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Speaker 1: do instant reactions, we have something to urgently react to.
Speaker 1: But I knew the Warriors were in a little trouble
Speaker 1: when mid second quarter Butler and Curry hadn't scored. But
Speaker 1: you know, this is a bigger point, Jason, is that
Speaker 1: I've been on this for years. The quality of college
Speaker 1: basketball is not very good. I mean the national champion,
Speaker 1: Like you watch Florida play a very good college basketball team,
Speaker 1: they would have seven or eight straight possessions that they
Speaker 1: were wasted possessions they didn't run a play. College basketball
Speaker 1: offensively is a tough watch. That's why almost every good
Speaker 1: college basketball program lives on defense. I mean Saint John's, Florida, Houston,
Speaker 1: Gonzaga is the rare. We're actually better on offense annually
Speaker 1: than defense, and they do it because they have a
Speaker 1: great coach and a great system. But you watch it
Speaker 1: and the ratings are good because of urgency. The NBA
Speaker 1: quality is insane. But a three game first round, which
Speaker 1: had probably never happened. Darryl Morey said, give me a
Speaker 1: game first round. But I've always argued, you don't need
Speaker 1: seven games. If you want to keep it in the finals.
Speaker 1: For historical symmetry, totally get it, but you don't need
Speaker 1: seven game first rounds now. I will say the argument is, well,
Speaker 1: what about Clippers Nuggets? And my takeaway is if it
Speaker 1: goes five or seven, that's a coin flip series. I mean,
Speaker 1: you can't tell me one team's definitively better. It's almost
Speaker 1: like the Piston's Nicks five or seven. Whoever wins wins.
Speaker 1: I'm not losing sleep, but I thought tonight was a
Speaker 1: bit embarrassing for the league, Like it's just a bad look.
Speaker 2: It's so consistent over the years. I in my series
Speaker 2: preview for this series, when I picked the Warriors in six.
Speaker 2: I was like, they're gonna get blown out probably in
Speaker 2: game five. If one of the things that happens when
Speaker 2: you see one of the things you see when you
Speaker 2: root for the same team for over a decade, you
Speaker 2: become very familiar with their personality. Yeah, And like we
Speaker 2: saw an extremely similar game in Memphis three years ago
Speaker 2: in that series where they were up three to one,
Speaker 2: went on the road and just got demolished before they
Speaker 2: came home and closed the deal. It's in. It's it's
Speaker 2: just there's already a natural kind of like urgency swing
Speaker 2: from side to side in a series after each team wins,
Speaker 2: you know, like Houston gets Game two, you know Golden
Speaker 2: State's gonna come out in Game three and just play
Speaker 2: an amazing game, right, Like you know Houston's gonna throw
Speaker 2: a great punch in Game four after Golden State wins
Speaker 2: Game three. Right. But when you have this situation where
Speaker 2: a team has a three to one advantage and they
Speaker 2: know they have a home close out opportunity in the bank,
Speaker 2: it almost always ends up being kind of a shalacking
Speaker 2: in these types of situations. And it's happened to the
Speaker 2: Warriors in the past as well when they lost to
Speaker 2: the Lakers in twenty twenty three. Lakers took a three
Speaker 2: to one lead, they went to Golden State, Golden State
Speaker 2: beat them, then they head back to LA and LA
Speaker 2: closes the deal. It's kind of like the natural flow
Speaker 2: of series. And to your point, when you have such
Speaker 2: a consistency in that regard, that just says this is
Speaker 2: too long. We're wasting too much time here.
Speaker 1: So I think it's interesting. So Houston is a team
Speaker 1: that I said this today on FS one is that
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City is a similarly young team but better and
Speaker 1: they've got a ton of draft picks. You're not going
Speaker 1: to leapfrog them. Whereas every one of their young players
Speaker 1: to me, has sort of a defined role. Houston has
Speaker 1: Jalen Green, who's athletic, but I still don't know what
Speaker 1: his offensive game is in the half court, he's just athletic.
Speaker 1: And so I do think Houston's gonna have to make
Speaker 1: take a swing. I think a Kevin Durant fits well,
Speaker 1: maybe they get into the I mean, they may have
Speaker 1: more than anybody for Jannis. But so we were talking
Speaker 1: about this, Jason McIntyre and I were talking about this,
Speaker 1: and I said I would Houston has told people Amn
Speaker 1: Thompson no chance, and it's funny watching him tonight with
Speaker 1: five steals in the first half. When I watch Amn Thompson,
Speaker 1: I absolutely know what he is. He's a physical, tough
Speaker 1: defense often is the best part of his game, hustle.
Speaker 1: He has a defined even though he's a kid, he
Speaker 1: has a defined game, and that's one of the first
Speaker 1: things I look for. Actually, if Zion could have stayed
Speaker 1: in shape, I thought he had a very defined game,
Speaker 1: Like I knew what he was. Jalen Green, I don't
Speaker 1: know what he is, and I always feel like I
Speaker 1: don't care if it's a talk show host or a
Speaker 1: basketball player or a politician. If you don't, if you
Speaker 1: can't kind of what what are you? And if I'm
Speaker 1: struggling with that three years into your political career, it's like,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure you are anything other than maybe smart
Speaker 1: or aspirational or driven. So I think I look at
Speaker 1: it and I think if they went into the Yannis sweepstakes,
Speaker 1: you'd have to give up two really good players. Would
Speaker 1: you give up Shamgon, Jalen Green and two firsts? Because
Speaker 1: I think if I'm Milwaukee, I'm gonna have multiple suitors.
Speaker 1: I'm going to get a Malik an og and four.
Speaker 1: You know, I don't think the Knicks. You know, I
Speaker 1: gave up so many first for Michale Bridges. Let's just
Speaker 1: talk Houston. What would Houston give up in your opinion?
Speaker 1: You run the rockets for Yannis.
Speaker 2: Well, first of all, Colin at the I'm going to
Speaker 2: try not to be too insensitive here, but I'll tell
Speaker 2: you what Jalen Green is. He's salary filler. That's what
Speaker 2: he is. At this point in his career. He has
Speaker 2: demonstrated through multiple years with Houston that there are certain
Speaker 2: things that he just hasn't figured out in terms of
Speaker 2: how to bring consistent, winning impact every single game. When
Speaker 2: he's got his pull up three point shot going and
Speaker 2: he's making good decisions at the rim, he looks like
Speaker 2: an all star caliber player that can lift that team
Speaker 2: to greatness. But two out of three games he struggles
Speaker 2: to accomplish those things, and then suddenly the inattentiveness off ball,
Speaker 2: the poor decision making, all that just rises to the surface.
Speaker 2: And so he needs to go somewhere where he can
Speaker 2: go make mistakes for a while because he just needs
Speaker 2: a lot of time, right and you know, Amn Thompson,
Speaker 2: to me, should be untouchable. I would not give up
Speaker 2: a mental honest, I think that unlike the only reason
Speaker 2: I would ever consider giving up a player of a
Speaker 2: Men Thompson's caliber is if I was certain that we
Speaker 2: would be a runaway favorite the next season, you know,
Speaker 2: like like, for instance, if OKC wanted to make a
Speaker 2: move for Giannis, they should be more willing to part
Speaker 2: with someone like a Jalen Williams for instance, when you
Speaker 2: consider the fact that they would immediately become a runaway
Speaker 2: championship favorite. Right, But Houston with Giannis is still like
Speaker 2: they'd be very good defensively, but it wouldn't be perfect, right.
Speaker 2: A Men Thompson is the level of prospect that I
Speaker 2: think has the potential to be like the Scottie Pippen
Speaker 2: of this eras the most devastating perimeter athlete defensively that
Speaker 2: we have in the sport. Intimidate but he has exactly
Speaker 2: but he has a lot more offensive pop than people realize,
Speaker 2: and wait till he starts to piece some of these
Speaker 2: parts of his game together. He can handle the ball
Speaker 2: a little bit. He's got a pretty decent set of
Speaker 2: moves in one on one situations. Once he polishes up
Speaker 2: mainly the short range mid range shot making and adds
Speaker 2: a little bit of muscle, he's going to be a
Speaker 2: guy that can easily average twenty points a game in
Speaker 2: this league very efficiently, potentially more.
Speaker 1: And he is really a physical I mean most young
Speaker 1: players Jason are not that physical. He has a twenty
Speaker 1: nine to thirty three year old physicality to him. When
Speaker 1: I watch him play.
Speaker 2: It's it's the type of athlete that is most valuable
Speaker 2: in the modern MBA, which is rangy but also strong
Speaker 2: because there's a lot of rangy dudes that can get
Speaker 2: shoved around. But like there's a when you can bring
Speaker 2: physicality and the ability to cover ground. I mean, that's
Speaker 2: what made Draymond, you know, the best defensive player of
Speaker 2: this eras he could cover ground, but he was also
Speaker 2: big and strong and could win ground battles and there's
Speaker 2: just a there's a ton of value there. So like
Speaker 2: if I was running the rockets, I would literally I
Speaker 2: would negotiate earnestly, but I'd get a deal done. And
Speaker 2: what I mean by that is everything's on the table.
Speaker 2: But amen, Thompson, if you want Shangun Jabari Smith Junior
Speaker 2: and Jalen Green will make it happen, you know, like
Speaker 2: whatever it is you need to do to make it happen.
Speaker 2: Because one of the things that Houston has is depth.
Speaker 2: They just have a lot of good players. They can
Speaker 2: afford to give up three rotational players for Giannis and
Speaker 2: not be in a situation where they don't have the
Speaker 2: requisite talent to compete next year.
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Speaker 1: dot com slash Colin. That is me and I love
Speaker 1: Fubo TV. I've been telling you this for years. I
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Speaker 1: Colin for twenty five bucks off each month for two
Speaker 1: months of the pro plan that's FuboTV dot com slash
Speaker 1: Colin for fifty bucks off, I'm going to throw something
Speaker 1: at you. This was my take on the Nick Pistons
Speaker 1: is a year ago, the Pistons were in a rebuild
Speaker 1: and the Knick thot McHale Bridges was going to get
Speaker 1: them right up next to Boston, and yet five point
Speaker 1: separates he seems in five games. And my take is
Speaker 1: they gave up a little too much for McHale Bridges.
Speaker 1: Though I think everybody, myself included, kind of liked the deal.
Speaker 1: But the problem was, when you're talking vs. V. Nicks Celtics,
Speaker 1: is that Jalen Brunson og and McHale Bridges and Cat
Speaker 1: we know what they are. Tatum made a leap, and
Speaker 1: Peyton Pritchard went from Nina game to the best guy
Speaker 1: in the league off the bench, and so two of
Speaker 1: the Celtics. Because Jalen Brown has established what he is,
Speaker 1: Tatum is playing with the confidence today that we thought
Speaker 1: he should have been playing with four years ago. I
Speaker 1: don't think his skills necessarily that much better, but go
Speaker 1: look at his first quarter scoring against Orlando. He's a
Speaker 1: much more aggressive player. And by the way, Steph's been
Speaker 1: burned by this is that Steph sometimes defers. Steph's smart, collaborative,
Speaker 1: a great teammate NBA fans, And it's not a criticism,
Speaker 1: it's a reality. They were ward aggressive, even if it's
Speaker 1: like over the top Westbrook aggressiveness, like they just I mean,
Speaker 1: and Westbrook jumps off the TV much. I mean, just
Speaker 1: you can't when he's on the floor, you can't. Okay,
Speaker 1: Westbrook's right there, there could be a seven foot of
Speaker 1: That's just I always said with Andrew Wiggins, is he
Speaker 1: on the floor? Is he playing? Does he have? I mean?
Speaker 1: So my point being is is that the problem that
Speaker 1: the Knicks face and I think they have to swing
Speaker 1: big is they thought McHale bridges really bridge the gap.
Speaker 1: They were inches behind Boston, Tatum Pops, Pritchard Pops, and
Speaker 1: it's like, oh god, they did. They lost ground. Actually,
Speaker 1: so I look at the Knicks and think, let's not
Speaker 1: waste our time here. Cleveland and Boston both got significantly better.
Speaker 1: New York is what. They just have good players. They've
Speaker 1: got to take a big swing.
Speaker 2: You know. I think I think people have missed the
Speaker 2: point on Boston in a lot of ways, in the
Speaker 2: sense that they look at them as a team that's
Speaker 2: led by all these big wings that are super versatile,
Speaker 2: and I think that was the direction that the Knicks
Speaker 2: were trying to match. But it's much more of a
Speaker 2: team wide concept of the ability to piece together these
Speaker 2: lineups where everyone can guard. That's really the foundational concept
Speaker 2: that makes the Celtics so unbeatable if you look at it,
Speaker 2: Mikhale Bridges Og Andnobi and Josh Hart in theory, are
Speaker 2: these three rangy wings that can do a lot of
Speaker 2: work defensively, but because they're bracketed by these two weak points,
Speaker 2: there's almost like a diminishing return and having that type
Speaker 2: of defensive talent because of the way teams can still
Speaker 2: get them in rotation, like it's still the Pistons in
Speaker 2: the half court, Kate Cunningham bringing Jalen Brunson's man into
Speaker 2: the action and getting great looks attacking even though he's
Speaker 2: got Ogn and Obi on him. Whereas if you're with
Speaker 2: the Celtics and you run that exact same thing at
Speaker 2: a Derek White good luck, you run that exact same
Speaker 2: thing at a Drew Holliday good luck, and Peyton Pritchard
Speaker 2: competes his ass off defensively, and so that really is
Speaker 2: the foundational trait that everybody's missing. Is like you're seeing
Speaker 2: this situation where the Knicks copied almost on the margins
Speaker 2: in a way that has a diminishing return because of
Speaker 2: their bill. They almost would have been better off looking
Speaker 2: for like waiting and holding their firepower for a better
Speaker 2: player than putting all their cards in the Michale Bridges
Speaker 2: type of basket, because McHale Bridges would have been more
Speaker 2: valuable if Jalen Brunson and Karl Anthony Towns were replaced
Speaker 2: by more versatile, defensive minded stars, and they're just not.
Speaker 2: And so I think the ultimately, it doesn't matter how
Speaker 2: good your on ball defender is if I can put
Speaker 2: him in an action that gets me an advantage.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I kind of felt for it. I thought McHale
Speaker 1: Bridges got him close. I didn't think he would be better,
Speaker 1: but I thought, oh, they'll compete if they could win
Speaker 1: a game, maybe a second in a seven game series
Speaker 1: or you know, you know, and it's like, no, you know,
Speaker 1: I will say this about Jason Tatum. I mean, again,
Speaker 1: he feasted on Orlando, but this was the best year
Speaker 1: he's had as a pro. He had a really really
Speaker 1: good year. Is that we do this sometimes in society
Speaker 1: attention with all these media platforms, attention is a currency,
Speaker 1: and Jason isn't an attention seeker, and it probably makes
Speaker 1: him a much more balanced to human. I'm watching his
Speaker 1: post game last night. If you told me he ran
Speaker 1: a tech company, or you're like, oh, yeah, he's a
Speaker 1: professor at the local college, I would be like, yeah,
Speaker 1: he comes up and he's thoughtful, and he's got interesting
Speaker 1: pace when he talks, and none of it's I just
Speaker 1: my takeaway is he's got the personality in some ways
Speaker 1: of just like a great friend or just a guy
Speaker 1: you'd want in a band. It's like he's thoughtful. And
Speaker 1: the truth is pro athletes are sometimes delusionally, delusionally confident,
Speaker 1: and it's sometimes it works. Like you read I've read
Speaker 1: the I remember reading the book The Three Ring Circus
Speaker 1: on the Kobe Shak stuff from Jeff Pearlman, and like,
Speaker 1: I love Kobe, but oh, good, good lord, he was
Speaker 1: a lot. I mean he was seventeen eighteen nineteen. You're like,
Speaker 1: this guy's abnoxious. He'd be the you know, it's the
Speaker 1: guy that you never could depend on to take you
Speaker 1: to the airport, you know. But it's like that's sort
Speaker 1: of what that's sort of what made him great, like
Speaker 1: that obnoxiousness. So I just look at Tatum and I
Speaker 1: think sometimes am I punishing him because he's so patient,
Speaker 1: thoughtful and collaborative. I mean, I feel like now when
Speaker 1: I look at him and I'm like, hey, he'd just
Speaker 1: be the best teammate.
Speaker 2: Right, I think that it's okay to change our opinion
Speaker 2: based on new information. And what I mean by that
Speaker 2: is Jason Tatum, in his inconsistent level of aggression in
Speaker 2: his last of top end was a legitimate part of
Speaker 2: why they struggled over the years. And then last year,
Speaker 2: with an overwhelming talent advantage, they made it through the
Speaker 2: East and Tatum contributed in a big way, especially with
Speaker 2: his defensive versatility and his playmaking in the half court.
Speaker 2: But he didn't show that superstar upside in that playoff run.
Speaker 2: And so I think this is the first time really
Speaker 2: that I'm watching Jason Tatum, and I'm watching him from
Speaker 2: start to finish through a playoff series, command things in
Speaker 2: a way with a level of aggression and with the
Speaker 2: same level versatility showed in recent years, but also bringing
Speaker 2: the high end scoring pop Colin. He had three straight
Speaker 2: thirty five point games. He had two total in the
Speaker 2: entire playoff run last year. Like this is like it's
Speaker 2: okay for us to be, Like Tatum is growing up
Speaker 2: into Like I don't think he was a top tier
Speaker 2: superstar until this year.
Speaker 1: Now I think he is exactly how I feel.
Speaker 2: And I think it's okay. I think it's okay to
Speaker 2: be Like he's growing into the player that some people
Speaker 2: thought he was and I disagreed for a while, and
Speaker 2: now I'm there where it's like it's the versatility and
Speaker 2: it's the top end, like the big one. For me,
Speaker 2: it's a Game four and I'm watching the difference in
Speaker 2: the maturity with the way that he's attacking switches against
Speaker 2: guards down the stretch against Orlando, while Pallo is not
Speaker 2: getting good shots doing the exact same thing on the
Speaker 2: other end of the floor. And I'm like, oh, it's
Speaker 2: like it reminds me of the old days when I'd
Speaker 2: watch Lebron or some other grown up do it to
Speaker 2: Tatum when he was the young guy. Like Tatum is
Speaker 2: growing into like he almost looks like a thirty thirty
Speaker 2: one year old star as a twenty six, twenty seven
Speaker 2: year old star because he's got so much experience in
Speaker 2: these big moments over the years. But it's a combination
Speaker 2: of two things, Colin, you mentioned it. This is a
Speaker 2: huge piece the confidence. There is a calm, cool and
Speaker 2: collected demeanor that he has in the half court now
Speaker 2: that he just didn't have in the past. That to
Speaker 2: me is part of his growth. And then the second
Speaker 2: piece of it, he finally brought along this shot making piece,
Speaker 2: which was so inconsistent for him over the years. He
Speaker 2: had it in the past, but he wasn't as big
Speaker 2: and strong and versatile. Then he got big, strong and versatile,
Speaker 2: but he didn't have the shot making. Now he has both,
Speaker 2: and he's confident and he looks like a top three
Speaker 2: player in the NBA right now.
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Speaker 1: Okay, I have to mention this, as I've always said,
Speaker 1: in our business, and you're in this business, is I'm not.
Speaker 1: It's not flip flopping. If you give me new stuff,
Speaker 1: I'll have a new opinion. I have never liked six
Speaker 1: four and under players Derrek Rose, John Wall Westbrook that
Speaker 1: can't aren't pure shooters. Nash Curry, little guys don't lead
Speaker 1: the titles anyway. Historically, Curry's and Outliar Isaiah Thomas, both,
Speaker 1: by the way, really good perimeter shooters. Therefore, when you're
Speaker 1: six four and under and can't, especially with no handcheck,
Speaker 1: you get to the rim and you get hit by
Speaker 1: the redwoods and you just hit the floor too often.
Speaker 1: Now Dwayne Wade had a little bit of this because
Speaker 1: he was never a gifted outside shooter. But Dwayne was
Speaker 1: built like a like a running back. I mean, he's
Speaker 1: he looks like an NFL player. So I was always
Speaker 1: like with Westbrook, I'm like, listen, man, this is just
Speaker 1: it just doesn't work for me. But I said, I
Speaker 1: watched him last night, and I thought he was last night.
Speaker 1: The tone center of every great player in that game
Speaker 1: is that Jamal Murray would have an amazing second half.
Speaker 1: Jokicch was off. I never trust Gordon or Porter offensively,
Speaker 1: although I really love Gordon as a player. He is
Speaker 1: so relentless that he almost makes teammates guilty if they
Speaker 1: don't play with energy. Like I mean, you can see why,
Speaker 1: like Harden and Westbrook they're good buddies. They go to Houston,
Speaker 1: they didn't get along, and I think part of it
Speaker 1: was Westbrook is like, Bro, I know you were out
Speaker 1: last night, but you can't bring that last game for
Speaker 1: the Clippers. I mean, Harden might as well have been
Speaker 1: a hologram. I mean, he was invisible. But I watched
Speaker 1: Westbrook and I think, all these years later, what I
Speaker 1: appreciate about him is he plays so hard. He almost
Speaker 1: forces you as a teammate to play harder because you
Speaker 1: and I know this. Some nights, this is asking a
Speaker 1: lot eighty two games playoffs. I mean, Jokich last night
Speaker 1: just doesn't have it. And I was like kind of
Speaker 1: blown away by Westbrook last night and this new found
Speaker 1: ability to hit a three, but it's his energy was
Speaker 1: just ridiculous last night in the first half.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's infectious. It I'm so Glad you said it
Speaker 2: like that, because I've always felt that way in team basketball,
Speaker 2: Like when there is somebody on your team that is
Speaker 2: busting his ass on defense, you look like an idiot
Speaker 2: if you're out there next to him not doing the
Speaker 2: same thing. It screams on film, and like, trust me,
Speaker 2: like these film sessions, like I remember when I was
Speaker 2: in college, Like it's embarrassing when you're sitting in the
Speaker 2: room and you're not doing your job, like and the
Speaker 2: coaches pausing the screen, and like you're jogging back in
Speaker 2: transition defense and he's standing up there pointing at you
Speaker 2: in front of your teammates. Like it laziness stands out
Speaker 2: on the TV, it stands out in film. It especially
Speaker 2: stands out juxtaposed with an energy bunny, and like that
Speaker 2: there's a ton of value there, you know. I've like
Speaker 2: really grown to appreciate Russell Westbrook in this phase of
Speaker 2: his career in a way that I didn't in the past. YEP,
Speaker 2: a couple of different things. He is a guy that
Speaker 2: his motor and physicality actually translates in the postseason really well,
Speaker 2: because he's a very physical player. So like, and we've
Speaker 2: seen so many examples of this in NBA history, the big,
Speaker 2: strong athlete who plays hard just has a lot of
Speaker 2: utility when it's a rock fight, when it's like super
Speaker 2: super physical. During the regular season with the Lakers, there
Speaker 2: was just so much time where he was asked to
Speaker 2: do more than he was capable of. But as this
Speaker 2: has shifted towards him being in a smaller role, he's
Speaker 2: polished up his jump shooting. Like you mentioned earlier, like
Speaker 2: he put in work behind the scenes. He understood, oh,
Speaker 2: if I'm going to stay in this league, I'm going
Speaker 2: to need to be able to hit a corner three.
Speaker 2: And so he's put in a lot of work behind
Speaker 2: the scenes. The second piece of it finding a fit
Speaker 2: that works. So, for instance, Jokic, we've talked about this
Speaker 2: on the show before, inverts your spacing. He brings the
Speaker 2: center away from the basket. That makes it so there's
Speaker 2: fewer redwoods around the basket. And so Russ is Russ
Speaker 2: had a layup missing problem over the years, and he's
Speaker 2: missing fewer layups in Denver because he's getting easier cuts
Speaker 2: right around the rim. And so when you combine the
Speaker 2: little bit of corner three point shooting, the ability to
Speaker 2: finish because of the lack of congestion under the rim
Speaker 2: with the Yolkic team, and then you add to it
Speaker 2: just the way his physicality translates to the playoffs. He's
Speaker 2: become a very useful player for the Nuggets now, like
Speaker 2: a flat out important player in the championship goals.
Speaker 1: No question. And I know that isn't the be all
Speaker 1: end all, but there is something about when you turn
Speaker 1: a television on and you come into the second quarter,
Speaker 1: the players that add something you can usually spot in
Speaker 1: like two possessions, Like you're like, oh, you like to amend.
Speaker 1: Thompson's a great example. You're like, shit, man, that dude
Speaker 1: is physical. He's an intimidating presence. Obviously, great scores almost
Speaker 1: all have that. Russell Westbrook jumps to the TV screen.
Speaker 1: He is just straight gin on the rocks. It's like, pow,
Speaker 1: it hits you. It's who's this guy like cutting you?
Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler's got that too. When he's really into it.
Speaker 1: It's like, dude, who is Like when you're a pro
Speaker 1: athlete and can kind of intimidate other pro athletes and
Speaker 1: it's a man's got it. Butler's got it. Russell's got it. No,
Speaker 1: and you know, it's funny watching Westbrook. I'm thinking, could
Speaker 1: he have always shot threes like this? He's now shooting
Speaker 1: him because he's probably a little less you know. I mean,
Speaker 1: everybody comes down a little bit athletically, and he was
Speaker 1: so hyper athletic. But it is amazing to me to
Speaker 1: watch him shoot threes. I don't know if the shooting
Speaker 1: style has changed, but last night, I'm like, it looked smooth,
Speaker 1: it looked confident and comfortable.
Speaker 2: He's more compact, there's less wasted motion. He's getting good
Speaker 2: energy transfer, like it's straight up and down, there's no hitch.
Speaker 2: I think. I think taking more corner threes has been
Speaker 2: really big for him because it just takes that little
Speaker 2: extra bit of distance off. But it's at the end
Speaker 2: of the day, it's work. It's repetition. I mean Aaron Gordon,
Speaker 2: Aaron Gordon is now like a legitimately good three point shooter.
Speaker 2: You want to know how he built a gym at
Speaker 2: his house and he shot hundreds and hundreds and hundreds
Speaker 2: and hundreds and hundreds of shots for years and years
Speaker 2: and to turn himself into this kind of player and
Speaker 2: not Aaron Gordon has now transformed himself into a player
Speaker 2: that kind of changes the future of the Nuggets because
Speaker 2: of his ability to shoot the three really really well.
Speaker 2: One last thing I wanted to say, the Russell Westbrook thing,
Speaker 2: which I think is fascinating, Like the James Harden juxtaposition
Speaker 2: is crazy to me because you know, there there is
Speaker 2: like levels to competitive fire, right, Like, Like I'm not
Speaker 2: gonna sit here and say James Harden wasn't playing hard
Speaker 2: because you know, he was guarding Jokic for parts of
Speaker 2: the game. He was a big part of the way
Speaker 2: their defensive scheme was set up to keep zoobots on
Speaker 2: the back line. But like there was such a palpable
Speaker 2: difference in intensity except Westbrook aside for a second, look
Speaker 2: at Jokic yelling and screaming. Look at the way he
Speaker 2: acted in game two when his team fell apart, when
Speaker 2: he made a scene on the sideline, ripping those guys
Speaker 2: a new one. There's a level of it. He's screaming
Speaker 2: at the right, there's like a light in his eyes.
Speaker 2: It's it's hard to explain, like an intensity in his
Speaker 2: eyes as a competitor in that game, and James Harden
Speaker 2: looked half asleep, and and it's it's weird. Because like
Speaker 2: I think part of it stems from the way that
Speaker 2: over the course of a series, coaches start to scout
Speaker 2: out your pet actions, they found the coverage that works
Speaker 2: best at that point in the series. The one defender
Speaker 2: in this case, Christian Brown, has been eye to eye
Speaker 2: with James Harden so many times now in this series
Speaker 2: that he's starting to pick up on some of his
Speaker 2: tips and the way that he likes to set up
Speaker 2: his moves. And you start sitting on that same left
Speaker 2: to right crossover, right to left crossover a bunch of times,
Speaker 2: it starts to take on a resemblance for you, and
Speaker 2: you can start to pick up on those cues and
Speaker 2: be ahead of things. And it's always right around this time, Colin,
Speaker 2: right around game five, game six, and a coin flip
Speaker 2: type of series that you see as things get really
Speaker 2: hard for Harden, he kind of just like relaxes and
Speaker 2: with Jokich he goes four to thirteen last night, But
Speaker 2: he's the best player on the floor because he's just
Speaker 2: super intense and he's hyper focused on every advantage on
Speaker 2: every possession because he knows what it takes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's like Steven Adams, isn't it his class But
Speaker 1: the other night I'm watching Steven Adams for Hueston. I'm
Speaker 1: like christ these the most consistent player, Like He's just
Speaker 1: I think, and I love players like that. Now it's
Speaker 1: time for power players, brought to you by bmw the
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Speaker 1: who gave us an electrifying performance in the Nuggets Game
Speaker 1: five win over the Clippers. Wow. Knock down eight threes,
Speaker 1: dropped forty three points. What a second half, His highest
Speaker 1: total since the Disney World pandemic bubble. If Jamal Murray
Speaker 1: continued to shoot like this, he and Jokic and the
Speaker 1: Nuggets could be on their way to hoisting another Larry
Speaker 1: O'Brien trophy. So what is it that sets apart these
Speaker 1: power players from the rest? Bottom line, it's their attention
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Speaker 1: at the highest level. The same goes for bmwix everything
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Speaker 1: just scoring. By the way, before we close this out,
Speaker 1: because we're going to both go watch the Laker game.
Speaker 1: We got into this discussion today. The Mavericks shouldn't have
Speaker 1: traded Luca but and Jack Lowe was talking about this
Speaker 1: on the Ringer is that I would never trade Mahomes,
Speaker 1: Alan Lamar Jackson, but I would now take a call
Speaker 1: on Joe Burrow because of two major injuries. I would
Speaker 1: take a call. I'm not looking to trade him. I
Speaker 1: would take a call on Jalen Hurts, who I still
Speaker 1: think small and okay in the pocket. But there are players,
Speaker 1: you know, like Lebron in his prime got you guaranteed finals.
Speaker 1: MJ got you guaranteed titles. Kareem got you titles. In
Speaker 1: Luca's prime, he guarantees you buckets and those are great.
Speaker 1: But there is a difference between the Lebron and his prime,
Speaker 1: and I think now he'll be in better shape next year.
Speaker 1: The Lakers won the trade. I'm not in any way
Speaker 1: insinuating they didn't crush it, but I think this little
Speaker 1: peak at Luca. Let's face it, when he's on your team,
Speaker 1: you just watch him more. Even if you love the NBA,
Speaker 1: you watch him more. Can you look at him now
Speaker 1: and you watch as much NBA as anybody, But is
Speaker 1: there a part of you, even ten percent that goes
Speaker 1: I get Houston, I get Dallas and Nico taking the call.
Speaker 2: So just because there is a reason to do something
Speaker 2: doesn't mean it's reason enough. And like I see the
Speaker 2: reason like they call it. I'm I'm I don't. I
Speaker 2: don't want to be overly critical of Luca here, because
Speaker 2: it is tough to come into a team right in
Speaker 2: the middle of the season and to do all of
Speaker 2: the things that he's being asked to do. But let
Speaker 2: me just pause it, like, let me just present it
Speaker 2: like this. If Luca outplays ant do the Lakers win
Speaker 2: the series? Let me let me give you one more.
Speaker 1: Literally, the last game at was like six of seven
Speaker 1: against him. So I think that is they don't put
Speaker 1: Luca on ant a ton because for obvious reasons. So
Speaker 1: I'm not sure what the answer.
Speaker 2: Is to that. So in the fourth quarter in this series,
Speaker 2: which is where the games have been decided, Yes.
Speaker 1: The guy Soda was in these close games all year long.
Speaker 2: They did.
Speaker 1: I mean, so it's like that is who they They're
Speaker 1: not pretty enough offensively to blow good teams out. They're
Speaker 1: in all all their games look like this.
Speaker 2: Luca has five made field goals and one assist in
Speaker 2: the fourth quarter in the series, and has ten made
Speaker 2: field goals and seven assists in the fourth quarter in
Speaker 2: the series, he has dramatically outpaced Luca's output when the
Speaker 2: games have been on the line late. Luca is shooting
Speaker 2: five to seventeen in the fourth quarter in the series,
Speaker 2: and he looks blatantly exhausted every single time down the
Speaker 2: stretch of these games. There's been so much focus on
Speaker 2: the fact that he had to play twenty four straight minutes.
Speaker 2: You know who else played twenty four straight minutes in
Speaker 2: that game, Anthony Edwards, he looked fantastic. Julius Randall played
Speaker 2: twenty three and a half of the twenty four available minutes.
Speaker 2: He looked fantastic. He's Garden Lebron, grabbing rebounds, doing all
Speaker 2: that kind of stuff. Lebron, who's forty years old, had
Speaker 2: three of the most absurd defensive plays I've seen. Like,
Speaker 2: Lebron almost single handedly stole that game with defense.
Speaker 1: Yeah, dis stretched the Vincenzo block, and then Fitty Smith
Speaker 1: shot in on the other end.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then he stripped Nasried on the very next possession,
Speaker 2: got another stop, and then he did strip Anthony Edwards
Speaker 2: on what was kind of an iffy call. Aunt was
Speaker 2: kind of already slipping when he was like, but it
Speaker 2: was good defense on that play. The point being like,
Speaker 2: there were four stars in that game that all played
Speaker 2: basically the entire second half. Three of them looked like
Speaker 2: they were spry. For the record, they're all better athletes.
Speaker 2: I'm not expecting Luca to be out there flying around
Speaker 2: like a six to eight freak athlete in those situations,
Speaker 2: but I would expect him to look like Luca. I
Speaker 2: would expect him to look like Luca. And the bottom
Speaker 2: line is is every single time a game has been
Speaker 2: hanging in the balance in this series late, Ant has
Speaker 2: looked like Ant and Luca hasn't, and the Wolves have
Speaker 2: immediately taken control and won the series. And so I
Speaker 2: don't think it's negotiable at all at this point whether
Speaker 2: or not Luca's conditioning is standing in the way of
Speaker 2: whether or not they could have won the series. The
Speaker 2: Lakers controlled the first three quarters. They are capable, They're
Speaker 2: capable of beating this team and in the biggest the
Speaker 2: like for instance, I saw some criticism of Lebron for
Speaker 2: having zero points for the record, Lebron does deserve some criticism.
Speaker 2: He had a bad turnover late. I didn't like the
Speaker 2: three he took off the left wing. Zero points, like
Speaker 2: find a way to score something. But he only took
Speaker 2: two shots in that fourth quarter. You know why, because
Speaker 2: this team has a construct. The construct is we need
Speaker 2: Luca to create offense for us. That's his one job.
Speaker 2: This is one job everyone else, like Lebron's job on
Speaker 2: this team is to be Draymond Green on the other
Speaker 2: end of the floor, you know. And like, yes, Lebron
Speaker 2: could have and should have done more. But I left
Speaker 2: that game very disappointed because I felt like Luca, when
Speaker 2: the series was hanging in the balance, didn't even look
Speaker 2: remotely like himself. If he makes that layup against NOAs Reed,
Speaker 2: which by the way, is just maybe a little bit
Speaker 2: more conditioned athlete than he is right now, doesn't even
Speaker 2: have to be in peak condition, just in good enough
Speaker 2: shape to get the lift to get that ball up
Speaker 2: off the backboard, they win the seri they did, don't
Speaker 2: win the series. They win the game. It's two two.
Speaker 2: But instead he smoked it and then didn't get back
Speaker 2: and transition defense and left nas Reed open. He hit
Speaker 2: a three, and all of a suddenly seven point game
Speaker 2: was a two point game, right right, So like I
Speaker 2: am a huge believer in Luca, I genuinely think he
Speaker 2: could be the best player in the league. There's a
Speaker 2: version of this if he gets in shape where he
Speaker 2: is the best combination of scoring and playmaking talent in
Speaker 2: the NBA after jokicch age is out, And if he
Speaker 2: is and he also gets in good shape and becomes
Speaker 2: just an above average defensive player, that's the best basketball
Speaker 2: player in the world. It's an achievable outcome for him.
Speaker 2: He just has to put in the work behind the scenes.
Speaker 2: And by the way, it's not too late. Maybe he
Speaker 2: can flip the script. But the Lakers are not winning
Speaker 2: tonight and Friday and Sunday unless Luka Doncic outplays Anthony
Speaker 2: Edwards and he he has to win that matchup.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I think that's really well put. Is that
Speaker 1: any listen, It's just years ago I said, and I
Speaker 1: got so much pushback. I said, he's a better version
Speaker 1: of Carmelow He's a better version, there's no question. But
Speaker 1: Carmelo is one of the great I mean, one of
Speaker 1: the great offensive talents we've seen in fifteen years. Like
Speaker 1: he was an absolute bucket against every defender in the league.
Speaker 1: And the truth is so is Luca. But I say
Speaker 1: this most great players, at least for about a seven
Speaker 1: year window in their prime, were great defenders. Now you
Speaker 1: can be Bird and Staff where you're trying really hard
Speaker 1: but you're limited. That's also okay in the locker room.
Speaker 1: But mailing it in sends a message, Harden, Luca Mellow.
Speaker 1: It sends a message like you, guys take it from here.
Speaker 1: And you know, a lot of times in the NBA
Speaker 1: you don't face a profound offensive player on the other end,
Speaker 1: But when you and Aunt are matching up and aunts
Speaker 1: this ascending, dynamic player that you can't take your eyes off,
Speaker 1: you notice, like Luca's defense is noticeably awful. And I
Speaker 1: think it was well said by you.
Speaker 2: Okay, let's well given some credit. We can give a
Speaker 2: hands some credits to like Colin, like he has been
Speaker 2: so so, so incredibly good. Yeah, in the series, he's
Speaker 2: growing before our eyes. You said the other day that
Speaker 2: he's the best young player in the league. I agree.
Speaker 2: I think I think he's the fifth best player in
Speaker 2: the world right now, Like he's playing unbelievable best now.
Speaker 1: I think we've been looking because of the emergence of
Speaker 1: great international players, which I do not think is bad
Speaker 1: for the league. Shoheo Tani. I will argue forever is
Speaker 1: great for baseball. I don't care. But I think Tatum
Speaker 1: and Ant have emerged as the guys. I think it's indisputable,
Speaker 1: and this we're seeing it in real time. One in
Speaker 1: the East, one in the West. It's not deniable because
Speaker 1: they're on the floor with other good players. Ben Caro
Speaker 1: has been up and down. Luca looks over matched, like
Speaker 1: when you can put great players on him and you're like,
Speaker 1: oh wow, Yeah, they've separated worldwide, and so it's good
Speaker 1: for the NBA. I don't think it's necessary to have
Speaker 1: a domestic face of the league. It helps. It's something, right, Jason,
Speaker 1: great toff. Let's go watch the Lakers.
Speaker 2: Yep, see you next week. Colin the volume
Speaker 1: M HM