Speaker 1: You're tuned into heat Check, buttal quick on this episode
Speaker 1: of the Heat Check.
Speaker 2: The first weekend of the NBA Playoffs are here and
Speaker 2: they did not disappoint. We got upsets in Milwaukee and Phoenix,
Speaker 2: we got blowouts in Denver and Philly, and of course
Speaker 2: we have drama baby between our dogs and the Bean
Speaker 2: team the Sacramento Kings. I'm here to break it all
Speaker 2: down for you, So Nick my man, drop that generic
Speaker 2: ass beat that should be Rihanna.
Speaker 1: So the first weekend.
Speaker 2: Of the playoffs has come and gone, and we have
Speaker 2: some storylines already that are brewing. What I'm gonna give
Speaker 2: you is my three things that I found interesting from
Speaker 2: each of the series, beginning out West, ending with my
Speaker 2: breakdown of the Warriors and the Kings, because as you know,
Speaker 2: I'm in the grind and I am in Sacramento, but
Speaker 2: I did want to get you caught up for So
Speaker 2: let's start out West, where three of the four series
Speaker 2: got interesting really fast. Let's start in Memphis, Lakers Grizzlies.
Speaker 2: Fascinating game. Fascinating game, full of good, bad, and mostly
Speaker 2: ugly for the Grizzlies. They end up losing to the
Speaker 2: Lakers one eight one twelve. So it was the blowout, folks.
Speaker 2: They pull out a row win, they steal home court
Speaker 2: from the number two team in the West, And yeah,
Speaker 2: I think a lot of people saw that coming, right.
Speaker 2: I think a lot of people said the matchups don't
Speaker 2: favor the Grizzlies because there's no Steven Adams, there's no
Speaker 2: Brandon Clark, and what is Xavier Y Chilman gonna do.
Speaker 2: He's gonna get eaten alive by Anthony Davis. But the
Speaker 2: way that it ended up happening was in a way
Speaker 2: that nobody did see coming.
Speaker 1: So here are the three things that I took away
Speaker 1: from this game.
Speaker 2: First, the Lakers beat the Grizzlies on their home court
Speaker 2: despite the fact that Anthony day To Davis got injured
Speaker 2: in that game. It nullified him essentially in the second half.
Speaker 2: That was huge. Everybody says that if Anthony Davis isn't healthy,
Speaker 2: this team is cooked.
Speaker 1: They were not cooked. When Anthony Davis could not lift
Speaker 1: his arm.
Speaker 2: He was out there in the second half barely able
Speaker 2: to function, and he was a non factor offensively in
Speaker 2: the second half. So despite that, this team can win
Speaker 2: without him in the short term. Second, the Grizzlies dared
Speaker 2: the Lakers role players to beat him, and they lost.
Speaker 1: They did.
Speaker 2: Ruey Hatchi Murray had twenty nine and six, mostly on
Speaker 2: uncontested shots. In the postgame, Desmond Bain admitted that was
Speaker 2: slightly a flaw in our system. Let's see if Ruey
Speaker 2: can do it again. These role players were gonna make
Speaker 2: them beat us every single time. But the problem is
Speaker 2: Rouy only has to do it for one game. He
Speaker 2: did it once. They got their job done and now
Speaker 2: the Lakers all they have to do is continue to
Speaker 2: hole home court. And understanding the Laker role players means
Speaker 2: looking at Lebron as well, because Lebron another thing to
Speaker 2: think about. Ron just took one shot in the fourth quarter,
Speaker 2: only why so that he could get the ball to
Speaker 2: Ruey Hachimura and Austin Reeves. They were combined nine for
Speaker 2: ten from the floor in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: Think about that.
Speaker 2: Lebron James, the fourth quarter man, the clutchman himself, deferred
Speaker 2: to Austin Reeves and Ruey Hotchi Mura and it paid off.
Speaker 1: So if you're the Grizzlies.
Speaker 2: Thirdly, you must be in panic mode because Ja Morant
Speaker 2: hurt himself. Not only did he hurt his wrist. He's
Speaker 2: doubtful for Game two and maybe longer. But the truth
Speaker 2: is that he was hurt five minutes left in the game,
Speaker 2: and he just really wasn't a factor in that game.
Speaker 2: Jaron Jackson Junior played really well. He had thirty one,
Speaker 2: four and five, and they still got dogwalk. You're gonna
Speaker 2: need big performances out of Jaren to just compete. Imagine
Speaker 2: how much things can change. The Lakers were cooked, they
Speaker 2: didn't even look like a plan team, and now it
Speaker 2: feels like they could possibly sweep the Grizzlies.
Speaker 1: Let's move on to Heat versus Bucks. What happened there?
Speaker 2: I mean, in a nutshell, Jannis got hurt before you know,
Speaker 2: the second if I think before the first quarter even ended, right,
Speaker 2: he seems to be okay. It's a tailbone issue, but
Speaker 2: they were getting blown out before Yannis even left the court.
Speaker 2: He'll be banged up, of course, in the short term
Speaker 2: moving forward, But listen, man, if you don't have Giannis,
Speaker 2: you're essentially a seventh seed. The Heat had a lead
Speaker 2: pretty much all game before and after Jannis left the court.
Speaker 2: Jannis might miss Game two. Tailbone injuries are no joke.
Speaker 2: I mean Steph missed I think ten games with a
Speaker 2: tailbone injury. He had to wear a diaper when he
Speaker 2: came back, So it's gonna be really interesting to see
Speaker 2: what happens with Giannis. More importantly, though, Tyler Hero broken
Speaker 2: hand drained a corner three with a broken hand out
Speaker 2: for the rest of the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Massive loss to.
Speaker 2: The Heat that he and are one of those teams
Speaker 2: that when they are streaking and when they are hitting threes,
Speaker 2: they are really really good, and when they're not, they
Speaker 2: fucking stink. The team against the Bucks shot sixty five
Speaker 2: percent from three. That's gonna be something that you need
Speaker 2: to look out moving forward Without Tyler Herro. What is
Speaker 2: the solution to replace Tyler Hero? Do not say Duncan Robinson.
Speaker 2: Do not say that he got six minutes in the
Speaker 2: entire game, and he's that's probably the amount that he's
Speaker 2: gonna get all serious. His agent probably called Spolster and said,
Speaker 2: we need six minutes for Duncan sometime. Probably gonna need
Speaker 2: a big Oladipo game, Probably gonna need a big Caleb
Speaker 2: Martin game. Probably gonna need a big Gay Visit game.
Speaker 2: I don't love that for the Heat. Second, the Bucks
Speaker 2: need to find someone they can hit a three. They
Speaker 2: were pathetic. It was fucking horrible. They were twenty four
Speaker 2: percent from three. That's not gonna get it done. Jay
Speaker 2: Crowder very streaky player. Bobby port Is very streaky player.
Speaker 2: Middleton and Drew you need more from They were all
Speaker 2: combined four for twenty five. You cannot, you cannot, You
Speaker 2: cannot do that.
Speaker 1: You cannot do that. Joe Ingles he played pretty well
Speaker 1: from three. Maybe you feature him more.
Speaker 2: God he's slow. Goran Dragic got a DMP. Maybe he's
Speaker 2: a part of that answer listen. And thirdly, it's the
Speaker 2: Jimmy Butler show. Forty three minutes was the most all
Speaker 2: day by any player. He was on the court pretty
Speaker 2: much the entire time. He's gonna try to will this
Speaker 2: team in the second round, and it's just we know
Speaker 2: it's not gonna happen, but playoff. Jimmy Butler is a
Speaker 2: real force. I think he had thirty five, five and eleven.
Speaker 2: I think he had three steals. But that bench, that
Speaker 2: bench for the heat is fucking awful. Kyle Lowry can't
Speaker 2: be the one who helps you. He's just the kind
Speaker 2: of guy that gives you thirty one one night gives
Speaker 2: you two the next he's a bad lawnmower with a
Speaker 2: bad spark plug, like you don't know if it's gonna
Speaker 2: start or not on any given day. But this is
Speaker 2: a weird series. Both teams feel like they're equally in trouble.
Speaker 2: Felt very very sure that the Bucks were going to
Speaker 2: be able to take this in five, maybe even in four.
Speaker 1: But if Giannis is out, I don't know. They live
Speaker 1: and die with Giannis. If he's hurt, you.
Speaker 2: Rest him as long as you can as necessary, but
Speaker 2: hopefully not so long that you can't crawl out of
Speaker 2: a hole. Very very interesting series. Did not see that
Speaker 2: heat went coming Clippers versus the Suns. You look at
Speaker 2: the box score, you see the Clippers pull out an upset.
Speaker 2: They take game one one fifteen one ten in the valley,
Speaker 2: and you say, wow, probably you know, probably big Nick
Speaker 2: Batoomb game, Like wow, Russ must have had twenty five
Speaker 2: or thirty. But no, the game was not at all
Speaker 2: what you thought. It was the Kawhi show, of course,
Speaker 2: and he did not disappoint. Thirty eight points, including a
Speaker 2: clutch dagger after clutch dagger in the second half, he
Speaker 2: was hitting threes. He looked really, really good. On the
Speaker 2: flip side, KD carried the Suns, was seventeen in the
Speaker 2: second quarter. Didn't look good in the first quarter. And
Speaker 2: the problem though with the Suns is that KD did
Speaker 2: not take a shot in the final five minutes of
Speaker 2: the game. That's a big problem. Moni did not learn
Speaker 2: his mistakes from last year. Dude ran out eleven players,
Speaker 2: which is pretty insane considering that their bench is fucking awful.
Speaker 1: You know that the bench stinks.
Speaker 2: We've always known that, ever since Kevin dray Trent Kevin
Speaker 2: Durant trade went down. We do not need to see
Speaker 2: Landry Schmidt and ish Wayne Wright in clutch time. We
Speaker 2: do not many Williams. Why are you getting out coached?
Speaker 2: From the time that you played the Bucks till now.
Speaker 2: DeAndre Ayton figures to be non factor. I don't know
Speaker 2: what's happening with him, but he's not a guy that
Speaker 2: you can really rely on to get you late end
Speaker 2: of the game buckets.
Speaker 1: He's not in any rhythm.
Speaker 2: The Clippers are giving him all kinds of space to
Speaker 2: shoot mid range jumpers, and he's shooting him and he's
Speaker 2: he's largely missing them. There is no world that DeAndre
Speaker 2: Ayton should be shooting more shots than Kevin Durant and
Speaker 2: Devin Booker just can't. And it's where you're shooting him,
Speaker 2: it's when you're shooting him.
Speaker 1: Mostly ten fifteen foot jumpers. I don't I don't like that.
Speaker 2: DeAndre Ayten needs to attack the rim a lot more
Speaker 2: for the Suns to really be in it.
Speaker 1: This is a really good team. They should beat the Clippers.
Speaker 2: But now when you're taking the ball out of Kadi's hands,
Speaker 2: Devin Booker's hands, and even to a small degree, Chris
Speaker 2: Paul's hands, like you look at it, and he's going
Speaker 2: up against Ayton, is going up against Zubac, plumb Lee
Speaker 2: and Batoum. None of them have more than four fouls.
Speaker 2: You have to get them into foul trouble if you're
Speaker 2: gonna win those games. And we've got to give Tylero
Speaker 2: some love, right, Like he's a really really good coach,
Speaker 2: really really good coach. There's a million strategy decisions that
Speaker 2: you can break down, from how smart his rotations are
Speaker 2: to the decision to play Kawhi finally forty two minutes.
Speaker 2: Like I said, Jimmy Butler only played more minutes yesterday
Speaker 2: than Kawhi. That's the only player on the floor that
Speaker 2: played more. That's wild considering how listen like, TYLERU got
Speaker 2: a lot of shit for load managing Kawhi, he really did.
Speaker 2: Kind of feels like skip minutes in March to use
Speaker 2: them in April, May and June might actually make sense.
Speaker 2: Tyler should get all the flowers, listen, and he should
Speaker 2: get all the flowers for this. Russell Westbrook was not
Speaker 2: believed in in La at all, and he came to
Speaker 2: the Clippers and Tyler said, we're gonna let Russell Westbrook
Speaker 2: be him and people thought he was crazy. But that
Speaker 2: loyalty and belief in Russell Westbrook is what won them
Speaker 2: the game. Russell Westbrook won the Clippers that game. He
Speaker 2: had the worst shooting game of his entire playoff career,
Speaker 2: which was three for nineteen, and yet in the final
Speaker 2: two minutes he was the most impactful guy on the court.
Speaker 2: He was hunting for his shots, he was swatting balls away,
Speaker 2: he was playing incredibly good defense. Russ went to the
Speaker 2: bench in the third quarter when the Clippers were down
Speaker 2: double digits.
Speaker 1: Kawhi made a run.
Speaker 2: It was a four point lead, and it felt like
Speaker 2: Russ was never going to see the court again. But
Speaker 2: you know what, Tyde put him back in and he
Speaker 2: let him control the offense all the way to the
Speaker 2: end of the game. He didn't give a shit whether
Speaker 2: his shot was He was his usual Tasmanian devil self.
Speaker 2: In the final two minutes, he attacked the rim, he
Speaker 2: got fouled, he made two huge free throws. With seventeen
Speaker 2: seconds left, he made the game saving defensive play on
Speaker 2: Devin Booker. Like he made six plays in the final
Speaker 2: two minutes that won the Clippers the game. Without him,
Speaker 2: they don't win that game. So that's a really, really
Speaker 2: interesting matchup. Can't wait to see. I think it might
Speaker 2: be a long series. Actually I thought this would be
Speaker 2: four or five to six games. I think it might
Speaker 2: go seven.
Speaker 1: Wolves at Denver. Gross. Worst game of the weekend by far.
Speaker 1: That's why it was on Sunday night. For East Coast fans,
Speaker 1: you're probably in bed.
Speaker 2: It's one am. It's one am on the East Coast,
Speaker 2: no fucking shot. Everyone knew that it was gonna be
Speaker 2: bad because the game went off at ten thirty West
Speaker 2: Coast time ten thirty East Coast time.
Speaker 1: Excuse me.
Speaker 2: Half the country was sound asleep by halftime. You're not
Speaker 2: gonna see King's Warriors in that death slot. You're not
Speaker 2: gonna see Clippers Sons in the death slot. You give
Speaker 2: it to Denver. Here are my takeaways. Playoff Yokicic is
Speaker 2: here and he's really good. Playoff Yokic is different than
Speaker 2: anybody else. Playoff Yokics is very different than himself. In
Speaker 2: the regular season, he had thirteen, four and six in
Speaker 2: twenty eight minutes, and he fouled out with the Nuggets
Speaker 2: up twenty.
Speaker 1: But in the first quarter of first half, they just went.
Speaker 2: To him time and time and time and time again,
Speaker 2: facilitating perfectly sweeping the boards, going up against multiple seven footers,
Speaker 2: and just being the MVP that everybody knows he has
Speaker 2: been so second, another point is the Nuggets are just really,
Speaker 2: really good. The Nuggets are really efficient. They have multiple
Speaker 2: guys that can get you fifteen points. Aaron Gordon had thirteen,
Speaker 2: Porter had eighteen, Jokic thirteen, Jamal Murray twenty four. He
Speaker 2: was kind of the leading scorer on that team, and
Speaker 2: KCP with fifteen, Bruce Brown off the bench fourteen, So
Speaker 2: it was probably the most balanced scoring effort of any
Speaker 2: team in the playoffs this year, and you don't need
Speaker 2: a guy like nicolea.
Speaker 1: Jokicch to go off for forty.
Speaker 2: You don't you have guys along the way that can
Speaker 2: help you with thirteen, twelve, fifteen, seventeen along the way.
Speaker 2: Really hard to beat a team like that. If you
Speaker 2: have to defend every single player and there is no
Speaker 2: weakness and they can all shoot and score.
Speaker 1: That's tough. That's a really tough team to beat. And
Speaker 1: then you know, I think the thing somebody mentioned to
Speaker 1: me was like.
Speaker 2: Wow, Michael Porter Junior is a de wildcard, and I said, well,
Speaker 2: I think this is a team full of wildcards. You
Speaker 2: never know what you're gonna get from MPJ, but you
Speaker 2: also don't know what you're gonna get from KCP. KCP
Speaker 2: could give you five for six from three, and he
Speaker 2: could also go zero for nine from three.
Speaker 1: Day to day.
Speaker 2: The Nuggets are like night and day. Thirdly, man, the Wolves,
Speaker 2: the Wolves are They're just not themselves. They've played two
Speaker 2: playoff games already. They might have been gassed coming to
Speaker 2: Mile High in Denver, but I don't really care. This
Speaker 2: is a team with Rudy and Kat on the floor
Speaker 2: that does not make an ounce of sense. And we
Speaker 2: know that Rudy got ran off the floor again. He
Speaker 2: was in negative twenty eight and twenty seven minutes because
Speaker 2: the Nuggets exposed him. Karl Anthony Towns was better. But listen,
Speaker 2: this roster is getting exposed. They miss Jaden McDaniels, they
Speaker 2: miss Nas Reed, and I'm not really sure that they
Speaker 2: can keep up with this Denver team without that defense.
Speaker 1: The series is gonna be over fast.
Speaker 2: Game three is the key Nuggets can win against the
Speaker 2: Wolves on the road.
Speaker 1: It's probably night night sleep mask.
Speaker 2: So Celtics Hawks another one that's gonna be over fast?
Speaker 2: Is this series over before it started? Celtics blew the
Speaker 2: doors off the Hawks in Game one. They built the
Speaker 2: lead of twenty fast and in the process served everybody
Speaker 2: in the NBA.
Speaker 1: The Boston Celtics are.
Speaker 2: Back right that they actually are, especially with Giannis going down,
Speaker 2: may be the team to be in the East. Three takeaways.
Speaker 2: Trey Young sucks. He's terrible in playoffs. He just really is.
Speaker 2: Whatever his point number is when you're betting him, just
Speaker 2: take the under every single time. Is the fun levels
Speaker 2: are at an all time low for Portray According to
Speaker 2: Dan Greenberg, how bad is it?
Speaker 1: Trey Young versus the Celtics guards well.
Speaker 2: Versus Derek White, he had thirty one possessions, six points
Speaker 2: and went two for seven verse Marcus Smart, reigning Defensive
Speaker 2: Player of the Year sixteen possessions, five points, two for
Speaker 2: six shooting, Versus Malcolm Brogden two possessions.
Speaker 1: Zero points, zero for one shooting.
Speaker 2: There is nobody that he can score on. Derek White's
Speaker 2: probably a shoe in for all defensive NBA team. Brogden
Speaker 2: has a defensive rating of one to twelve point six
Speaker 2: the sho year, which is about the same as Derek Whites.
Speaker 1: I have no idea how Trey Young is going to
Speaker 1: be able to get loose.
Speaker 2: Second, the Celtics are going to dominate and manage to
Speaker 2: dominate the Hawks despite the fact that Robert Williams was
Speaker 2: a non factor. He was legit the only player on
Speaker 2: the roster ide a negative plus minus min seven, and
Speaker 2: this was despite going six for six from the field.
Speaker 2: I don't think he's the same player, and I do
Speaker 2: not think it matters against a team like the Hawks,
Speaker 2: and Boston doesn't need him to beat Atlanta. They're one
Speaker 2: hundred percent going to need him to beat the Sixers.
Speaker 2: But old boy, listen, the Hawks feel like they're.
Speaker 1: In trouble if Trey continues.
Speaker 2: Thirdly, his run of mediocre play in Atlanta, does this
Speaker 2: mean he's getting traded. I don't mean to be woo
Speaker 2: Janowski right now and like move forward too far. But
Speaker 2: Quinn Snyder is a good coach and he was brought
Speaker 2: on to suss out whether Trey Young is the future
Speaker 2: point guard for this team. And they do feel like
Speaker 2: they have some major issues to contend with because they've
Speaker 2: got Dejonte Andre. If Quinn Snyder wants to build this
Speaker 2: team to be beating the rest of these Eastern Conference
Speaker 2: teams like the Celtics and like the Sixers, and I
Speaker 2: just showed you all of his stats that were booboo,
Speaker 2: what is he gonna do?
Speaker 1: This series could be over and four and Trey Young
Speaker 1: could be moved to some random team in the offseason.
Speaker 2: Knicks versus Cavs. What a fascinating matchup this is. I
Speaker 2: think everybody expected it to go seven, and I think
Speaker 2: it still will. Nick stole home court right out from
Speaker 2: under Cleveland with performances from their star, a gutty game
Speaker 2: from Julius Randall, but also Josh Hart Josh Hart is
Speaker 2: so good on this team. That first round pick that
Speaker 2: they had to give up to get him is worth
Speaker 2: every single penny. First off, the takeaways, that is just
Speaker 2: that Jalen Brunson and Josh Hard are like peas and carrots.
Speaker 2: Heart was eight for eleven for seventeen. Brunson went off
Speaker 2: for twenty seven. That's forty four for the two guys
Speaker 2: in the backcourt that went to school together at Villanova.
Speaker 2: When you can get that, it's really hard to beat somebody.
Speaker 2: When Hart is coming off the bench and giving you
Speaker 2: fifteen plus. Jalen Brunson had the ball on his hands
Speaker 2: for the final minute and there was some timely offensive
Speaker 2: rebounding that.
Speaker 1: Went into the books for a nixt win.
Speaker 2: But listen, you also had a timely bucket from Josh Hart.
Speaker 2: They're not the most talented team, but boy did they
Speaker 2: find a way to scheme to.
Speaker 1: Make Darius Garland uncomfortable. They just bodied them.
Speaker 2: Secondly, they made life so uncomfortable for Darius Garland, trapping
Speaker 2: him the entire game. They forced them into five turnovers,
Speaker 2: and he had seventeen points on seven for thirteen shooting.
Speaker 1: He was just a wounded duck, just a wounded duck.
Speaker 2: Josh Hart Emmanuel quickly and Garland didn't put up a
Speaker 2: single shot in the second half, So I think the
Speaker 2: Cabs are going to have to figure out a way
Speaker 2: to fix that.
Speaker 1: They apparently say.
Speaker 2: That they're going to be more physical in Game two
Speaker 2: because Darius Garland said that the refs let them play
Speaker 2: a lot.
Speaker 1: However, the refs change game to game folks.
Speaker 2: He said, we need to hit first and see how
Speaker 2: the refs react instead of being punched in the face
Speaker 2: and just laying down.
Speaker 1: We're gonna see how that turns out.
Speaker 2: The last takeaways that Donovan Mitchell is worth every single
Speaker 2: cent he is him. He's single handedly brought the Calves
Speaker 2: back almost one of the game too. They didn't have
Speaker 2: any business being in the game, but Donovan Mitchell had
Speaker 2: thirty eight six threes, and without them, I think the
Speaker 2: Calves lose by twenty. Well, without them, the Calves aren't
Speaker 2: even there. Calves are probably just a playing team that
Speaker 2: just gets bounced. I think there's a good chance the
Speaker 2: series goes seven net sixers.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is like the Wolves versus the Nuggets.
Speaker 1: It's a mismatch. We kind of knew it was going
Speaker 1: to be.
Speaker 2: We were hoping that there was gonna be a role
Speaker 2: player like Michal Bridges who could help you compete. But
Speaker 2: when PJ. Tucker is hitting early threes, you know it's
Speaker 2: going to be a bad night. I think they won
Speaker 2: every single quarter and they did three takeaways from the game.
Speaker 2: Joel is activated playoff mode is really really good. The
Speaker 2: box score doesn't look like he did anything twenty six
Speaker 2: to five and three, but he was throwing his round
Speaker 2: with reckless abandon The nets have no answer. They have
Speaker 2: no answer for Joel Embiid Nick Claxton, you're too small.
Speaker 2: Joel can facilitate around you. It is hard for anyone
Speaker 2: to defend Joel Emba, which we know. The problem though,
Speaker 2: is that he took another bad fall. Every time that happens,
Speaker 2: the entire Sixers fan base just gasps this time.
Speaker 1: This time, embat seems fine.
Speaker 2: But the more it's the ground boy, the more likely
Speaker 2: he's gonna get hurt. This version, secondly of James Harden,
Speaker 2: is very dangerous. Harden at twenty three points and thirteen
Speaker 2: assists for a game high of plus twenty, he was
Speaker 2: the most impactful guy on the court. He's probably one
Speaker 2: of the best passers in the league, and after really
Speaker 2: a different renaissance of him being the best scorer in
Speaker 2: the league.
Speaker 1: His transformation, I think is just very impressive.
Speaker 2: As long as his hamstring, his achilles, his feet hold up,
Speaker 2: I think that this team's dangerous. And thirdly, I don't
Speaker 2: care that the Nets are getting blown out. Mckal Bridges
Speaker 2: is him. Mckl Bridges is the man too. He had
Speaker 2: thirty like clockwork. Every single game He's seemingly.
Speaker 1: Putting up thirty.
Speaker 2: How good is he? I think that there are now
Speaker 2: multiple fan bases that want to give up four or
Speaker 2: five first seaund draft picks for McHale. He's a number
Speaker 2: one option. He's very, very good. He's probably close to
Speaker 2: being an All NBA player at thirty and five playing
Speaker 2: elite defense. If the Nets keep them, and they're already
Speaker 2: calling on Brooklyn Bridges, so I feel like I feel
Speaker 2: like they do want to keep them. They're going to
Speaker 2: need to add another star around him. I don't see
Speaker 2: this series going long, so I don't have a lot
Speaker 2: of things to say, but the Nets are going to
Speaker 2: need to figure out something. Defending the home court well
Speaker 2: against the Sixers, and they are always one injury away
Speaker 2: from disaster, Let's talk a little.
Speaker 1: Bit about this King's Warriors game.
Speaker 2: The atmosphere was crazy. People were giving me a hard time,
Speaker 2: like I've never been to an NBA arena because I
Speaker 2: said that they had this whole thing planned. This is
Speaker 2: the first time they've been in the playoffs in seventeen years,
Speaker 2: first time in Golden One, so they wanted to do
Speaker 2: it upright. They had black lights and the whole thing.
Speaker 2: And if you follow me on social media, you know
Speaker 2: that I'm out here. I'm out here in Sacramento right now.
Speaker 2: But I want to give an up close and personal
Speaker 2: look about that insane game.
Speaker 1: One. Here are some random thoughts. One Alex Len.
Speaker 2: I did not expect him to go crazy. I did
Speaker 2: not expect Alex len sanity. Did anybody? Did anybody think
Speaker 2: he was going to be a difference maker in this game?
Speaker 2: Besides Mike Brown. Mike Brown was coaching his ass off, boy,
Speaker 2: because Alex lenn was a largely forgotten big man that
Speaker 2: they got from the Wizards, and he was a plus
Speaker 2: ten in that game in thirteen minutes. Trey Lyles another
Speaker 2: impactful role player on this team. I saw him practicing.
Speaker 2: He was the last guy on the court right before
Speaker 2: the game time, and I was like, wow, he's hit
Speaker 2: fifty consecutive threes in a row. He was four for
Speaker 2: six from three, had sixteen points off the bench. I
Speaker 2: think without Trey Lyles they lose game one absolutely. Number three,
Speaker 2: Darren Fox has shown the world that he might be
Speaker 2: better than Drammeran. We'll talk about this another time in
Speaker 2: a deep dive, but I think you could make the
Speaker 2: case statistically that that Jaw does less things well than Fox.
Speaker 2: And now Fox on a national stage, you got Stephen A.
Speaker 2: Smith apologizing to him. You know you've made it. He's
Speaker 2: the best clutch player in the NBA for a reason,
Speaker 2: and that was exactly what he did against the Warriors.
Speaker 2: He hit clutch shot after clutch shot, especially when Steph
Speaker 2: curries throwing Haymakers at you. Oh man, I tell you
Speaker 2: what he arrived. Darren Fox has arrived. Wiggins looks really good,
Speaker 2: doesn't look like he's out of shape. Hit a bunch
Speaker 2: of good shots, defended well. If he's playing thirty forty minutes,
Speaker 2: that's gonna be tough.
Speaker 1: He was one for eight from three. I do not
Speaker 1: expect that to continue.
Speaker 2: Harrison Barnes had some big moments. I thought he was
Speaker 2: really impactful. He had this one step back that it
Speaker 2: was like, oh no, Harrison, Oh yes, Harrison, But you
Speaker 2: didn't expect him to shoot it.
Speaker 1: He did.
Speaker 2: He had thirteen points, one for three from three. But man,
Speaker 2: that three pointer was clutch. I tell you what. Kevon
Speaker 2: Looney had just hit two free throws. They had made
Speaker 2: it a one possession game with two forty nine left,
Speaker 2: and Barnes just blew the entire arena up with a
Speaker 2: clutch three to put him up six. Every time the
Speaker 2: Warriors clawed, somebody responded, which I think was really the
Speaker 2: story for the Warriors is every time the Warriors did
Speaker 2: Warriors things, the Kings responded like they were the Warriors. Lastly, like,
Speaker 2: there's no real answer for Milik Monk. I don't know
Speaker 2: that this team can stop him. He was fourteen for
Speaker 2: fourteen from the free throw line, but he was slicing
Speaker 2: through that defense like a knife through hot butter, or
Speaker 2: a hot knife through butter.
Speaker 1: He's too athletic for them. He is.
Speaker 2: He's gonna get Kevon Looney in foul trouble. He sees
Speaker 2: that he's faster, he sees that he's more crafty. Yes,
Speaker 2: maybe he's a wildcard from a shooting standpoint, but if
Speaker 2: he's getting into the lane, which I think that the
Speaker 2: defense is going to allow him to do. I mean,
Speaker 2: you can see Milik Monk easily getting twenty five points
Speaker 2: to night finish it up with some quick thoughts, quick hitters.
Speaker 2: The refs were terrible, uh Kevon Looney was really good
Speaker 2: against the Bonus, not so great against the guards. He
Speaker 2: could end up getting I think ran off the floor
Speaker 2: by you know, guys like Mike Mounk. I think both
Speaker 2: teams are gonna push the pace a lot. Mike Brown
Speaker 2: and Steve Kerr talked about it before the game that
Speaker 2: they're gonna actually go faster than they do in the
Speaker 2: regular season.
Speaker 1: And listen, like, I don't think you can count on Sabonis.
Speaker 1: I don't.
Speaker 2: He's not gonna put up a lot of points in
Speaker 2: the series. It's a very bad matchup for him. He's
Speaker 2: gonna eat from the rebounds. But outside of that, I
Speaker 2: don't see him ever getting twenty points in this series.
Speaker 2: Both teams, though offensively started so bad from three, there's
Speaker 2: gonna be a lot more offense to be had.
Speaker 1: It still hit the over and they started off slow.
Speaker 2: At one point, the Kings were like, I think four
Speaker 2: for twenty one.
Speaker 1: Everybody thinks that they feel good about.
Speaker 2: The Warriors and r Dubs, but the Kings at one
Speaker 2: point were, oh, I scolled and they were only down twelve.
Speaker 2: If they come out like themselves, this could get ugly,
Speaker 2: really really fast. A couple of other points really quick
Speaker 2: before we go to game two. It was interesting seeing
Speaker 2: the game up close and then see how the national
Speaker 2: media talks about the King's victory, and not surprisingly, most
Speaker 2: of them are spinning it in the warriors favor. But
Speaker 2: let's face it, like it's Golden State. Golden State's the
Speaker 2: marquee team of the league. That's why they're on national
Speaker 2: TV and other teams like okay see, and the Kings aren't.
Speaker 2: I can explain why that is. I think that they're
Speaker 2: just a team that is centering itself in every conversation.
Speaker 2: The national narratives push this at every opportunity. This is
Speaker 2: what the Athletic wrote. The Warriors lost Game one, but
Speaker 2: it felt like they won something too. They finally got
Speaker 2: Wiggins back and he's ready for this. In game one,
Speaker 2: he galloped all over the floor blogging it three or
Speaker 2: high four shots, made seven of this first twelve, and
Speaker 2: played twenty eight rowdy minutes. Like, I don't know that
Speaker 2: I would put Andrew Wiggins in that light. He was good,
Speaker 2: but I don't think he's just this monster that's gonna
Speaker 2: turn Golden State into some sort of powerhouse against the Kinks.
Speaker 2: Here's another example of a pregame of what ESPN hid like.
Speaker 1: The entire thing was going off, you know.
Speaker 2: Lasers, stroll lights, black lights, and what we got instead
Speaker 2: was woes breaking down. Clay wanting a two hundred million
Speaker 2: max contract this year. I don't think that that's something
Speaker 2: that anybody cares.
Speaker 1: About right now. I just don't. I just don't.
Speaker 2: I don't think we care about contract situations in game
Speaker 2: one of the first round of an NBA playoff game,
Speaker 2: but it was one of the loudest environments I've ever seen.
Speaker 2: It was one of the coolest moments for a fan
Speaker 2: base that needs it. I just wanted ESPN to show it.
Speaker 2: The sizzle for Game two is ESPN showing twenty four
Speaker 2: different shots to Steph Curry and nothing else. Even the
Speaker 2: cable description says that the Warriors already won Game one.
Speaker 2: The disrespect is real. I will be out west through
Speaker 2: Game four. You'll be getting a lot of reports from
Speaker 2: on the ground. Follow me on social media at this
Speaker 2: heat Check, at Trista Creek on Twitter and ig this
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Speaker 1: Please give me a.
Speaker 2: Follow, please share with everyone. We appreciate you. That is
Speaker 2: all the time that we have for the Heat Check.
Speaker 1: It is been busy. I've got to go on DL
Speaker 1: and Casey right now, talk to some of the folks
Speaker 1: from BETMGM tonight later on as well, but I will
Speaker 1: be on the ground. I will continue to post.
Speaker 2: Check back Thursday. We're gonna have in all new episodes
Speaker 2: as we break down the playoffs. Please do not forget
Speaker 2: to check the feed as well for past interviews episodes
Speaker 2: along the way, and please follow us because the playoffs
Speaker 2: are here. Download subscribe, Please tell your friends, every single
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