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Speaker 1: The volume. All right, welcome to Hoops tonight. You're at

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Speaker 1: the volume. Heaby Thursday, everybody hopeful of you guys are

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Speaker 1: having a great end to your week. We are continuing

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Speaker 1: our Top ten week today with the top ten championship

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Speaker 1: saving performances of the last twenty five years. I thought

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Speaker 1: we were gonna do top ten Offensive Engines today, but

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Speaker 1: then I figured that kind of was a little redundant

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Speaker 1: with all the player ranking stuff that we've done and

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Speaker 1: our Top ten Peaks video that we did on Monday.

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Speaker 1: We're still gonna do Top ten Defenders tomorrow. But what

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Speaker 1: I figured would be fun today is to dig into

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Speaker 1: specifically the best playoff games that came in adversity and

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Speaker 1: in a championship winning run. As we dig into some

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Speaker 1: NBA history today. I had a lot of fun with

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Speaker 1: this one. I've spent a lot of time on YouTube

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Speaker 1: this morning rewatching some of my favorite games growing up,

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Speaker 1: and we're gonna dig into it and get those into

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Speaker 1: those rankings. You guys are the joke before we get started,

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Speaker 1: a subscribe to the Hoops and Not YouTube channels. You

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Speaker 1: don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter,

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Speaker 1: Underscore jcnlt SO you guys, don't miss show announcements, don't

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Speaker 1: forget a better podcast feed where we get your podcast

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Speaker 1: on our hoops tonight. It's also super helpful if you

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Speaker 1: leave a rating and a review on that front. Jackson's

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Speaker 1: doing great work on our social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook,

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Speaker 1: and TikTok. Make sure you guys follow us there. And

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Speaker 1: the last but not least, keep dropping those mail bag

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Speaker 1: questions in the YouTube comments and we'll get to him.

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Speaker 1: No mail bag this week, but we'll get back into

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Speaker 1: our mail bags as we get into the start of

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Speaker 1: this season. All right, let's talk some basketball so again.

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Speaker 1: Top ten championship saving performances of the last twenty five years.

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Speaker 1: The rules here, I'm digging into the idea of overcoming

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Speaker 1: adversity here. I've talked a lot about this concept over

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Speaker 1: the years, but I love when a basketball player has

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Speaker 1: no choice but to dig deep and to reach a

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Speaker 1: level that he might not reach otherwise because of the circumstance,

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Speaker 1: because of the degree of difficulty, because of the a

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Speaker 1: the adversity. Right, there are a lot of great games

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Speaker 1: by guys who took place in series where they weren't

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Speaker 1: really threatened because they had a substantial talent advantage, those

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Speaker 1: won't be considered. So for example, like Kevin Durant twenty

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Speaker 1: eighteen Game three against Cleveland, that's one of the top

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Speaker 1: five or so best games I've ever seen a basketball

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Speaker 1: player play, but they were the biggest championship favorite in

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Speaker 1: the finals in the history of the league, so it

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Speaker 1: didn't really qualify as adversity for me. Right, Jokich had

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Speaker 1: a thirty four, twenty one and fourteen against the Lakers

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Speaker 1: in twenty twenty three. That was in a sweep, so

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Speaker 1: it didn't qualify. No adversity. Kobe Bryant of forty eight

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Speaker 1: and sixteen against Sacramento in two thousand and one, but

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Speaker 1: it was part of a sweep, so it didn't get

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Speaker 1: counted in this particular category. I'm also explicitly focusing on

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Speaker 1: games that came in the context of overcoming adversity to

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Speaker 1: win the championship. So for instance, Lebron's fifty point game

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Speaker 1: against the Warriors in twenty eighteen, that maybe the best

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Speaker 1: basketball game any player has ever played, doesn't qualify. They

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Speaker 1: lost Steph Curry when he had that thirty point second

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Speaker 1: half against the Rockets after KD got hurt that's maybe

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Speaker 1: Steph's second best playoff game ever, but they lost in

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Speaker 1: the finals, so it didn't qualify for me. Here, Kobe

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Speaker 1: had several insane games against the Suns in two thousand

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Speaker 1: and six. If you guys remember, it doesn't qualify because

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Speaker 1: they lost Jokic twenty twenty four against Minnesota, he had

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Speaker 1: that forty seven and thirteen with a ridiculous shot making

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Speaker 1: insane game. Doesn't qualify because they lost so adversity and

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Speaker 1: in the process of actually winning the championship. So these

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Speaker 1: are the top ten championship saving performances of the last

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Speaker 1: twenty five years. And I'm gonna jump in with an

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Speaker 1: honorable mention here because Kobe did not make this list,

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Speaker 1: and he had a game that was my final cut

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Speaker 1: that came in at eleventh for me. That was his

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Speaker 1: Game six against Phoenix in two That was the game,

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Speaker 1: if you guys remember, he had thirty seven points hit

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Speaker 1: a bunch of these super tough shots, like right in

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Speaker 1: front of the Sun's bench. One of the most impressive

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Speaker 1: shot making games of Kobe's career. And it could have

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Speaker 1: ended up going back to the LA for a Game seven,

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Speaker 1: which could have gone either way, right, But it just

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Speaker 1: didn't quite make the cut, but I did want to

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Speaker 1: have Kobe on here because Kobe did have an incredible

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Speaker 1: championship saving performance twenty six years ago, so just barely

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Speaker 1: outside the parameters of this list. So I'm going to

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Speaker 1: briefly shout it out here as essentially an honorable mention.

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Speaker 1: Game four of the two thousand NBA Finals against the

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Speaker 1: Indiana Pacers. Kobe was just twenty one years old, and

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Speaker 1: he had twenty two points in the second half of

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Speaker 1: an incredibly intense back and forth game. Shack fouled out

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Speaker 1: in overtime on this kind of iffy rebounding foul along

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Speaker 1: the baseline, and right after that, because Shaq was off

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Speaker 1: the floor, they had to go in with John Sally

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Speaker 1: and the Pacers immediately started pounding the ball to Rick

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Speaker 1: Smith's in the lane. In the post, he just went

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Speaker 1: right at John Sally a couple times in a row

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Speaker 1: for easy, little left shoulder hook shots that he made,

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Speaker 1: and that ended up turning it into a game that

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Speaker 1: easily could have gone either way. In overtime, and Kobe

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Speaker 1: hit a couple of insane shots he hit like a

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Speaker 1: scissor dribble step back over Reggie Miller. He hit like

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Speaker 1: a hesitation dribble pull up long two right on the

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Speaker 1: very next possession against Mark Jackson. The team went back

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Speaker 1: and forth a little bit after that. Brian Shaw got

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Speaker 1: a tip in on a Glen Rice little air ball

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Speaker 1: alongside the along the baseline on the right side. Rick

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Speaker 1: Smiths hit a couple more free throws. It was a

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Speaker 1: one point game with a four second difference between the

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Speaker 1: game clock and the shot clock. Reggie Miller was doing

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Speaker 1: a really nice job denying Kobe the ball, not allowing

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Speaker 1: him to catch it, but he just used that to

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Speaker 1: his advantage because Reggie was denying him, he was chasing him,

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Speaker 1: used that to get inside position for an offensive rebound,

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Speaker 1: and Brian Shaw ended up missing kind of like a

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Speaker 1: little sweeping hook going across the middle, and Kobe was

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Speaker 1: right there, right place, right time, got the offensive rebound,

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Speaker 1: put it back and effectively ice the game. And if

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Speaker 1: Kobe doesn't step up there, Indiana likely takes a three

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Speaker 1: to two lead going back to la with two chances

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Speaker 1: to get one win and potentially win that two thousand

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Speaker 1: NBA Finals. That was a real championship saving performance from

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Speaker 1: young Kobe that just missed the parameters of this list.

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Speaker 1: But let's get into our actual rankings, our top ten

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Speaker 1: Championship saving performances of the last twenty five years. Number

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Speaker 1: ten Steph Curry in Game five of the twenty fifteen Finals. Now,

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Speaker 1: the Warriors were massive favorites after Game one of that

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Speaker 1: series because of injuries to Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving,

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Speaker 1: but that didn't seem to matter much to Lebron, who

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Speaker 1: willed the Hospital Calves into competing in that series. And

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Speaker 1: the series was tied at two, and Lebron threw his

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Speaker 1: best punch of the series in Game five on the

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Speaker 1: road in Golden State. He had a forty point monster game,

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Speaker 1: one of his more efficient games. He had sixteen in

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Speaker 1: the fourth quarter and was really going at him. The

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Speaker 1: Cavs actually had a lead in the fourth quarter of

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Speaker 1: that game in the Warrior were staring down the ropes

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Speaker 1: of potentially a three to two deficit on the road

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Speaker 1: in Cleveland, but that was when Steph Curry decided to

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Speaker 1: have his best game of the series as well. He

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Speaker 1: poured in thirty seven points of his own. He went

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Speaker 1: punch for punch with Lebron in that fourth quarter. He

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Speaker 1: hit a couple of these ridiculous step back threes over

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Speaker 1: Matthew Delavdova had a couple of tough buckets, splitting pick

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Speaker 1: and roll. He split Timofey Mozgov for a little pull

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Speaker 1: up jumper at the top of the key. He split

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Speaker 1: Tristan Thompson for a little left handed layup off the glass.

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Speaker 1: He was ridiculous down the stretch of that game. Really

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Speaker 1: a fun duel. I really enjoyed watching that one today

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Speaker 1: on YouTube. Of the fifty five points that both teams

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Speaker 1: scored in the fourth quarter, Lebron and Steph combined for

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Speaker 1: thirty three of them. It was like an epic shootout

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Speaker 1: between the two of them. But that was one of

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Speaker 1: the top three or four playoff games that Steph has

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Speaker 1: ever played, and in my opinion, his second best playoff

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Speaker 1: game that saved his team's chances to win the title.

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Speaker 1: He is another one later on in this list, but

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Speaker 1: it's so increasingly stupid when you look back on that

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Speaker 1: series that Steph didn't win Finals MVP. He was very

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Speaker 1: clearly the engine that was making everything happen for the Warriors.

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Speaker 1: It was just a simple kind of narrative base thing

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Speaker 1: where Steph struggled at the beginning of the series, and

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Speaker 1: then towards the end of the series, the Cavs were

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Speaker 1: doing a ton of blitzing to get the ball out

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Speaker 1: of his hands. And then there was the Andre Gudala

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Speaker 1: guarding Lebron James thing that kind of grabbed a lot

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Speaker 1: of attention. But to me, Steph Curry very clearly deserved

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Speaker 1: Finals MVP in twenty fifteen, and he saved them from

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Speaker 1: a disaster. Lebron was this close to pulling that upset off,

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Speaker 1: and Steph just backpacked the team and got them out

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Speaker 1: of there with the win. Number nine. Kawhi Leonard in

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Speaker 1: Game seven of the Eastern Conference semi Finals against Philly

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Speaker 1: in twenty nineteen, one of the all time emptied the

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Speaker 1: clip games. It's kind of this epic back and forth

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Speaker 1: fourth quarter and a winner take all game seven. There

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Speaker 1: were seven lead changes in that fourth quarter and Kawhi

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Speaker 1: quite literally emptied the clip. He took thirty nine shots game,

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Speaker 1: but he scored forty one points. And this was a

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Speaker 1: game where the second leading scorer was Joel Embiid with

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Speaker 1: twenty one points, so the preeminent scorer in that particular game.

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Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler got this driving layup in transition that tied

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Speaker 1: it at ninety With four seconds left, Kawhi catches out front,

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Speaker 1: takes four hard dribbles to his right, elevates his heis

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Speaker 1: he can, shoots the ball as heis he can on

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Speaker 1: an impossible fadeaway right in front of the Raptors bench,

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Speaker 1: hits the rim four times before falling in and winning

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Speaker 1: the series. And again, anyone who watched that series remembers

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Speaker 1: just how close it was and how insanely good that

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Speaker 1: Sixers team was, and how close it came to going

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Speaker 1: the other way. They consistently killed the Raptors when Joel

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Speaker 1: Embiid was on the floor. Embiid was plus ten in

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Speaker 1: over forty five minutes that game. So, for the record,

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Speaker 1: the Raptors outscored the Sixers by twelve in just two

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Speaker 1: minutes and forty eight seconds when Embiid was off the

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Speaker 1: floor in that game, Embiid was a plus eighty nine

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Speaker 1: in that series. It's one of the big what ifs

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Speaker 1: of Joel Embid's career, but quite literally a championship saving

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Speaker 1: performance by Kawhi in Game seven of that series. Number eight.

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Speaker 1: Kevin Durant Game seven against the Rockets in twenty eighteen

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna throw another honorable mention to Steph Curry in

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Speaker 1: this one. He wasn't quite as good as KD, but

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Speaker 1: was very good in some pivotal moments in this game.

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Speaker 1: But we discussed yesterday how the twenty eighteen Rockets were

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Speaker 1: built solely to beat the Warriors, and they nearly did.

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Speaker 1: They led by eleven at home in the second half

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Speaker 1: of Game seven in of the Western Conference Finals. Katie

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Speaker 1: puts up thirty four points in the game. He had

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Speaker 1: twenty one of those thirty four points in the second half,

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Speaker 1: including some insanely tough shots. He hit like a smothered

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Speaker 1: pull up three coming off of a ball screen on

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Speaker 1: the left side that Clint Capella got a great contest on,

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Speaker 1: knocked it down in his face. He had like a

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Speaker 1: super tough little baseline fade away over Jerald Green. He

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Speaker 1: had a ridiculous pull up three at the end of

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Speaker 1: the shot clock against James Harden. It's like twenty seven

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Speaker 1: feet away and Harden was right there into the shock

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Speaker 1: clock and Kad just buried it. And then to ice

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Speaker 1: the game right in front of the Rockets bench, back

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Speaker 1: to back face up ISOs against Eric Gordon, where he

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Speaker 1: just protected the ball Carmelo Anthony style and just rose

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Speaker 1: up over the top and knocked down those jumpers to

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Speaker 1: ice that game. But again I want to shout out

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Speaker 1: Steph Curry here too. He only had twenty seven in

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Speaker 1: the game, but he had nineteen of his twenty seven

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Speaker 1: in that second half, comeback and hit several key shots

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Speaker 1: during the third quarter to run. That was one of

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Speaker 1: the great like Kevin Durant Steph Curry playoff moments and

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Speaker 1: their time together, and again that series could have easily

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Speaker 1: flipped the other way. That is one of those great

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Speaker 1: championship saving performances in NBA history. So you can call

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Speaker 1: that one. Kevin Durant Steph Curry kind of split it

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Speaker 1: fifty to fifty between the two of them. I gave

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Speaker 1: it to Katie just simply because he had more points

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Speaker 1: in the game. Number seven Dwayne Wade in Game three

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Speaker 1: of the two thousand and six NBA Finals. So the

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Speaker 1: Maps were up two zero in this series, and they

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Speaker 1: were up by thirteen points with six and a half

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Speaker 1: minutes left in the fourth quarter. The series looked over

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Speaker 1: and Dwayne Wade scored twelve points in the final six

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Speaker 1: minutes and fifteen seconds to steal that game, just lighting

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Speaker 1: up Josh Howard who was helpless to keep him in front.

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Speaker 1: He was just getting him with simple rip throughs and

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Speaker 1: jab steps and stuff, mixed in some tough mid range

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Speaker 1: pull ups to counter his drives when guys would get

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Speaker 1: into help or when Josh Howard would go underneath the pick.

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Speaker 1: He iced the game with this ridiculous contested rebound in

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Speaker 1: the laying off of a Dirknovisky miss free throw that

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Speaker 1: led to a foul. And again it completely flipped that

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Speaker 1: series around and Miami ended up winning four straight to

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Speaker 1: get the trophy. Dwayne Wade over the final four games

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Speaker 1: of that series averaged thirty nine points per game on

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Speaker 1: fifty one percent shooting, and attempted seventy three free throws. Well,

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Speaker 1: that will obviously be why that series is so controversial

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Speaker 1: in retrospect. And I'm not gonna come on here and

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Speaker 1: defend the whistle necessarily, but I will say, as someone

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Speaker 1: who watched that series, like Dwayne Wade was so much

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Speaker 1: faster than everybody and so much quicker than everybody on

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Speaker 1: that MAVs roster. It was like he was cutting them

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Speaker 1: to pe and getting wherever he wanted to on the floor.

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Speaker 1: Every time I go back and watch highlights too, it's

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Speaker 1: just like, literally looks like he's moving at a different

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Speaker 1: speed and defenders were consistently out of position. Now, should

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Speaker 1: he have attempted seventy three free throws? That's the big debate,

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Speaker 1: But let's make it very clear, Dwayne Wade was absolutely

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Speaker 1: cooking everybody in the map in a MAVs jersey in

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Speaker 1: that particular series. Number six Dirk Noviski's revenge Game two

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Speaker 1: of the twenty eleven Finals, not really the most impressive

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Speaker 1: stat line ever, but one of the most legendary scoring

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Speaker 1: runs in NBA history. Dwayn Wade hits a three right

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Speaker 1: in front of the MAVs bench early in the fourth

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Speaker 1: quarter that puts the Heat up fifteen. They're already up

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Speaker 1: one to zero in the series, so it's starting to

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Speaker 1: look like the Heat are going to run away with

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Speaker 1: the finals. Jason Terry comes out and gets eight quick

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Speaker 1: ones and the Heat go cold from the perimeter, and

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Speaker 1: suddenly it's a four point game with three minutes left,

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Speaker 1: and Dirk by himself goes on a solo nine to

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Speaker 1: three run in the final three minutes of the game

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Speaker 1: to end it. He hits a law two popping out

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Speaker 1: of a ball screen along the left side. He gets

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Speaker 1: like an easy transition layup off of their defense, which

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Speaker 1: we're going to talk about in a minute, and then

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Speaker 1: he hits a three after Eudonis haslam ducks under an

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Speaker 1: off ball screen. He just confidently steps into a catch

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Speaker 1: and shoot three right there along the left wing that

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Speaker 1: puts the MAVs up three. He called time out. They

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Speaker 1: run a nice little sideline out of bounds play that

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Speaker 1: gets Mario Chalmers a wide open three in the right corner.

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Speaker 1: Lebron throws the skip past Mario knocks it down. The

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Speaker 1: game is tied. Then on the very next possession, ty

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Speaker 1: game shot clocks off. Dirk catches at the top against

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Speaker 1: Chris Bosh, does a nice like spin move into a

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Speaker 1: hesitation and when he spun into his left hand, he

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Speaker 1: paused for just a second and that was enough to

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Speaker 1: freeze Bosh when right past him left handed layup wins

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Speaker 1: the game for the MAVs, and that really swung the series.

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Speaker 1: Like if the heat go up two oh, they almost

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Speaker 1: certainly are going to win. At that point, Dirk gets

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Speaker 1: his iconic playoff moment and gets his Larry O'Brien Trophy.

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Speaker 1: A side note, I rewatched that entire comeback this morning,

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Speaker 1: and the MAVs were so good on defense in that game,

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Speaker 1: like they had this It was like they were hedging

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Speaker 1: every ball screen to try to prevent Dwayne Wade or

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Speaker 1: Lebron from turning downhill, but then sprinting in the rotations

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Speaker 1: out of it, shrinking the floor to take away driving lanes.

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Speaker 1: Their rotations were sharp, they were trying. Lebron tried to

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Speaker 1: set a pin down for Dwayne Wade at one point

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Speaker 1: and just couldn't even set a screen because how attached

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Speaker 1: they were in their screen navigation. They were so good

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Speaker 1: down the stretch defensively in that game. There were three

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Speaker 1: straight possessions where they forced Wade or Lebron into like

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Speaker 1: impossible late clock pull up threes that had almost no

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Speaker 1: chance of going in, And like that was that comeback

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Speaker 1: was every bit as much about defense as it was

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Speaker 1: about Dirk. But Dirk the iconic nine to three run

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Speaker 1: to end that game and the game winner to steal

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Speaker 1: Game two of the Finals, to set the MAVs up

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Speaker 1: for their eventual win and to get revenge on the

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Speaker 1: way to come back in two thousand and six number

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Speaker 1: five Lebron James Game six against Boston in twenty twelve.

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Speaker 1: Finals disappointment, Lebron came back like a man possessed. He

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Speaker 1: won MVP, his first team All Defense. He looked poised

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Speaker 1: to finally climb the mountain to win an NBA title.

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Speaker 1: But then, if you guys, remember, Chris Bosh pulls a

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Speaker 1: muscle in Game one in his abdomen in Game one

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Speaker 1: of the Pacers series, and suddenly the Margins got way thinner,

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Speaker 1: and that's when the adversity came. A lot of people

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Speaker 1: forget this, but Chris Bosh missed the rest of the

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Speaker 1: entirety of the Pacers series and ended up playing just

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Speaker 1: seventy three minutes total in the Celtics series, missed the

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Speaker 1: entirety of the first four games, came off the bench

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00:19:06,280 --> 00:19:09,080
Speaker 1: for the final three games of that series and barely played.

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Speaker 1: He did it some big shots in Game seven of

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Speaker 1: that series, a couple of big corner threes, But that

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00:19:15,760 --> 00:19:18,000
Speaker 1: Pacer series was super tough. They went down two to one.

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Speaker 1: If you guys remember Dwayn Wade was dealing with knee

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Speaker 1: issues two and was kind of struggling. Wade ended up

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Speaker 1: having a big breakout game in Game four of that series.

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Speaker 1: But in Game five, two to two against Boston, Paul

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Speaker 1: Pierce hits a huge three with less than a minute

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Speaker 1: left that basically ice is the game, and suddenly the

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00:19:34,520 --> 00:19:36,359
Speaker 1: Heat are down three to two and I have to

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Speaker 1: go on the road to Boston in like this Rocko

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Speaker 1: is his close out environment. The stakes were ridiculous, if

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Speaker 1: you guys remember the takes. At the time, everyone was like,

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Speaker 1: if the Heat lose, they might have to blow up

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00:19:45,080 --> 00:19:49,399
Speaker 1: the team, but no. Lebron literally eviscerated the Celtics single

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Speaker 1: handedly on the road in Game six. He dropped thirty

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Speaker 1: in the first half, just completely sucked the life out

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Speaker 1: of the arena. Even when they started to make a

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Speaker 1: run in the second half, he just nailed a three

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Speaker 1: that sucked the life right back out of the Iran.

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Speaker 1: He had fifteen points in the second half that closed

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Speaker 1: that deal for a total of forty five. Hit a

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Speaker 1: crazy variety at jumpers from three and from the mid range.

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Speaker 1: He had this like savagely calm look on his face,

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00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:16,440
Speaker 1: like he was just completely supremely confident in his ability

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00:20:16,440 --> 00:20:19,399
Speaker 1: to regain control of the situation, and the rest was history.

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00:20:19,720 --> 00:20:22,800
Speaker 1: Over the final seven games of the twenty twelve playoff run,

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Speaker 1: Lebron averaged thirty one points, eleven rebounds, and six assists

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Speaker 1: on fifty one percent shooting, and the Heat went six

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Speaker 1: and one. He played his best basketball when he needed

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Speaker 1: to push that team over the top and change what

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Speaker 1: would have been potentially a blown up Heat team into

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Speaker 1: the first champion of that era. The definition of a

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00:20:42,760 --> 00:20:46,920
Speaker 1: championship saving performance number four Johannison Tennakumpo in Game six

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Speaker 1: to the twenty twenty one NBA Finals. The stat line

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00:20:50,160 --> 00:20:53,359
Speaker 1: is obviously insane. Fifty points, fourteen rebounds, and five blocks.

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Speaker 1: But I want to focus on the second half of

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Speaker 1: this game. Every game down the stretch of this series,

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Speaker 1: if you guys remember, was super competitive. Game six was

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Speaker 1: no exception. The game was tied with ten minutes left

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Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter. And again you're staring down the

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Speaker 1: barrel of a Game seven in Phoenix, which NBA history

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00:21:08,400 --> 00:21:12,240
Speaker 1: tells us typically goes towards the home team, right Giannis

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00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:14,959
Speaker 1: poured in thirty three points in the second half and

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Speaker 1: hit everything. It wasn't just bullyball. He had a three

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Speaker 1: along the right wing early in the second half. He

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Speaker 1: hit like a tough right shoulder fade away in the lane.

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00:21:24,480 --> 00:21:27,399
Speaker 1: He hit a hook shot over Michale Bridges with like

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Speaker 1: three minutes left in the fourth quarter from like thirteen feet,

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00:21:30,920 --> 00:21:32,560
Speaker 1: like he turned over his left shoulder and hit a

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00:21:32,560 --> 00:21:35,439
Speaker 1: hook shot from thirteen feet. He made twelve of his

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00:21:35,560 --> 00:21:38,639
Speaker 1: thirteen free throws in the second half of that game.

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00:21:38,920 --> 00:21:42,600
Speaker 1: He all mixed in with the usual Yannis bullyball, deep

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Speaker 1: seals for dunks, offensive rebound put backs, driving right through

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Speaker 1: Deandrayton's chest just like it was Janis's version of just

431
00:21:50,520 --> 00:21:54,280
Speaker 1: hitting the zone and entering into that basketball nirvana where

432
00:21:54,320 --> 00:21:57,440
Speaker 1: just everything is going for you, and he was completely

433
00:21:57,520 --> 00:22:01,680
Speaker 1: unbelievable and just backpacked the team to close the deal

434
00:22:01,680 --> 00:22:03,280
Speaker 1: in Game six and win the title. They had a

435
00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:05,359
Speaker 1: couple of huge blocks on Devin Booker, won at the

436
00:22:05,440 --> 00:22:08,359
Speaker 1: rim and won in ISO. It was just the greatest

437
00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:10,080
Speaker 1: game that Yannis ever played, and it was in a

438
00:22:10,080 --> 00:22:12,920
Speaker 1: spot where his team desperately needed it, and it was

439
00:22:12,960 --> 00:22:16,359
Speaker 1: one of the great championship saving performances of the last

440
00:22:16,400 --> 00:22:20,960
Speaker 1: twenty five years. Number three Lebron James in Game seven

441
00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:24,840
Speaker 1: of the twenty thirteen NBA Finals, the game Lebron needed

442
00:22:24,840 --> 00:22:27,840
Speaker 1: his jump shot the most, and it came through. Greg

443
00:22:27,880 --> 00:22:30,520
Speaker 1: Popovich had a very simple game plan against Lebron in

444
00:22:30,520 --> 00:22:33,240
Speaker 1: the twenty thirteen Finals. He was going to completely shut

445
00:22:33,280 --> 00:22:35,800
Speaker 1: off the paint and dare Lebron to take jump shots.

446
00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:38,760
Speaker 1: They were going underneath picks, even comically low like picks

447
00:22:38,800 --> 00:22:41,320
Speaker 1: that were below the foul line. They were just daring

448
00:22:41,400 --> 00:22:43,920
Speaker 1: Lebron to shoot, and it worked pretty well for six games.

449
00:22:44,280 --> 00:22:46,600
Speaker 1: Lebron took fifty five jump shots through the first six

450
00:22:46,640 --> 00:22:49,240
Speaker 1: games of that series and got just forty five points

451
00:22:49,280 --> 00:22:52,280
Speaker 1: on them. That zero point eight two points per attempt. Obviously,

452
00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:53,960
Speaker 1: he was good in other ways, it was a super

453
00:22:53,960 --> 00:22:56,560
Speaker 1: competitive series is back and forth. Lebron was great in

454
00:22:56,640 --> 00:22:59,560
Speaker 1: Game six. He kind of saved the team from elimination

455
00:22:59,640 --> 00:23:02,360
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter, dragging them from a double digit

456
00:23:02,480 --> 00:23:04,879
Speaker 1: deficit into a close game. Those of you guys who

457
00:23:04,920 --> 00:23:07,240
Speaker 1: remember the end of that game had a crazy shot

458
00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:11,160
Speaker 1: making sequence between Tony Parker and Ray Allen. Tony Parker

459
00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:13,240
Speaker 1: hit like a ridiculous step back three at the top

460
00:23:13,280 --> 00:23:15,879
Speaker 1: of the key in like a sideways jump shot in

461
00:23:15,920 --> 00:23:19,159
Speaker 1: the lane. Ray Allen hits the massive three in the

462
00:23:19,240 --> 00:23:22,320
Speaker 1: right corner that sends it to ot. Then Lebron scores

463
00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:24,160
Speaker 1: or assists on every single field goal for the heat

464
00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:26,520
Speaker 1: and o T they win. Goes to Game seven, and

465
00:23:26,560 --> 00:23:28,920
Speaker 1: in Game seven, with all the marbles on the line,

466
00:23:29,320 --> 00:23:33,720
Speaker 1: Lebron finally burned Popovic's game plan. He hit nine jump

467
00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:36,760
Speaker 1: shots in Game seven. Again, this was an ugly low

468
00:23:36,840 --> 00:23:40,639
Speaker 1: scoring game where everyone looked exhausted. He had five threes,

469
00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:42,840
Speaker 1: and then he iced the game in the fourth quarter

470
00:23:42,880 --> 00:23:45,439
Speaker 1: with mid range jumper after mid range jumper after mid

471
00:23:45,600 --> 00:23:48,880
Speaker 1: range jumper. My favorite moment from this game is after

472
00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:52,359
Speaker 1: Lebron hits his final mid range jumper over Kawhi. He

473
00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:57,920
Speaker 1: has this like very private moment of internalized celebration. And again,

474
00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:01,760
Speaker 1: like you guys know, Lebron has always been very external celebrators.

475
00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:04,400
Speaker 1: He's a performer, he's playing to the camera, he's playing

476
00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:06,800
Speaker 1: to the crowd, and like he's high five and the

477
00:24:06,800 --> 00:24:08,800
Speaker 1: guys on his way back to the huddle. His head's down.

478
00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:11,320
Speaker 1: It's very internally focused, and he kind of does this

479
00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:14,320
Speaker 1: like two handed fist pump with like a roar that

480
00:24:14,400 --> 00:24:18,320
Speaker 1: you can tell was like very much like an internalized celebration.

481
00:24:18,400 --> 00:24:21,840
Speaker 1: It was almost like a release of all of the

482
00:24:21,880 --> 00:24:25,919
Speaker 1: stress and pressure of the last half decade involving his

483
00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:29,760
Speaker 1: jump shot. And like we found out after in the

484
00:24:29,840 --> 00:24:33,600
Speaker 1: days after from reporting that Lebron had been like really

485
00:24:33,640 --> 00:24:35,800
Speaker 1: paying his dues to become a good jump shooter. Like

486
00:24:35,840 --> 00:24:38,280
Speaker 1: he was traveling with a full time shooting coach, and

487
00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:40,520
Speaker 1: no matter where he was, whether he was on vacation

488
00:24:40,720 --> 00:24:43,159
Speaker 1: or at a marketing event or just at home, he

489
00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:45,600
Speaker 1: was working on his jump shot every single day. And

490
00:24:45,640 --> 00:24:49,080
Speaker 1: I've told you guys before, like jump shot improvement is incremental,

491
00:24:49,359 --> 00:24:51,480
Speaker 1: it's tedious, and the only way to get there is

492
00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:54,240
Speaker 1: thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands and

493
00:24:54,240 --> 00:24:57,520
Speaker 1: thousands of shots, and Lebron paid that price, and it

494
00:24:57,560 --> 00:25:01,760
Speaker 1: paid off on the biggest stage. Game seven NBA Finals,

495
00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:05,159
Speaker 1: the absolute peak of professional basketball on Earth, and it

496
00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:07,720
Speaker 1: was the first of two amazing Lebron moments that he

497
00:25:07,800 --> 00:25:12,320
Speaker 1: had on that stage. Number two Steph Curry in Game

498
00:25:12,320 --> 00:25:16,800
Speaker 1: four the twenty twenty two Finals in Boston forty three points,

499
00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:21,040
Speaker 1: ten rebounds. With the series very much at a tipping point,

500
00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:23,359
Speaker 1: it was an incredibly tough matchup for the Warriors. I

501
00:25:23,359 --> 00:25:25,639
Speaker 1: actually picked the Warriors to win that series because I

502
00:25:25,680 --> 00:25:29,320
Speaker 1: believed in Steph and just overall my basketball philosophy surrounding

503
00:25:29,400 --> 00:25:32,880
Speaker 1: veteran experience. But I was extremely nervous about that Boston team,

504
00:25:32,880 --> 00:25:34,520
Speaker 1: and I did say before the series that I thought

505
00:25:34,520 --> 00:25:37,479
Speaker 1: the Celtics were the more talented team. They were one

506
00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:39,920
Speaker 1: of the best defenses I had ever seen to that point,

507
00:25:40,040 --> 00:25:41,840
Speaker 1: and they matched up really well with Golden State and

508
00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:46,040
Speaker 1: some key areas, especially involving their perimeter speed. Emai Udoka

509
00:25:46,119 --> 00:25:48,919
Speaker 1: also opted for a high drop coverage, not like a

510
00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:53,359
Speaker 1: blitz or like a above the level coverage. They didn't

511
00:25:53,400 --> 00:25:55,400
Speaker 1: want to give up the role man, but they were

512
00:25:55,640 --> 00:25:58,359
Speaker 1: up with their bigs contesting threes, and the entire purpose

513
00:25:58,400 --> 00:26:00,320
Speaker 1: of it was Ema Yuduka did not want to let

514
00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:02,520
Speaker 1: the Warriors get into their four on three. They did

515
00:26:02,600 --> 00:26:04,240
Speaker 1: not want to let them get into the blender. The

516
00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:07,560
Speaker 1: thing that you know resulted in Andre Gudala getting a

517
00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:10,000
Speaker 1: Finals MVP in twenty fifteen. If you guys remember that

518
00:26:10,119 --> 00:26:14,119
Speaker 1: same Draymond andre Gudala sequence off of blitzerz of Steph Curry.

519
00:26:14,560 --> 00:26:16,880
Speaker 1: He didn't want to He wanted to put the burden

520
00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:21,479
Speaker 1: on Steph to make incredibly difficult pull up jump shots

521
00:26:21,480 --> 00:26:24,360
Speaker 1: over contests from very good defenders, guys like Rob Williams

522
00:26:24,800 --> 00:26:26,879
Speaker 1: and Al Horford. And by the way, it worked at first,

523
00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:29,080
Speaker 1: the Celtics took a two to one lead on the

524
00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:31,879
Speaker 1: strength of the big late game comeback in Game one

525
00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:35,399
Speaker 1: where their defense really strangled the Warriors, and they had

526
00:26:35,400 --> 00:26:38,000
Speaker 1: the Warriors up against the wall in that Game four,

527
00:26:38,840 --> 00:26:41,159
Speaker 1: even with Steph lighting the world on fire to that point,

528
00:26:41,200 --> 00:26:43,800
Speaker 1: the Celtics led by five, was seven minutes left in

529
00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:45,600
Speaker 1: that fourth quarter, and again they win that game. They're

530
00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:48,360
Speaker 1: up three to one going back to Golden State. That's

531
00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:51,920
Speaker 1: a big and advantageous position for that Celtics team. Steph

532
00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:54,800
Speaker 1: scored ten of his forty three over the final four

533
00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:57,840
Speaker 1: minutes to steal that game and to save the series.

534
00:26:58,280 --> 00:27:00,600
Speaker 1: This is one of my favorite YouTube video to watch.

535
00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:03,679
Speaker 1: The degree of difficulty on some of these pull up

536
00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:07,480
Speaker 1: threes that Steph hit was literally off the charts, and

537
00:27:07,520 --> 00:27:10,640
Speaker 1: the Warriors needed every single one of them. To put

538
00:27:10,640 --> 00:27:13,000
Speaker 1: it very simply, I believe that if Steph did not

539
00:27:13,119 --> 00:27:15,200
Speaker 1: do what he did in Game four of that series,

540
00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:19,240
Speaker 1: the Celtics are the twenty twenty two NBA champion the

541
00:27:19,440 --> 00:27:22,119
Speaker 1: end of story. And I thought it was a particularly

542
00:27:22,160 --> 00:27:25,040
Speaker 1: important win for Steph because of the way his career

543
00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:28,560
Speaker 1: had been kind of slandered in retrospect. Like, Steph was

544
00:27:28,560 --> 00:27:31,919
Speaker 1: the massive favorite in his first three champions right A championships,

545
00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:34,440
Speaker 1: right Like, obviously you have Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving

546
00:27:34,480 --> 00:27:36,760
Speaker 1: out for the first one, Kevin Duran on the team

547
00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:39,480
Speaker 1: in twenty seventeen. In twenty eighteen, it's the greatest roster

548
00:27:39,640 --> 00:27:42,919
Speaker 1: ever assembled. So he had like absurd talent advantages in

549
00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:46,520
Speaker 1: his first three championships. And so when they you know,

550
00:27:46,880 --> 00:27:50,000
Speaker 1: flamed out in twenty twenty one and missed the playoffs,

551
00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:53,400
Speaker 1: and when he's down to one in the finals there

552
00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:56,359
Speaker 1: even up to that point, there was just this large

553
00:27:56,400 --> 00:27:59,600
Speaker 1: group of detractors that was kind of undercutting everything that

554
00:27:59,680 --> 00:28:03,120
Speaker 1: Stephan had done previously in his career, and so at

555
00:28:03,119 --> 00:28:08,040
Speaker 1: that point that win, winning that game and kind of

556
00:28:08,520 --> 00:28:13,320
Speaker 1: like allowing himself to legitimize his success, because again, part

557
00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:16,320
Speaker 1: of the reason they had such an absurd talent advantage

558
00:28:16,400 --> 00:28:20,760
Speaker 1: in those series was because Steph had become close to

559
00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:23,480
Speaker 1: as good as Lebron James was as the best player

560
00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:26,800
Speaker 1: in the world, while also being surrounded with that elite roster.

561
00:28:26,960 --> 00:28:29,720
Speaker 1: But to his credit, Steph was contributing in a major

562
00:28:29,800 --> 00:28:32,119
Speaker 1: way to the success of that team. I still believe

563
00:28:32,560 --> 00:28:35,480
Speaker 1: to this day that Steph was the best player on

564
00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:39,360
Speaker 1: that Kevin Durant Warriors team, and this game, this game

565
00:28:39,400 --> 00:28:42,960
Speaker 1: for the twenty twenty two Finals, was the biggest middle

566
00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:46,040
Speaker 1: finger in the world to all those folks who had

567
00:28:46,240 --> 00:28:49,640
Speaker 1: basically kicked Steph while he was down in the years

568
00:28:49,680 --> 00:28:52,840
Speaker 1: following the Kevin Durant injury. It was a demonstration to me,

569
00:28:52,880 --> 00:28:55,840
Speaker 1: a clear demonstration that he was the second best player

570
00:28:56,160 --> 00:28:59,520
Speaker 1: of the Lebron era and in my opinion, still underrated

571
00:28:59,520 --> 00:29:02,600
Speaker 1: to this day. Number one is actually going to be

572
00:29:02,920 --> 00:29:06,560
Speaker 1: Lebron's last three games of the twenty sixteen Finals. You

573
00:29:06,600 --> 00:29:09,600
Speaker 1: could pick any of them individually. It's kind of crazy.

574
00:29:09,640 --> 00:29:11,760
Speaker 1: You go back through NBA history and you look at

575
00:29:11,760 --> 00:29:14,200
Speaker 1: some of the great like back against the Wall performances,

576
00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:18,200
Speaker 1: and Lebron just has so many of them like it.

577
00:29:18,320 --> 00:29:21,520
Speaker 1: Just in this series, Game five, forty one, sixteen, and

578
00:29:21,680 --> 00:29:23,720
Speaker 1: seven when you're down three to one in the finals,

579
00:29:24,080 --> 00:29:26,520
Speaker 1: forty one to eight, and eleven when you're down three

580
00:29:26,520 --> 00:29:29,160
Speaker 1: to two in the Finals, a twenty seven point triple

581
00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:32,080
Speaker 1: double with a game saving block in Game seven. Any

582
00:29:32,160 --> 00:29:34,840
Speaker 1: one of those could have made this list, But I

583
00:29:34,840 --> 00:29:37,040
Speaker 1: think it's a disservice to Lebron to pick just one

584
00:29:37,080 --> 00:29:39,080
Speaker 1: of those games. So I'm gonna break it down like this,

585
00:29:40,240 --> 00:29:42,840
Speaker 1: down three to one to the greatest team in NBA

586
00:29:42,920 --> 00:29:44,720
Speaker 1: history up to that point, a Warriors team that had

587
00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:48,480
Speaker 1: won eighty eight games. Lebron James over the final three

588
00:29:48,520 --> 00:29:53,880
Speaker 1: games of that series averaged thirty six points twelve rebounds

589
00:29:53,880 --> 00:29:56,800
Speaker 1: in tennisis per game on fifty one percent from the

590
00:29:56,800 --> 00:30:01,280
Speaker 1: field and forty two percent from three with six stocks

591
00:30:01,360 --> 00:30:05,920
Speaker 1: per game. That's right. He had nine steals in nine

592
00:30:06,040 --> 00:30:10,840
Speaker 1: blocks over the final three games of that series. Everyone

593
00:30:10,880 --> 00:30:14,280
Speaker 1: remembers the block on Iguadala. There's another play that I

594
00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:17,080
Speaker 1: have burned into my brain from the tail end of

595
00:30:17,120 --> 00:30:19,680
Speaker 1: Game seven, and it was the Steph Curry iso of

596
00:30:19,760 --> 00:30:22,360
Speaker 1: Kevin Love. This is a play that is remembered as

597
00:30:22,440 --> 00:30:25,960
Speaker 1: the stop by Calves fans. Go watch that play again

598
00:30:27,000 --> 00:30:29,920
Speaker 1: and you'll see Lebron hawking the lane behind Kevin Durant

599
00:30:30,800 --> 00:30:33,880
Speaker 1: and Steph had absolutely no interest in driving past Kevin

600
00:30:33,920 --> 00:30:36,600
Speaker 1: to deal with Lebron there, who had blocked Steph so

601
00:30:36,680 --> 00:30:38,360
Speaker 1: many times to that point in the series that he

602
00:30:38,400 --> 00:30:41,800
Speaker 1: was scared to drive on it. There's so many moments

603
00:30:41,800 --> 00:30:45,440
Speaker 1: in that series, obviously, the Kyrie shot in the Lebron block,

604
00:30:46,080 --> 00:30:49,600
Speaker 1: the half court surgery that Lebron performed in the fourth

605
00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:53,200
Speaker 1: quarter of Game seven, consistently generating great shots for the Calves,

606
00:30:53,200 --> 00:30:56,520
Speaker 1: and like the Rock Fight of all Rock Fight games,

607
00:30:57,080 --> 00:30:59,680
Speaker 1: I thought he performed some ridiculous half court surgery and

608
00:30:59,720 --> 00:31:01,840
Speaker 1: game if you guys remember as he was picking the

609
00:31:01,880 --> 00:31:05,040
Speaker 1: Warriors apart and pick and roll, just consistently setting Tristan

610
00:31:05,080 --> 00:31:07,880
Speaker 1: Thompson up for easy layups and dunks as he was

611
00:31:08,120 --> 00:31:11,800
Speaker 1: using his eyes to look off Warriors help defenders. It

612
00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:15,440
Speaker 1: was the greatest stretch of basketball ever played, and it

613
00:31:15,520 --> 00:31:19,800
Speaker 1: literally turned a loss into a trophy against the greatest

614
00:31:19,800 --> 00:31:23,640
Speaker 1: basketball team success wise that had ever performed up to

615
00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:26,160
Speaker 1: that point again having won eighty eight games, and so

616
00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:29,200
Speaker 1: that easily takes the number one spot on this list.

617
00:31:29,400 --> 00:31:30,960
Speaker 1: All right, guys, that's all I have for today is

618
00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:33,640
Speaker 1: always I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting us and

619
00:31:33,640 --> 00:31:35,920
Speaker 1: supporting the show. We'll be back tomorrow with one more

620
00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:38,040
Speaker 1: top ten list, the top ten defenders of the last

621
00:31:38,080 --> 00:31:40,160
Speaker 1: twenty five years. I'll see you guys then,