And now the low post welcome to the low post podcast. It's late Thursday night We're about to bring on David Thorpe for our annual rapid fire preview of the first round. We have to start with the Warriors The Warriors Steph Clay Dremand There's no story by getting this season for the Warriors They got walled up to the other night in the play and tournament by the Kings a lot of trash talking that rivalry a lot of big talk the Kings stomped it all into smithereens blew the Warriors out and did the Warriors season they're done and Everyone is asking now is that is it over? And if if I had a question you mean is it over for this particular core Steph Clay Dremand maybe Andrew We can if you count him and this particular cast of young guys like winning at a really high level together containing for a title winning winning a title Sorry, but getting all that yeah, that's over like it was probably already over these guys aren't gonna want to title This is incredibly unlikely that this group of veteran players plus this group of young players whatever tweaks You want to make in the middle is ever gonna lead to conference finals title ever again And that's not to say they just like a bad year for the Warriors ever good It was like they won 46 games they finished 27 and 12 over the last 39 games They found some stuff that worked race Jackson.
They have some dream on together coming on dream on together They found some real stuff. It was just never consistent enough Like even when they're winning it just never felt consistent enough one week this line up would work Then it wouldn't work one week They'd solve this week spot in their team then it would break again They were like you could you could feel it watching them They were constantly like on the verge of finding the right balance the right identity to their team the right Combinations you literally felt it watching them like oh they were that one pass was like right there But they didn't make it that one cup was like right there But they didn't make it they were so close it was like the like the basketball equivalent of When you have a name on the tip of your tongue and you just can't it's like right there But you can't get it out and you just move on to give up and honestly for this team to be pretty good It's it's honestly kind of a try-off. This is a dozen years of Steph clay and dream on together They should be over by now and and it's not it's just not good enough to contend in the West Which is loaded now is gonna be even more loaded next year when Memphis is back in the Spurs try to get better I'm gonna be on like there's no easy outs in the West the Warriors just to say they keep this team together We'll get there earlier They're good enough to make the playoffs like the real playoffs not just the play in playoffs If things break right like this could have been a 50 win team this year if dream on doesn't get suspended Which you can't really just if that away like if that was a huge thing that was like the defining thing of their season But to win like multiple playoff series three playoff series in the West is that's that's daunting So is it over it depends it depends what question you're asking that thing? That core winning titles Without something massive shaking it up and we'll get there that's over and this is kind of how it's supposed to be This is what happens to aging champions who stay together they get old they get old together they get old and expensive They draft at the bottom of the league they exhaust all their first round picks to get stop-gap veterans Which the Warriors actually didn't quite do that but they get old teams pass you by It's happened every great team to stay together before them and the league just moves on when you get to a point when you're core guys And there is no there's no storybook ending sometimes We'll get there But when your core is not good enough to win at the highest highest level anymore You have really three choices number one is just accept that and write off into the sunset There's honor in that like it would be it would be honorable and cool to watch Steph Clay and Dremon Rage against the dying of the light together winning 45 games It's just every week or two having a game where you're like oh my god That looks like the Warriors for a second and then losing in the first round or not making out of the plane Whatever that'd be cool path number path number two is you trade all of them Some of them most of them all of them for picks and future assets before it's too late to do it and you bought them out That's what the Celtics did other teams have done it But most recently the Celtics did it with Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett like Paul Pierce ain't Steph Curry He's not a top 10 to 15 top eight to 15 whatever player of all time But he's pretty damn good.
He's a franchise icon. There was emotion in that trade Like they had had deep playoff runs even after winning the title Almost playoff runs. They shoved that emotion over here. They said we don't it's not best for our franchise We got to trade you got this off from the net you're gone and it got them jail and Brown and Jason Tatum Warriors haven't done that they can't do it now that that path well they could I mean they could trade stuff They're not going to and they shouldn't nobody should want the two Steph Curry should remain a warrior forever and ever and ever and that's where it should be The other path the third path is try and prolong your clinging to the top of the league with some borderline miraculous Transaction that injects talent into your team without taking the key talent out of your team to some degree They did that with Andrew Wiggins turning the Angela Russell into Andrew Wiggins In a roundabout way, but really Kevin Durant and the Angela also and Andrew Wiggins and for one glorious year They got exactly what they would possibly have hoped to get it just hasn't lasted like think about this Daniel Russell was better than Andrew Wiggins this year straight up I want to think about what that have been six months ago a year ago the Warriors also in that Now Wiggins the obviously they also got the the pick for Minnesota that became Jonathan comminga in 2021 comminga was and now is the most successful draft pick of the vaunted The heralded light years ahead two timelines plan, you know the plan where we're gonna be awesome now And what we're awesome now we're gonna get these young guys who are gonna help us be awesome later And so we never stopped being awesome.
There's no dip in the awesomeness between the new year the current year and the next year It wasn't really it wasn't a plan. There was a plan to do that There was a plan what happened was Kevin to let we're at left in free agency clay Thompson towards ACL Steph Curry broke His hand and other stuff having played five games in one year. So that's not a plan That's just like oh we suck all of a sudden we have a hydraph pick became James Winesman now We're gonna call this the two timelines when because we have this Minnesota pick coming next year We're pretty mediocre. We get another lottery pick it's a movie.
Oh, yeah two timelines. Let's call it that it's the two timelines plan Well, they pick James Winesman and they got those other guys and now they have Brandon Pajenski and Trace Jackson Davis That's Moses Moody comminga pods Jackson Davis Winesman. That's five bites at the apple four guys are still on the team Those four guys are doing pretty well and it ain't good enough And even if you are nice enough to call two timelines a plan This was always the most likely outcome of the two timelines plans scenario exit Wherever you want to call it the young guys aren't good enough in time to help the old guys to the storybook ending Then the old guys leave which is coming whether it's this summer two summers from now, whatever they're gonna leave soon And then the young guys when they get really good They're not good enough to be the foundation of a contending team There's good enough to be the foundation of an okay team and you haven't been awesome now and you haven't been awesome later That was the most likely outcome That you were gonna have in this scenario Like everyone wants to make the kawai learner comparison like disperse had this master stroke of a deal to get tim duncan One last great team tim duncan in mono and tony parker one last great team one last title team That was like a black swan event That kind of trade it's even it's even better in retrospect than it was at the time it never ever happens And it happened and by the way, it's first targeted kawai learner. It wasn't like a two timelines accident They made an aggressive trade and got kawai learner.
The biggest mystery is that obviously was wise minute number two And if there's a what if moment it's Not necessarily who could they have picked instead of wise when we all know those names we could go through them Yeah, like halo bertons on the team alper and shingling on the team Whatever, this is a totally different conversation where I haven't but it's more like what could they have gotten for trading that pick And I went back and I looked at my reporting from the time my nose from the time minnesota had the number one pick in that draft The hot names in the rumor mill were bradley biel Devin booker ben simmons and drew holiday and at least the wizards and the sons like they put out the alert We're not trading our guys number one pick number two pick as far as I can remember. Anyways, these guys We're not ready to have this conversation yet. Not that number one pick was ever implanted Just we're like for whatever pick those guys aren't on the table All the warriors they sniffed around like what can we get for number two? All they really ended up with was like yeah, you can trade back in the lottery and get this good veteran who's just like good He's a placeholder.
He can help our team now We'll get like number two for number eight and a good veteran number nine and a good veteran Whatever stuff I'm making up stuff that doesn't really change your life They decided those deals weren't worth it not when the number two pick could get you A massive massive future star and then they just picked the wrong guy missed opportunity Maybe it wasn't great opportunity, but it's missed opportunity So no storybook ending or was there one? I think we saw the storybook ending and we didn't really maybe realize at the time that it was the storybook ending and the storybook ending was the 2022 title That was magical magical stuff and I was there you felt it in real time It was like man after all that after all that the injuries to clay to rant leaving The weird trades angel wiggens is on the team staff had a lost season of 2020 after all that these dudes are here again Steph is shooting the Celtics into the ether again. I mean game four was just one of the all-time great finals performances It was the triumphal moment of Steph Curry's career. I mean he wept you saw it you wept Draymond green roared roaring control in the defense getting people spaces looking like dream on green clay Thompson He wasn't the same guy.
He wasn't game six clay anymore. The guy who could just like rip your team's soul out in just a 90 second heater But he was still a guy he was still a guy and it was just this all-time Confluence of events that got I mean you saw it was they had won one title They won three titles in this era to that point to with the rant I think they all agreed like we needed that one to wrap the era and they got it The only young guy really who did anything in that finals by the way was Jordan pool. We know what happened to him That championship it's gotten in two years. It seems more immense and special than it even seemed them It wasn't that was not the best worst.
It was probably like the worst of the four Curry championship teams It's kind of like an unremarkable championship team And I think still despite that that that's 2022 title is gonna be one of those kind of random titles that we all talk about More than the average NBA championship 10 15 20 years from that's kind of like the 2011 maths To come up in my conversations with random sports fans way more than they should because there was just something about that team And about Dirk and about what that title felt like And I think that's what that's gonna be that that was the storybook ending That was it and they caught the West that year by the way in a little bit of a holding pattern Who I was out for the season Clippers done Jamal Murray out for the season nuggets done But you know what everyone else in the league got that same opportunity everyone else warriors The only one that took advantage of it. They're the only one that sees it They were the only team that was steady enough calm enough boys enough to win 16 playoff games And if that was the storybook ending it was a damn good storybook ending It was seven years after the first curry dremon clay championship That's the same number of years that passed between mj's first title with the bulls and his last title with the bulls And this same general core staff dremon clay without with these same general young guys They're not gonna almost certainly not gonna win another one and I suspect the front office knows that It is gonna be interesting to see now this summer coming off this gut punch of a loss This disappointing season this horrible feeling they must have given what they've accomplished Even though this is their third time in five years miss the playoffs Interesting to see how aggressive they are and how cut through what they are to try to keep winning around staff While also cutting their payroll which they've talked about having to do I think different people in that organization Just as would be the kids with any organization a big organization There's a lot of thinkers there have different levels of sentimental attachment to clay who's a free agent and dremon who has had a volatile last 24 months Clay's gonna draw interest around the league. He's gonna want a fair salary I can tell you for sure both sides took note of that drew holiday extension with the with the Celtics four years 135 million dremon Volatile like I said still one of the ten best defense players in the league still a basketball genius genius Curry loves playing with him He makes curry better on offense and it worries would never get enough for green in a trade Not that they're even looking to trade number would but they would never get enough to make them feel okay trading I'm like he just means he just means too much of them Do they wave chris paul just to save money like is that what it's gonna come to if you close off some of those avenues like can't trade Resign clay his salary slots stays we can't can't trade your money's too important We just have to wave chris paul like you're running out of ways to improve the roster But they will have two unprotected first to trade this summer plus the better half of the 2030 pick They'll wash it and they can trade Picks one to 20 out of that pick what can they get if they put all those picks and play plus one or two of their young players I don't know. What if what if that whole series of transactions?
They have to lose one of Thompson and dream on one of clay and dream on either for cost cutting purposes or they have to be in a trade Or they have to lose wiggens or they have to like play Thompson walk to go open up some wiggle room Do you do that is it worth it? They are in a brutally hard spot It is going to take a home run of transactions not just one transaction a home run string of transactions For golden states of even sniff another title. I think and not to win another title in the curry era You just wish there was some way to do as a basketball fan you wish these three guys could play together forever The unfortunate reality of math is that they probably have to take less money to do that to all state together They probably have to all take lower salaries like disperse guys did to like make all the financial The financial math work, but man, it has been such a blast to watch it three of them play together I mean they were born to play together. It would be hard to find three players More stylistically different than Stephen Curry dream on green and clay Thompson But more complimentary of each other in terms of how they compensate for each other's weaknesses and amplify each other's strength It's just it's magic.
It's literally it's magic. It's it's why we follow sports with these three guys have together Curry and green are total basketball unicorns. They should play together forever It like I said before even if they just kept it together and they were just kind of mediocre year after your fight in play in their way There would kind of be honor to that. It would be kind of its own epilogue I guess of the story book ending of 2022 But if they want to win another title and I think they they want to at least put themselves in position to at least talk about maybe Snipping one somewhere along the way during curry's remaining years and he's that good You got to do it The ending's gonna may have to be something a little bit more dramatic and unexpected than that I have no idea what it's gonna be but they're gonna need that home run string of transactions that I talked about to get back into that picture And if they never do 2022 that was the story book ending And everything after that is anti-climactic and we'll see what happens But it was certainly eye-opening to watch the kings wall up them the other night and obviously raises a ton of questions about the team And the core that has defined the NBA for the last 10 or 12 years.
All right. Let's bring on David Thor This episode is brought to you by defender with its six hundred and twenty six horsepower twin turbo v8 engine The defender octa is taking on the decar rally the ultimate off-road challenge learn more at landrover.ca Square note that in hospitality efficiency is everything. That's why the system lets you take payments track sales handle inventory manage staff Send invoices and keep up with finances all in one place. I like to order this with zero mistakes It's a data you need and keep everything working together.
So you're ready for whatever's nice. What are more about their customizable plans? That's clear up All right, it's playoff time the real games are starting By the time you listen to this it will be tomorrow when the real games are starting saturday the playoffs This is why we do this the biggest games the best teams the strategy the x's and o's and it's time for one of my favorite annual traditions We used to call it eight by eight eight minutes for each of the eight first round series We never actually did eight minutes on any series except if it was like bucks bulls when the bulls had no shot We would just wipe that one away in four minutes. Now.
It's six by something. We'll call it six by six just for symmetry sake It's not gonna be six by six. We don't know the one eight series yet. David Thorpe author of basketball is jazz part of the true hoop conglomerate How are you sir?
I'm doing great. Yeah, it's a double-edged sword being getting honored to do this with you because it I've watched a lot of tape. I would have to anyway, but yeah, if I'm gonna be on your show I've got it. I've got to give it everything I got so I'm gonna do the best I can to keep up with you and and try to give Some kind of insightful wisdom into what's spectacle we're about to partake in.
Yeah, sometimes the film study is not super useful Um, like we're gonna have some series where all the games were like before January 5th or January or before the trade deadline You got to go back to the previous season and look at you're like Oh, that guy was on that team last year that guy But it does it does prime your brain to sort of look at or look for the right stuff when the series starts as you know per tradition I order our discussion by my own personal interest level in each first round series. Let me tell you coach There is not a clunker so far. I mean, we'll see what happens in the first round I guess we should pause for a second because we do have the two big news items that are gonna impact potentially what the one eight series are Or even who gets to the one eight series Zion Williamson. I haven't done a podcast since that that was Such a bummer and such a shocker because you didn't really even see anything happen and this was I mean, what an arc that would have been to go from your low point against the Lakers with the nation watching Everyone questioning your conditioning your weight as personal and as nasty as it gets after the Vegas game All the way around to doing everything you can to get your team over that Lakers team with the basketball world watching 40 points Brandon Ingram coming back I'm not gonna call him a no-show It's a second game back from injury at the tough spot for any player But was benched down the stretch and it felt like they're just about to get over the hump And now he's out with a hamstring injury.
We got pelicans kings tomorrow Just your quick your reaction to that one coach. I mean, I don't know what else to say. It's just it's just a gut punch He's in much better shape now than he was three four months ago I don't know that you can just sort of blame it on conditioning body I don't know I just don't know enough about the mechanics of it But I just know that was a pound my pound my fist on the table in disgust moment I'm sure he did the same thing in the locker room right when he got back there Yeah, it was uh, I'm you know Cory Brewer's like a son to me And he's really done a great job as as willy in the staff with with the arc of Zion And uh, I'm heartbroken for my from my kid from Portland, Tennessee Who had really spent a lot of time and just breathing spirit in his eye on and and that staff had taken him And you know, Zion Has this incredible gift as a score We always get caught up in the athleticism, but he's truly a gifted bucket getter and it kind of got away from the start the year This year for a good period of time. He was just okay at getting buckets But it was coming back and you could see it and his zeal for passing and willingness to get off the ball Uh, a little pester on defense.
I think fitness makes a difference. The only shows that story has this kind of love Um, this is heartbreaking all these injuries. Just just hit me just watching me limp around last night wasn't anymore fun Well, and the other one in that game, of course is you know The nicks are going to draw the sixers, which is the matchup that everyone was telling them to potentially dock in the last game of the season When tips was like we're on for the win We don't throw games here And they got the MB matchup which we'll talk about but the flip side of that is boston Probably, I don't know if they're too good of a team to breathe a sigh of relief Maybe a a slight just sort of exhale that and beat is now joining the bucks and the nicks on the other side of the bracket from them And into their bracket will either come the chicago bowls Alex Caruso with an ankle sprain which says he's going to try to hopefully maybe give it a go game time decision kind of thing in the play And the heat more pointedly You know the team everyone fears the team everyone will respect no matter what their seat is Look like they were going to do it again in philly just like nobody's playing well Somehow we might win the game. I don't know what's happening jimmy's not having a good game bam's not having a good game We might win this is heat voodoo again tyler heroes missing a million shots Then nikpattoom has a game of his last three years, I guess And jimmy butler jimmy butler with an mcl sprain is going to be out for an undetermined period of time Certainly will be out tomorrow certainly would appear to be out at least the first round if not beyond Um a break for boston and off and obviously you have this This just terror of a team that everybody on some level fears and respects that has just had its best player removed from it And it's just hard.
I mean it's obviously like boston that should be a walkover whichever one of these teams wins This playing game should be a walkover for the seltics They walk over a lot of teams better than those guys too in a seven-game series Yeah, when when the game started it was 9 to 2. I want to say favor philly And I just talked to myself, you know, oh, they're gonna be booing at some point this game But mine of these not going anywhere. It's who they are and missing you know ducking robinson at richardson Terry rogerin and then jimmy gets hurt and still plays and of course they're right there at the end It's a credit to this consistency of what they do But yeah, no, no, no those teams cannot even a full strike big boston's are juggernaut I really believe that and they've got to exercise some demons. They probably love you against Miami to be honest Either way, I think they're they're mature enough now.
They're such a veteran teams act. They're not yeah I'm sure they exhaled a little bit, but they're locked in they gotta worry about game one That's it, but they're they're a family team. I said I said earlier this week. I think boston more so than denver even Because boston had some hiccups late in the season and there's been a little bit of like oh they're going in on the wrong foot I think kentry purkin's kind of sounded the alarm on tv last week call Saying they may not be tough enough or something like that I think boston is going to come out in the first two playoff games and we're all going to be sitting there like oh my god Like they've been they've been saving this year for a while now and they're gonna run over whoever they're playing in the first Call games without those series are not set yet.
I order r6 by 6 in terms of my personal interest I am a dictator. This is my thief them and there as I said before there's not a clunker in the bunch These are all really fun series And every one of them has at least one if not both teams facing immense pressure Both short-term expectations wise and what the consequence of an early loss in the playoffs could be medium long-term wise And we will start in that vein with the three six series in the western conference the third seat at minnesota timbre Wolves 17th and offense first with a bullet in defense against the six seated phoenix sons 10th and offense 13th in defense This is just an irresistible clash of styles a monstrously huge team that is a little shaky on offense and just Tightens the grip everywhere on defense against a smaller team of finessy team a jump shooting team and talk about team space and pressure I mean the sons are obviously all in all in as all in as you can be and the wolves Staring down this financial cliff of like can we even come close to affording to keep this whole team together now that very issue Has become the subject of a public and ugly disagreement between two would be majority owners are controlling owners of the team glint Taylor on one side Mark laurie and a rod on the other side and a first round loss It's tough to justify the kind of build they're gonna have to pay for a team that loses in the first round And what a bitter pill that would be to swallow after such a great season the best season this team has had since kevin Garnett left all those years ago. I love this series. I cannot wait for game one and You know for me I I started at I'm looking at the first thing I mean I know what the answer is gonna be but the first thing I'm looking for is Who's carl Anthony towns guarding?
How does phoenix try to exploit the fact that he's probably gonna be guarding grace now? He's not gonna guard Billy's not gonna guard Booker and he's not gonna guard to rant and Rudy go bear is gonna guard nirkage process of elimination He's going to have to guard a mobile three-point shooter. How does that look for carl Anthony towns? I'm just gonna before I kick it to you.
I'm just gonna read you numbers Sons won this match up three oh in a regular season cat and go bear together minus 24 in 37 minutes Read not as read and read you go bear together minus 39 in 30 minutes Nause read and cat together minus nine in 20 minutes The sons shooting played the minnesota double big line-ups off the floor and that's the pivot point for me Can they do that again? And if they can do the supplementary wing players the tequila Alexander walkers the Kylie Anderson you mentioned in your preview could be a big Piece in the series do they have enough to fill in the gaps? I think this is a fascinating chess match that starts at that towns defense pivot point for me Or when I watched the last game they played that was the first thing I saw you couldn't you really couldn't miss it He was guarding grace and Alan who you know you say he's a mobile shooter He might be the best shooter in the league this year among the top few as you know And he's a he's a tough player forget about the old stuff in the past. He's good He's not great.
He's good And uh, cat looked like he was on row his case and that's not a good thing He was you know his stance is bad to begin with he was just I just kind of lost as the ball moves around Um, but I I I I knew you would bring in some black stuff. I'm glad you did. I trusted you would do it I keep thinking about who's who's Bradley Bealcon be is he gonna be Bradley Beal in April? Where if when I tell you his stats, you're not really gonna believe it You know 60 something percent from three 20 plus points again.
Who does that and uh, or is he gonna be a lot more ordinary? I think that's a fair question. I feel like Booker and kd We we pretty much can bank on them to be very good if not great if they're superstars Minnesota seem more trouble Beal to me is the interesting thing nurf nurf to some degree as well. Obviously Uh, I think he's uh, if he's not gonna do a bunch of gorton screens Frank bobo should take him out of the game because he can gorton the hell out of those big guys with his signs And he's I love that.
I love that former son marchin gorton is getting a little love in the series and on beal Um, you know, that's the other piece That's who my conley is gonna be guarding and that's the other that's the other place that the sons have attacked and recent matchups And that's when the sons are at their best when it's not just your turn my turn Hey, we can win that way, but when it's like hey, how can we get how can we be more than the sum of our parts? How can we go from a Durant grace and allen pick and roll to attack towns swing it to booker to attack conley? And then we've got the wolves defense the best defense in the league with aunt jaden and rutie trying to run around and put out fires everywhere They can do that, but that's when it gets tough very first note. I have that after I when I do I kind of do a 5,000 foot view statistically a little bit different than you.
I don't look I only go back to march first I don't really care after not to remember for most of these things, especially But after I do all the statistical stuff that I watch film, but very first note I have is uh Beover's conley is a tough matchup for many. Uh, he he could just I love my conley who doesn't but he he can get bullied and done He's here with booker. Like he can do the same thing So that that becomes you know if you can start out a defense in failed mode meaning all right We're already in trouble now it's scrambling from there and cats not a scrambling and and they can pay the price scrambling because of grace and shooting So that that phoenix's weapons on offense Minister had a plate Phoenix every night. They wouldn't be the best defense league.
They're six best and smart first, which is still very good They wouldn't be the high Phoenix. They're getting found on some bad teams Phoenix offense leads another level. We're not playing one one of the things that phoenix does in this matchup to your point about how we're the Sort of head-to-head matchup stars. They'll run booker They'll run a staggered pick and roll for booker Um with grace and allen and use of nirk itch and they'll use those two guys because they're being guarded by both of the minnesota big guys Cat and Rudy so you get them both moving around and flying around um, and obviously, you know The other thing people are gonna look at is this is an elite pull-up jump shooting team against a Rudy go-bear defense And I think Rudy's much better than he's giving credit for it coming out to the three-point arc if he has to but it'll be you know You like to start back and then get forced to come out a little bit if you're a go-bear bro glow-pest type I don't think he's gonna have the luxury of starting back even with as good as minnesota's perimeter guys are at trailing around screens It's not gonna hit by screens But let's talk about some of the advantages that the wolves might have to I mean first of all They have jade and mcdaniels to guard devin booger.
That's the matchup. They've liked in the past more than him under rant They've put anthony edwards, um on Kevin Durant and it's actually done a pretty good job and you know like that's and Who's guarding anthony edwards for the sons? The answer is off is often been grace and Allen and like ants gonna have to win that match up in a lot of different ways For minnesota and I think look he's he's been up to the up to the test in the playoffs before That's a tough matchup for them and like ants gonna have to have a big series and the other thing with towns is You know del guard him with the rant and Durant has Durant's done well defending towns He's held his own defend not more than held his own considering the physical advantages that towns has minnesota the sons are gonna switch a lot and minnesota has been able to get pretty much anybody on the sons they want guarding carl towns and He's just come back from an injury, but he's gonna get chances against pick a son They're gonna switch everybody on to him grace and Allen debon booker Bradley beal Like he's gonna have to manufacture some buckets with power and not just jump shooting He's proven he can do that, but it's a big big series for him in like a million different ways Well and like you said it just you don't come off from injury and he was out for a while Just rolling it's gonna take a bit and I you know I don't always put a lot of faith in the importance of the first game of a series But there's a few in this first round that I do and this is one of them Missed I just want to be chasing phoenix down. Oh one Uh, they'll get healthier with towns you hope but it's just a hell of a team that you have to chase and I'm glad you mentioned edwards All right, he's average 14 again against phoenix this year That's the lowest against any team in the west and it's grace and Allen and beal guarding him So what so what is phoenix doing to make his life difficult?
I literally wrote I think it was my preview I don't know I couldn't see anything special other than bobo's got them playing organized committed defense They're not amazing. You're not gonna be pulling out your textbooks and said it would compare to anything They're really great at this they do a nice job of okay, so they stick hands in the air they get their arms up A bobo does it KD does it they just they're present they know what they're supposed to do they execute their plan Which is would make any good defense according in the NFL very happy and and they kind of live with what they're living with right? They're trying to take away stuff. Uh, Minnesota plays slower than phoenix.
I think that's a mistake in this series Zach I think they you know be opportunistic obviously, you know force it too much But Anthony efforts in the open court is a different animal against this team than he is against phoenix and just the half court because phoenix is older and slower And not quite as athletic edwards is a remarkable talent and I'm glad you mentioned what he's done in the playoffs Some guys haven't proven anything he has he this is you know, I wrote this couple years ago when they first traded for Rudy It's a bet on a it's a bet on he's gonna be superstar. Well, here we go They they were in contention for a once he going to the last game Uh, that's exactly what them kind of we had to hope for we made the deal and now they're in the playoffs And they're playing an older 60 like you should win this series I don't think they will as it happens, but they should cats injury notwithstanding Anthony ever has to be just remarkable a bunch of times and it's not good easy unless he really pushes because in transition He's incredible one thing that they will mix in and it's hard to do with nirchage because it's not his strong suit defensively They will occasionally throw almost the blitz at ant to force the ball out of his hands and make Minnesota beat you with the pass Like if it's an ant Rudy pick and roll force him to hit go bear on the roll early and make minnesota pass around and make plays rather than give ant Just a downhill drive at nirch. They'll make they'll mix that up. They also bill will guard him some rosoneal will guard in some um a couple other things for this series uh The suns gets the suns are third and free throw rate they get to the line a lot One of the only weak points for minnesota is they foul at decent amount so minnesota's got to watch their fouls On the flip side Minnesota is a turnover prone offense.
They had the eighth worst turnover in the league phoenix forces no turnover So maybe minnesota can have a little more ball security than they normally have their depth is gonna be huge I mentioned alexander walker. I think this could be a big kylanderson series jade mcdaniels I mentioned taking the ball out of ants hands He's gonna have his three-point shot has been wildly up and downing went through a horrible slump late in the season before coming out of it He's gonna have to make shots I think this is gonna be a really fun series with some strategic tweaks one of any other thing that minnesota has got to find a way to Punish the suns on the glass get extra possessions on the glass their offensive rebounding rate against phoenix in the regular season was almost 33 That's huge. That's one of every three of your misses you get back without without kneecapping its transition defense which historically for the wolves has been a tough balance of strike They're gonna have to nail it in this series. I think it's gonna be a great series I have to say and you can add any thoughts that we've left out in a second that you want to get in I think this was a worst case scenario for minnesota I think I think it's a first round opponent The suns quietly won 49 games and other than that one just in two inexplicable losses one to the spurs without wenby And another to the clippers when they were down 35 to four have played mostly pretty damn well for the last 20 games And they just bring some matchup problems against the double big lineups that Have tilted toward the phoenix strengths and not the minnesota strengths minnesota size has not won the day against phoenix is shooting and play making in that small Big conflict I'm picking phoenix to win and I guess since they have they don't have home court and I don't want to pick against minnesota and said I guess phoenix and six would be my pick.
I don't feel great about it. I'd like minnesota could make the conference finals I just think this is a worst case matchup for the wolves. Well, listen the numbers tell us that minnesota owns the paint for top 10 in opponent scoring in the paint for reasons we all understand Phoenix doesn't care. They're 29th and scoring in the paint like they don't it just doesn't bother them at all and then I looked it up Phoenix is I think I have 123 or 128.7 points per 100 as an offensive rating against minnesota No one scored on minnesota like that all year that was number one Uh in the west anyway against minnesota So that's the definition of bad matchup between a peak of three times and scored at will against you better than anybody else Uh, edwards to me is the one he can change everything obviously, you know, we hope can't he's healthy and all that Uh, they've got they've got it Phoenix has to account for ruby rolling and all of that too You you have to you have to take away the lob and make those guys finish every time Um and edwards has to get off the ball some zakki.
He's 22 still he won't be 23 till august He's a very young man We can forget that because of his body and his talent and his production But he still got he has told us to learn about the game It took kawaii longer to figure out how I got to get off the ball for us to score not just me to score And then when he did he was the best there in the world for a while I was the healthy guy edwards has to get off it early you'll get it back Don't take it one out three and try to score in the crowd That's what Phoenix is hoping he'll do and I just think he's got some so got some pain to go through before he Because they're gonna win some series with him. I just don't think it'll be this year I don't feel good picking Phoenix I haven't felt good about the suns for like more than 10 consecutive days at any point in the season They have Played they'll play two games. You're like all right. They got it.
They're figuring it out They're using grace now and as a screen or the balls flying around they're playing the right lineups And then the next game it'll be like these guys like each other like do they enjoy this experience Is it just like is this just work for them? Do they hate this? And there's no room for that in the playoffs. There's no room for like there's no room for a game of that There's no room for a game where I'm in a bad movie so I'm not getting the ball enough I'm standing in the corner There's just no room for that there is no margin of error for that there's no room for that against the team's good as minnesota So I don't feel good about it, but that's my pick.
Okay series number two Whoo Amtrak corridor special The Sixers and the nicks the two seven seed in the eastern conference all my nicks fans friends All of them and I have a lot going back a long way. We're rooting so hard for miami in that playing game They want no part of joel mb the Sixers have not lost a game since joel letting me came back It would be very interesting This feels like a two seed against the two seed really and it would be very interesting to see Which of these teams would actually end up with the better record if we got like the current versions of them healthy for an entire season You would default to the Sixers because they've been a number one number two number three seed in the east all these years They're net rating with maxi and a beat on the floor is monstrous But then you look at the nicks and it's like when they have bronson and an obi They're like rando would be almost a bonus They're plus 23 per 100 possessions with bronson and an obi on the floor If they had that full team for a whole season, I don't know who the better team is I understand why nicks fans are scared The Sixers have in theory at least the best player in the series and the third best player in the series in tairies maxi with jail and bronson in between That's usually a recipe for winning a series even when you don't have home court advantage These were two very good teams elite teams really went healthy and it really starts with Well, it starts with him beat it starts with The way jail and bronson plays in the pick and rule The way he is going to hunt tairies maxi like tairies maxi's not gonna guard jail and bronson and jail and bronson's not gonna guard tairies maxi And yet they're gonna end up guarding each other a lot because the respect of all offenses will force that match up and say okay Go cook now And one of the ways jail and bronson cooks is attack a big like in bead who likes to sit back in the paint and just mid-range mid-range Pivity game, whatever and and bead in the past has mixed in some blitzes mixed in some traps gotten really aggressive against jail and bronson and He does not physically look like a guy who can do that for 30 possessions a game and also dominate on offense And I mean we'll see how he looks and maybe improves physically throughout the series But it starts there and it starts with that bronson maxi like match up non-match up like mutual avoidance And then we're gonna force each other to guard each other and then maybe we'll cook one on one cook in the pick and roll But it's a series where the Sixers really will be missed assuming he continues to not play or only play a little bit Deanthe melton who was their primary defender on bronson in the past right and the wild card We've only seen it in one game for the nicks was on january 5th Ojan and obi guarded jail in bronson. I'm sorry Ojan and obi guarded Tyree smaxi in that game He did not in the recent game when you come back from injury That's a little wild card for the nicks to break out if they if they choose to use it but It I just want to see what mb looks like because obviously if he's 90 or better He's by far the best player in the series. He can win it single-handedly.
Um, what are you looking for when this when this bad boy kicks off? Joellen beats health. Uh, he I watched that whole game the other night it was last night and uh heard the announcer say He looked tired and warm-ups. I you know, I don't know why I don't know what's going on He's very fit in terms of how he looks.
Uh, you know, he's lean and strong Uh, but he just he didn't have it last night and he's amazing So he's super skilled. He's almost playing like yo-pitch. He doesn't rely on athleticism the whole lot and he just has all this incredible skill Um, if the nicks played faster, I think that'd be a problem for him, but they don't 30th and pace the last 15 games Uh, but I watched one of the games they played where and he was pretty healthy The nicks didn't really try to help too much on him. They showed here and there they kind of dove in and dove out They kind of let heart and sigh and just vowed with them and he did well I mean Joellen puts up nice numbers, but he didn't score 60.
He wasn't diving up everybody Uh, the next looked solid staying home on people. I thought it caused silly some problems And Miami yesterday they were doubling on the dribbler versus ban They were kind of doubling on the catch versus the rest of the heat and I think Billy's used to that I don't think many teams feel like they can just have the integrity of their defense They're the same when maybe he has the balling the spots on the court and I think it makes them uncomfortable I really do so to me Everything just goes around just how healthy when Joellen beat when he was healthy this year I thought he was easily the MVP. I thought it'd be unanimous winner I think it was that much better than everybody and I thought your pitch was that guy for the last few years I thought it was your well this year and uh, if he gets to be that I would I would think silly as a big advantage and I understand why the mix would want to avoid him He's not that guy right now and we'll see if he can play as a way to it There is some time between some games, but I'm not encouraged by what I saw last night That's what the first round is good for rest. You'll have like a random like other three days between games three and four in the series That's weird.
Um, I'm glad you mentioned his passing I can't remember which game it was off to top my head There was a recent Sixers game where he threw and beat Three or four of the best passes I've ever seen him throw and out of different situations It wasn't always just like hard double make the right read It was he was making reads way ahead of the defense and like threading needles They were incredible incredible passes. Um, the other thing that's gonna test him physically in this series is You know bronson's gonna move him around and drag him out And by the way, one of the things that is almost one of the bizarre benefits of randal being out And I think the nicks need randal. They're not gonna have him this year, but I think to get to the finals They would have needed randal. Um, well, who knows?
I mean, I'm done doubting this nicks. I've never done it I was high on them from the beginning, but they can surprise me. I don't know But bronson has gotten used to the kitchen sink and throwing at him And the nicks have gotten used to what are the other four guys on the floor have to do When teams are doubling jail and 35 feet from the rim Okay, I got to come up as a release valve But when I do that jail and hits me the defense is in rotation over here Josh Hart makes the right play defense ends on makes the right play There's just a connectivity that they have against aggressive defenses that is really really encouraging if I'm a nicks fan The other thing I'm beat I mean like he's the biggest baddest guy on the floor But he gets knocked around a lot and we get knocked around a lot That's taxing and nobody knocks you around like the New York Knicks They just are just a physically punishing team and they are number one in the NBA in offensive rebounding The Sixers are 25th in defensive rebounding They're a little bit better when him beats on the floor, but not that much better He is going to need to be a one-man force field on the glass against all those dudes The Mitchell Robinson's the heart and scenes that are crashing and crashing and crashing That is physically taxing work But no one on the nicks like they have big bodies heart and things big bodies are really good defender Mitchell Robinson's a huge body really good defender. They can't guard it healthy.
They have no state He's putting them in the basket. You have to help even against those guys And then they have maxi who? Devan Chenzo has guarded him a lot. Yeah, he's too fast for Devan Chenzo He's way too fast for Brunson to the point that Sometimes I wouldn't even like if I had one of those matchups I might not even set a screen for him I might just say hey go just go break down the defensive and take it from there And McBride does an okay job on him and Annanobe guarded him that one game That's sort of a wild card for them and maxi just could go off in this series He's that fast and he's that explosive They just feel it There's a lot it's not just him beat.
It's like there It's something Kelly who raised like the third most important guy on the team Kyle Lowry is starting Kyle Lowry is going to guard Jalen Brunson I bet I mean like that that might be the matchup to start things off It's weird how much flux the Sixers are in but they have two of the three best guys in the series and a really good coach Next ever really good coach too. I think this is a fun battle and a lot of it is going to be this sort of guard versus guard warfare That a lot of nicks series frankly have devolved into almost Yeah, I'm also looking at how Devan Chenzo and McBride play Devan Chenzo 19 a game post all-star break Obviously, that's huge for them You mentioned just the way they play you know, once Brunson gets off the ball Heart's such a he's just a smart cutters. He's a winner The way McBride playing on watching my tape today He's part of their best lineup as a starter if he's in instead of OG They're plus 7.4 and they've done that 14 games that's just two or three So that definitely helped a little bit but I still think like if Joellen beads You'll cook in as a healthy player. I would give the Sixers a big advantage.
I don't care where they start their first two games I just last night really scared me. I just did not see a guy that's gonna even a second round especially But even the first round with I think they're for two of their first two games only have one day in between I think that's right I think york's had a really advantage there. I'm just playing bully ball as much as they can and make Joellen just beat them almost by himself I think that's gonna be very taxing for end of the year. We do they could really use And I'm hesitant to say it They could really use filly Like can Tobias Harris just get us 25 points in a couple games just random supplementary offense that he has not been providing enough of he's gonna get there filly switches anybody under they don't care They'll I mean the next one.
They'll switch to even gentle on him. That's a goal. Go ahead and post him up Like sometimes these series come down to can Tobias Harris somebody like that. They just get us something I totally agree.
That's why I mentioned a dv and uh McBride. They're really you know cooking really shooting it Next have a swagger about them. I love the fact that they try to beat the balls knowing they're gonna get filly Like I almost feel like they were rooting for filly last time. They bring that big fella on Let's go like that's their mentality.
You like you and your tips impression. They're not that they're not talking anybody We have more than enough to win Who would you pick? Yeah, I'm leaning I'm leaning New York just because I just didn't like what I saw with mb tell last night I'm also picking the nix nix and seven. We'll be my official pick I'd be great.
There's something I like there's just something I like about this team I'm a little worried tibs random into the ground late in the season when everybody was playing insane minutes totals as a fair worry but I there's just something they like are eager for the fight and and Objectively Joelle just isn't Joelle yet. I think this is a really good matchup though And I'm but I'll pick nix and seven It's never too early to plan your summer story in europe with west jet from rolling country side to cobblestone streets Begin your next chapter book your seat at west jet calm or call your travel agent west jet where your story takes off Welcome aboard via rail. Please sit and enjoy Please sit and sit play post taste view And enjoy via rail love the way Okay, series number three another rematch The defending champion denver nuggets against the los angeles lakers Come out of the play internment again lakers becoming the kings of the play internment Or the kings could be the kings of the play internment actually rematch of last year's conference finals We know the nuggets of one. I think eight in a row against the Lakers swept them last year competitive sweep Have to call it a competitive sweep three and oh this year This is going to be I mean we know what the chess match is right?
It's it all starts from yokich and radiates out from there the Lakers have mixed up coverages on yokich They've had entity Davis garden sometimes they seem to prefer though The other way of having usually ruey hachamura garden and have ad on air and gordon lurking as a helper Disrupting passing lanes coming across from one dunk or spot the other to block shots They seem to like that better and you can actually you can actually kind of understand why because on the possessions where yokich posts up Ad ad can't guard him and then there's just no help that bothers yokich at all They're gonna help in the passing lanes. There's a help at the rim And so you kind of understand why they favor that strategy over the other one The Lakers 28 and 14 in their last 42 games. They became a good team Just just a good team though, even in that 28 and 14 stretch They were plus 2.8 per 100 possessions. That was 14th in the league My reason if I'm trying to be optimistic about the Lakers making this series Number one.
I'm a little encouraged by gave Vincent and what he might offer is a wild card guarding jumull marie An assignment that has gone mostly to Austin Reeves because it can't go to d'Angelo russell who got played off the floor in this matchup Right and number two It's been 40 50 games now of the Lakers being a good offense to a very good offense They were not that last season and denver was able to just grind them to dust If they can almost keep up with denver's firepower I think they found something with this starting five I think they're in the best lebron ad two-man game rhythm that maybe those two guys have been in since the bubble And figuring out better ways to position the shooters around it and against denver specifically They have found ways because denver likes to play aggressive right? They're like they have yokich come up to the level of the screen And everyone's got to rotate behind and play rotate in rotate out play four on three They found ways to sort of script it So jumull marie is the last line of defense in a lot of pick and rolls and ad's just finishing over him Or they're having to collapse and have extra help come from the sides and all that If the Lakers offense can hold up I think they look no one has real answers for yokich and no one has any answers for the marie Yokich two-man game I think they they have some tools this year that they didn't have last year And they haven't closed the door on a jared van der built comeback at some point in this series is another guy who could guard marie I'm not sure I like the idea of introducing like a total non-shooter into this ecosystem right now But it's it's just out there Look obviously i'm gonna pick the nuggets everybody's gonna pick the nuggets they have the best player in the world They have a two-man game that has been I mean, I just feel like the ultimate trump card shot in the nba is the yokich floater When they run that two-man game and you drive and they set that screen like he's straddling the three-point line It's kind of a lower screen because both of those guys don't need to get all the way to the rim They don't need to be at the ark and you dropped and marie just pocket pass nine foot floater That's a bad shot for a lot of guys yokich just makes it every time and by the way if you like old school basketball denver 30th and three point rate this year the Lakers 28th and three point rate this year or down two with the top five and getting to the rim This is an old school brute force series. It all starts with Pick pick either like is the Lakers offense real what kind of answers do they have or what hope do they have on on on yokich So I after they won in the Orleans. I heard the bronze say Uh, we just have to execute and I think what he meant And he might even said this part too is you know limited turnovers and so I thought okay Maybe that's something I didn't catch when they played last I looked it up.
They played March 2nd Uh, the Lakers only had seven turnovers and they went 12 to 29 from three and they lost by 10 And that to me is the problem because I don't think they can solve yokich Uh, the the nuggets had average 124.8 and the three games they played against the Lakers That was the second best I think in the western the league against la Who's a solid defensive team? Not amazing solid. I just yokich is cheat code. He's a seven foot slow cheat code Everyone knows it and so what do you do?
Well, the Lakers are in secondly It's in smart first and points in the paint And the nuggets are bottom eight and play second or so and defensive points in the paint Uh, and so you think all right That's that's the way to attack, but they're not gonna be efficient enough to act by just killing the paint. So to me They don't take a lot of threes as you say. They take I think a 33 again That's 26 in the league since March 1st anyway And they're the third best shooting team since then 39.5 nuggets are next to 39.4 That's the irony of all this is they're two of the best shooting teams. They don't really love shooting threes They really are old school, but I think they've got to flip the script a little bit exact and establish paint dominance Uh, the lake the nuggets were a great job of staying home.
They're trying to eliminate They're not gonna shoot a bunch of threes, but they're not gonna let you shoot a lot of threes Why because they know they're gonna score you and twos efficiently because of who they have so I think the Lakers have to try to get the nuggets to Do something to get more resources to help in the paint when they're getting bludgeon in there And then the Lakers got to be on the bomb away and shoot 42 43 44 48 threes and hope for the best at least early in the series even even one win I was telling someone today You know people forget rocket knocked Apollo out in that first round like and then Apollo with the champ That obviously was a movie But that's how you beat somebody seen sometimes it just I feel like Denver I wrote on my notes the thing I'm most concerned about is Denver's casualness. They own the Lakers I think it's eight straight over two plus seasons now Find a way to knock in 23 threes and shoot 50 of them and beat up by one at the buzzer And then let's see what kind of glass drug Denver has or doesn't have because they've really been roaring pretty easy coaching for a while now Yeah, I don't think there is and I say this is someone who's picked Denver to win the west the entire season Just like loves watching the scene play I don't think they're kind of as invulnerable as they appear as some people are making them out to be and Maybe me and um as they were even last year I think this is gonna be a tougher playoff run for them Their bench is just so health or shelter up and down those non-yokeage minutes are an adventure I think I think the Lakers are gonna be able to generate good shots like that LeBron AD pick and roll is getting good shots for AD It's getting good threes that also reason I have to make threes dealos gonna have to get back to making threes And I think they'll be able to get good shots Yeah, yo-kitch is just I don't know what knows what the answer is like this defense that they're gonna play a lot with AD is like the lurker I call him the lurker on your and Gordon It's a it's effective like it has it has moments But Denver just has so many counters for that some of which they've barely used this You're like I think you'll see a yo-kitch Gordon pick and roll more often like if okay We're not gonna let you just hang out AD on the baseline. We're gonna bring you into the action a Murray Gordon pick and roll with yo-kitch somewhere else, you know to receive the ball Another thing they've liked to do is they'll put yo-kitch at the nail and just say instead of posting up On one block with Aaron Gordon on the other where AD can really kind of cover a lot of space around the rim We'll just like take the post up put it at the nail in the middle where you have a lot more vision and a lot more angles to play With and the other thing in this series like as cool as Denver's half-court offenses and what a chess master yokech is They won this series last year in transition every single time yo-kitch got a contested rebound He was off to what is the races for him And it was just five on four five on four five on four and you just this image of like AD panic in his eyes Trying to catch up knowing yo-kitch is about to go knife to the heart to your defense That one then for the series more than anything else this year Denver's got to be careful or the Lakers have to be careful Um with that the other thing is I forgot to mention on the the Lakers pick and roll I wonder if Denver will flirt with hey, we don't have to be so aggressive on this LeBron AD pick and roll Like I know joker he likes to be aggressive like you might be able to sit back and drop a little bit more Maybe we can stay out of rotation and not give up a lot of threes like that's one possible thing to look for But look it all comes down to like when get sick jama Murray runs a pick and roll with kcp To get deal on him and then flows into a pick and roll with yo-kitch and they get a good shot Like that's just I just don't know that the Lakers have an answer for that or if anybody knows Well, they don't but they got to try to find him big out squirm It really has to be you know d'Angelo we we can criticize his defense But he's truly a lead offensive player It's after offensive player and he needs to be like he needs to be he needs to go to toe with Murray and out squirm sometimes And that gives them a fighter's chance, but they're gonna like I don't see any rock fights There's some series we're coming up here that's got some rock fights There shouldn't be in this one and I'm glad you mentioned that the fast break too The Lakers didn't learn their lesson in the last few months this season of 25th and opponents fast break points They've got to get back They've got to make Denver play five and five as much as possible So they're not so over the top efficient And then they've got to I'll shoot them and be willing to take more threes than they don't They're just gonna keep doing what they've been doing. They're gonna keep losing I think they've got to change it up a little bit I think the Lakers are gonna make this a series.
I'm just maybe I'm trying to wish it into existence Um, they've got to they've got to win the free throw battle like by by a lot and they tend to And Denver is is 21st with 10th from worst in in defensive free throw rates and they fell a fair bit They don't get to the line much themselves, which against the Lakers actually Maybe a good thing because the Lakers just don't give you free throws So if you don't need free throws, you're probably better off than a team who really subsists. Yeah, I'm free throws against the Lakers I'm gonna pick Denver. I want to pick Denver in 5.5, which I realized is impossible So I'll pick Denver in six. I think the Lakers are getting the least a game in this series I wouldn't be surprised at all that they do especially on the road or even game two game You know, they've got a couple days off but they're at altitude.
Yeah, I think Denver I don't think it's gonna be a sweet. I think the Lakers are a good team. Yes, they're just not there's not Denver series number four Clippers, Mavs 3.0 two top six offenses to just about league average defenses star power galore um And rarely do we get a series between two teams who looked like Championship level teams for long portions of a season But only portions not overlapping portions and other portions made you wonder What the hell is going on here and Dallas has the more recent portion of looking like a championship level team right now That is now the Clippers have been kind of a 500 team for 35 games or whatever now And has made everybody wonder as James Harden scoring slumps as kawaii starts this series I think Lawrence ranks at the day who'll be listed as questionable with knee soreness or knee inflammation or whatever they're calling it Um, it feels like a long time ago that the Clippers look like a championship level team the Dallas Mavericks look like one now Um, obviously Luke Adanchich has lit up the Clippers every which way possible even though the Clippers have one rounds one and two of this rivalry Uh, we know how he's going to try to sort of punish zubots and punish the Clippers Um And we know that the Clippers are going to try to make him work defensively try to hunt kairi Irving down try to hunt Luke Adanchich down They have great isolation scores. Um needless to say the stakes could not be higher for both of these teams Dallas is not quite Dallas is gone pretty close to all in with the gafford and pj washing and trades the clippers of course are famously all in going into a new arena Next year have you had to make the finals in the kawaii pj era?
Um, they both escaped denver until the conference finals in terms of what side the bracket they're on and One of them will be going home in two weeks and is going to feel very unhappy about it. David Thorpe game one first possession What are you looking for? I want to see if the clippers can have some real discipline and and concerted effort defensively Uh, as luka and kawaii come downhill Uh, the way I teach guys and if they're dropping or even helping Uh, if there's a if there's a guy run to the rim that can jump to 1213 feet You have to make the guard finish no matter what you just can't let the guard know it You got it. You got to fake it You got to act as if you're going to show but you're the lob dunk is just almost always the higher percentage shot It certainly is the case with the annual gafford The problem with Dallas is luka and kairi are two of the greatest finishers that we've ever seen in this game But they still don't finish as successfully as the lob to gafford would be Luke is also by the way the best lob pass from the game I think And yet the clippers have no choice but to fight to try to prevent that from happening get those guys coming downhill And then make them finish and don't kill a peasy dog Because they're gonna get their points anyway.
I looked at up luka luka average 34 this year against the clipper It did not she well like he's gonna score a bunch of points anyway trying to make him do it inefficiently You can't let the other guys score efficiently and productively And I don't know if the clippers have the the collective connected groupings that they need to have defensively Uh to just stay with the plan all the time Understanding time we was gonna switch that plan up whatever they switched to they got to execute it From from opening tip and I just I haven't seen enough in a while when they were rolling it was their defense that was so good And for them to have a chance they've got to find that kind of that uh that zeal to defend again Well, obviously they have all the options that you would ever want to guard a perimeter superstar like luka I mean none of them have really worked but because there's just no one-on-one coverage for him But they actually have preferred terence man to start on luka and play a lot of minutes Because I think they like to have the other guys has help defenders for sure and really it doesn't matter because luka can get whatever matchup He wants just like calling for a screen I wonder do you think they would toy with starting zubots on pj washington instead of gafford to try and keep keep keep yeah Do you try and keep get zu out of the pickle or make them use pj washington as a screener instead of gafford? But like the maps have seen that movie before like there's no movie they haven't seen it and right? I don't know what kind of matchup tinkering you can do You know, you can you know, they'll switch all their perimeter guys on any perimeter screen for luka So kiwil guard and pg will guard and russel guard and norm powell guard and that's not a great matchup Um and some of those guys who can just go one-on-one with but I just a lot of this series in the past is coalesced around luka versus zubots And the lines of defense behind zubots and I wonder if they might try from the jump To move zubots out of that or off a gafford at least but then you're exposing offensive rebounds and others and other things But you got to try different things. You can't just keep doing what you're doing.
This is what time lose strengths And they play no blitz was zubots too. Like they'll do everything. Yeah, you have to And luka's gotta be patient. I'm also interested in the other side I'd harden and paul jordan acquired.
Well, kiwil has been pretty good 21 again paul jordan has been great against dallas harden's not been great Uh, I don't know. I don't know why they haven't been so much. They just haven't been sharp Uh, but but this is the razor judge right now. They're they're on the they're on the brink And you want to see it and I want to see what dallas does that that's okay.
They're gonna blitz harden Uh, they can do aggressive blitzing they can do more soft blitzing. They're gonna blitz to switch a little bit Uh, I I think I don't know if Jason kids as creative as time lose most guys aren't but uh, you got it You got to try to do different things and keep That big three for the clippers Just uncomfortable with what they want to do offensively because I think that's going to bleed into their defense if they're rolling offense We have to see them walking in more defensively, but that ballast no no l.a. If l.a. If l.a.
It's just If there's three guys are cooking or even just one or two guys are cooking I can see them really bring it defensively better if they're struggling to score Um, I see that defense falling apart This was I mean in the last in the last one seven weeks or so there were 21st in defense of breaking I mean the clippers, it's just no excuse for that. Well, and we talked about it with the Lakers and it's been much worse with the clippers The best thing lucadantris has done this season and hats off to him his adaptability He is he has embraced playing at a faster pace This team is out of nowhere for a lucad team a lethal fast-breaking team and the clippers have been Abysmally bad getting back on defense. James harden has been abysmally bad getting back on defense for 15 years If they don't button fit up there not gonna win this series. Now, um You mentioned Hardin and kawai and p.g.
cooking. This is the one structural advantage the clippers have against any team who is very dependent for its offense on Sometimes vulnerable defenders is what i'll call lucad and kairi because sometimes they're not vulnerable when they dial in I mean kairi's gonna have some sizes advantages against this team in particular is One of those two guys is going to have to guard one of the clippers big three It's just a simple math problem that they present every team like this is like kairi and luca Whoever ends up being on a particular possession is gonna be on paul george or harden or you know They'll just run a pick and roll to get those matchups if they want but if if lucas on kawai Like you got to go to that or you got to run a kawai harden pick and roll or harden kawai pick and roll to get those guys involved And they will do that and they can't waste they can't waste possessions when they have a good match They have kairi Irving stuck on kawai Leonard They got to go to that and not waste it and I think when they're when they're dialed in and they're calculated They do that and that's the one kind of baked in advantage they have in this series I have against a lot of teams is those guys are gonna have to guard and the clippers if they're thinking right are gonna make them guard and really try to punish them Yeah, one of my one of my notes was uh, they've got to be opportunistic on the break The clippers obviously play much lower than what Dallas has been doing But I think it's a mistake to only walk it up. I think it's a mistake to only play five and five against Dallas The effort is a solid rip protector. Uh, they don't have much else to fessly, but they're they're playing very connected defense collectively All of them together are not easy to score and Dallas has been I think I've gotten seventh in derating since March 1st That's that's really impressive.
I thought and you think you may know this I thought they won the trade deadline getting gaffron and pj But I thought more to be offense. It's really been defense has been such a difference for them pj's been He had a good week in April. I thought okay. I think even said it one of your shows like little pj washington and then Let's curve on because he hasn't it didn't it didn't take but um, I do think hard needs to push when he when there's numbers are there Get them all ahead and we haven't talked about it just mentioned the beginning.
None of it matters. It quite that healthy Like they need kawaii and honestly I picked in my show really I picked Dallas today Because I when I saw Zion, you know walk out in the tunnel. I just thought oh man That's gonna be kawaii at some point isn't it and there goes the clippers chances So let's hope that's not the case, but they've got to have kawaii at full strength have a chance That Dallas is a very good team Yeah, you mentioned pj washing I think no matter what defenses the clippers deploy against kairi everything and luka don't judge and like you said It's gonna be a million different ones Yeah, I think their goal is gonna be we got a funnel as many possessions as we can to pj washing and shooting threes and don't They act some shooting threes and Josh green shooting threes or attacking closeouts or Derek jones jr. Shooting threes those guys are all capable They've all been capable now and then they're all capable of making plays off the dribble Not the xm shooting over 40 percent from three like they're capable 46 from the corner It's just the least of all evil say like it can't be dunks and it can't be luka just going off and You know, I there's no great answer to it But I think that's the closest thing there is to a semi at least for a third of the game that can be our attempted answer at it Um Yeah, I don't I don't have many other other thoughts on this other than the clippers three guys like james hard has not been great in the last six Weeks and ko I learned like they need those three guys to really be humming my default pick here If I knew kawaii were healthy, I picked the clippers because I think I think the clippers are just really good and I I'm not quite ready to throw the last 30 games in the garbage and flip the proverbial switch But I think they have some advantage in the series without knowing what kawaii who knows they're listening to this question I don't I don't believe anything I say about kawaii yourself You can come out and like dunk 10 times in game one to do what questionable But they're listening to questionable.
I'm gonna take it as questionable And I'm gonna pick the mavericks win game seven on the road and close out the clippers life in crypto.com arena moving into it Don't feel good about it. I think the mabs are coming in a little bit over me I don't you know, I don't like this pick but I don't know what else to do. Okay, cleveland or lando rock fight or maybe a rock fight Where or lando it's all gravy like this is all gravy for them and for cleveland It is not quite existential, but it's they're too young for it to be existential But it's you better win because you tanked the last game of the season for a matchup like this I think that more to avoid other matchups, but you like this matchup But let's not lie you like it and you have Donovan Mitchell's extensions sitting there coming up his drama in the offseason And if you pooped the bed again and the first round of the playoffs against the team that's won nothing zippo It's going to be change time in cleveland This is gonna be just a fun matchup across the board two teams with who played a lot of big guys Not a lot of shooting for the magic some perimeter shooting obviously for the cap some great match-ups jail and sugs on Donovan Mitchell We don't really even know who the magic are going to start They they quietly snuck Jonathan Isaac into the starting five in the last game or two of the season at center over Wendell Carter jr Wouldn't surprise me if they kept that in this series because his minutes have just been that impactful this season Um, each team's got some interesting answers for the other It's a big test of cleveland's rebounding because this is an elite elite rebounding team the magic coming at them And we saw what the next to them in the playoffs last year Um, it's also a team that gets to the line a ton the magic. I think they're first and free throwing for for the season Um, you know, where do you want to start?
What's interesting to you? I mean for well first one glad you mentioned Isaac. I think I even wrote that that I could seem starting by game two Uh, he's a better corner shooter than car junior much better corner shooter And I said on your show when I did the emotional proof thing He's the best offensive plan in the world in the minutes he gets he didn't deserve the award or anything You didn't play enough, but he's just an incredible defensive player and an athlete in general and obviously really tall and long and fast and quick Um, I think powellivers that immobile has caught me. I really watched a lot of tape on them Um neither is as good as what we all want them to be they're very young guys I've talked I've done both Orlando stuff and cleaving radio like you got to be more patient with these guys They're gonna be incredible players.
Amen. You speak I had this whole rant last last week just like People are going like oh, he's never gonna live up till what we expected to be. Oh, I get you I'm gonna include where even teams are like suddenly this guy's in trade talks and this guy's 21 years old Yeah, I have coaches telling me yeah, but you don't understand he doesn't do this while he doesn't do that woman He just of course he was playing in the g-league two years ago. Like what do you expect him to do?
Yeah, it's to me. It's uh, I wrote you know powellows basically their point guard Uh, he's such a skilled guy. He doesn't really finish grade except for right at the rim and it's not even great It's just where he's best well, and that's where he is their point guard And that's one area that we're gonna see like, you know, we're gonna see a lot of palo inverted pick and rolls with sugs or whoever For throns vogger. They have a great two-man action and max truce has been the primary guy in frons vogger They'll try to get that switch they'll try and bring donna be mitchell in darius garland into the action by having their guys screen for Paolo and he's become a really good playmaker.
I like that's a real weapon for them in this series go after the small guys I saw I saw Paolo play in person when my son's team played I do come out when I went and I was I was on the court For the game with him and after the game. He's just huge and he's such a gifted passer Like he's going to be an amazing player. He's just out there now that he and mobility to drive out each other a bunch and probably miss A lot of shots inside. I think if cleveland played to their potential and Orlando play the potential and cleveland's a much better team They just haven't been that team darius garland's been kind of lost at sea very up and down But I think I wrote this down 26 points seven points a game in the three games against Orlando number one versus on any eastern team So he likes playing against Orlando.
I don't know how with the defense they have but he's done great that would really help cleveland a ton We know it's okay can do in the playoffs. We also know what happened last year in the playoffs and he's got the injury It's a fair question as to what he's going to do. I thought he played really well against indiana in the second I think the second last game of the season that was huge Uh, I thought now now indiana doesn't play physically on defense as well. I know it's not even close But cleveland really beat them up in the paint giara now and especially was very very good in the paint I'd like to see them make that same kind of commitment against rolando won't be as easy Because of how well and replace that's why I think jonathan is it can end up starting is I think he'll answer that Situation better than when i'm junior will boggars shooting has been a real issue 32 of one 136 I think since march 1st 23 percent.
That's a problem. He's a very good player that just isn't shooting well Um, so that's why i caught a rock fight if cleveland defends exactly have not been defending They've almost got the same virus with clippers caught They weren't amazing defensive team and something they weren't and they just haven't been for a while That gives her land to a chance because they'll find ways to score and transition with seals Which drives and cuts and power creating if cleveland can get solidified defensively. It becomes a much easier seriously I don't think they'll do it easily. I mean it'll be tough And I think cleveland is going to have to get his rotations jb bigger staff is going to have to get his rotations really on point If you watch the magic play the calves When they have allen amoably out there together The mat now Isaac is a wild card in this because he introduces a ton more answers potentially on defense more switching more Whatever but in the past when cleveland's had both it's bigs on the floor the magic have blitzed donna been mitchell And less so but sometimes there is garland and said hey We're just gonna make you give up the ball and we're gonna make you play four on three underneath And we have faith that we can cover the space because you have these two big guys that are like running into each other in the paint We don't have that much space to cover when you take one of those big guys out and replace them with a shooter That blitzing gambit gets a lot harder to pull off because those guys have to cover way more space That's when you might see the magic go with is it can switch more or sit back more or whatever But they've got to get the right ratio of double big versus single big.
They've got to figure out like Do they need Isaac a core in this series? There's not really a great perimeter guy for Isaac a quarter guard unless you want to put him on vogner a lot Um, he's actually guarded in carot now van carot now and then in previous matchups And they've messed around with the match ups like putting moldy on fron's vogger I think i think fron's vogner has to have a big series for an endo because he's gonna have I mean x-res is in a weak defender x-res is actually a pretty good defender, but given the options cleveland presents He's like maybe somebody you would go at It's gonna be this is a this is a fun series and a big one For the cats, obviously dean wade would be a big wild card in this series Not a big wild card, but like a big body who could shoot and defend a little bit better than georgian Would be would be useful in this series. I think given what they need Uh, but his status is up in the air as far as I know right, um I agree that I think the catchers better I know all the buzz is about the pressure that they're under their under performance last year They're finished the season 13 and 18 and their last 31 games out of a Mitchell was hurt for a lot of that Orlando is surged. I think they're 23 and 12 In their last 35 games I think the cats are a little more talented Donovan Mitchell looks good.
I think Orlando makes it a long series I will pick cleveland in uh seven Yeah, I think that's what I did on my newsletter. I think I picked him at seven Uh, if I was um bigger because bigger stuff I would show the fourth quarter barks fifth or down big They are scored boston 34 17 ended boston's long win streak That's yeah, I would just try to say that that's so cleveland basketball, but that's what we're capable of doing Let's find joy playing that way no matter what happens Uh, but they don't look like they're playing with much joy zak and I think it's evident when you see them They've got to find from joy. I think some major changes include well It actually kind of reminds me of picking phoenix in terms of why I don't feel good about it Is because they just have been intermittently so joyless and so disconnected But if they just play the right rotations and find the right spirit, I think they're better and sometimes offensively like Lean into your split actions a little bit like give mobile the ball and let him facilitate with michel and garland screening and running around They get good stuff out of that if you know the magic are gonna blitz Don't just run a regular old pick and roll run a screen the screener play where you like hit the blitzer When he's on his way up and so he can't even blitz you like you've defanged the blitz before it gets there Like they have these tools in the toolbox. I'm also interested in like Vogner you mentioned his shooting ban carol's become an okay three point shooter I wonder to the degree that cabs go under screens against those guys and say go ahead beat us Like see if you can make some jump shots against us and just test them out it gets a little dangerous against powellow He's he's made some pull up threes a lot of pull up threes It's just something to watch for i'll go or land cleveland rather in seven But great season for the magic because you know look the magic or bring their defense every game like the calves are gonna have to win this series Okay, last one I saved it for last because it's the one that has the biggest wild card in it And there's it's it's hard to really sort of analyze a series that could be one series for three games and a different series for four games So that's Milwaukee, Indiana and talk about a series where the pressure index is diametrically opposed Indiana is like we're young We're feisty.
This whole halibutant thing is still kind of brand new Ben matherin like one of our most important young players has heard he's not even part of this Jarrus walker another important young player is actually I love the flashes that he's showing Level it's not playing much at all In theory they have to convince pascal c outcome to stay after trading three first round picks for him Pretty confident pascal c outcomes probably gonna stay my gut is they've probably That that idea has been broached some point around around the block Obviously disaster could strike one way or another, but then you have no walkie Who traded drew holiday and some other stuff for damey lillard? Has an older team around yannas and tentacoupo that damey liller trade Kind of semi-triggered yannas signing a long-term extension with the team hired a coach in part Not totally but in part because yannas and kubo endorsed the hiring Decided 30 games of the season. I didn't like this coach very much fired that coach had already quietly had doc rivers advising that coach had hired doc rivers the team's been 500 since then Chris middleton's been injured admittedly damey lillard has had His worst season in x years. I don't even know how many years I'd have to go back And yannas toward the end of the regular season suffered a cap strain that is going to keep him out for at least some of this series at least some of this series And look It's a team that lost in the first round last year in epically disastrous.
I mean like epically disastrous fashion fired its coach after that epic disaster Reorganize this team And they're facing an Indiana team that presents a lot of matchup problems for them went four and one against them in the regular season I don't think a lot all that was a fluke I mean look we can joke about the spice of the game ball debate and who sold the game ball from who and whether the game ball actually was over here The whole time and Tyree saliburton doing the dame time thing moleek beasley going on chris hands podcast and saying I know We're gonna play them in a playoff so it's not gonna go well for them Like there's a lot of juice to this central vision rivalry. It's awesome, but the stakes for the bucks I mean I shouldn't really even need to say this but like if this is a second straight disaster for the bucks You don't think the other 29 teams in the league are wondering what does that mean for you? Honest I don't know what to say about the series because if they have honest I'm picking the bucks as messy as they've been all year I think there is a really great team in here somewhere But I'm picking the bucks because they just have the best guy And they have a lot of really good guys around that guy and a system that works and four guys that work really well together in middleton dame Lopez honest I don't know if they're gonna have you honest and if they don't have you nailed it in your preview Indiana has sneakily become a okay to decent defensive team That's all they need to be with the firepower that they have I think the bucks might be in trouble I couldn't agree more I'm not so sure I picked the box if you're honest with healthy Although it'd be much easier to pick on than it is now because I think there's a chance to even play at all like catch grains We all I'm gonna talk about it because we all saw that series and we're going a couple years ago We can't help but think about it. I this is a bad matchup for Milwaukee, Zach They they love to own the paint at the rim The Pacers lead the league and paint points, but they don't care to go to the rim all the time They kill what I call the second box Tyrese's elite their nem hearts elite in the second ball both of them and they both are playmaker passers Siakam pretty much elite the second box and also willing passer that's an issue the speed at which Indiana plays Uh, there's one day of rest between game one and two of all this series We talked about I think game one's most important from Milwaukee because it's Indiana's a terrible record of back to back I think they're exhausted but give them a day's rest.
They'll be fine They're in much better shape than Milwaukee the Pacers are very fit because they play so fast Was one of the issues Siakam had when he came from from Toronto didn't play nearly as fast back even slower than before in many respects He's in shape now. They fly watch them after mades. They are flying. It's not just Tyrese or Nambard pushing It's Siakam pushing or racing or miles Turner Turner and Siakam were getting dunks I've never seen these guys get like Siakam had a big tip on the other day and the violent went like what what is going on?
He's 30 years old now Turner monster dunks Turner's shooting 40 percent from three since I need the all-star break And as soft as I thought they were he and Pascal both against Cleveland at one game Turner's kind of turned the corner. He's he's been more of a bucket getter more of an aggressive guy kind of understanding his role He and that's got really played well together. The one question mark I have for Indiana because if this was already answered I think they've been the series I actually predicted initially to win at five All right, Halliburton has not been the same player since his hamstring injury 40 percent from three before the injury Which I think was like January eight or so 32 percent afterwards and what that does act besides the obvious he's not shooting as well It's easier to guard and switches because what he likes to do in fact I teach my guards this when I see him in the off season We do the Tyrese we do the Tyrese we jiddle by forward and backwards and forward and backwards And he's such a threat to shoot the three going back that the big guy comes up or lifts up and then Tyre zooms right by him But when he's not making those shots or the side strip three side steps to the right three that he used to be great at he's not making it So the defensive big isn't lifting as much and they can really bog down when Tyrese is trying to do his dance and it's not working I think walkie's gonna have to go to some switches. You can't drop coverage this Pacers team I wrote that and so I don't think they will very much because they went four and one against his team See I can wasn't there and I knew the other was doc and buddy was there and that made a difference And doc has gotten the bucks better in fast break defense for sure and that matters against his team But it's not enough in the half court without Tyrese really cooking.
I think he's had moments He just hasn't been nearly as effective, but he's going home. He's from Wisconsin He said a whole week. What a what a break that was to make sure they were 60 By the way, they almost were at two or three seat like the next year That's what exactly way it could be if this team just stays intact So I don't love the match up from a walkie. We could talk about Dame and and Middleton both those guys gonna have a good series But without any honest, they're really overmatched.
They need both those guys have I don't know if they're really overmatched I don't know if I go that far because I honest I'm not ready to give Indiana that much status to say they're just I don't agree. Indiana's capable of being really bad really random not smart not clutch. You're not wrong on that Um But those two guards Middleton and Dame I mean obviously they need to if he honest is out for all or most of the series and to be clear We don't know what his status is gonna be They're gonna need to have consistent big games both of them have obviously done that and more in the biggest moments Um and more than that particularly Middleton They're gonna have to make Halliburton work on defense They're gonna have to hunt him down the way we keep talking about all this what the playoffs come down to a lot It's like when you get when you get against really good teams and you just don't have that many answers Sometimes the only answer is like is is the math saying where's james harden is you know Let's try and see what we can do against him by the way I didn't mention that but it went in in that series another one of the sort of baked in structural advantages I think the clippers kind of have is they don't really play a small guard that's that's easy to sort of pick at Small but he plays kind of small he's on defense He's thin and teams go at him all the time He's used to it without without Without jones they lose their best vehicle of doing that Both in on both ends of a pick and roll have have tyrosa's guy screen set a flat screen for jonas Whatever chris middleton's their best means of doing it now because of his kind of old school mid-post game bobby pore This has been on a heater for like two months. Yeah, he can do it I kind of feel like they're gonna need to grind the game down and make it yucky and grindy or physical And just try to ugly it up and and gut out as many wins as they can until and if jonas comes back But this is a different team with siyakam.
They're just like Siyakam knee smith and turn her together Cover a lot of space and emheart is feisty and bigger than you think they have a decent amount of defense around halliburton now They're bench is pretty good tj mcconnell. I don't know what the hell got into him Did someone call him and be like hey, man, you're allowed to try and score like I don't know He went from like I don't ever want to shoot to I'm just gonna play bullyball against Like six ten guys and knock them out of the way and shoot jumpers. Well, it's crazy. What's happened him So on tj mcconnell, I don't know I have three of the best young college guards in the country I point guard that all should be in the NBA in one more year and i'm breaking there I'm breaking takedown for their coach college coaches right now We did I get some today and I've got a few guys are studying one of them is when mr mcconnell his paint buckets against seven footers is extraordinary and I dinner not too long about him as an out-and-go He's mean he's like hitting his own pool.
Oh, yeah, he's a killer But I did it with an NBA player a big tall guy who I said I don't know how he does it like he was amazed Like how was this guy doing this? He felt like he's jumping up. He's these are jump shots from eight feet Whatever they have the best mention like scoring wise that'll be changed a little bit I think they'll probably play the starters more, but we've done a good job I know an average morning. I think Tyree said 32 minutes a game.
He's not over playing his guys They do play super fast and I think that's part of why he's trying to save him some but I'm telling you they look really fit and Nemhard chases Nemhard's gonna be on your all defensive votes. Maybe won't he won't necessarily get him He won't win it because you still got guys like Derek White and Drew and Caruso, but he's gonna start getting votes He's a brilliant defensive player. He's super strong and he's really fast and he's Smith I think some problems with Middleton. That's who's probably in the guard and I think that's gonna be an issue Uh when Chris is playing well, he's tough Portus versus siaca on the other end will be interesting Pascal is third third in the eastern paint buckets And won't be so easy against Bobby.
He's not the company perimeter But let me just read you this here's their corner shooters because riplo pet doesn't want to guard anyone if he can help it He wants to stay by the rim. I already said miles is 40 percent from three since y'all's job break Nemhard's 53 percent a corner three siaca 45 and a half percent needs to be 43.6 Jalis with 41.7 top and 40 percent like they've got a lot of guys that can shoot corner threes That's why the second best offense even though Tyreece has been struggling back and forth since early January They finished behind boston's power five in offensive rating the last few months I think for the season they're right there. They can really shoot. That's why I think it's uh It's tough from a walking unless they can generate a ton of scoring But you mentioned earlier about one of the other teams I think walking is gonna make some of these guys prove it like this is the playoffs now young fellas But you're gonna have to make some open shots.
We're gonna dare to make it I just think they have a good chance to make it the pace of the game keeps guys from getting to into their head There's play Obviously right about Tyreece not being the same guy for the last 25 30 games You're right about what that does to his because you can't drop too off You can't do the same thing against any of these great guys more than 50 percent of the time But drop back defensive. He's got all the reads you blitz. It's over. He's just they're just playing four on three.
Yeah, switching He's never been like the blow by guy. He's more than like the let me let me get you so worried about my step back three And I get you off balance and then I can beat you and if you're not so worried about his step back three That kind of goes away from him a little bit. You're right about all that It's just it's been a bad month for the bucks on a lot of levels They just they just haven't put together a lot of coherent play and by far their best player is now injured with an uncertain return date And if he does return and I know he's been like this incredible healer and all that if he's gonna be 100 percent 90 percent He's been dealing with this issue in did something in this leg hamstrings and tendinitis whatever He's tendinitis in one game. He was listed as for months now I just I got to pick the Pacers and I guess I go pasters and six because they'll have game six at home If he honest we're healthy, I picked the bucks He's not like he's not and it's not a kawaii thing where he he might play game one Like why might play game one it look amazing.
He appears. He's not gonna play game one So I'm going with the Pacers But boy, these are all even Cleveland Orlando, which seems like it's a rock fight. It's the NBA TV series Whatever like it's a fun series. There's a lot of work in that series good players.
Yeah, there's a lot of talent All right, David Thorpe. It's Thursday at 10 40 pm Go take a take a respite Enjoy the play in the play in games tomorrow because saturday is for playoff games sunday It's for playoff games. We're off and running out of two months sprint. Your analysis is going to be critical for all of it David Thorpe everybody.
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