Speaker 1: A court side view of what's happening in the roller
Speaker 1: coaster Clippers Mavericks series. We've got to talk injuries as well,
Speaker 1: because there are so many around the league. We talk
Speaker 1: about some coaching situations as well, Doc Rivers, Darvin Ham,
Speaker 1: Frank Vogel, and we even mix in some pseudo live
Speaker 1: reaction to the Phoenix Suns being swept out of the playoffs.
Speaker 1: All that's next on the latest edition of This League Uncut.
Speaker 1: Welcome to This League Uncut.
Speaker 2: In the rule of.
Speaker 1: Twenty four hour NBA.
Speaker 3: News, this's you love, Chris Hans, It's time, work's time.
Speaker 1: It's so time. This League Uncut is underway and on fire.
Speaker 2: This should be a good one.
Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, welcome in to the latest edition This League Uncut.
Speaker 1: It's a playoff Sunday night. It feels like hours upon
Speaker 1: hours of drama, hardwood drama stacked on top of each other. Today,
Speaker 1: let's be honest. This first round league wide has been
Speaker 1: short on drama and racked by way too many injuries.
Speaker 1: But the first two games, especially today, the Knicks victory
Speaker 1: in Philadelphia, the Clippers winning in Dallas without Kawhi Leonard,
Speaker 1: that was a roller coaster. I was there. But let
Speaker 1: me bring in my co host who's in Miami. He's
Speaker 1: getting ready to work the sidelines for TNT Monday Night,
Speaker 1: Game four of the Heat Celtic Series, Chris Haynes, Happy
Speaker 1: Sunday to you. Unfortunately got even more injury news today,
Speaker 1: more injury developments that have just dominated proceedings here in
Speaker 1: Round one. But we also did get some pretty great basketball,
Speaker 1: and as we're recording this, Phoenix is trying to keep
Speaker 1: its season going. Minnesota and Phoenix locked in a close
Speaker 1: game halfway through the third quarter, with the Wolves already
Speaker 1: up three to zero in that series, so we'll probably
Speaker 1: have a result there by the time we wrap this
Speaker 1: thing up. But man, wild Sunday in your league, what's
Speaker 1: going on?
Speaker 2: Yeh's crazy? I mean injuries galore, which is, you know,
Speaker 2: it's tainting this first round a tad bit, I mean
Speaker 2: the series with that. You know that you've been at
Speaker 2: thus far to Clippers and MAVs, Kawhi Leonard Tough, tough,
Speaker 2: blow Bunks, Pacers, Jannis Dame tough right there, Joel and
Speaker 2: b with the Sixers just not being his full self
Speaker 2: and you know it's been it's been tough. Jimmy Butler,
Speaker 2: the series I'm doing, Jimmy Butler being out. You know
Speaker 2: this is you don't want to see this at this point,
Speaker 2: but uh, but let's let's talk about the Clippers in
Speaker 2: math since you're since you're out there, like with the
Speaker 2: news of Kawhi Leonard taking some time off to try
Speaker 2: he the word is he will not be back until
Speaker 2: he's feeling right. What are you hearing out there? And
Speaker 2: what is that? What is that series been like? Just
Speaker 2: to see the just to see the roller coaster.
Speaker 1: That has been Yeah, honestly, today was wild. A couple
Speaker 1: hours before tip off, we had Clippers President of Basketball
Speaker 1: Operations Lawrence Frank, came out and said that Kawhi was
Speaker 1: being ruled out of Game four and more ominously, there's
Speaker 1: no timetable for when he's going to come back. And
Speaker 1: then what happens. The Clippers jump out to a thirty
Speaker 1: nine to sixteen opening quarter, just a re ridiculously good.
Speaker 1: The Clippers were great in Game one at home without
Speaker 1: Kawhi Leonard, but they were next level in the first
Speaker 1: quarter to start here in Dallas, just had the three
Speaker 1: ball working. They were playing at a faster pace without Kawhi.
Speaker 1: The Clips ultimately stretched that lead all the way to
Speaker 1: thirty one points on Dallas's floor, and look, the Mavericks
Speaker 1: were able to come all the way back. They took
Speaker 1: a one oh five one oh four lead late on
Speaker 1: a Kyrie Irving layup that if you haven't seen it yet,
Speaker 1: I mean, honestly, if you're listening to this podcast, I'm
Speaker 1: guessing there's no way you haven't seen it, because it
Speaker 1: was absolutely ridiculous how long Kyrie hung in the air
Speaker 1: and found a way to scoop one in underneath three
Speaker 1: very tall defenders who were trying to keep him away
Speaker 1: from the rim. It looked like the MAVs were going
Speaker 1: to pull off a comeback for the Ages, looked like
Speaker 1: the Clippers were going to suffer a meltdown for the Ages,
Speaker 1: and then in crunch time the Clippers took over. So
Speaker 1: it was really like Dallas lost this game twice. It
Speaker 1: really ended up being just a dagger defeat for the
Speaker 1: Mavericks because it looked like they were going to take
Speaker 1: a three to one series lead, looked like they were
Speaker 1: going to complete this unbelievable escape after looking so bad
Speaker 1: in the first half, and for the second time in
Speaker 1: this series, not responding to the fact that Kawhi Leonard
Speaker 1: wasn't out there, and James Harden found another gear in
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter in crunch time, much like we saw
Speaker 1: in the first half of Game one, Paul George hit
Speaker 1: a ridiculous fallaway three in the corner. To that point,
Speaker 1: Paul George only had two points in the second half,
Speaker 1: and the Mavericks and their coach Jason Kidd in the
Speaker 1: immediate aftermath of the loss, facing a lot of questions,
Speaker 1: a lot of criticism for not switching to a bigger
Speaker 1: lineup late. As James Harden started finding the range with
Speaker 1: his floater. This was crazy. I didn't realize this. Harden
Speaker 1: shot sub thirty percent during the season on his floaters,
Speaker 1: which hard to believe today because he made five in
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter and really looked like he could get
Speaker 1: just about anywhere he wanted to. It was a turn
Speaker 1: back the clock performance from Harden, and that's now twice
Speaker 1: in this series that the Southern California native. He's in
Speaker 1: his first playoff run with the Clippers and has just
Speaker 1: been sensational. Both Clipper wins in this series without Kawhi Leonard.
Speaker 1: Both Clipper wins feature huge games from Harden, who has
Speaker 1: absorbed plenty of critics himself when you dig into his
Speaker 1: playoff resume. So look, I think Dallas has to be
Speaker 1: incredibly disappointed that they've lost twice in this series without
Speaker 1: Kawhi Leonard. On the other side, there's no indication if
Speaker 1: Kawhi Leonard can even get back on the floor in
Speaker 1: this series. As well as the Clippers have played without him,
Speaker 1: I would imagine, I don't think they want to rush
Speaker 1: him back right now. They're playing frankly better without him
Speaker 1: because of the state of Kawhi Leonard's health, and if
Speaker 1: you saw him in Games two and three, he didn't
Speaker 1: look remotely like the Kawhi Leonard that everyone has come
Speaker 1: to expect in the postseason. But you know, we talk
Speaker 1: about injuries, and there are so many to get to with.
Speaker 1: You know, the Bucks now losing Damian Lillard on top
Speaker 1: of Gianna Santitokumpo, Jimmy Butler in your series, Joel Embiid
Speaker 1: playing hurt in that series, and we can go on
Speaker 1: and on and on. No Zion Williamson of course in
Speaker 1: the OKC New Orleans series, But in Dallas, Luka Doncic
Speaker 1: is playing hurt right now. That is painfully obvious when
Speaker 1: you watch the Mavericks play and Luka Doncic is shooting
Speaker 1: sub forty percent in this series. And after all the
Speaker 1: praise that Luca got for his defense in Game two,
Speaker 1: which was probably the best most impactful single game defensive
Speaker 1: effort of his career, today his movement was so labored.
Speaker 1: The Clippers were targeting him and rightfully so. And I mean,
Speaker 1: he is ailing. He is nowhere close to where he
Speaker 1: should be. It's the playoffs, So just like Embiid and Philly,
Speaker 1: Luca's going to try to gut it out. But I
Speaker 1: mean it's yet another injury headline in this postseason that
Speaker 1: has more than we can count.
Speaker 2: I think as far as the Clippers, with Kawhi Leonard
Speaker 2: and his injury, I think it bodes well for the
Speaker 2: Clippers in the short term, the fact that now they
Speaker 2: know the guys that's going to be there at least
Speaker 2: for this series, and so they can focus in on that,
Speaker 2: they can try to build off of that. And as
Speaker 2: you you know, as you as you already stated, they
Speaker 2: won both games already without Kawhi, so you know, I
Speaker 2: think this is something I think this is more of
Speaker 2: a relief for the Clippers not having to worry if
Speaker 2: Kawhi is going to be in the in the lineup
Speaker 2: this game, out the line next game. Like that, uncertainty
Speaker 2: is out the picture now now they can just focus
Speaker 2: on playing and being a team. And so that this
Speaker 2: series is very much alive, which you know, I want
Speaker 2: to see a nice compelling series. And you know, the
Speaker 2: drama is still there, the intrigue is still there. Hopefully
Speaker 2: Luca continue to play at a higher left. I know
Speaker 2: he's laboring, you know, obviously everyone could see it, you know,
Speaker 2: but this is still very much a compelling series. You
Speaker 2: don't know, you don't know who has the momentum right
Speaker 2: now or who's going to keep the momentum, I should say.
Speaker 2: So you know this, this thing, this thing is far
Speaker 2: from over, which is good, which is which is more
Speaker 2: than I can say from say, for a couple of
Speaker 2: these other series out there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, look, every other series in the West got to
Speaker 1: three to zero, so we need at least one series
Speaker 1: in the West to deliver. And yeah, I mean it
Speaker 1: is remarkably this series has been pitched back to toss
Speaker 1: up status. And again I think the Mavericks, though, they're
Speaker 1: going to have to really pull together and steal themselves
Speaker 1: because to get two shots at the Clippers with no
Speaker 1: Kawhi Leonard and both times just getting routed in the
Speaker 1: first half, you know, just blitzed badly in the first
Speaker 1: half of Game one and Game four on their home floor,
Speaker 1: especially when you factor in the history that these two
Speaker 1: teams have. Remember it's the third time in the last
Speaker 1: five years that these teams have met in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: The Clippers, they've only won three playoff series since Kawhi
Speaker 1: and Paul George came together, two of them are against
Speaker 1: the Mavericks. This is the best team that Luka Doncic
Speaker 1: has ever had around him in his series against the Clippers.
Speaker 1: And you know, Luca today postgame, you know, he said
Speaker 1: he feels like he's letting Kyrie Irving down, with Kyrie
Speaker 1: Irving just playing incredible offensive basketball. And today Kyrie Irving
Speaker 1: willed the Mavericks back into this game with just ridiculous
Speaker 1: shot making, not just the layup, but again that layup
Speaker 1: was an all timer. And look, I think it's health.
Speaker 1: There's just no you know, Luca struggling at the defensive end. Okay,
Speaker 1: that's not exactly a new thing, but Luca shooting sub
Speaker 1: forty percent from the field. I mean, that just tells
Speaker 1: you that something is wrong. And it wasn't even just
Speaker 1: the shooting today. Multiple times in this game he drove
Speaker 1: to the bucket and got the ball knocked out of
Speaker 1: his hands, basically stripped on a drive that never happens.
Speaker 1: Once Luca gets inside, He's just so strong when he
Speaker 1: goes to the rim. So it just you can just
Speaker 1: see he's not His game is not all there. And
Speaker 1: two days off now before Wednesday's Game five back in LA.
Speaker 1: But Game six is Friday, a potential Game seven is Sunday.
Speaker 1: It's basically every other day to finish the series. Once
Speaker 1: we get to the game five stage, and this really
Speaker 1: is the series in the West now that is providing
Speaker 1: all of the drama and what happens from here. Can
Speaker 1: the Clippers keep winning without their best players? How will
Speaker 1: the Mavericks rebound from an absolutely deflating defeat. And yeah,
Speaker 1: I you know, it's going to be fascinating to see
Speaker 1: how Doncic looks Wednesday nights. Again, not just shooting sub
Speaker 1: forty percent from the floor, he's shooting not even twenty
Speaker 1: seven percent from three point range, and those are just
Speaker 1: I mean, that's just way below his typical standard. And
Speaker 1: I've watched him enough to know that I really attribute
Speaker 1: a lot of it to the state of his right knee,
Speaker 1: because he's just not moving well at all.
Speaker 2: Stime, before we shift to another series, let's go off
Speaker 2: the court real quick as attains to the Clippers. Do
Speaker 2: you think the situations the Clippers are in with Kawhi
Speaker 2: having to sideline himself again, they've been down this road before.
Speaker 2: There's no extension yet for Paul George. Do you think
Speaker 2: that Paul has gained a little bit more leverage now
Speaker 2: his extension talks, or do you feel like this this
Speaker 2: probably won't play a factor at all.
Speaker 1: I think it's too soon to know the answer to
Speaker 1: that question because it too too so much can still
Speaker 1: happen in this series. But look, there's no question that
Speaker 1: the Clippers future is one of the major subplots here.
Speaker 1: Steve Balmer here on the road in Dallas, very visible
Speaker 1: watching pregame intently both of these games. You know, at
Speaker 1: Clipper home games, there's places that he can go to
Speaker 1: kind of stay out of the public eye. But in Dallas,
Speaker 1: Balmer was a very visible presence at these games. Intently
Speaker 1: studying warm ups, and you know, I'm sure he's trying
Speaker 1: to analyze this himself, because, yeah, around the league, there
Speaker 1: is tons of curiosity. What will the Clippers do? You know,
Speaker 1: Kawhi Leonard played in sixty eight games this season. It's
Speaker 1: the most we've seen him in the regular season since
Speaker 1: twenty sixteen seventeen, when he was still in San Antonio
Speaker 1: seven years ago. But now a are the Clippers second
Speaker 1: guessing how much Kawhi played during the regular season. Maybe
Speaker 1: sixty eight games was too much. And they've already extended
Speaker 1: Kawhi Leonard. Remember that day in January, We're out of
Speaker 1: the blue, with no warning, Kawhi gets his extension. Paul George,
Speaker 1: as you mentioned, does not have his extension. He's eligible
Speaker 1: to be extended through June thirtieth. The Clippers need to
Speaker 1: come to terms with George before then to keep him
Speaker 1: off the free agent market. Where we know the Philadelphia
Speaker 1: seventy six Ers, who by the way, are now facing elimination.
Speaker 1: The Sixers losing Game four at home, and the Sixers
Speaker 1: are one loss away from their offseason starting. We know
Speaker 1: the Sixers will be at the front of the line
Speaker 1: to go after Paul George in free agency if the
Speaker 1: Clippers don't extend him by June thirtieth, and then James Harden.
Speaker 1: James Harden has really been the driving force in the
Speaker 1: Clippers two wins in this series. James Harden not even
Speaker 1: eligible for his extension until the summertime. But once June
Speaker 1: thirtieth slash July one hits, now Harden's gonna want an
Speaker 1: extension too. So do the Clippers want to run it
Speaker 1: back with this team at two time two in this series?
Speaker 1: I think they still need more data to be honest,
Speaker 1: because look, there are high stakes and there is considerable
Speaker 1: pressure on both of these franchises. The Mavericks traded away
Speaker 1: a ton to get Daniel Gafford and PJ Washington at
Speaker 1: the trade deadline. Dallas will not have its first round
Speaker 1: pick in this draft because it is the last element
Speaker 1: that they must convey to the Knicks to complete the
Speaker 1: Christops Porzingis deal from five years ago. At the deadline
Speaker 1: in twenty nineteen and then, the Mavericks have also surrendered
Speaker 1: control of their first round pick between twenty twenty seven
Speaker 1: and twenty thirty, so they need this team to deliver
Speaker 1: and advance and live up to the promise they showed
Speaker 1: when they went sixteen and two in the second half
Speaker 1: of the season to get to fifty wins and move
Speaker 1: up to the number five seeds. So whoever loses this series,
Speaker 1: like so many teams in the West, is going to
Speaker 1: be facing some really tough questions in the offseason. The
Speaker 1: MAVs have used most of their trade chips, how can
Speaker 1: they improve this team if it goes out in Round one?
Speaker 1: And the Clippers, if they go out and round one,
Speaker 1: are gonna have to ask themselves do we re sign
Speaker 1: Paul George and James Harden knowing these guys will just
Speaker 1: get a year older and this is basically the team
Speaker 1: they're gonna roll with. And look Phoenix, Golden State, Sacramento,
Speaker 1: the Lakers. All of these teams are facing really hard
Speaker 1: offseason questions too. In the West. That's kind of the
Speaker 1: status quo for everyone. Any team that loses in the
Speaker 1: play in or Round one has some really tough choices
Speaker 1: to make. But yeah, I mean, I guess that's my
Speaker 1: long winded way of saying I can't really answer that one.
Speaker 1: But I don't think well, I can't answer it to
Speaker 1: this degree. I don't think as impressive as this victory
Speaker 1: was to save themselves after blowing a thirty one point lead.
Speaker 1: I don't think this one victory is going to prompt
Speaker 1: the Clippers to make any declarations. They're going to need
Speaker 1: to see how this series turns out. Let me ask
Speaker 1: you something. Do you think we see Kawhi Leonard again
Speaker 1: in this series.
Speaker 2: Or do you think I don't not in this series?
Speaker 2: I don't.
Speaker 1: I agree, I don't either. I think it's now kind
Speaker 1: of The rumbles around the arena this afternoon were that
Speaker 1: he's still going to try and he doesn't want to
Speaker 1: rule himself out, and whether that's game five or Game
Speaker 1: six or a potential Game seven. The rumbles were that
Speaker 1: Kawhi is going to keep trying. But yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: I mean you saw game two. In game three, he
Speaker 1: is just not moving well at all. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, I guess that's a good segue over to the
Speaker 2: East for a little bit, talking about guys not moving well,
Speaker 2: which ultimately led to them not moving at all. Bucks
Speaker 2: Pacers that series it's got ugly. It's gotten ugly over there. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I don't. I don't foresee. I'll just say this, I
Speaker 2: don't foresee. Damer Gianni's returning for this series.
Speaker 1: I don't this is at three to one down. It's
Speaker 1: just there's it's not worth the risk. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: talk about team that has a lot of off season questions.
Speaker 1: I mean, the last thing they need is for Giannis
Speaker 1: or Dame to sustain a long term injury. I mean
Speaker 1: it sounds like they're playing right on the edge as
Speaker 1: it is.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's unfortunate. You know, Dame came into the
Speaker 2: playoffs really feeling good. He had about a week off.
Speaker 2: He was dealing with achilles soreness towards the end of
Speaker 2: the regular season. Then he had like a week off
Speaker 2: and he got he got right, He got himself right,
Speaker 2: and you've seen in those first couple of games in
Speaker 2: the playoffs he was he was playing probably the best
Speaker 2: ball in that little two three game stretch. You can
Speaker 2: make a case that was probably the best you've seen him.
Speaker 2: Mat just like scoring in bunches and in droves, and
Speaker 2: you know, that was the Dame, that was the Dame
Speaker 2: of old. You know, he was telling me, man, I'm
Speaker 2: feeling good, like he was ready, and you know we
Speaker 2: all knew Giannis was his His intention was to be
Speaker 2: able to come back at some point in this first round.
Speaker 2: But it's just it's never got to that point. And
Speaker 2: now the state that the Bucks are in, down down
Speaker 2: three games, the one it's it's just not why is
Speaker 2: to try to throw them out there right now? You know,
Speaker 2: if if the Bucks would have put up a better fight,
Speaker 2: which they were under man so it's it's tough to ask.
Speaker 2: It's tough to ask them to to fulfill that. But
Speaker 2: if they were able to put up a fight, win
Speaker 2: a few more games here, you know, you probably could
Speaker 2: have have seen a scenario where Giannis er Dame might
Speaker 2: be able to come back, not full strength, but just
Speaker 2: be able to come back and at least be a decoy.
Speaker 2: I don't know how effective, but it's just not it's
Speaker 2: not there. It's tough, you know, it's tough. It's probably
Speaker 2: the best thing for them to do at this point.
Speaker 2: It's probably just it's focus on the off season. Regroup,
Speaker 2: damon Giannis. You know they didn't get the train during
Speaker 2: the off season last year that the trade happened so late.
Speaker 2: So get it off season to train, build, you know,
Speaker 2: build some more continuity together and go into next season
Speaker 2: and try to and and try to dominate but yeah,
Speaker 2: it's tough. You never want to see a series go
Speaker 2: out like that, where or it can be the two
Speaker 2: best players are in the series, you know they're they're done.
Speaker 2: Then Bobby Porters in Game four gets get sejected and
Speaker 2: you know it's just you know, they're shooting itself on
Speaker 2: the foot.
Speaker 1: What happened? Though? I thought our pod was supposed to
Speaker 1: make guys, it was supposed to help guys soar to
Speaker 1: new heights. I don't think we I don't think we
Speaker 1: did that for Bobby Porters.
Speaker 2: Yeah we did it. I mean, how long did Poppy?
Speaker 2: Maybe it's a time limit. Maybe you gotta be on
Speaker 2: the show for about thirty minutes minimum, you know, maybe
Speaker 2: it was a time limit thing. I don't know. I
Speaker 2: got to look into the analytics of how long he
Speaker 2: was on, what he said, how fully engaged he was.
Speaker 1: So why doesn't producer Ryan keep those analytics? We should
Speaker 1: have a spreadsheet with Yeah, we need that. I guess
Speaker 1: we need that minutes they how long the interview lasted?
Speaker 2: Yeah, because our coaches are you know, most of our
Speaker 2: coaches are doing well. Who came on, you know, came
Speaker 2: on the show. I will still say Mike Brown did well, look,
Speaker 2: they didn't make it to the playoffs, but they took
Speaker 2: down a team that they really wanted to beat desperately.
Speaker 2: It took down and took out the Golden State Wards.
Speaker 1: I don't think we can take credit for that. When
Speaker 1: Mike Brown was on last season.
Speaker 2: I think that was last season.
Speaker 1: I don't think I don't think that. I think it's
Speaker 1: a two year, two year dame winning the three point
Speaker 1: contest hours after talking to us that I think we
Speaker 1: can say that a little bit of this league uncut
Speaker 1: magic dust was. We can say that we can we
Speaker 1: can we can draw a connection there, but claim I
Speaker 1: cannot say that we had anything to do with Mike
Speaker 1: Brown winning a playing game against the Warriors after we talked.
Speaker 2: I thought we had a two year there was a
Speaker 2: two year expiration. Finch.
Speaker 1: Maybe like if Minnesota keeps rolling, maybe you know Finch
Speaker 1: in the All Star Game appearance, maybe we can take
Speaker 1: a little credit for that all my bet, Well, let
Speaker 1: me ask you this because obviously, you know, Doc Rivers
Speaker 1: has been under so much pressure coming in there at
Speaker 1: mid season. The results haven't been what the Bucks were
Speaker 1: hoping for after making that coaching change. But and this
Speaker 1: has to take any notion of heat on Doc Rivers off.
Speaker 1: You know, I don't know how he could win a
Speaker 1: playoff series without John and Dan.
Speaker 2: He's fine. I think there's enough. There's there's enough of
Speaker 2: a track record with this group where you can evaluate
Speaker 2: it and see, Okay, now they know how Dame plays.
Speaker 2: Now they know you know what Dame and Giannis. Now
Speaker 2: they know how they can improve playing with each other
Speaker 2: and playing with the collection of teammates. So now they
Speaker 2: can kind of evaluate the market and see, okay, what
Speaker 2: players will fit best with them? What does Dame need,
Speaker 2: What does Gianni's need? What does coach Doc Rivers need?
Speaker 2: Remember Doc Rivers, I will, I will expect or I
Speaker 2: would suspect that he'll bring in a few more of
Speaker 2: his staffers on board. You know he didn't. You know,
Speaker 2: he brought in believed two assistant coaches, Dave Jaeger and
Speaker 2: and our guy Recks. And I believe that was I
Speaker 2: believe though that was Yeah, I believe it was just two.
Speaker 2: I believe it was. And so if you look, if
Speaker 2: you look closely at the Bucks, you have to be
Speaker 2: a Bucks fan and really look at this. But if
Speaker 2: you if you look closely at the Bucks, bench, And
Speaker 2: I'm talking about the assistant coaches. You've seen since Doc
Speaker 2: has come on board. You've seen some guys, some coaches,
Speaker 2: some assistant coaches who start off from the front bench
Speaker 2: and then they were moved to the back of the bench.
Speaker 2: You know that what that was Doc rivers like filling
Speaker 2: out his staff, giving other guys promotions and giving some demotions,
Speaker 2: and so you know, Doc still has to find his
Speaker 2: way and be able to plant his mark as well.
Speaker 2: So you know that's that's the But no, he no,
Speaker 2: he don't Doc know, he don't Doc. They're going to
Speaker 2: try to figure this thing out together.
Speaker 1: I have to say, I'm really going to be interested
Speaker 1: to hear what Jannis has to say when he sits
Speaker 1: down at a podium for his end of the season
Speaker 1: press conference. It's not going to have the blockbuster headline
Speaker 1: potential most likely that we saw lastie in after the
Speaker 1: Bucks lost to Miami so stunningly in Round one, and
Speaker 1: of course we had the whole there's no failure in
Speaker 1: sports speech. I'm not expecting those kind of fireworks, but
Speaker 1: just psyche wise, this is two years in a row
Speaker 1: that Yannis entered the playoffs with an injury that has
Speaker 1: prevented him. I mean, this injury is likely going to
Speaker 1: prevent him from playing at all in the series. Obviously,
Speaker 1: last season against Miami he did play some in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: but it's two years in a row that an injury
Speaker 1: has really interfered with his playoff hopes and dreams, and
Speaker 1: so I just I would I'm really ready for Yanna's
Speaker 1: unplugged to kind of hear what his mindset is and
Speaker 1: what he's thinking, because the expectations for this Bucks team
Speaker 1: were so high after the trade to bring in in
Speaker 1: Dame right before the start of the season, and it's
Speaker 1: just been a brutal season in Bruetown. So I really
Speaker 1: want to I know the series is only three to one,
Speaker 1: but yeah, I mean, how can we say that the
Speaker 1: Bucks really have a chance to get out of this
Speaker 1: round with no Joannis, no Dame. There was an injury
Speaker 1: scare tonight for Chris Middleton on top of everything, but
Speaker 1: Middleton was able to play on But yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: this is this has just been It has just been
Speaker 1: one thing after another for the Milwaukee Bucks. And wow,
Speaker 1: we've gotten this far and we haven't even talked yet
Speaker 1: really too much about the first game of the day,
Speaker 1: the Knicks go to Philadelphia and win Game four. Another
Speaker 1: wild one. Jalen Brunson, your guy, the little lefty forty
Speaker 1: seven points career playoff high, yet another major playoff downer
Speaker 1: for the Sixers. An absolutely brutal fourth quarter for Philly.
Speaker 1: Embiid only had one point. I believe in that final
Speaker 1: period the Sixers as a team missed their last ten shots.
Speaker 1: I think they scored three points in the last five
Speaker 1: minutes Embiid played. He was clearly exhausted at the end.
Speaker 1: And look, when you're a star, when you're a perennial
Speaker 1: MVP candidate, you take the heat when things go badly.
Speaker 1: But look, Joel Embiid scored fifty points on nineteen shots
Speaker 1: in Game three, and I'm struggling to just go after
Speaker 1: him now because of what we saw on this Sunday,
Speaker 1: knowing that he's playing hurt, he's playing at far less
Speaker 1: than one hundred percent, and I think that has to
Speaker 1: be factored in. We can't just ignore that that. You know,
Speaker 1: the Sixers go to pieces when Embiid is off the floor,
Speaker 1: and so again I'm struggling to just put this all
Speaker 1: on him. And it's amazing, really what he's giving the
Speaker 1: Sixers so quickly after a meniscus procedure on his knee.
Speaker 1: But man, Philly, you know this is it's just been
Speaker 1: one playoff let down slash disappointment after another, and they're
Speaker 1: down three to one now to the Knicks, and it
Speaker 1: really looks like Jalen Brunson is just not going to
Speaker 1: let the Knicks lose this series.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the Knicks are. They're a tough, minded, gritty team.
Speaker 2: And you know, I'm very impressed with the the DNA
Speaker 2: that they've uh that they've latched onto that is of
Speaker 2: coach Tom Thibodeau. They are really they're really plugged in.
Speaker 2: They are really plugged in. Not the not the fanciest team,
Speaker 2: not the most electric, They're just a hard fought team
Speaker 2: that's just going to give it to you from start
Speaker 2: to finish. And Philly, Yeah, I mean you touched on
Speaker 2: it right there. When Joel Embiid doesn't play that the
Speaker 2: team falls apart. And we've seen that during the regular season.
Speaker 2: They were one of the best teams in the East.
Speaker 2: Joel goes out all of a sudden, they're in play
Speaker 2: in range. So this this team is not This team
Speaker 2: is not what they should be right now, and that's
Speaker 2: based off of embiid missing a chunk of the season
Speaker 2: and EMBD not being anywhere close to one still dealing
Speaker 2: with that injury. You know, he's gutting it out. He
Speaker 2: probably shouldn't be playing. He's gutting it out, and you
Speaker 2: have to give him credit. You have to plout him
Speaker 2: for trying to be there when it matters in the
Speaker 2: season most so, I can't blame him. It's just, you know,
Speaker 2: it's just it's a sad tale because they've been through
Speaker 2: this time and and time again, and you know, you
Speaker 2: don't want you don't want to say, well, they just
Speaker 2: can't win with that and bid, I mean, you don't
Speaker 2: want to say they can't win with them be. I
Speaker 2: mean that's not I don't think you can say that
Speaker 2: yet because he hasn't been healthy, you know, during postseason
Speaker 2: play for the most part. But there is a trend.
Speaker 2: But it's tough, man. I just want to see the
Speaker 2: big fella healthy and he was playing some dominant basketball
Speaker 2: before an injury. Really really unfortunate, but you got to
Speaker 2: give credit to the Knicks. All all you can do,
Speaker 2: similar to the Indiana Pacers, all you can do is
Speaker 2: play who's ever on your schedule. That's it, on your schedule,
Speaker 2: play who ever on the roster at that time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because that's the thing we've been waiting. We've been
Speaker 1: waiting and waiting. Will Joel Embiid ever be able to
Speaker 1: enter the playoffs healthy or reasonably close to healthy? And
Speaker 1: he entered these playoffs well shy of healthy. And yeah,
Speaker 1: he scored fifty points the other night, but that doesn't
Speaker 1: mean that he is anywhere close to one. I didn't
Speaker 1: I thought it was unwise for Embiid to complain after
Speaker 1: the game about how many Knicks fans there were in
Speaker 1: Phillies building. Obviously there were a ton, but that's not
Speaker 1: really an issue. I think he should be raising in
Speaker 1: the way of a Game four home defeat. But when
Speaker 1: it comes to Embiid on the floor, I do think
Speaker 1: we have to give him some slack because he did
Speaker 1: come back from a knee procedure faster than he should have,
Speaker 1: just like Karl Anthony Towns in Minnesota. They both came
Speaker 1: back faster than they probably should have from a knee procedure.
Speaker 1: And we know, as we've said already, without Joel Embiid,
Speaker 1: the Sixers have no chance this series. Our former ESBN
Speaker 1: colleague John Hollinger, he tweeted out pretty smartly earlier today,
Speaker 1: you know, the Sixers have a guy making almost forty
Speaker 1: million this season, Tobias Harris only has eleven baskets in
Speaker 1: the first four games of this series. So the Sixers
Speaker 1: truly are leaning very, very heavily on Joel Embiid and
Speaker 1: they wouldn't even have a chance without him, and that
Speaker 1: does have to be something that we remember and keep
Speaker 1: track of. On the other side, Man Jalen Brunson, obviously
Speaker 1: I saw him the first few years of his career,
Speaker 1: but I continue to be astounded year two in New York,
Speaker 1: year two since he left the city where I live
Speaker 1: in work in Dallas. I mean, he just still continues
Speaker 1: to get better. And he had a really rough start
Speaker 1: to this Philly series. He shot sixteen for fifty five
Speaker 1: in the first two games, very uncharacteristic. But what he
Speaker 1: did today with forty seven on the road to lead
Speaker 1: the Knicks to this win that gives the Knicks a
Speaker 1: three to one lead when so many other Knicks were
Speaker 1: struggling offensively. Just man Jalen Brunson has had a remarkable season,
Speaker 1: and I think he's gonna end up in the top
Speaker 1: five and MVP balloting somewhere. No I doubt he gets
Speaker 1: higher than four or five, but he should be in
Speaker 1: the top five. He's been that good.
Speaker 2: It's been really good. And one thing I like about Jalen,
Speaker 2: No matter if his shot is going in or not,
Speaker 2: he's going to be aggressive. He's going to stay aggressive.
Speaker 2: You're not going to have You're not going to have
Speaker 2: an off night. If you're defending him, He's not going
Speaker 2: to give you that off night. He's going to keep
Speaker 2: coming at you. And I think Philly first couple of
Speaker 2: games thought they might have figured out something, you know,
Speaker 2: stop his effectiveness, you know, to bring down that shooting percentage.
Speaker 2: But Jalen man, he's a hooper man. He just know
Speaker 2: he knows how to get it done. So kudos to Jalen.
Speaker 2: He's leading this Knicks like no no nobody thought this.
Speaker 2: I remember when he signed that contract went over to
Speaker 2: New York. People thought they were they overpaid. They didn't
Speaker 2: see this. So I'm happy that he's exceeding expectations and
Speaker 2: he's continued to elevate his game and his team's game.
Speaker 2: So definitely fun to watch what hasn't been. I ain't
Speaker 2: gonna say what has Listen, so stile say this. You know,
Speaker 2: we give a lot of credit. You said, all right,
Speaker 2: Bobby Porters. Okay, maybe Bobby Porters is somebody who's came
Speaker 2: on this this pod and hasn't really stepped up like
Speaker 2: we expect most of our guests to come on here
Speaker 2: and have a has some success posts the visit with us.
Speaker 2: But there's another guy. I guess we got to mention
Speaker 2: Darvin Ham. God, you know Darvin Ham. We've had Darvin
Speaker 2: Ham on and he's been on within the year. He
Speaker 2: came on last summer and you know, they gotta win.
Speaker 2: They were close to be getting swept. They gotta win.
Speaker 2: In Game four one in La Lebron, James play out
Speaker 2: of this world at the David stepped up. D'Angelo Russell
Speaker 2: finally had a good game in this series. So now
Speaker 2: the series shifts back to Denver for Game five. If
Speaker 2: the Lakers lose, everyone expects that the Lakers would will
Speaker 2: make a coaching move after that. Is it deserved or not? Listen,
Speaker 2: I think the roster isn't that good, and not only that,
Speaker 2: I think they've been plagued by a lot of injuries
Speaker 2: that were just out of their control. I mean, Jered
Speaker 2: Vanderbilt hasn't played in since I don't those months. Christian
Speaker 2: Wood hasn't had had a low impact this season, free
Speaker 2: agent gate Vincent has had a low impact this season
Speaker 2: injury as well. Cam Reddish been out extended time. So
Speaker 2: it's just they haven't had their whole team out there
Speaker 2: for a long enough stretch and period to gain some continuity.
Speaker 2: So I I put a lot of it on that,
Speaker 2: maybe not saying the roster isn't good enough, but just
Speaker 2: they they haven't had their guys together long enough. I
Speaker 2: put it more so on that. Man, I know, people,
Speaker 2: you know, start to criticize Darvingham. You criticize any coach,
Speaker 2: criticize Darvinham. Frank Vogel is getting the receiving the same
Speaker 2: treatment out there in Phoenix, and you know, not calling
Speaker 2: time outs, not making adjustments, all of that stuff. And look, man,
Speaker 2: it this league is tough. It's tough on the head coach.
Speaker 2: But what I will say, what I will say, if
Speaker 2: the Lakers do come up short in this first round,
Speaker 2: and if they do decide to let Darvingham go, my
Speaker 2: question is who's out there that's my question. Who is
Speaker 2: out there that can take this team to the next level,
Speaker 2: What proven coach is available.
Speaker 1: Well, certainly Mike Budenholzer is out there, and we know
Speaker 1: he's a championship coach of recent vintage. I'm just not
Speaker 1: so sure that that's where the Lakers would turn if
Speaker 1: they did decide they were making a change.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree with you one hundred percent on that
Speaker 2: Ham comes from the boot and holes of trees. So
Speaker 2: I don't know that they would go down that road again.
Speaker 2: So again my question is who is out there? Who
Speaker 2: you know? Because Lakers there, they're quick to make changes,
Speaker 2: particularly on the head coach, head coach in front. Okay,
Speaker 2: but who's out there?
Speaker 1: Well, here's the thing. It's been at the very quiet
Speaker 1: to this point on the coaching carousel. The day after
Speaker 1: the season, there were no dismissals. It was very unnfl like. Obviously,
Speaker 1: Charlotte is still searching for a coach. Washington is still
Speaker 1: in the midst of a coaching search. The Brooklyn Nets
Speaker 1: decided very quickly after the season to hire Jordi Fernandez
Speaker 1: away from Mike Brown staff and Sacramento. Jordi Fernandez will
Speaker 1: be the new coach of the Nets starting next season.
Speaker 1: But we know that when things happen in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: when teams lose earlier than they expect or hope, that
Speaker 1: does lead to surprise openings on the coaching carousel. And
Speaker 1: you know you mentioned it as well, Frank Vogel today
Speaker 1: before the game, before this game against Minnesota, that as
Speaker 1: you and I are recording this is going down to
Speaker 1: the wire with Minnesota trying to sweep the Suns out
Speaker 1: of the playoffs. Frank Vogel before this game had to
Speaker 1: answer a question about his job security, and Frank Vogel
Speaker 1: said at his pregame press conference quote, I've got full
Speaker 1: support for matt ishbia end quote. We will soon see
Speaker 1: if that plays out, because again, as we're recording this,
Speaker 1: the Suns Anthony Edwards just threw down a ridiculous dunk
Speaker 1: in traffic to put the Wolves up for heading into
Speaker 1: the final two minutes and change. And if Minnesota can
Speaker 1: hold that lead, the Suns would be the first team
Speaker 1: eliminated from the twenty twenty three to twenty four playoffs.
Speaker 1: So yeah, if the Lakers lose early, if the Suns
Speaker 1: lose early, you know, put them in the same category.
Speaker 1: Like I said before right there with the Warriors the Kings.
Speaker 1: I think the Hawks qualify as well in Atlanta, where
Speaker 1: these teams are entering difficult off seasons, really hard choices
Speaker 1: in the offseason, and in one or two or maybe
Speaker 1: more of those situations, pressure will be immediately foisted upon
Speaker 1: the coach once their team was a living Ye. But
Speaker 1: I'm glad you brought up the Lakers because you have
Speaker 1: neatly led me into the Monday preview. This episode is
Speaker 1: dropping on a Monday, and later today you'll be on
Speaker 1: the sidelines for Game four in Miami Celtics at heat,
Speaker 1: and then later in the evening the Lakers in Denver
Speaker 1: for Game five. The Lakers did avoid the sweep, they
Speaker 1: did extend their season. The one wrinkle here in that,
Speaker 1: I mean, you would think Denver's going to finish off
Speaker 1: the Lakers Game five in their gym, but Jamal Murray
Speaker 1: sustained a calf injury late in Game four in La So.
Speaker 1: But this series is over right, there's no way the
Speaker 1: Lakers can come back.
Speaker 2: Well, it was one game at a time, Yeah, one
Speaker 2: game at a time. I mean the eyes are death.
Speaker 2: Oh now, Chris Finch hurt himself. No, Chris Finch. Don
Speaker 2: you see that.
Speaker 1: You must be ahead of me, your feed must be
Speaker 1: ahead of me.
Speaker 2: Wow. Coley runs, Oh, hit some right in the knee.
Speaker 2: It looks like, oh the right knee.
Speaker 1: No goodness sakes.
Speaker 2: Injuries.
Speaker 1: That is the metaphor of these playoffs. Now Mike, oh,
Speaker 1: Mike Conley straight into Chris Finch's right knee.
Speaker 2: Man, Finch is still down.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, these playoffs man, just way too hazardous. Greg Farnham,
Speaker 1: the Wolves trainer in another Wolf staffer, had to help
Speaker 1: Chris Finch off the floor with one forty one remaining.
Speaker 1: Not even coaches are safe in the twenty twenty three
Speaker 1: to twenty four playoffs. Man, this is ridiculous. So we
Speaker 1: wanted to just wait till the finish line to make
Speaker 1: sure sure. But it is finished now. The Timberwolves again,
Speaker 1: a franchise that in its first thirty four seasons won
Speaker 1: only two playoff series, both in two thousand and four,
Speaker 1: twenty years ago. Sadly, Chris Finch didn't get to be
Speaker 1: on the floor for the finish of it. But the
Speaker 1: Wolves have broomed the Phoenix Suns into the off season.
Speaker 1: The very high priced, top heavy Phoenix Suns Man what
Speaker 1: are they going to do this offseason? I mean, look
Speaker 1: at the coaching box if you want to, is Frank
Speaker 1: Vogel's job legit under threat as has been suggested in
Speaker 1: some league circles, I mean changing the coach? What is
Speaker 1: that really going to change? How does this roster change?
Speaker 1: Because of how much Phoenix is spent to put together
Speaker 1: this star trio it has assembled, the Suns, as everyone knows,
Speaker 1: are so far into the second apron they have no
Speaker 1: easy way to make changes here. Bradley Beal, his first
Speaker 1: season as a Phoenix Sun, ends with a nine point
Speaker 1: performance in Game four and Beal, as we mentioned, fouled
Speaker 1: out late and nine points six turnovers in the final
Speaker 1: game of the season. For Bradley Beal and no matter
Speaker 1: what happens with their coaching situation, how do the Suns
Speaker 1: prove this roster next season? It's really hard to see
Speaker 1: a pathway for them to improve this roster meaningfully.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, you can start by getting the point guard.
Speaker 2: Yes that should be a top priority, but definitely you know,
Speaker 2: you hit it on the head, definitely too top hit.
Speaker 1: And Bradley Beal has no trade clause, so they can't
Speaker 1: trade Bradley Beal unless he consents, And who's really what
Speaker 1: kind of market is there going to be for Bradley
Speaker 1: Beal when he's making about fifty million next season and
Speaker 1: his first season in Phoenix did not go well. This
Speaker 1: is the matchup Phoenix wanted. They got up to number six,
Speaker 1: They won the season series three to zero against Minnesota,
Speaker 1: and everybody thought this thing had upset potential. And man,
Speaker 1: the Timberwolves just absolutely reaffirmed that they are the best
Speaker 1: defensive team in the league. And truly, man, I am
Speaker 1: sick for Chris Finch. First of all, just hope that
Speaker 1: the injury, the knee injury isn't too serious, because it
Speaker 1: obviously looked awful and the way he had to be
Speaker 1: helped off the floor that alone should be caused for concern.
Speaker 1: But just absolutely sucks for Finch. His first playoff series
Speaker 1: victory as an NBA coach. And I say that as
Speaker 1: someone who watched him coach in the British Battle League
Speaker 1: a quarter century ago against Nick Nurse and he doesn't
Speaker 1: get to be out there to enjoy it. But man,
Speaker 1: the Wolves. How impressive were the Minnesota Timberwolves in this
Speaker 1: first round?
Speaker 2: Crazy Minnesota Timblewolves. Okay, see Thunder play.
Speaker 1: And we've we've barely talked about the Thunder. Mark Dagnaalt
Speaker 1: named Coach of the Year tonight. I mean the Thunder have.
Speaker 1: Certainly they're getting people's attention. I don't want to get
Speaker 1: too far ahead of myself, but this is potentially setting
Speaker 1: up very nicely for the Thunder in round two because
Speaker 1: assuming that OKC can finish off New Orleans up three
Speaker 1: to zero, and again, of course the Pelicans do not
Speaker 1: have the injured Zion Williamson, the Thunder will play either
Speaker 1: the Clippers, who don't have Kawhi Leonard at the moment,
Speaker 1: or the Mavericks, who have and ailing Luka Doncic. So
Speaker 1: the Thunder in their first playoff run as a team
Speaker 1: pretty much the youngest team out there. What an opportunity
Speaker 1: the Thunder have up three to zero now on New Orleans,
Speaker 1: and man stat Muse just tweeted it, I have to
Speaker 1: repeat it. The Suns did not win a playoff game
Speaker 1: this season, swept out of the first round. But on
Speaker 1: top of that, the Suns possess no first round picks
Speaker 1: between twenty twenty five and twenty thirty and no second
Speaker 1: round picks between twenty twenty four as in this June
Speaker 1: and twenty thirty. So the Sons have no draft capital
Speaker 1: to make moves. How do they if they decide to
Speaker 1: keep Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal together, how
Speaker 1: do they improve around those guys with very very limited
Speaker 1: flexibility to sign free agents or make trades. Man Matt
Speaker 1: Ishbia has a lot of questions to answer. Last thing,
Speaker 1: is South Beach treating you all right? How about? What
Speaker 1: did missus Haynes think of her anniversary being talked about
Speaker 1: on national television?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I had to show it the next morning. Nah,
Speaker 2: let see, it was cool. So our anniversary is actually today.
Speaker 2: So we went to the beach, hung at the beach,
Speaker 2: Bernie Lee, Jimmy Butler's agents got us reservations at Carbone
Speaker 2: Italian restaurant out here, spent like three hours there. She
Speaker 2: had a great time. She had a great time. So
Speaker 2: you know, we didn't we didn't.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I heard your colleague Brian Anderson put the city
Speaker 1: on alert the Haynes family's in town.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was cool. Twenty one years.
Speaker 1: Congratulations my friend, that is awesome, And congratulations to show contributors.
Speaker 1: Charlotte Haynes as well and beyond wishing you guys a
Speaker 1: happy twenty first anniversary, I am wishing for no more injuries.
Speaker 1: Can we just stop it with the injuries? Can we
Speaker 1: have one, two, maybe three days of good health in
Speaker 1: this league? Enough? Stop it? All right? That's gonna do
Speaker 1: it for this edition of this league Uncut. As always,
Speaker 1: please follow us, rate the show, review the show. We
Speaker 1: would love to get a five star review from you.
Speaker 1: Chris is on Celtic's Heat. I believe through game five.
Speaker 1: Is that correct? You're on that series at least through
Speaker 1: game five. I will be on MAVs Clippers, probably to
Speaker 1: the completion of that series. Definitely through the first six games.
Speaker 1: We'll see if a it requires a game seven and
Speaker 1: if I would make it to that game seven that
Speaker 1: is tbd. But I will be at Game five in LA.
Speaker 1: I'll be working actually on the Mavericks radio broadcast, as
Speaker 1: I did for Game one and Game two in LA.
Speaker 1: So busy times, that's the way it is in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: But Chris and I will be together again very soon
Speaker 1: for the next edition of this league Uncut. Thanks as
Speaker 1: always for listening, and one more time, happy twenty first
Speaker 1: anniversary at Chris and.
Speaker 3: Should and that'll do it for us. See you next time.
Speaker 3: This League Uncut is an iHeartRadio production
Speaker 1: Chris Haynes and Mark Stein