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

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Speaker 1: the volume. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Oh love you guys are

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Speaker 1: having a great start to your week. Well, the twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty three to twenty four NBA season is officially in

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Speaker 1: the books. The Boston Celtics are our NBA champion. We

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Speaker 1: are going to eventually turn our attention to next season,

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Speaker 1: but I want to spend the rest of this week

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Speaker 1: kind of just tying a bow on this NBA season.

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Speaker 1: And so here's the way the schedule is going to

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Speaker 1: work for the next couple of days. Today, we're focusing

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Speaker 1: on the NBA Finals and some of the bigger picture storylines.

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Speaker 1: We're going to talk about the Celtics team a little

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Speaker 1: bit more, how they rank compared to other champions, what

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Speaker 1: their chances to repeat look like. We're gonna talk a

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Speaker 1: little bit about Finals MVP. I want to talk about

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Speaker 1: Jason Tatum and his struggles and how that actually is

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Speaker 1: a good thing in terms of where this Boston Celtics

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Speaker 1: team can get to in the future. Then we'll turn

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Speaker 1: our attention to Dallas, talk a little bit about how

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Speaker 1: close they actually were and what they need to improve

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Speaker 1: and to give themselves a better chance to hoist the

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Speaker 1: trophy next year. So today, focus in on the finals

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Speaker 1: on We're gonna take tomorrow off. On Thursday, we're gonna

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Speaker 1: do what we do every year, which is we're gonna

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Speaker 1: give our five biggest takeaways from this playoff run. That's

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Speaker 1: going to focus more on basketball tactics and the different

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Speaker 1: things that we learned from this two months to basketball

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Speaker 1: to try to give us a better chance to predict

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Speaker 1: things in the future. Then we're gonna do a mail

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Speaker 1: bag over the weekend. So in the five Takeaways video

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Speaker 1: on Thursday and in today's finals video, drop mail bag

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Speaker 1: questions over the weekend. We're gonna hit all of them.

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Speaker 1: Everything is fair game. We'll split it into two. We'll

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Speaker 1: have like an NBA Finals oriented mail bag and then

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Speaker 1: we'll have like a rest of the league oriented mail bag.

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Speaker 1: But drop those questions in the YouTube videos today and Thursday,

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Speaker 1: and we'll hit those mail bag questions over the weekend.

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Speaker 1: Then when we come back from the weekend next week,

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Speaker 1: we're gonna start to turn our attention towards next season,

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Speaker 1: starting with the NBA Draft. But I'm excited to kind

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Speaker 1: of tie off the season today by getting into some

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Speaker 1: NBA Finals storylines. You guys know the joke. Before we

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Speaker 1: get started, Subscribe to the Hoops Tonight Hoops to Night

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Speaker 1: YouTube chain. You don't miss any more of our videos.

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Speaker 1: Follow me on Twitter at underscore JSNLT so you guys

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Speaker 1: don't miss show announcements. Don't forget about our podcast feed

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Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcast un our Hoops Tonight, and

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Speaker 1: then keep dropping mail back questions in the YouTube comments

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Speaker 1: so we can keep hitting them throughout the rest of

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Speaker 1: the summer and the last minut least before we get started,

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Speaker 1: let's talk some basketball. So before we get into any

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Speaker 1: of the big storylines from this NBA season. I just

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Speaker 1: wanted to give a quick message to Boston Celtics fans.

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Speaker 1: Congratulations not only for being champions, but this was a

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Speaker 1: really fun team and they won me over in a

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Speaker 1: lot of ways towards the end of the year. I

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Speaker 1: know that I grew frustrated with them during this regular

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Speaker 1: season for a lot of reasons. Obviously, like anytime I

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Speaker 1: see talent that can kind of like play down to

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Speaker 1: the competition, that sometimes can get frustrating. Missoula Ball, too,

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Speaker 1: had a lot of highs and lows. There were these

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Speaker 1: highs where they're getting these paint touches and these awesome

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Speaker 1: driving kick looks or awesome driving layup lay stuff at

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Speaker 1: the rim when their spacing was really good and they

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Speaker 1: had multiple attacks on the same possession. But then they'd

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Speaker 1: also have stretches where they'd be kind of like just

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Speaker 1: drible up the floor and take pull up jumpers or

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Speaker 1: not get dribble penetration. And Missola Ball looked ugly sometimes,

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Speaker 1: And to Joe Miszula's credit, he just continued to ride

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Speaker 1: those guys throughout the season and try to get them

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Speaker 1: to be more deliberate about their spacing and about their execution,

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Speaker 1: and I thought that they reached their ceiling in this

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Speaker 1: playoff run on both ends of the floor. And like, like,

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Speaker 1: the biggest compliment that I can pay to the Celtics

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Speaker 1: is I enjoyed watching them down the tail end of

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Speaker 1: the season. They became a fun team for me to watch,

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Speaker 1: which again, like that's not always the case. The Dallas

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Speaker 1: Mavericks team, for instance, is a team that I don't

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Speaker 1: particularly they enjoy watching. They don't play a brand of

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Speaker 1: basketball that I enjoy watching, right, And so like that,

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Speaker 1: just Celtics fans, congratulations, and you've got yourself a really,

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Speaker 1: really fun basketball team. The second piece of it, there's

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Speaker 1: gonna be a lot of discourse surrounding the team moving forward, right.

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Speaker 1: Some of that is just the reality of the profession, right,

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Speaker 1: it's our job. My job today was to wake up

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Speaker 1: and talk about the major storylines of the NBA Finals.

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Speaker 1: That's gonna be happening all over the place around NBA media.

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Speaker 1: There's gonna be a lot of ranking, There's gonna be

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Speaker 1: a lot of like, well they don't have this, or

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Speaker 1: they didn't play these guys or blah blah blah blah.

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Speaker 1: And you're gonna hear some of that stuff from me too, right,

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Speaker 1: But here's the reality. No one can ever take away

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Speaker 1: the fact that the twenty twenty four Boston Celtics won

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Speaker 1: the Larry O'Brien Trophy, that the Larry O'Brien Trophy resides

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Speaker 1: in Boston for the twenty twenty four NBA season. There

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Speaker 1: is a lot of discourse, but nobody can take it away.

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Speaker 1: It lasts forever. This is the beautiful thing about the

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Speaker 1: game of basketball. You cannot argue with the winner. The

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Speaker 1: trophy is the trophy. You guys know, I talk about

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Speaker 1: this all the time. I'm a loyalist of the banner,

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Speaker 1: right like I care about the championship more than anything else,

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Speaker 1: and that I think can never be touched in terms

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Speaker 1: of the legitimacy of the accomplishment. So just when you

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Speaker 1: hear all that discourse over the next couple of days,

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Speaker 1: just remember, if you hear something you don't like, they

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Speaker 1: can never take it away from you. You guys know,

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Speaker 1: I root for the Los Angeles Lakers right as a

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Speaker 1: Lakers fan. Trust me, After that twenty twenty season, it

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Speaker 1: was a lot of the same stuff. They dominated the

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Speaker 1: entire regular season. They started twenty four and three, they

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Speaker 1: were the best team in the Western Conference. There's that

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Speaker 1: Bucks team out east that beat up on a weak

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Speaker 1: Eastern Conference schedule and got a bunch of attention. But

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Speaker 1: the Lakers were the best team throughout the regular season.

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Speaker 1: Then they kicked everyone's ass in the postseason and it was,

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Speaker 1: you know, mickey mouse ring. It was the Disney Championship.

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Speaker 1: It was all everyone wanted to just undercut the success

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Speaker 1: of that championship. Right, that's the discourse, that's the narrative

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Speaker 1: piece of it. But remember, the twenty twenty Larry O'Brien

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Speaker 1: Trophy resides with the Los Angeles Lakers. That can never

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Speaker 1: be taken away. And so just Boston fans, congratulations, And

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Speaker 1: no matter what anybody says, including myself, over the course

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Speaker 1: of the next week, the trophy is the trophy. It

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Speaker 1: can never be taken away. And it's just a really

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Speaker 1: really cool thing to be a part of. And I'm

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Speaker 1: really really happy for you guys, and I'm happy that

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Speaker 1: you have such a fun basketball team to root for.

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Speaker 1: On that note, let's get into some of the narrative stuff, right, So,

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Speaker 1: first of all, before we go any further, not all

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Speaker 1: championships are the same. That just goes without saying, right,

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Speaker 1: some carry a certain level of cultural resonance, And a

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Speaker 1: big part of that is just I think there's a

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Speaker 1: relatability to struggle. So I think all fans are more

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Speaker 1: drawn to like adversity versus dominance, you know, like, even

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Speaker 1: though dominance means better Basketball city just seems to resonate

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Speaker 1: with people, right, So, like, for instance, the twenty twenty

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Speaker 1: Lakers were the best championship team that Lebron ever played on.

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Speaker 1: I'm using that as an example because that's a team

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Speaker 1: I rooted for. Right that that twenty twenty Lakers team

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Speaker 1: kicked everyone's ass. They lost what five playoff games, the

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Speaker 1: entire playoff run. They just ran through everybody right, started

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Speaker 1: the season twenty four and three. But when you look

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Speaker 1: back at all of Lebron's championships, that's probably the least resonant, right,

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Speaker 1: It's the one that people care about the least. If

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Speaker 1: you think about Lebron's key championship moments, what do you

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Speaker 1: think about you think about twenty sixteen coming down from

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Speaker 1: three to one, Lebron bawling his eyes out on the

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Speaker 1: floor because he brought a Championship to Cleveland. You think

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Speaker 1: about coming back from down three to two to beat

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Speaker 1: the Spurs. You think about coming back from down three

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Speaker 1: to two to beat the Celtics in twenty twelve before

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Speaker 1: they beat the Thunder in the finals, right, So like

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Speaker 1: that's the reality, right, So, like you're not going to

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Speaker 1: get the same level of like just nationwide, worldwide, like

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Speaker 1: oh my god, that was incredible because dominance just doesn't

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Speaker 1: resonate with people the same way that adversity does. The

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty Lakers were a better basketball team than any

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Speaker 1: Lebron team that he played on, except for maybe the

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Speaker 1: twenty thirteen Heat, Like they're on a similar level. But

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Speaker 1: like it's dominance just doesn't resonate with people. It just doesn't.

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Speaker 1: And that's the unfortunate thing. It's kind of like a

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Speaker 1: shitty side effect. It's kind of like Lebron fans do

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Speaker 1: this with Michael Jordan too. It's like he won six

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Speaker 1: championships and eight tries in the nineties. How is it portrayed.

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Speaker 1: It's portrayed as like, oh, it's just a bunch of bums.

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Speaker 1: The league was diluted, Michael Jordan kicked everyone's ass, and

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Speaker 1: it's like, yeah, there's some truth to that, but just

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Speaker 1: dominance just doesn't resonate with people the same way that

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Speaker 1: adversity does. So like that's that's gonna be why you're

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Speaker 1: not gonna see as much like just overwhelming awe and

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Speaker 1: and credit being thrown Boston's way. It's just kind of

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Speaker 1: like a natural human behavior. That said, the opportunity will

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Speaker 1: be there for this Boston team to make a more

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Speaker 1: profound imprint on NBA history because we turn around and

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Speaker 1: we play again next year. And as we saw this year,

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Speaker 1: I thought there were five good teams in the East,

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Speaker 1: and four of them ended up on the other end

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Speaker 1: of the bracket. And the one that came out of

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Speaker 1: it was probably the worst team in that bunch, the

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Speaker 1: Indiana Pacers, But they were the team that was healthy

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Speaker 1: the longest, and then they got hurt when they got there. Right,

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Speaker 1: So next year the East will be stronger. Milwaukee's probably

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Speaker 1: gonna pivot and become more athletic on the perimeter, Damon

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Speaker 1: Giannis will probably be healthy. The Knicks have the ability

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Speaker 1: to make a trade this year. In addition to being

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Speaker 1: kind of an interesting physical matchup for Boston on the

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Speaker 1: front line, right Philly is going to completely rebuild this

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Speaker 1: summer around Tyre's, Max and Joel Embiid. They could be interesting.

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Speaker 1: Orlando will be better, Indiana will be better. Miami could

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Speaker 1: make a trade this year and re enter into the mix. Right, so,

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Speaker 1: the East will be stronger and there will be a

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Speaker 1: tougher playoff path next year. The West will probably send

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Speaker 1: a better representative. I did not think the best team

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Speaker 1: in the Western Conference made it out this year. I

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Speaker 1: thought there was one team all year long, there was

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Speaker 1: one team that I said could actually hang with Boston

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Speaker 1: in a playoff series. I said it was Denver, and

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Speaker 1: that team didn't make it out. There was a brief

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Speaker 1: moment there where I started to buy into the Minnesota

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Speaker 1: Timberwolves hype, but that ended up being smoking mirrors, which

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Speaker 1: we'll get more into on Thursday when we talk about

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Speaker 1: some of the basketball tactics stuff. But Boston Denver was

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Speaker 1: the best team, right, they didn't get out. Next year,

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Speaker 1: there will probably be a better representative from the West.

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Speaker 1: The Thunder will. I'm they won me over in a

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Speaker 1: big way this year. They will be a legit threat

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Speaker 1: next year, especially if they can make a trade this

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Speaker 1: year to upgrade that. Josh gidty position right Minnesota, with

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Speaker 1: another year of growth for Anthony Edwards, Memphis is going

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Speaker 1: to have Gigi Jackson added to the core of the

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Speaker 1: team that made it to the second round two years ago. Right.

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Speaker 1: We all saw what John Moran could do in his

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Speaker 1: brief stretch where he played this season. I think one

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Speaker 1: of that trio of Lakers Warrior sons will get their

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Speaker 1: shit together next year. Maybe the Lakers make a big

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Speaker 1: star trade, maybe the Warriors make a big star trade.

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Speaker 1: Maybe the Suns just play better basketball under Mike Budenholzer.

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Speaker 1: The West will probably send a better representative. So you

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Speaker 1: will have your opportunity to make a bigger imprint on

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Speaker 1: NBA history. If next year you go in, you beat

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Speaker 1: Joannison Dame, and you beat and beat Paul George and

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Speaker 1: Tyrese Maxi, and then you get to the finals and

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Speaker 1: you have beat the Denver Nuggets, then people will have

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Speaker 1: no choice but to acknowledge the reality of how dominant

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Speaker 1: this team is. If you're expecting for all of the

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Speaker 1: average NBA fans to look at you beating the Miami

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Speaker 1: Heat without Jimmy Butler, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Indiana

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Speaker 1: Pacers and that Dallas Mavericks team. You're just not gonna

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Speaker 1: get as much buy in from the court of public opinion, right,

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Speaker 1: But the opportunity will be there next year. These guys

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Speaker 1: are young, They're gonna have the quarterback. Just like like

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Speaker 1: Jason Tatum said, just go do it again. And if

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Speaker 1: you go do it again, you will win more of

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Speaker 1: that resonance in NBA history, some of that you like,

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Speaker 1: you probably will end up in a series that's two

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Speaker 1: to two next year. You probably there might be even

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Speaker 1: a series where you trail late. Right Like though, Like

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Speaker 1: even when I look back at Jason Tatum and some

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Speaker 1: of his greatest moments as a player, what do I

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Speaker 1: think about. I think about like Game six against Milwaukee

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Speaker 1: when he had forty something and hit that huge midrange,

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Speaker 1: mid range jumper to ice the game late, right, Like,

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Speaker 1: you think about what he was able to achieve in

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Speaker 1: real adversity. And I do believe the NBA will produce

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Speaker 1: some more adverse situations for the for the Celtics looking forward,

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Speaker 1: so again kind of to put a bow on all

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Speaker 1: of that, there will be a lot of noise, but

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Speaker 1: they can never take the trophy away from you. No,

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Speaker 1: This championship doesn't resonate the way other championships do in

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Speaker 1: NBA history, But that is typical. That is the reality

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Speaker 1: of the personality dynamic of humans and the fact that

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Speaker 1: we resonate more, or that adversity resonates more with us

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Speaker 1: than dominant does. In three, you will have your chance.

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Speaker 1: You will have your chance next season in all likelihood,

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Speaker 1: but certainly in the next couple of seasons to kind

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Speaker 1: of make a bigger imprint on that NBA history in

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Speaker 1: the way that this team is remembered like that, that

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Speaker 1: will all get revealed in time. The trophy always ends

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Speaker 1: up revealing those things, ranking them. Where does this championship

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Speaker 1: team rank compared with recent NBA champions So I look

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Speaker 1: at there was this kind of weird phase, right, There's

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Speaker 1: this phase that went from twenty fourteen to eight twenty fifteen,

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Speaker 1: excuse me to twenty eighteen where it was Cavs Warriors

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Speaker 1: every year. Right, it was Calves out of the East,

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Speaker 1: Warriors out of the West, every single year, four years

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Speaker 1: in a row. Right. That was the era of like

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Speaker 1: not much parody, right, and like we had the Warriors

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Speaker 1: in twenty seventeen. In twenty eighteen were so damn talented.

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Speaker 1: This is this is a crazy stat They were so

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Speaker 1: damn talented that they had negative odds to win the

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Speaker 1: title before training camp. Like, if you bet one hundred

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Speaker 1: dollars on the Warriors to win the title in twenty

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Speaker 1: seventeen or twenty eighteen before the season tipped off, you

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Speaker 1: would get less than one hundred dollars if they actually

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Speaker 1: won the trophy. That is how talented that Warriors team was.

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Speaker 1: After that, we experienced the time of parody. Right. Since then,

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Speaker 1: there have been six NBA champions, the Raptors, the Lakers,

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Speaker 1: the Bucks, the Warriors, the Nuggets, the Celtics. Right, how

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Speaker 1: do those teams rank number six? I have the Milwaukee Bucks.

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Speaker 1: That to me was kind of a funky season post

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Speaker 1: COVID year, right where we had all the weird lineups

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Speaker 1: throughout the year. All of the teams that made it

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Speaker 1: to the conference finals in the previous year, the Lakers,

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Speaker 1: the Nuggets, the Heat, and the Celtics all fell apart

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Speaker 1: that year and had bad, underachieving seasons, in most part

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Speaker 1: because of injuries. Jamal Murray got hurt, Anthony Davis got hurt,

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Speaker 1: the Heat were banged up all year. So like we

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Speaker 1: saw like that was kind of like a funky season.

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Speaker 1: Our conference finals finalists were a Clippers team led by

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Speaker 1: Paul George, a Hawks team led by Trey Young, a

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Speaker 1: Suns team led by Devin Booker, and then that twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty one Bucks team. And so again they're a desserve

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Speaker 1: irving champion. No one can ever take the trophy away.

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Speaker 1: But if I was ranking them among those six teams,

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Speaker 1: I have them at last place. Number five, I have

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Speaker 1: the Toronto Raptors. I thought that was an incredible defensive team.

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Speaker 1: Pascal Siakam was their second best player, had a really

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Speaker 1: good series, especially attacking Draymond Green in space, which I

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Speaker 1: thought was super fascinating. Kawhi Leonard kind of had his

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Speaker 1: biggest moment as the best player on the championship team,

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Speaker 1: but I didn't think they were as good as some

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Speaker 1: of the teams ahead of them. Number four, I have

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Speaker 1: that Golden State Warriors team in twenty twenty two. Steph Curry.

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Speaker 1: I thought that was the peak of his MBA of

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Speaker 1: his entire career. I thought that in twenty twenty one

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Speaker 1: he was playing at the best, like regular season level

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Speaker 1: of his career. Now a lot of people are going

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Speaker 1: to point to his MVP seasons. But what I always

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Speaker 1: say is those MVP seasons took place before the league

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Speaker 1: had any idea schematically how to even guard Steph Curry.

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Speaker 1: What was so fascinating to me about his run there

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Speaker 1: in twenty twenty one and twenty twenty two was the

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Speaker 1: league knew how to deal with him. They were being

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Speaker 1: physical with him off ball, trying to deny him off

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Speaker 1: ball actions, trying to force him to back cut into

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Speaker 1: the lane, chasing him over the top of ball screens,

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Speaker 1: physicality to try to wear him out, all that stuff.

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Speaker 1: The book on how on the best way to guard

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Speaker 1: Steph Curry was out and it just didn't matter. He

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Speaker 1: kicked everyone's ass anyway. And there was an injury that

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Speaker 1: he suffered in that twenty twenty two season that kind

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Speaker 1: of disrupted him going into the postseason. But I thought

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Speaker 1: that that Game four on the road in Boston was

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Speaker 1: the best individual game of his career given the stakes

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Speaker 1: in the situation in terms of them trailing to one

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Speaker 1: in the series. The one thing that kind of holds

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Speaker 1: them back from the teams ahead of them is once

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Speaker 1: again just overall talent on the roster. The second best

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Speaker 1: player on that team was some version of either Andrew Wiggins,

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Speaker 1: Jordan Poole, or Draymond Green. They just didn't have like

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Speaker 1: a ton of like top tier talent. At number three,

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Speaker 1: I have this Boston Celtics team. I think that they

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Speaker 1: were an incredibly dominant defensive team. I think that on

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Speaker 1: the offensive end, they had moments where they looked completely

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Speaker 1: and utterly unguardable. The one thing that holds them back

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Speaker 1: from the teams above them on this tier for me

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Speaker 1: was the lack of just like a true alpha dog star.

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Speaker 1: The two teams that are above them for me on

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Speaker 1: this list are teams that were both dominant on both

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Speaker 1: ends of the floor and had a true apex superstar.

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Speaker 1: Number two I have the twenty twenty three Denver Nuggets.

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Speaker 1: I thought that that was the most well fitting five

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Speaker 1: man starting lineup that I've seen since this Boston Celtics team.

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Speaker 1: I think this Boston Celtics team has actually done a

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00:18:24,880 --> 00:18:29,000
Speaker 1: better job. That said, I thought nicolea. Jokic maybe still

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Speaker 1: is the undisputed best player in the world. It was

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Speaker 1: like a real alpha dog element that this Boston Celtics

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Speaker 1: team didn't have. And the number one I have the

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty Los Angeles Lakers. Admittedly I'm biased, but my

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Speaker 1: case is very simple. They had two of the top

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Speaker 1: five players in the world. The second best player on

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Speaker 1: that Nuggets team was Jamal Murray. Obviously the Celtics didn't

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Speaker 1: have a top five player on the roster that Los

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Speaker 1: Angeles Lakers team. Lebron was the best player in the world.

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Speaker 1: I that he deserved to win MVP that year. Had

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Speaker 1: a dominant NBA Finals and a dominant playoff run, and

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Speaker 1: Anthony Davis was right there with him. We can say

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Speaker 1: whatever we want about Anthony Davis in his career as

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Speaker 1: a totality, but in that twenty twenty season, there were

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Speaker 1: very few players that were playing better basketball than Anthony Davis.

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Speaker 1: I had him ranked as the fourth best player in

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Speaker 1: the world after that playoff run. So they had the

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Speaker 1: best and fourth best player in the world on the

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Speaker 1: same team. They were the best defense in the league.

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Speaker 1: They had a dominant playoff run. They ran through Damian

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Speaker 1: Lillard and CJ. McCollum in round one. They ran through

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Speaker 1: James Harden and Russell Westbrook in round two, Jokich and

398
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Speaker 1: Murray in round three, Jimmy and Bam in round four,

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Speaker 1: it was a dominant playoff run. That's how I have

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Speaker 1: the six championship, the six champions ranked since the twenty

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Speaker 1: eighteen Warriors Finals MVP. So, as I talked about last night,

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Speaker 1: I would not have had a problem if Jason Tatum

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Speaker 1: won it. And the main reason why is when I

404
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Speaker 1: look at NBA history, I want the history books to

405
00:20:04,040 --> 00:20:09,840
Speaker 1: read like a like what that team actually was. So like,

406
00:20:10,040 --> 00:20:11,960
Speaker 1: for instance, when we look back at twenty fifteen and

407
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Speaker 1: it's like twenty fifteen NBA Champion Golden State Warriors Finals

408
00:20:15,320 --> 00:20:17,919
Speaker 1: MVP Andre Godala, You're like, that just doesn't tell the

409
00:20:17,920 --> 00:20:19,639
Speaker 1: story of that team. It was one of the biggest

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Speaker 1: travesty's in NBA history. They gave it to a role

411
00:20:21,680 --> 00:20:24,840
Speaker 1: player made no damn sense. He was a beneficiary of

412
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Speaker 1: attention that was being thrown at Steph Curry and defensively

413
00:20:27,800 --> 00:20:30,639
Speaker 1: the beneficiary of injuries to Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving.

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Speaker 1: It just didn't make any sense. I would have been

415
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Speaker 1: okay with looking back at this season and seeing twenty

416
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Speaker 1: twenty four NBA Champion Boston Celtics Finals MVP Jason Tatum

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Speaker 1: because from training camp to the hoisting of the trophy,

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Speaker 1: Tatum was their best and most important player. That said,

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Speaker 1: in this series, I did think Jaylen Brown was the

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00:20:49,400 --> 00:20:51,800
Speaker 1: best player more frequently. To put it simply, I thought

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Speaker 1: Jason Tatum was the best player on the floor in

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Speaker 1: Game five, but that was the only player the only

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Speaker 1: game in the series where I thought he was the

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Speaker 1: best player on the floor, So like it would have

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Speaker 1: been weird for him to have the Finals MVP Trophy

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Speaker 1: having not been the best player on the floor in

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Speaker 1: four of the five games of the series. I thought

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Speaker 1: Jalen Brown had a similarly important defensive job to Jason Tatum,

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Speaker 1: being the guy that was picking up Luka Doncic full

430
00:21:12,920 --> 00:21:14,760
Speaker 1: court and trying to wear him out. I thought he

431
00:21:14,800 --> 00:21:17,080
Speaker 1: had the most iconic highlights of the series and his

432
00:21:17,119 --> 00:21:19,879
Speaker 1: two gigantic one handed hammers that he had. I think

433
00:21:19,920 --> 00:21:21,280
Speaker 1: it was in Game two and in Game three if

434
00:21:21,320 --> 00:21:23,200
Speaker 1: I remember correctly. And I also thought he hit the

435
00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:26,080
Speaker 1: biggest shots of the series. In Game two down the

436
00:21:26,119 --> 00:21:28,040
Speaker 1: stretch when they needed a bucket, he was the guy

437
00:21:28,080 --> 00:21:30,440
Speaker 1: that drove by Maxic Kleba and had the left handed

438
00:21:30,520 --> 00:21:32,520
Speaker 1: layup that kind of iced that game. And then in

439
00:21:32,560 --> 00:21:35,200
Speaker 1: Game three when the Mavericks got it down to one

440
00:21:35,280 --> 00:21:38,760
Speaker 1: he hit two massive mid range jump shots to rescue

441
00:21:38,800 --> 00:21:41,680
Speaker 1: possessions that put that game away. I thought he had

442
00:21:41,720 --> 00:21:44,119
Speaker 1: the biggest imprint. Like if you were to kind of

443
00:21:44,160 --> 00:21:47,959
Speaker 1: like weigh the overall contributions of players in this series

444
00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:50,720
Speaker 1: among any Celtic, I thought Jalen Brown did have the

445
00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:53,760
Speaker 1: biggest impact. It's not like a role player. This is

446
00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:56,760
Speaker 1: not like giving it to Andre Gudala. In my opinion,

447
00:21:56,840 --> 00:22:00,719
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown has improved and entered into the compsation with

448
00:22:00,840 --> 00:22:03,480
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum in that second tier of stars, behind the

449
00:22:03,480 --> 00:22:06,040
Speaker 1: guys right at the very top, and so to me,

450
00:22:06,119 --> 00:22:08,200
Speaker 1: it's just a credit to Jalen Brown and his improvement.

451
00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:10,919
Speaker 1: I remember, you know, one of the things I'm not

452
00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:12,679
Speaker 1: trying to take a victory lap here, because God knows,

453
00:22:12,720 --> 00:22:14,840
Speaker 1: I've been wrong about lots of shit, But one of

454
00:22:14,840 --> 00:22:17,399
Speaker 1: the things I've been right about is this specific issue.

455
00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:21,080
Speaker 1: There's always been calls after each loss from the Celtics

456
00:22:21,359 --> 00:22:24,520
Speaker 1: to break up Tatum and Brown, and what I've consistently

457
00:22:24,560 --> 00:22:27,800
Speaker 1: said is you have a better chance of getting where

458
00:22:27,840 --> 00:22:30,639
Speaker 1: you need to go by Jalen Brown just getting better

459
00:22:31,119 --> 00:22:34,760
Speaker 1: than you do by trying to flip Jalen Brown into

460
00:22:34,800 --> 00:22:38,399
Speaker 1: something better like in chances are you'll flip Jalen Brown

461
00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:42,160
Speaker 1: and get something worse in return, whereas Jalen Brown might

462
00:22:42,200 --> 00:22:44,280
Speaker 1: be able to improve and get where he needs to go.

463
00:22:44,440 --> 00:22:48,720
Speaker 1: And Jalen Brown went from a very embarrassing performance last

464
00:22:48,800 --> 00:22:51,320
Speaker 1: year against Miami and the conference finals to the best

465
00:22:51,320 --> 00:22:53,480
Speaker 1: playoff front of his career and he won the Eastern

466
00:22:53,480 --> 00:22:56,359
Speaker 1: Conference Finals MVP and the Finals MVP. So tip of

467
00:22:56,400 --> 00:22:59,320
Speaker 1: the cap to Jalen Brown. He improved, He addressed the

468
00:22:59,359 --> 00:23:01,359
Speaker 1: things that he needed to address to make a bigger

469
00:23:01,400 --> 00:23:05,000
Speaker 1: impact on this particular Celtics team, and I thought he

470
00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:07,280
Speaker 1: was deserving of the trophy. But that said, I wouldn't

471
00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:12,119
Speaker 1: have had any problem with Jason Tatum getting it. The

472
00:23:12,160 --> 00:23:15,120
Speaker 1: Celtics has a chance to repeat. So obviously, every time

473
00:23:15,119 --> 00:23:17,680
Speaker 1: that a team wins an NBA championship, the next conversation

474
00:23:17,800 --> 00:23:19,720
Speaker 1: is does this team have what it takes to do

475
00:23:19,760 --> 00:23:26,360
Speaker 1: it again? Right? There's a statement from Michael Malone before

476
00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:29,080
Speaker 1: this season, if I remember correctly, where he said I'm

477
00:23:29,080 --> 00:23:30,960
Speaker 1: gonna butcher this, but he said something along the lines

478
00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:34,560
Speaker 1: of like, to win, you need talent, but to repeat

479
00:23:34,600 --> 00:23:37,200
Speaker 1: you need character. Right, And so that's the main thing.

480
00:23:37,520 --> 00:23:41,480
Speaker 1: Do the Celtics have the talent to repeat. You bet

481
00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:45,080
Speaker 1: your ass that absolutely have the talent to repeat. Will

482
00:23:45,119 --> 00:23:48,280
Speaker 1: they have the character? That's the next piece. Will the

483
00:23:48,359 --> 00:23:52,080
Speaker 1: disease of more infiltrate, Well, guys start to co opt

484
00:23:52,080 --> 00:23:54,200
Speaker 1: possessions and get out of their roles because now they

485
00:23:54,240 --> 00:23:56,159
Speaker 1: already have the trophy. Right, those are the kinds of

486
00:23:56,200 --> 00:23:58,520
Speaker 1: speed bumps that they'll encounter along the way. As we

487
00:23:58,560 --> 00:24:01,720
Speaker 1: mentioned earlier, I do think the face tougher teams in

488
00:24:02,040 --> 00:24:04,320
Speaker 1: the following season, right like this will be a more

489
00:24:04,359 --> 00:24:07,520
Speaker 1: difficult title run, But they have the talent there. Another

490
00:24:07,560 --> 00:24:10,080
Speaker 1: big piece that's if that's fascinating to me is Jason

491
00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:13,439
Speaker 1: Tatum's jump shooting. So Jason Tatum, I checked the stats

492
00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:17,760
Speaker 1: on Synergy this morning in this playoff run shot twenty

493
00:24:17,840 --> 00:24:21,680
Speaker 1: nine point eight percent on jump shots. To give you

494
00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:25,080
Speaker 1: guys some perspective, Jana Santana Kumpo in this regular season

495
00:24:25,119 --> 00:24:29,520
Speaker 1: shot twenty nine point nine percent on jump shots. So Tatum,

496
00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:32,600
Speaker 1: as I mentioned multiple times in this playoff run, was

497
00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:36,480
Speaker 1: just in a miserable shooting slump this year. I don't

498
00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:38,280
Speaker 1: I don't have an explanation for it other than that

499
00:24:38,359 --> 00:24:42,800
Speaker 1: it can just happen. Like shooting slumps, Like there's there's

500
00:24:42,840 --> 00:24:44,960
Speaker 1: this kind of feeling that people have for some reason

501
00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:46,440
Speaker 1: that like, oh, you work on your jumper and it's

502
00:24:46,440 --> 00:24:48,280
Speaker 1: just kind of like a perpetual rise. It's like, No,

503
00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:51,199
Speaker 1: it's more of like a a staggered line, just like

504
00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:53,000
Speaker 1: anything else. Right, you zoom out from it, and it

505
00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:55,240
Speaker 1: looks like an increase if you've been working hard. But

506
00:24:55,280 --> 00:24:57,359
Speaker 1: if you zoom in, you're gonna see some peaks and valleys.

507
00:24:57,400 --> 00:25:00,679
Speaker 1: And there's no doubt that Tatum entered into a massive

508
00:25:00,720 --> 00:25:04,000
Speaker 1: shooting slump in this postseason run. Do I think that

509
00:25:04,080 --> 00:25:07,000
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum is a bad jump shooter? No? Do I

510
00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:09,280
Speaker 1: think he settles for too many pull up jumpers and

511
00:25:09,280 --> 00:25:11,760
Speaker 1: that he should structure his game more like he did

512
00:25:11,760 --> 00:25:14,399
Speaker 1: in Game five, or he's using his physical gifts to

513
00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:16,480
Speaker 1: get to the rim. Yeah, that's what I think he

514
00:25:16,600 --> 00:25:19,439
Speaker 1: should focus on. But he is a better jump shooter

515
00:25:19,480 --> 00:25:22,199
Speaker 1: than he demonstrated, and I would be stunned if he

516
00:25:22,240 --> 00:25:25,600
Speaker 1: didn't shoot a lot better on jump shots in next

517
00:25:25,680 --> 00:25:28,359
Speaker 1: year's postseason. So that's another thing that's scary as it

518
00:25:28,359 --> 00:25:32,399
Speaker 1: pertains to the Boston's repeat chances. Porzingis won't healthy for

519
00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:34,960
Speaker 1: the majority of this playoff run and Jayson Tatum played

520
00:25:34,960 --> 00:25:37,680
Speaker 1: like shit by his standards. And so if those two

521
00:25:37,720 --> 00:25:40,560
Speaker 1: things rectify themselves and you get a healthy Christops Porzingis

522
00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:44,359
Speaker 1: and you get a just a more Jason Tatum like

523
00:25:44,400 --> 00:25:47,520
Speaker 1: playoff run, it's gonna be that much harder to beat

524
00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:50,000
Speaker 1: the Celtics team four times out of seven. It will

525
00:25:50,040 --> 00:25:53,760
Speaker 1: be challenging. My guess right now is that I'll probably

526
00:25:53,880 --> 00:25:56,600
Speaker 1: end up having Boston as my title favorite going into

527
00:25:56,640 --> 00:26:01,359
Speaker 1: next season. It extends beyond the beyond my like kind

528
00:26:01,400 --> 00:26:03,080
Speaker 1: of loyalty to the banter stuff. As you guys know,

529
00:26:03,119 --> 00:26:06,160
Speaker 1: I always kind of defer to champions just out of respect.

530
00:26:06,359 --> 00:26:08,439
Speaker 1: But another part of it is this season revealed the

531
00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:11,400
Speaker 1: Western Conference is just such a blood bath that even

532
00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:13,280
Speaker 1: a team like Denver, and like, one of the things

533
00:26:13,280 --> 00:26:14,679
Speaker 1: with Denver, like I had a lot of I had

534
00:26:14,720 --> 00:26:17,240
Speaker 1: Celtics fans today, like, oh, Denver wasn't on Boston's level,

535
00:26:17,440 --> 00:26:19,720
Speaker 1: Like we'll see, we don't know. We didn't play each other,

536
00:26:19,720 --> 00:26:21,679
Speaker 1: so we don't know. But one of the things with

537
00:26:21,760 --> 00:26:24,240
Speaker 1: Denver you got to remember is Jamal Murray missed a

538
00:26:24,240 --> 00:26:27,440
Speaker 1: significant chunk of the season. When Jamal Murray was healthy,

539
00:26:27,680 --> 00:26:30,960
Speaker 1: they were forty four and fifteen. That's a sixty one

540
00:26:31,040 --> 00:26:34,160
Speaker 1: win pace in that blood bath of a Western conference.

541
00:26:34,160 --> 00:26:37,240
Speaker 1: So I from the beginning of the season I had

542
00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:39,720
Speaker 1: Milwaukee in that tier, but I bumped him off after

543
00:26:39,760 --> 00:26:42,359
Speaker 1: the first month. But for the majority of the season

544
00:26:42,480 --> 00:26:44,840
Speaker 1: I had Denver and Boston. Those were the two teams.

545
00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:48,960
Speaker 1: Had Denver Boston gap everyone else, right, And that's that

546
00:26:50,040 --> 00:26:52,240
Speaker 1: to me, I thought kind of manifested in the season

547
00:26:52,560 --> 00:26:55,960
Speaker 1: where when Denver got knocked out, Boston was just clearly

548
00:26:56,000 --> 00:26:58,080
Speaker 1: better than whoever else would have come out of that

549
00:26:58,119 --> 00:27:01,200
Speaker 1: conference as far as Denver goes. One of the things

550
00:27:01,200 --> 00:27:02,600
Speaker 1: that because a lot of people would be like, oh, well,

551
00:27:02,600 --> 00:27:05,919
Speaker 1: how did they lose to Minnesota? That was literally one

552
00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:09,720
Speaker 1: of the most bizarre NBA playoff series I have ever watched.

553
00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:13,600
Speaker 1: Here are a couple crazy stats. Denver led by at

554
00:27:13,680 --> 00:27:17,520
Speaker 1: least eighteen in all three of their wins, and in

555
00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:20,200
Speaker 1: the Game seven that they lost, they led by twenty

556
00:27:20,280 --> 00:27:22,360
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter or not in the fourth quarter.

557
00:27:22,359 --> 00:27:25,680
Speaker 1: They led by twenty in the second half. So they

558
00:27:25,800 --> 00:27:29,639
Speaker 1: played well enough to win that series, they just somehow

559
00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:33,880
Speaker 1: lost in this crazy second half run. Right. And then

560
00:27:34,200 --> 00:27:37,320
Speaker 1: in addition to that, just digging themselves in the hole

561
00:27:37,359 --> 00:27:39,000
Speaker 1: they did in the first two games of the series

562
00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:41,719
Speaker 1: by dropping the first two games in Denver. Like, I

563
00:27:41,840 --> 00:27:44,560
Speaker 1: believe if Denver played Minnesota in a playoff series again,

564
00:27:44,600 --> 00:27:47,680
Speaker 1: they would beat them. But Minnesota is a weird team.

565
00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:50,840
Speaker 1: They were specifically constructed to beat Denver with all their

566
00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:53,159
Speaker 1: size on the perimeter and on the interior. It was

567
00:27:53,200 --> 00:27:56,119
Speaker 1: a bad matchup. They got upset. They got upset in

568
00:27:56,160 --> 00:27:58,320
Speaker 1: a series they led by eighteen and three wins and

569
00:27:58,400 --> 00:28:00,480
Speaker 1: led by twenty in one of the losses. It was

570
00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:03,320
Speaker 1: a weird thing that happened. As a result, we had

571
00:28:03,359 --> 00:28:06,320
Speaker 1: one of those second tier teams make it into the

572
00:28:06,359 --> 00:28:09,680
Speaker 1: championship round to face Boston. Boston beat the living shit

573
00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:12,199
Speaker 1: out of them, right, So like again, like as it

574
00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:16,239
Speaker 1: pertains to Denver, I do think it's worth mentioning that

575
00:28:16,280 --> 00:28:19,640
Speaker 1: they looked like a Boston level team most of the year,

576
00:28:19,960 --> 00:28:22,560
Speaker 1: with exception of when Jamal Murray got hurt and that

577
00:28:22,720 --> 00:28:26,920
Speaker 1: bizarre Minnesota Timberwolve series. So like I again, like there,

578
00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:30,200
Speaker 1: I think that Boston will get challenged at another level

579
00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:33,200
Speaker 1: next year, but it'll just be another opportunity for Boston

580
00:28:33,240 --> 00:28:35,960
Speaker 1: to demonstrate if they are this all time great team

581
00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:38,040
Speaker 1: that so many Celtics fans seem to think that they are.

582
00:28:38,320 --> 00:28:40,560
Speaker 1: They will have the opportunity to prove that next season.

583
00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:43,360
Speaker 1: All right, let's move it to Dallas real quick, and

584
00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:46,080
Speaker 1: then we'll talk a little bit about just a little

585
00:28:46,080 --> 00:28:47,560
Speaker 1: season wrap up and then we'll get out of here.

586
00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:50,440
Speaker 1: Is Dallas close this more? Or? Last night with Coln Koward,

587
00:28:50,440 --> 00:28:51,880
Speaker 1: I pointed out that I did not think that this

588
00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:55,040
Speaker 1: Dallas Mavericks team was close to winning the championship, and

589
00:28:55,080 --> 00:28:58,760
Speaker 1: I have been getting ShredIt on Twitter all day long

590
00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:02,080
Speaker 1: for that. Specific Mavericks fans are pissed we made the finals.

591
00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:04,400
Speaker 1: How how is it that we made the finals and

592
00:29:04,440 --> 00:29:07,720
Speaker 1: you're gonna say we're not close? Well, you trailed by

593
00:29:07,760 --> 00:29:09,920
Speaker 1: twenty nine, and one of the losses, you trailed by

594
00:29:09,960 --> 00:29:12,479
Speaker 1: twenty six in one of the losses, you trailed by

595
00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:14,880
Speaker 1: twenty one in one of the losses, and you trailed

596
00:29:14,880 --> 00:29:17,440
Speaker 1: by fourteen in one of the losses. You trailed three

597
00:29:17,480 --> 00:29:19,240
Speaker 1: to zero in the series, and you beat the shit

598
00:29:19,280 --> 00:29:22,280
Speaker 1: out of Boston in that desperation game for but you

599
00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:24,760
Speaker 1: were not close. I mean, I'm curious if you're if

600
00:29:24,760 --> 00:29:27,480
Speaker 1: you're a Mavericks fan, if you do you believe you

601
00:29:27,520 --> 00:29:30,560
Speaker 1: were close to winning that series. I don't think you were.

602
00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:32,640
Speaker 1: And there were two teams at the top of the league,

603
00:29:32,680 --> 00:29:35,320
Speaker 1: Denver and Boston. As we mentioned earlier, just in the

604
00:29:35,360 --> 00:29:38,160
Speaker 1: previous segment, like that Denver team was a lot better

605
00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:41,280
Speaker 1: than what their results this year showed. That Denver team,

606
00:29:41,360 --> 00:29:43,000
Speaker 1: if they would have made it in the conference finals,

607
00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:44,680
Speaker 1: I would have picked them against Dallas. I think they

608
00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:47,520
Speaker 1: would have won somewhat convincingly. I don't think they match

609
00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:51,080
Speaker 1: up as well with Denver as Minnesota did in terms

610
00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:53,719
Speaker 1: of their physicality on the front line, right and so like,

611
00:29:53,920 --> 00:29:57,000
Speaker 1: I don't think that Dallas was particularly close. To take

612
00:29:57,000 --> 00:29:59,880
Speaker 1: it a step further, Boston did not shoot over the

613
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:03,080
Speaker 1: their season average for jump shooting a single time in

614
00:30:03,120 --> 00:30:06,600
Speaker 1: this series. Boston got one point one to two points

615
00:30:06,600 --> 00:30:09,000
Speaker 1: per jump shot in the regular season. They were below

616
00:30:09,040 --> 00:30:12,680
Speaker 1: that in all five games. Jason Tatum we discussed earlier,

617
00:30:12,760 --> 00:30:16,120
Speaker 1: was in a massive slump. There will be a better

618
00:30:16,240 --> 00:30:20,000
Speaker 1: version of this Boston team in all likelihood waiting whoever

619
00:30:20,040 --> 00:30:22,600
Speaker 1: comes out of the Western Conference next year. So this

620
00:30:22,640 --> 00:30:26,760
Speaker 1: is where it's about being honest with yourself. So, for instance, guys,

621
00:30:27,120 --> 00:30:29,320
Speaker 1: I'm a Lakers fan, the Lakers made it to the

622
00:30:29,320 --> 00:30:33,000
Speaker 1: Western Conference Finals last year, I never, not even for

623
00:30:33,080 --> 00:30:36,600
Speaker 1: a single second this year, put them in my top

624
00:30:36,640 --> 00:30:39,400
Speaker 1: tier of contenders. I consistently had them in that second tier.

625
00:30:39,680 --> 00:30:42,600
Speaker 1: And I said right after the series, they clearly have

626
00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:45,480
Speaker 1: to get better at XYZ going into the season. I'm like,

627
00:30:45,640 --> 00:30:48,920
Speaker 1: they clearly need to make an aggressive deal this deadline

628
00:30:48,960 --> 00:30:52,120
Speaker 1: to try to put themselves into this conversation. They never did,

629
00:30:52,760 --> 00:30:55,120
Speaker 1: and so for me, the Lakers never entered into that tier.

630
00:30:55,360 --> 00:30:57,640
Speaker 1: I am a fan of the Lakers who made a

631
00:30:57,760 --> 00:31:01,640
Speaker 1: deep playoff run, and I had to admit they are

632
00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:05,960
Speaker 1: not close. The Miami Heat made the NBA Finals last year.

633
00:31:06,560 --> 00:31:09,320
Speaker 1: They did not trail three to zero. They stole a

634
00:31:09,400 --> 00:31:13,640
Speaker 1: game in Denver in Game two. Did anybody think after

635
00:31:13,680 --> 00:31:16,080
Speaker 1: that series that the Miami Heat were close to winning

636
00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:19,720
Speaker 1: an NBA championship. I didn't. I thought it was abundantly

637
00:31:19,840 --> 00:31:23,640
Speaker 1: clear that they did not have enough firepower. What ends

638
00:31:23,720 --> 00:31:25,680
Speaker 1: up happening in the NBA every year. One of the

639
00:31:25,680 --> 00:31:27,040
Speaker 1: things I'm learning, and we're going to talk about this

640
00:31:27,120 --> 00:31:29,840
Speaker 1: more when we get to our Tactics Pod on Thursday,

641
00:31:30,360 --> 00:31:33,840
Speaker 1: But there's a top tier of teams, the real championship contenders,

642
00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:36,800
Speaker 1: and every year there's usually two three four teams in

643
00:31:36,800 --> 00:31:39,040
Speaker 1: that tier, right this year there were two, But it

644
00:31:39,040 --> 00:31:42,160
Speaker 1: doesn't really matter what you do against everyone else, everyone

645
00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:45,240
Speaker 1: else's matchups. You happen to catch a Minnesota team in

646
00:31:45,240 --> 00:31:49,400
Speaker 1: the Western Conference Finals that specifically struggles with rim protection,

647
00:31:49,800 --> 00:31:52,760
Speaker 1: which was evidenced by the fact that they were seventeenth

648
00:31:52,920 --> 00:31:56,080
Speaker 1: in offense in the regular season. It was a terrible matchup.

649
00:31:56,120 --> 00:31:58,920
Speaker 1: Even their perimeter defenders were too skinny for Luca. They

650
00:31:58,920 --> 00:32:01,120
Speaker 1: didn't have a loudor to an Aaron Gordon, like a

651
00:32:01,120 --> 00:32:05,880
Speaker 1: big physical specimen to put on to Luca. They got barbecued.

652
00:32:06,120 --> 00:32:08,560
Speaker 1: They got their ass kicked, right, But that was a

653
00:32:08,600 --> 00:32:11,640
Speaker 1: matchup thing. That group, all that group, all the teams

654
00:32:11,680 --> 00:32:14,240
Speaker 1: below the Denver Boston Tier, any of them could have

655
00:32:14,280 --> 00:32:16,560
Speaker 1: beat any of them based on matchups. In my opinion,

656
00:32:16,920 --> 00:32:19,360
Speaker 1: Dallas kind of weaved their way through there. And one

657
00:32:19,440 --> 00:32:22,200
Speaker 1: how did the Lakers make it to the Western Conference

658
00:32:22,240 --> 00:32:25,800
Speaker 1: Finals Last year? They faced a Memphis Grizzlies team in

659
00:32:25,800 --> 00:32:28,320
Speaker 1: the first round that had a dribble drive guard in

660
00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:31,640
Speaker 1: John morant In not great perimeter shooting, so the Lakers

661
00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:34,480
Speaker 1: could pack the paint. They had Anthony Davis. It was

662
00:32:34,520 --> 00:32:38,000
Speaker 1: a terrible matchup for Memphis. The book has been out

663
00:32:38,040 --> 00:32:39,840
Speaker 1: for how to beat the Golden State Warriors for two

664
00:32:39,880 --> 00:32:42,760
Speaker 1: years now. You got to have athletic size and you

665
00:32:42,800 --> 00:32:45,040
Speaker 1: need to funnel them into your size in the paint.

666
00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:47,240
Speaker 1: The Lakers kind of put that together with their top

667
00:32:47,280 --> 00:32:50,440
Speaker 1: locking and forcing the Guards to backcut into Anthony Davis.

668
00:32:50,760 --> 00:32:54,240
Speaker 1: That was a bad matchup for the Warriors. Right, So

669
00:32:54,320 --> 00:32:58,560
Speaker 1: the Lakers, good matchup against Memphis, win the series, good

670
00:32:58,560 --> 00:33:01,800
Speaker 1: matchup against Golden State, win the series, run into a

671
00:33:01,960 --> 00:33:08,440
Speaker 1: real championship contender. Get their ass kicked. They weren't close. Now,

672
00:33:08,520 --> 00:33:11,000
Speaker 1: Dallas beat better teams. For the record, like I had

673
00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:13,160
Speaker 1: a lot of Dallas fans like, we beat some of

674
00:33:13,200 --> 00:33:16,840
Speaker 1: the best seeds in the conference. You're absolutely right, but

675
00:33:16,960 --> 00:33:20,080
Speaker 1: let's go through them individually. You beat the Los Angeles Clippers,

676
00:33:20,080 --> 00:33:23,000
Speaker 1: who were missing their best player. That's a favorable matchup.

677
00:33:23,360 --> 00:33:25,840
Speaker 1: The Oklahoma City Thunder were a one seed. And by

678
00:33:25,840 --> 00:33:27,720
Speaker 1: the way, the Thunder won me over in a big way.

679
00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:30,080
Speaker 1: And I'm sure they won over MAVs fans because guess what,

680
00:33:30,720 --> 00:33:33,920
Speaker 1: that series could have gone either way if they don't

681
00:33:33,960 --> 00:33:36,880
Speaker 1: get that last bucket or that last foul on PJ.

682
00:33:37,400 --> 00:33:40,480
Speaker 1: Washington in the corner. The Thunder took the lead on

683
00:33:40,520 --> 00:33:42,280
Speaker 1: the previous possession. You were about to go back to

684
00:33:42,280 --> 00:33:45,080
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City to play a Game seven. So okay See

685
00:33:45,080 --> 00:33:47,280
Speaker 1: won me over in a big way in this postseason run.

686
00:33:47,520 --> 00:33:49,880
Speaker 1: But what was I What did I consistently say all

687
00:33:49,920 --> 00:33:52,560
Speaker 1: season the Thunder are too young and too small to

688
00:33:52,560 --> 00:33:55,960
Speaker 1: make a deep playoff run. Dallas exposed them for that right.

689
00:33:56,280 --> 00:34:00,000
Speaker 1: A really good team, a quality series win for Dallas,

690
00:34:00,880 --> 00:34:03,640
Speaker 1: but that was not a top tier championship contender that

691
00:34:03,680 --> 00:34:07,240
Speaker 1: they beat. Then they faced Minnesota, and admittedly that was

692
00:34:07,280 --> 00:34:09,720
Speaker 1: the one time I picked wrong against Dallas. I picked

693
00:34:09,800 --> 00:34:12,399
Speaker 1: Dallas to beat the Clippers. I picked Dallas to beat

694
00:34:12,400 --> 00:34:15,640
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City. I picked Boston to beat Dallas. But I

695
00:34:15,680 --> 00:34:18,160
Speaker 1: was wrong about the Minnesota series. I kind of drank

696
00:34:18,160 --> 00:34:20,800
Speaker 1: too much of the Minnesota kool aid after they beat Denver,

697
00:34:21,200 --> 00:34:23,880
Speaker 1: just because I respected that Denver team so much. But

698
00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:25,840
Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about that more on Thursday in the

699
00:34:25,840 --> 00:34:28,880
Speaker 1: tactic spot. That to me was a major revealing factor

700
00:34:28,920 --> 00:34:32,239
Speaker 1: for me, just in terms of matchups and like how

701
00:34:32,280 --> 00:34:35,799
Speaker 1: we can't overreact to any series win. The only thing

702
00:34:35,840 --> 00:34:38,680
Speaker 1: that matters is how you match up against your next opponent,

703
00:34:38,680 --> 00:34:40,680
Speaker 1: at which Dallas fans just found out as they ran

704
00:34:40,680 --> 00:34:45,399
Speaker 1: into Boston. Right, but Minnesota was a team that could

705
00:34:45,480 --> 00:34:48,520
Speaker 1: not deal with rim protection. I used to quote those

706
00:34:48,560 --> 00:34:50,960
Speaker 1: stats during the series, like Anthony Edwards was getting to

707
00:34:51,000 --> 00:34:53,440
Speaker 1: the paint like less than a half as often as

708
00:34:53,440 --> 00:34:57,160
Speaker 1: he was against Denver. Dallas loaded up the strong side,

709
00:34:57,320 --> 00:35:01,560
Speaker 1: they played off their shooters the non shooters obviously on

710
00:35:01,600 --> 00:35:03,120
Speaker 1: the other end of the floor. They didn't have anybody

711
00:35:03,120 --> 00:35:05,200
Speaker 1: big enough to guard Luca. It was a bad matchup.

712
00:35:05,600 --> 00:35:08,320
Speaker 1: So then they run into a real championship contender in

713
00:35:08,360 --> 00:35:10,960
Speaker 1: the NBA Finals. They trail by twenty nine, trail by

714
00:35:10,960 --> 00:35:13,279
Speaker 1: twenty six, trail by twenty one, trail by fourteen. You're

715
00:35:13,320 --> 00:35:16,600
Speaker 1: not close. That is the literal definition of not close.

716
00:35:17,280 --> 00:35:19,520
Speaker 1: And what I mean by that that's not intended to

717
00:35:19,719 --> 00:35:23,640
Speaker 1: undercut the accomplishment. It is a bona fide NBA Finals run.

718
00:35:24,040 --> 00:35:26,319
Speaker 1: As a Mavericks fan, I'm sure you guys had so

719
00:35:26,440 --> 00:35:30,520
Speaker 1: much fun watching that playoff run. What I'm saying that

720
00:35:30,800 --> 00:35:34,480
Speaker 1: for is it means they need to improve. What that

721
00:35:34,600 --> 00:35:38,120
Speaker 1: means is they can't just run it back. What did

722
00:35:38,160 --> 00:35:41,520
Speaker 1: the Lakers do? I said right after the Denvers loss.

723
00:35:42,120 --> 00:35:45,600
Speaker 1: The Dever loss, they are not close. They have to

724
00:35:45,680 --> 00:35:49,440
Speaker 1: improve with guard athleticism, a legitimate backup center, and Lebron

725
00:35:49,480 --> 00:35:51,920
Speaker 1: and ad had to improve as over the top shooters.

726
00:35:52,160 --> 00:35:55,520
Speaker 1: Laid that all out immediately after that series. They didn't

727
00:35:55,520 --> 00:35:59,040
Speaker 1: do any of that. They signed Torreon Prints in the offseason,

728
00:35:59,080 --> 00:36:02,080
Speaker 1: they got a couple of backup centers in Jackson Hayes

729
00:36:02,120 --> 00:36:04,440
Speaker 1: and Christian wood that couldn't play in the playoffs, and

730
00:36:04,480 --> 00:36:07,399
Speaker 1: then at the deadline they did nothing, and then they

731
00:36:07,480 --> 00:36:11,799
Speaker 1: signed Spencer Dinwoodie is a buyout guy. Right, they ran

732
00:36:11,880 --> 00:36:15,080
Speaker 1: it back, and what happened. They ran into the same

733
00:36:15,120 --> 00:36:18,160
Speaker 1: fucking team and they lost the same fucking way. So,

734
00:36:18,320 --> 00:36:20,839
Speaker 1: like that's what I'm saying. I'm not trying to say

735
00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:23,600
Speaker 1: you're not close to be a dickhead. I'm saying you're

736
00:36:23,600 --> 00:36:26,680
Speaker 1: not close, because it means you need to improve. If

737
00:36:26,719 --> 00:36:28,680
Speaker 1: you run it back, if you do what the Lakers

738
00:36:28,680 --> 00:36:30,720
Speaker 1: did and just say let's go give this thing another shot.

739
00:36:30,960 --> 00:36:32,680
Speaker 1: If you do what the Miami Heat do it did

740
00:36:32,719 --> 00:36:34,640
Speaker 1: and you just say let's just give this thing another shot,

741
00:36:34,880 --> 00:36:37,840
Speaker 1: you're gonna lose in disappointing fashion the way the Miami

742
00:36:37,840 --> 00:36:54,600
Speaker 1: heat the Los Angeles Lakers did. So that's the next question.

743
00:36:55,120 --> 00:36:58,080
Speaker 1: What do the Dallas Mavericks need to improve them? Well,

744
00:36:58,080 --> 00:37:00,040
Speaker 1: there were several things that stood out to me. I

745
00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:01,880
Speaker 1: want to start on the offense. Event. They had just

746
00:37:01,960 --> 00:37:05,799
Speaker 1: a one oh one offensive rating in the NBA Finals.

747
00:37:06,200 --> 00:37:08,480
Speaker 1: That is bad bad. They had an offensive rating, I

748
00:37:08,480 --> 00:37:11,920
Speaker 1: want to say, over one to eighteen against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

749
00:37:12,560 --> 00:37:14,080
Speaker 1: A lot of it has to do with matchups, but

750
00:37:14,120 --> 00:37:16,600
Speaker 1: a big part of it was game plan. So one

751
00:37:16,640 --> 00:37:19,520
Speaker 1: of the things that Minnesota did is they kept Rudy

752
00:37:19,520 --> 00:37:23,759
Speaker 1: Gobert on the lob threats on Gafford and Lively. That

753
00:37:23,840 --> 00:37:27,360
Speaker 1: allowed Dallas to operate with traditional four out spacing, meaning

754
00:37:27,400 --> 00:37:30,400
Speaker 1: they had shooters in the corners they're preferably their corner

755
00:37:30,400 --> 00:37:33,360
Speaker 1: three point shooters, Derek Jones and PJ. Washington, and then

756
00:37:33,400 --> 00:37:36,120
Speaker 1: they had Kyrie Irving on the opposite wing. Then Luca

757
00:37:36,280 --> 00:37:38,920
Speaker 1: would get the ball screen and he would go downhill

758
00:37:39,160 --> 00:37:41,560
Speaker 1: as the lob threat was going and they'd both be

759
00:37:41,640 --> 00:37:45,640
Speaker 1: going into open space underneath the basket. That allowed Luca

760
00:37:45,760 --> 00:37:48,840
Speaker 1: to manipulate Rudy Gobert into that no man's land between

761
00:37:48,880 --> 00:37:51,239
Speaker 1: the two so that he could unlock the lob game.

762
00:37:51,760 --> 00:37:55,319
Speaker 1: Boston put together a game plan that caused a ton

763
00:37:55,360 --> 00:38:00,960
Speaker 1: of issues for Dallas's offense. They put their four, Jason

764
00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:05,080
Speaker 1: Tatum onto the lob threat. They put their center onto

765
00:38:05,320 --> 00:38:08,279
Speaker 1: pour above the break three point shooters. What that did

766
00:38:08,360 --> 00:38:11,439
Speaker 1: is it fucked up the spacing because then you had

767
00:38:11,520 --> 00:38:14,200
Speaker 1: in order to put two shooters in the corners, you

768
00:38:14,239 --> 00:38:16,560
Speaker 1: had to tug Kyrie in one of the corners. You

769
00:38:16,560 --> 00:38:19,680
Speaker 1: had Lively and Gafford standing in the dunker spot, which

770
00:38:19,680 --> 00:38:22,960
Speaker 1: allowed Jason Tatum to help on everything underneath the basket.

771
00:38:23,239 --> 00:38:25,959
Speaker 1: And then when Luca wanted to bring the center into

772
00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:28,960
Speaker 1: the action to attack Porzingis or Horford, it was Derek

773
00:38:29,040 --> 00:38:32,239
Speaker 1: Jones or PJ. Washington set in the screen. If those

774
00:38:32,239 --> 00:38:35,640
Speaker 1: guys tried to roll, they were rolling into all that traffic.

775
00:38:35,800 --> 00:38:38,960
Speaker 1: Now that the dunker spot is occupied. If they popped

776
00:38:39,040 --> 00:38:41,960
Speaker 1: where the opening was, it was above the break threes,

777
00:38:42,320 --> 00:38:44,279
Speaker 1: and above the break three point shooting ended up being

778
00:38:44,360 --> 00:38:47,720
Speaker 1: the Achilles heel of this Dallas offense. Derek Jones Junior

779
00:38:48,000 --> 00:38:50,440
Speaker 1: shot twenty six percent on above the break threes in

780
00:38:50,480 --> 00:38:53,919
Speaker 1: the playoffs. Maxi Kleba shot twenty six percent on above

781
00:38:53,960 --> 00:38:57,480
Speaker 1: the break threees in the playoffs. PJ Washington shot thirty

782
00:38:57,520 --> 00:39:00,000
Speaker 1: one percent on above the break threees during the playoffs.

783
00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:03,799
Speaker 1: Those three guys combined to go seven for twenty eight.

784
00:39:04,040 --> 00:39:07,279
Speaker 1: That's twenty five percent on above the break threes during

785
00:39:07,280 --> 00:39:10,080
Speaker 1: the NBA Finals. What does that mean? Why does that matter?

786
00:39:10,760 --> 00:39:15,400
Speaker 1: Because this is a copycat league. Every NBA coach watched

787
00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:18,600
Speaker 1: the NBA Finals. When they watch the NBA Finals, they're

788
00:39:18,600 --> 00:39:22,160
Speaker 1: all making a little note like, Oh, when we're guarding Dallas,

789
00:39:22,360 --> 00:39:26,160
Speaker 1: let's just put our biggest forward on their lob threat,

790
00:39:26,880 --> 00:39:30,360
Speaker 1: have them switch ball screens, and then let's put our center,

791
00:39:30,520 --> 00:39:33,319
Speaker 1: our rim protector on their above the break three point

792
00:39:33,320 --> 00:39:35,880
Speaker 1: shooters that can't make above the breakthrees. You will see

793
00:39:35,880 --> 00:39:39,560
Speaker 1: that same coverage a lot moving forward. That is exactly

794
00:39:39,600 --> 00:39:42,279
Speaker 1: what happened to the Golden State Warriors. The Lakers put

795
00:39:42,320 --> 00:39:44,640
Speaker 1: together a game plan which was top block their shooters,

796
00:39:44,680 --> 00:39:48,120
Speaker 1: don't allow them to use their screens, force them to backcut,

797
00:39:48,160 --> 00:39:50,920
Speaker 1: and help off of Draymond Green and Jonathan Kaminga or

798
00:39:50,920 --> 00:39:53,400
Speaker 1: whoever they're limited. Three point shooters are with your rim protectors,

799
00:39:53,440 --> 00:39:56,200
Speaker 1: your size, keep those guys underneath the rim. Be super

800
00:39:56,200 --> 00:39:58,920
Speaker 1: physical on the perimeter. That will slow down Golden State's

801
00:39:58,960 --> 00:40:01,120
Speaker 1: motion offense and force them to play and pick and roll.

802
00:40:01,440 --> 00:40:04,759
Speaker 1: Every team does that. Now it's a copycat league. When

803
00:40:04,800 --> 00:40:07,440
Speaker 1: a game plan starts to take shape that has an

804
00:40:07,480 --> 00:40:11,200
Speaker 1: effect on you, it resonates among the other twenty eight

805
00:40:11,239 --> 00:40:14,520
Speaker 1: teams in the league. And so there are several things

806
00:40:14,520 --> 00:40:17,160
Speaker 1: that could they could do to address this. If you're

807
00:40:17,160 --> 00:40:20,160
Speaker 1: gonna stay with four out, those guys have to improve

808
00:40:20,200 --> 00:40:22,200
Speaker 1: as above the break three point shooters. They either have

809
00:40:22,280 --> 00:40:25,280
Speaker 1: to improve or you've got to find them a different players.

810
00:40:25,320 --> 00:40:28,200
Speaker 1: I mean, because inevitably you will run into this exact

811
00:40:28,200 --> 00:40:31,080
Speaker 1: same situation. And that is something that didn't just slow

812
00:40:31,120 --> 00:40:35,279
Speaker 1: down Dallas's offense, rendered it borderline useless over the course

813
00:40:35,280 --> 00:40:37,839
Speaker 1: of that NBA Final series. A one oh one offensive rating.

814
00:40:38,160 --> 00:40:41,600
Speaker 1: That's not just bad, that is atrociously bad. I want

815
00:40:41,640 --> 00:40:43,200
Speaker 1: to say they didn't cross over one hundred points a

816
00:40:43,200 --> 00:40:45,960
Speaker 1: single time in the series, maybe except for Game five, right,

817
00:40:46,040 --> 00:40:47,680
Speaker 1: I think they did it just once in Game five.

818
00:40:47,840 --> 00:40:51,040
Speaker 1: Actually no, I heard the stat last night from our

819
00:40:51,040 --> 00:40:53,840
Speaker 1: producer with Colin. I think he said Dallas failed to

820
00:40:53,840 --> 00:40:56,440
Speaker 1: score one hundred points seven times during the entire regular

821
00:40:56,480 --> 00:40:59,440
Speaker 1: season and did it four times in this series, so like,

822
00:40:59,480 --> 00:41:02,760
Speaker 1: it was a major issue. So obviously, finding role players

823
00:41:02,760 --> 00:41:04,839
Speaker 1: that are comfortable taking and making above the break three

824
00:41:04,920 --> 00:41:08,760
Speaker 1: is because that is a vital part of your spacing. Right. Secondly,

825
00:41:08,880 --> 00:41:11,719
Speaker 1: it might be worthwhile to explore more five out concepts

826
00:41:11,760 --> 00:41:15,400
Speaker 1: on offense. One of the big advantages here is Derek Lively.

827
00:41:15,880 --> 00:41:18,920
Speaker 1: Derek Lively was wildly impressive in this playoff run as

828
00:41:18,960 --> 00:41:22,359
Speaker 1: a screener and as a decision maker. Right. He even

829
00:41:22,400 --> 00:41:25,120
Speaker 1: fucking he knocked out a three pointer in game four, right,

830
00:41:25,560 --> 00:41:28,279
Speaker 1: so like, and I'm not even in five out. Five

831
00:41:28,320 --> 00:41:31,560
Speaker 1: out does not mean five shooters. Now for Boston it does.

832
00:41:32,200 --> 00:41:34,480
Speaker 1: But all five out means is that all of the

833
00:41:34,560 --> 00:41:37,080
Speaker 1: action is taking place on the perimeter, in the paint

834
00:41:37,200 --> 00:41:40,120
Speaker 1: is not occupied unless it is for a post up

835
00:41:40,120 --> 00:41:42,879
Speaker 1: as part of the play or on a roll. What

836
00:41:42,880 --> 00:41:45,560
Speaker 1: that means is the Bigs operate out at the three

837
00:41:45,560 --> 00:41:49,160
Speaker 1: point line as dribble handoff guys, and they roll and

838
00:41:49,200 --> 00:41:51,440
Speaker 1: then they come back up and run another another dribble handoff,

839
00:41:51,440 --> 00:41:53,160
Speaker 1: and they roll, and they come back up and run

840
00:41:53,200 --> 00:41:56,359
Speaker 1: another dribble handoff. They primarily operate from the perimeter. They

841
00:41:56,480 --> 00:41:58,600
Speaker 1: roll into empty space and then they come back. So

842
00:41:58,680 --> 00:42:02,080
Speaker 1: the paint is vacant except when someone's rolling or driving

843
00:42:02,160 --> 00:42:05,680
Speaker 1: or cutting or posting right. So basically what that means

844
00:42:05,760 --> 00:42:08,080
Speaker 1: is instead of dribbling the ball out the floor and

845
00:42:08,120 --> 00:42:09,959
Speaker 1: having this guy stay in the corner and this guy's

846
00:42:09,960 --> 00:42:11,640
Speaker 1: staying in the corner and come set a ball screen

847
00:42:11,680 --> 00:42:14,000
Speaker 1: and we're just going to spread an attack, have it

848
00:42:14,040 --> 00:42:16,920
Speaker 1: actually function more with everybody involved, the more ball in

849
00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:19,640
Speaker 1: player movement. One of the things I like is I

850
00:42:19,680 --> 00:42:23,480
Speaker 1: think that because of Lively's development there, because PJ. Washington

851
00:42:23,520 --> 00:42:24,839
Speaker 1: can put the ball on the floor a little bit,

852
00:42:24,840 --> 00:42:27,279
Speaker 1: because you have Kyrie Irving and Luca, as long as

853
00:42:27,320 --> 00:42:30,640
Speaker 1: you get basically a better version of Derek Jones, a

854
00:42:30,719 --> 00:42:33,280
Speaker 1: player like Derek Jones that can actually make more plays

855
00:42:33,280 --> 00:42:35,880
Speaker 1: off the bounce, and honestly, he might be able to

856
00:42:35,920 --> 00:42:37,799
Speaker 1: do it if you just open training camp with it

857
00:42:38,040 --> 00:42:40,600
Speaker 1: and run that as your base offense. But I just

858
00:42:40,680 --> 00:42:44,239
Speaker 1: want to see. I think five out concepts are more

859
00:42:44,280 --> 00:42:48,480
Speaker 1: resilient to playoff matchup issues. The four out offense, it

860
00:42:48,480 --> 00:42:52,840
Speaker 1: took one switch the center and Tatum switching to completely

861
00:42:52,880 --> 00:42:56,239
Speaker 1: bog down the spacing on everything, whereas if it was

862
00:42:56,320 --> 00:42:58,480
Speaker 1: five out and there was tons of ball in player

863
00:42:58,520 --> 00:43:02,400
Speaker 1: movement as you're cycling from side decide and everyone's involved.

864
00:43:02,800 --> 00:43:05,719
Speaker 1: It lessens Luca's usage. It has a better chance of

865
00:43:05,800 --> 00:43:08,959
Speaker 1: keeping guys like PJ. Washington, Derek Jones, Josh Green, Dante Exen,

866
00:43:08,960 --> 00:43:12,240
Speaker 1: whoever it is, in rhythm throughout the game. It opens

867
00:43:12,360 --> 00:43:15,359
Speaker 1: up more space on the back line. Like again, if

868
00:43:15,440 --> 00:43:20,000
Speaker 1: Tatum is up at getting engaged in a switch on

869
00:43:20,040 --> 00:43:21,359
Speaker 1: a dribble handoff, and then all of a sudden, it's

870
00:43:21,400 --> 00:43:22,400
Speaker 1: back on the other side of the foor, and then

871
00:43:22,400 --> 00:43:25,080
Speaker 1: it's coming back this way, and there's three dribble handoffs

872
00:43:25,080 --> 00:43:28,160
Speaker 1: on the same possession. It don't really matter what Boston's

873
00:43:28,200 --> 00:43:31,200
Speaker 1: base game plan is. All of a sudden, the entire

874
00:43:31,280 --> 00:43:35,200
Speaker 1: team is being asked to do more on every possession defensively,

875
00:43:35,520 --> 00:43:37,280
Speaker 1: and so I'd like to see them kind of explore

876
00:43:37,360 --> 00:43:40,000
Speaker 1: that a little bit, just to make them more resilient

877
00:43:40,080 --> 00:43:43,279
Speaker 1: as an offensive team. In the playoffs, they ran some

878
00:43:43,440 --> 00:43:46,120
Speaker 1: five out concepts, they ran some stack, pick and roll,

879
00:43:46,160 --> 00:43:48,960
Speaker 1: they ran some double stagger stuffy. It's not like they

880
00:43:49,000 --> 00:43:51,719
Speaker 1: don't do any of that, but more often than that,

881
00:43:51,960 --> 00:43:54,240
Speaker 1: more often than not, they dribble the ball off the floor.

882
00:43:54,400 --> 00:43:56,400
Speaker 1: They set a guard screen for a switch, they go

883
00:43:56,440 --> 00:43:58,160
Speaker 1: to their four out spacing and they call for a

884
00:43:58,200 --> 00:44:00,440
Speaker 1: ball screen. It's just a little too rude to entry.

885
00:44:00,719 --> 00:44:02,920
Speaker 1: It's a little too predictable, and it's one of those

886
00:44:02,960 --> 00:44:04,840
Speaker 1: things that I think puts a ceiling on their offense

887
00:44:04,880 --> 00:44:07,480
Speaker 1: in the playoffs. Remember I wrong. I had to learn

888
00:44:07,520 --> 00:44:09,000
Speaker 1: the hard way about this. And we're gonna get into

889
00:44:09,000 --> 00:44:11,840
Speaker 1: more detail with this when we get to our tactics

890
00:44:11,840 --> 00:44:14,239
Speaker 1: spot on Thursday. But like, the Lakers were a four

891
00:44:14,280 --> 00:44:17,560
Speaker 1: out team last year and then they adopted five out.

892
00:44:17,640 --> 00:44:19,640
Speaker 1: It was ugly as all hell for half the season,

893
00:44:19,680 --> 00:44:23,600
Speaker 1: but it like clicked in January and suddenly they were

894
00:44:23,719 --> 00:44:26,000
Speaker 1: one of the best offenses in the league. And they

895
00:44:26,000 --> 00:44:28,719
Speaker 1: had a much better offensive showing against Denver in that

896
00:44:28,760 --> 00:44:31,799
Speaker 1: first round series than they did the last year. Right, So, like,

897
00:44:32,680 --> 00:44:34,640
Speaker 1: I'm a big believer and they've won me over. This

898
00:44:34,680 --> 00:44:37,319
Speaker 1: is about This is a modern basketball concept that I

899
00:44:37,600 --> 00:44:41,200
Speaker 1: was too late to buy into, and I do think

900
00:44:41,239 --> 00:44:45,400
Speaker 1: that Dallas would be would be served well by trying

901
00:44:45,400 --> 00:44:47,440
Speaker 1: to tilt their offense a little bit more in that direction.

902
00:44:47,880 --> 00:44:51,640
Speaker 1: The last piece, Luca needs to be able to function

903
00:44:52,040 --> 00:44:55,719
Speaker 1: as just a part of a championship level defense. So again,

904
00:44:55,800 --> 00:44:58,000
Speaker 1: this is something we talked about a lot after Game three.

905
00:44:58,120 --> 00:45:00,319
Speaker 1: But I would love to see Luca come in next

906
00:45:00,360 --> 00:45:03,480
Speaker 1: season at at just an entirely different level of physical conditioning.

907
00:45:04,160 --> 00:45:07,040
Speaker 1: By virtue of that, he can handle higher usage, he

908
00:45:07,080 --> 00:45:10,240
Speaker 1: can handle those defensive responsibilities. He can handle more physical

909
00:45:10,239 --> 00:45:14,600
Speaker 1: defensive matchups in the postseason without fatiguing and without losing

910
00:45:14,600 --> 00:45:18,240
Speaker 1: some of his efficiency. Just to put it simply, every

911
00:45:18,360 --> 00:45:21,640
Speaker 1: NBA player has to have some sort of humiliating moment

912
00:45:21,719 --> 00:45:24,759
Speaker 1: in order to reach their ultimate ceiling. Jalen Brown last

913
00:45:24,800 --> 00:45:27,920
Speaker 1: year gets embarrassed in the conference finals, wins Finals MVP.

914
00:45:28,080 --> 00:45:31,040
Speaker 1: The next year, Lebron James in twenty eleven gets embarrassed

915
00:45:31,040 --> 00:45:33,640
Speaker 1: in the NBA Finals wins back to back MVPs and

916
00:45:33,719 --> 00:45:36,960
Speaker 1: Finals MVPs. Luka Doncic got embarrassed in a lot of ways,

917
00:45:37,239 --> 00:45:39,160
Speaker 1: especially on the defensive end of the floor in this series.

918
00:45:39,200 --> 00:45:40,920
Speaker 1: I thought it was the worst defensive performance by a

919
00:45:40,960 --> 00:45:44,000
Speaker 1: superstar I've ever seen in the NBA Finals. So like

920
00:45:44,040 --> 00:45:46,040
Speaker 1: I'm hoping that he just takes that to heart, takes

921
00:45:46,040 --> 00:45:50,000
Speaker 1: it personally, makes the necessary improvements, and brings that next

922
00:45:50,080 --> 00:45:52,160
Speaker 1: level when he comes into next season. Again, as I

923
00:45:52,160 --> 00:45:54,960
Speaker 1: mentioned before, the West will be better. Memphis is going

924
00:45:55,000 --> 00:45:57,359
Speaker 1: to join this picture next year. Houston could very well

925
00:45:57,440 --> 00:45:59,120
Speaker 1: join this picture. Like I said, one of the Lakers,

926
00:45:59,160 --> 00:46:02,479
Speaker 1: Warriors or Suns. They're gonna get their shit together. There's

927
00:46:02,560 --> 00:46:07,560
Speaker 1: going to be something that makes this more complicated next year.

928
00:46:07,880 --> 00:46:11,200
Speaker 1: And I think Step one is self awareness. Admit you're

929
00:46:11,239 --> 00:46:15,239
Speaker 1: not good enough. Step two, address your needs. Step three

930
00:46:15,800 --> 00:46:18,040
Speaker 1: go out and execute, give yourself a chance to win.

931
00:46:18,360 --> 00:46:19,600
Speaker 1: All right, before we get out of here, I want

932
00:46:19,600 --> 00:46:22,280
Speaker 1: to talk a little bit, just wrap up the season.

933
00:46:24,000 --> 00:46:27,440
Speaker 1: You know, we almost exactly eight months ago we launched

934
00:46:27,440 --> 00:46:29,560
Speaker 1: our new YouTube channel, and it was kind of a

935
00:46:29,600 --> 00:46:33,680
Speaker 1: scary moment because the Volumes YouTube channel has like over

936
00:46:33,719 --> 00:46:37,520
Speaker 1: seven hundred thousand subscribers and that was kind of like

937
00:46:37,600 --> 00:46:41,479
Speaker 1: a really nice supporting foundation for what we were trying

938
00:46:41,520 --> 00:46:45,040
Speaker 1: to do. Right, Like just obviously people still need to

939
00:46:45,040 --> 00:46:47,080
Speaker 1: click on the link to watch the show, but like

940
00:46:47,440 --> 00:46:49,960
Speaker 1: just so many more eyeballs were on the show in

941
00:46:50,040 --> 00:46:52,560
Speaker 1: terms of like door swings that we could convert by

942
00:46:52,600 --> 00:46:54,759
Speaker 1: virtue of being on the Volumes channel. And so I

943
00:46:54,800 --> 00:46:57,200
Speaker 1: was really nervous as we as we launched the new

944
00:46:57,280 --> 00:47:00,200
Speaker 1: channel last year at the start of this season, and

945
00:47:00,640 --> 00:47:02,120
Speaker 1: just that it would just kind of lead to some

946
00:47:02,160 --> 00:47:06,239
Speaker 1: sort of downturn or that we would have some just

947
00:47:06,400 --> 00:47:10,160
Speaker 1: disappointing performance. And it's been eight months. We've done over

948
00:47:10,320 --> 00:47:14,439
Speaker 1: eleven point six million views. In that eight months, We've

949
00:47:14,440 --> 00:47:18,640
Speaker 1: added over seventy thousand subscribers. Just during the playoff run,

950
00:47:18,640 --> 00:47:21,439
Speaker 1: we had over a million unique viewers. We had over

951
00:47:21,520 --> 00:47:25,920
Speaker 1: four hundred thousand returning viewers, people who made multiple visits

952
00:47:25,960 --> 00:47:29,160
Speaker 1: to the channel. I just have been completely blown away

953
00:47:29,520 --> 00:47:31,759
Speaker 1: by how you guys have supported me and supported this

954
00:47:31,840 --> 00:47:34,200
Speaker 1: channel and supported this show over the course of the

955
00:47:34,239 --> 00:47:38,440
Speaker 1: last few years. I just can't put into words how

956
00:47:38,480 --> 00:47:42,360
Speaker 1: incredibly thankful I am for all of you. There's obviously

957
00:47:42,360 --> 00:47:45,160
Speaker 1: a certain amount of negativity that comes with the comes

958
00:47:45,160 --> 00:47:47,160
Speaker 1: with the job, right, That's just kind of the virtue

959
00:47:47,200 --> 00:47:49,719
Speaker 1: of sports. Like I have to say I like this

960
00:47:49,760 --> 00:47:52,800
Speaker 1: team or dislike this team, which is automatically going to

961
00:47:52,800 --> 00:47:56,680
Speaker 1: piss some people off, and like the overwhelming positivity that

962
00:47:56,760 --> 00:47:58,840
Speaker 1: I get from you guys in the comments and direct

963
00:47:58,840 --> 00:48:02,239
Speaker 1: messages and Twitter mentions and all of that stuff. You

964
00:48:02,320 --> 00:48:05,719
Speaker 1: guys just support me in such an incredible way, and

965
00:48:05,760 --> 00:48:09,600
Speaker 1: I'm just incredibly thankful for you. I'm so excited to

966
00:48:09,600 --> 00:48:11,439
Speaker 1: see what we can turn this thing into I mean,

967
00:48:12,080 --> 00:48:14,520
Speaker 1: we've been going for what two years and four months

968
00:48:14,680 --> 00:48:17,920
Speaker 1: or something like that since we started with the volume

969
00:48:18,280 --> 00:48:20,799
Speaker 1: back in the twenty twenty two season, and it's just

970
00:48:20,840 --> 00:48:24,120
Speaker 1: been it's been such a blast. I'm getting to experience

971
00:48:24,160 --> 00:48:25,759
Speaker 1: things I never in a million years thought i'd get

972
00:48:25,760 --> 00:48:28,680
Speaker 1: to experience. I'm interviewing an NBA player for the first

973
00:48:28,719 --> 00:48:31,719
Speaker 1: time at Summer League. I'm super excited about that we've had.

974
00:48:31,880 --> 00:48:34,960
Speaker 1: I've get getting to go see the Team USA scrimmage

975
00:48:35,000 --> 00:48:39,840
Speaker 1: against a Canada on July tenth there at the Thomas

976
00:48:39,840 --> 00:48:42,160
Speaker 1: and Max Center. I just I wouldn't be able to

977
00:48:42,239 --> 00:48:44,040
Speaker 1: do the things that I get to do or experience

978
00:48:44,080 --> 00:48:46,400
Speaker 1: when I get to experience without your guys' support. And

979
00:48:46,440 --> 00:48:48,760
Speaker 1: I just hope you guys know that I'm eternally thankful

980
00:48:48,800 --> 00:48:51,120
Speaker 1: to you, and I'm super super excited to see what

981
00:48:51,160 --> 00:48:54,680
Speaker 1: we can build as we look into the future. I'm

982
00:48:54,680 --> 00:48:56,600
Speaker 1: really excited to get started on the next season. One

983
00:48:56,680 --> 00:48:58,560
Speaker 1: last thing before we go to Don't Forget about my

984
00:48:58,600 --> 00:49:01,839
Speaker 1: Two Sons podcast. You can see a little logo down here.

985
00:49:02,040 --> 00:49:03,759
Speaker 1: That's a podcast that I do with my buddy Luke

986
00:49:03,760 --> 00:49:06,800
Speaker 1: where we talk more about like film and TV show stuff.

987
00:49:07,239 --> 00:49:09,680
Speaker 1: Last night, we just uploaded a reaction to the first

988
00:49:09,719 --> 00:49:11,600
Speaker 1: episode of House of the Dragon, so you guys can

989
00:49:11,640 --> 00:49:15,120
Speaker 1: go check that out. We're gonna be recording Acolyte episode

990
00:49:15,160 --> 00:49:18,359
Speaker 1: four later tonight as well, and there's just a lot

991
00:49:18,400 --> 00:49:20,640
Speaker 1: of really fun content and stuff coming out over the

992
00:49:20,680 --> 00:49:23,600
Speaker 1: course of the rest of this summer, So make sure

993
00:49:23,640 --> 00:49:25,759
Speaker 1: you guys head over there hit that subscribe button, and

994
00:49:25,880 --> 00:49:28,040
Speaker 1: i'd appreciate your support there as well. But again, I'm

995
00:49:28,080 --> 00:49:31,080
Speaker 1: just really thankful for you guys, and I'm looking forward

996
00:49:31,080 --> 00:49:34,359
Speaker 1: to getting into another fun offseason and then another fun

997
00:49:34,400 --> 00:49:36,440
Speaker 1: season from there. All right, that's all I have for tonight.

998
00:49:36,480 --> 00:49:39,719
Speaker 1: Congratulations Celtics fans. Congratulations Mavericks fans too. That was a

999
00:49:39,719 --> 00:49:42,719
Speaker 1: fun season for you guys. We'll be back. We're gonna

1000
00:49:42,719 --> 00:49:45,359
Speaker 1: take tomorrow off. We'll be back on Thursday to get

1001
00:49:45,360 --> 00:49:48,279
Speaker 1: into some basketball tactics and the five biggest things that

1002
00:49:48,320 --> 00:49:50,000
Speaker 1: I learned from this playoff run, and I will see

1003
00:49:50,000 --> 00:49:53,520
Speaker 1: you guys. Then the volume