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Speaker 1: Night here at the volume. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Hope all

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Speaker 1: you guys are having a great week. Just gonna do

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Speaker 1: a quick mail bag today before we get to Game

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Speaker 1: four the Western Conference Finals tonight. We'll be going live

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Speaker 1: on YouTube tonight after the final buzzer. Make sure you

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Speaker 1: guys are there, got like twenty twenty five questions we're

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Speaker 1: going to get to today. You guys know the drill

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Speaker 1: before we get started. Subscribe to Hoops Tonight YouTube channels.

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Speaker 1: You don't miss any more of our videos. Following me

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Speaker 1: on Twitter at underscore JSNLT so you guys don't miss

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Speaker 1: show announcements. Don't forget about a podcast feed wherever you

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Speaker 1: get your podcast on our Hoops Tonight, and then keep

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Speaker 1: dropping mail bag questions and those YouTube comments so we

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Speaker 1: can keep hitting them throughout the rest of the postseason.

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Speaker 1: All right, let's talk some basketball. So the first question,

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Speaker 1: what is your most interesting storyline from a likely MAVs Celtics. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: the Celtics have officially secured their spot in the NBA Finals.

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Speaker 1: The MAVs need one more win to do so. But

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Speaker 1: as we've broken down at nauseum in the show, We're

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Speaker 1: going to get into a little bit deeper today. I

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Speaker 1: don't see a pathway for Minnesota to flip the script

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Speaker 1: against Dallas. I think it's a terrible matchup for them,

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Speaker 1: in addition to the fact that Luca is clearly a

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Speaker 1: better player at this phase of his career than Anthony Edwards,

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Speaker 1: and so I don't really see a path there. So

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Speaker 1: I think the overwhelmingly likely scenario is that we're going

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Speaker 1: to get the MAVs versus the Celtics in the NBA Finals,

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Speaker 1: and so from there, I'm gonna kind of go a

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Speaker 1: little bit deeper into a concept I talked a little

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Speaker 1: bit about last night with Colin Coward. What I think

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Speaker 1: is most interesting about this series is the complete difference

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Speaker 1: in the two builds of these rosters. Right, Boston feels

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Speaker 1: like more of a talent accumulation type of roster. Right,

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Speaker 1: everyone plays positions that compliment each other really well. Right,

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Speaker 1: Like Derek White's more of like a skill guard, right all, so,

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Speaker 1: an excellent defensive player and a great athlete, but he's

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Speaker 1: a guy that can you know, really run a lot

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Speaker 1: of action. Excellent pull up three point shooter when they

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Speaker 1: go to late game situations, it usually ends up being

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Speaker 1: Tatum White two man game, right. But then Drew Hollidy

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Speaker 1: kind of plays that athlete guard guards the other team's

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Speaker 1: best guard kind of thing, right, And then you've got

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Speaker 1: you know, your smaller forward, and then you've got your

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Speaker 1: bigger forward and Jason Tatum, and then you've got that

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Speaker 1: center position with a rim protector and Chris tops porzingis right.

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Speaker 1: But at the same time, none of those guys are

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Speaker 1: like role players, right. Every single one of them has

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Speaker 1: at various points in their careers been playing in very

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Speaker 1: large roles, even like Derek White, who's been a role

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Speaker 1: player and a lot of teams, Like I would argue,

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Speaker 1: at this point, he's become one of the primary decision

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Speaker 1: makers for the Boston Celtics, right, And so that team

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Speaker 1: is you know, as we mentioned in many of the

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Speaker 1: recent episodes, all five of those guys that I just

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Speaker 1: mentioned on the open market, if they were free agents

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Speaker 1: right now, would command over thirty million dollars a year.

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Speaker 1: So it's like a very talented, you know, conglomeration of players.

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Speaker 2: Right.

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Speaker 1: Then we get into Dallas and it's like you've got

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Speaker 1: a player in Luca that I believe is better than

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Speaker 1: Jason Tatum. I believe he's at least the second best

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Speaker 1: player in the league, if not the best player in

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Speaker 1: the league. Right, So, it's more of like a top

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Speaker 1: heavy build where you have Luca and Kyrie and they

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Speaker 1: take on basically the vast majority, They take on the

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Speaker 1: entirety of the offensive decision making part of the offense.

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Speaker 1: That puts everybody else in a play finishing role.

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Speaker 2: Right.

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Speaker 1: So, Derrek Jones Junior, it's ketch and shoot threes, driving closeouts.

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Speaker 2: PJ.

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Speaker 1: Washington, it's ketch and shoot threes, driving close outs, a

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Speaker 1: little bit of work in the dunker spot, maybe the

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Speaker 1: occasional duck in post up. Right, Derek Lively vertical spacing,

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Speaker 1: Daniel Gafford vertical spacing. Every single guy on the team

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Speaker 1: is playing in a play finishing role on the offensive

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Speaker 1: end of the floor. Then you go over to the

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Speaker 1: defense end of the floor, and every single one of

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Speaker 1: those same guys has super focused and important defensive responsibilities.

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Speaker 2: Right. PJ.

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Speaker 1: Washington and Derek Jones Junior are guarding your best guard

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Speaker 1: and forward.

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Speaker 2: On the other team.

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Speaker 1: Lively and Daniel Gafford are running deep drop coverage and

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Speaker 1: protecting the ram and Kyrie and Lucar primarily off ball,

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Speaker 1: although Kyrie's done a good amount of work on ball

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Speaker 1: in this playoff run. Right, So it's like it's a

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Speaker 1: lot of like guys having less talent being focused into

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Speaker 1: very specific roles behind these two super talented offensive players

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Speaker 1: versus Boston, where it's like kind of everyone has to

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Speaker 1: do everything because everyone is a star, right, And so

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Speaker 1: like I do find that to be super super fascinating

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Speaker 1: going into that series, that to me is the most

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Speaker 1: interesting storyline. Another kind of way to look at it

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Speaker 1: is like Luca being potentially the best player in the

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Speaker 1: series versus Boston clearly being the more talented team in

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Speaker 1: the series, and so it's going to be an interesting

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Speaker 1: kind of of you know, case study and whether or

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Speaker 1: not the best player on in the series can elevate

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Speaker 1: his team over more talent. Now again, but for the record,

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Speaker 1: we've seen many times over the years that not be enough. Right, Like,

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Speaker 1: I think Lebron James was clearly the best player in

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Speaker 1: the world from twenty twelve to twenty twenty. I thought

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Speaker 1: that that was clear, and yet there were several examples

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Speaker 1: over that stretch where he did not win the NBA Championship,

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Speaker 1: he won four of them. What is a nine year span,

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Speaker 1: so we lost five of them, right, So like twenty fourteen,

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Speaker 1: that Spurs team just had it cooking in so many

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Speaker 1: different ways offensively and at Dwayne Wade's knee was kind

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Speaker 1: of bothering and the team was kind of just getting

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Speaker 1: a little bit fatigued, a little bit old, right, you know.

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Speaker 1: Twenty fifteen, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving get hurt. Right

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Speaker 1: twenty seventeen. In twenty eighteen, Kevin Durant and Steph Curry,

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Speaker 1: the second and third best players in the world, team

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Speaker 1: up with each other and that ends up being enough

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Speaker 1: to unseat him. Right, twenty nineteen, he has the groin injury. So,

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Speaker 1: like you guys can see the point, Like there are

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Speaker 1: many times in NBA history where the best player in

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Speaker 1: the series does not win. I think just look back

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Speaker 1: at the Denver series, knowing what we know about Anthony

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Speaker 1: Edwards now and seeing that he doesn't have the matchup

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Speaker 1: resiliency that someone like a Luka Doncic has. Now that

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Speaker 1: we've seen that, we can state unequivocally that the best

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Speaker 1: player in the series in the Denver Minnesota Series was

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Speaker 1: Jokic and yet Denver lost, and so we're gonna see

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Speaker 1: if Luca can reverse that trend going into the NBA Finals.

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Speaker 1: Next question, does Dallas have what it takes to upset

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Speaker 1: Boston in the finals. Absolutely, They're an elite defensive team, right.

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Speaker 1: I think a big part of it is going to

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Speaker 1: be Luca attacking and pick and roll. I started to

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Speaker 1: just barely look at some film. We're gonna do a

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Speaker 1: lot of series preview content around this series because we're

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Speaker 1: just gonna have a lot of time. Like, guys, if

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Speaker 1: if Dallas wins tonight, which I think they probably will,

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Speaker 1: but Minnesota's got a shot if Dallas wins tonight, we're

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Speaker 1: looking at eight consecutive days, full days off before the

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Speaker 1: NBA Finals. Like I was thinking, we'll probably go there's

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Speaker 1: two Dallas Boston games. We may just do full breakdowns

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Speaker 1: of both of those games. We might spend an entire

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Speaker 1: show talking about the offense. We might bring on Chris Mannix,

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Speaker 1: we might bring on those of you guys who were Dallas.

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Speaker 1: If you guys have a specific like team, someone who

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Speaker 1: covers the Mavericks really closely that you guys think is

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Speaker 1: great at it, drop it in the comments I'll see

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Speaker 1: if I can't reach out and get them on the show.

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Speaker 1: We're gonna have a lot of fun previewing this series,

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Speaker 1: and we're gonna get into all those details. But one

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Speaker 1: of the things that I noticed in my initial kind

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Speaker 1: of look at some film yesterday is Luca is too

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Speaker 1: big for everybody on Boston pretty much except for Jason Tatum.

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Speaker 1: And so I think a big thing is Boston's not

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Speaker 1: gonna want to put Jason Tatum on Luca, especially not

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Speaker 1: early in the series. I think Drew Holliday is gonna

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Speaker 1: get that assignment a lot, right. I think Jalen Brown

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Speaker 1: and Drew Holliday are gonna be the guys that see

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Speaker 1: the majority of the time on him. And like, you know,

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Speaker 1: first possession of the game in Boston, like Luca gets

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Speaker 1: Drew Holliday on his hip and just methodically works him

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Speaker 1: down into the lane, waits for chrisops Porzingis to recover

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Speaker 1: to the role man, and then he just shoots an

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Speaker 1: easy little floater over Drew Holliday and he turns around

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Speaker 1: and makes the too small symbol, right, So, like I

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Speaker 1: think that that's gonna be kind of like where this

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Speaker 1: series hinges is can Luca really strangle the pace of

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Speaker 1: the game and pick the Celtics defense apart in the

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Speaker 1: half court because if you can and keep the game

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Speaker 1: kind of slowed down in intense and high pressure, maybe

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Speaker 1: on the other end of the floor, can your elite

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Speaker 1: defense play Boston into some of their worst tendencies. Now,

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Speaker 1: one of the things that's going to be interesting is

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Speaker 1: Boston is very much a spread you out type of

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Speaker 1: driving kick offense, which is very, very different than what

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Speaker 1: Minnesota does, right, and like, you're not gonna have the

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Speaker 1: luxury that you have in this series of having Daniel

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Speaker 1: Gafford and Derek Lively just spark in the paint because

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Speaker 1: Rudy Gobert is terrible at making anything other than a dunk.

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna actually pull up this stat real quick. I

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Speaker 1: tweeted it out yesterday, but I pulled this up on

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Speaker 1: Synergy yesterday and I was like literally blown away. So,

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Speaker 1: Rudy Gobert is this that is like legitimately insane. Let's see,

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Speaker 1: Rudy Gobert is shooting sixteen for thirty five on layups

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Speaker 1: in this playoff run and three for eleven on floaters

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Speaker 1: in hook So like that's one of the things that

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Speaker 1: allows Derek Lively and Daniel Gafford to just kind of

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Speaker 1: roam off of Gobert and help in the lane is like,

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Speaker 1: unless it's a clean dunk, Gobart's probably not gonna make it.

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Speaker 1: And so that buys you that luxury. That's not what

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Speaker 1: it's gonna be like with Al Horford and chrisops porzingis

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Speaker 1: they're gonna be operating primarily from the three point line

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Speaker 1: and it's gonna be a lot more about covering in space. Now,

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Speaker 1: this is where we've found out that Maxi Kleba is

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Speaker 1: coming back tonight. That's a big deal for Dallas, right,

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Speaker 1: Like having Kleba back gives you the ability to put

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Speaker 1: lineups out there with Kleba, PJ. Washington, and Derek Jones

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Speaker 1: Junior all on the floor at the same time, and

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Speaker 1: then you can you can put those guys on Tatum

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Speaker 1: and Brown and Derek White and ask Kyrie to do

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Speaker 1: a somewhat easier job of guarding someone like a Drew

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Speaker 1: Holliday and ask Luca to maybe be the guy who's

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Speaker 1: hedging and recovering on an on an Al Horford or

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Speaker 1: something along those lines. Like they're they're gonna have options,

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Speaker 1: more options by virtue of having Maxi Kleba back, but

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Speaker 1: it's gonna be much more of a of a defend

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Speaker 1: in space type of series, whereas this series is much

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Speaker 1: more of a load up and pack the paint type

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Speaker 1: of series.

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Speaker 2: So it's going to be very, very different.

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Speaker 1: But Dallas certainly has what it takes and it's all

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Speaker 1: going to come down to Luca just completely dominating the series,

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Speaker 1: and it's going to come down to physical perimeter containment

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Speaker 1: from Dallas's perimeter defenders. And if they can do that

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Speaker 1: in kind of play Boston into their worst tendencies, I

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Speaker 1: think they've got a good chance. Who is the best

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Speaker 1: lob thrower in NBA history and why is it? Luka

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Speaker 1: Doncic I was thinking about this earlier. I think it's

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Speaker 1: probably Luca as well. There are a lot of really

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Speaker 1: good lob throwers that have seen over the years, like

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Speaker 1: guys like Trey Young, guys like Chris Paul. Lebron was

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Speaker 1: always good at he just never played with a vertical

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Speaker 1: spacing threat until Anthony Davis, and he's been pretty good

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Speaker 1: at connecting him with lobbs. But the problem with Lebron

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Speaker 1: and Ad is they play very similar positions, so teams

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Speaker 1: will typically switch those ball screens, and so lebron ad

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Speaker 1: picking rolls out something you see a ton of unless

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Speaker 1: you're playing against a drop coverage big, right, But I

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Speaker 1: think it's clear Luca. One of the big things that

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Speaker 1: I think makes him the best at it is he's tall,

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Speaker 1: and like you got to think, so, what makes a

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Speaker 1: lob open. A lob is open when the rim protector

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Speaker 1: leaves the lob threat. Right, If the rim protector is

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Speaker 1: leaving the lob threat, that means that a seven footer

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Speaker 1: or some sort of large center type player is leaving

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Speaker 1: that guy to pressure Luca, and so he's got to

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Speaker 1: be able to get that pass over the tall player.

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Speaker 1: I put in the film session yesterday. Do you guys

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Speaker 1: remember that transition post up of Mike Conley where Luca

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Speaker 1: spun baseline and threw the lob up to I think

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Speaker 1: it was Gafford, it might have been Lively, it doesn't matter.

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Speaker 1: But on that play, Gobert left him and double team

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Speaker 1: Luca and came up arms up, and Luca just happened

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Speaker 1: to get the pass up over the top of him,

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Speaker 1: which is just a kind of like a benefit of

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Speaker 1: him being as tall as he is. I've been saying

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Speaker 1: this for a while, but I think Luca is the

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Speaker 1: only current NBA player that can contend for goats status thoughts.

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Speaker 1: So I was looking at I thought about this for

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Speaker 1: a little while this morning because I kind of think

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Speaker 1: of like three tiers of young players, Like the guys

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Speaker 1: in that like age twenty seven to thirty range that

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Speaker 1: are like kind of in the heart of their prime

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Speaker 1: right now. There's like the guys that are in that

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Speaker 1: like twenty five to twenty six, twenty four to twenty

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Speaker 1: five to twenty six range. Those to me are the

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Speaker 1: guys that are just entering into their prime. And then

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Speaker 1: there's the guys that are in their early twenties that

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Speaker 1: are like very clearly just like raw talent, that are

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Speaker 1: still kind of getting into that phase. In the older tier,

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Speaker 1: Jannis and Jokic, they both have a title, right but

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Speaker 1: they both turn thirty next year. It's a one championship.

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Speaker 1: Entering into your thirties, they just would have to go

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Speaker 1: on an absolutely crazy run over the next five years

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Speaker 1: to enter into those conversations.

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Speaker 2: So that feels pretty unlikely.

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Speaker 1: Joel Embiid he doesn't have one yet, and he's gonna

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Speaker 1: be thirty. I think he might actually already be thirty.

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Speaker 1: But like Embiid is probably off of that, off of

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Speaker 1: that you know, pathway right in Luca's tier, which is

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Speaker 1: the kind of guys in that you know, twenty four

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Speaker 1: to twenty five to twenty six age bracket. I put Luca, Shakekilojos, Alexander,

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Speaker 1: Jason Tatum, and Devin Booker. Devin Booker just I don't

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Speaker 1: I just don't think he has that upside. Jason Tatum,

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Speaker 1: I think is a really good and maybe even a

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Speaker 1: bit underrated basketball player, but I don't think that he's

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Speaker 1: in the tier of players that can really like dominate

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Speaker 1: the league for a half of a decade. Like like,

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Speaker 1: I think he's the perfect fit for this super talented

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Speaker 1: Boston roster, but I think if you swapped him with like,

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Speaker 1: with a guy like Luca and put him in a

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Speaker 1: role where he really had to run an offense by

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Speaker 1: himself or with only one secondary shot creator for an

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Speaker 1: eighty two game season, I just don't think he's the

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Speaker 1: kind of guy that can really do that at.

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Speaker 2: A super high level. Shaek yios.

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Speaker 1: Alexander is damn good, but I don't think he's as

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Speaker 1: good as Luca, So I think Luca is really the

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Speaker 1: only guy in his tier that can do it. But

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Speaker 1: in the next generation, I think there's two guys that

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Speaker 1: can do it. I think Victor webbin Yama has that potential,

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Speaker 1: and I think Anthony Edwards has that potential. But it's

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Speaker 1: just completely raw potential with those two. So it's like

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Speaker 1: there's a there's a huge, wide rue range of outcomes

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Speaker 1: for them, and as you get older, those ranges of

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Speaker 1: outcomes kind of zero in between where your current development

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Speaker 1: is and what your potential upside is, right, And so yeah,

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Speaker 1: I think that I think that Lucas certainly has that potential,

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Speaker 1: but I also think that there are some guys in

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Speaker 1: the younger generation that have that potential. What is it

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Speaker 1: that separates go Baar in the eyes of voters from

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Speaker 1: players like Ad Bam and Victor wemen Yama. I find

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Speaker 1: it odd that media voters complained about him winning just

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Speaker 1: to vote for him year after year. So voters, I've

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Speaker 1: one of the big things that I learned after I

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Speaker 1: got into this business. A good percentage of voters rely

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Speaker 1: heavily on metrics, which is crazy to me, but it

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Speaker 1: is what it is, and I've had one of those

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Speaker 1: guys explain to me the reasoning and their whole thing

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Speaker 1: is like the eye test is flawed, but numbers are unbiased,

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Speaker 1: and that's a good way to look at it. I

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Speaker 1: think that that's absurd personally, but that is the way

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Speaker 1: that so many voters think.

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Speaker 2: And there's just a lot of really good.

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Speaker 1: Metrics that support Rudy Gobert being the best regular season defender,

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Speaker 1: and even though defensive metrics in particular are very flawed,

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Speaker 1: a lot of people kind of key in on that

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Speaker 1: sort of thing. I think the second piece of it

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Speaker 1: is people are just enamored with the fact that Gobert

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Speaker 1: is like super engaged defensively all the time, which is

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Speaker 1: completely ridiculous when you factor in the responsibilities that Anthony

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Speaker 1: Davis has, that bam Adebayo has, that Victor Webmbinyama has

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Speaker 1: a D and bam we're both like folkrum ball screeners

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Speaker 1: in a five out offense all year, like they were

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Speaker 1: guys that had to like consistently make decisions and set

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Speaker 1: screens and roll hard to the rim, not in a

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Speaker 1: way like Rudy Gobert where it's like maybe you'll catch

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Speaker 1: and finish every once in a while, they were expected

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Speaker 1: to score. They were expected to score consistently on the

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Speaker 1: offensive end of the floor. And Victor webbin Yama obviously

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Speaker 1: as well, is a guy that is a primary initiator

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Speaker 1: for his team, and so like I can speak to

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Speaker 1: this from personal experience. Like when I was in college.

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Speaker 1: When I was in junior college, I was like one

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Speaker 1: of the best scorers on my team. I was the

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Speaker 1: guy that had the ball in my hands a ton.

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Speaker 1: Then I went to Naia, and when I was there,

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Speaker 1: I played alongside two All American guards. My role fundamentally

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Speaker 1: changed from guy who had the ball in his hands

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Speaker 1: to I stayed on the floor and like kept my

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Speaker 1: spot in the lineup by basically devoting all of my

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Speaker 1: energy towards guarding the other team's best player and trying

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Speaker 1: to knock corner threes down right. So like in that

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Speaker 1: every game I went in like all I cared about

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Speaker 1: was defense, defense, defense, because that was how I kept

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Speaker 1: my job while I was playing alongside really good offensive players.

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Speaker 1: And so that's what Rudy Gobert does. Rudy Gobert goes

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Speaker 1: into tonight's game, He's not thinking about anything on the

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Speaker 1: offensive end. The only thing Rudy Gobert is thinking about

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Speaker 1: tonight going into the game is how do I anchor

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Speaker 1: this defense? Whereas Anthony Davis when he's going into Game

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Speaker 1: five in Denver, he's thinking, man, I got to give

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Speaker 1: him an efficient thirty tonight two, you know what I mean.

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Speaker 1: And so like there's just a lot of pressure sure

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Speaker 1: on those guys to do more. And I genuinely think

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Speaker 1: all three of those guys and arguably Draymond as well,

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Speaker 1: are better defensive players in a vacuum than Rudy Gobert.

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Speaker 1: But because Rudy Gobert devotes all of his energy in

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Speaker 1: that direction, he puts up these crazy metrics and all

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Speaker 1: the voters just kind of glom onto that sort of

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Speaker 1: thing and they run with it every single year. And

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Speaker 1: so Rudy Gobert has four Defensive Player of the Year trophies,

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Speaker 1: and I think he's probably somewhere around the fifth to

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Speaker 1: seventh best defensive player in the world. And it is

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Speaker 1: what it is. If the Timberwolves mostly Towns and Ant

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Speaker 1: were playing like they were the first two rounds, would

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Speaker 1: they be up three to zero or at least two

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Speaker 1: to one. I mean, yeah, But think about why they're

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Speaker 1: playing poorly. They're not playing poorly, like so many people

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Speaker 1: want to point to this as like some sort of

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Speaker 1: mental shortcoming, like, oh, you know, Carl Towns and Anthony

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Speaker 1: Edwards just ran into this aura of Luka Doncic and

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Speaker 1: then they just crumbled the pieces. No, Like they're playing

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Speaker 1: a very different defense than they did in the first

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Speaker 1: two rounds. They are completely incapable of getting into the paint.

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Speaker 1: All of Minnesota's paint finishes have come off the ball,

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Speaker 1: either through cleanups around the rim, put backs, or attacking

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Speaker 1: closeouts on the weekside. Carltown's in Anthony Edwards are not

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Speaker 1: consistently getting into the lane because of elite perimeter athleticism

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Speaker 1: and elite vertical athleticism under the rim for Dallas, and

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Speaker 1: so again, like they're not playing well, but there's a

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Speaker 1: basketball reason for that, Like we got to get out

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Speaker 1: of this hole, like, oh, they crumbled under the pressure. No, no, no,

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Speaker 1: Like there's generally speaking, if the basketball conditions are favorable,

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Speaker 1: a player is gonna play well, and if basketball conditions

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Speaker 1: are not favorable, they're not going to play well. And again,

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Speaker 1: it's exposed a couple of weaknesses as we've gone over

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Speaker 1: in this series. I've consistently said Carl Anthony Towns is

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Speaker 1: a guy that if you can flatten out his drives

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Speaker 1: and shut off the lane from him, he's an inconsistent

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Speaker 1: over the top shooter, and so you will turn him

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Speaker 1: into a make or miss guy, and he's been missing

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Speaker 1: in this series. That's something that can happen with Karl

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Speaker 1: Anthony Towns. Anthony Edwards his flies, he's all one speed

429
00:20:59,320 --> 00:21:01,440
Speaker 1: right now, and so he's got to learn against these

430
00:21:01,480 --> 00:21:04,399
Speaker 1: super packed in defenses how to be more methodical to

431
00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:07,000
Speaker 1: manipulate help defenders, which is going to take him a

432
00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:11,880
Speaker 1: few more years of experience. There's two of these. I'm

433
00:21:11,920 --> 00:21:14,439
Speaker 1: so relieved that Jason is leaning Boston. Would have crushed

434
00:21:14,480 --> 00:21:16,520
Speaker 1: my soul for him to give us his curse. The

435
00:21:16,560 --> 00:21:19,679
Speaker 1: second one, Please don't pick the MAVs to win, Jason,

436
00:21:19,720 --> 00:21:23,560
Speaker 1: don't do it. First of all, I literally picked the

437
00:21:23,600 --> 00:21:26,440
Speaker 1: MAVs to win against the Clippers. I picked the MAVs

438
00:21:26,440 --> 00:21:28,840
Speaker 1: to win against the thunder when they were an underdog.

439
00:21:29,119 --> 00:21:31,920
Speaker 1: So was I cursing the MAVs. Then, in my pre

440
00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:37,400
Speaker 1: playoffs contender rankings, I had Denver one, Boston to Dallas three.

441
00:21:37,520 --> 00:21:41,080
Speaker 1: So like I obviously was a huge believer in Dallas

442
00:21:41,119 --> 00:21:44,000
Speaker 1: all along, I picked against them in this specific series

443
00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:46,880
Speaker 1: in a razor thin margin. And then I also laid

444
00:21:46,880 --> 00:21:49,520
Speaker 1: out in the series preview all the different reasons that

445
00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:53,280
Speaker 1: Dallas could win, including Jada McDaniels might be too skinny

446
00:21:53,320 --> 00:21:57,280
Speaker 1: for Luca, including Dallas has real rim protection that might

447
00:21:57,320 --> 00:22:02,000
Speaker 1: cause problems for Anthony Edwards and Karl Anthony Towns. In

448
00:22:02,040 --> 00:22:05,080
Speaker 1: the lane, I also mentioned like I thought Luca's knee

449
00:22:05,160 --> 00:22:07,040
Speaker 1: might be in rough shape and it might cause some problems.

450
00:22:07,080 --> 00:22:09,480
Speaker 1: It clearly has not been an issue. So like, first

451
00:22:09,520 --> 00:22:11,600
Speaker 1: of all, I haven't cursed your team. Second of all,

452
00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:14,120
Speaker 1: I've been consistently on the Dallas bandwagon for the most

453
00:22:14,160 --> 00:22:16,560
Speaker 1: part over the course of the latter portion of the year,

454
00:22:16,560 --> 00:22:20,080
Speaker 1: So I really don't know where all that sentiment comes from.

455
00:22:20,320 --> 00:22:23,640
Speaker 1: Why don't teams target Luca? Why didn't they put him

456
00:22:23,680 --> 00:22:25,960
Speaker 1: in pick and roll? So, first of all, there's a

457
00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:28,640
Speaker 1: reason why the Wolves can't because Luca has been targeted

458
00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:31,320
Speaker 1: on occasion in this series, and he's ended up on

459
00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:34,240
Speaker 1: an island against you know, Luca, or against Anthony Edwards

460
00:22:34,320 --> 00:22:37,600
Speaker 1: or against Carl Anthony Towns. The reason why the Wolves

461
00:22:37,600 --> 00:22:39,439
Speaker 1: are struggling with it is think about it like this.

462
00:22:40,680 --> 00:22:43,879
Speaker 1: If it has Derek Jones Junior on him and he

463
00:22:44,080 --> 00:22:49,840
Speaker 1: brings Luca into the screen, gets a switch at that point,

464
00:22:50,200 --> 00:22:53,679
Speaker 1: where's Gobert if it's an ISO. If it's an ISO,

465
00:22:53,760 --> 00:22:56,720
Speaker 1: go Beart's sitting underneath the basket in the dunker spot, right,

466
00:22:57,440 --> 00:23:01,760
Speaker 1: and who's guarding him Derek Leivelier Daniel Gaffer Right. So

467
00:23:01,880 --> 00:23:05,879
Speaker 1: Luca's defensive job becomes very simple. Just press up on

468
00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:08,880
Speaker 1: Ant and make him drive, and if he drives, he's

469
00:23:08,920 --> 00:23:12,080
Speaker 1: just gonna drive into all of this damn traffic underneath

470
00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:14,040
Speaker 1: the rim. Dallas has also been helping heavily off of

471
00:23:14,119 --> 00:23:16,879
Speaker 1: Jade McDaniels all serious. So it's not that they're not

472
00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:18,919
Speaker 1: trying to target Luca, it's just it doesn't solve the

473
00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:22,320
Speaker 1: fundamental problem, which is Ant can get by his man.

474
00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:24,920
Speaker 1: That's not the issue. Even Derek Jeonge Jr. And can

475
00:23:24,920 --> 00:23:27,920
Speaker 1: get by him. It's the totality of the team defense

476
00:23:27,960 --> 00:23:30,040
Speaker 1: on the way they're packing the paint, and with Gobaert

477
00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:33,200
Speaker 1: and McDaniels being left open, how they're incapable of consistently

478
00:23:33,240 --> 00:23:39,560
Speaker 1: making them pay for doing that. But Boston is very,

479
00:23:39,600 --> 00:23:42,280
Speaker 1: very big on matchup attacking. Up until the point where

480
00:23:42,280 --> 00:23:45,480
Speaker 1: Tyres Aliburton left the series, the vast majority of action

481
00:23:45,520 --> 00:23:48,040
Speaker 1: they were running was targeting Tyros Aliburton either on the

482
00:23:48,080 --> 00:23:50,280
Speaker 1: ball through pick and roll or off the ball through

483
00:23:50,359 --> 00:23:52,640
Speaker 1: inverted pick and roll where he was hedging and recovering.

484
00:23:53,200 --> 00:23:56,920
Speaker 1: Boston was going at him every single time down the floor. Also,

485
00:23:57,080 --> 00:24:00,080
Speaker 1: Boston can get centers out of the paint because they

486
00:24:00,080 --> 00:24:03,399
Speaker 1: have shooting bigs, so they can like legitimately play five

487
00:24:03,560 --> 00:24:06,960
Speaker 1: out all the time, right, And so from that perspective,

488
00:24:07,040 --> 00:24:08,919
Speaker 1: I do think Luca will get targeted a lot more

489
00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:11,560
Speaker 1: consistently in the Boston series, and it will come down to,

490
00:24:12,119 --> 00:24:15,439
Speaker 1: you know, is is Dallas willing to hedge and recover

491
00:24:15,600 --> 00:24:16,960
Speaker 1: or are they just gonna have to double team m

492
00:24:17,040 --> 00:24:18,920
Speaker 1: out of those situations or is Luca just gonna slide

493
00:24:18,920 --> 00:24:20,720
Speaker 1: his feet and do it. Well, we're gonna find out

494
00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:26,720
Speaker 1: in that next round. Every Luca play description as you saying,

495
00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:29,720
Speaker 1: watch how Luca bumps Jayden to create separation, or watch

496
00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:31,679
Speaker 1: how Luca hits him so hard he goes flying, or

497
00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:34,359
Speaker 1: Luca gives him a little off arm creating separation, or

498
00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:37,000
Speaker 1: watch Luca bump Jaden with the drop step here, with

499
00:24:37,119 --> 00:24:39,679
Speaker 1: each being followed by Lucas step back. This action is

500
00:24:39,720 --> 00:24:42,119
Speaker 1: never called an offensive foul. How can anyone guard this

501
00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:45,000
Speaker 1: type of play effectively? Basketball is a contact sport. I

502
00:24:45,040 --> 00:24:46,679
Speaker 1: hate to break it to you. That's just what it is.

503
00:24:46,920 --> 00:24:51,360
Speaker 1: It's not like every single basketball Not only is basketball

504
00:24:51,400 --> 00:24:54,440
Speaker 1: contact sport, it becomes more and more of a contact

505
00:24:54,480 --> 00:24:56,840
Speaker 1: sport the later you get into the playoffs. And that's

506
00:24:56,880 --> 00:24:59,240
Speaker 1: just not even that's not even just a NBA thing.

507
00:24:59,240 --> 00:25:01,760
Speaker 1: That's at every life, whether it's high school, when you

508
00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:04,080
Speaker 1: get into the playoffs, it gets more physical. Whether it's

509
00:25:04,080 --> 00:25:06,640
Speaker 1: an NCAA tournament game, it gets like that, whether it's

510
00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:09,399
Speaker 1: a money tournament where there's money on the line and

511
00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:12,399
Speaker 1: guys are playing like it, just anytime the intensity in

512
00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:15,600
Speaker 1: stakes rise, it becomes a contact sport. And so that's

513
00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:18,000
Speaker 1: why if you look back through NBA history, it's usually

514
00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:20,400
Speaker 1: the big strong guys who end up playing the best.

515
00:25:20,440 --> 00:25:22,480
Speaker 1: It ends up being the Lucas, it ends up being

516
00:25:22,480 --> 00:25:24,600
Speaker 1: the jokic As, it ends up being the Lebron james As,

517
00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:27,000
Speaker 1: it ends up being the Giannises in this league, right,

518
00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:32,240
Speaker 1: the big strong guys who have the most success. Why

519
00:25:32,280 --> 00:25:34,399
Speaker 1: are you so convinced that Ant will just learn to

520
00:25:34,440 --> 00:25:36,720
Speaker 1: be a smart player and game controller. He will improve,

521
00:25:36,720 --> 00:25:38,639
Speaker 1: of course, but he has an enormous gap to close

522
00:25:38,680 --> 00:25:40,960
Speaker 1: with guys like Luka or Jokis. I'm sure he will

523
00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:42,679
Speaker 1: be a brilliant player for years to come, but I

524
00:25:42,680 --> 00:25:44,159
Speaker 1: do not really see the signs of him being a

525
00:25:44,200 --> 00:25:47,240
Speaker 1: great decision maker consistently. I have the impression that Wemby

526
00:25:47,280 --> 00:25:49,040
Speaker 1: is more likely to have that type of impact, and

527
00:25:49,080 --> 00:25:51,400
Speaker 1: he is in his and he is in his way

528
00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:53,320
Speaker 1: also a freak of nature like Ant. So if anyone

529
00:25:53,359 --> 00:25:54,840
Speaker 1: is going to be an outstanding force in the league

530
00:25:54,880 --> 00:25:56,640
Speaker 1: other than Luca or Jokic, it's going to be Wemby,

531
00:25:57,000 --> 00:25:57,480
Speaker 1: not Ant.

532
00:25:57,560 --> 00:25:58,080
Speaker 2: Here's the thing.

533
00:25:58,240 --> 00:26:00,600
Speaker 1: Wenby's a very different type of player Ant, but he

534
00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:03,600
Speaker 1: also has that type of potential. I absolutely think that

535
00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:04,800
Speaker 1: Wemby could be.

536
00:26:04,640 --> 00:26:05,080
Speaker 2: Better than it.

537
00:26:05,160 --> 00:26:06,960
Speaker 1: He should be better than it, right, Like, he's got

538
00:26:06,960 --> 00:26:09,600
Speaker 1: the best set of physical tools ever in the history

539
00:26:09,680 --> 00:26:11,399
Speaker 1: of NBA prospects.

540
00:26:11,480 --> 00:26:11,640
Speaker 2: Right.

541
00:26:11,680 --> 00:26:13,840
Speaker 1: So, like, Wemby's kind of like a different thing as

542
00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:16,000
Speaker 1: far as ANTC goes. He's twenty two years old, guys,

543
00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:19,040
Speaker 1: He's twenty two years old. Michael Jordan and Lebron James

544
00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:21,160
Speaker 1: didn't win their first titles until they were twenty seven.

545
00:26:21,600 --> 00:26:25,720
Speaker 1: That's five years, five more playoff runs. Like, think about

546
00:26:25,720 --> 00:26:28,560
Speaker 1: how long ago five years was. Five years ago Kwhi

547
00:26:28,680 --> 00:26:31,760
Speaker 1: Leonard was playing for the Toronto Raptors. Five years ago,

548
00:26:31,840 --> 00:26:35,439
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant was still wearing a Golden State Warriors jersey. Okay, Like,

549
00:26:35,520 --> 00:26:38,480
Speaker 1: that's how far we have to get for Aunt to

550
00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:40,920
Speaker 1: be able to win a title on the same schedule

551
00:26:41,080 --> 00:26:44,679
Speaker 1: as the lebron James Michael Jordan's tier of guys at

552
00:26:44,680 --> 00:26:47,719
Speaker 1: the top of the league in NBA history, right, So, Like,

553
00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:51,640
Speaker 1: I wouldn't overthink that. And most importantly, I've seen encouraging

554
00:26:51,680 --> 00:26:55,879
Speaker 1: signs having that disastrous first half in Game seven and

555
00:26:55,920 --> 00:26:58,439
Speaker 1: then figuring out how to be deeply impactful in the

556
00:26:58,480 --> 00:27:01,679
Speaker 1: second half. That was a huge, huge sign of adaptability

557
00:27:01,680 --> 00:27:04,240
Speaker 1: from Ant, even in this series. I know every Mavericks

558
00:27:04,280 --> 00:27:06,320
Speaker 1: fan is just convinced it was because of Lively. I

559
00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:09,960
Speaker 1: thoroughly disagree. In terms of his overall approach. He was

560
00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:12,200
Speaker 1: much smarter in the second half of Game three. No,

561
00:27:12,320 --> 00:27:14,639
Speaker 1: it's not gonna be enough to turn the series around,

562
00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:17,200
Speaker 1: but he is adaptable, he is learning, and he is

563
00:27:17,320 --> 00:27:20,720
Speaker 1: rapidly improving. Give this dude five more offseasons, five more

564
00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:24,480
Speaker 1: eighty two game grinds, five more playoff runs. He's gonna

565
00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:27,560
Speaker 1: be so damn good. Guys, He's gonna be so damn good.

566
00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:31,679
Speaker 1: It looked like he might be ahead of schedule. Turns

567
00:27:31,680 --> 00:27:34,040
Speaker 1: out still needs some more time. But that doesn't mean

568
00:27:34,080 --> 00:27:36,640
Speaker 1: we need to pretend the dude is incapable of reaching

569
00:27:36,680 --> 00:27:39,479
Speaker 1: where he wants to get to need the Boston Verse

570
00:27:39,560 --> 00:27:43,120
Speaker 1: MAVs breakdown. Like I said, obviously, we're gonna wait until

571
00:27:43,160 --> 00:27:46,520
Speaker 1: after the MAVs series ends, but we will do many,

572
00:27:46,600 --> 00:27:51,119
Speaker 1: many layers of series preview content for this matchup, a

573
00:27:51,160 --> 00:27:54,200
Speaker 1: ton of film, probably gonna have some guests on as well.

574
00:27:54,320 --> 00:27:55,920
Speaker 1: We're gonna have lots to get into over the course

575
00:27:55,960 --> 00:28:00,440
Speaker 1: of the coming week. How has Ant's potential changed zero

576
00:28:00,520 --> 00:28:02,520
Speaker 1: after the series? You just said in this video that

577
00:28:02,560 --> 00:28:04,920
Speaker 1: he will need considerably more time to reach the peak,

578
00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:08,680
Speaker 1: So that's considerably less rings for him. He potentially could

579
00:28:08,680 --> 00:28:11,240
Speaker 1: have started winning championships starting this season, but now it'll

580
00:28:11,240 --> 00:28:12,840
Speaker 1: take him a couple more years to get his first.

581
00:28:12,880 --> 00:28:15,960
Speaker 1: The potential does change, No, it doesn't. Lebron James and

582
00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:18,879
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan didn't win their first until twenty seven and

583
00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:21,960
Speaker 1: they've combined to win ten. He was on pace to

584
00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:25,320
Speaker 1: be way ahead of schedule. It looks like he's a

585
00:28:25,359 --> 00:28:27,280
Speaker 1: little bit He's got a ways to go. But guys,

586
00:28:27,320 --> 00:28:33,879
Speaker 1: he's twenty two. He barely can order a beer. Okay, Jason,

587
00:28:33,920 --> 00:28:37,280
Speaker 1: I love the channel and have improved my understanding of

588
00:28:37,280 --> 00:28:40,000
Speaker 1: basketball measurably thanks to your logical and insightful breakdowns of

589
00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:41,680
Speaker 1: the game. I used the logic you taught me to

590
00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:44,800
Speaker 1: predict that the MAVs have many advantages in this matchup

591
00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:48,640
Speaker 1: and that should put them as considerable favorite, despite what

592
00:28:48,680 --> 00:28:51,440
Speaker 1: the overall narratives were surrounding the series. Looking back on

593
00:28:51,480 --> 00:28:53,080
Speaker 1: your coverage, I believe you have the basketball like Q

594
00:28:53,200 --> 00:28:55,440
Speaker 1: and experience to have gone against the majority of your

595
00:28:55,440 --> 00:28:58,800
Speaker 1: peers and predicted the shape of this matchup before game one,

596
00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:01,560
Speaker 1: but you allowed yourself to be moved by more narrative

597
00:29:01,600 --> 00:29:03,920
Speaker 1: based statements such as Edwards is playing like a top

598
00:29:03,960 --> 00:29:06,600
Speaker 1: five player in the league, or that either Denver or

599
00:29:06,680 --> 00:29:09,880
Speaker 1: Mini could easily beat Dallas or Oklahoma City. Do you

600
00:29:09,880 --> 00:29:11,400
Speaker 1: think this is a fair assessment and that if you

601
00:29:11,400 --> 00:29:14,600
Speaker 1: followed your own processes more strictly, you could have predicted

602
00:29:14,600 --> 00:29:18,480
Speaker 1: this series more accurately. So, first of all, I really

603
00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:21,160
Speaker 1: do try to look at the basketball before going into

604
00:29:21,240 --> 00:29:23,600
Speaker 1: the series. If you guys, go go back and listen

605
00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:27,200
Speaker 1: to the series preview and you'll hear a lot of

606
00:29:27,240 --> 00:29:29,680
Speaker 1: the same shit that's happened in the series. I specifically

607
00:29:29,680 --> 00:29:32,400
Speaker 1: brought up McDaniels might not be able to guard Luca.

608
00:29:32,440 --> 00:29:35,720
Speaker 1: I specifically brought up that the rim protection might be

609
00:29:35,760 --> 00:29:38,400
Speaker 1: an issue for Anthony Edwards and Carl Anthony Towns. I

610
00:29:38,440 --> 00:29:42,120
Speaker 1: specifically brought up that Derek Jones Junior was a freaky

611
00:29:42,160 --> 00:29:44,240
Speaker 1: athlete that might be able to have some more success

612
00:29:44,320 --> 00:29:46,800
Speaker 1: keeping Anthony Edwards in front off of the dribble. I

613
00:29:46,800 --> 00:29:49,520
Speaker 1: looked at all those advantages. I think where I specifically

614
00:29:49,560 --> 00:29:53,480
Speaker 1: made a mistake was I knew Dallas's rim protection would

615
00:29:53,520 --> 00:29:56,360
Speaker 1: be different than Denver. I just thought ant would have

616
00:29:56,440 --> 00:30:00,680
Speaker 1: more success against it. So, like, honestly, like it's this

617
00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:03,320
Speaker 1: series should be a little closer than it is. It

618
00:30:03,360 --> 00:30:06,760
Speaker 1: shouldn't be a sweep. Dallas isn't four to zero better

619
00:30:07,280 --> 00:30:10,800
Speaker 1: than Minnesota. But Anthony Everards is having a really really

620
00:30:10,880 --> 00:30:13,880
Speaker 1: rough series, which can happen sometimes for young basketball players

621
00:30:13,920 --> 00:30:16,440
Speaker 1: when they run into a tough matchup, and so again,

622
00:30:16,560 --> 00:30:19,160
Speaker 1: like the way I look at it, like I was wrong,

623
00:30:19,760 --> 00:30:22,440
Speaker 1: but I had it close. Go look at in the preview,

624
00:30:22,480 --> 00:30:25,800
Speaker 1: I've specifically said, like, this can go either way. Dallas

625
00:30:25,800 --> 00:30:29,720
Speaker 1: certainly can win. I'm picking Minnesota. I thought Minnesota's defense

626
00:30:29,720 --> 00:30:31,920
Speaker 1: would have a little bit more impact on Luca, and

627
00:30:31,960 --> 00:30:34,040
Speaker 1: I thought Anthony Edwards would have a little bit more

628
00:30:34,080 --> 00:30:37,480
Speaker 1: success attacking in the half court against this team. It

629
00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:40,320
Speaker 1: went a different way. I was wrong. It happens. I

630
00:30:40,320 --> 00:30:41,680
Speaker 1: don't know what else to say. But at the end

631
00:30:41,680 --> 00:30:46,440
Speaker 1: of the day, guys, like like I guys, Minnesota beat Denver.

632
00:30:46,760 --> 00:30:49,640
Speaker 1: Minnesota beat Denver. Denver and Anthony Edwards went toe to

633
00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:51,920
Speaker 1: toe with the best player in the world and like

634
00:30:52,040 --> 00:30:54,360
Speaker 1: played more or less at his level over the course

635
00:30:54,360 --> 00:30:58,280
Speaker 1: of a seven game series. Like Dallas flipped the script.

636
00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:00,960
Speaker 1: Good on them, tip the cap. But like, let's not

637
00:31:01,000 --> 00:31:03,120
Speaker 1: sit here and pretend like Minnesota was a bunch of

638
00:31:03,160 --> 00:31:06,920
Speaker 1: bums and we all foolishly picked bums over because of

639
00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:10,080
Speaker 1: narratives over the Dallas Mavericks. That's not the way that

640
00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:15,040
Speaker 1: I see it. First you were on Denver, then Minnesota,

641
00:31:15,120 --> 00:31:20,680
Speaker 1: now Dallas. Do you have pick integrity? A couple things

642
00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:26,600
Speaker 1: I hate this part of the job, but it's something

643
00:31:26,600 --> 00:31:27,320
Speaker 1: that we have to do.

644
00:31:27,560 --> 00:31:27,760
Speaker 2: Right.

645
00:31:28,480 --> 00:31:32,440
Speaker 1: There is no such thing as like a basketball analyst

646
00:31:32,440 --> 00:31:36,640
Speaker 1: out there. If there is one, show me who year

647
00:31:36,720 --> 00:31:39,960
Speaker 1: in year out, just picks every single series correctly. It's

648
00:31:40,000 --> 00:31:42,760
Speaker 1: not a thing. I remember when we were talking with

649
00:31:43,040 --> 00:31:45,400
Speaker 1: When I was talking with Ethan Strauss on his podcast,

650
00:31:45,400 --> 00:31:47,600
Speaker 1: he said something that I thought was fascinating. He goes,

651
00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:53,200
Speaker 1: humans on a deep level are are are addicted to variants,

652
00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:56,080
Speaker 1: And what he meant by that was like, we want

653
00:31:56,080 --> 00:31:58,440
Speaker 1: to go into a situation and not know what's going

654
00:31:58,520 --> 00:32:01,480
Speaker 1: to happen, right, And he was referring to it with

655
00:32:01,600 --> 00:32:05,080
Speaker 1: JJ Redick wanting to get back into coaching, and essentially,

656
00:32:05,800 --> 00:32:07,240
Speaker 1: the way I interpreted that and what I thought was

657
00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:11,160
Speaker 1: super fascinating is like, that's what makes sports fun to watch, guys,

658
00:32:11,720 --> 00:32:15,800
Speaker 1: is we don't know what's gonna happen. If we knew

659
00:32:16,280 --> 00:32:21,160
Speaker 1: every single game clearly who was going to win, no

660
00:32:21,200 --> 00:32:25,840
Speaker 1: one would watch. Where's the fun in that? Like, at

661
00:32:25,840 --> 00:32:27,600
Speaker 1: the end of the day, Like, that's what we love

662
00:32:27,640 --> 00:32:31,200
Speaker 1: about sports is you tune in for Game seven Denver

663
00:32:31,240 --> 00:32:35,360
Speaker 1: Minnesota and it's like, man, what's gonna happen tonight? Is

664
00:32:35,440 --> 00:32:39,280
Speaker 1: Denver going to flex their championship muscles and get this

665
00:32:39,320 --> 00:32:42,400
Speaker 1: thing done? Or is Minnesota, on the strength of this

666
00:32:42,480 --> 00:32:45,640
Speaker 1: twenty two year old kid in a great defense, gonna

667
00:32:45,680 --> 00:32:49,440
Speaker 1: beat these guys. And you're like, grab your popcorn, man,

668
00:32:49,600 --> 00:32:52,240
Speaker 1: get pop an ice cold beer. Let's watch what happens.

669
00:32:52,520 --> 00:32:55,600
Speaker 1: Like that's what we love about sports. And then guess

670
00:32:55,640 --> 00:32:57,760
Speaker 1: what we turn it on and it's like, holy shit,

671
00:32:58,120 --> 00:33:02,040
Speaker 1: Denver's up twenty. Oh my gosh, they haven't scored in

672
00:33:02,080 --> 00:33:05,440
Speaker 1: like five minutes. Now Minnesota's back in the game. Uh

673
00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:11,360
Speaker 1: oh Nasried's making shots. It's oh my gosh, Minnesota's gonna win.

674
00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:14,880
Speaker 1: That's why we love sports. That's why we love it.

675
00:33:15,600 --> 00:33:17,480
Speaker 1: I said this on a mail bag like a week ago.

676
00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:21,960
Speaker 1: There's nothing that has surprised me more since getting into

677
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:26,040
Speaker 1: this industry than how obsessed people are with like my

678
00:33:26,160 --> 00:33:31,000
Speaker 1: ability to successfully predict playoff series, which is like completely absurd.

679
00:33:31,160 --> 00:33:35,880
Speaker 1: It's completely absurd. Secondly, I was on Denver because they

680
00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:37,200
Speaker 1: have the best player in the world and they have

681
00:33:37,240 --> 00:33:40,320
Speaker 1: a damn good basketball team. They barely lost in a

682
00:33:40,400 --> 00:33:42,080
Speaker 1: series where they led by twenty in.

683
00:33:42,040 --> 00:33:42,760
Speaker 2: The fourth quarter.

684
00:33:43,360 --> 00:33:47,000
Speaker 1: Dallas was third on my list of championship contenders this year.

685
00:33:47,080 --> 00:33:52,480
Speaker 1: I picked them over Minnesota to start the playoff runt right. Obviously,

686
00:33:52,600 --> 00:33:56,680
Speaker 1: I became very optimistic on Minnesota after they beat Denver. Also,

687
00:33:56,800 --> 00:33:58,760
Speaker 1: I picked Dallas to win in the first round. I

688
00:33:58,800 --> 00:34:01,240
Speaker 1: picked Dallas to win in this second round. There's no

689
00:34:01,320 --> 00:34:04,320
Speaker 1: such thing as picking. Honestly, whoever wrote that question, I

690
00:34:04,320 --> 00:34:07,160
Speaker 1: want another mail bag answer. What do you mean by

691
00:34:07,200 --> 00:34:11,120
Speaker 1: pick integrity? What does that damn mean? I just don't understand, Like,

692
00:34:11,400 --> 00:34:16,000
Speaker 1: help me understand what you're expecting in terms of picks.

693
00:34:15,480 --> 00:34:20,080
Speaker 1: It's it's so confounding to me in retrospect. Do you

694
00:34:20,120 --> 00:34:22,399
Speaker 1: think that the fact that Minnesota took all seven games

695
00:34:22,400 --> 00:34:24,800
Speaker 1: to beat Denver was an indication that they were not ready?

696
00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:26,680
Speaker 1: They went up two oh and honestly, I think it

697
00:34:26,719 --> 00:34:29,400
Speaker 1: should have ended in five or six. Mex The matchup

698
00:34:29,440 --> 00:34:33,120
Speaker 1: was literally perfect form Minnesota. I'm curious to see what

699
00:34:33,160 --> 00:34:35,880
Speaker 1: you think about this. I don't think it needs to

700
00:34:35,880 --> 00:34:38,880
Speaker 1: be overthought. I thought, honestly, just Denver is a championship

701
00:34:38,920 --> 00:34:41,799
Speaker 1: caliber team that flexed their muscles and was able to

702
00:34:41,880 --> 00:34:43,680
Speaker 1: kind of regain control of the situation.

703
00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:45,320
Speaker 2: But at the very last.

704
00:34:45,120 --> 00:34:47,839
Speaker 1: Minute, Minnesota kind of dug their heels in and they

705
00:34:47,840 --> 00:34:49,800
Speaker 1: were able to kind of drag it back, but again, guys,

706
00:34:49,800 --> 00:34:51,640
Speaker 1: like they were up twenty in the second half of

707
00:34:51,640 --> 00:34:55,080
Speaker 1: Game seven. Some of this is just the weirdness of sports, right.

708
00:34:55,960 --> 00:34:58,239
Speaker 1: Would you consider doing offseason film breakdowns with some of

709
00:34:58,280 --> 00:35:00,800
Speaker 1: the all time great players, Specifically, they're moves that change

710
00:35:00,800 --> 00:35:03,640
Speaker 1: the game allaw the iverson cut Love the Channel. You've

711
00:35:03,680 --> 00:35:05,360
Speaker 1: helped me on my journey to love the game of

712
00:35:05,400 --> 00:35:07,000
Speaker 1: basketball again with your great analysis.

713
00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:10,200
Speaker 2: Thank you. First of all, I bitch and moan a

714
00:35:10,239 --> 00:35:11,359
Speaker 2: lot about.

715
00:35:11,120 --> 00:35:15,040
Speaker 1: The people in my comments that are complaining constantly, but

716
00:35:15,840 --> 00:35:18,480
Speaker 1: the overwhelming majority of you guys are positive, and I

717
00:35:18,560 --> 00:35:20,520
Speaker 1: want to make sure that I let you guys know

718
00:35:20,560 --> 00:35:22,640
Speaker 1: that I'm aware of that, and I'm super thankful for it,

719
00:35:22,680 --> 00:35:25,120
Speaker 1: and I appreciate all of you guys' support in the

720
00:35:25,239 --> 00:35:29,680
Speaker 1: kind words along the way. As far as the off season,

721
00:35:29,760 --> 00:35:31,839
Speaker 1: this is our first off season having film, and I'm

722
00:35:31,880 --> 00:35:33,840
Speaker 1: really excited to see what we do. When we do

723
00:35:33,880 --> 00:35:37,280
Speaker 1: player rankings, gonna include film, When we do all time rankings,

724
00:35:37,280 --> 00:35:39,880
Speaker 1: gonna include film. When we do series season previews, we're

725
00:35:39,880 --> 00:35:42,360
Speaker 1: gonna include film. So like draft stuff, we're gonna be

726
00:35:42,400 --> 00:35:44,960
Speaker 1: able to do film this year. So like I'm excited

727
00:35:44,960 --> 00:35:46,600
Speaker 1: to see what we do. We'll probably after the finals

728
00:35:46,640 --> 00:35:48,799
Speaker 1: do some sort of like strategy meeting internally to kind

729
00:35:48,800 --> 00:35:50,160
Speaker 1: of come up with some ideas. But we're gonna do

730
00:35:50,200 --> 00:35:54,440
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff with film this summer. Jason mailback

731
00:35:54,520 --> 00:35:56,120
Speaker 1: question for you, what do you think is the hardest

732
00:35:56,160 --> 00:35:59,040
Speaker 1: part regarding prepping for these reaction videos you make or

733
00:35:59,080 --> 00:36:01,400
Speaker 1: even going into a series were's so evenly matched between

734
00:36:01,400 --> 00:36:05,480
Speaker 1: both sides. Huge fan of the show, so reaction videos easily.

735
00:36:05,480 --> 00:36:07,480
Speaker 1: The hardest part is the close game. So you can

736
00:36:07,520 --> 00:36:10,600
Speaker 1: imagine I'm writing notes watching the game. I'm writing down

737
00:36:10,600 --> 00:36:13,840
Speaker 1: all the interesting tactical stuff that I'm seeing, right, but

738
00:36:13,920 --> 00:36:15,680
Speaker 1: let's say it's one hundred to one hundred and four

739
00:36:15,719 --> 00:36:19,040
Speaker 1: minutes left. Everything about the narrative of the show and

740
00:36:19,040 --> 00:36:21,120
Speaker 1: the flow of the show hinges on who wins the game.

741
00:36:21,440 --> 00:36:24,080
Speaker 1: And often I feel like a certain team's gonna win,

742
00:36:24,160 --> 00:36:26,560
Speaker 1: or I write a bunch of notes about one specific side,

743
00:36:26,880 --> 00:36:28,880
Speaker 1: and then you have a massive comeback, like a twenty

744
00:36:28,880 --> 00:36:31,480
Speaker 1: point comeback in the second half of game seven, and

745
00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:34,360
Speaker 1: suddenly the entire show flips over. And so instant reaction

746
00:36:34,440 --> 00:36:36,920
Speaker 1: shows are kind of interesting and unique challenge in the

747
00:36:36,960 --> 00:36:39,439
Speaker 1: sense that like it's just you never know what you're

748
00:36:39,440 --> 00:36:42,040
Speaker 1: gonna have to say because things can change so quickly

749
00:36:42,080 --> 00:36:44,040
Speaker 1: over a few minutes at the end. As far as

750
00:36:44,120 --> 00:36:47,200
Speaker 1: like series previews, like the hardest part is like I

751
00:36:47,320 --> 00:36:49,919
Speaker 1: go through the film and I see, oh, this team

752
00:36:49,960 --> 00:36:51,879
Speaker 1: has this advantage, this team has that advantage, this team

753
00:36:51,920 --> 00:36:53,920
Speaker 1: has this advantage, this team has that advantage, and it's

754
00:36:53,960 --> 00:36:57,359
Speaker 1: really difficult to predict something that's wildly unpredictable. The vast

755
00:36:57,400 --> 00:37:00,160
Speaker 1: majority of the series, in this playoff run, we're but

756
00:37:00,200 --> 00:37:03,080
Speaker 1: between relatively evenly matched teams that could have gone either way.

757
00:37:03,200 --> 00:37:07,040
Speaker 1: Even just look at thunder MAVs. If PJ Washington, Let's

758
00:37:07,080 --> 00:37:09,600
Speaker 1: say that Shay gets a clean block on PJ. Washington

759
00:37:09,680 --> 00:37:11,680
Speaker 1: on that corner three and they win, and they go

760
00:37:11,760 --> 00:37:14,680
Speaker 1: home and they win game seven, the entire NB Finals

761
00:37:14,719 --> 00:37:18,040
Speaker 1: could be different like that we would at Thunder Minnesota

762
00:37:18,120 --> 00:37:20,080
Speaker 1: in the second round, in the third round. So like, again,

763
00:37:20,400 --> 00:37:22,719
Speaker 1: all of this stuff hangs by a thread, and so

764
00:37:22,800 --> 00:37:26,440
Speaker 1: many things could have gone differently, and so like that's

765
00:37:26,480 --> 00:37:28,239
Speaker 1: the hard part. And like, honestly, when it comes to

766
00:37:28,280 --> 00:37:31,239
Speaker 1: doing series previews, like like half the battle is like

767
00:37:31,239 --> 00:37:32,120
Speaker 1: no matter what I pick.

768
00:37:32,040 --> 00:37:33,680
Speaker 2: I'm gonna end up getting slandered for it at the

769
00:37:33,760 --> 00:37:34,200
Speaker 2: end of the day.

770
00:37:34,200 --> 00:37:37,560
Speaker 1: Anyway, do you think Lucas hit his ceiling as an

771
00:37:37,560 --> 00:37:41,440
Speaker 1: overall player or does he have areas to improve? I

772
00:37:41,440 --> 00:37:44,680
Speaker 1: think obviously with Luca it's it's mostly gonna be about

773
00:37:44,680 --> 00:37:47,920
Speaker 1: physical fitness. I think he's obviously a good athlete. I'm

774
00:37:47,960 --> 00:37:49,600
Speaker 1: not trying to sit here and pretend like he doesn't

775
00:37:49,640 --> 00:37:51,720
Speaker 1: take care of his body at all. But there certainly

776
00:37:51,760 --> 00:37:53,720
Speaker 1: is another level he can get to on that front,

777
00:37:53,800 --> 00:37:55,359
Speaker 1: and I wonder if you will ever get to that

778
00:37:55,440 --> 00:37:57,320
Speaker 1: in his career, because if he does, that could have

779
00:37:57,400 --> 00:37:59,560
Speaker 1: locked an entirely different level in terms of him both

780
00:37:59,600 --> 00:38:01,960
Speaker 1: defense and in terms of his conditioning level over the

781
00:38:02,040 --> 00:38:06,200
Speaker 1: course of games, which is already really good. How do

782
00:38:06,200 --> 00:38:08,000
Speaker 1: you see the matchup between the Nuggets and the Maps.

783
00:38:08,080 --> 00:38:09,879
Speaker 1: Barkley had a short comment that Denver would have beaten

784
00:38:09,960 --> 00:38:11,759
Speaker 1: Dallas if they had managed to go through Minnesota. I

785
00:38:11,840 --> 00:38:13,960
Speaker 1: probably would have picked Denver to beat Dallas had they

786
00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:16,640
Speaker 1: met in the conference finals. It's really as simple Denver.

787
00:38:16,840 --> 00:38:18,920
Speaker 1: In the same way that Denver has the personnel to

788
00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:22,120
Speaker 1: guard Anthony Edwards, they really don't have the personnel to

789
00:38:22,200 --> 00:38:24,080
Speaker 1: deal with Jokic. They would have to double and swarm

790
00:38:24,160 --> 00:38:25,799
Speaker 1: him the entire series, which would have led to a

791
00:38:25,840 --> 00:38:29,120
Speaker 1: ton of open looks. The other part of it, too

792
00:38:29,239 --> 00:38:34,360
Speaker 1: is Dallas. Denver is more capable of handling Dallas's loaded

793
00:38:34,440 --> 00:38:36,359
Speaker 1: up defense with their ability to move the ball side

794
00:38:36,360 --> 00:38:39,000
Speaker 1: to side. They play more five out and I think

795
00:38:39,040 --> 00:38:41,240
Speaker 1: they would have just generated a lot more quality looks. Also,

796
00:38:41,680 --> 00:38:44,480
Speaker 1: Da Denver has a player that's big and strong enough

797
00:38:44,480 --> 00:38:47,200
Speaker 1: to kind of sort of hang with Luca and Aaron Gordon,

798
00:38:47,400 --> 00:38:49,880
Speaker 1: which is something that Minnesota does not, and that's just

799
00:38:49,880 --> 00:38:52,279
Speaker 1: fundamentally different, Like Luca wouldn't be able to put Aaron

800
00:38:52,320 --> 00:38:55,680
Speaker 1: Gordon in jail on those ball screens and manipulate Aaron

801
00:38:55,680 --> 00:38:56,080
Speaker 1: Gordon the.

802
00:38:56,080 --> 00:38:56,480
Speaker 2: Way he does.

803
00:38:56,560 --> 00:39:00,000
Speaker 1: Jaden McDaniels that said, Dallas certainly could have beat Denis.

804
00:39:00,480 --> 00:39:02,640
Speaker 1: I would have probably picked Denver on like a sixty

805
00:39:02,680 --> 00:39:04,640
Speaker 1: to forty basis, which means I would have given Dallas

806
00:39:04,680 --> 00:39:06,759
Speaker 1: like a forty percent chance to win the series, which

807
00:39:06,840 --> 00:39:09,040
Speaker 1: means I certainly think it could have gone that route.

808
00:39:09,120 --> 00:39:11,439
Speaker 1: I just would feel like it would be more likely

809
00:39:11,480 --> 00:39:15,680
Speaker 1: that Denver would have won. This was an interesting comment,

810
00:39:15,760 --> 00:39:17,439
Speaker 1: not really a question, but a comment that I got

811
00:39:18,760 --> 00:39:22,000
Speaker 1: Luca versus Jokich is interesting. Obviously, Jokich has certain advantages

812
00:39:22,040 --> 00:39:23,719
Speaker 1: with his size, but I believe Luca also has a

813
00:39:23,719 --> 00:39:25,959
Speaker 1: few advantages by virtue of him being a perimeter player

814
00:39:26,000 --> 00:39:28,120
Speaker 1: and a great ball handler. For example, the best closers

815
00:39:28,160 --> 00:39:30,120
Speaker 1: usually tend to be guards, and Luca is probably the

816
00:39:30,160 --> 00:39:32,600
Speaker 1: best closer in the league today. On the Nuggets, too,

817
00:39:32,640 --> 00:39:34,759
Speaker 1: Murray is typically the one closing games more often than not.

818
00:39:34,840 --> 00:39:36,640
Speaker 1: Also because he is a perimeter player, I believe he

819
00:39:36,680 --> 00:39:38,279
Speaker 1: is able to control the pace of the game more

820
00:39:38,280 --> 00:39:40,600
Speaker 1: so than Jokic. Having said all that, if there was

821
00:39:40,640 --> 00:39:42,839
Speaker 1: one shot to be taken, I'd run Jokic post up

822
00:39:42,880 --> 00:39:44,719
Speaker 1: over any other play in the league. There's just a

823
00:39:44,719 --> 00:39:47,479
Speaker 1: feeling of inevitability with Yokich that isn't there with anyone else.

824
00:39:47,680 --> 00:39:49,480
Speaker 1: When it's all said and done, I do expect Luca

825
00:39:49,480 --> 00:39:51,319
Speaker 1: to end up higher in all time ranking, simply because

826
00:39:51,320 --> 00:39:53,440
Speaker 1: he's younger by four to five years. Also, to be

827
00:39:53,480 --> 00:39:56,000
Speaker 1: fair to him, he's been a superstar basically from day

828
00:39:56,040 --> 00:39:58,160
Speaker 1: one of his NBA career. That part at the end

829
00:39:58,160 --> 00:40:00,279
Speaker 1: I agree with like Luca probably has a better chance

830
00:40:00,280 --> 00:40:02,160
Speaker 1: of ending up higher all time just simply because he

831
00:40:02,200 --> 00:40:05,960
Speaker 1: got started younger. Right, I disagree in the sense that

832
00:40:06,000 --> 00:40:08,040
Speaker 1: I do think Jokic can strangle the posts of the

833
00:40:08,080 --> 00:40:10,200
Speaker 1: pace of the game. I do think Jokic can operate

834
00:40:10,200 --> 00:40:12,520
Speaker 1: as a closer. He chooses to go through Jamal Murray

835
00:40:12,560 --> 00:40:16,000
Speaker 1: often just because of matchups, and it's also just Jokic

836
00:40:16,120 --> 00:40:17,719
Speaker 1: is one of those guys too that like he doesn't

837
00:40:17,760 --> 00:40:19,560
Speaker 1: give a fuck who makes or takes the shot. He

838
00:40:19,640 --> 00:40:22,279
Speaker 1: just wants to win. But Yokic is certainly capable of

839
00:40:22,440 --> 00:40:25,200
Speaker 1: operating as a closer. I actually think Jokic and Luca

840
00:40:25,200 --> 00:40:29,719
Speaker 1: are very similar. They are two offensive engines who consistently

841
00:40:29,719 --> 00:40:32,120
Speaker 1: generate quality shots through the team, either by scoring on

842
00:40:32,160 --> 00:40:35,040
Speaker 1: an island, and they're pretty much unguardable. There's only a

843
00:40:35,040 --> 00:40:37,000
Speaker 1: handful of guys in the league that can guard both guys,

844
00:40:37,440 --> 00:40:39,960
Speaker 1: and then the consistent making of good reads when they

845
00:40:40,000 --> 00:40:40,880
Speaker 1: draw double teams.

846
00:40:41,000 --> 00:40:41,200
Speaker 2: Right.

847
00:40:41,680 --> 00:40:43,960
Speaker 1: I think if there's one thing that Luka has kind

848
00:40:43,960 --> 00:40:46,560
Speaker 1: of gained ground on Jokich on as of late is

849
00:40:46,600 --> 00:40:48,520
Speaker 1: the jump shot. Just Yokis didn't shoot the ball well

850
00:40:48,520 --> 00:40:50,640
Speaker 1: this year and Luca's shooting it much better, and that

851
00:40:50,760 --> 00:40:52,799
Speaker 1: ended up being a problem, especially in the Minnesota series,

852
00:40:52,800 --> 00:40:55,279
Speaker 1: when Yokic couldn't hit pick and pop threes. But I

853
00:40:55,280 --> 00:40:58,400
Speaker 1: think that they're both remarkably similar. The only real difference

854
00:40:58,440 --> 00:41:01,839
Speaker 1: is they play different positions. Yokich operates more in the

855
00:41:01,840 --> 00:41:03,920
Speaker 1: flow of the game as a five out guy versus

856
00:41:04,560 --> 00:41:07,520
Speaker 1: Luca being like a four out you know, heliocentric type

857
00:41:07,520 --> 00:41:12,200
Speaker 1: of guy. As someone in what I would consider to

858
00:41:12,200 --> 00:41:14,160
Speaker 1: be the new age of sports media, what is it

859
00:41:14,200 --> 00:41:16,160
Speaker 1: going to take to get away from the clickbait headlines

860
00:41:16,160 --> 00:41:19,360
Speaker 1: that currently dominate old slash traditional media. I understand that

861
00:41:19,360 --> 00:41:21,240
Speaker 1: the Celtics have had a far easier road than the Wolves,

862
00:41:21,280 --> 00:41:23,920
Speaker 1: but but the Anton Tatum narratives are so bizarre to me.

863
00:41:24,440 --> 00:41:29,080
Speaker 1: So again, guys, this is I. I don't like watching

864
00:41:29,160 --> 00:41:34,759
Speaker 1: shows that have overly you know, critical clickbaity type of

865
00:41:34,840 --> 00:41:37,840
Speaker 1: subject matter, right, but I don't have to watch them

866
00:41:38,200 --> 00:41:40,160
Speaker 1: like this is the beautiful thing about the new age

867
00:41:40,200 --> 00:41:43,640
Speaker 1: of sports media. Whatever it is you're into listening to,

868
00:41:43,760 --> 00:41:46,839
Speaker 1: you can find and so like my thing is like there,

869
00:41:46,880 --> 00:41:48,879
Speaker 1: those things will continue to exist as long as people

870
00:41:48,920 --> 00:41:50,560
Speaker 1: watch them, and people still.

871
00:41:50,360 --> 00:41:52,400
Speaker 2: Do like I like I.

872
00:41:52,400 --> 00:41:55,800
Speaker 1: I still to this day see you know, ESPN clips

873
00:41:55,840 --> 00:42:00,279
Speaker 1: with relatively clickbaity topics that perform extremely well and so

874
00:42:00,360 --> 00:42:02,200
Speaker 1: like people still like that kind of content. It's like,

875
00:42:02,360 --> 00:42:04,480
Speaker 1: if you're not into that, go listen to something different,

876
00:42:04,520 --> 00:42:06,080
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. One other thing that I

877
00:42:06,120 --> 00:42:08,160
Speaker 1: wanted to hit here. I get criticized a lot for

878
00:42:08,280 --> 00:42:11,320
Speaker 1: like my thumbnails and my titles. I don't write the

879
00:42:11,320 --> 00:42:15,040
Speaker 1: thumbnails or the titles, guys, Just to make that clear.

880
00:42:15,239 --> 00:42:17,759
Speaker 1: I record the show and I submit it and then

881
00:42:17,800 --> 00:42:19,719
Speaker 1: my team does the rest. And so like again, like

882
00:42:20,200 --> 00:42:23,239
Speaker 1: it's there's a certain business element that we have to

883
00:42:23,239 --> 00:42:26,520
Speaker 1: be realistic of. Like if it get if a click

884
00:42:26,560 --> 00:42:29,759
Speaker 1: baity headline gets you guys to click, but then you

885
00:42:29,960 --> 00:42:33,200
Speaker 1: like my show for being what my show is, then

886
00:42:33,200 --> 00:42:35,359
Speaker 1: I'm gonna take that as a win. Even if there

887
00:42:35,440 --> 00:42:37,839
Speaker 1: was a little grifty thing we had to do off

888
00:42:37,840 --> 00:42:39,759
Speaker 1: the top to get you to come through the door, right.

889
00:42:40,000 --> 00:42:42,359
Speaker 1: But like, once we get the door swing, it's really

890
00:42:42,360 --> 00:42:44,799
Speaker 1: about whether or not you like the show, right. But again, like,

891
00:42:44,840 --> 00:42:46,759
Speaker 1: if you guys don't like the stuff that's out there,

892
00:42:46,760 --> 00:42:48,640
Speaker 1: all you have to do is not watch it, you know,

893
00:42:48,880 --> 00:42:53,319
Speaker 1: Like I don't think it's really that complicated. Damn after

894
00:42:53,360 --> 00:42:55,880
Speaker 1: hearing all those stats, how does Minnesota even keep it close?

895
00:42:56,000 --> 00:42:56,600
Speaker 2: Turnovers?

896
00:42:56,640 --> 00:42:58,799
Speaker 1: I know, Games one and two dollars shot pour from three,

897
00:42:58,840 --> 00:43:01,840
Speaker 1: but still in game, should Dallas not push it, protect

898
00:43:01,840 --> 00:43:03,720
Speaker 1: the ball and just run half court sets every possession

899
00:43:03,719 --> 00:43:05,440
Speaker 1: since they're so much better at it. The main thing

900
00:43:05,440 --> 00:43:08,680
Speaker 1: that's kept it close to second chance points. The Timberwolves

901
00:43:08,719 --> 00:43:11,560
Speaker 1: have been much better at converting offensive rebounds into points.

902
00:43:11,680 --> 00:43:13,799
Speaker 1: They're up thirty nine to twenty five and second chance

903
00:43:13,840 --> 00:43:16,080
Speaker 1: points in the series. That has closed the gap on

904
00:43:16,080 --> 00:43:19,480
Speaker 1: some of the half court execution stuff. I'm having an

905
00:43:19,560 --> 00:43:21,400
Speaker 1: argument with my friends and I said Tatum has to

906
00:43:21,400 --> 00:43:23,640
Speaker 1: be the one to guard Luca in the finals.

907
00:43:23,680 --> 00:43:24,680
Speaker 2: Do you agree? Yes?

908
00:43:24,760 --> 00:43:26,920
Speaker 1: I think that's where the series is eventually going. So

909
00:43:27,719 --> 00:43:31,320
Speaker 1: if Luca's picking on matchups and just barbecuing all of

910
00:43:31,360 --> 00:43:34,399
Speaker 1: your smaller perimeter defenders, the only thing you can do

911
00:43:34,520 --> 00:43:36,799
Speaker 1: is put Tatum on him. Now, how does that work

912
00:43:36,800 --> 00:43:39,839
Speaker 1: in different coverages? So what that would mean is in

913
00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:42,880
Speaker 1: ball screens, you have Tatum on Luca and you chase

914
00:43:42,920 --> 00:43:45,600
Speaker 1: over the top and that way, when Luca tries to

915
00:43:45,600 --> 00:43:48,359
Speaker 1: put Tatum in jail, Tatum's big and strong and long

916
00:43:48,440 --> 00:43:50,440
Speaker 1: enough to actually bother Luca there in a way that

917
00:43:50,480 --> 00:43:53,919
Speaker 1: a guy like Jada McDaniels can't. Right from there, Luca

918
00:43:53,960 --> 00:43:56,080
Speaker 1: will probably start trying to run guard guard screens to

919
00:43:56,120 --> 00:43:58,480
Speaker 1: try to get to try to get Tatum switched off

920
00:43:58,480 --> 00:44:00,480
Speaker 1: of him. From there you run hedge and recover and

921
00:44:00,520 --> 00:44:02,640
Speaker 1: you rotate. But I think that would be the goal

922
00:44:02,680 --> 00:44:04,239
Speaker 1: because that's the best way to get the ball out

923
00:44:04,280 --> 00:44:08,120
Speaker 1: of Luca's hands and actually make other people try to score.

924
00:44:08,360 --> 00:44:10,480
Speaker 1: Is like if you have it so that you can't

925
00:44:10,480 --> 00:44:13,120
Speaker 1: attack and straight Iso. Because one of the things that

926
00:44:13,520 --> 00:44:17,279
Speaker 1: Dallas would do is if they're blitzing ball screens against Minnesota,

927
00:44:18,040 --> 00:44:20,359
Speaker 1: Luca will just attack Jayda McDaniel's one on one because

928
00:44:20,400 --> 00:44:22,080
Speaker 1: he feels comfortable. He won't be able to do that

929
00:44:22,160 --> 00:44:24,839
Speaker 1: as easily with Tatum, So I think Tatum on Luca

930
00:44:24,960 --> 00:44:27,040
Speaker 1: is probably their best strategy in the long run. Also,

931
00:44:27,400 --> 00:44:29,799
Speaker 1: Boston has enough offensive talent that if you went to

932
00:44:29,800 --> 00:44:31,560
Speaker 1: Tatum and said, hey, I need you to devote eighty

933
00:44:31,600 --> 00:44:34,319
Speaker 1: percent of your energy to guarding Luka Doncic, Boston would

934
00:44:34,360 --> 00:44:36,160
Speaker 1: be fine because they have enough offensive talent on the

935
00:44:36,200 --> 00:44:37,160
Speaker 1: other end to make up for it.

936
00:44:38,200 --> 00:44:39,600
Speaker 2: All Right, we have four more.

937
00:44:39,640 --> 00:44:43,600
Speaker 1: It looks like, hey, Jason, in your opinion, what has

938
00:44:43,640 --> 00:44:45,840
Speaker 1: made the Luca Kyrie backcourt work so well compared to

939
00:44:45,880 --> 00:44:47,920
Speaker 1: other teams that have tried using two star guards, like

940
00:44:47,920 --> 00:44:52,600
Speaker 1: Atlanta and Cleveland, It's really this simple. Atlanta and was

941
00:44:52,680 --> 00:44:56,000
Speaker 1: Trey Young and Dejonte Murray. Cleveland was Donovan Mitchell and

942
00:44:56,080 --> 00:44:59,440
Speaker 1: Darius Garland. Dallas has Luka Doncic, who might be the

943
00:44:59,480 --> 00:45:02,000
Speaker 1: best player in the world. And Kyrie Irving, who's better

944
00:45:02,160 --> 00:45:04,799
Speaker 1: as a number two than Garland or de john Taim Murray.

945
00:45:04,880 --> 00:45:06,880
Speaker 1: I don't think we need to overthink it. They just

946
00:45:07,520 --> 00:45:11,080
Speaker 1: they're the stars are actually just really really good, and

947
00:45:11,400 --> 00:45:13,440
Speaker 1: they've got really good role players doing all the dirty

948
00:45:13,440 --> 00:45:17,120
Speaker 1: work for them. Didn't you say that ant Man is

949
00:45:17,200 --> 00:45:19,719
Speaker 1: clearly better than Tatum. So I had a mail back

950
00:45:19,800 --> 00:45:22,359
Speaker 1: question that said where someone said who would you take

951
00:45:22,440 --> 00:45:24,359
Speaker 1: right now, Tatum or and I said I would take

952
00:45:24,520 --> 00:45:26,719
Speaker 1: I would take Aunt right now, no questions.

953
00:45:27,280 --> 00:45:27,960
Speaker 2: And here's the thing.

954
00:45:28,040 --> 00:45:30,920
Speaker 1: When I that was just a quick response to a

955
00:45:30,920 --> 00:45:33,440
Speaker 1: mail back question, the way I really feel about it

956
00:45:33,480 --> 00:45:35,640
Speaker 1: is that I do think that ant Man is going

957
00:45:35,680 --> 00:45:38,839
Speaker 1: to be better than Tatum sooner than later. I if

958
00:45:38,880 --> 00:45:40,799
Speaker 1: I was a GM, I'd rather have ant Man on

959
00:45:40,840 --> 00:45:43,960
Speaker 1: my team than Jason Tatum. But right now, right now

960
00:45:44,000 --> 00:45:46,560
Speaker 1: for a playoff series, I think Tatum is better, And

961
00:45:46,600 --> 00:45:48,520
Speaker 1: I said that in our player rankings when we did

962
00:45:48,520 --> 00:45:50,279
Speaker 1: the top five, like a week and a half, two

963
00:45:50,320 --> 00:45:54,399
Speaker 1: weeks ago, I had Jokic one Luka two.

964
00:45:55,480 --> 00:45:57,160
Speaker 2: Did I did we remove Yokic?

965
00:45:57,440 --> 00:46:00,200
Speaker 1: No? No, yeah, yeah it was Jokic one, Luka two. I

966
00:46:00,239 --> 00:46:04,880
Speaker 1: had Tatum three, Anthony Edwards four. So like that's how

967
00:46:04,880 --> 00:46:06,960
Speaker 1: I feel. But I do think that I would be

968
00:46:07,000 --> 00:46:09,839
Speaker 1: stunned if eighteen months from now if it wasn't at

969
00:46:09,920 --> 00:46:12,400
Speaker 1: Tatum's level, and if thirty six months from now he

970
00:46:12,520 --> 00:46:13,560
Speaker 1: wasn't just clearly better.

971
00:46:15,200 --> 00:46:15,640
Speaker 2: Two more.

972
00:46:16,600 --> 00:46:18,560
Speaker 1: I used to enjoy your pod with Raj and then

973
00:46:18,560 --> 00:46:20,279
Speaker 1: one day it seemed like it was discontinued. Can you

974
00:46:20,320 --> 00:46:22,440
Speaker 1: elaborate on what happened there exactly? I know you explained

975
00:46:22,480 --> 00:46:24,359
Speaker 1: some of the overall journey recently, but I really liked

976
00:46:24,360 --> 00:46:27,279
Speaker 1: State of the Lakers. So it's really as simple. State

977
00:46:27,280 --> 00:46:30,360
Speaker 1: of Lakers was only half the podcast. It started as

978
00:46:30,440 --> 00:46:33,040
Speaker 1: Jason The Jason tim Podcast, then it became State of

979
00:46:33,080 --> 00:46:35,200
Speaker 1: the Lakers. But half of the show was me doing

980
00:46:35,239 --> 00:46:37,879
Speaker 1: instant reaction shows with Roger at night. The other half

981
00:46:37,920 --> 00:46:39,879
Speaker 1: of the show is me by myself covering the rest

982
00:46:39,880 --> 00:46:42,400
Speaker 1: of the league. Roger and I had very different goals.

983
00:46:42,800 --> 00:46:45,520
Speaker 1: My goal was to cover the NBA at large. Roger's

984
00:46:45,560 --> 00:46:49,120
Speaker 1: goal is to be a credentialed reporter that covers the

985
00:46:49,120 --> 00:46:51,920
Speaker 1: Los Angeles Lakers. When the volume reached out to me,

986
00:46:52,480 --> 00:46:55,560
Speaker 1: they wanted me to cover the league as a as

987
00:46:55,600 --> 00:46:58,560
Speaker 1: a solo guy like I was already doing for the

988
00:46:58,600 --> 00:47:00,879
Speaker 1: other half of the state of the Lakers. So that's

989
00:47:00,880 --> 00:47:03,239
Speaker 1: really all it was. They were essentially just trying to

990
00:47:03,280 --> 00:47:06,600
Speaker 1: build a new show around what the Jason timf podcast

991
00:47:06,760 --> 00:47:09,960
Speaker 1: was before I started working with Raj. But Roger and

992
00:47:10,040 --> 00:47:12,239
Speaker 1: I had different goals. Roger doesn't want to cover the

993
00:47:12,360 --> 00:47:14,040
Speaker 1: entire league and wants to cover the Lakers, and that's what

994
00:47:14,080 --> 00:47:17,480
Speaker 1: he's doing right now. But I loved working with Raj,

995
00:47:17,680 --> 00:47:19,920
Speaker 1: and I think he's one of the best people that

996
00:47:19,960 --> 00:47:22,480
Speaker 1: covers the Lakers. Does great work. I think he's working.

997
00:47:22,640 --> 00:47:24,319
Speaker 1: I think he's doing a show right now with an

998
00:47:24,360 --> 00:47:26,040
Speaker 1: A Kilawala, and they do a great They do a

999
00:47:26,040 --> 00:47:30,000
Speaker 1: great job. Seems like Luca jumped Giannis for you and

1000
00:47:30,000 --> 00:47:32,480
Speaker 1: the best player in the world rankings. How and why?

1001
00:47:33,760 --> 00:47:35,719
Speaker 1: Very simple? I just I think the most important skill

1002
00:47:35,719 --> 00:47:37,440
Speaker 1: that a basketball player can have is the ability to

1003
00:47:37,440 --> 00:47:39,879
Speaker 1: consistently generate quality shots, first team in the half court,

1004
00:47:39,960 --> 00:47:42,600
Speaker 1: and I think Luca's awesome at it, potentially the best

1005
00:47:42,600 --> 00:47:44,840
Speaker 1: player in the world at it. And for Giannis, I

1006
00:47:44,840 --> 00:47:46,759
Speaker 1: think that's actually been one of the major issues that

1007
00:47:46,800 --> 00:47:49,680
Speaker 1: has plagued him over the years. Like, yes, he got hurt,

1008
00:47:49,800 --> 00:47:52,839
Speaker 1: but when push came to shove against Miami last year,

1009
00:47:53,280 --> 00:47:55,759
Speaker 1: he couldn't get a shot at like, he couldn't make

1010
00:47:55,800 --> 00:47:57,520
Speaker 1: a quality shot over the top of bam, Like he

1011
00:47:57,520 --> 00:48:00,479
Speaker 1: can't even get like a left shoulder hook right. Going

1012
00:48:00,560 --> 00:48:05,480
Speaker 1: back to the twenty twenty two season, like his I

1013
00:48:05,480 --> 00:48:08,560
Speaker 1: actually thought he was really good in that series against Boston,

1014
00:48:08,920 --> 00:48:11,640
Speaker 1: but still there's some limitations in terms of his ability

1015
00:48:11,640 --> 00:48:13,600
Speaker 1: to get shots off over the top when he can't

1016
00:48:13,719 --> 00:48:17,560
Speaker 1: just penetrate into the paint. And then obviously before that,

1017
00:48:17,960 --> 00:48:20,240
Speaker 1: before the twenty twenty one season when they won the title,

1018
00:48:20,400 --> 00:48:22,880
Speaker 1: that was consistently what was his issue in twenty nineteen.

1019
00:48:22,880 --> 00:48:25,920
Speaker 1: In twenty twenty twenty twenty one in particular, two like

1020
00:48:26,719 --> 00:48:29,360
Speaker 1: a genuine championship. Don't take anything away from it, but

1021
00:48:29,400 --> 00:48:31,760
Speaker 1: it was a weird season and he played some limited

1022
00:48:31,760 --> 00:48:34,120
Speaker 1: competition along the way, and I do think that that

1023
00:48:34,280 --> 00:48:36,400
Speaker 1: was one of the things that allowed Giannis to overcome

1024
00:48:36,440 --> 00:48:39,480
Speaker 1: that specific weakness of his second part of the question,

1025
00:48:39,520 --> 00:48:41,320
Speaker 1: the Wolves exposed how bad Yokich is a is a

1026
00:48:41,400 --> 00:48:43,520
Speaker 1: rim protector. How has that shaped your view on him

1027
00:48:43,800 --> 00:48:46,720
Speaker 1: relative to Giannis and other great bigs in NBA history.

1028
00:48:47,040 --> 00:48:51,000
Speaker 1: So the thing with with Jokich is he demonstrated last

1029
00:48:51,040 --> 00:48:53,239
Speaker 1: year that he could defend the rim well enough against

1030
00:48:53,560 --> 00:48:55,879
Speaker 1: like really good competition too, against Lebron and Ad against

1031
00:48:55,920 --> 00:48:58,799
Speaker 1: Bam and Jimmy, against Kadie and Devin Booker. Like, he

1032
00:48:58,880 --> 00:49:00,920
Speaker 1: demonstrated that he could do that at last year. I

1033
00:49:00,960 --> 00:49:03,799
Speaker 1: think in a lot of ways, Minnesota just drove him

1034
00:49:03,840 --> 00:49:06,279
Speaker 1: into the ground with their overwhelming physicality, and I think

1035
00:49:06,280 --> 00:49:08,239
Speaker 1: he got tired and I think he fell apart there.

1036
00:49:08,400 --> 00:49:10,080
Speaker 1: So obviously there are some things that he has to

1037
00:49:10,120 --> 00:49:12,120
Speaker 1: improve on in that regard. But I still think, to

1038
00:49:12,120 --> 00:49:13,719
Speaker 1: put it simply, if I had to build a team

1039
00:49:13,719 --> 00:49:15,680
Speaker 1: that could win a championship, I feel it could be

1040
00:49:15,680 --> 00:49:18,440
Speaker 1: easier to build one around Yokic than Yannis simply because

1041
00:49:18,680 --> 00:49:21,040
Speaker 1: it's gonna be easy for me to get defensive personnel

1042
00:49:21,080 --> 00:49:24,160
Speaker 1: that can thrive offensively off of what Jokic does than

1043
00:49:24,239 --> 00:49:27,319
Speaker 1: vice versa. All right, guys, that's all I have for

1044
00:49:27,320 --> 00:49:29,640
Speaker 1: today is always. I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting

1045
00:49:29,680 --> 00:49:31,480
Speaker 1: the show. We're gonna be back tonight live on YouTube

1046
00:49:31,480 --> 00:49:34,839
Speaker 1: after the final buzzer Game four between the Wolves and

1047
00:49:34,960 --> 00:50:03,160
Speaker 1: the mass I will see you guys then. H