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Speaker 1: Lebron James has won nine straight Do or Die games,
Speaker 1: either a playing game or a game seven if you
Speaker 1: count the in season tournament, it's like he's won twelve
Speaker 1: straight or thirteen straight. I said very early in the
Speaker 1: season because of the Lakers eight and their primary playmakers, Lebron,
Speaker 1: who's very old, that if it was the NCAA tournament,
Speaker 1: I think the Lakers would get to the championship game
Speaker 1: and then lose to Denver or a Boston. But in
Speaker 1: a one game setting. This is why the NBA seven
Speaker 1: game first round series is ridiculous. It punishes aging legends,
Speaker 1: which are always the ratings drivers for the NBA. I mean,
Speaker 1: the reason Caitlin Clark one of the reasons she got numbers.
Speaker 1: This was a rematch. She went into the tournament. We
Speaker 1: knew the story. They lost last year. Here they come back,
Speaker 1: they face South Carolina. I mean, ninety percent of Hollywood
Speaker 1: money is Remax, right, So it's these aging stars, these
Speaker 1: steps and these Lebron's Kevin Durantz. They drive the ratings
Speaker 1: in the NBA. So why punish them with seven game
Speaker 1: first round series with no urgency. So the Lakers in
Speaker 1: the in season tournament won in their playing games with Lebron.
Speaker 1: They're three to nine playing games with Lebron, and they've
Speaker 1: won again nine straight do or die games with Lebron.
Speaker 1: And the Lakers did what they do. They got to
Speaker 1: the free throw line a lot, and they hit their
Speaker 1: free throws. By the way Sacramento hit their free throws,
Speaker 1: Lakers hit their free throws. And you're watching in these games,
Speaker 1: these playoff games games. Is the n NBA pretty clearly tweaked.
Speaker 1: And I don't mind him doing this at all. During
Speaker 1: the regular season, the NBA said, hey, let's let him play.
Speaker 1: Let's speed the pace of play up, fewer whistles. That
Speaker 1: is a huge benefit to veteran teams. That does not
Speaker 1: benefit OKC, That will not benefit young teams that will
Speaker 1: benefit the older teams. Miami in the East will probably
Speaker 1: benefit from that. Boston's been around will benefit the Lakers
Speaker 1: will benefit. Okac won't so the Lakers. I think the
Speaker 1: Lakers match up pretty well with the Nuggets in terms
Speaker 1: of size. The difference is the fourth best player on
Speaker 1: any given night for the Denver Nuggets is Michael Porter,
Speaker 1: who is a high school prodigy who can absolutely knock
Speaker 1: down twenty eight points on any given night. Now he
Speaker 1: has championship experience, and I think that's a real thing.
Speaker 1: I think once you win the championship. Every time I
Speaker 1: watch Denver in a big TV game and it was close,
Speaker 1: they just found ways to win. And I saw about
Speaker 1: a week ago they played the te Wolves close game,
Speaker 1: just found a way to win. So it's that confidence
Speaker 1: of a championship team. I think they have the best
Speaker 1: starting five along with Boston in the NBA. And there
Speaker 1: are players on the Lakers that can disappear at times.
Speaker 1: I think Ruey's talented, he can disappear. Anthony Davis can
Speaker 1: be hot and cold offensively Lebron depending on if his
Speaker 1: three point shot is effective. D Lo as a playoff
Speaker 1: performer has been at times awful last year at times
Speaker 1: semi effective. I kind of know what I'm getting with
Speaker 1: Denver with the Lakers. It's a lot of finger crossing
Speaker 1: with DeAngelo Russell and Anthony Davis two out of three
Speaker 1: playoff games will give you a really nice offensive effort,
Speaker 1: but he can manage at times too. So I just
Speaker 1: I don't see the Lakers beating Denver four times. I
Speaker 1: think they'll beat him in a game, maybe they beat
Speaker 1: him twice. They can physically match up. You know, Jokich
Speaker 1: does not have a lot of off nights and Jamal
Speaker 1: Murray doesn't have a lot of off nights, and Gordon
Speaker 1: brings that defense virtually every game. Michael Porter can be
Speaker 1: a bit hot and cold. But you know, Denver's a
Speaker 1: champion for a reason. And my guess is they'll probably
Speaker 1: beat the Lakers in five, perhaps six, but you'll feel
Speaker 1: late in these games. That's where you'll see the difference.
Speaker 1: Where Yokich is younger than Lebron and Jamal Murray offensively
Speaker 1: is more consistent than Anthony Davis, and ad gives Jokic
Speaker 1: about as much trouble as you can possibly give him
Speaker 1: and he still gets thirty points. So I just feel
Speaker 1: the consistency the championship experience. Denver is going to be
Speaker 1: an even tougher out this year, and I imagine they
Speaker 1: extinguish the Lakers in about five or six. The games
Speaker 1: will be close, the Lakers do match up with them
Speaker 1: all right. Switching it up for the next couple of
Speaker 1: weeks from John Middelkoff to Hoops Tonight lead guy Jason Timpf,
Speaker 1: who has We're so proud of Jason because Noli does
Speaker 1: kick ass and work his butt off. But when we
Speaker 1: landed him, we thought he was really good and we
Speaker 1: couldn't believe he didn't have a larger audience. Soon enough,
Speaker 1: he's got a larger audience that he does a great job.
Speaker 1: Has grown a wicked mustache since he's been at the volume,
Speaker 1: as well, a confidence mustache. One of the I pushed
Speaker 1: back a lot on this, and I've come around. If
Speaker 1: I had an MVP vote, Jalen Brunson gets consideration, Jokic
Speaker 1: could be the favorite. But I was thinking about this
Speaker 1: watching him this past week because I already started zoning
Speaker 1: in to all the top teams on LUCA, so statistically
Speaker 1: insane could be your MVP, arguably of all the fifty
Speaker 1: plus win teams, he has the weakest roster. He solved,
Speaker 1: at least for the time being, the Kyrie issue and
Speaker 1: and the Mavericks of the hottest team in the league
Speaker 1: at the most significant time of the league. Right. We
Speaker 1: know the playoffs mean, but the last fifteen games of
Speaker 1: the regular season, you really you can feel who's playing
Speaker 1: uphill and who's playing downhill. If you had an if
Speaker 1: I had an MVP vote, I think I would think
Speaker 1: long and hard about Luca. Let's start with that. To you,
Speaker 1: who's the regular season MVP.
Speaker 3: Well, to your point about getting hot at the right
Speaker 3: time of the year. Almost everybody I talk to that
Speaker 3: I trust about basketball, when you talk to them about
Speaker 3: their top contenders, everyone's got or Denver, Boston one, two,
Speaker 3: and then the consensus is Dallas at three. That's the
Speaker 3: type of foothold they've gained around the league. Now they're
Speaker 3: respected as a team that is considered a legitimate chance
Speaker 3: to win the title. And you're right, I think they
Speaker 3: do have the most limited supporting cast of the group
Speaker 3: of teams that we kind of consider seriously at the
Speaker 3: top of the league. Now, the thing MVP's tricky because
Speaker 3: typically there's a large gap in the standings between Dallas
Speaker 3: and Denver. It's like six games if I remember correctly.
Speaker 3: Typically when you see a team that's not in that
Speaker 3: like super high end record area of the league, like
Speaker 3: fifty five plus wins, typically it's because there's not a
Speaker 3: traditional MVP candidate there for some reason, like it's a
Speaker 3: Jason Tatum that's leading one team, or it's a you know,
Speaker 3: like there's usually a limitation there, and so then you
Speaker 3: look below that and you find your guy who's leading
Speaker 3: a limited squad, whether it's a Russell Westbrooker, it's a
Speaker 3: or it's a Luka Doncic. In a case like this,
Speaker 3: the thing is is like as much as Lucas had
Speaker 3: to deal with Jamal Murray's missed more than a fourth
Speaker 3: of the season, Yea and Nikole Yoka just kept them
Speaker 3: right in the mix there. Jokic in just about every
Speaker 3: major national TV game this year as clearly demonstrated he's
Speaker 3: still the best player in the league. So for me, like,
Speaker 3: even though I view Lou, I put him second, I
Speaker 3: put Luca second. I just can't justify the gap in
Speaker 3: the standings and the fact that I think Jokic is
Speaker 3: playing at a similar level, if not a touch higher anyway.
Speaker 3: But I think Luca has a legitimate case, and I
Speaker 3: think you got to throw Shay in there too. I
Speaker 3: think Shaye is a legitimate case as well. But I
Speaker 3: think Lucas gonna win it, and I think he deserves it. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and actually I mean, excuse me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think Lucas played better defense this year. If
Speaker 1: you look at the efficiency numbers on defense his steals,
Speaker 1: you know, he's never going to be a really great,
Speaker 1: twitchy defender. And I would argue this, I don't need
Speaker 1: him to be. Listen, bro give me thirty three a
Speaker 1: night with your offensive efficiency. You know, like Steph Curry,
Speaker 1: we'll cover you somewhere. We'll have a room protector. I
Speaker 1: don't need Luca to be a great defender. You know,
Speaker 1: when you have Giannis's athletic ability and size, then you're
Speaker 1: kind of demanding. I need the effort. I will say
Speaker 1: this about Luca that I don't know in my life.
Speaker 1: It took Kobe a few years that he was a
Speaker 1: more efficient scorer. It was a wild He was like
Speaker 1: Josh Allen is a rookie quarterback. You knew it was there,
Speaker 1: but it was wild. I don't know in my lifetime
Speaker 1: if anybody has ever walked into this league and thirty
Speaker 1: games into it, you said to yourself, and I'm maybe
Speaker 1: maybe it was Kareem. This is before my time, right,
Speaker 1: I don't remember when he broke in with Milwaukee. I
Speaker 1: didn't watch sports till like seventy two, seventy three, seventy
Speaker 1: one the Bucks won the title. I don't know if
Speaker 1: I've ever seen a player walk in and by the
Speaker 1: All Star break of the first year, I remember saying, like,
Speaker 1: is he gonna be a top five scorer? Ever? Like
Speaker 1: he reminds me like, obviously he's not highly vertical. I
Speaker 1: don't know if he I'm talking Jordan Lebron everybody is
Speaker 1: he maybe the greatest score, the most unstoppable score. He
Speaker 1: gets any shot he wants every time down the floor.
Speaker 1: It's almost his girth, his lack. You know, he's not
Speaker 1: d Wade. When you look at him, he's at times puffy.
Speaker 1: I don't know how to describe him. He is just
Speaker 1: an automatic bucket, always gets it shots. I don't even
Speaker 1: know what his comp is.
Speaker 3: What is his comp so honestly, like when it comes
Speaker 3: to his size, the guy he reminds me, the most
Speaker 3: of is Lebron and I know that they don't have
Speaker 3: a ton of similarities in their actual play style, but
Speaker 3: the main thing is that this is actually something we're
Speaker 3: going to talk about when we get to the Lakers.
Speaker 3: But like when you try to ball pressure big players,
Speaker 3: that plays right into their advantage. Like if you get
Speaker 3: physical with me and I have a size advantage on you,
Speaker 3: I can pivot, use angles to go right around you
Speaker 3: because I'm just bigger and I'm stronger, and so a
Speaker 3: lot of times, like if you ball pressure Luca, he's
Speaker 3: just going right around you and getting to the basket.
Speaker 3: And so, really, what's kind of taking his game to
Speaker 3: the next level this year is he used to be
Speaker 3: kind of like a mediocre pull up three point shooter. Yeah,
Speaker 3: he had some hot streaks against the Clippers in the postseason,
Speaker 3: but for the majority of his career, he was a
Speaker 3: low thirty percent guy on that little step back three
Speaker 3: that he likes to take. Right this season, he's shooting
Speaker 3: just shy of forty percent on that shot. He's hitting
Speaker 3: that at an extremely high rate, and so you can't
Speaker 3: press him because he's too big and he'll just go
Speaker 3: right around you. But if you play off of him.
Speaker 3: He almost like tricks you by just leaning back a
Speaker 3: little bit and he can get just enough separation to
Speaker 3: get that three point shot over the top of you,
Speaker 3: and he's hit it damn near forty percent. And so
Speaker 3: that just put everybody in a bund And so we're
Speaker 3: getting career high points per game, career high assists per game,
Speaker 3: career high pull up three point shooting percentage, career high
Speaker 3: pull up jump shooting percentage. Like he's just hitting these
Speaker 3: marks that he wasn't hitting early in his career in
Speaker 3: terms of scoring efficiency to match his volume. And that's
Speaker 3: just put him in a different stratosphere as a player.
Speaker 1: Now, if you go look in recent years players that
Speaker 1: have his ball usage, like a James Harden, it just
Speaker 1: doesn't work. You just you do get to a point
Speaker 1: where you've played ninety five games. This is a taxing
Speaker 1: league and now playoff basketball is much more physical. You
Speaker 1: play more minutes. They're all hard minutes. You know, Harden
Speaker 1: could never break through. You know, my takeaway is if
Speaker 1: you're going to break through, if you're Luka, it's gonna
Speaker 1: be the next six years. It's going to be in
Speaker 1: your prime. It's like twenty three to twenty nine when
Speaker 1: you can put in these insane numbers. But do you
Speaker 1: worry about that because we do have a history that
Speaker 1: like players that came into the league like Kobe had
Speaker 1: to be like they had to figure it out, Like
Speaker 1: you just can't play like this all the time when
Speaker 1: the ball usage numbers are through the roof.
Speaker 4: What's up, everybody, John Middlecoffe Here, the NFL Draft is
Speaker 4: right around the corner. And if you want all the
Speaker 4: news leading up to it about your favorite team, be
Speaker 4: sure to subscribe to three and Out, wouldn't me? John
Speaker 4: Middlecock on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Speaker 1: Phoenix has been my disappointment in the league. I thought
Speaker 1: they were a team that would a in kind of
Speaker 1: a passive regular season league. I thought they'd just shoot
Speaker 1: their way to a lot of wins and you'd have
Speaker 1: two of the three stars. Beale was hurt early in
Speaker 1: the season, much more than I knew he would be.
Speaker 1: But they have played together. There is some duplication in
Speaker 1: the offense. But it's years ago. I've said this before,
Speaker 1: years ago when people were saying Katie's better than Lebron.
Speaker 1: This is when he was with the Warriors winning MVPs,
Speaker 1: and I said, you got to add context to this.
Speaker 1: Like he's playing, it's just go hit buckets, don't ask
Speaker 1: him to lead talk. He defended pretty well. He's always
Speaker 1: been a willing defender. But I'm like, they're not asking
Speaker 1: him do anything. He didn't have to talk after the game,
Speaker 1: before the game, he didn't have to be the soul
Speaker 1: of the team, he didn't have to be the bouncer. Hey,
Speaker 1: he don't have to do anything. Just get And that's
Speaker 1: what Katie does. By way, He's a shot maker. He's
Speaker 1: great all time. But and I felt this with Kawhi,
Speaker 1: if you ask him to be a foundational piece, a leader,
Speaker 1: the barker in the clubhouse. I mean, I go to
Speaker 1: the Warriors Laker game and Draymond and they're out by
Speaker 1: twelve late is barking at players. Lebron's a coach and
Speaker 1: you watch Kad and this is the difference. And I've
Speaker 1: said this with Kawhi. When the culture is set and
Speaker 1: you add somebody like Kawhi and Katie and they just
Speaker 1: get buckets and stops. They're all time players. But when
Speaker 1: you have to build something around that, because Booker clearly
Speaker 1: is not overly verbal. He's a scorer. That's okay, he's
Speaker 1: a scorer. And I look at this Phoenix situation and
Speaker 1: I'm like, they would be better with Lebron. This is
Speaker 1: just a guy to get a basket, and this team
Speaker 1: needs more than that. They've got guys Bial and Booker
Speaker 1: that can get a basket. They need they need this
Speaker 1: reservoir of Lebron's sort of vision leadership, this foundational personality.
Speaker 1: And so I look at Phoenix and I think, yeah,
Speaker 1: I just saw points. But all the good teams in
Speaker 1: this league there's a there is there's a soul. Curry's
Speaker 1: a sole piece, yokiches, you don't you don't even have
Speaker 1: to be overly verbal. But I look at Phoenix and
Speaker 1: I say, it'd be easy for me to just say, hey,
Speaker 1: Katie's been great, But this is sort of if you're
Speaker 1: a top eight player in the world, this is your team.
Speaker 1: And I don't care if Booker was here before. Booker
Speaker 1: wasn't winning for years and years before they brought Chris Paulan,
Speaker 1: he wasn't winning or a bad team. So I do
Speaker 1: look at Phoenix and say, some of this is just
Speaker 1: on KD At times in your career. You have to
Speaker 1: be more than get a bucket guy, don't you.
Speaker 3: Yes, And that has been the primary issue for the
Speaker 3: Suns this year. I wouldn't necessarily put it just on KD,
Speaker 3: but like KD, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal, all three
Speaker 3: of them, they are guys that, like when they're engaged defensively,
Speaker 3: can be deeply impactful. Yeah defenders, even Devin Booker. Like
Speaker 3: Devin Booker is not the most physically gifted guard in
Speaker 3: the league. But like when I watch Suns film and
Speaker 3: they're good on defense, it's usually because Booker is engaged
Speaker 3: and he's talking, and he's like the communicator of the
Speaker 3: of the defense, like calling coverages out and that sort
Speaker 3: of thing. Kevin Durant like, for the record, I'm much
Speaker 3: higher on the Suns than most people. I had them.
Speaker 3: I had them fifth, I think in my contender rankings
Speaker 3: coming into this postseason run, and I specifically love them
Speaker 3: for the Denver matchup. I think that Nurkic is a
Speaker 3: big body that can make things tougher on Yokic than
Speaker 3: some other people. Another key part of the Suns is
Speaker 3: they have the best, in my opinion, the best spread
Speaker 3: drive and kick type of team in the league. Grayson
Speaker 3: Allen on that week side has been the best three
Speaker 3: point shooter in the league. He's great at driving closeouts.
Speaker 3: Because of the three star build, you constantly have Bradley
Speaker 3: Beall off the ball or kd off the ball or
Speaker 3: Devin Booker off the ball, attacking with an advantage, and
Speaker 3: so they can really spread teams out, and so teams
Speaker 3: like Denver that are like load up defensive teams that
Speaker 3: always defend pick and roll three on two and kind
Speaker 3: of load up on the strong side that skip passes
Speaker 3: open and Phoenix can pick you apart there, which is
Speaker 3: a big part of how Phoenix has had success against
Speaker 3: Denver this year. But to your point, they've been inconsistent
Speaker 3: there where it's like I watch them. I watch them
Speaker 3: today and they kick Minnesota's ass physically from the opening tip.
Speaker 3: I watch them against Denver and they kick Denver's ass
Speaker 3: physically from the opening tip. And then I watch them
Speaker 3: against the Clippers the other night and they get punched
Speaker 3: in the mouth and they've wilt, and it's like, so
Speaker 3: that's been. That's been very much their identities they've been.
Speaker 3: They're they're like probably the widest range between floor and
Speaker 3: ceiling of all the teams that I've seen this year,
Speaker 3: because like, when you watch them on the right night,
Speaker 3: they look like a bona fide top tier chainampionship contender,
Speaker 3: and then you watch them on another night and you're like,
Speaker 3: these guys aren't made of the right stuff, and so like, honestly,
Speaker 3: like the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. But
Speaker 3: I thought I thought they demonstrated a lot of grit
Speaker 3: coming back and winning in Sacramento the other night and
Speaker 3: then going into Minnesota with a chance to get out
Speaker 3: of the plane and killing them the way that they
Speaker 3: did and in the process sparing them from a Denver
Speaker 3: matchup as well. Like, I thought that was a big
Speaker 3: time win for them. I'm generally higher on Phoenix than
Speaker 3: most people, but they've there. If there is a limitation,
Speaker 3: it's just they don't quite have a ton of like
Speaker 3: physical alpha dog in there, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1: Over in the East, I think I think the Knicks
Speaker 1: facing either the seventy six ers or the Heat, Now,
Speaker 1: who are you gonna take in that play in game
Speaker 1: April seventeenth? Would you take Philly or Miami?
Speaker 3: That game is gonna be so fun because both teams
Speaker 3: are gonna be playing as hard as they possibly can do.
Speaker 3: Avoid Boston. That's the avoid. That's the avoid Boston Bowl.
Speaker 3: So I think here's the thing. My like, Philly's more talented,
Speaker 3: but Embiid hasn't really played a good team since he
Speaker 3: come back from injury. And then Eric Spolser is definitely
Speaker 3: gonna have some Janki stuff to throw at him to
Speaker 3: try to make him feel uncomfortable. Complete and total toss up.
Speaker 3: Give me Eric Spolstra in a toss up game like that.
Speaker 1: So Jalen Brunson's interesting because he was a really good
Speaker 1: player with Luca. He was highly he was an effective player,
Speaker 1: and then he goes to New York and he's obviously
Speaker 1: more than that. But again, when you play with a
Speaker 1: high ball usage player, that's understood. You know, it's like
Speaker 1: a receiver playing with a better quarterback. You can be good.
Speaker 1: Everybody can see your hands, your routes, and then you
Speaker 1: play with them Mahomes or a you know, a top
Speaker 1: quarterback and it's like, oh, your numbers will go up.
Speaker 1: So we all knew Jalen Brunson could play in the
Speaker 1: last month and a half. And I think this is
Speaker 1: a lot of pro athletics is you know, Carl Anthony
Speaker 1: Towns got hurt for the te Wolves, and actually their
Speaker 1: pacing got better. Their three point shooting got better, which
Speaker 1: is not surprised because they had two bigs. Now you're
Speaker 1: down to one and go Bear's done. A gifted offensive player,
Speaker 1: Karl Anthony town some times can take the air out
Speaker 1: of the ball like a lot of bigs, like you
Speaker 1: nump it down to So the pacing got better. So
Speaker 1: Julius Randod gets hurt for the Knicks, and to me,
Speaker 1: it's like when I watch him, it's like, oh they
Speaker 1: they always feel like there is something in this league
Speaker 1: about you know, you got to get Julius's touches. You
Speaker 1: got to get certain guys their touches. You're paying him
Speaker 1: twenty four million, twenty eight million, Well they don't give
Speaker 1: Julius Randall's touches, and that's more touches for Jalen Brunson.
Speaker 1: And I'm sitting there watching them and I'm like, I
Speaker 1: don't know, Like when I went and watched him in person,
Speaker 1: he is so much quicker than the TV gives him
Speaker 1: credit for. Like he you cannot stay in front of him,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't care about Villanova's second round or grinder.
Speaker 1: He's not a grinder. It's way more than that. He
Speaker 1: gets great looks. And I kind of look at the
Speaker 1: Knicks and I think to myself, in and I don't
Speaker 1: trust Milwaukee. I'm I kind of like Philadelphia. But again,
Speaker 1: what is MBT? He had twelve games? Is at what
Speaker 1: he played off the injury, I wouldn't be shocked. I
Speaker 1: look at the Knicks. I think in the East, a
Speaker 1: red hot star, a good coach, and a lot of
Speaker 1: be guys that defend and play hard. I don't know,
Speaker 1: I don't think they'd get to the conference finals in
Speaker 1: the West. I mean, hell, Milwaukee's a five hundred team
Speaker 1: against the West. What do you make of the Knicks
Speaker 1: over the next three weeks?
Speaker 3: So I want to preface this by saying I love
Speaker 3: the Knicks. I think they have the best basketball character
Speaker 3: of any team in the league right now? Do you
Speaker 3: mean super fun to watch? What that means to me
Speaker 3: is like doing the right thing on a day day out. Basis,
Speaker 3: all the players are engaged, everyone's bought in, everyone plays
Speaker 3: their role. Their leaders a great leader, never too high
Speaker 3: and never too low. They bring consistent effort. They just do.
Speaker 3: They do all the right things, and I love that
Speaker 3: about them as a team. And there is something to
Speaker 3: be said about Julius Randall coming out of the lineup
Speaker 3: and that leading towards less of some of the ugly
Speaker 3: things we've seen from New York Cord the years, because
Speaker 3: Julius Randall, he has a tendency like things don't go asway,
Speaker 3: misses a couple of shots, he'll take defensive possessions off,
Speaker 3: He'll pout like that's that's something Julius Randall's been known
Speaker 3: to do at times. Right, So, like there's been a
Speaker 3: lot of upside in a regular see, he's not been
Speaker 3: a great playoff guy. He's exactly really struggle. In Julius
Speaker 3: Randalls defense, he's had some injuries when he's gotten to
Speaker 3: the postseason and is usually playing a little banked up.
Speaker 3: But yes, he's had a really rough playoff career to
Speaker 3: this point. Here's the problem, Like, I think we both
Speaker 3: agree that like the future of the Knicks probably doesn't
Speaker 3: involve Julius Radel to probably do something different there, But
Speaker 3: strictly within the context of this season, it's this simple.
Speaker 3: In a playoff setting, you can really throw the kitchen
Speaker 3: sink at a team that all operates through one star,
Speaker 3: and there's only so much that effort and energy and
Speaker 3: focus and basketball character can make up for. And the
Speaker 3: main stat to kind of like drive that point home
Speaker 3: is that as good as the Knicks have been this
Speaker 3: year against teams in the top ten in point differential,
Speaker 3: they are seven and seventeen, and they have the fourteenth
Speaker 3: worst point differential themselves in those matchups. So like, they
Speaker 3: play really hard, they win all the games they're supposed
Speaker 3: to win, and then they run into the teams to
Speaker 3: have more firepower and they lose. That's pretty much the
Speaker 3: issue with the So like, I respect them, I have
Speaker 3: a ton of optimism about the future. They're super well
Speaker 3: positioned for a trade if they want to make a
Speaker 3: trade this summer. They're in a great spot. But like,
Speaker 3: do I think they're gonna go on some sort of
Speaker 3: magical playoff run? Not necessarily.
Speaker 1: Okay, I'll take Minnesota to beat Phoenix. I think it's
Speaker 1: a six game series. I don't really know exactly. I've
Speaker 1: watched actually a lot of Phoenix and a little of Minnesota,
Speaker 1: but I do think Minnesota they've done. They've been too
Speaker 1: consistently good to flame out in the first round. And
Speaker 1: when I watch Minnesota, and maybe the analytics tell me
Speaker 1: something different, but I feel like I kind of get
Speaker 1: the same team when I watch them play. They're highs lows.
Speaker 1: I kind of feel like I get effort, I get
Speaker 1: rim protection, I get ants production, I get Conley's brain power.
Speaker 1: I always feel they're prepared and well coached. With Phoenix,
Speaker 1: there's good nights and then they trail thirty five to
Speaker 1: four at home to the Clippers, And so I think
Speaker 1: Minnesota is a consistent team with a little bit of
Speaker 1: a ceiling. I think I take Minnesota in six, picking
Speaker 1: a paragraph.
Speaker 3: I'm taking Phoenix in six. I'm really excited to watch
Speaker 3: today's game because very rarely do you get like a
Speaker 3: must win game to sample when you're prepping for a
Speaker 3: series where it's like, we get to actually watch forty
Speaker 3: eight minutes of the Wolves and Suns going at it,
Speaker 3: actually trying to win. So that's gonna be a really,
Speaker 3: really a good film session tomorrow. Main thing that stands
Speaker 3: out to me though, that the Sun shots super well.
Speaker 3: They got one point seven to six points per catch
Speaker 3: and shoot jump shot in that win over the Wolves. Today,
Speaker 3: so they definitely shot really, really well. Here's why I'm
Speaker 3: low on Minnesota, though. It's really simple. They are one
Speaker 3: of the worst offenses in the league when you get
Speaker 3: into late game situations because Anthony Edwards is twenty two
Speaker 3: years old and nobody else on the team can really
Speaker 3: consistently generate great shots, and so it's a lot of
Speaker 3: iffy decisions. It's ant settling for pull up jump shots,
Speaker 3: and then weirdly enough, their defense falls apart. For as
Speaker 3: good of a defense as they've been, their defense falls
Speaker 3: apart in clutch situations because of the fact that Mike
Speaker 3: Conley's on the floor, Carl Towns is on the floor.
Speaker 3: You can find entry points to get their defense in rotation.
Speaker 3: And then it doesn't matter if Rudy Gobert's at the rim,
Speaker 3: if he's chasing some guy off the three point line
Speaker 3: in a driving kick situation, I think the Suns are
Speaker 3: going to spread him out and get better shots. I
Speaker 3: think they'll be able to slow down Minnesota's office in
Speaker 3: the half court. I'm picking Phoenix and six.
Speaker 1: Let's go East Cleveland and Orlando. Orlando is maybe a
Speaker 1: little bit like the ok See of the West. Young
Speaker 1: really rising quickly. My guy Jalen Suggs is an improved player,
Speaker 1: like a lot of people have him as a bust
Speaker 1: early last year. So Cleveland's been weird, Cleveland's going through something.
Speaker 1: I think i'd still take the Calves. I don't know,
Speaker 1: that could be a seven game series. My picking paragraph
Speaker 1: Cleveland and seven something's wrong with them? What's your picking paragraph?
Speaker 3: These series are always tough to pick when everyone involved
Speaker 3: is so young and unexperienced that it's like so up
Speaker 3: in the air. Personnel favors Orlando. Orlando's an awesome offensive
Speaker 3: rebounding team. That is how New York beat Cleveland last year.
Speaker 3: They killed him on the offensive glass. Also, Cleveland is
Speaker 3: one of the most high volume pick and roll teams
Speaker 3: in the league. And your guy Jalen Suggs might be
Speaker 3: the best guard defender in the league. And so Donovan
Speaker 3: Mitchell is going to be in for a tough series
Speaker 3: with just an incredible individual defender on him. So all
Speaker 3: the personnel stuff points me towards Orlando. But Orlando is
Speaker 3: super young, and Cleveland got embarrassed last year, and they
Speaker 3: know what the playoffs are like now, so I expect
Speaker 3: a lot of fight from them. I'm gonna go long series.
Speaker 3: In gut check, I'm just gonna say magic, but we'll see.
Speaker 1: After I watched some film Milwaukee over Indiana. I think
Speaker 1: it's contrasting styles. Again. Two of the three best players
Speaker 1: are Milwaukee. They'll probably get because it's a veteran team.
Speaker 1: They'll get the veteran team, whistle, a little more manipulation
Speaker 1: from a Lopez and the Yannis and a day and
Speaker 1: with the officials. It's one of these like this will
Speaker 1: be a series. My prediction is when it's over, Indiana'll
Speaker 1: be like, you don't like us. We're a small market team.
Speaker 1: We got a job by the refs. But these older
Speaker 1: teams are pretty good, like the Clippers will be good
Speaker 1: in these situations. I'm gonna take Milwaukee in six. What's
Speaker 1: your thought?
Speaker 3: I would take Milwaukee in seven if I knew Janis
Speaker 3: was healthy. With Yannis being out, I just don't think
Speaker 3: the Bucks are a very good team. And if he
Speaker 3: misses three games in this series, it's possible that Indiana
Speaker 3: could be up to one with a game at home.
Speaker 3: You know, before Yannis even comes out, it comes back.
Speaker 3: So like with Yannis being out, I think the safe
Speaker 3: bet is Indiana. But if like Yannis plays and he's healthy,
Speaker 3: like I think, I would probably lean slightly towards Milwaukee.
Speaker 3: I'd pick Milwaukee in seven.
Speaker 1: So I'm really interested in a lot of the I mean,
Speaker 1: like Milwaukee losing Early's fascinating. Steve Balmer I thought when
Speaker 1: he brought Harden over. I was talking to Lawrence Frank
Speaker 1: about this. I bumped into him at dinner about a
Speaker 1: month ago, and I said, I thought the hardened thing
Speaker 1: was just for the arena. I'm like, you know, he's
Speaker 1: an LA guy. Westbrook's an LA guy. Paul George Quiet,
Speaker 1: It's like LA guys opening the new arena. And I'm like,
Speaker 1: he's actually, you guys have been looking for a point
Speaker 1: guard forever. He actually lubricates things. It's in cole When
Speaker 1: Kawhi's like trying to generate offense, It's like, no, it's
Speaker 1: not what he does. He can do it, but it's
Speaker 1: not what he does. And the hardened things sort of work.
Speaker 1: But you get James's weird personality again. He's he's a
Speaker 1: nod player. He's an odd, quirky guy. I think, much
Speaker 1: like the Bucks, if the Clippers flamed out, I think
Speaker 1: Balmer was an inpatient investor and impatient at Microsoft. Am
Speaker 1: I supposed to believe is a sports fan. Now you
Speaker 1: know he's suddenly going to be one of these long
Speaker 1: tarmac guys like I think. No. I think the Clippers
Speaker 1: lose and it's they don't get a lot of consistent effort.
Speaker 1: Do you think they blow the team up?
Speaker 3: I think that's completely on the table. I mean to
Speaker 3: put it simply, Colin, we could have four veteran teams
Speaker 3: blow up this. Just imagine some of these scenarios. Golden
Speaker 3: State loses in the plane, which, by the way, Golden
Speaker 3: State even if they beat Sacramento. If the Lakers beat
Speaker 3: New Orleans, New Orleans has Golden State's number, there's a
Speaker 3: solid chance Golden State does not get out of this
Speaker 3: playing tournament. They could be facing a total rebuild. Let's
Speaker 3: say the Lakers beat the Pelicans, but then they go
Speaker 3: to Denver and just get killed. You don't think the
Speaker 3: Lakers are gonna be sitting there looking in the mirror
Speaker 3: like we just got swept, or the gentleman swept two
Speaker 3: years in a row. We got to rethink this. What
Speaker 3: if Phoenix loses to Minnesota they just went all in
Speaker 3: on Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal and Devin Booker and they
Speaker 3: had an iffy regular season, and what if they get
Speaker 3: smacked by Minnesota? Right The Clippers, if they go out
Speaker 3: in flames, that could be a problem. The Bucks if
Speaker 3: they go down and flame, that could be a problem.
Speaker 3: What about Miami. What if Miami loses to Philly and
Speaker 3: don't forget Atlanta beat Miami in a playing game last
Speaker 3: year because they couldn't rebound with him. What if like
Speaker 3: Chicago or Atlanta gets in there and knocks out Miami.
Speaker 3: Miami could be looking at this like, are we really
Speaker 3: going to run it back with Bam and Jimmy again?
Speaker 3: When we struggle every regular season and then we just
Speaker 3: barely squeak by and upset people in the postseason, Like
Speaker 3: this could be because of how deep the field is,
Speaker 3: because there are so many good teams, We're gonna have
Speaker 3: a bunch of pissed off general managers and owners this summer.
Speaker 3: That's like a guarantee. It's just a question of who.
Speaker 3: There's going to be a lot of really unhappy fan
Speaker 3: bases and ownership groups this summer, and then all hell
Speaker 3: could break loose and we could have a bunch of
Speaker 3: trades and stuff should.
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