mecca of basketball, Indiana,
Speaker 1: and if ESPN and they're like East Coast bias can't
Speaker 1: figure that out. I don't know what to say. It
Speaker 1: does feel a little like bad and sad and unfair
Speaker 1: that we're gonna lose TNT and we're not gonna lose ESPN.
Speaker 1: That is what it is. There is a reason there
Speaker 1: was so much backlash to a huge segment in an
Speaker 1: ESPN pregame to a pivotal playoff game between the Wolves
Speaker 1: and the Nuggets about whether Stephen A could score a
Speaker 1: bucket against Lebron James. Does it feel like NBA on
Speaker 1: ESPN or does it feel like stephen A on ESPN?
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: I get it. It's a hot take merchant society world.
Speaker 1: I get that. I understand that it drives clicks, drives eyeballs.
Speaker 1: People get all up in arms. But I don't give
Speaker 1: a fuck.
Speaker 2: A flying fuck if Stephen A can.
Speaker 1: Score one bucket on Lebron James. When it's I don't know, June,
Speaker 1: it's fucking June. Talk about June hoops. Not talk about
Speaker 1: a guy who cannot hoop. As for Jalen Brown, I'm sorry, Bro,
Speaker 1: I am I don't care if you're the best Celtic
Speaker 1: or the worst Celtic. I don't care if anybody finds
Speaker 1: you off putting or unmarketable. I think besides the fact
Speaker 1: that you cannot go left, you are an absolute electric
Speaker 1: basketball player and you are balling. I hope you keep
Speaker 1: absolutely doing good things, standing on business and becoming a
Speaker 1: major reason that Boston is about to reach the NBA
Speaker 1: Finals and hopefully lose to the Dallas Mavericks because I
Speaker 1: hate the Celtics. But keep doing you, JB, keep doing
Speaker 1: you all right, Moving on, I think it is time.
Speaker 1: I think it is time that we talk about nos Reed.
Speaker 1: We all know that nas Reed has been a cult
Speaker 1: favorite in Minnesota. We know that he has a little
Speaker 1: following on Reddit. We know that he's the guy who
Speaker 1: Wolves fans now greet each other by saying his name
Speaker 1: with a slight heead nod, nas Reid, nas Reed. This
Speaker 1: is what happens when you're an undrafted kid out of
Speaker 1: LSU who worked his ass off to make a roster
Speaker 1: and then blossomed into a genuine star and maybe to
Speaker 1: me the second best player on the Minnesota Timberwolves right now.
Speaker 1: But outside of Minnesota, there's nobody really that knew that.
Speaker 2: Much about him.
Speaker 1: Even after he won six Man of the Year, A
Speaker 1: lot of people were very mad than nas Reid won
Speaker 1: six Man of the Year. So this is why no
Speaker 1: one has opened more eyes in the playoffs than nas Reed.
Speaker 1: He is averaging. The numbers don't even look that good,
Speaker 1: but there, I promise you they're really good. Twelve four
Speaker 1: and one one and a half stocks in twenty two
Speaker 1: minutes in this playoff run as a whole. Solid numbers,
Speaker 1: especially since he's a seven footer who's shooting forty one
Speaker 1: percent behind the arc. But here's what's opening up everyone
Speaker 1: else's eyes. He's been pretty much the only Timberwolf to
Speaker 1: show up at all in the series against the Mavericks's
Speaker 1: averaging nineteen four and one with two and a half stocks,
Speaker 1: shooting sixty seven percent from three against a Dallas defense
Speaker 1: that's one of the best in the league. They've thrown
Speaker 1: Lively at him, They've thrown gafferd at him, they throw
Speaker 1: Luke at him, PJ Derek Jones Junior at him, They've
Speaker 1: tried to double him, and guess what, none of it
Speaker 1: has worked. He is cooking all these guys on the
Speaker 1: green egg. Hibachi style could be the matchup. He was
Speaker 1: a plus net fifty against Dallas in all four regular
Speaker 1: season games. Some people might think that this is just
Speaker 1: like something you can see coming, but I don't think so.
Speaker 1: I think he's just that good right now. I would
Speaker 1: be lying if I didn't say NBA execs everywhere we're
Speaker 1: not paying attention because they are now. I think every
Speaker 1: other team in the league is like, we need that guy.
Speaker 1: And the bad news for Minnesota is this contract at
Speaker 1: Nasried signed in twenty twenty three. He signed a three year,
Speaker 1: forty two million dollar deal, and everybody's like, wow, there's
Speaker 1: a lot of money for Nosried considering Minnesota had just
Speaker 1: mortgage to the farm for Rudy Gobert and they had
Speaker 1: three bigs under contract, meaning next season twenty four to
Speaker 1: twenty five, Cat, Gobert and Reed are gonna be making
Speaker 1: like one hundred million by themselves, considering the cap is
Speaker 1: one hundred and forty one million dollars. We were a
Speaker 1: first year of truly punishing cap aprons. Feels like a
Speaker 1: concerning thing. But you know what's more concerning is the
Speaker 1: contract structure, which is that my man nas Reed has
Speaker 1: a player option on the third year of that deal,
Speaker 1: meaning he's done after next year. Meaning he could be
Speaker 1: a free agent at a time where he's the peak
Speaker 1: of his powers when my man Karl Anthony Towns is
Speaker 1: making sixty million a year and I don't think nas
Speaker 1: Reed is gonna opt in to fourteen million dollars a
Speaker 1: year when he could be getting twenty five twenty eight
Speaker 1: million a year. I could see him getting up to
Speaker 1: thirty million a year on the right team. Can you imagine.
Speaker 2: Nas Reed for the Orlando Magic oo oi?
Speaker 1: They're about twenty five teams would love to have him.
Speaker 1: My Portland Trailblazers would love to have him. But I
Speaker 1: think he's a starter. This is not a low Williams situation.
Speaker 1: He's not a bench player. I think he might be
Speaker 1: better right now than Karl Anthony Towns. And Karl Anthony
Speaker 1: Towns is making like six times when Osried is making.
Speaker 1: I for one, would love him in Portland next to eight.
Speaker 1: And in fact, I'd much rather give them Jeremy Grant money,
Speaker 1: who I also like, maybe Jeremy Grant for Osried wouldn't
Speaker 1: that Jeremy Grant without the Wolves. I think his defense
Speaker 1: makes the team more flexible. Roster flexibility is the new
Speaker 1: currency of the NBA. And if you're the Wolves, just
Speaker 1: trade Karl Anthony Towns.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: I know his value is not high, but like Nasred
Speaker 1: is only twenty four years old, and he's improved every year,
Speaker 1: and he's cheap and now he's proven that he can
Speaker 1: do this in the playoffs in the Western Conference finals.
Speaker 1: And guess who hasn't done that, Karl Anthony Towns. And
Speaker 1: if you can't get him to agree to an extension,
Speaker 1: you gotta trade him. You can't let him walk for free.
Speaker 1: And that means that Minnesota is literally tick tick tick
Speaker 1: freezing cold. Takes. Got nothing, by the way, on Nate Duncan,
Speaker 1: because to think this this year, Nate Duncan said the
Speaker 1: Wolves should swap him for Tias Jones.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, he said that, But.
Speaker 1: The Wizards wouldn't take the deal because I think there's
Speaker 1: a risk he's not gonna play that well in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: I don't think he's a good enough player on both
Speaker 1: ends of the floor.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, Nate Duncan.
Speaker 1: You did not say that. The truth is Nate Duncan
Speaker 1: might be out of a job if it mattered whether
Speaker 1: he was right or wrong, because like nas Reed, is
Speaker 1: one of the best players in the NBA right now,
Speaker 1: playing playing basketball right the second, he's grossly underpaid, and
Speaker 1: that's going to fix itself sooner than later, maybe just
Speaker 1: not in Minnesota. I am sorry. That is all the
Speaker 1: time that we have for this episode of The Heat Check.
Speaker 1: Come back Wednesday for an all new episode breaking down
Speaker 1: the conference finals, and check out the fee for past episodes,
Speaker 1: and many episodes would drop unexpectedly like a hard foul
Speaker 1: on Angel Reese. Do not forget the follow the e
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