Speaker 1: The volume.
Speaker 2: All right, welcome into the Monday Morning Podcast. And in
Speaker 2: one of the really most dynamic offensive playoff games I've
Speaker 2: ever seen. At one point, Jason Timp joining me Hoops tonight,
Speaker 2: great podcast for the volume. At one point tonight I
Speaker 2: looked up and Phoenix was shooting fifty eight percent and
Speaker 2: then like forty seven from three and it was a
Speaker 2: six point game. I thought, this isn't sustainable. Let me
Speaker 2: give me a break. But you know it's it's I
Speaker 2: want to throw this at you, Jason. Is that? And
Speaker 2: I think this is a benefit of the NBA. Very
Speaker 2: few controversial NFL players for a few controversial baseball players
Speaker 2: or soccer players in America. Maybe internationally they are, but
Speaker 2: in the NBA there's a lot of drama. Kawhi drama,
Speaker 2: ad drama, Lebron and b Jahn, morant Zion, I mean,
Speaker 2: even guys who are low key. Jokich gets involved in
Speaker 2: an MVP debate. And I've always said the NBA is
Speaker 2: the great story league. It's got great drama. It's soap opera.
Speaker 2: And then there's Devin Booker, like Chris Paul has a
Speaker 2: love hate relationship with fans, so does KD and Booker
Speaker 2: goes out. He's Klay Thompson with better handles, like chill.
Speaker 2: He's on one of the great heaters I've ever seen
Speaker 2: in the history of the playoffs. He's really it's very
Speaker 2: rare because the NBA, between shoe sales and social media,
Speaker 2: it drums up a ton of stories. And you know,
Speaker 2: I know he likes old cars, like there's just there's
Speaker 2: just no story. And I watch him play and he's
Speaker 2: got a little bit of an old school thing. He
Speaker 2: still loves the mid range jumper, but he can hit
Speaker 2: the three. He's not like Carmelo where he wouldn't embrace
Speaker 2: it in his prime, like he'll move back and shoot it.
Speaker 2: I mean, as somebody you played basketball again, I think
Speaker 2: he's more athletic than Klay Thompson with a better ball handler.
Speaker 2: But there is sort of this I'm just going to
Speaker 2: show up and do my job. You know, Clay at
Speaker 2: this point is very hot and cold. He was terrible
Speaker 2: last game, great in game two. What do you make
Speaker 2: of Bookers eater?
Speaker 1: You know, it's so interesting, Colin, because I think the
Speaker 1: worst thing that happened to him in his career was
Speaker 1: that he started averaging twenty five points a game pretty
Speaker 1: early and was on a bad team, and so he's
Speaker 1: been averaging. You know, he's been a mid twenties, high
Speaker 1: twenties scorer who's relatively efficient for a really long time.
Speaker 1: And so then Chris Paul came to the team, and
Speaker 1: really it had nothing to do. Chris Paul played a
Speaker 1: part of it, but they just added a lot of talent,
Speaker 1: They added a lot of veterans, They added DeAndre and
Speaker 1: they added Chris Paul and they started playing in these
Speaker 1: big playoff games. And everyone just attributes all of the
Speaker 1: success to the team to everything but Devin Booker. But
Speaker 1: over the years, despite him reaching that scoring peak early,
Speaker 1: he's added a lot of things. He's become a much
Speaker 1: much better defensive player, he's become an outstanding playmaker and
Speaker 1: high picking early a ten assist again tonight, And like
Speaker 1: you said, he's just on an all time great shot
Speaker 1: making run right now. And it's been as we go
Speaker 1: back in his playoff career, he was kind of on
Speaker 1: a crazy hot shot making run in that twenty twenty
Speaker 1: one run when they almost won the title. It was
Speaker 1: Chris Paul that fell apart at the end. He's been unbelievable.
Speaker 1: I think that he's gone under the radar as a
Speaker 1: product of the success of the team around him. But
Speaker 1: I think he's legitimately in that same list with the
Speaker 1: guys like Jason Tatum and Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid
Speaker 1: and all those eight, nine, ten guys that we put
Speaker 1: at the top of the league. He's in that tier.
Speaker 1: He's probably near the bottom of that tier, but he's
Speaker 1: in that tier like he's a bona fide superstar in
Speaker 1: my opinion, Yeah.
Speaker 2: I don't think it's sustainable. I still like, you know,
Speaker 2: I thought, I thought Phoenix, I watched them play the Clippers,
Speaker 2: and I thought, ugh, if you could give them Norman
Speaker 2: Palo off the bench, you'd be like, oh, okay, they
Speaker 2: need a guy, they need a guy off the bench.
Speaker 2: And then Chris Paul gets hurt Cameron Payne now and
Speaker 2: it's like, now they don't have any guy, Like, they
Speaker 2: have no bench. So they're not a championship team. They're
Speaker 2: just not. I mean, Boston's gonna bring eight to nine Warriors,
Speaker 2: can bring eight nine Lakers, although I think they have
Speaker 2: a lot of b players, can give you eight nine guys.
Speaker 2: I mean Phoenix is like six so and I don't
Speaker 2: think it's sustainable. You know, I told somebody the other day, whoever,
Speaker 2: I think the Nuggets will win the next two games,
Speaker 2: and I think what's going to happen is Denver's going
Speaker 2: to have a one oh series lead in the Western
Speaker 2: Conference Finals because I think they're going to vanquish the
Speaker 2: Suns here very quickly, and then the Lakers and Warriors,
Speaker 2: two older teams, are going to go seven, and then
Speaker 2: one of them with no rest, flies to high altitude Denver.
Speaker 2: You're going to get run off the floor in Game one,
Speaker 2: and so Denver's gonna have a one oh serious lead.
Speaker 2: My takeaway on Denver is they're highly efficient. Jokic is insane.
Speaker 2: Not every championship team Jason is great. The Spurs team
Speaker 2: was mostly unappetizing to a lot of the nation. The
Speaker 2: ratings were really bad, and that clean learned that early
Speaker 2: Lebron team against the Spurs. Not every championship team is fascinating.
Speaker 2: I mean the Utah Jazz I liked him, but you
Speaker 2: know there were you know, the pick and roll. I mean,
Speaker 2: even Malone wasn't highly vertical. He was kind of a
Speaker 2: bully around the basket. So would you agree that Denver, though,
Speaker 2: is gonna I think they're gonna win the next two games.
Speaker 2: That's my take care I think so too.
Speaker 1: I mean, you said, you said it's not sustainable, and
Speaker 1: that's not an insult Colin. It's literally impotib It would
Speaker 1: be unprecedented in NBA history for Devin Booker to continue
Speaker 1: to shoot the way he's been shooting. He was thirteen
Speaker 1: for seventeen on pull up jump shots in Game three.
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant just had what I thought was the best
Speaker 1: pull up jump shooting season ever and he shot fifty
Speaker 1: five percent, like the best in the world at that
Speaker 1: shot make about half of them, and Devin Booker's making
Speaker 1: like over seventy five percent of them. So it is
Speaker 1: not sustainable. And you know, the thing is is as
Speaker 1: we look back throughout the series, kind of like Game
Speaker 1: two in Nikola Jokic made fourteen shots in the paint
Speaker 1: again tonight just living in the paint, makes some jump shots.
Speaker 1: He's gonna make some jump shots. He made some crazy
Speaker 1: ones and one over Devin Booker was crazy. But there's
Speaker 1: no doubt that as you look at the shot quality
Speaker 1: moving forward, Denver gets a little bit better shots that
Speaker 1: are much more likely to be replicated as we move forward,
Speaker 1: and they have two of the final three games at home.
Speaker 1: So that's not to say the Suns can't win. If
Speaker 1: Devin and KD go into Denver and they shoot the
Speaker 1: lights out again, yes they can win the series. But
Speaker 1: the safer bet is Denver because they're getting better shots
Speaker 1: and they have home court and what I think is
Speaker 1: the best home court advantage in the NBA.
Speaker 2: How great have the NBA playoffs been so far? Miami
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Speaker 2: time app All right, let's pivot to a wildly entertaining series,
Speaker 2: ugly for most of it. James Harten carries the Sixers.
Speaker 2: Another absolutely remarkable James Harden game. There. You know, it's
Speaker 2: hard to get my arms around what the Sixers are
Speaker 2: between Mbeid's health, kind of the roller coaster of Harden
Speaker 2: at this point in his career. I kind of always
Speaker 2: know the athleticism I'm going to get from Maxi. Tobias
Speaker 2: Harris can be a hot cold score. My takeaway when
Speaker 2: I watched that game, and even if Boston would have
Speaker 2: won in both regulation and the fourth quarter or fourth, yeah,
Speaker 2: fourth quarter and overtime, Boston's last possession. You guys have
Speaker 2: been playing together for six years, get it together. Like
Speaker 2: everybody can bang on the coach for not calling a
Speaker 2: time out, but my takeaway is in that moment with
Speaker 2: that group, like if Stephan, Clay Draymond and Wiggins had
Speaker 2: eleven seconds, I wouldn't want the Lakers to be set.
Speaker 2: They're too good defensively, I'd rather be them. I'd rather
Speaker 2: have them backpedaling a little bit, kind of look into
Speaker 2: the sideline. I generally, if you have a veteran team
Speaker 2: and a rotation you're comfortable with. I wouldn't call a timeout.
Speaker 2: It goes back to the years ago the Seahawks Patriots
Speaker 2: were in a Super Bowl. It was a real chess
Speaker 2: match Pete Carolyn Belichick, and you know Belichick is defense.
Speaker 2: He wouldn't call time out. He was like, we know
Speaker 2: what you're doing. This is why we agonize over practice.
Speaker 2: And so the Celtics and the Warriors are the two
Speaker 2: teams in the league right now. I'm not calling a timeout.
Speaker 2: My experience is my edge. Lakers a brand new team
Speaker 2: since the deadline, I'd call a timeout. I'd want to
Speaker 2: get the ball to Ad. Even Denver's kind of young.
Speaker 2: Philadelphia depends on who's healthy and who's hot. So this
Speaker 2: comes down to something. I just there's an apprehension with Boston.
Speaker 2: I just can't get past. I just I can't get
Speaker 2: past that. I do not trust them. You know, games
Speaker 2: decided by five hundred or five points or less. I
Speaker 2: could be wrong. I think they're now thirteen and fourteen.
Speaker 2: That doesn't make sense with those guys, does it.
Speaker 1: The part that drove me crazy about that final possession
Speaker 1: was them waiting so damn low like James Harden make
Speaker 1: that shot with like twelve seconds left. It's a one
Speaker 1: point game, so if you go down and you miss,
Speaker 1: you have a chance to foul and get and get
Speaker 1: another opportunity. They basically dribbled the clock out to try
Speaker 1: to work to a specific switch they wanted on Jason Tatum.
Speaker 1: They didn't actually start to look to attack until like
Speaker 1: five or six seconds left. And so, you know, the
Speaker 1: thing with Boston is, I agree with you, they don't
Speaker 1: really need an organization because they have so many good
Speaker 1: matchups and they're always gonna force you to help off
Speaker 1: of a shooter like Malcolm Brogden a wide open three
Speaker 1: in the left wing at the end of that game
Speaker 1: that he ended up missing. They're going to generate wide
Speaker 1: open looks. It's just go quickly. It's the stagnation with
Speaker 1: Boston that becomes a problem when they dribble up the
Speaker 1: floor and they just take a contested jump shot or
Speaker 1: they get the switch they want, but then they stand
Speaker 1: and they stare around for ten seconds before they do something.
Speaker 1: I was so impressed by James Harden in this game
Speaker 1: because he's kind of beating allegations in this playoff run
Speaker 1: because he kind of has a reputation for being a
Speaker 1: player that can fade later in series, and this was
Speaker 1: a super unique performance from James Harden because this is
Speaker 1: at a point in the series where they figured him
Speaker 1: out right. They are forcing him to his right hand
Speaker 1: every single time. He had back to back at the
Speaker 1: end of regulation, when Joel Embiid was crumbling under Al Horford,
Speaker 1: Just and Joe made a couple of huge plays in
Speaker 1: ot so like, including the double team kickout to James
Speaker 1: Harden for the game winner and a little fade away
Speaker 1: over Al Horford. But Horford was completely falling off the
Speaker 1: face of the earth again. Embiid was in that fourth
Speaker 1: quarter and James Harden carried them. He had a hard
Speaker 1: isolation against a Jason Tatum where he got into the
Speaker 1: lane to his right hand and made a floater. He
Speaker 1: had a pull up jump shot on Jalen Brown where
Speaker 1: he got to his right hand and took a and
Speaker 1: took a jump shot like he has. He has gone
Speaker 1: to his weakness because that's what the playoffs are about,
Speaker 1: or forcing you to be uncomfortable, forcing you to do
Speaker 1: things that make you feel uncomfortable, and he is getting
Speaker 1: He's having success in the weakest areas of his game,
Speaker 1: and I think a big part of it is him
Speaker 1: not relying on the step back jump shot from three,
Speaker 1: or not just driving into the teeth of the defense
Speaker 1: and trying to draw fouls, but taking what the defense
Speaker 1: giving him, which is those mid range shots, the little
Speaker 1: floaters in the lane, the little pull up jump shots.
Speaker 1: I was so impressed by James Harden in this game,
Speaker 1: and look like it sucks that he's so inconsistent, but
Speaker 1: this is what you want from a second star. He
Speaker 1: doesn't have to be there every night, but he needs
Speaker 1: to be able to win you a game or two
Speaker 1: in the playoffs, and Harden's won you two in this
Speaker 1: series so far.
Speaker 2: Well, and also a lot of the teams he was
Speaker 2: on before he was such a ball centric scoring machine,
Speaker 2: but by the time he got to the second round
Speaker 2: of the playoffs, it felt like he was gassed. Whereas
Speaker 2: MB's the MVP Tobias Harris gives you about every third game,
Speaker 2: he gives you a big game. MAXI has control of
Speaker 2: the ball, so it's not as hard and reliant. I mean,
Speaker 2: they could he can play poorly and they can win,
Speaker 2: maybe not in the playoffs, but in the regular season.
Speaker 2: So I feel like he's got more energy. I feel
Speaker 2: like there are times like today I thought, oh no,
Speaker 2: he's not tired at all. Embid looked gassed. It's like
Speaker 2: Harden didn't. Yeah, Harden didn't look gast at all. All right,
Speaker 2: now we go to the Lakers Warriors. Let's spend some
Speaker 2: time on this. You know, I was thinking about this
Speaker 2: series and when Golden State was playing Sacramento, I felt
Speaker 2: like they were facing a less talented version of themselves.
Speaker 2: But they were really looking in the mirror a lot.
Speaker 2: And that's why I always felt strongly they were going
Speaker 2: to win the series because they kind of knew the
Speaker 2: next trick. They could kind of guess what was going
Speaker 2: to happen next. Sacramento's about a wing player away, a
Speaker 2: Wiggins away from being the Warriors. Right, they have some
Speaker 2: of the same components, but the Lakers are the opposite
Speaker 2: of the Warriors. Size, great rim protection, ad a dominant
Speaker 2: big length, inconsistent shooting, sometimes poor shooting, undrafted players bounce
Speaker 2: around the league. Guys, they don't have the cohesion. You know,
Speaker 2: they're a trade deadline team. I'm like, they're the opposite
Speaker 2: of the Warriors, and I think there are times in
Speaker 2: this series I feel like the Warriors were a little flummoxed.
Speaker 2: They're not. This is like it's like in boxing, facing
Speaker 2: a left panded boxer, You're like, I know I'm better
Speaker 2: than him, but I don't have a sparring partner that's
Speaker 2: a left I've never faced a lefty, and I just
Speaker 2: feel like, to me, the Warriors feel they can't quite
Speaker 2: make up their mind. Do they do they want to
Speaker 2: challenge the Lakers or at the rim? Or are they
Speaker 2: just going to do pull ups? Now? They went back
Speaker 2: to kind of attacking the rim a couple of times,
Speaker 2: and I'm like, guys, it's not gonna work. Ads has
Speaker 2: good A defenders the league have. That's not going to work.
Speaker 2: So I don't feel the same way I did with Sacramento,
Speaker 2: where I felt kind of this kind of hovering confidence,
Speaker 2: like they're going to figure out even though they've been
Speaker 2: a bad road team. They solve that fast. But I
Speaker 2: do think Kerr will make adjustments. But boy, there are
Speaker 2: moments in this series they look small and frustrated. Is
Speaker 2: that they look small and frustrated at times.
Speaker 1: This is a different type of team than any team
Speaker 1: that we've seen the Warriors play. Really in this entire
Speaker 1: era when you factor in the combination of their into
Speaker 1: your size and the offensive skill that they have around them.
Speaker 1: Here's a crazy stat for you, Colin. The Lakers have
Speaker 1: won five postseason games this year shooting below thirty percent
Speaker 1: from three So, like, you're absolutely right, they could not
Speaker 1: be more different than what this four years team is.
Speaker 1: I think this series has been such This entire playoff
Speaker 1: run has been such a I think Darvin Ham has
Speaker 1: been so incredibly impressive. He's hit a bunch of the
Speaker 1: right notes. I thought he made a bunch of key
Speaker 1: adjustments in Game six against Memphis, shrinking the rotation to
Speaker 1: the correct eight guys, tweaking his coverage of Desmond Baine.
Speaker 1: It was a masterclass. And then you go into this
Speaker 1: series and it's Game one. We knew the Warriors were
Speaker 1: going to throw their fastball, which was all their off
Speaker 1: ball stuff with their main lineup, and Darvin Ham just
Speaker 1: top locked all the shooters, funneled everybody into the paint.
Speaker 1: It was a disaster. Game two, the predictable adjustment from
Speaker 1: Steve Kerr, lots of Steph Curry high pick and roll,
Speaker 1: Draymond Green kills him in the short role. The entire
Speaker 1: game genius adjustment from Darvin Ham. He puts Jared vander
Speaker 1: Built onto Draymond Green and Austin Reeves onto Steph Curry
Speaker 1: so they can switch to Steph Draymond pick and roll.
Speaker 1: Now when they bring Anthony Davis into the screen, it's
Speaker 1: a role man like Jamichael Green or Kevon Looney who's
Speaker 1: just nowhere near as good at making those decisions in
Speaker 1: the short role as Draymond Green is. It's been a
Speaker 1: masterclass coaching performance from Darvin Ham in my opinion. You
Speaker 1: know what's interesting, and this is why I say it's
Speaker 1: different than any other Warriors opponent in this era. In
Speaker 1: the past, it used to be that the Warriors would
Speaker 1: play your best players off the floor. Oh, we're going
Speaker 1: to play your center off the floor because he's too slow.
Speaker 1: We're going to play this guard off the floor because
Speaker 1: he can't guard. In this series, the Lakers have been
Speaker 1: able to keep their core rotation and guess what. The
Speaker 1: Warriors have had to cut way back on Gary Payton's
Speaker 1: minutes and they've had to cut way back in Kavon
Speaker 1: Looney's minutes because of the Anthony Davis problem. We focus
Speaker 1: so much on superstar offensive players and their ability to
Speaker 1: overcome anything. Look at what Devin Booker did tonight. Look
Speaker 1: at what Steph Curry's done throughout his playoff career. Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis not single handedly, but he's carrying the vast majority
Speaker 1: of this Lowe is exposing his defensive superpower to slow
Speaker 1: down this Warriors offense. I think it's been one of
Speaker 1: the best defensive performances I've ever seen from a player.
Speaker 1: This is very different. This is a very different type
Speaker 1: of challenge. Series is not over. I think the winner
Speaker 1: of Game four wins the series. But man, this is
Speaker 1: definitely going to be a unique challenge for the Warriors.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, game game Game five and Game seven, which
Speaker 2: are huge games, obviously deciding Game seven, are both at
Speaker 2: Chase Center. It is interesting. I did not pick the
Speaker 2: Warriors to get to the finals, and a lot of
Speaker 2: it was I think they've struggled all year to figure
Speaker 2: out to bridge the old new gap. Now they're not
Speaker 2: playing kaminga at all. Moody's good. Doesn't play a lot,
Speaker 2: but he's actually pretty good. Jordan Poole is just infuriating,
Speaker 2: but I think they need him. My takeaway on this
Speaker 2: series was the Warriors would win it. But I felt
Speaker 2: somewhere in the playoffs, whether it was against Jokic, or
Speaker 2: it's against Anthony Davis, or it would be against MBID,
Speaker 2: that they would face an offensive minded center and they
Speaker 2: just get nothing from their bigs. I mean when Wiggins
Speaker 2: was out, Jesus, I mean, they got nothing from anybody
Speaker 2: but the back court for two months. I mean it
Speaker 2: was just basically Steph kept him at five hundred. I mean,
Speaker 2: they had no scoring. So Wiggins gives them, you know,
Speaker 2: you're fifteen a game at the wing. But I do
Speaker 2: think that Bob Meyer and Kerr, out of respect for Curry,
Speaker 2: everything's going to be. They're going to attain players eventually
Speaker 2: who are on Steph's timeline. Anthony Davis is on his
Speaker 2: timeline right, bigs that can play, And I'm really interested
Speaker 2: if they lose this series. They're not going to stand
Speaker 2: pat They're just not And as Looney right now has
Speaker 2: a reputation that's greater than his game. I mean, he's
Speaker 2: got no offensive skill. He's a great rebounder. It's like,
Speaker 2: we can take fewer rebounds, give me seventeen points. If
Speaker 2: you ran the Warriors as constituted today and they lost
Speaker 2: in Game six, and it was Anthony Davis that just
Speaker 2: at the rim, protecting it and scoring. Where do you go,
Speaker 2: because I don't think they stand pat Where would they go?
Speaker 1: It's so interesting you asked that because I was texting
Speaker 1: a buddy of mine who covers the Warriors the other
Speaker 1: day and for the record, do not think this series
Speaker 1: is over. Would not be the least bit surprised if
Speaker 1: Golden State one Game two and won the series. This
Speaker 1: is not over. But in the hypothetical scenario where the
Speaker 1: Warriors lose, what I would do is I would retain
Speaker 1: your one, two three, so I would keep Steph, Klay Thompson,
Speaker 1: and Andrew Wiggins, and then I would go all in
Speaker 1: on the front line with size and athleticism. And then
Speaker 1: I'd run a more traditional offense that you see around
Speaker 1: the NBA, where you rely more on Steph Curry in
Speaker 1: high pick and roll. It's just the way that the
Speaker 1: game has been set up. That's where you can have
Speaker 1: a ton of success these days, especially when you've got
Speaker 1: shooting and athleticism around you. And Andrew Wiggins and Klay
Speaker 1: Thompson are great at that. Specifically, too often they've had
Speaker 1: to rely on being gimmicky to overcome their size issue,
Speaker 1: no question, and it's worked like we're not being critical.
Speaker 1: They've what they have, four titles. But you know, as
Speaker 1: players start to age out just a little bit and
Speaker 1: their effectiveness starts to slide just a little bit, it's
Speaker 1: time to potentially try something different. And in that scenario,
Speaker 1: I do all in on Steph Clay and Wiggins mainly too.
Speaker 1: From an asset standpoint, like Clay at this phase in
Speaker 1: his career is going to be tough to get like
Speaker 1: value for right, Andrew Wiggins is one of the most
Speaker 1: important types of players you can have on an NBA roster,
Speaker 1: like a legit twenty point per game score that can
Speaker 1: guard the other team's best player. Steph I think as
Speaker 1: absolutely as at least two or three more years as
Speaker 1: a peak level superstar. Then you start to look down
Speaker 1: the roster and it's like Jordan Poole, like him or
Speaker 1: hate him, He's at least an asset that you probably
Speaker 1: can get some value out of. So I would I
Speaker 1: would definitely look to bolster the front court with just
Speaker 1: a ton of size in athleticism, get Steph a real
Speaker 1: vertical spacing threat so he can actually run. You know,
Speaker 1: you mentioned Anthony Davis. He might not be attainable, but
Speaker 1: somebody that can do some of like a poor man's
Speaker 1: version of him, that can play traditional drop coverag grim
Speaker 1: protect and be a vertical spacing threat like that would
Speaker 1: be the direction that I'd look to go if they
Speaker 1: did choose to rebuild.
Speaker 2: So it was interesting Lebron didn't score a single point
Speaker 2: in that game, and it was and we both we've
Speaker 2: discussed this kind of ad nauseam that he really lets
Speaker 2: the game come to him, and by the way he should.
Speaker 2: He kind of waits for it, and so then he
Speaker 2: turns the jet you know, the jets on later in
Speaker 2: games and crucial situations, and it's it's like a really
Speaker 2: it's like a it's like a boxer with a knockout
Speaker 2: punch who's at the end of his career. He just
Speaker 2: lets the fight come to him and then the other
Speaker 2: guy gets worn down. Sixth round, he kind of seizes it.
Speaker 2: Seventh round, goes to the knockout. But it's interesting with
Speaker 2: Lebron that this series, I thought it was a real problem.
Speaker 2: After Game one, they get one day rest, so they're
Speaker 2: back on the court tomorrow. Do you foresee any problem
Speaker 2: Game four, Game five, Game six, Game seven, and I'm
Speaker 2: watching Lebron the other night, and I'm like, I know
Speaker 2: what he's doing here, He's waiting for the moment we got.
Speaker 2: We may have four more of these things. Would you
Speaker 2: be concerned if you were Darvin ham about I don't
Speaker 2: know how much can I get out of him? I got,
Speaker 2: we got four games in eight days, potentially. That's just
Speaker 2: he's not Jason. That's just not what he's That's not
Speaker 2: what he is now.
Speaker 1: I mean to me, this series comes down to the
Speaker 1: Lakers will absolutely will win if they get two more
Speaker 1: defensive efforts like what they had in Game three, And
Speaker 1: you know, Lebron James, there was a time out after
Speaker 1: a that nasty Andrew Wiggins dunk and then Steph Curry
Speaker 1: got a three on an offensive rebound put back where
Speaker 1: they got it back to twelve. And after that time out,
Speaker 1: Lebron really engaged himself athletically and started blocking shots getting
Speaker 1: out in transition. You know, he doesn't quite have the
Speaker 1: same first step that he usually has, probably a byproduct
Speaker 1: of the foot injury, which is a byproduct of his age.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: His jump shot has kind of failed him in a
Speaker 1: lot of different ways in the postseason run. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: kind of It's highly unusual, but it is what it is. However,
Speaker 1: next to what Anthony Davis is doing and what Jared
Speaker 1: Vanderbilt is doing. If Lebron James engages himself as a
Speaker 1: rebounder and as a defender and pushes in transition when
Speaker 1: he cans when he can, that's all they need from him.
Speaker 1: That's all they need. That's how good this team is defensively.
Speaker 1: They don't need him to be thirty five point per
Speaker 1: game historical playoff Lebron. They just need him to be
Speaker 1: engaged defensively. Now, you said, should Darvin hand be worried?
Speaker 1: That's the thing. We have seen this throughout this playoff
Speaker 1: run and really throughout the entire season. The Lakers struggle
Speaker 1: to maintain their effort level. I would not be surprised
Speaker 1: in the slightest if Game four was much closer, or
Speaker 1: if the Warriors held a decent sized lead throughout the
Speaker 1: Lakers struggle to maintain that defensive intensity. But it's really
Speaker 1: that simple to me. If they can get two more
Speaker 1: performances like that, they can win the series. Game four
Speaker 1: I expect to be super close. Game five, I think
Speaker 1: golden State would win nine times out of ten and
Speaker 1: then game six back crypto if you get that three
Speaker 1: two lead at that point. Lebron was excellent in the
Speaker 1: closeout game against Memphis. He smells blood in the water
Speaker 1: and he summons the necessary energy that he needs. Everything
Speaker 1: comes down to game four for me.
Speaker 2: You know, it's interesting, this is sort of feeling like
Speaker 2: the Bubble year. Anthony Davis was healthy and dominant. Anthony
Speaker 2: Davis now is on a long streak of healthy and dominant.
Speaker 2: Lebron was out of his prime but could be dominant
Speaker 2: in spurts. There were several players KCP one, d Lo here,
Speaker 2: big shot makers, but you always kind of feel like
Speaker 2: they're not part of the future. Right then you have
Speaker 2: like I mean when I always like KCP Rich Paul
Speaker 2: and I talked about this. He was never afraid to
Speaker 2: take a big shot like ever didn't know's love his selection,
Speaker 2: but I loved his effort. Diegelo Russell same thing. He's
Speaker 2: always willing to take a shot. But I don't think
Speaker 2: they're going to sign him for a long term deal.
Speaker 2: And the West year was weird. Veteran teams, you know,
Speaker 2: dovetailed in the postseason in the Bubble. They missed their
Speaker 2: wives and their friends and their kids. And this year
Speaker 2: is weird. I mean the Clippers were weird. Denver's a
Speaker 2: unique team. I mean, Golden State had from the punch
Speaker 2: to the abysmal road performance, Chris Paul's now out KD trade,
Speaker 2: it is that bubble team. Even though you know, if
Speaker 2: you go back to the bubble and I don't remember
Speaker 2: it specifically, but I can remember a D really being
Speaker 2: dominant at times, and at times for the first time ever,
Speaker 2: Lebron like kind of liking it. In fact, I mean,
Speaker 2: do you remember that bubble where it was the first
Speaker 2: time ever Lebron was in a championship level thing and
Speaker 2: was very comfortable dropping the ball low and observing. I
Speaker 2: think I think I think Lebron one of his assets.
Speaker 2: I think he's very comfortable. I think deep down he
Speaker 2: knows AD on both ends of the floor right now
Speaker 2: is a better player more consistently than I am. And
Speaker 2: I think Lebron's okay with it. He's always been a
Speaker 2: great teammate. Do you think he knows that Not only.
Speaker 1: Is he okay with it, he's been begging for this
Speaker 1: for years. That was the whole reason why he like
Speaker 1: he that's what he wanted Kyrie to b That's what
Speaker 1: he's been wanting Anthony Davis to be. You know, I
Speaker 1: do think this team is actually a little bit better
Speaker 1: defensively than the twenty twenty Lakers with their core lineup.
Speaker 1: They're not as deep because Dwight Howard was so important
Speaker 1: off the bench for them, But it's the Jared Vanderbilt piece.
Speaker 1: They never really had a real athletic forward that could
Speaker 1: defend the way Jared Vanderbilt could. Thought that Laker team
Speaker 1: had slightly better guard defenders. But also Anthony Davis I
Speaker 1: think is on a defensive run that even he couldn't
Speaker 1: reach in twenty twenty. The thing that the difference is
Speaker 1: and the reason why, Like, I was incredibly confident that
Speaker 1: twenty twenty Lakers team was going to win. They started
Speaker 1: the season twenty four and three. I believed in their defense,
Speaker 1: I believed in Lebron. I thought they were going to win.
Speaker 1: The biggest fear.
Speaker 2: For me Miami. Miami was a bunch of kids, for sure.
Speaker 2: That was a I was surprised it was competitive early
Speaker 2: and they were just they were out of their element.
Speaker 1: For sure, and they they actually went through some tougher
Speaker 1: competition in the Western Conference. I thought like that Nuggets
Speaker 1: team was pretty good. The Lakers were just clicking at
Speaker 1: a high level. That Houston team that was really weird,
Speaker 1: that played a five out, you know. But specifically what
Speaker 1: scares me with this Lakers team is they just don't
Speaker 1: have close to the same offensive ceiling as that twenty
Speaker 1: twenty Lakers team, even though that twenty twenty Lakers team
Speaker 1: was known as being, you know, somewhat clunky offensively, simply
Speaker 1: because Lebron James was operating at a much higher level
Speaker 1: offensively in that playoff run. Yeah, he was giving you
Speaker 1: forty in the finals. Like like if I if I
Speaker 1: told you one of the odds that Lebron's going to
Speaker 1: get forty tomorrow, you'd be like extremely low. Like it's
Speaker 1: just he just doesn't seem to have that first and
Speaker 1: then Anthony Davis was on such a jump shooting run
Speaker 1: in that twenty twenty bubble. He was making everything out
Speaker 1: of the post like he was Kevin Durant make you
Speaker 1: shot like fifty something percent on pull up jump shots
Speaker 1: in that playoff run. So like, as much as I
Speaker 1: enjoy this Lakers team, I do think they have a
Speaker 1: slightly higher defensive ceiling with their best lineups because of
Speaker 1: Jared Vanderbilt. They have a little bit more flexibility, and
Speaker 1: they do have more offensive skill in the back court.
Speaker 1: But you win with superstars in the playoffs, and I'm
Speaker 1: just a little concerned with the up and down nature
Speaker 1: of Lebron and Anthony Davis offensively. That doesn't mean they
Speaker 1: can't win it, but I view them as more just
Speaker 1: in the pack, whereas to me, that twenty twenty Lakers
Speaker 1: team was head and shoulders above everybody else.
Speaker 2: Jason Timpf hoops Tonight such an important part of the volume.
Speaker 2: His stuff's all over YouTube, really breaks it down like
Speaker 2: I don't think anybody else does in this space. I
Speaker 2: absolutely love it. I'll pass on discussing the knicks and
Speaker 2: the heat. I don't even know how Miami. Miami's not
Speaker 2: even playing well. That's what's amazing. They're not even I mean,
Speaker 2: they're really not playing extraordinarily well. And I look up
Speaker 2: and I'm like, Cody Zeller's on the floor, Lauren, Max Druce,
Speaker 2: and Jimmy Butler's not. We'll discuss that this week when
Speaker 2: we're on again. But as always, Buddy, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Thanks calling, see you next time.
Speaker 2: Man the volume. Make sure to check out The Draymon
Speaker 2: Green Show. I brought Draymond Green into the volume because
Speaker 2: one of the more entertaining voices in sports. Unique perspective
Speaker 2: understands behind the rope. Also chops up with guests like
Speaker 2: Gary Payton, Zach Levine, Tracy McGrady. Make sure download The
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