Speaker 1: On this episode of the Heat Check, the second round continues, folks,
Speaker 1: we'll get you all caught up on what's popping. We
Speaker 1: also are gonna have some news from around the league.
Speaker 1: We also have a bunch of interviews, including Jovan Buha
Speaker 1: to give us the latest on what the fuck is
Speaker 1: happening with the LA Lakers, Grant Asset, who covers the
Speaker 1: Mavericks telling us what's going on with Luka Doncic, and
Speaker 1: then Zach Bye from Denver. As you can tell, we
Speaker 1: found some people who cover the teams that are just
Speaker 1: downright puzzling and disappointing.
Speaker 2: So much to get to time to get on at Anthony.
Speaker 3: Let's drop that motherfucker beat should beat Rihanna?
Speaker 2: All right? Moving on breaking news.
Speaker 1: In a wild day in the NBA. First of all,
Speaker 1: the Sons did it. They did the unthinkable, They did
Speaker 1: the unimaginable. They did the irrational, which is Karate chopped
Speaker 1: Frank Vogel all the way out of Phoenix. That's right,
Speaker 1: Frank Vogel caught astray, caught the blame for the Suns
Speaker 1: getting swept by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round. Also,
Speaker 1: like considering that Minnesota's up to zero on the defending champs.
Speaker 2: Maybe the timing not so great.
Speaker 1: Like if if this was a Minnesota Timberwolve team that
Speaker 1: was largely fraudulent, then maybe Frank Vogel could get the hiya.
Speaker 2: But like, this team might win it all.
Speaker 1: This this Minnesota Timberwolves team might win it all, and
Speaker 1: you're disappointed with that guy who actually is gonna be
Speaker 1: in the exact same spot as Michael Malone. I don't
Speaker 1: know what coach can fix this team. Also, they don't
Speaker 1: have a point guard, they don't have a center.
Speaker 3: Sheesh.
Speaker 1: Anyway, I had this random thought when I was doing
Speaker 1: some tiktoks on Frank Vogel that I thought I would
Speaker 1: point out here on the pod in case you don't
Speaker 1: follow me. Disappointing if you don't on Instagram or on TikTok.
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant has had seven bosses, seven bosses in the
Speaker 1: past five years. Yes, since twenty nineteen, he's been under
Speaker 1: seven different coaches.
Speaker 2: And multiple regimes.
Speaker 1: You had Steve Kerr, Kenny Atkinson fired, Steve Nash fired,
Speaker 1: Joq Vaughn fired three fucking three coaches on one team.
Speaker 3: Mammi Williams fired Frank.
Speaker 1: Vogel fired and then whoever the fuck comes next that
Speaker 1: he probably is going to be Mike Budenholzer. The rumor
Speaker 1: is that but already has the job. Get Rond kad
Speaker 1: get Rond not sure how Budenholzer can fix this team,
Speaker 1: considering that the salary cap has rules and they work
Speaker 1: against this Sun's team. But it's certainly gonna be different
Speaker 1: no matter what, absolutely different. And other news, the Hornets
Speaker 1: have finally hired their head coach. They have tabbed Charles Lee,
Speaker 1: another Milwaukee Bucks disciple, an assistant for the Boston Celtics.
Speaker 3: Now, he's been a man in great demand.
Speaker 1: He's young, he's smart, He hopefully will be there to
Speaker 1: change the losing culture in Charlotte.
Speaker 2: More on this soon.
Speaker 1: So much popping off the court, but we got to
Speaker 1: get back to these second round games.
Speaker 2: Here's what we know.
Speaker 3: We know that the OKC thunder are a problem.
Speaker 1: They took the MAVs behind the woodshed a couple of
Speaker 1: nights ago one, seventeen ninety five in a game that
Speaker 1: was pretty close until Mark Dagno said no more of this,
Speaker 1: Josh Giddy, He's got to get up out of here,
Speaker 1: benched him for Aaron Wiggins, after which the Thunder out
Speaker 1: scored the MAVs by twenty five points. I think also
Speaker 1: we got a little Case and Wallace in the mix
Speaker 1: as well. Anyway, Luca is hobbled, Kyrie is getting blitzed,
Speaker 1: Dallas is left trying to figure out how they're going
Speaker 1: to score on a very athletic, okay see team when
Speaker 1: they don't have that many healthy creators or players that
Speaker 1: you can really trust. Daniel Gafford had double digit points
Speaker 1: and double digit rebounds, and I think that's kind of like,
Speaker 1: just based on getting Rundom out east, the Celtics did
Speaker 1: what everybody expected them to do. They decided to take
Speaker 1: the Cavaliers and pound them like a tenpenny nail. It
Speaker 1: was a twenty five point win in Game one, and honestly,
Speaker 1: it didn't feel even close to that. And I think
Speaker 1: if you're talking about how the Boston Celtics actually played
Speaker 1: probably like a six.
Speaker 2: Out of ten of their potential, the.
Speaker 1: Cavs, just without Jared Allen and Darius Garland, who has
Speaker 1: been booboo, have not been able to handle this Celtics offense.
Speaker 1: Even missing Porzingis has not changed this team at all.
Speaker 1: I would be shocked. I would be shocked if the
Speaker 1: Calves take even a game from Boston. I would be
Speaker 1: shocked if the Calves take a half of a game
Speaker 1: from Houstin all this to say, the second round series
Speaker 1: might be very short, and they might be very dumb
Speaker 1: and very uninspiring and not entertaining. The Wolves take on
Speaker 1: the Nuggets Friday night, up to zero and a win
Speaker 1: there maybe a sweep. New York took game two from
Speaker 1: Indy to put them up to zero. They may be
Speaker 1: getting out the brooms. Pacers coach Rick Carlisle got ram
Speaker 1: with about ten seconds left. He gets ejected. Said in
Speaker 1: his presser that the officials have missed seventy eight calls
Speaker 1: in the first two games.
Speaker 3: Seventy eight.
Speaker 2: Hey, you guys suck.
Speaker 1: Like twenty percent of the time. Twenty percent of what
Speaker 1: you decided to call out there is wrong. The series
Speaker 1: now heads back to Indy. Must win situation for the Pacers.
Speaker 1: Miles Turner needs to show up like now. Pascal situations,
Speaker 1: Pascal situation, Pascal Siakam needs to step up right now.
Speaker 2: We need more TJ McConnell.
Speaker 1: We need more Obi top and ain't no stop in
Speaker 1: Obi topping because the Knicks can't stop him. And also
Speaker 1: we got some injury news with ogn and Obi hurt
Speaker 1: his hamstring, Jalen Brunson hurt his foot. What's gonna happen
Speaker 1: moving forward with their health, injury and status. I don't know,
Speaker 1: but we might be looking at four sweeps in the
Speaker 1: second round.
Speaker 3: What is that?
Speaker 2: Unreal?
Speaker 1: We'll get more into this on Monday, but for now,
Speaker 1: let's get into some long overdue news from around the league.
Speaker 2: We talked last time.
Speaker 1: About Miami Heat and they're woes and all kinds of
Speaker 1: issues and rumors about what happens next. But another team
Speaker 1: in swimming in a pool of sadness is the New
Speaker 1: Orleans Pelicans.
Speaker 3: We talked about Griffin.
Speaker 1: David Griffin, the executive VP of operations, and right now,
Speaker 1: after the Pelicans were swept into oblivion after four years
Speaker 1: of zion that he is no longer willing to be
Speaker 1: patient and run it back, and now we know.
Speaker 2: What that looks like.
Speaker 1: According to reports, New Orleans will not be offering Brandon
Speaker 1: Ingram a contract extist this offseason, which is not surprising
Speaker 1: considering that Trey Murphy is also eligible for a Rockie
Speaker 1: Scale extension around twenty five million dollars a year, and
Speaker 1: that is very clear that he is a part of
Speaker 1: their long term plans and maybe Brandon Ingram is not. Remember,
Speaker 1: by the way, this is a team that's never been
Speaker 1: in the luxury tax. Never in the history of their
Speaker 1: team have they ever paid the luxury tax cheap. And
Speaker 1: once Trey Murphy is signed, they can then use Ingram's
Speaker 1: thirty six million dollars in salary to entice another star
Speaker 1: player Paul George, Donovan Mitchell, etc. Donovan Mitchell, there would
Speaker 1: be actually low key amazing into jumping ship. Brandon Ingram,
Speaker 1: I think could be a valuable player somewhere a place
Speaker 1: that already has a defined.
Speaker 2: Culture aka like the Heat, But.
Speaker 1: He never really fit with Zion, and I think that
Speaker 1: he and the Palace believe that a fresh start probably probably.
Speaker 3: Benefits both teams, both sides.
Speaker 1: Orlando moving on, made it to a game seven, they
Speaker 1: blew that twenty point lead, they get sent get sacked,
Speaker 1: get sent packing. That's hard to say by Donovan Mitchell.
Speaker 1: And a major reason that they're in Cancun is that
Speaker 1: Franz Wagner I don't know where he went for some reason.
Speaker 1: His jumper is broken, although he averaged nineteen a game.
Speaker 1: In the Cleveland series, he only shot forty one percent
Speaker 1: from the field and twenty seven percent from three and
Speaker 1: only five attempts per game, which is disgusting. He also
Speaker 1: saved his worst performance for last. In Game seven, Franz
Speaker 1: Wagner went went six, six and one, shooting one for
Speaker 1: fifteen in thirty five minutes.
Speaker 3: What a What a game seven?
Speaker 1: Probably as bad as almost any star player has played.
Speaker 1: After the game, Paolo Bencaro, who went off for thirty
Speaker 1: eight by the way, in game seven, had this to
Speaker 1: say about Franz Wagner.
Speaker 3: He said, Yo, we're not even here without Franz.
Speaker 1: He holds himself to a high standard and he expects
Speaker 1: a lot out of himself as a player. I've been
Speaker 1: in that position as well, where you feel like you
Speaker 1: could have done a lot more on a losing effort,
Speaker 1: but that doesn't define him. Also, excuse me, that's not true, Paolo,
Speaker 1: You've never gone one for fifteen in a closed out game.
Speaker 1: But also do you know what that is from Paalo?
Speaker 2: That is leadership.
Speaker 1: We're seeing remarkable maturity from these young stars, stars that,
Speaker 1: by the way, fifteen years ago would not be saying
Speaker 1: these things. We're getting more out of our young players
Speaker 1: mentally than we've ever had before. Aunt Edwards, shake yelges
Speaker 1: Alexander Paolo this is a great example. You lift up
Speaker 1: a teammate who shit the bed instead of am Kobe
Speaker 1: bryanting him and just tossing them under the bus or
Speaker 1: the train ready to get smatted, splatted.
Speaker 2: All over for everyone to see.
Speaker 1: The truth is, though, that Wagner's shooting issues are just
Speaker 1: not really new at all. They're just not Over the
Speaker 1: past two months of the season, he was incredibly bad
Speaker 1: from three nineteen percent over the lef twenty seven games.
Speaker 2: That is less than half.
Speaker 1: Of the NBA league average, which is thirty six percent
Speaker 1: from deep and at the bottom for high volume shooters
Speaker 1: in the league.
Speaker 2: That is crazy.
Speaker 1: Also considering that he was awesome and feeble play, his
Speaker 1: twenty eight percent from the season is fifth worst in
Speaker 1: the NBA, which is also one of the reasons that
Speaker 1: the Magic are reportedly looking at pursuing Wooing courting Klay
Speaker 1: Thompson want to see how this goes. Fascinating fascinating stuff.
Speaker 1: Also out in Clipperland, LA is apparently for the umpteenth year,
Speaker 1: trying to run it back next year.
Speaker 2: Don't think they have much of a choice.
Speaker 1: But to be honest, there is one funny thing happening
Speaker 1: apparently that the Clips have been making multiple contract offers
Speaker 1: quote unquote below the max to Paul George, which he
Speaker 1: has told him that he is not accepting as he
Speaker 1: wants max money.
Speaker 3: It's funny, like they just keep.
Speaker 2: Going up a dollar.
Speaker 1: They're like, they're like, yo, you won't accept this amount,
Speaker 1: but will you accept five million dollars more over the
Speaker 1: course of five years?
Speaker 2: No, bro, I.
Speaker 3: Want max money, max money.
Speaker 2: It's so funny.
Speaker 1: He's like treating PG three Steve Bomer like an eBay auction,
Speaker 1: just increasing the bid until he gets the very lowest
Speaker 1: point that he thinks that PG will sign up, while
Speaker 1: there's like a buy it now available for max money, Okay,
Speaker 1: buy now. Friends of show law Murray reported that Lawrence
Speaker 1: Frank intends to retain the core intends to which is
Speaker 1: fascinating in considering that they don't want to max OUTPG.
Speaker 1: And I think there's gonna be some other teams that
Speaker 1: want to max OUTPG. But it doesn't mean that they
Speaker 1: want to bring out But that does mean that they
Speaker 1: do want to bring back Harden. It depends though, on
Speaker 1: how much cash they offer him. Lawrence Frank says, quote,
Speaker 1: we always want to treat players well, pay fairly. We've
Speaker 1: had good conversations so over the course of the year.
Speaker 1: Kind of glass half empty, class full situation if you're
Speaker 1: a Clippers fan. On one hand, this team, when fully healthy,
Speaker 1: we've never seen what they look like, and they looked
Speaker 1: pretty damn good in the regular season when they.
Speaker 2: All were pretty healthy. Look like a title favorite.
Speaker 1: On the other hand, they've never been healthy, never for
Speaker 1: any stretch of time.
Speaker 2: During the postseason.
Speaker 1: Six weeks ago, this Clippers team seemed unstoppable, and now
Speaker 1: Kawhi is injured, they can't get out of the first round.
Speaker 1: But considering that they've locked Kawhi in for the foreseeable future,
Speaker 1: you may as well just continue to gamble, doubling and
Speaker 1: tripling down until oblivion, all the while with a new
Speaker 1: arena and a hopefully packed house full of fans that
Speaker 1: will inevitably.
Speaker 3: Be disappointed because you can't stay fucking healthy.
Speaker 2: All right, we move on.
Speaker 1: Finally, we end in Philly, where Darryl Moury is doing
Speaker 1: his own little dissection of the season, own little dissection
Speaker 1: of the team like a dead a dead pig, just
Speaker 1: trying to figure it away. And what was his takeaway?
Speaker 1: He said, Buddy Healed sucked. Yeah, don't know why we
Speaker 1: traded for him, he said. This no fault to Buddy.
Speaker 3: I think the fit was less good than I thought.
Speaker 1: Most of his time was without Joel, But I thought
Speaker 1: when when Joel was back his impact and his shooting,
Speaker 1: that he'd get more open shots. He just didn't. That's
Speaker 1: on me, and it didn't work out as well as
Speaker 1: we hope. I think that Nick correctly saw based on
Speaker 1: how they were guarding us that it was hard for
Speaker 1: him to impact the game. Buddy didn't quite work out
Speaker 1: as well as we hoped. All we know what Buddy
Speaker 1: does is two things, shoot threes and shoot more threes.
Speaker 1: And if he's not doing that, well, he's a liability.
Speaker 1: But he is very well liked in the locker room.
Speaker 1: Remember it was Healed who helped carry Haliburton off the
Speaker 1: floor when he heard himself rid of this year. And
Speaker 1: it was also Buddy who gave the pep talk that
Speaker 1: set Tyrese Maxey off in the fourth quarter of that
Speaker 1: epic Game five that I was at in the first round.
Speaker 2: So there's always room.
Speaker 1: For him on a roster somewhere, even if he is
Speaker 1: kind of a bad decision maker and sometimes forgets that
Speaker 1: all he's good for is shooting threes.
Speaker 3: Probably though not going to be in Philadelphia. And now
Speaker 3: it's interview time.
Speaker 1: All three of my guests appeared on my other show,
Speaker 1: BENHAMGM Tonight, which aired seven to eleven Eastern on the
Speaker 1: radio in most major markets on the Honesty app also
Speaker 1: on video live on Twitch and YouTube.
Speaker 2: First up is Jovon Booja.
Speaker 1: When you read his name, it's hard not to say
Speaker 1: the Jay Jovon Booha Lakers fame. Who's here to give
Speaker 1: us on the latest on what was a very disappointing
Speaker 1: end to the season in LA. You can find Yovan
Speaker 1: all of his work on the Athletic obviously that ended
Speaker 1: with the firing of Darbn Ham.
Speaker 3: Great stuff. Let's get into it.
Speaker 4: Let's talk a little Lakers right now here on VETMGM Tonight,
Speaker 4: Ryan Horbat, Trista crick and what a crazy offseason already
Speaker 4: and to do that we welcome on now. Jovann Booja
Speaker 4: joins us right now to talk a little Lakers. Thanks
Speaker 4: so much, man. Let's start with that series against Denver,
Speaker 4: a really competitive series Lakers kind of the same result
Speaker 4: as last year. Though, what do you think we see
Speaker 4: this offseason with this team? Do you think they run
Speaker 4: it back with the current roster? Do you think that
Speaker 4: there are some changes. I keep joking that maybe they'll
Speaker 4: find a way to trade for Kevin Durant. It's not
Speaker 4: going to happen. What do you think this offseason looks
Speaker 4: like for the Lakers?
Speaker 5: I think there are gonna be some changes. I think
Speaker 5: anytime that you lose in the same manner to the
Speaker 5: same team and back to back seasons with basically not
Speaker 5: the exact same roster, but a similar roster. You gave
Speaker 5: Benson in place of Dennis Schroeder and no Jared Vanderbilt
Speaker 5: in this series versus last year, but a lot of
Speaker 5: the same principle guys obviously Lebron and Ad but Austin Reeves,
Speaker 5: D'Angel Russell, Rujachimura. Looking at that Core, I just don't
Speaker 5: think that Core is good enough to beat the Denver Nuggets.
Speaker 5: And speaking of the Denver Nuggets, they're now down to
Speaker 5: zero to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the conference semifinals, so
Speaker 5: you still have to worry about the Timberwolves and the
Speaker 5: Oklahoma City Thunder and the Boston Celtics, to say nothing
Speaker 5: of some of these other up and coming teams around
Speaker 5: the league. So for the Lakers, I think they need
Speaker 5: to somehow get younger while also getting more athletic and
Speaker 5: better defensively and maybe adding another shooter somewhere in there.
Speaker 5: So I think the list of things that they need
Speaker 5: to add is relatively long. Like, on the one hand,
Speaker 5: they are close. On the other hand, some of it,
Speaker 5: like Lebron's gonna be turning forty, it's gonna be year
Speaker 5: twenty two. Anthony Davis is going to be turning thirty two,
Speaker 5: it's gonna be year thirteen. So those guys, you're gonna
Speaker 5: have to figure out a way to take off some
Speaker 5: of the load with them in terms of offense and defense.
Speaker 5: So I think, looking at it, can you flip Ruhachimora,
Speaker 5: can you flip D'Angel Russell? You're gonna have three first
Speaker 5: round picks? Maybe gave Vincent Like, there are different ways
Speaker 5: they can go about it, but I would be surprised
Speaker 5: if they end up running it back with this group.
Speaker 5: I think got a minimum a couple of those guys
Speaker 5: will be gone on if not potentially a larger move
Speaker 5: to bring in a third star and then trying to
Speaker 5: fill in the pieces, you know, with minimum guys. But
Speaker 5: I think whether it's a like medium size move in
Speaker 5: terms of shuffling two or three guys, or a larger
Speaker 5: move where you're pretty much you're stripping down the supporting
Speaker 5: cast and going with a third guy. Either way, like,
Speaker 5: I think that's more likely than them just running it back,
Speaker 5: because running it back is you're probably losing the first round.
Speaker 1: Again, who do you think that that third player would be,
Speaker 1: because there's a lot of rumors that it could be
Speaker 1: Tree Young, with that does not help this team at all.
Speaker 1: He's just a smaller version of D'Angelo Russell.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and he also just left Clutch Sports for CAA,
Speaker 5: which I don't think is a great sign for the
Speaker 5: Lakers in terms of landing him. Like, one of the
Speaker 5: things that I think potentially would have helped them land
Speaker 5: Tree Young would be his relationship with Clutch Sports and
Speaker 5: Clutch Sports also representing Lebron in ad of course. So
Speaker 5: the three names I've consistently heard over the past few
Speaker 5: months and that I've reported on are Trey Young, Kyrie
Speaker 5: Irving and Donovan Mitchell and Kyrie Irving. There's a bit
Speaker 5: of a caveat there, just that it would have had
Speaker 5: to have been Dallas flaming out and really just giving
Speaker 5: up on the Kyrie Luca pairing. And I think, you know,
Speaker 5: they won around they beat the Clippers. Now we'll see
Speaker 5: what happens with Okay. See, I think that is very unlikely,
Speaker 5: if not just off the table entirely at this point.
Speaker 5: So I would look at Trey Young and Donovan Mitchell
Speaker 5: as theoretically the two best players that are likely to
Speaker 5: be available this summer, but there are always names that
Speaker 5: pop up. I look at Miami and like, what's going
Speaker 5: on with Jimmy Butler in that whole situation, Now that
Speaker 5: some of the comments that pat Riley had, like could
Speaker 5: he become available or could they be you know, a
Speaker 5: third team in a trade or something, so like, there
Speaker 5: are different ways it can go. I do think at
Speaker 5: this point a more marginal move for the Lakers is
Speaker 5: more likely than going the three star path. But they
Speaker 5: have a history of chasing stars and they had done
Speaker 5: it multiple years in a row. They ultimately landed on
Speaker 5: Russell Westbrook and then tried to pivot and turn him
Speaker 5: into Kyrie, and that didn't happen. Then they went after
Speaker 5: Kyrie again, so like, and then they went after the
Speaker 5: jon Te Murray at this pass trade deadline. So you know,
Speaker 5: maybe he's a name that pops up and he's maybe
Speaker 5: costs a little bit less than a Trey Young. So like,
Speaker 5: I think that they have a history of chasing third stars.
Speaker 5: Now they did, you pick up some scars from that
Speaker 5: Russell Westbrook trade, which you know, ultimately I think cost
Speaker 5: them several years there in terms of losing KCP Kyle
Speaker 5: Kuzma and partly leading to them losing Alex Caruso. So
Speaker 5: it's it's kind of a path A or path B
Speaker 5: for the Lakers this summer. I think the new coach,
Speaker 5: whoever that ends up being, will have some say in
Speaker 5: that Lebron ad. There'll be several parties who have a
Speaker 5: say in it. But in terms of names, I've heard
Speaker 5: Trey Young and Donovan Mitchell continue to be the two
Speaker 5: that pop up the most.
Speaker 1: There is a report today Yovonne that Lebron hasn't been
Speaker 1: involved or even near coaching negotiations or coaching decisions.
Speaker 2: For this Lakers team.
Speaker 1: Feels a little illogical that he would just not be
Speaker 1: involved in any way. What is that coach that you
Speaker 1: think is the most likely to be the head coach
Speaker 1: of this team? Obviously there was a lot of rumors
Speaker 1: about Phil Handy he has now been let go, But
Speaker 1: now there was like rumors about tylu and he just
Speaker 1: got an extension, Jason Kidd, he just got an extension.
Speaker 2: Who is that? In your opinion?
Speaker 5: Yeah, so you know, if you asked me this a
Speaker 5: couple of days ago, I would have said Tyleru in
Speaker 5: terms of the Lakers preference and the guy at the
Speaker 5: top of their list. But looking at like, I have
Speaker 5: not heard yet a favorite within this coaching group. You know,
Speaker 5: Mike Budenholzer is the most accomplished coach available right now
Speaker 5: on the market. At the same time, he's the mentor
Speaker 5: of Darvin Ham, So I think it would be a
Speaker 5: little weird to fire the protege and then hire the mentor. Like, yeah,
Speaker 5: it's probably a better coach than Darvin Ham and can
Speaker 5: do some of the positive things that Darvin did at
Speaker 5: a higher level. Just has more experience. But I don't
Speaker 5: know if that's necessarily going to be the move that, like,
Speaker 5: you know, it would be with a different team that
Speaker 5: maybe hires Bud and they don't have the same kind
Speaker 5: of baggage hanging over the situation given that they just
Speaker 5: fired his protege. I look at JJ Redick as a
Speaker 5: really interesting candidate. To me, I see shades of Steve
Speaker 5: Kerr in him in terms of just like his temperament
Speaker 5: and on the one hand, he's like this nice guy
Speaker 5: who has a certain level of intellect and empathy, but
Speaker 5: then also you see he's got the competitive side and
Speaker 5: the fiery side, and he's not afraid. Whether it's on
Speaker 5: his podcast or if he's doing first take or something like,
Speaker 5: you'll see that side of him come out. And that
Speaker 5: to me is kind of similar to a Steve Kerr,
Speaker 5: who for the most part is you know, a pretty
Speaker 5: genial figure, but then he'll have the times he gets
Speaker 5: ejected or has a fiery press conference or something, And like,
Speaker 5: I could see J. J. Reddick kind of developing into
Speaker 5: that type of coach, at least from a temperament standpoint. Obviously,
Speaker 5: you don't know what he's going to be like as
Speaker 5: a tactician, just because he's never been an NBA level
Speaker 5: head coach or assistant coach. And then there's some assistant
Speaker 5: coaches around the league. Kenny Atkinson as a guy who
Speaker 5: interviewed for the coaching position that Darvin Ham ended up landing.
Speaker 5: Charles Lee is also of the Budenholzer coaching tree. He's
Speaker 5: coached with the Celtics. There's you know, mikea. Nori who's
Speaker 5: with the Minnesota Timberwolves right now. David Adelman who's with
Speaker 5: the Denver Nuggets. So there are some high level assistant
Speaker 5: coaches across the league who I think will certainly get
Speaker 5: some consideration, but right now it's not really a great
Speaker 5: coaching pool, and I don't know. I think it will
Speaker 5: come down to how the interviews go, how the background
Speaker 5: process goes. Lakers are are going to be starting that soon,
Speaker 5: and I think that'll ultimately dictate who ends up winning this,
Speaker 5: But as of now, I don't think there's a clear favorite.
Speaker 2: Fascinating stuff.
Speaker 4: Man, Thanks so much for giving us some time. Man,
Speaker 4: we really appreciate it.
Speaker 5: Thank thank you guys for having me.
Speaker 4: You have Boha right there, senior NBA reporter covers the
Speaker 4: Lakers over with the Athletic. Also check out Booha's block
Speaker 4: his video podcast, which is really good. Follow him on
Speaker 4: Twitter x whatever you guys call that stuff, Instagram, TikTok, although.
Speaker 2: No one more plugged in on The Lake Show.
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's awesome. He's awesome. I wish we had like
Speaker 4: twenty more minutes. I know I wanted to get into
Speaker 4: like because I don't want to because I know you
Speaker 4: have like real questions for Yovan. I want to get
Speaker 4: into how do we get Kadie to Los Angeles?
Speaker 5: Just to make my prediction come trips.
Speaker 3: Next up, Grant Asset.
Speaker 1: He is the Dallas Mavericks beat reporter for MAVs Game
Speaker 1: Day and and WNBA and NBA writer for Essentially Sports.
Speaker 1: He broke down what's happening with the MAVs and the
Speaker 1: OKC series?
Speaker 2: Are they cooked?
Speaker 3: Who can you trust on this team?
Speaker 2: He gives us the team. Let's get into it.
Speaker 4: Dallas Mavericks find themselves down one to zero in that series.
Speaker 4: They lose last night to OKC on the road. Talk
Speaker 4: about that more. Grand aft Seth joins us right now,
Speaker 4: Dallas Mavericks beat writer for mavsgame day dot com. Thank
Speaker 4: you so much for joining us. Let's actually just start
Speaker 4: with the injury report and what you heard today. Luca
Speaker 4: is obviously a little bit banged up, not really moving
Speaker 4: around that great. How healthy is he and how healthy
Speaker 4: is he gonna be for Game two with the short rest?
Speaker 6: Oh yeah, So basically with Luca's injury, he's been playing
Speaker 6: through a right knees sprain for you know, ever since
Speaker 6: like midway through that Clippers series, and he's listed as
Speaker 6: probable for you know, tomorrow's game, you know, Game two,
Speaker 6: and it's a lot of the similar sentiment where it's like, uh,
Speaker 6: they're not really gonna tell you too much about it,
Speaker 6: but basically you can tell it's a limiting factor in
Speaker 6: his performance and it's something that's just ongoing, you know,
Speaker 6: requiring management and definitely a big thing to watch throughout
Speaker 6: the rest of the series. His shooting has you know,
Speaker 6: really suffered since that injury. And I mean, honestly, every
Speaker 6: time I've asked him about his three point shooting throughout
Speaker 6: the whole season, when it was firing on all cylinders,
Speaker 6: he would mention, you know, it's my legs. I'm fresh
Speaker 6: to be able to you know, maximize my consistency, and
Speaker 6: now we're seeing the downside of that when that's clearly
Speaker 6: not the case.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no doubt what did you see in terms of
Speaker 1: how okay see was not just guarding him, but guarding Kyrie.
Speaker 1: I mean, you've got Lou Door, one of the strongest,
Speaker 1: biggest dudes in the league, probably play safety or linebacker
Speaker 1: in the NFL. You got Jdubb, and you've got just
Speaker 1: a plethora of wings that they can kind of throw
Speaker 1: on both of them, just depending on who's got the
Speaker 1: hot hand.
Speaker 6: Yeah, definitely, I think, you know, lou Dort was definitely
Speaker 6: a problem. That was something that you know, was a
Speaker 6: focus entering the series. You know, a lot of people,
Speaker 6: you know, that's a matchup that has been a thing
Speaker 6: over the last couple of seasons, where Luca even called
Speaker 6: him a top three, you know, perimeter defender, you know,
Speaker 6: I think early last season and then also before this
Speaker 6: series started as well, and he was very physical with them,
Speaker 6: not really letting him get to spots that he consistently
Speaker 6: likes to get to. But I thought schematically, the Thunder
Speaker 6: did a lot of good stuff. They were really smart
Speaker 6: with blitzing, you know, Luca or Kyrie whenever one of
Speaker 6: them wasn't on the court, and you know, they were
Speaker 6: really just in tune on a string with their rotations too.
Speaker 6: Like usually, you know, when one of those guys gets blitzed,
Speaker 6: they're able to get into the pocket on the four
Speaker 6: on three with the short roll and succeed. But they
Speaker 6: had someone at the top of the charte circle that
Speaker 6: low defender really well rotated, and that caused a lot
Speaker 6: of problems for guys like Daniel Gaffer Derek Lively who
Speaker 6: normally are very effective in those situations, and it made
Speaker 6: them think twice about what they wanted to do when
Speaker 6: they made the catch. And that's something that you know,
Speaker 6: both you know, Rollman, are looking to improve next game
Speaker 6: and also was highlighted by both Luca and Kyrie as
Speaker 6: something that you know will need to be better, you know,
Speaker 6: going into that next game.
Speaker 4: Like you said, Luca's really beat up. He's only shooting
Speaker 4: like a little bit better than thirty percent from the floor,
Speaker 4: but still that first round series he averaged over thirty.
Speaker 4: Kyrie has been really good all season long, the fifty
Speaker 4: plus games that he played. But other than those two,
Speaker 4: who else could create their own shot and get buckets
Speaker 4: If Dallas needs another scorer, especially in this series against
Speaker 4: a really good defensive team in OKC.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think, honestly, there really isn't anyone at this
Speaker 6: moment that's definitely one of the key boxers for this
Speaker 6: whole roster right now. It's pretty much dependent on whenever
Speaker 6: OKC gets really aggressive getting the ball out of one
Speaker 6: of those superstars hands, and then the rest of the
Speaker 6: unit is pretty much going to be dared to shoot.
Speaker 6: Like they were very aggressive shrinking the floor, making early
Speaker 6: like low defender rotations to make Josh Green, Derek Jones,
Speaker 6: PJ Washington shoot. So I think that third score in
Speaker 6: true Dallas Mavericks fashion will have to be someone catching
Speaker 6: Luca passes and making shots or just making a basic play.
Speaker 6: And you know that wasn't really working in the you know,
Speaker 6: first game of the series. But as we've seen in
Speaker 6: lucas you know, pretty much his entire postseason career, there
Speaker 6: are very like volatile swings where you know, they can
Speaker 6: get blown out one game because when the three is
Speaker 6: not falling and they don't play as well, but then
Speaker 6: the next game those threes are following, the other team
Speaker 6: doesn't get those long rebounds to push on the break,
Speaker 6: they're not forcing as many turnovers, and then the Mavericks
Speaker 6: are blowing you know, the other team out so it's
Speaker 6: like definitely a very interesting team to kind of follow
Speaker 6: throughout a whole playoff series for sure.
Speaker 4: What are your thoughts on Jason Kidd as a head coach.
Speaker 4: I had the opportunity to cover him for a year
Speaker 4: in Milwaukee, his last year in Milwaukee, and I like
Speaker 4: him as a person obviously, like they think highly of
Speaker 4: them because they just extended him, you didn't want him
Speaker 4: going anywhere. What are your thoughts on him though as.
Speaker 2: A head coach?
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think definitely he's someone that has like a
Speaker 6: core identity that he wants to follow with his teams
Speaker 6: and you know, whether the roster has the right personnel
Speaker 6: at that given time. I think he still sticks with
Speaker 6: that approach, and I think, you know, this series is
Speaker 6: going to be a very interesting kind of test case
Speaker 6: to see him you know, with a very i would say,
Speaker 6: a very clear depth disadvantage and also not having Maxi
Speaker 6: Kliba has been very you know, very like you know,
Speaker 6: focused on playing small with Kliba throughout the whole you
Speaker 6: know season, especially in closing situations, and that's been kind
Speaker 6: of their safety blanket. Like, oh, the other team, like
Speaker 6: the other team's offense is really you know, disrupting us.
Speaker 6: We need to be able to switch. We can't keep
Speaker 6: playing drop and he turns to Maxi Kliba. So just
Speaker 6: seeing without that option with him being sidelined for you know,
Speaker 6: like the timetable is going to put him out through
Speaker 6: the Western Conference semifinals, you know, that's going to be
Speaker 6: a very good test for him as a coach to
Speaker 6: you know, be able to trust you know, some things
Speaker 6: that might not be ideal. Like you know, he he's
Speaker 6: been reluctant to trust bigs guarding in space. At times
Speaker 6: he did against the Clippers where they would let Daniel
Speaker 6: Gafford or Derek Lively, you know, really shade James harden
Speaker 6: To was right trust them to side their feet, and
Speaker 6: other times they weren't really wanting to have them garden
Speaker 6: space in the regular season. So I think seeing how
Speaker 6: you know, his creativity will be tested will be a
Speaker 6: good gauge for this series overall. And then definitely with
Speaker 6: you know, having to account for, you know, such a
Speaker 6: talented team with a very talented coach, with the Coach
Speaker 6: of the Year, that's there's probably no better test than that.
Speaker 6: Right now.
Speaker 1: What did you think about how Kyrie started slow? Is
Speaker 1: that just kind of an aberration or was that something
Speaker 1: that okay See was doing to make life difficult on him.
Speaker 6: Honestly, his entire postseason has been about settling into the game,
Speaker 6: where I think if you look at the stats, I
Speaker 6: don't have them, you know, on top or on my
Speaker 6: computer right now. But when he's started games, he's averaged
Speaker 6: very few points in first quarters, and honestly for most
Speaker 6: of first halves, he's been phenomenal in second halves. I
Speaker 6: think usually the early portions of the game is kind
Speaker 6: of Luca's time to be the battering Ram where he's
Speaker 6: really making a lot of plays. Kyrie picks his spots
Speaker 6: and he you know, makes plays off of Luca early on,
Speaker 6: and then he's kind of a closer. But you know,
Speaker 6: with Luca's injury that's still sustained. So that's where that
Speaker 6: Game one was kind of an interesting, you know situation
Speaker 6: where you know, kind of reverting back to that conversation
Speaker 6: about you know, jason Kids approach with kind of being
Speaker 6: rigid in you know, play style, even with the injury,
Speaker 6: they kind of haven't adapted to that reality where maybe
Speaker 6: Kyrie has to get it going a little earlier. They
Speaker 6: tried in a game like I think it was one
Speaker 6: of the final games that Clipper series where they started
Speaker 6: running some the first two plays of a game for
Speaker 6: Kyrie to get him involved. He scored on one, created
Speaker 6: a lob for PJ. Wathington on another, and then he
Speaker 6: kind of also reverted back to playing within the flow.
Speaker 6: So I think that's kind of just his typical approach
Speaker 6: as a player, where he feels the game and then
Speaker 6: later he really gets aggressive after he gets a feel
Speaker 6: and reads what the other team's trying to do.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we saw that in that Clippers game when they
Speaker 1: went down like twenty or thirty and then Kyrie just said,
Speaker 1: f this, I need to step on the gas and
Speaker 1: take over right right now.
Speaker 2: I saw that. I think either the Mas were up
Speaker 2: one or down one.
Speaker 1: And when Mark Dagno decided, you know, forget all this
Speaker 1: Josh Getty sitting on an island thing. We got to
Speaker 1: bench him and put some other guys in, like Case
Speaker 1: and Wallace, And that was kind of when okay, see
Speaker 1: was off to the races. Well what did you think
Speaker 1: about that? And how do you think you know Dallas
Speaker 1: is going to be able to counter if you know, say,
Speaker 1: Josh Getty doesn't get minutes.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think that's where Maxi Cleeve's injury is a
Speaker 6: massive problem for the Mavericks because typically that would be
Speaker 6: the one variable that they've consistently gotten reps with that
Speaker 6: they could turn to to hand situation like that, because
Speaker 6: they haven't trusted Gafford or Lively to really like long
Speaker 6: stretches guard in space much this season, and having to
Speaker 6: do that in the postseason is a you know, major challenge.
Speaker 6: That's an approach that they really leaned on, you know,
Speaker 6: whether it was against OKC specifically with Josh Giddy or
Speaker 6: even other teams. It became a struggle when they played
Speaker 6: teams like the Pacers or the Celtics who have like
Speaker 6: that stretch five like a Miles Turner or Al Horford
Speaker 6: or you know, Christophe Porzingis and had the ability to
Speaker 6: space out at all five positions, and you know, with
Speaker 6: the Thunder having Chet Holmgren, he didn't really have you know,
Speaker 6: momentum swinging like threes as much as like all the
Speaker 6: other you know, role players. So it wasn't necessarily saying
Speaker 6: the stretch five was the huge problem in that particular game,
Speaker 6: but just having the shooting threat all five positions has
Speaker 6: been a major problem for the Mavericks defense. And you know,
Speaker 6: clearly the Thunder already had a great read on that
Speaker 6: looking at the regular season results how the Mavericks approached it,
Speaker 6: and that's going to be a major problem for them
Speaker 6: if they don't solve that with you know, schematic creativity,
Speaker 6: you know going forward.
Speaker 4: Obviously, like every team's a lot different because sometimes you
Speaker 4: call a Game two a must win situation even though
Speaker 4: it's really not, because you could go down to oh
Speaker 4: you go back home and you have home court then,
Speaker 4: but for this team, you know him obviously a lot
Speaker 4: better than us. Do you think this is a must
Speaker 4: win game for Dallas? They're four and a half point
Speaker 4: underdogs in the game, there's still plus one eighty to
Speaker 4: win the series. Do you think they need Game two?
Speaker 6: I think they do because I think the longer, like
Speaker 6: just my general read of how Luca has been playing
Speaker 6: through that knees sprain, the longer a series goes, I
Speaker 6: don't think that necessarily favors Dallas just from that standpoint,
Speaker 6: because he can take them very far, and they're gonna
Speaker 6: go as far as Luca takes them. And if you're
Speaker 6: gonna have to play a lengthy series, then that's you know,
Speaker 6: I mean depending on a like barring a miraculous recovery
Speaker 6: that we don't really know about because we can't tell
Speaker 6: the future, that's pretty much where that lies.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's fascinating in terms of just like Jason Kidd, overall,
Speaker 1: do you feel like this team maybe was a little
Speaker 1: bit presumptuous and when they extended.
Speaker 6: Them, I think, I think potentially because this would have
Speaker 6: been a great test to see overall, like as we
Speaker 6: talked about, where you're gonna have to solve for like
Speaker 6: talent deficits and like having to solve for real, actual,
Speaker 6: like substantial problems with how the you know, the thunders
Speaker 6: you know, talent and roster are going to put you
Speaker 6: in a challenging you know, buying or position. And I
Speaker 6: think the Clippers without Kawhi, uh, you know, they had
Speaker 6: you know, enough things going against them to where you
Speaker 6: would expect the Mavericks to win that series. And I
Speaker 6: think giving an extension out for a team that ultimately
Speaker 6: played a series they were expected to win probably you know,
Speaker 6: in general, would be a little premature. But then again,
Speaker 6: they like the relationships that he has with you know,
Speaker 6: Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, Nico Harrison, and pretty much you know,
Speaker 6: a lot of members of the organization. So I think
Speaker 6: they in a way like they have been very on
Speaker 6: board with him, and I think they're kind of looking
Speaker 6: for a reason to commit to him. And fifty wins
Speaker 6: in the first round series is I guess kind of
Speaker 6: the outcome that was enough?
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I know that a lot of fans on Reddit,
Speaker 1: a lot of MAVs fans on Reddit, are very angry
Speaker 1: about that in terms of like what this MAVs team
Speaker 1: should be doing, because I kind of think that with
Speaker 1: Luca's injury, most likely this series is the is done.
Speaker 1: In terms of like this offseason, for you, what's most
Speaker 1: important for the MAVs to add and who would those
Speaker 1: players be that they would look to target.
Speaker 6: I think it's going to be definitely overall a challenge
Speaker 6: to add much of a difference maker, like just looking
Speaker 6: at it now, because you're not going to move a
Speaker 6: player like a Derek Lively, and you also don't have
Speaker 6: a first round pick if you're the Mavericks front office,
Speaker 6: So you know, when you kind of look at their
Speaker 6: you know, their holes to fill. I guess you could
Speaker 6: say probably finding another you know, front court option that
Speaker 6: has more durability to kind of fit the Maxi kleeber
Speaker 6: Mold would be a solid, you know approach to take
Speaker 6: unless PJ. Washington kind of miraculously shows us that he
Speaker 6: can really fill that five small ball five role and
Speaker 6: they trust it and it gets consistent results because they
Speaker 6: they bring that up a lot as an option that
Speaker 6: they like that they can turn to, but they don't
Speaker 6: necessarily use it that much. Uh So, like like like
Speaker 6: Jason Kidd, you know, like in classic playoff coach approach,
Speaker 6: we might turn to Dwight Pal Marquis Morris, uh listing
Speaker 6: off everyone over six foot eight as a potential center option.
Speaker 6: But I think in general, adding more talent, uh you know,
Speaker 6: on the wing would be you know, definitely a helpful
Speaker 6: option for them because they're going to have to really
Speaker 6: face you know, a potentially challenging for agency with Dereck
Speaker 6: Jones because he you know, he doesn't have a you
Speaker 6: know contract for the upcoming season and he's been a
Speaker 6: very substantial factor as their like key point of attack
Speaker 6: defender and he's fit well with Luca, you know, with
Speaker 6: his athleticism to leak out in transition. He can, he's
Speaker 6: shot well, you know, sometimes there are some cold stretches
Speaker 6: since he's not naturally a great shooter, but overall he's
Speaker 6: been a very you know, strong compliment and Luca loves
Speaker 6: playing with him. And if they do not manage to
Speaker 6: retain him, then that's a glaring need that they're going
Speaker 6: to have to address. And that doesn't replacing someone like that,
Speaker 6: you're not improving. So they're gonna have to find if
Speaker 6: they're in that spot, they have to not only either
Speaker 6: retain or replace that talent, they're going to also have
Speaker 6: to find more options on the wing, in my opinion,
Speaker 6: especially with size, to really have versatility, especially with you know,
Speaker 6: Kyrie Irving as another backcourt member.
Speaker 4: Grant, thanks so much, man join the rest of the series.
Speaker 4: Talking again soon.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's great talk.
Speaker 7: Thank you.
Speaker 1: And finally we in the interview show with Zach Bai
Speaker 1: hosts The Drive on Denver Sports one oh four point three,
Speaker 1: the fan an ocassy station. Zach broke down what's happening
Speaker 1: with the Nuggets who are getting their asses handed to
Speaker 1: them in this Minnesota series.
Speaker 3: Great interview, let's.
Speaker 4: Get into that aslot, the Calves hold off the upset
Speaker 4: one eighteen ninety four of that series tied up one
Speaker 4: game apiece in the East Semi Finals, Boston thirteen and
Speaker 4: a half point favorites tonight and they lose outright. If
Speaker 4: you took the calves on the money line, it was
Speaker 4: plus six fifty. A little bit about the Nuggets and Broncos.
Speaker 4: We welcome on now, Zach By you talk.
Speaker 1: About physicality will move over to the NBA, and it
Speaker 1: feels like the physicality of the Minnesota Timberwolves is kind
Speaker 1: of getting to the Nuggets. I don't know if it's
Speaker 1: just the way that the refs have stopped, you know,
Speaker 1: calling these fouls that happened midway through the All Star Break.
Speaker 2: But the teams that are the most physical in.
Speaker 1: The playoffs right now, Zach are starting to flourish and
Speaker 1: the ones that really aren't are having a hard time.
Speaker 1: On what's the mood in Denver on the NBA side
Speaker 1: after going down two at the crib?
Speaker 7: Oh, I mean, it's terrible, it's it's actually this is
Speaker 7: the first legitimate, big picture of adversity that this team
Speaker 7: has faced in the Jokic era. Guys, for six years
Speaker 7: in a row, it's basically gotten better and better every
Speaker 7: single season. You guys talk about win totals every year, right,
Speaker 7: Nuggets have gone over their win total every single year
Speaker 7: for eight years in a row, which is insane. That
Speaker 7: just doesn't happen. They win a championship, and then they
Speaker 7: turned around when fifty seven games, the most enfranchised history.
Speaker 7: But now you look, man, they look gassed, They looked
Speaker 7: tapped out. In Game two, Minnesota came into their home,
Speaker 7: smacked them around, went in the fridge, grabbed a beer,
Speaker 7: went and used the toilet. I mean, they disrespected the
Speaker 7: Nuggets house in a way that was egregious and I
Speaker 7: quite haven't seen it. I mean, the Nuggets were down
Speaker 7: by over thirty points, and trist you're hitting on something.
Speaker 7: The way that the game is now being officiated. The
Speaker 7: Minnesota is the league's best defense, no matter who is
Speaker 7: putting air or not into a whistle. But if you
Speaker 7: take that out and sort of like prison ball, like
Speaker 7: no blood, no foul, they are owning these playoffs. I mean, shoot,
Speaker 7: they haven't lost the game. They swept Phoenix, and they've
Speaker 7: come in here and they have that series and a
Speaker 7: vice script, they held the Nuggets, who's been an offensive juggernaut,
Speaker 7: to eighty points on their own floor. I mean, we
Speaker 7: are seeing, guys, this might be the NBA's best defense,
Speaker 7: going back twenty years ago to the Detroit Pistons with
Speaker 7: Ben Wallace, Rashid Wallace, Chauncey Billups, Tayshaun Prince and those
Speaker 7: boys who broke the Lakers at that time. With Shaq
Speaker 7: and Kobe. We are seeing that caliber of defense, and
Speaker 7: you're watching a player take over the entire league, the
Speaker 7: best American player, the future face of the league, and
Speaker 7: the future might be now because Anthony Edwards at twenty
Speaker 7: two years old, he's him, guys, and we throw that
Speaker 7: phrase around. We throw the phrase around Doug too much.
Speaker 7: He's him like, but Ant actually checks those boxes. He
Speaker 7: is an absolute savage and defensively he's coming for it all.
Speaker 7: He looks like he looks like twenty two year old
Speaker 7: Kobe Bryant. So you know, from a basketball standpoint, I
Speaker 7: love what I see from Minnesota. I hate what I
Speaker 7: see from the Denver Nugget.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and br you talk about the historic defense twenty
Speaker 1: three blocks and steals combined for the Minnesota Timberwolves. You
Speaker 1: had guys like Monty Morris with multiple stocks.
Speaker 2: So it's just been really tough.
Speaker 1: And then you have Jamal Murray, who, to be fair,
Speaker 1: is like my favorite postseason player maybe period, honestly, Like,
Speaker 1: I love everything that he's about. Seems to always find
Speaker 1: a way to answer the bell and answer the call,
Speaker 1: and mind you, he's obviously dinged up but also frustrated
Speaker 1: by the physicality.
Speaker 2: What is the what is the adjustment?
Speaker 1: Because Michael Malone's one of the best in the game
Speaker 1: in terms of like game to game, in a series
Speaker 1: and in in game, like what do you do to
Speaker 1: sort of figure out a way to right the ship
Speaker 1: to punch back?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think it starts right there. I think the
Speaker 7: first adjustment is to have your hands up ready for
Speaker 7: a fight. For seven consecutive postseason games, the Denver Nuggets
Speaker 7: have been down in the first quarter every game in
Speaker 7: the Lakers series. Each game here in Minnesota, Game one,
Speaker 7: they're down eighteen to four, Game two, they're down by
Speaker 7: twenty something by in the second quarter, and and Minnesota
Speaker 7: is already riding high from confidence level standpoint, The Nuggets
Speaker 7: haven't even made them think about that confidence. It's just
Speaker 7: getting parlayed, you know, one quarter at a time. So
Speaker 7: it starts with a better compete level, and it starts
Speaker 7: with Nikola jokicch I mean goodness, gracious for in a
Speaker 7: game that Rudy Gobert didn't play in. Jokic looked like,
Speaker 7: and I'm there for each of these games and I'm
Speaker 7: watching so closely things that the cameras don't pick up.
Speaker 7: Nikola Jokicic tried to disconnect emotionally from his team, like
Speaker 7: like he was gonna be unbothered the other night. I've
Speaker 7: never seen it in seven years of covering this guy,
Speaker 7: and he deserved the MVP. But I'll tell you what
Speaker 7: if game two was like the first game you've ever
Speaker 7: seen a Yokic and you heard how great he was,
Speaker 7: you'd walk away and said the guy. And then for
Speaker 7: Jamal Murray. Last season, guys, Jamal Murray had the greatest
Speaker 7: regular season to postseason jump in NBA history in points
Speaker 7: per game. He went from averaging twenty in the regular
Speaker 7: season to nearly thirty in the postseason. This year, it's
Speaker 7: the opposite. He's gone from career highs and field goal
Speaker 7: percentage and three point percentage and he's in the basement.
Speaker 7: He's shooting twenty something percent in this series so far.
Speaker 7: He was mostly a disaster in the Lakers series, But
Speaker 7: what gets masked by it is he had two game winners,
Speaker 7: so it's like two things are true at the same time.
Speaker 7: He's the first player in NBA history have multiple game
Speaker 7: winners in a series, and he's also has his production
Speaker 7: dropping off in every single category outside of two quarters
Speaker 7: within that series, so disturbing to watch. Yeah, his cat's
Speaker 7: not right, but I mean I went and saw him
Speaker 7: dunk on Lebron James in Game five and flex on
Speaker 7: him like he's capable more than this. But you touched
Speaker 7: on something there a couple of minutes ago, and we
Speaker 7: are seeing one of the most unique intersections of an
Speaker 7: all time great defense in Minnesota with the NBA changing
Speaker 7: their rules, and no one in these playoffs has benefited
Speaker 7: from the hard right turn that the NBA made behind
Speaker 7: closed doors after the All Star Break more than the
Speaker 7: Minnesota Timberwolves. And my guess is this is your NBA
Speaker 7: champion here over the next six weeks if games continue
Speaker 7: to be called like that, because they have dogs up
Speaker 7: and down the lineup, the real defenders from Nadre to
Speaker 7: Jayden McDaniels, Anthony Edwards, but they also have closers. They
Speaker 7: have a back line defender who's the defensive player of
Speaker 7: the year, the sixth Man of the Year, and maybe
Speaker 7: the future face of the league, all in the same year.
Speaker 7: And I'll tell you this in closing, this team has
Speaker 7: literally been built to beat Denver.
Speaker 2: Guys, we.
Speaker 7: Don't see executives change sides. Okay. Tim Connelly built the Nuggets,
Speaker 7: and right on there at the one yard line to
Speaker 7: win a championship, he jumps over to Minnesota. Is highly
Speaker 7: criticized for the Rudy Gobert trade. He was being dragged
Speaker 7: for trading four unprotected first round picks, and it's actually
Speaker 7: looked like the perfect combination and recipe to beat a
Speaker 7: team like Denver.
Speaker 2: Disgusting stuff if you're a Denver fan. Disgusting real quick.
Speaker 7: By the way, Chris Finch their coach, the Nuggets coach
Speaker 7: used to be coaching under Michael Malone. So the executive
Speaker 7: came from Denver, the coach came from Denver. You got
Speaker 7: players sharing secret codes like Monty Morris, he came from Denver.
Speaker 7: Like the assistant head coach to Chris Finch came from Denver.
Speaker 7: I mean, it's wild to take a step back and
Speaker 7: look at some of the contrasts and where they came
Speaker 7: from and using the same recipe against them years later.
Speaker 4: Such a great point, Zach. We got about two minutes left,
Speaker 4: so two of four and a half is the total
Speaker 4: for Game three. So they're expecting this to be a
Speaker 4: rock fight, especially the way that Minnesota's, like you said,
Speaker 4: playing defensively. My biggest bet of the playoffs is the
Speaker 4: Nuggets to at least show up and cover the four
Speaker 4: and a half. Do you think they win Game three?
Speaker 4: Do you think they at least keep it close? How
Speaker 4: do you feel about tomorrow night? Man?
Speaker 7: This team is a prideful group, so I feel like
Speaker 7: I have to side with you given the choice. I
Speaker 7: rarely stay away because if I'm gonna watch it, I'm
Speaker 7: gonna bet it. I am actually staying away from I
Speaker 7: am actually staying away from this one. I've never seen
Speaker 7: the group broken like they were in Game two. Never
Speaker 7: seen it. And then you, guys, I think about this
Speaker 7: the last seventy two hours in Nuggets basketball, Jamal Murray
Speaker 7: loses his composure in a way I've never seen. He's
Speaker 7: doing money signs to the referee, which Rudy Gobert got
Speaker 7: a one hundred thousand dollars fine for that. He threw
Speaker 7: a towel at the referee that didn't get any play
Speaker 7: all right. I don't even know if that made it
Speaker 7: back to you guys, but he threw a towel at
Speaker 7: the referee. The ball boy saved it from the floor.
Speaker 7: That didn't make enough commotion. So he throws the heat pack.
Speaker 7: Then you have Aaron Gordon being hell back in a timeout.
Speaker 7: You got Michael Maloneo knows the nose with an official
Speaker 7: look like an MLB manager looking to get thrown out.
Speaker 7: Then you have text message being leaked to Gilbert Arenas
Speaker 7: who's dogging the coach and dragging the coach through the mud,
Speaker 7: saying that Jokic is done with this season and wants
Speaker 7: to go home. The Nuggets have been a mess, guys.
Speaker 7: So for me, I'm staying away from Game two.
Speaker 2: It's that championship hangover. Zach, thanks so much man.
Speaker 4: Hopefully I we'll talk again that Zach and maybe the
Speaker 4: Nuggets will win this series, especially because I bet it.
Speaker 2: This stuff really good stuff.
Speaker 4: Host of the Drive on Denver Sports Station one O
Speaker 4: four to three, the fan, awesome stuff. I think he's
Speaker 4: like one of my favorite guests because he could talk
Speaker 4: for like forty five.
Speaker 2: Minutes, and he's just so entertaining. He knows what he's
Speaker 2: talking about.
Speaker 4: He does games, watching.
Speaker 1: The games at the games, and also gives you his
Speaker 1: opinion straight up, no chaser.
Speaker 2: That's all the time, and we after this episode of
Speaker 2: The Heat Check.
Speaker 1: Come back Monday for an all new episode breaking down
Speaker 1: the playoff seatings and more, and check out the feed
Speaker 1: for past episodes and many episodes which drop unexpectedly, like
Speaker 1: Frank Vogel's job. Do not forget to follow the heat
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Speaker 1: you dirty my guy?
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