Speaker 1: The volume. Hi, everybody, We're going to have a great
Speaker 1: forty minute Colin Coward podcast today Jason timp hoops Tonight,
Speaker 1: we're going to talk about Warriors, Kings, Warriors, Lakers, give
Speaker 1: some love to the Knicks and the Heat series and
Speaker 1: where do we put Steph as best player in the
Speaker 1: league that category? Now? Has he surpassed Yannis who had
Speaker 1: a clunker in his series? But I wanted to talk
Speaker 1: specifically about Steph Curry. So you never really know at
Speaker 1: the time how a player will age Historically. I'll give
Speaker 1: you an example. At the time, a Joe Namath or
Speaker 1: a Brett farv is viewed as an all time talent,
Speaker 1: but the gunslinger label because there are so many players
Speaker 1: Aaron Roddy, Tom Brady, Mahomes Burrow that play at such
Speaker 1: a highly efficient level, that gunslinger quarterback looks like dumb football.
Speaker 1: It's just not efficient enough. And so Joe Namath, who
Speaker 1: had more interceptions than touchdowns, it's not really discussed as
Speaker 1: an all time great quarterback, which was unthinkable when he retired.
Speaker 1: Brett Farvre doesn't really feel like a top ten quarterback.
Speaker 1: Top ten iconic, top ten, most popular, Yes, top ten
Speaker 1: all time quarterback, just not efficient enough, too many mistakes.
Speaker 1: He's not even the best Green Bay quarterback ever, Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers is. So you never really know how a player
Speaker 1: in his prime is going to age. And so when
Speaker 1: I look at the all time starting five in NBA history,
Speaker 1: I've always felt it's Magic at the point, Michael Jordan
Speaker 1: at the two, Lebron at the three, Larry Bird the
Speaker 1: other forward, and Kareem Abulo Jabbar. Michael did everything well,
Speaker 1: Lebron does everything well, and Kareem similarly, was a dominant defender,
Speaker 1: a dominant scorer, and I always thought Magic was really
Speaker 1: going to be virtually impossible to replace. But unlike Michael,
Speaker 1: Magic was not a great defender. He was not a
Speaker 1: great scorer. He had a very short career. And I
Speaker 1: think if you look at basketball over the next one
Speaker 1: hundred years and beyond, the three point shot makes Magic
Speaker 1: less significant. Two things Magic had that were unique. One
Speaker 1: his sheer size. But now Jannis brings the ball up
Speaker 1: the court. Jokic is a point center. Kevin Durant can
Speaker 1: handle the ball. At the time, a six ' eight
Speaker 1: point guard felt like one of one all time, such
Speaker 1: a unicorn, so unique. Everybody handles the ball now, so
Speaker 1: over the test of time, that's not a unique scar
Speaker 1: gill by Magic. Secondly, Magic was not a great shooter,
Speaker 1: certainly not a great three point shooter. You really need
Speaker 1: to be and if you aren't Michael Jordan, then you
Speaker 1: have to be great at other things. Michael was the
Speaker 1: best on ball defender in the league, the best score
Speaker 1: the best mid range player, the most relentless player, the
Speaker 1: greatest effort, the best player in crisis or clutch situations.
Speaker 1: Michael did so many things well. He over the test
Speaker 1: of time, age is better. Lebron halfway through his career
Speaker 1: became a much better perimeter shooter. He agedes well. We
Speaker 1: don't expect our centers to be great three point shooters,
Speaker 1: but Kareem was a dominant offensive and defensive standard in
Speaker 1: the league in his prime for ten to fifteen years.
Speaker 1: I think Steph Curry and Magic. Now, if I have
Speaker 1: to size him up, if you take the Finals MVP
Speaker 1: from Steph and the fifty point performance in Game seven,
Speaker 1: I think there's a valid argument Steph's the greatest point
Speaker 1: guard of all time. He's a much greater scorer than Magic.
Speaker 1: He's a much greater offensive player than Magic. Johnson a
Speaker 1: terrific ball handler. Neither are great defenders. It's not that
Speaker 1: Magic doesn't age well, but he doesn't age as well
Speaker 1: as other stars because Magic was never a great defensive player.
Speaker 1: He was never a great score his ability to do
Speaker 1: many things. He could def he could play center, he
Speaker 1: could play forward. It's not that he couldn't score, but
Speaker 1: the most important thing in basketball has always been putting
Speaker 1: the ball in the basket. That's why Lebron and Larry
Speaker 1: Bird and Kareem and Michael Jordan are in that starting five.
Speaker 1: And I just I look at Steph Curry and it's
Speaker 1: not just that he's a great scorer. He's the greatest
Speaker 1: shooter of all time. That now is just that is
Speaker 1: game changing. Magic didn't change the game. He was just
Speaker 1: uniquely gifted. Hasn't really changed the game. He's just uniquely gifted.
Speaker 1: Steph has changed the game. So when you add that
Speaker 1: component that he's literally revolutionized the sport aau high school, college,
Speaker 1: pro basketball, international basketball with a three point shot. If
Speaker 1: I had to choose an all time team, I think
Speaker 1: I choose Steph Curry. I know it feels hyperbolic, but
Speaker 1: not everybody ages perfectly. Magic had a very short career.
Speaker 1: Steph's career is longer. Steph won pre KD with KD
Speaker 1: post KD at this age. To drop fifty in a
Speaker 1: game seven, to reduce Daron Fox, Klay, Thompson, Wiggins, Draymond Green,
Speaker 1: Sabonis to bystanders looked like rotational players in that second
Speaker 1: half is all time stuff. And this sounds like Colin
Speaker 1: you're overreacting. But if you take the MVP of the
Speaker 1: Finals last year and that stuff matters probably more than
Speaker 1: it should, and you combine it with this, I think
Speaker 1: over the course of time, we're gonna look at basketball
Speaker 1: as two different sports. Pre three, post three, and post
Speaker 1: three is never relinquishing. It's important to pre three. That's jurassic.
Speaker 1: That's dinosaur basketball. Nobody cares about it. Gunslinger for quarterback
Speaker 1: is dinosaur football. It's not going to age well and
Speaker 1: Farv and Magic are both all time talents. But I
Speaker 1: don't know how you watch basketball going forward the last
Speaker 1: twelve years forward and not consider Steph Curry the most
Speaker 1: lethal and dangerous and gifted point guard of all time.
Speaker 1: And because of the way he plays, he's got four
Speaker 1: five more years, three more peak years, four five or
Speaker 1: six more years. It's going to be a longer career
Speaker 1: than Magic Johnson. I think Steph to me feels like
Speaker 1: the best point guard in the history of the sport.
Speaker 1: The NBA Playoffs are upon us. Twenty teams get in
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Speaker 1: ticket deals, lowest prices guaranteed. So let's bring in my
Speaker 1: man Jason Timph host of Hoops Tonight. We are on
Speaker 1: two or three times a week together. Now my go
Speaker 1: to NBA guy. I got Draymond playing, Timph talking, and
Speaker 1: I love both as well as, by the way, Jenkins
Speaker 1: and Jones, who are culturally hysterically funny, and we love them.
Speaker 1: That was I think that was the first of the
Speaker 1: second podcasts I ever found Jenkins and Jones. So let's
Speaker 1: start with this with Yannis being reduced to bully ball,
Speaker 1: being liability at the end of that series, didn't want
Speaker 1: to shoot, almost seems scared to get the ball, missed
Speaker 1: thirteen free throws. We have kind of believed for the
Speaker 1: last two years he's the best player in the league.
Speaker 1: But if Steph with a fifty pointer in Game seven
Speaker 1: gets to the finals again, where he's really in the
Speaker 1: world of basketball as we know it now he's a
Speaker 1: limitless player. Mid range floaters at the glass, three point
Speaker 1: unlimited range. Do we have to go back and say, listen,
Speaker 1: we've got to have a real discussion here. Is that
Speaker 1: as good as Jannis is, he can be defended. You
Speaker 1: can barricade, you can do you know, what Miami did
Speaker 1: build a wall, go ahead. I think the combination of
Speaker 1: Jannis's rough series and what Steph Curry did against Sacramento,
Speaker 1: I think that's a legitimate discussion. I think, literally, Steph Curry, Jason,
Speaker 1: you know somebody's great when among other great players they
Speaker 1: feel small. Darren Fox smelt felt insignificant. I mean, he
Speaker 1: looked like a rotational player in the second half of
Speaker 1: this game. That's how great Steph was. Andrew Wiggins looked
Speaker 1: like a rotational player. That was one of the best
Speaker 1: Game sevens I've ever seen. It may have been the
Speaker 1: best Game seven I've ever seen. So your thoughts on
Speaker 1: the Yannis argument, is Steph in the world we know
Speaker 1: this three point game, Is he now the best player
Speaker 1: in the world.
Speaker 2: Well, there's a bunch of guys that are all at
Speaker 2: a pretty similar level, and I don't think anybody's wrong
Speaker 2: for picking one or the other. I have a certain
Speaker 2: system that I use. I'm going to prioritize playoff success.
Speaker 2: I couldn't care less about raising the regular season floor
Speaker 2: if you can't succeed in the playoff stage. You know
Speaker 2: what I mean, And I mean we're seeing this again
Speaker 2: with Joel embiid where it's like he just had another
Speaker 2: great season, but his body just can't hold up under
Speaker 2: the physicality of the NBA playoffs. With the honest what's
Speaker 2: really disappointing is he's progressed and like, don't get me wrong,
Speaker 2: he was hurt. The back injury was real. There's a
Speaker 2: lot of intel about some of his struggles behind the scenes.
Speaker 2: But even if you are dealing with some issues with
Speaker 2: your body missing thirteen free throws on twenty three attempts,
Speaker 2: especially two years after your crowning achievement was being locked
Speaker 2: in at the free throw line against the Phoenix Suns,
Speaker 2: that's discouraging to me. But even deeper than that, like
Speaker 2: he couldn't shoot over the top of anyone. He doesn't
Speaker 2: even have a reliable hook shot in the lane, and
Speaker 2: that's problematic. I'm not as big on the jump shot
Speaker 2: as everyone else, Like I think it's more important for
Speaker 2: him to be able to pass himself open than it
Speaker 2: is for him to be able to soften the defense
Speaker 2: with jumpers. But he needs to have something over the
Speaker 2: top and look, Steph Curry will never be able to
Speaker 2: impact the game athletically the way someone like Giannis does
Speaker 2: He's an outlier in that regard. When we're talking about
Speaker 2: the top ten to fifteen players in the league, they're
Speaker 2: all centers in big perimeter players. Steph is the outlier.
Speaker 2: He's the one guy that's different there. But what puts
Speaker 2: him on that list is, no matter what, at any
Speaker 2: point in any matchup, he is going to be able
Speaker 2: to successfully generate quality shots somehow. On offense, he's the
Speaker 2: best in the league. Get I think he's still even
Speaker 2: better than Jokic still in my opinion, at generating quality
Speaker 2: shots in the playoffs. And the last thing I'll say
Speaker 2: about it, and I'm sure you may have noticed this too, Colin.
Speaker 2: Early on in Steph's career, inconsistency was an issue for
Speaker 2: him in the postseason. Actually, through his first several playoff runs,
Speaker 2: he was good for a clunker about one out of
Speaker 2: every three times. As a matter of fact, I can't
Speaker 2: remember exactly the window of years. It was either his
Speaker 2: first three years or four years in the postseason, but
Speaker 2: like literally a third of his games he shot forty
Speaker 2: percent or worse from the field in the postseason. That's gone.
Speaker 2: He hasn't had a single game in this postseason or
Speaker 2: he shot forty percent or worse from the field. So
Speaker 2: he's completely figured out how to maintain a level of
Speaker 2: consistency offensively in the playoffs that no one else in
Speaker 2: the league can touch. And that's what makes him the
Speaker 2: best player in the world in my opinion.
Speaker 1: We learn a lot about the NBA in the regular season.
Speaker 1: There are things we do know, and then there's a
Speaker 1: bit of fools gold because young teams tend to flourish
Speaker 1: more in the regular season because it's such a marathon.
Speaker 1: They've got the legs. They play back to backs, and
Speaker 1: that's that's not an old man's game, right, But dynasties
Speaker 1: are different. And the fear of Golden State on the
Speaker 1: road was solved about a game in.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: They've went from the Houston Rockets to the same old Warriors,
Speaker 1: and I think there is a reservoir for championship teams
Speaker 1: that and I'd liken it to a baseball team that
Speaker 1: goes on a long stretch and you ask all your
Speaker 1: top pitchers to throw another thirty intense innings. They come
Speaker 1: into spring training and they're they're not ready to pitch.
Speaker 1: And I think Golden State tried to bridge the old
Speaker 1: guy young guy gap there's the Draymond punch. It's a
Speaker 1: long postseason for an old team, and I think they
Speaker 1: just kind of thought, like, listen, man, we're gonna win
Speaker 1: our home games. We're going to get into this thing.
Speaker 1: It was road trips. Man, We've done a lot of this,
Speaker 1: but I thought the last two road second halfs. I mean, Jason,
Speaker 1: it was a master's class. They There was one point
Speaker 1: Mike Breen said, the oxygen is out of the building.
Speaker 1: There was about six minutes left, and you're like, it's over.
Speaker 1: It's it's over. Not only the game was over, the
Speaker 1: fight was over. And I think a lot of it
Speaker 1: was on the defensive end, So that we have to
Speaker 1: is it fair to say we kind to have to
Speaker 1: judge dynasties differently. They do flip switches. They've got that
Speaker 1: reservoir of experience and guile and toughness, and also when
Speaker 1: they have issues, there's sort of this get over it, right,
Speaker 1: Like guys get over it, Draymond, Steph Pool. You know,
Speaker 1: like Pool was the first guy in the arena today.
Speaker 1: He wasn't great, but he was more focused. So I
Speaker 1: kind of feel like we all, I'm as guilty as anybody.
Speaker 1: This is going to be a good road team. We
Speaker 1: don't have to worry about that. That's fair, right.
Speaker 2: Again, it was the same players. It was the same
Speaker 2: players that were the dominant road team that they were
Speaker 2: last year. Again, like I the whole year, the one
Speaker 2: thing that I kept coming back to was there was
Speaker 2: no personnel reason for a decline. It was all. It
Speaker 2: was clear to me that it was effort. Even in
Speaker 2: this series, Like they came out super lackadaisical in Game six.
Speaker 2: In the first half, they would like score at the
Speaker 2: rim of dear and Fox would just dribble around all
Speaker 2: of them and score transition layup after a made basket.
Speaker 2: They just weren't really focused in that Game six. And
Speaker 2: they've had some issues with effort and focus during the
Speaker 2: regular season, some of which that have manifested in this
Speaker 2: postseason run. I thought you saw a little bit of
Speaker 2: that at the end of Game four where they were sloppy.
Speaker 2: You saw a little bit of that in Game six.
Speaker 2: But at the end of the day, it's the same personnel,
Speaker 2: And like you know, here's the thing. The regular season
Speaker 2: still matters, I think, specifically when it comes to building
Speaker 2: your basketball character. So, for instance, I don't think it's
Speaker 2: a coincidence that the Lakers played really good basketball after
Speaker 2: the deadline, and that continued into the postseason. Like you
Speaker 2: build habits and you build things that go along. However,
Speaker 2: seeding matters less than ever because all the teams are good.
Speaker 2: So if you get the seven seed, you're going to
Speaker 2: play a two seed that's not that much better than you,
Speaker 2: whereas back in the day it was different. Right, But
Speaker 2: like once again, we look on Friday night and we
Speaker 2: saw the defensive player of the Year and then suddenly
Speaker 2: there was a guy in a Lakers jersey that looked
Speaker 2: way better than him at defense because in the postseason
Speaker 2: it's just an different level that he can get to.
Speaker 2: Tonight we saw the clutch player of the Year and
Speaker 2: Darren Fox in a Game seven at home get thoroughly
Speaker 2: out executed because the dude boring number thirty for the
Speaker 2: Warriors is just way better at closing basketball games than hit.
Speaker 2: So the reality is is there is a difference between
Speaker 2: regular season and playoff basketball. It's about surviving and it's
Speaker 2: about building continuity and building habits that will carry you
Speaker 2: in the postseason. And there was such a clear delineation
Speaker 2: between what the Warriors were at home and what they
Speaker 2: were on the road that it was obvious that it
Speaker 2: was effort and focus related. Like you said, they just
Speaker 2: had a long run. They were worn down, they were
Speaker 2: injured a lot this year. Steph was out for extended stretches,
Speaker 2: Andrew Wiggins were OpEd for extended stretches. I think we
Speaker 2: tend to overthink these things. But again, Colin, that's why
Speaker 2: you and I were on the Lakers and Warriors in
Speaker 2: this first round. We've learned this lesson too many times.
Speaker 1: Yeah, by the way, Cleveland, Memphis, Sacramento, talented young teams
Speaker 1: all shrink at defark time. Lakers best players are older,
Speaker 1: Warriors are older. Celtics now are getting longer than the tooth.
Speaker 1: Although Milwaukee folded. So let's talk Lakers Warriors series. Here's
Speaker 1: what would worry me now. Anthony Davis is going to
Speaker 1: have a very good series. We know that. But the Warriors,
Speaker 1: and this is what I think makes them a dynasty,
Speaker 1: is that they've got and this. Michael Jordan's Bulls had
Speaker 1: this too. Where Rodman was a great rebounder, Jordan was
Speaker 1: a great score Pippen was a great defender, Kerr was
Speaker 1: a great shooter, Phil Jackson was a great coach. They
Speaker 1: had a lot of great Peyton's a great defender, Draymond's
Speaker 1: great defender, Steph's a great score, Clay is a great
Speaker 1: spot up shooter, Kerr's a great coach, Looney's a great rebounder.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of great There are limitations to many
Speaker 1: of their greatest players, Draymond offensively, Looney offensively, But because
Speaker 1: they're so selfless, everybody understands their role. This is a classic.
Speaker 1: You know, Ron Harper was a scorer with the Bulls.
Speaker 1: He knew he didn't have to be like the great dynasties.
Speaker 1: There's a hierarchy within it, you know, like everybody knew
Speaker 1: Michael ran the show, step Roves the show. The Lakers
Speaker 1: don't have a lot of great now. Ad is a
Speaker 1: great defender, he's a great player, and lebron In Spurts
Speaker 1: now is a great Swiss Army knife. But they're players.
Speaker 1: Dangelo Russell's game to game, Jared Vanderbilt, Malik Beasley. I
Speaker 1: think it's really hard to beat the Warriors because you
Speaker 1: kind of know Jason Draymond's a good defender every game,
Speaker 1: and Looney's a great rebounder every game. The Lakers will
Speaker 1: steal some wins here, but what the Warriors do. Those
Speaker 1: individual players bring that same thing every night. I mean,
Speaker 1: even Clay horrible first half, great second, they never bring
Speaker 1: four quarters. Draymond never bad defensively for four quarters. And
Speaker 1: I just think the difference is you're gonna get more
Speaker 1: consistent great play from more players, and it feels like
Speaker 1: a six gamer to me, and eventually you'll look up
Speaker 1: and go, Okay, this is what the Warriors do. More
Speaker 1: guys doing what they do at a premium level, whereas
Speaker 1: I don't know what I get from Ruey and D'Angelo.
Speaker 1: They have great moments, but they're not consistently great at stuff.
Speaker 1: That's my take.
Speaker 2: I think this series is going to be a slog
Speaker 2: I think both defenses are uniquely equipped to give each
Speaker 2: other problems. So the Lakers, and we've already seen this
Speaker 2: in every one of their matchups with the Warriors this year,
Speaker 2: but they're gonna put Anthony Davis on Kevan Looney, They're
Speaker 2: gonna put Lebron James and Draymond Green, and they're just
Speaker 2: gonna have both of those guys play center field underneath
Speaker 2: the basket, and a lot of the damage that Steff
Speaker 2: did in this series, in particular, was at the rim.
Speaker 2: I'm sure you notice that in the fourth quarter tonight
Speaker 2: he's just beating dudes off the dribble and get into
Speaker 2: the basket. Yet there's no there's no rim protection in Sacramento,
Speaker 2: So Anthony Davis is going to be around the basket
Speaker 2: for most of the series. So I expect that, and
Speaker 2: the Lakers did a lot of top locking and forcing
Speaker 2: the Warriors guards away from the screens and trying to
Speaker 2: get them to back door cut into all the traffic
Speaker 2: where Anthony Davis and Lebron was. I expect the Lakers
Speaker 2: to put Jared Vanderbilt on Steph Curry, Austin Reeves on
Speaker 2: Klay Thompson, try to hide D'Angelo Russell and Andrew Wiggins,
Speaker 2: and I expect him to cause the Warriors offense some problems.
Speaker 2: Here's the problem. The Warriors are also going to cause
Speaker 2: all sorts of problems for the Lakers. Draymond Green is
Speaker 2: going to be on Jared Vanderbilt and pay zero attention
Speaker 2: to him and just be a wrecking ball everywhere on
Speaker 2: the floor. Kevon Looney is the type of physical rebounding
Speaker 2: center that has always given Anthony Davis problems and Andrew Wiggins.
Speaker 2: I think one of the biggest swing factors in this
Speaker 2: series is going to be Lebron James because offensively the
Speaker 2: guy he was in the first round. If that translates
Speaker 2: into this series, the Lakers are going to be gone
Speaker 2: in five or six games. They have to have Lebron
Speaker 2: James dominate the Andrew Wiggins matchup. I think he's going
Speaker 2: to do it in the post. Andrew Wiggins on the
Speaker 2: perimeter is devastating. You saw that against Luka Doncic last
Speaker 2: year at the Conference finals. Lebron has Lebron struggle with
Speaker 2: Dylan Brooks because he has a very low center of gravity,
Speaker 2: so he has had a hard time bumping him off
Speaker 2: of his spots. Wiggins has a higher center of gravity,
Speaker 2: so I expect Lebron to try to maul him more,
Speaker 2: take him down to the block. I think this is
Speaker 2: I think this entire series comes down to Lebron James.
Speaker 2: If Lebron James plays Steph Curry to a draw, I
Speaker 2: think the Lakers win in six. If Lebron James averages
Speaker 2: twenty two points a game relatively inefficiently, like he did
Speaker 2: against Memphis, I think Golden State wins the series. So
Speaker 2: all eyes on Lebron for me.
Speaker 1: So let's let's give some credit to the Miami Heat.
Speaker 1: It's such an they're the opposite of the Dolphins. It's
Speaker 1: all culture, it's all toughness, it's all resiliency. There's no
Speaker 1: hype is that they shoot forty two. Butler's limping at
Speaker 1: the end, they get out rebounded, they're on the road,
Speaker 1: they've lost Tyler hero. He won't play in the series. Right,
Speaker 1: They come off a really a stunning upset. You'd feel
Speaker 1: a letdown. They're on the road and they win kind
Speaker 1: of comfortably. Now Julius Rannold didn't play. But when I
Speaker 1: watched that series, I thought, this really is Maybe it's
Speaker 1: because Miami and we just think of the aqua water
Speaker 1: and the beach. This is such a great basketball culture
Speaker 1: and their ability to come off that a young, immature team.
Speaker 1: I mean, they got four undrafted guys. Three are playing,
Speaker 1: they're on the road. The next are tough as hell.
Speaker 1: And as I watched that series, I thought, yeah, Julius
Speaker 1: Randall will matter, but god, Miami is the opposite of
Speaker 1: what every great Miami you know, the Marino Dolphins, the
Speaker 1: Miami Hurricanes. They're like LA teams. They feel like they're
Speaker 1: on the beach. They're flashy, and they're fun. This organization
Speaker 1: is so well run and so smartly coached. I'm watching
Speaker 1: their roster against the Knicks and I'm like, you know,
Speaker 1: the Mix had five star high school guyers, great college guys.
Speaker 1: Cody Zeller looks like my accountant. I'm like, what is happening?
Speaker 1: I just as I watch Miami, I'm like, I have
Speaker 1: such appreciation to get pro athletes to all buy in.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: I did think tib has made a mistake. They didn't
Speaker 1: attack Butler late when he was limping around the floor.
Speaker 2: It's like, dude, it was a huge mistake.
Speaker 1: Like, you know, Tim's a defensive coach, but you're kind
Speaker 1: of your your thoughts on this series as a whole
Speaker 1: and sort of this sort of grind out, rust belt,
Speaker 1: no flash Miami culture.
Speaker 2: Well, I think I think you and I have been
Speaker 2: on this for a couple of years now. The idea
Speaker 2: we basically refer to the Heat as Warrior East, but
Speaker 2: with less talent, you know, and and like the most
Speaker 2: the most impressive parted about it to me is despite
Speaker 2: the talent, they've become the safest bet in the Eastern
Speaker 2: Conference to be there. Colin this is the third time
Speaker 2: in the last four years they've played it at least
Speaker 2: the second round. This is like, that's crazy to me.
Speaker 2: This is this is the fourth time in nine years
Speaker 2: since Lebron left that the Heat have made it to
Speaker 2: the second round. That's very impressive given the level of
Speaker 2: personnel that they've had. Eric Spolstra is, in my opinion,
Speaker 2: the very best coach in the league. I love their
Speaker 2: modern approach to the game of basketball. They just bring
Speaker 2: the most out of these undrafted types of players, and
Speaker 2: even the veterans like Kyle Lowry got a lot of
Speaker 2: crap from Heat fans for kind of underwhelming in his
Speaker 2: time here. So far, he's been incredible through the first
Speaker 2: six playoff games, especially especially on the defensive end. And
Speaker 2: four Kyle Lowry torched the Knicks tonight in pick and roll,
Speaker 2: just getting over the top oft screens and knocking down
Speaker 2: little shots. That was probably the story of the game,
Speaker 2: in my opinion, was so schematically. The Heat do a
Speaker 2: ton of switching and that's very different from other teams.
Speaker 2: And they do that because bam Atabio is gifted at
Speaker 2: being able to guard on the perimeter, and most of
Speaker 2: their players are trunky and strong, it can hold up
Speaker 2: against bigger players. So when you switch everything, it stagnates
Speaker 2: teams and because all their actions don't work anymore because
Speaker 2: instead of coming off that screen open, he's coming off
Speaker 2: and just another defender switched on to him. So it
Speaker 2: turns into an isolation contest. And at the end of
Speaker 2: that game, I'm not sure if you noticed, but the
Speaker 2: Knicks just went hard on the RJ. Barrett thing, yes,
Speaker 2: and that was just not working like and Jalen Brunson
Speaker 2: was very uninvolved late in the game. And this is
Speaker 2: where the Julius Randall thing I think does matter because
Speaker 2: he is the master switch attacker going at smaller players
Speaker 2: in the post and just trying to bully them to
Speaker 2: the basket. They're gonna need him to win this series, unfortunately,
Speaker 2: just because of the personnel gap. That said, I thought
Speaker 2: the story of this particular game was the Nick's guards
Speaker 2: are better than the Heat's guards on paper, that's a
Speaker 2: better core, but the Heat Guards outplayed than Nick's guards tonight,
Speaker 2: and they're never gonna win like you like, even at
Speaker 2: home and that Rockus Madison square guarden crowd that got
Speaker 2: soundly outplayed because the guards for the Heat outplayed them.
Speaker 2: If you're gonna, like Gabe Vincent and Kyle Lowry, be
Speaker 2: better than your guards, you're gonna be in some problems
Speaker 2: in this series.
Speaker 1: So let's move back to the West. So it's not
Speaker 1: that I don't respect Denver, it's I don't watch them
Speaker 1: a ton because I pay so much attention to the
Speaker 1: Celtics and the Sixers and the Bucks and the Warriors
Speaker 1: and the Lakers, and so Denver is not a huge
Speaker 1: basketball brand. So if I'm on my treadmill or they're
Speaker 1: playing one of those teams, I'll watch them. So my
Speaker 1: takeaway has always been there deep. They're highly efficient. You
Speaker 1: kind of know what you get every time from Yoki.
Speaker 1: Jamal Murray's a little more hot and cold, but he
Speaker 1: has stretches. We saw it in the bubble can be
Speaker 1: a dominant player. But the one thing I took away
Speaker 1: and I watched about half of it because I was
Speaker 1: out with a friend from the from the the game
Speaker 1: with Phoenix is boy. They score easily. They score comfortably
Speaker 1: like the points you watch. You watch a Sacramento at
Speaker 1: the in this series more than once, and You're like,
Speaker 1: where did their wings scoring go? Like they get dry fast?
Speaker 1: If Daron Fox is an hitdiot, It's like, where's the offense?
Speaker 1: It's just easy. It's just it's like watching an NFL
Speaker 1: offense that gets easy completions and I'm like, it doesn't
Speaker 1: even feel like it's much of an effort. They're deeper
Speaker 1: than Phoenix, you know, Phoenix has some holes defensively, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, I don't know, like Phoenix will win a
Speaker 1: game or two because they'll out you know, KD and
Speaker 1: Booker will have great offensive nights, but I don't know
Speaker 1: if Phoenix can slow them down. What's your thought on that?
Speaker 2: So Phoenix has a very specific way that they need
Speaker 2: to win, and Denver beat the Suns at their own
Speaker 2: game in game one. I was so interested when I
Speaker 2: was watching the film this morning. So, for instance, Phoenix
Speaker 2: is the best pick and roll team in the league.
Speaker 2: They ran twenty four or they ran twenty nine pick
Speaker 2: and rolls and only scored twenty four points. Denver scored
Speaker 2: fifty points in pick and roll in that game, so
Speaker 2: they did. They were twice as effective as Phoenix at
Speaker 2: their bread and butter. Phoenix is a huge pull up
Speaker 2: jump shooting team. I've been talking to you of this
Speaker 2: for months now. They rely heavily on knocking down contested
Speaker 2: pull up jump shots off the dribble. Phoenix had an
Speaker 2: effective field goal percentage in Game one of thirty one
Speaker 2: percent on pull up jump shots. Denver had an effective
Speaker 2: field goal percentage of sixty four percent on pull up
Speaker 2: jump shots in Game one. Jamal Murray scored twenty one
Speaker 2: points on pull up jumpers alone in that game. Chris Paul,
Speaker 2: Devin Booker, and Kevin Durant combined to score eighteen points
Speaker 2: on pull up jump shots in that game. They just
Speaker 2: completely outplayed the Suns at their own game. I will
Speaker 2: say on film, I actually thought Phoenix held that better
Speaker 2: defensively than you would have expected. They contested shots pretty well.
Speaker 2: Jamal Murray hit a lot of tough shots in that game.
Speaker 2: Devin Booker was two for nine on pull of jumpers,
Speaker 2: so there was some shot variant stuff there. For instance,
Speaker 2: Denver scored twenty six points on sixteen spot up possessions.
Speaker 2: The Sun scored seventeen on seventeen possessions, so they just
Speaker 2: did bet like for instance, Aaron Gordon is the one
Speaker 2: guy that you want to ignore and help on everything right,
Speaker 2: and so they put kd there so that he can
Speaker 2: be super tall around the basket, bothering shots, and Aaron
Speaker 2: Gordon was making all of his jump shots. So like
Speaker 2: it was, I do think shot variation played a huge role.
Speaker 2: The one schematic thing I noticed, Denver was very aggressive
Speaker 2: on Phoenix's pick and rolls bringing Jokic out, and so
Speaker 2: there was a lot of role possessions where eight and
Speaker 2: is catching the ball on the middle of the floor
Speaker 2: and he needs to either score or make a decision.
Speaker 2: And both eight And and Biambo were terrible in this game
Speaker 2: in the role making decisions. So this is going to
Speaker 2: be a big DeAndre eighton series. He's going to have
Speaker 2: to be a monster, all right.
Speaker 1: So I still think the Knicks will make the Miami Series.
Speaker 1: I think it's going to go seven. I'll take the
Speaker 1: Warriors and six more interested now to own in on
Speaker 1: the Suns. Denver. Over all these playoffs, the Warriors Lakers
Speaker 1: is going to get a massive number, just a huge
Speaker 1: f in number. Is you know when I look at
Speaker 1: the NBA playoffs, the one thing I really appreciated about
Speaker 1: the Warriors King series is they kind of let guys play.
Speaker 1: I mean I was I was joking. Sabonis was called
Speaker 1: for thirty fouls. He felt about sixty times to eighty times,
Speaker 1: but they kind of, like the referees sort of acknowledged
Speaker 1: that's who he is. He sort of leads with his shoulder.
Speaker 1: He's a physical player. I really thought the Warriors Kings series.
Speaker 1: I thought they let guys play, and I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's obviously the Draymond Green gets ejected, but
Speaker 1: it was physical at times. It was it was never chippy.
Speaker 1: I almost wonder that the teams were so highly skilled.
Speaker 1: I hope it wasn't the best series. You know, I'm
Speaker 1: watching the Knicks in Miami and there were some ugly stretches.
Speaker 1: You're like gods, like nineteen eighty nine. I just I
Speaker 1: think overall, we complain a lot about officiating in this sport.
Speaker 1: I mean, maybe I'm wrong here. I thought the Warriors Kings,
Speaker 1: there's so much skill and the refs kind of got
Speaker 1: out of the way of it and they kind of
Speaker 1: let guys play. Now, maybe the box score doesn't show that,
Speaker 1: but I thought it was a really elegant, artful series.
Speaker 1: It really was, And the fact that road teams won
Speaker 1: three games. That's hard to do in this league. So
Speaker 1: what happened is the team that played harder won. There
Speaker 1: was no question Golden State today played harder. I mean
Speaker 1: they just the rebounding disparity was I mean, Mike Brown's
Speaker 1: saying it in the huddles. It's like, guys, they're just
Speaker 1: they just want it more.
Speaker 3: I thought the officials did a good job in the series.
Speaker 3: Did you one hundred percent agree? I think they've done
Speaker 3: mostly good in this postseason. There's been a handful of
Speaker 3: games that I haven't liked. Here's the thing. It's more physical.
Speaker 3: It can be ugly at times with the steel players
Speaker 3: struggling a little bit under that physicality. But the reality
Speaker 3: is calling it's it's so much better as a television
Speaker 3: product when the game has flow.
Speaker 2: It's not simple like. There are two problems with the
Speaker 2: NBA regular season. In my opinion, it's too long, so
Speaker 2: the urgency, like you can't play eighty two games and
Speaker 2: have twenty of the thirty teams get into the postseason,
Speaker 2: Like how how can you ever expect anybody to care
Speaker 2: on a nightly basis? That said, there's another problem, and
Speaker 2: it's the game during the regular season can be very
Speaker 2: stilted by officiating. The tic TAC calls all the time.
Speaker 2: That stops the game, and then you're waiting thirty seconds
Speaker 2: for someone to walk up to the free throw line
Speaker 2: because once again, you know, Damian Lillard just dropped his shoulder,
Speaker 2: ran into a guy, threw up some crazy eighteen foot
Speaker 2: And I'm not trying to pick on Dame because so
Speaker 2: many guys do it. But like in the postseason, that
Speaker 2: stuff doesn't happen anymore. And yeah, can get physical, and
Speaker 2: yeah can get ugly sometimes, but the game has real flow,
Speaker 2: there's real like it's easier to stay invested in the game.
Speaker 2: It's just a better television product. I wish they would
Speaker 2: officiate games like this during the entire season.
Speaker 1: Jason Temp host of Hoops Tonight. He's fantastic, good stuff.
Speaker 1: Little breakdown of the Warriors, Lakers, Golden State's winning game seven,
Speaker 1: Steph Curry's fifty point game. As always, buddy, great senior.
Speaker 2: Thanks calling. See you next time.
Speaker 3: The volume.
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