Speaker 1: You're listening to the Hottest the Hottest. It'd be a
Speaker 1: podcast out here. I said what I said.
Speaker 2: It's the Heat Check.
Speaker 3: It's just a cut, Okay.
Speaker 4: I don't usually do the intro with the guests on
Speaker 4: the line, but a little glazing is in order for Jermaine.
Speaker 4: When I started Heat Check back in the day, actually
Speaker 4: it was this league I was working at another place
Speaker 4: and they frankly didn't like basketball that much. So I
Speaker 4: had to build a TikTok following and it was a godsend.
Speaker 4: And at that point, the person who stood out to
Speaker 4: me was this guy Chill Town Hoops, and he was
Speaker 4: so positive. You could tell he had an encyclopedic knowledge
Speaker 4: of the game, and anybody could ask him anything about
Speaker 4: old hoops, new hoops, comparative hoops, and he'd be like,
Speaker 4: that's a great question. Let me tell you and then
Speaker 4: let me break down why you're wrong about this, but
Speaker 4: in the most positive, informational way and from a place
Speaker 4: of true love with a super deep.
Speaker 3: Understanding of the game. He's blown the fuck up. I
Speaker 3: knew he was gonna blow up.
Speaker 4: He had like five thousand followers when I first started
Speaker 4: watching him, and he didn't Gatekeep. He's not condescending. And
Speaker 4: now he's on TNT. He's got a big youtuboe following.
Speaker 4: He's got multiple shows that he's on. Former Hooper apparently
Speaker 4: had kind of some hops thirteen Juco All American, he
Speaker 4: was bouncing. So anyway, he's got about nine hundred thousand
Speaker 4: followers today. He's also teamed up with my guy Now
Speaker 4: You're More Fluent for the Fluent and Chill podcast. I
Speaker 4: was just on it a week ago, so I figured
Speaker 4: let's run this thing back.
Speaker 3: Welcome to the show, Jay, that's your.
Speaker 2: Main I mean, Dan, I don't know how much better
Speaker 2: you can get an intro as Dad. I mean, that's
Speaker 2: pretty big time right there. So thanks for having me,
Speaker 2: trist This is awesome, no doubt.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, I'm super super pumped to do it.
Speaker 4: I want throughout the playoffs to have more of these
Speaker 4: free flowing conversations. And really, because I was on you guys' show,
Speaker 4: it really sort of changed the format of how I
Speaker 4: want to do conversations around the playoffs.
Speaker 3: So thanks for inspiring me. Where do you Where do
Speaker 3: you want to start? You want to talk Lakers.
Speaker 2: Wolves, Well, let's talk about the Giants, Slayer. I'm down
Speaker 2: to do that. Sure, let's that's one do that.
Speaker 3: Last week.
Speaker 4: Last week you said, what do you think where do
Speaker 4: we put in If he slays Katie, he slays yok,
Speaker 4: he slays Lebron and Luca and he did it.
Speaker 2: Now we got a situation. Now we have ourselves a situation. Now,
Speaker 2: don't get me wrong with Tris. You know you can't
Speaker 2: keep playing at that level because you got to win
Speaker 2: at some point, all right, So you can't keep not
Speaker 2: It's like being a boxer. So I'm a heavyweight contender
Speaker 2: and you know, I don't know, I'm the fifth contender.
Speaker 2: I can't keep dropping the number one contender, the number
Speaker 2: two contender, and the number three contender. I got to
Speaker 2: win the belt at some point, right, I can't keep
Speaker 2: just dropping these guys and then losing to get to
Speaker 2: the belt. But with that also being said, it's pretty
Speaker 2: impressive what Aunt has been doing, you know, dealing with
Speaker 2: Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, smoking those guys in round one,
Speaker 2: dealing with Joker, dealing with him and dropping him, and
Speaker 2: then this year dropping both Luca and James. Now, you know,
Speaker 2: we can put some context to it, but I don't
Speaker 2: think that there's much that needs to be said. I mean,
Speaker 2: this kid is everything. This guy, Anthony Edwards is everything
Speaker 2: that the NBA wants and needs. Like when you talk
Speaker 2: about the face of the league when they turn on,
Speaker 2: when you turn on the TV, and this is what
Speaker 2: the NBA is, This is what the NBA represents. And
Speaker 2: you see this good looking guy with a great game, charismatic,
Speaker 2: the giant Slayer is what I call them. And his
Speaker 2: game goes with it. Is his game one hundred percent
Speaker 2: goes with it. And he's he's a he's a he's
Speaker 2: a positive influence on his guys. You know, he's never
Speaker 2: talking down to his guys. Not only is he not
Speaker 2: talking down to his guys, he's talking up to them,
Speaker 2: which would explain why they raised their level of play
Speaker 2: in the playoffs. You saw what Julius Randall did over
Speaker 2: these courts of these players.
Speaker 1: He hasn't been there.
Speaker 3: He elevated Julius Randall in a big way.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, Trista and and and you need that as a ballplayer.
Speaker 2: You need Boudini Brown in your air.
Speaker 1: Yo.
Speaker 2: This guy can't cover you. You the baddest you know
Speaker 2: what on the court, this guy can't see you. In
Speaker 2: order for us to win, you gotta do you gotta
Speaker 2: be you, and I'm with you, and I think that
Speaker 2: Ant has instilled that in a lot of his guys.
Speaker 2: I picked the Minnesota to go to the NBA Finals
Speaker 2: before the year started, and they didn't look like it.
Speaker 2: So I had to come off of that because they
Speaker 2: looked like they weren't gonna make the playoffs. At one point,
Speaker 2: I was thinking, man, I might have made a mistake
Speaker 2: with this crew and I had picked Oklahoma City instead.
Speaker 2: I'm still sticking with Oklahoma City, but this this Minnesota team,
Speaker 2: they look like they're gonna be something serious. I am
Speaker 2: the biggest Rudy Gobert advocate that you'll meet. I'm a
Speaker 2: I love Rudy Gobert and I love everything about him
Speaker 2: going into these playoffs is.
Speaker 1: I love Rudy Gobert.
Speaker 2: And the reason why I love Rudy go from number
Speaker 2: one trist I'm a big I'm a big man merchant.
Speaker 2: I love a big guy. I think that the big
Speaker 2: guy is some of the best players to ever play.
Speaker 2: With that being said, I know how important Rudy is
Speaker 2: to the success of his team, and I don't think
Speaker 2: people give him nearly enough credit. For what he does
Speaker 2: on both sides of the ball. I mean, somebody lying
Speaker 2: to me. I don't know who it is. Trist If
Speaker 2: if somebody's lying to me, one minute, you tell me that.
Speaker 2: You know, Rudy's making fifty percent of his layups. But
Speaker 2: then like last like seventeen games of the season, you
Speaker 2: know he's scoring in fourteen of those seventeen. Yeah, thirteen
Speaker 2: of those seventeen games, he shooting over sixty percent. At
Speaker 2: the he's shooting over sixty percent. Now, you and I
Speaker 2: both know Rudy does not play on the perimeter. Rudy
Speaker 2: doesn't shoot threes. Rudy isn't a one on one player.
Speaker 2: What is Rudy? He's a catch and dunk guy. That's
Speaker 2: what he is.
Speaker 1: So if he's catching the dunkin guy.
Speaker 2: That's who he is. He's a put back guy. He's
Speaker 2: a catching and dunking guy. So if this guy is
Speaker 2: shooting sixty how is he shooting fifty percent on layup?
Speaker 2: Something's going on. I'm missing something here that somebody lines.
Speaker 4: I think we need to redefine what a layup is.
Speaker 4: Then obviously Matt Champs is just the up and under.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's crazy. To me, and I.
Speaker 4: Think the the Rudy Gobert slander really took a hit
Speaker 4: that last game, because you can't have a game that
Speaker 4: Rudy Gobert had in that magnitude twenty something rebounds, twenty
Speaker 4: something points and in a close out game on the road,
Speaker 4: in a place where you're wondering, okay, like what is
Speaker 4: this guy gonna be?
Speaker 3: And he was played off.
Speaker 4: The floor, and Chris Finch was more than happy to
Speaker 4: play Rudy Gobert and put his ass on the bench
Speaker 4: in crucial minutes. But what do you think, what do
Speaker 4: you think it is about this team that makes them
Speaker 4: so dangerous?
Speaker 2: Their toughness more than anything. And when you have a
Speaker 2: group that is as tough as they are and they
Speaker 2: do the things necessary in order to win. So we
Speaker 2: live in a place in the NBA where everybody is
Speaker 2: trying to do one thing. Everybody thinks that, Okay, the
Speaker 2: long ball is what's prevalent, so we all have to
Speaker 2: shoot the long ball. Okay, well, Minnesota's doing that. But
Speaker 2: Minnesota does the other things too, which make them such
Speaker 2: a good team. They're one of the best defensive teams
Speaker 2: in the game. I think they were they were right
Speaker 2: outside the top five in defense this season. They're one
Speaker 2: of the better rebounding teams in the game. You need
Speaker 2: your dirty work guys in order to have a chance
Speaker 2: to win. It's it's not just gonna be with Anthony Everitts,
Speaker 2: not just gonna be with Julius Randold. It's gonna be
Speaker 2: with the multitude of guys, those guys doing the other things.
Speaker 2: I've always felt like this, when you got a team,
Speaker 2: you got your star. What I equated to trist is
Speaker 2: I equated to a singing group. Okay, we got to
Speaker 2: write the songs for somebody, but somebody got to be
Speaker 2: in the back of the microphone doing this.
Speaker 3: Who is Michael Jackson?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Who is the guy?
Speaker 1: Right? Who's who we write the songs for.
Speaker 2: Okay, we writing the songs for this guy, but who's
Speaker 2: the one in the back singing background.
Speaker 1: Who's the one in the back that's dancing? Okay?
Speaker 2: And then when it's time for him to step up
Speaker 2: to the microphone and sing, who is that guy? And
Speaker 2: I think I think the Minnesota Timballs have a multitude
Speaker 2: of guys who do a bunch of different things.
Speaker 1: They got eight nine guys. You got Neil Alexander.
Speaker 2: You got Alexander Walker, who's a great long ball shooter,
Speaker 2: who's really good at putting the ball on the floor.
Speaker 2: He'll compete on defense, nas reed, one of the best,
Speaker 2: if not the best, rotation player in the game, one
Speaker 2: of the better bigs who I think Minnesota is gonna
Speaker 2: lose this offseason because it's gonna get paid. So I
Speaker 2: think they're gonna end up losing him in the offseason.
Speaker 2: But as of right now, he's one of the best
Speaker 2: rotation players in the game, and he gives you everything
Speaker 2: that you're looking for, not just him, but the other lead,
Speaker 2: the other players that they have.
Speaker 1: When I think about when I think about.
Speaker 2: McDaniels, I immediately think about, well, just one of just
Speaker 2: one of the best wing defenders in the game, and
Speaker 2: who's just a quiet assass and I just go out,
Speaker 2: I do my job and I don't say much, and
Speaker 2: I love everything about him when he does that. So
Speaker 2: this Minnesota team, you got seven, eight, nine guys that
Speaker 2: are all on the same page. I mean, that's a
Speaker 2: recipe for success. And after Houston, after Golden State handles
Speaker 2: Houston tonight, they got their hands full with Minnesota.
Speaker 1: They on their hands.
Speaker 4: Way wait, wait, wait, you think it's a wrap. You
Speaker 4: think Golden State is going to win.
Speaker 2: The night, Tristan, that was a throwaway game last night.
Speaker 2: They left in the third quarter, which I love the
Speaker 2: fact that Steve Kurr did that. By the way, I
Speaker 2: love the fact that Steve Kerr got his guys out
Speaker 2: and I love the fact that he went with that
Speaker 2: rotation and everybody was screaming at Steve Kerr when they
Speaker 2: got back in the game. They had cut it. At
Speaker 2: one point, they had cut it to nine. I think
Speaker 2: they were down by thirty at one point. They end
Speaker 2: up cutting it to nine, and everybody was screaming at
Speaker 2: Steve Kerr. I thought that was great that he stuck
Speaker 2: with those rotation guys because that's a confidence booster for
Speaker 2: the next game. They know that this guy has confidence
Speaker 2: in us. He looked at his starters. There's a reason
Speaker 2: why he took them out of the game. There's the
Speaker 2: reason why he put his rotation guys in. Those guys
Speaker 2: played hard. Those guys got on the glass, they got
Speaker 2: on the floor for loose balls. They ended up outscoring
Speaker 2: I think they outscored Houston starters. They outscored Houston starters
Speaker 2: and got back in the game, got it down to nine,
Speaker 2: and everybody screaming, yo, get just get your starters back
Speaker 2: in the game. Nope, because come tomorrow night when they
Speaker 2: play up in the Bay Area, those guys, not only
Speaker 2: are his starters gonna be ready, but the confidence that
Speaker 2: he has in that rotation, those guys are gonna be
Speaker 2: ready even more. And guys like Davis, not just Davis
Speaker 2: just they got eight nine guys. Pazimski, who I love,
Speaker 2: by the way, which I'm still having an issue with
Speaker 2: why Lorie Marketing wasn't traded, but that's another that's a
Speaker 2: that's another conversation for another day.
Speaker 1: But I feel like they got eight nine guys.
Speaker 2: With Jimmy Butler now back in the lineup, He's exactly
Speaker 2: what they need, right, He's exactly.
Speaker 1: What they need.
Speaker 2: Houston's off just isn't good enough overall to beat them
Speaker 2: four times in the week. And the most important piece here,
Speaker 2: which is the main reason why I picked Golden State,
Speaker 2: is that damn Steph Curry trister. That's what it is,
Speaker 2: more than anything.
Speaker 4: Before we circle back to the Lakers, because we got
Speaker 4: so much to say about at them. But are we
Speaker 4: where are we at? Because last week when we talked
Speaker 4: about it, you are.
Speaker 3: You were team Jalen Green.
Speaker 4: Where are we at with one really good Jalen Green
Speaker 4: game and a bunch of not so good Jalen Green games.
Speaker 2: I remember who we're dealing with now, Tristan. Now, I
Speaker 2: understand what the numbers are. He shoots thirty five percent
Speaker 2: in the mid range. I do get that part. I
Speaker 2: do get the fact that, you know, he's not very
Speaker 2: good in terms of his field goal percentage from the
Speaker 2: floor throughout the course of the year. But remember who
Speaker 2: we're dealing with. We're dealing with a guy who this
Speaker 2: is the first time he's been in the playoffs. This
Speaker 2: is some twenty three years old. I've never been in
Speaker 2: the playoffs before.
Speaker 3: Never been really in a winning situation in general.
Speaker 2: That's exactly where I was going. Remember, Trista. Two years ago,
Speaker 2: we were at the bottom of the Western Conference. We
Speaker 2: were it was animal house where we were. We were
Speaker 2: swinging from.
Speaker 4: Stephen Silas was trying to call plays from the iPad.
Speaker 2: He had no idea what he was doing. Zero, He
Speaker 2: had no idea what he was doing. We had no idea.
Speaker 2: They were They were the worst fourth quarter team in
Speaker 2: the league. They had given up the most fourth quarter
Speaker 2: leads in the NBA A two seasons ago. It was
Speaker 2: a reason while they were at the bottom of the West,
Speaker 2: he may Udoka walks in the door and he makes
Speaker 2: it clear, you sit down, you sit down, you sit down,
Speaker 2: and you sit down. This is what you're gonna do.
Speaker 2: If you're not gonna do this, then you're not gonna
Speaker 2: be here. And they bought into what he was doing.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: Jalen Green is still trying to figure it out. But
Speaker 2: we live in a society where everything is right now,
Speaker 2: and it's gonna take some time to get this kid
Speaker 2: to where I think he can be. And I think
Speaker 2: he can be an All Pro. I think he can
Speaker 2: be that good. I don't think he can be I
Speaker 2: don't I don't think. I don't think he can be
Speaker 2: just an all Star. I think he's good enough to
Speaker 2: be an All Pro. But it's just gonna take some time.
Speaker 2: But I don't think that. I don't I don't think
Speaker 2: that society's gonna allow it. I think that the impatience
Speaker 2: of society is gonna get Hi ran out of there.
Speaker 2: Even though Houston one hundred percent is on track to
Speaker 2: building something special. Considering what the CBA is. I think
Speaker 2: they're on track to building something special. So I like
Speaker 2: what I'm seeing from from from this kid Jalen Green,
Speaker 2: considering this is his first time in the playoffs. He's
Speaker 2: gonna have his bumps, he's gonna have his bruises. It happens,
Speaker 2: But I really hope that they stick with him.
Speaker 1: I do.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Fred van Fleet said some good things about him too,
Speaker 4: But onto the Lakers, because we saw we've seen a
Speaker 4: lot of like very odd coaching decisions so far in
Speaker 4: this playoffs. Obviously, David Adalman, the Denver Nuggets interim head coach.
Speaker 3: I don't think he'll stay around.
Speaker 4: But he had to play his starter's forty something minutes
Speaker 4: and against the Clippers, and they ended up winning that
Speaker 4: game on a crazy sort of put back sort of
Speaker 4: off of an airball dunked by Aaron Gordon. But nobody
Speaker 4: talked about David Adelman because they won that game. And
Speaker 4: then JJ Reddick played all of his starters the entire
Speaker 4: second half they lose to the Wolves, and then here's
Speaker 4: where it's sort of interesting is then he decides again
Speaker 4: in the closeout game to put in Maxi Klaba, who
Speaker 4: hadn't practiced at all and then puts him in with
Speaker 4: four minutes left to go in the fourth quarter, when
Speaker 4: I think it was like a three or four point game,
Speaker 4: and then they're asking him questions after that JJ, and
Speaker 4: he's getting mad at them like they're the ones that
Speaker 4: are under scrutiny and walks off to the press conference.
Speaker 4: Do you think it was JJ's inexperience that cost the
Speaker 4: Lakers the series or do you think they were just
Speaker 4: outmatched in general?
Speaker 2: I think it's a combination of both. I think that
Speaker 2: they were overmatched. I think that the Minnesota Timblewells front
Speaker 2: line dominated them. In fact, when I talked about this
Speaker 2: series before it started, I thought that both Julius Randall
Speaker 2: nasried and not both. So with Julius Randall nasried and
Speaker 2: Rudy Gobert, I thought that they would be the difference
Speaker 2: in this game. Trist to remember the lineup that they
Speaker 2: had on the floor. We got Austin Reeves and Luca
Speaker 2: in the back court. In the front court, we got Dfs,
Speaker 2: we got Ruey, and we got James at the five.
Speaker 2: That's your rem protector, that's your.
Speaker 3: Rebound insane, insane five.
Speaker 2: That's not gonna work and He's stuck with that five,
Speaker 2: by the way, for the entire second half. So it's
Speaker 2: no wonder that Rudy Gobad went for twenty four rebounds
Speaker 2: in twenty eight points.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: So with that being said, this group, I think that
Speaker 2: they were overmatched in terms of their front court. I
Speaker 2: was so locked in with James that I thought that
Speaker 2: if this thing went six to seven, I wasn't betting
Speaker 2: against James. I couldn't do it considering what he had
Speaker 2: done in the past. I mean, we're talking about a
Speaker 2: guy who hadn't lost the game seven since two thousand
Speaker 2: and eight, seventeen years.
Speaker 1: So I'm thinking Minnesota. If Minnesota is going to get rid.
Speaker 2: Of these guys, they have to do it quick, because
Speaker 2: the longer the series lasts, the more I don't like
Speaker 2: them just off experience alone from James. So with that
Speaker 2: being said, I do think it was a combination of
Speaker 2: the two. Remember Tristan, when I saw when I saw
Speaker 2: Max Kleeber come into the game, I was number one
Speaker 2: thought he was on the roster. I forgot he was
Speaker 2: on the roster when I saw him coming.
Speaker 3: The game, I think MAXI Klaybluff forgot he was on
Speaker 3: the roster. As well.
Speaker 4: How bad is Jackson Hayes must he be if he
Speaker 4: can't get any burn.
Speaker 2: It's incredible how quickly we flipped because because this is
Speaker 2: the same Jackson Hayes who Luca was, Luca made him
Speaker 2: look like he could potentially be one hundred million dollar
Speaker 2: man just catching lobs, kind of like what was going
Speaker 2: on with Clinton Compella and James Harden. I'm like, wait
Speaker 2: a minute, this might work because we clearly can't go
Speaker 2: to him for buckets. Okay, all we need you to
Speaker 2: do is rebound, dive to the rim, run the floor.
Speaker 2: On offense, dive to the rim, run, run the floor,
Speaker 2: and on defense.
Speaker 3: Rebound and just try to do that. Why didn't they
Speaker 3: just try to do that?
Speaker 2: Well, the reason why they tried, the reason why they
Speaker 2: couldn't do it was because he was clearly overmatched, and
Speaker 2: because he was clearly overmatched, he couldn't stay on the
Speaker 2: floor right he was. He wasn't the presence in the
Speaker 2: paint that they thought. When you go up against a team,
Speaker 2: for example, like the Minnesota tim Wolves, who as big
Speaker 2: as they are on their front line, they're gonna mismatch
Speaker 2: hunt too, and going after guys like Jackson Hayes. You
Speaker 2: got Rudy, you got Julius Randall going after him, you
Speaker 2: got nas Red dragging him away from the basket. And
Speaker 2: just like you just meant about playing Rudy off the floor,
Speaker 2: Jackson Hayes now gets played off the floor where he
Speaker 2: can no longer play. Like I remember talking to some
Speaker 2: people about like the difference between like when I grew
Speaker 2: up and the game back then, Like you can't be
Speaker 2: relegated to just be in one thing today. You have
Speaker 2: to be able to score. You have to and if
Speaker 2: you can't score, if you can't score, you will get
Speaker 2: played off the floor unless you do something elite like,
Speaker 2: for example, what Rudy does, rimpitects, rebounds, runs the floor,
Speaker 2: it's really good around the basket. You have to be
Speaker 2: able to do that, and if you're not able to
Speaker 2: do that, you're gonna get played off the floor.
Speaker 1: And I think that's what happened with Jackson Hayes.
Speaker 4: Before we move over this Knix Piston series, because it's
Speaker 4: just a delight. I'm sorry to I'm sorry to have
Speaker 4: to put salt in the wounds, but mann does it
Speaker 4: feel like the Knicks are somewhat just giving opportunities the
Speaker 4: Detroit left and right.
Speaker 3: But I saw this today and I wanted to get.
Speaker 4: Your thoughts on it, just from like a historical perspective
Speaker 4: and just like a roster building perspective. Is the Zachlow,
Speaker 4: who I really respect, said that he doesn't see any
Speaker 4: permutation with the calf space that the Lakers have where
Speaker 4: they can build a championship winning team with Luca and Lebron.
Speaker 4: What you think that's valid or do you think there's
Speaker 4: other ways that you could build up like guys on
Speaker 4: the fringes, kind of like what you've seen Detroit do
Speaker 4: and Houston.
Speaker 2: Well, that would be that I think that that would
Speaker 2: be the case if you had the necessary capital to
Speaker 2: do it. So if the Lakers had pieces to trade
Speaker 2: that would entice people, Like let's just say, for example,
Speaker 2: you know, you picked up the telephone and you called
Speaker 2: up the Celtics and you check their temperature on Porzingis
Speaker 2: and you said, I got Ruie and I got DFS
Speaker 2: and I got them for a little bit of money.
Speaker 2: You're trying to get rid of Porzingis's contract. How you
Speaker 2: feel about them these days? That's something that could possibly
Speaker 2: work maybe, But the problem is that the Lakers, for
Speaker 2: what they have right now. Unfortunately they can't. And on
Speaker 2: top of that, Trista, this second apron in this new
Speaker 2: CBA rex teams. It doesn't hurt teams, it wrecks them.
Speaker 2: So for those of you guys who don't know so
Speaker 2: in the second, when we get to the second apron,
Speaker 2: number one, I can't sign any mid level exception guys.
Speaker 2: Having mid level exception guys are huge when you're trying
Speaker 2: to win a championship. Having those middle guys, I can't
Speaker 2: bag anybody in the buyout market. That's how the Miami
Speaker 2: Heat were able to get Kevin Love. They bagged him
Speaker 2: in the buyout market. Well, I can't do that. On
Speaker 2: top of that, which is the most important thing, Trista,
Speaker 2: when I'm over the salary cap today as opposed to
Speaker 2: what it was before, not two. So for every dollar
Speaker 2: that I'm over, I owe three dollars. For every dollar
Speaker 2: I'm over the salary cap, that's gonna cripple us. We
Speaker 2: can't sustain that, which is why you see teams like
Speaker 2: the Detroit Pistons, like Houston teams that are building through
Speaker 2: the draft.
Speaker 4: Me.
Speaker 2: I mean, Detroit's got six guys, it's on Rookdale's of
Speaker 2: free agent deals, six of them. So I mean, there's
Speaker 2: really not much else to say about that except I
Speaker 2: think that they're doing it the right way, and I
Speaker 2: think that this is the future. Because if we being honest, Trista,
Speaker 2: when you saw that Detroit team last year and I
Speaker 2: told you that they're bringing in Tobias Harris, Malik Beasley,
Speaker 2: Tim Hardaway Junior and Paul Reid, did you care because
Speaker 2: I know I didn't know.
Speaker 3: I said, what's this about to do? What's this about
Speaker 3: to do? It turns out it did a lot. That's
Speaker 3: what's so crazy, do you think?
Speaker 4: And the thing is crazy to me too, is if
Speaker 4: you look at the ratings, the ratings are higher than
Speaker 4: they have been in twenty five years, Jay, and that
Speaker 4: I think is due to the competitive parody because even
Speaker 4: when these games were, even when the series was for
Speaker 4: zero ok SE, outside of those first two blowouts, we
Speaker 4: had really tight, contested, down to the wire games pretty
Speaker 4: much all the way through the playoffs, we've had highly competitivemes.
Speaker 4: You can't build these super teams in the same way
Speaker 4: where you just maul through the rest of the league
Speaker 4: and everyone tunes out.
Speaker 2: You agree, absolutely absolutely, and not only that to your point,
Speaker 2: somebody lining to me, somebody is definitely lying to metristal
Speaker 2: because on the one hand, like you just said, ratings
Speaker 2: have been the highest in almost two and a half decades,
Speaker 2: but then you tell me that ratings are down. So
Speaker 2: how all of a sudden are people now watching but
Speaker 2: they weren't watching like three months ago. There's no way
Speaker 2: that people don't care about the regular season that much,
Speaker 2: and then all of a sudden, here they all come.
Speaker 2: So somebody lining in me, we got to get that right.
Speaker 2: Number one. Number two, It so much helps that you
Speaker 2: have the Lakers, the Knicks, the Celtics. The NBA needs
Speaker 2: for those teams to be good because if they're not,
Speaker 2: then there's not that interest. So for example, this series
Speaker 2: with the Pistons, this series would actually be a good
Speaker 2: series if it was Milwaukee, but it means even more
Speaker 2: if it's the Knicks because of that media market, because
Speaker 2: of that draw there, it just means a lot more.
Speaker 2: In addition to that, these are two damn good teams,
Speaker 2: two damn good teams, And I think that the fact
Speaker 2: that we have that kind of parody because we have
Speaker 2: those media markets in the game and in the playoffs,
Speaker 2: it helped so much.
Speaker 3: Where are you at with Tibbs right now?
Speaker 4: Because I feel like if they don't beat the Pistons
Speaker 4: in the series, maybe they're the next team to have
Speaker 4: a coaching switch up considering some of the ways that
Speaker 4: Tibbs has been coaching right Like, I know, he probably
Speaker 4: shouldn't have used the timeout, the second timeout to get
Speaker 4: Brunson and Heart back in the game, But you lost
Speaker 4: two minutes. You lost two minutes with your two best
Speaker 4: players in crunch time off the floor, and that's the reason.
Speaker 3: That you lost.
Speaker 2: Yeah, don't I won't argue that point. That was definitely
Speaker 2: a coaching blunder from him. And I mean, Jalen Brunson
Speaker 2: is already banged up as it is, and we already
Speaker 2: know what.
Speaker 1: TIBs coaching philosophy is.
Speaker 2: Like you just made to me trist about uh jj
Speaker 2: Reddick playing his team the entire second half. We completely
Speaker 2: forget just a year ago the Knicks are playing the
Speaker 2: seventy six is Game six. Just so we clear, Jalen
Speaker 2: Brunston sits downs for two minutes and fifteen seconds in
Speaker 2: the second half. Hartenstein sits downs for three minutes. These
Speaker 2: are his starters.
Speaker 1: That's it.
Speaker 2: The rest of those guys played the whole second half
Speaker 2: just just just so we clear. But they ended up winning.
Speaker 2: So it didn't matter, right, nobody really nobody it did.
Speaker 2: It didn't really matter. But the same thing to your
Speaker 2: point about about Denver. But I think that we live
Speaker 2: in a time where Tis will Tips, will play his guys.
Speaker 2: The difference with that, though, Trister is Tims Least is short,
Speaker 2: like he's gonna put in campaign. He's gonna give he's
Speaker 2: gonna give me, he's gonna give Miles McBride some run,
Speaker 2: he's gonna give Shammerck some run. He's gonna put pressures
Speaker 2: that you are in. I know what, You better do
Speaker 2: something while you on the floor because that hook is
Speaker 2: gonna be quicker than showtime at the Apollo Sandman.
Speaker 3: The Samman is coming, The Sandman is coming.
Speaker 2: Trist and yo ass is getting a hook and you're
Speaker 2: getting off the stage and you're not getting back in.
Speaker 1: So he will play his guys. He'll do that.
Speaker 2: So I think that this, this, this could be even
Speaker 2: though I don't think de Troit's I don't think Troit's
Speaker 2: beating the Knicks in Game seven. I do think that
Speaker 2: they're winning tonight, But I don't think that they're winning
Speaker 2: Game seven, and I don't think that they're winning Game
Speaker 2: seven off the stremp that offensively. As good as Kate
Speaker 2: Cunningham is, I love the fact that he's introduced us
Speaker 2: to him because I think his game is built for
Speaker 2: the playoffs. I think that this Nick team, and I
Speaker 2: think that atmosphere in New York, I think that's going
Speaker 2: to be too much for the Detroit Pistons.
Speaker 3: Did you I.
Speaker 4: Don't know if you noticed this, but Kate Cunningham gets
Speaker 4: blocked a lot.
Speaker 3: He gets his ship swatted.
Speaker 4: I looked at this and I think that's the one
Speaker 4: big knock I have on cade. And do you find
Speaker 4: that it's surprising that he is the second most blocked
Speaker 4: player in the league.
Speaker 2: Now, remember remember where it is to Trista, because he's
Speaker 2: also one of the best transition guards in the league.
Speaker 2: So those block shots, those block shots are at the rim,
Speaker 2: like in the half court, where his game is a
Speaker 2: little bit slower. When he gets the ball off the
Speaker 2: glass and he's getting downhill and he's getting to the rim,
Speaker 2: he's finishing with the best of them, right with the
Speaker 2: weekend with the strong hand, he's doing that. But when
Speaker 2: we get in the half court and now he's breaking
Speaker 2: the guy down. It's not as fast, it's not as
Speaker 2: it's kind of methodical. It's kind of slower, and he's
Speaker 2: not really hopping over guys. I think his athleticism is
Speaker 2: at its best when he's in the open floor. It's
Speaker 2: not like that when he's in the half court. So
Speaker 2: I'm not surprised. No, I'm not surprised at all. Yeah.
Speaker 4: I noticed, actually to your point, that the offense was
Speaker 4: running better in the first half when Cade was on
Speaker 4: the bench and Tobias Harris was running it, just because
Speaker 4: it had.
Speaker 3: More pop to it.
Speaker 4: You're getting the ball to Dennis Shooter, You're getting the
Speaker 4: ball down the League Beasley, You're getting the ball to
Speaker 4: Tim Harday, Tobias is figuring out a way to break
Speaker 4: down Karl Anthony Towns, or maybe you see a Auser
Speaker 4: Thompson backcut in du a lob. What I feel like
Speaker 4: Cade sometimes wants to do is that dribble handoff, dribble handoff, give.
Speaker 3: It back to you, You give it right back to me.
Speaker 4: We know I'm going into the paint, and all of
Speaker 4: a sudden, you got somebody like Ojan Andobi snuffing his shit.
Speaker 4: That was what I found to be super problematic with
Speaker 4: the offense of the Pistons, which they're going to have
Speaker 4: to figure that out.
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 2: One of the main reasons why that is is because
Speaker 2: of what you just said. You found Ognnobi who probably
Speaker 2: wasn't on him, or you find Michale Bridges, and the
Speaker 2: reason why is because those guys are guys who are
Speaker 2: helping off from Don't get me wrong, Malik Beasley one
Speaker 2: of the best long ball shooters in the game, right,
Speaker 2: Tim Hardaway Junr. One of the best long ball shooters
Speaker 2: in the game. But when you're relying on those guys
Speaker 2: to just shoot the long ball, you don't have another
Speaker 2: go get it guy. You don't have another guy who
Speaker 2: can just put the ball on the floor and go
Speaker 2: get it. So because you don't, yes, it's I'm more
Speaker 2: likely to be able to drag into the paint in
Speaker 2: block shots from time to time. No, I don't want
Speaker 2: to leave Melite Beasley open on the regular. No, I
Speaker 2: don't want to do that. No, but I am able
Speaker 2: to get decide and help off of help off of
Speaker 2: Tim Hardaway Jr. Or Maliite Beazy, who I think it
Speaker 2: was games. I want to say Game three where he
Speaker 2: went one for eight. When he's shooting like that, then
Speaker 2: now I'm more likely to be able to help when
Speaker 2: he switched on the Brunson or when he switched on
Speaker 2: to og Anobi when he's getting in the lane. So
Speaker 2: I think it's a combination of those things. But I
Speaker 2: still feel like Tristan his game is predicated for the playoffs,
Speaker 2: and I love the fact that he's introducing us to that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I love him too. What did you think about
Speaker 4: the end of the Pacers Buck series and how that
Speaker 4: all went down? It felt like Giannis was at peak
Speaker 4: frustration and Tyre's Halliburton really found a way to say, listen,
Speaker 4: I'm maybe not as overrated as you guys think I am.
Speaker 2: Yes, that's a fact. Well, to be honest, Trista, and
Speaker 2: I've said this already. I love Nip and Tuck games.
Speaker 2: I do. I think that they're awesome. That back and
Speaker 2: forth action is great. Tristan, I can't handle watching teams
Speaker 2: go to pieces, man, I can't handle it. I can't
Speaker 2: handle watching teams. Some people are amazed by Gary j.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: The Gary Trent Junior melt was the seven points eight
Speaker 4: points you gave up in like forty seconds.
Speaker 3: I mean I was cringing, Jy cringing.
Speaker 1: Tristan, I like I said, I love the what do
Speaker 1: you got? Okay, what do you have? Now?
Speaker 2: Okay, stop them here. I love that kind of action.
Speaker 2: But to watch a team just melt right in front
Speaker 2: of you, I get horrified by that stuff, Tristan. Like
Speaker 2: a lot of people talk about the forty seconds, just
Speaker 2: so you clear it was. They had the ball, They're
Speaker 2: up three possessions with thirty four and a half seconds.
Speaker 2: They need Indiana to score, get the ball back, score,
Speaker 2: get the ball back and score again. That's what they need.
Speaker 2: All you need to do in this particular situation. And
Speaker 2: I hate to simplify things, but this is that particular situation.
Speaker 2: Make make free throws, don't give up threees, and don't foul,
Speaker 2: and let's get our asses and let's get out of
Speaker 2: it and take honestly.
Speaker 3: Just foul up eight, though they can foul up seven.
Speaker 3: Foul up seven.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they got to do that too, because now they
Speaker 1: have to do that. They're not getting the ball back.
Speaker 1: Just foul.
Speaker 2: Now. Of course, there's gonna be some people who are
Speaker 2: gonna who are gonna blame this on Doc. You know
Speaker 2: this is Doc rivers fall. Okay, first of all, when
Speaker 2: Gary Trent turned the ball over Tristan the first time,
Speaker 2: when he turned the ball over, just so we clear
Speaker 2: ladies and gentlemen, he just they just came out of
Speaker 2: the huddle, which means we just went over this. This
Speaker 2: isn't something that we're scrambling and going, oh ship, what
Speaker 2: do we do? No, we literally just got out of
Speaker 2: the huddle, literally just got out of the hole. He
Speaker 2: turns the ball over. Okay, no problem, no big deal.
Speaker 2: We don't want to turn the ball over. But we
Speaker 2: turn the ball over. That's first problem. Then they come
Speaker 2: down Tyre's Halliburton goes right down the gut and what
Speaker 2: does aj Green do? Foul them, which we don't want
Speaker 2: to do. We don't want to foul him. And on
Speaker 2: top of we don't get to the free throw line.
Speaker 2: A recipe for disaster. What are we doing in I can't?
Speaker 2: I can't, Trista.
Speaker 3: I tried to honest, is Yiannis done in Milwaukee?
Speaker 2: He's got to ask out, Tristan. I'm not trading him.
Speaker 2: He's got to ask out. I'm not moving off of him. Nope,
Speaker 2: he's the he's my money maker, he's the guy on
Speaker 2: the Moniker. So unless he asks out, I'm not moving him.
Speaker 4: No, you would rather have a team that you know
Speaker 4: is not gonna do anything of any significance. And you
Speaker 4: owe Kyle Ku'sma twenty something million, you owe Brook twenty something,
Speaker 4: thirty something million, you owe Dame fifty something million. He's
Speaker 4: not gonna play for another year and change. You've got
Speaker 4: just a bunch of random collection of guys like AJ Green,
Speaker 4: Oshee to AJ Green. You would rather that team with
Speaker 4: no picks till twenty thirty one, just to make the
Speaker 4: money off of Jannis. That's what you That's what you're saying.
Speaker 4: If you're the owner of the Bucks, that's that's your
Speaker 4: only move.
Speaker 2: Okay, remember where we are now, Tristan. We're not in Miami,
Speaker 2: in Los Angeles. And what do I have Because again,
Speaker 2: if I if I move off for Gianni's, I gotta
Speaker 2: start this whole thing over again. I just I got
Speaker 2: Yianni's twelve years ago. What's the likelihood that I'm gonna
Speaker 2: get Giannis again? I can tell you what the likelihood is,
Speaker 2: I can get him in another twenty five years from now.
Speaker 2: Because that's what kind of player. He's a generational talent.
Speaker 2: He's not a good player, he's not a great player.
Speaker 2: He's a generational talent, which nobody cared about because he
Speaker 2: was the sixteenth pick in the first round, right, nobody
Speaker 2: really cared about. So I'm trying to hold on Gianni's
Speaker 2: for as long as I possibly can and see what
Speaker 2: I can do with those other guys, because, as you know, Trista,
Speaker 2: a lot of people won't A lot of people.
Speaker 1: Won't acknowledge this.
Speaker 2: You know, bad trades have never happened, like I can't
Speaker 2: get I can't put Kyle Kuzma because I'm reaching here,
Speaker 2: because I'm trying to I'm trying to come up with
Speaker 2: ways I can't get Kyle Kuzma and Bobby Portis. I
Speaker 2: can't put those guys in a package and see if
Speaker 2: I can get a first round pick for them because
Speaker 2: no team has ever done that before.
Speaker 1: They've never give the they've never given away picks before. Yes,
Speaker 1: they have.
Speaker 2: So I'm reaching here, I am because it looks really
Speaker 2: bleak in Milwaukee.
Speaker 1: It does.
Speaker 2: So to answer your question, yes, I'm holding on the
Speaker 2: Giannis for as long as I can.
Speaker 4: You think you think Dame, Dame's getting up out of there,
Speaker 4: or you just wait, you just say, all right, we'll
Speaker 4: see you in eight twelve months.
Speaker 3: We's in fourteen to sixteen months.
Speaker 2: He has no value, Trista, Like, what am my? First
Speaker 2: of all, he'll be thirty five in July. He's got
Speaker 2: a torn achilles. I don't know what he's gonna look
Speaker 2: like when he comes back. Can he even forget him
Speaker 2: getting back to the level that he was at when
Speaker 2: he got hurt?
Speaker 1: Can he even play? Like?
Speaker 2: Am I looking at another John Wall situation where he
Speaker 2: can't even play anymore? Am I looking at that? And
Speaker 2: on top of that, he's got two more years left
Speaker 2: on his deal at fifty seven million and sixty two million? Tristan,
Speaker 2: Who's this is peak?
Speaker 3: This is peak depression for Dame. Because Dame didn't want
Speaker 3: to even be there.
Speaker 4: Jay I was just talking about sending him to Houston
Speaker 4: last week with y'all, that would have been the best
Speaker 4: case scenario for game. Go to a real contender with
Speaker 4: no state tax, go to Miami. Now you can't even
Speaker 4: move that man. He's just got to sit there.
Speaker 3: Eating cheese kurds.
Speaker 4: Hoping to restore some semblance of chemistry with Giannis that
Speaker 4: they do not have. Do you think, I guess we'll
Speaker 4: move forward onto this Pacers Cassie.
Speaker 3: How do you see that playing out? Because there's a
Speaker 3: lot of people who think that the Pacers are just
Speaker 3: going to get stomped.
Speaker 2: I'm one of those people. I think that they beat
Speaker 2: them in five games. I think that everything you guys do,
Speaker 2: we do it. Not only do we do it, we
Speaker 2: do it better than you guys do it on both
Speaker 2: sides of the ball. You're a great offense, You're a
Speaker 2: great transition team. We're a great overall defensive team, including transition,
Speaker 2: one of the best transition defenses in the game. You're
Speaker 2: a good rebounding team. Well, we're an elite rebounding team.
Speaker 2: We got one of the best rebounders in the game
Speaker 2: in Jared Allen. We got one of the best rebounders
Speaker 2: in the game. And Evan Moby, who I think is
Speaker 2: the best defensive player in the game. And it wasn't
Speaker 2: just because he won Defensive Player of the Year. I
Speaker 2: think he's the best defensive player in the game. I
Speaker 2: think he's the most switchable big on. On top of that,
Speaker 2: you got the best two guard in the game. Who's
Speaker 2: one of the best playmakers. You got the best pick
Speaker 2: and dive defense. You got the best picking pop defense,
Speaker 2: best picking pop offense, best picking dive offense. In the game,
Speaker 2: you have Indiana struggles in the half court. Your half
Speaker 2: court offense isn't very good. You run a few sets,
Speaker 2: but your half court offense isn't very good. So now
Speaker 2: you want to couple that with a great defense going
Speaker 2: up against you guys, and on top of that they
Speaker 2: have a great offense and your defense. It is good
Speaker 2: because I love them Hart, I love them Hart, and
Speaker 2: I love this kid and I love this Kidney Smith.
Speaker 2: If Nemhart, I think if he played enough games, I
Speaker 2: think we'd be looking at him as an All League defender.
Speaker 2: But I think that just like with the just like
Speaker 2: Minnesota and the Lakers, I think Indiana can take advantage
Speaker 2: of their front line. And I think Darius Garland. In
Speaker 2: terms of getting the best of Tyre's Halliburton, I'm not
Speaker 2: gonna go that far, but I do think that he
Speaker 2: can match a lot of what he does. I think
Speaker 2: that I could get eighteen and nine from him. I
Speaker 2: think I can get twenty and eight from him on
Speaker 2: top of what I get from on top of what
Speaker 2: I get from on top of what I get from
Speaker 2: all the rest of the those guys.
Speaker 1: So with that being said, I also.
Speaker 2: Have eight guys, nine guys in my rotation something maybe
Speaker 2: even ten. Your bench doesn't go nearly that deep with
Speaker 2: that quality of player that you have. You don't have
Speaker 2: tiede your room on your bench, or hunter on your bench,
Speaker 2: or a choral on your bench, or or or why
Speaker 2: am I joining a blank on not Max Strews because
Speaker 2: Max Strus is a starter, but the long balls shooter
Speaker 2: in Merrill, right in Samuel or right Samuel or Dean
Speaker 2: Wade like guys like they got ten guys. I feel
Speaker 2: like everything that Indiana has, Cleveland has it plus more,
Speaker 2: and they're gonna do everything kind of like what Orlando
Speaker 2: did with the Celtics. They're gonna do what they can
Speaker 2: to junk the game up a little bit, to try
Speaker 2: to throw them off. And then when when when Indiana
Speaker 2: realizes that they can't do that with Cleveland. I think
Speaker 2: this series is a wrap. I think Cleveland beats them
Speaker 2: in five games.
Speaker 4: I think Indiana is deeper than you make a sound,
Speaker 4: but they're they're not as deep as Cleveland. But The
Speaker 4: thing about about Cleveland's bench is it like I never
Speaker 4: know what I'm getting from a Coral. I never know
Speaker 4: what I'm getting from DeAndre Hunter. I feel like I
Speaker 4: could get more at of Obi Toppin.
Speaker 2: Do you mean from a bucket standpoint? Do you mean
Speaker 2: from a bucket standpoint?
Speaker 4: Okay, Okay, Yeah, that's what I mean. I mean, I
Speaker 4: know that you're gonna get defense from a Coro and Hunter.
Speaker 4: They're really good perimeter defenders, but like TJ McConnell is
Speaker 4: like a little bit of a microwave you're gonna get
Speaker 4: Sometimes you get twelve sixteen points out of Obi Toppin.
Speaker 4: Sometimes you end up getting, you know, twenty points out
Speaker 4: of Andrew Numhard Ben Matherin. So I think the entire series,
Speaker 4: for as long as it goes, I think it's gonna
Speaker 4: be super back and forth because they both want to
Speaker 4: play really.
Speaker 3: Fast, right.
Speaker 2: So Ben Matherin is one of my favorite rotation players
Speaker 2: in the game who I really like, no doubt about that.
Speaker 2: And I think TJ McConnell one of the reasons why
Speaker 2: I'm not really bothered with a Coro as a bucket getter,
Speaker 2: because I got plenty other bucket getters and long ball shooters.
Speaker 2: Even though Acral has stretched the defense this season, I
Speaker 2: think he is one of the better defenders, and I
Speaker 2: think that's what you're gonna need Topping is one of
Speaker 2: those guys who, to your point, you can probably get sixteen,
Speaker 2: You could probably get eighteen to twenty out of him
Speaker 2: in the game. You know what else, you can give
Speaker 2: him trista zero like you can completely take them out
Speaker 2: of games. You can get him taken right out of
Speaker 2: games because on defense he is completely utterly inefficient, Like
Speaker 2: we can go I've seen teams hunt him and go
Speaker 2: after him. So that's a huge problem with him. And
Speaker 2: so the fact that he's only a bucket getter from
Speaker 2: that aspect, and then I can't really rely on him
Speaker 2: on defense. I think we can take him out of
Speaker 2: the series.
Speaker 4: You know who got taken out of the series. But
Speaker 4: we finally got the vintage playoff James Harden game.
Speaker 1: I knew it was coming.
Speaker 2: I had asked, I had asked the guys. I said, listen,
Speaker 2: because we were talking about the Clippers. I said, guys,
Speaker 2: I know that I might be out of line here,
Speaker 2: and I know you don't want to hear this, but
Speaker 2: you guys know what's coming. I don't know when, but
Speaker 2: you guys know that it's coming here. I don't know
Speaker 2: when it's coming, and I'll be damn, I'll be damn.
Speaker 4: This is crazy because it feels like the Clippers should
Speaker 4: have already won this fucking series.
Speaker 3: How has it happened?
Speaker 2: Can't we say the same thing about Denver, Like Denver
Speaker 2: could have bounced them in five like this, he could
Speaker 2: have been like it. It's both sides of this coin.
Speaker 2: The Clippers could have very well swept these dudes. They
Speaker 2: could have won Game four right the game. You could
Speaker 2: have won Game one, they won Game two. They had
Speaker 2: them on the ropes in game they were up twenty
Speaker 2: and they ended up coming back on the thirty to
Speaker 2: nine run, which also drove me nuts.
Speaker 1: To watch that.
Speaker 3: I was I bet you hated that.
Speaker 2: I'm watching this and all Denver did, all the Clippers did,
Speaker 2: was going to a zone and I'm thinking, Okay, Denver,
Speaker 2: you never played against his zone before? Is that what
Speaker 2: I'm understanding. You've never been you've never seen the tooth,
Speaker 2: you've never seen the two three zone before. Is that
Speaker 2: what's going on? And by losing my mind, Oh my goodness,
Speaker 2: it was it was it was it was driving Malone.
Speaker 3: Michael Malone would have been able to handle this.
Speaker 1: I think he would have. I think he would have.
Speaker 3: He would have been screaming.
Speaker 4: And Kawhi is now recently kind of regressed a little
Speaker 4: bit after games won two and maybe three, four and
Speaker 4: five have been not pedestrian but not great.
Speaker 3: Twenty two, ten and six, which is good, but we.
Speaker 4: Kind of need more from Kawhi, and we definitely need
Speaker 4: Zubox and Harden to play at elite levels, even though
Speaker 4: I feel personally this is just a better a better team,
Speaker 4: a team that I think could make life more hell
Speaker 4: for okay see than say the Nuggets can. Despite the
Speaker 4: fact that somehow Jamal Murray has just finally become bubble
Speaker 4: Jamal Murray.
Speaker 2: Again, that's the curse of Kawhi Leonard, because he's been
Speaker 2: so good and strength in the time that he was healthy,
Speaker 2: So when you see it again for a short period
Speaker 2: of time, it's kind of like we expect it.
Speaker 1: He's back.
Speaker 2: Yes, he's back, only except he's leveled out, Like this
Speaker 2: is actually who Leonard is at them, Like we keep
Speaker 2: forgetting he's thirty four years old, right, so he'll be
Speaker 2: thirty four years old in July, so well, I think
Speaker 2: late June, so like, this is kind of who he is,
Speaker 2: Like he's a twenty twenty two game guy in the playoffs,
Speaker 2: but we see flashes of him, so we expect, you know,
Speaker 2: remember that dude in twenty nineteen in the playoffs, how
Speaker 2: good he was, Right, remember the guy in twenty six
Speaker 2: Remember that guy, how good he was?
Speaker 1: And we so want him back.
Speaker 2: Why do you think that we still, Trista, Why do
Speaker 2: you think we still keep talking about the nineties Because
Speaker 2: we missed Jordan so much and we missed.
Speaker 4: It and we listen to two thousands R and B
Speaker 4: Jermaine because that's when it was the best.
Speaker 2: Right, We missed those guys so much, and we won
Speaker 2: him back. So when you see a guy like Kawhi
Speaker 2: Leonard and you see flashes of what he used to be,
Speaker 2: it's like he's back, when in reality, I just want
Speaker 2: to enjoy him being here. Trist This is the first
Speaker 2: time that I've seen him in the playoffs in almost
Speaker 2: five years. This is the first time that I've seen
Speaker 2: him in the playoffs in almost five years. Right, I
Speaker 2: knew that I was going to get that James Harden game.
Speaker 2: The thing that I wanted more than anything was I
Speaker 2: just wanted to see Kawhi Leonard upright. Whatever he gave me,
Speaker 2: that's something completely different. I just wanted to see him
Speaker 2: on the floor.
Speaker 1: That was it.
Speaker 2: Whenever I got I got it. I just wanted to
Speaker 2: see him get through the playoffs. And it looks like
Speaker 2: I'm gonna get that.
Speaker 3: Well probably unless this thing goes seven. You never know what.
Speaker 4: Kawhi could always come to a screeching halt. My battery
Speaker 4: is coming to a screeching halt. Jermaine, and I got
Speaker 4: you fifteen minutes longer than you said you had so
Speaker 4: because we got we gotta get up out of here.
Speaker 3: We gotta do this again soon. I'll come on to
Speaker 3: your spot as well.
Speaker 4: Check him out on TikTok c h L tw N
Speaker 4: thirty two. He said no vowels, He's not doing the
Speaker 4: vowel thing. On TikTok, no eyes, no O's so Chill
Speaker 4: Town thirty two, No vowels, and on YouTube find him
Speaker 4: listen to him. He also does some stuff with playback.
Speaker 4: I mean, he's just in a million different spots. Thank
Speaker 4: you so much, brother for coming on.
Speaker 2: They always I don't got a lot of time for
Speaker 2: a lot of people, Trista, but I definitely got time
Speaker 2: for you.
Speaker 3: Thank you very likewise likewise dot so fucking fun.
Speaker 1: No doubt, Absolutely that was great.
Speaker 3: Go Nicks. That's all the time that we have for
Speaker 3: this episode of the Heat Check.
Speaker 4: Come back on Tuesday for all only episode and check
Speaker 4: out the feats for Pat's episodes. Do not forget to
Speaker 4: follow the Heat Check all playoffs long. That means download, subscribe,
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Speaker 4: to in years. Follow us on TikTok and at this
Speaker 4: heat Check actress to Creek on Twitter, Instagram and threads.
Speaker 4: And also big shout out to Jermaine for coming on
Speaker 4: the pod, and big shout out for Wyatt being at
Speaker 4: a late night stretch recording editing.
Speaker 3: That's my guy. See y'all next time.