Hey, Prime members, did you know you could be listening to this episode? Add free on Amazon Music with Amazon Music. You get access to the largest catalog of ad free, top podcasts, including all your favorite ESPN podcasts. Avoid the ads and start listening today.
And now the low. Welcome to the low post podcast as we approach the, I don't know, almost mid boy point of the first round and the first round for the defending champions. The defining dynasty of the last 10 years in the NBA took what I considered a somewhat unexpected turn about eight hours ago or 12 hours ago. I've lost all track of time late in the night when the East Coast was sleeping.
Joe Dumars and the NBA announced that Dremon Green, lightning rod, heart and soul of the Warriors, best defensive player of the last 15 years in the NBA, the perfect modern defender, best playmaking power forward of all time. Probably has been suspended for game three in chase center with the Warriors down to oh in what some have characterized maybe prematurely, maybe not. As a last-dance season for the Warriors with Dremon holding a player option for next season with Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins having already been extended with Clay Thompson up for an extension this summer as he was last summer, they didn't really get anywhere in discussions. And of course that alleged last-dance season began with Dremon Green striking Jordan Poole in practice, the video of which was then leaked and really was jaw-dropping in its violence.
And now we have the real possibility that it's going to be bookended with the Dremon Green act of aggression. Mark Spears of Anscape, you live in the Bay, you know this team better than anyone. I was personally surprised that Dremon Green was suspended. I didn't think he should have been suspended.
It took several groin kicks and wrestling moves for him to get suspended a game in the 2016 finals, which may have caused the Warriors a championship, but ironically may have also gotten them Kevin Durant because they didn't win a championship and Kevin Durant felt comfortable going there. So what we'll just call that awash. And Joe Dumars in his press release cited Dremon's history of unsportsman likes acts and in an interview that he just did with Adrian Wojnarowski today of ESPN cited again repeat offender words like that. And so it's pretty clear Dremon is being punished more than the average player would because of his past deeds.
And we should also say that the Montes de Bonas has been listed as questionable for game three with sternum injuries. I haven't checked in today on what his actual availability is going to be. I'm I'm I'm I'm still surprised. As you surely know, Mark, the Warriors were shocked and caught off guard last night.
There's some anger within the organization toward the league. There's a sense in the organization that so bonus is shoving people on offensive rebounds and playing with his elbows out and using the ball as a weapon on offense. And well, why is what you know, so of course someone eventually retaliated. You can give that any validity or not.
This is a huge, huge blow for the Warriors and we can talk about how they might adjust. But I want your reaction first to the suspension. I'm with you. Maybe so much not.
If there's a step down from stun, what would be the word surprise surprise? Yeah. Yeah. The thing about it that, you know, it's very interesting to me is that Joe Dumas is in a really tough position.
Dremon Green is like his mentee. Like Draymond Green, like basically like it's got a lot of time at his house during his youth. You know, I think I think I'm mistaken. Joe Dumas son was Draymond's A.
You teammate. And so like this is this is like like like to Draybaud has to make this decision. And so I know it's kind of a painful decision for Joe to have to decide about family, but Joe hasn't job to do that being said, what is very surprising me about the decision is you could clearly see that's a bonus grab. Dremon's late.
And I don't know that many other guys in the same position, like what reacted much differently, maybe the stomp wouldn't be as hard. But you know, you have a player trying to get back on defense and somebody grabbed your leg and you know, in a sense, I thought subbonus probably should have been injected to for a section. I thought it was legis, I said on TV yesterday, I thought it was legislated perfectly. Technical on subbonus, Dremon escalates it gets ejected and I said, let's leave it there.
I don't want to get suspended. And the MBA is telling us without hiding it, he is not being suspended. It just for that act independently. They're basically saying if it were just another guy doing that, he wouldn't get suspended.
It's a Dremon Green. So he got suspended. And I think that, you know, let's be honest, Dremon gets a lot of rope. And if such was the case, if such was bothering them before, then why make the big punishment now, right?
Maybe they should have gave him that warning before like, hey, you know, enough is enough. There's emotion with Dremon every game where his emotion could get him wrong, right? So it's almost like this parent that, you know, let's the, let's the, their kid run wild and, and, but then all of a sudden you want to discipline real strong. And so it just, just the, the reaction respectively from the league, I thought was, I'd have preferred them, find them, you know, then, then take a game away from a team.
And I think Sacramento, like here's the thing that's sad about this series so far, Zach is you had an E 40 game, right, which took it away from an incredible start from the Sacramento Kings and what they've been doing and how they, you know, beat the Warriors and didn't look like a team that hadn't been there and done that before. They've been incredible so far. And survived a wide open Andrew Wiggins three that won the game. I mean, that feels like a distant memory now, but that was, that was almost one of the Warriors.
Exactly. And then they came back and won again. And, you know, obviously, subonus definitely seem hampered the rest of the game and we'll see if he plays in game, game two. And now we're, we're talking about this instead of talking about what the Kings have been able to do.
And, and if I'm the Kings too, like I'm guessing based on how they spoke after game two that they were pushing for a dream on suspension that they wanted to lead to do it. But then don't, don't get no asterisk. Just be, like they don't, they don't need that. And if they're pushing for that, I know the Kings are excited and the desperate to win and desperate to get to the first round, just, just beat the champs fair and square, man.
You get no, I kind of feel like I want, one end of Kings are pushing real hard for this to happen. They're probably celebrating this happening. But, and just go beat them. You know, you know, you're, you're, you're good enough to beat them with Draymond, beat them with Draymond rather than have a potential asterisk on the series.
Well, and we know a series doesn't start until the Rode team wins and the Rode team hasn't won yet and the Warriors are amazing at home. And I think they had learned some stuff in the first two games against the Kings. They had learned what kind of lineups they were probably going to lean a little bit more on in game three, several of which were going to feature Draymond Green at center because the Aaron Foxes and Malik Monk are just eating them up, eating kabung uni up and drop coverage on the pick and roll. And that's been part of a great to your point.
The Kings have played amazing and they, they have gotten no, no one is talking about that. Like to the point, like we literally had, I, I had the production staff build a segment for us on NBA today yesterday highlighting the Kings defense and how well they are playing all the Warriors split game and screens and all that. They're switching, they're, they're helping when they should and they're helping off the right guys and they're not switching, they're getting over screens. They're just, they are just on point and we had to scrap it.
We might do it today because we had to talk about Draymond the whole time. And I mentioned the pick and rolls that that was clearly a point of emphasis for the Kings game two, they ran 75 pick and rolls. This is not a high pick and roll team. That was their second most in any game this season.
Game one was 65. That was their 10th most and it's all Monk. Monk's two most frequent pick and roll games by far are games one and two of the series. And I thought we'd see more Draymond at center even more than we have.
I thought we would see the Gary Payton version of the pool party lineup. The pool party lineup has disappeared because they have no faith in pool right now and he's injured. Yeah, the ankle thing. I thought we might see Curry, Clay, Devin Chenzo, Wiggins, Green as sort of a lineup that's five out and gives you Draymond at center.
And now all that is gone. And we might see Caminga at center. We might see Wiggins at center. We might see Joe Michael Green at center.
We might see Anthony Lamb get dusted off and none of those answers are anything like Draymond at the five. And that's why if Sabonis is injured, on the one hand the result of Sabonis injury should maybe not change our analysis of the action but it does. It inevitably does. If he's actually injured, that's going to color my analysis of what the proper quote unquote punishment for Draymond is.
If he's not injured, if he's good to go, I don't like, these are the defending champions, a defining team in the history of the NBA. Down 2-0, backs against the wall. I just don't like the NBA suspending their iconic Swiss Army knife on defense for a must win game of this magnitude. Right, it affects it.
I get why they did it. And they're telling us why they did it. It's a hard decision. I didn't expect it.
Yeah. You know what, if it was a predetermined action, I think I'd feel more comfortable with it. Like if he walked up to him and sucked him into jaw, then I'd be more comfortable with it. But the fact that it was an action caused by an action, that's what bothers me.
It's not like Draymond caused the issue. It was somebody else that caused the issue. So he was just responding. And I'll tell you what, the way the king's been running the ball down their throat, he tried to get back on defense.
Like the whole team, it's attracted me for the Warriors. And so I think that's part of the frustration. Like, man, I'm trying to get back and stop your team, man. The kings are looking at them like a bunch of old dudes.
And any chance they could get, they're getting on that track meeting and running it down the court. And so it's almost like the Warriors in a lot of ways seem to be running for their lives every possession on defense, man. Like they got to get back. And so maybe I guess for this one game, Caminga gives them some youth and some athleticism that could potentially help.
You know, Michael Green didn't really help much the first game. Like I said, maybe they got a dust off Anthony Lamb. Caminga's a feast of famine player, baby. He could look like they need to send him back to the G League or he could look like he could play an all-star game tomorrow.
And so I think the Warriors are really going to need Caminga to like be the star he has potential to be tomorrow. Like he's going to have to be for them to survive this game and to get a victory in the series. Which is also exactly the territory for the Warriors. Like this group has never been down to.
How can working out your local teams take you further? Sure, you can level up your team more skills. You also get a chance to receive a Tim Hortons scholarship award. Ready for what's next?
Apply today at careers.tingports.ca. It's been a lot with Dremond over the years. Like it's a lot of this. Yeah.
Look, I love Dremond. One of my favorite things I've ever written is a thing where he and I watched film together in the 2019 playoffs and he took me through his thought process on defense. Like I was early on him. I think he's a genius and a Hall of Famer.
But it's been a lot. And the pool punch was a lot. And it impacted the team. And it at least for a time impacted the perception that some people within the team anyway had on Dremond.
He had some making up to do. And they talked publicly about that. And now here we are again. He's going to miss a critical game on a team that's like with pool playing like he's playing is not like loaded with options.
You can see them. Why Dremond? Because Wiggans are just back. They don't want to over stretch Wiggans.
And here comes coming in like oh he got stuff and they don't have the same kind of cohesive identity that they've had in the past. And it's going to be hard for them without one of their foundational pieces. And I'm just wondering internally because they're a Dremond fatigue factor and obviously he's not, he doesn't have to be free agent to some or you can pick up his player option which is 25, 26 maybe whatever it's a lot of money. Is there any sort of like wear and tear of this over the years?
I mean they're generally defensive of him. They love him. They understand that the fire that burns as you said that that can cause some of this is what makes him the player that he is. But man, it's been a lot.
know it's it's interesting mention that and going to the Jordan pool thing I got known dream on pretty well since he walked in the door at Oracle and he or actually when he was coming off the bench in Summer League when he first got to the Warriors. You're three Steve Curran Bob Myers told me you're three we penciled him in for 12 minutes a game off the bench backing up David Lee that's what they thought of him going into his third season and then David Lee got heard in the whole history the NBA jake's. He's Wally Pippum right when I've talked to to dream on about Jordan there's a sense of remorse that I've never seen from him. There should be like a sense of like he feels really bad about it and it's he's not a dude that regrets much but I think if he could go back in time to fix that he wouldn't heart beat no matter what it costs and I think the thing that pains him more is not his pain but more so Jordan's pain on how people have maybe teased Jordan or something like that or or what the ridicule and that Jordan's dealt with from it right like he I like I said I don't really well I've never seen him be remorseful about anything but that and and it seems to be really really strong remorse and I'm sure Jordan could feel it the team could feel it you get this sense at times that that you there's a drama fatigue until they lose dream on for 10 games and then you see how they play without him right then you're like okay now you understand why he's so valuable how there's so many things that he does that not only defensively but I think what he does offensively also is underrated like screens he sets getting the ball to clay and and and curry for open shots off of screens were right when they come off that screen the ball is waiting for with the Chris Pass just just the way he does things on both ends of the floor like certainly affects the game more than all the three-pointer and I don't know that you could really grade or quantify what he does but anytime he's gone for a length of time like last season when he was gone for what about a month and a half two-month stretch they were pretty they were struggling without him and then seems to pick things up so kind of like you know you almost have to live with some of the things that drive you nuts because the things that he does so great are have to amazing of an impact on this franchise so it sounds good it sounds good to want to push him away until you really sit back and calculate what he does for this team on the floor yeah I wrote a piece after the pool thing on Dremond and you know there's this been this whole sort of he's such a he's become such an archetypal player like everyone is search every team wants their dream on green and there's been a lot of like false I false idle dream on greens coming into the league over the years and there connected to that there's been this whole debate about like what does dream on green look like without Steph Curry and clay Thompson right like what would you look like in Detroit for instance where Joe tours ran the team for a long time but you also have the flip question like what do those guys look like without him exactly and I think that question is asked enough and that's what I wrote in my pieces like look here's the bottom line the most important reason the Warriors are a championship franchise and play the style that they do which is totally unique in the NBA is because of Steph Curry that's the most important reason it's not dream on green yeah and you could have built an elite championship offense around Steph Curry in any number of ways you could have built the traditional spread pick and roll offense around him any which doesn't need a playmaker like Dremon that's how good stuff is an all-time great player but Dremon amplifies everything that Steph and clay are amplifies the style that they want to play moving around off the ball cutting screening and there's nothing wrong with being an amplifier of a top 12 player of all time Dremon is all a favor because of it and they look different they took on the form that they took which is different and ungraspable and really really hard to deal with in part because of Dremon too and they took on the form they took on defensively with a 6-6 center who can guard every position on the floor in a switching defense that totally revolutionized the NBA because of Dremon green and nobody else because of Dremon green and then not Drake with all that others but so I've been on the the side of Dremon is a true blue Hall of Fame superstar player that's neither here nor hovering over all this is we haven't talked about the new CBA at all which is gonna have these incredibly onerous penalties for teams that go over this gigantic secondary apron now you have to go over it three times in five years but if you do that your first round pick goes to the end of the first round in that fifth year like that is a crazy harsh punishment for super spending and again it's three out of five years so you can duck it you can limbo under it and avoid that penalty but look Steph pool clay Dremon Wigand that's gonna be a lot of money if they re-sign all those guys but that's that's down the line I do feel I do feel what you're saying about this should be a just a total celebratory moment for the Kings and it should be a just all-out spotlight amazing game three and four in Golden State and now it just feels weird I kind of just as a fan of drama I hope the Warriors find a way to win game three because if they don't history says the series is over at all the drama just out of the balloon yeah and you know I'm talking to Harrison Barnes about this I've talked to Fox about this like our network respectfully can I work here me do another network it should have put this team on TV man I tried to tell Zach you were there without you're the two sayer you're the two sayer like hey this team is good they're gonna be good like I'll try to tell everybody who lives it and but early on with what the way they started like they should have got some games and it hasn't been until these two games that anybody nationally has really seen how fun they are to watch how amazing Fox is like I've been loving watching him play for years and lightning quick and he's got like this Ferrari kind of like game to him where he could go to 0 to 100 real quick but you can stop on the dime he's like a baller ballerina the way he moves man just it's just incredible and I'm glad the world is getting to see him and I'm glad the world is getting to see what what the Golden One Center is like at a game and how crazy it is and how fans are there and so that's what also like yeah it's like everything that Sacramento has finally been yelling to the moons about how they are relevant and how they are here and pay attention to Fox and pay attention to subonus and Mike Brown's gonna be coaching the year and Fox just got awarded at that first Jerry West aboard like you know he talked about because of all this and I think Fox and subonus are both gonna make all NBA fight I do we're both on my all NBA team both on 13 I think they're both gonna make it yeah and so I mean really and truly I think because they are playing such a mammoth star the only way they're gonna get their respect and the only way we're really gonna truly tell their story is that they eliminate the warriors like I think it wouldn't come to the second round it wouldn't come until they slay the giant because they're just so much intrigued with the warriors Draymonde, Steph, Clay, who like their ore is so big that even when the king's win it's a footnote to what happened with the warriors they're just they're just that beloved globally so now you know the kings and the kings out they're the better team right now right they're they're the sec third like they're supposed to win the series but I don't think they're gonna get their just to until they slay the champ one of the big stories of the series has been the king's defense as I mentioned before the warriors are scoring 109.5 points per 100 possessions in this series and two games only obviously now that would have ranked the last in the NBA among 30 teams now you want to immediately say but what about Steph there are plus 14 with Steph on the floor and minus 25 and 18 minutes that Steph has rested which is crazy okay yeah they can't take off the floor exactly you'll like this I think he in the locker room great markets Thompson phenomenal reporter like he's the uh Steph's like the guy that knows Steph better than anybody um they were talking about how Steph played 40 minutes and I told Steph I'm like I think you want to play 48 man I don't know if you've got that in your body but you got a lot smaller to be what I said that like he might have to play the entire game for them to survive or nor at least 45 and even with him on the floor they're only scoring 112.5 points per 100 possessions which would have ranked like 25th in the NBA the kings are defending really really well yeah and the warriors are contributing to it this is just been like a classic disaster scenario for the warriors where their turnovers are abysmal and some of these turnovers even by warrior standards and the warriors who are all over the gym are like complete madness so I don't even know what the hell's going on on some of these they're getting smoked on the offensive glass and they're fouling the hell out of everyone the kings free throw rate is through.
They actually I think they have the highest effective field goal percentage in the NBA among all the playoff teams and yet they're offense thinks because they're losing all these marginal things and a lot of that is the kings are just on point defensively and I hope we get to talk about it on NBA today. Hey Fox, Munchle, like we gotta give shout out to Munchle too. Dave, Dave, on Munchle, their baller bro. Their baller bro.
They're balling and like they're contending every shot and they're just they've been a menace for the Warriors to catch up with man. Hell I like look Gary Payton's probably gonna have to like I don't know I'm really curious to see you're a Steve guy like what Steve decides to do with the starting lineup right like should he just go small and put Gary Payton in there. Well that's the thing like I don't even know what they're gonna do you can when the Warriors are stressed. I would think it's coming good.
I would think it's coming good right. Does he trust coming good that much? I mean I have a choice well but hey well look at look at coming what's his numbers when he start? Probably good I'm a big coming I'm a big coming fan so I'm just gonna pencil in there good you can you can look him up and I'll talk while you do it.
All right when the Warriors are stressed they tend to run more Steph Pick and Roll and they did that in game in game two they ran 40 Steph Pick and Rolls that was their fourth most in any game this year but his pick and roll partner is gone his main pick and roll partner is suspended for game three. Who does that come about the little things that could become it could become GP2 who's a screener a good screener and they need GP2 to guard one of Fox and Monk could become Looney coming I mean it's just and their second best offense a lot of times in this series has just been letting Steph cook one on one like forget the screen just let him cook one on one and the air and Fox same thing for the Kings I don't know what the hell they're gonna do. I'm sure I'm gonna guess commingas numbers are good as a starter because starting next step in clay is nice it's a nice whole point on 48% shooting from the field 4.3 rebounds 2.9 assists and they've used them they've used them on five minutes though that's in 28 minutes they've used them on Fox and if you I mean I don't know what they're gonna do if they if they play comminga and Looney together can they switch the Fox so bonus pick and roll the thing about sub bonuses when they when the Warriors play small they have dream on on sub bonus they can't switch because sub bonus will destroy anybody else on the team in the post as sort of banged up and raggedy as he's playing and he's a brute. Hey Zach, sub bonus is playing bro.
He's been playing with that that rag that beatdown surgically needed thumb all season he's not gonna not play. I'm glad you said if you could be a slack jacket or something like that around it to protect it he's playing man I'm not buying this sub bonus ain't playing these two tough of a guy to not play I'm not saying he's not gonna be in pain or he's not in pain I'm not questioning the injury I'm like praising his grit and toughness like this. This same injury is the same injury CJ McCollum has was probably getting surgery at the end of this week on that that thumb like so like if he's playing with this thumb you got a damn near like he need to be on his death bed for him not to play so I can't see this is in respect to his toughness not saying that he's not in pain not saying that he's not hurt I'm not saying he's making it up I'm just saying this is one of the toughest guys in the league and his dad was a big old tough guy too I see him well I guess we'll see what happens in game three and then everything will flow from that yeah if the Warriors go out meekly in this series there are gonna be some tough offseason questions I think okay no question and and Bob Myers too but we didn't even mention Bob Myers Steve Kerr I think I was one year left on his deal after this season Bob Myers future is uncertain with the Warriors anyway Bob Myers future is fine Bob Myers can be a freaking run for governor of California if you wanted and we mentioned Ramon and Clay and we'll see what happens Mark Spears any parting thoughts on this on this series the Kings soothsayer you told us all to be getting in the season E40 will be back with a vengeance in game three trying to make his presence known as my prediction I like it Mark Spears from the unscathed Naismith Hall of Famer let me say that again Naismith Hall of Famer thank you brother that's you can't are you gonna come I hope so it's in September right yeah no August August 11th I might be out of town I might be out of the country we'll see if I'm not watching watching some football yeah something like that but no I mean think about that Mark Naismith Hall of Famer no man is that settled in yet you know when they announced it all start weekend I got it hit hit hit hit you know and then now like but to really be there like somebody's like man you're gonna cry and I'm like no I'm gonna be reading off a prom through I'll be fine but it's it's gonna be different once you get there but I think the thing to me that probably will hit is it's not a speech it's just being in that group but also I think when I get a chance to actually go to the Hall of Fame and see it yeah I don't know when I like when do they put that up they put that up this year do they put it up next year but just to know that my name is in there until the end of that building is is just like wow just it means a lot to me more than you know man it's it's more than you know well deserved read everything Mark puts out landscapes at a bunch of stuff this week already I came to keep track enjoy game three and let's hope it's let's hope it's a proverbial barner Mark Spears everybody thank you sir thank you brother all right thank you Mark Spears I just want to quickly hit some all three of the games that happened last night it's hard to kind of scramble guests at the last minute I had takeaways on all of them I just want to say them into the world starting with the least dramatic of the three Hawks Celtics and my biggest takeaway from that series is how embarrassingly overmatched the Atlantic's look this is the team was in the conference finals two years ago and they just look completely outclassed by the Celtics that's not unexpected I picked the Celtics would find their better this is a nightmare match up for the Hawks across the board but the degree to which they just look like they play in a different basketball league has to be alarming for the Hawks brass which is gonna maybe face some questions this summer we'll see if they respond at home you know get one can we get one didn't land I can we force Boston to work a little bit because they haven't had to work very hard in these first two games and that starts with Trey young who is averaging 20 points that sounds nice seven assists five turnovers a game he's shooting 35% from the floor and three of 13 on threes and looks completely overwhelmed by Boston size on defense he's indecisive he's skittish he's getting into the lane he feels a defender on his back he sees Horford or Rob Williams in front of him do I lob it do I take a floater do I make a last minute pass over here oh my god I'm passing on the way down turn over another turn over Atlanta's transition defense is awful Trey young is doing nothing off the ball as usual when the John they Murray has the ball it's like all the worst Trey young stuff and of course he's being hunted just mercilessly on defense mercilessly in every possible way wherever Trey young is find him they bring him into the screening action with Tatum with Brown with Smart with whoever and he just doesn't offer any resistance and part of that is just physically he's kind of slight compared to those guys but if he has to have multiple efforts on the same play got a hedge this way then got a hedge that way can I get under that screen he's got one effort in him one and that's it and then the play devolves into somebody on Boston getting an open shot but it's more than it's more than Trey young DeAndre Hunter is their wing stopper four years ninety million has no shot against Jason Tatum no shot Jason they're just blowing by when I want to slap low and buy him he's got to be better John Collins I said before the series I don't know what place he has in the series and and that is kind of proven true so far they had to move him on to jail and Brown defensively because Dejontay Murray was overpowered in that matchup and that's a tough matchup for John Collins. Dejontay Brown just faster and more creative than he is and when the Hawks have the ball the Celtics just aren't guarding him sometimes they're guarding him with Robert Williams when they're in in big alignments and just letting him shoot threes and he's missing threes and if he's missing threes they they don't really have a lot of places for him in in the series um jail and Johnson got played off the floor in game two with with Robert Williams not guarding him and just patrolling the rim it's just been it's just been an awful awful two games for the Hawks and this is obviously Quinn Snyder's team now is the coach he's gonna have a lot of juice in front office decisions they just turned over the front office if they go out like this in four games or even five games I think they got to look in the mirror and start asking some tough questions in the offseason because they are so overmatched Derek White is out playing Trey Young and that's a compliment to Derek White Derek White has been incredible this whole season extra incredible in this series beating the hell out of Trey Young on offense swarming him from all over the place blocking shots if Derek White's out playing Trey Young you got no shot and the Hawks right now have no shot next Cavs Cleveland did what they were supposed to do last night even the series with a blowout win at home as has higher seated home teams often do after winning after losing rather the first game and the biggest story the end to me was Karis Lavert Karis Lavert became the answer to the who's the fifth guy question for the Cavs they just out now benched Isaac Okoro played three minutes got in foul trouble never saw him again I don't know where he was maybe watching him from the stands I'm just kidding he was on the bench I saw him um and their sort of a lineup which is their four best players in Lavert uh has been outstanding all year and not that many minutes plus 82 and two 131 minutes and was plus 19 in 15 minutes last night and pointedly Lavert was the hiding place for Jalen Brunson when the Knicks were on defense and they exploited it which Isaac Okoro couldn't do with jedi osmond can't really do danny green danny green hey danny green is back he can't really do it but Karis Lavert could they blew open the game with Darius Garland Karis Lavert picking rolls with Karis Lavert as a screener often and trying to see what the Knicks were doing is switch Jalen Brunson on to Darius Garland no you're gonna kind of hedge but not really it's kind of an ineffective hedge you're gonna get yourself in rotation and give Karis Lavert an open catch or give Darius Garland the ball back on the move or let Karis Lavert bully ball drive Jalen Brunson to the rim and Karis Lavert stepped up after a horrible game one and punished Jalen Brunson and you can do that with Donovan Mitchell Karis Lavert two man game you can do it with Karis Lavert as the ball handler which we've seen a little bit and my question for the Knicks is is it really just impossible for you to switch Jalen Brunson on to Darius Garland like you just can't do that I don't you're gonna put yourself in rotation like this and look totally discombobulated doing it instead of switching your point guard on to their point guard you can't I understand Jalen Brunson is not a great defender but I don't think he's like a bad defender he's a little undersized but he's sake he's strong he doesn't have the kind of first twitch quickness of Darius Garland but like you can't even try switching on that when you're getting torn up the way you were getting torn up just a little a little strange to me their offense the Knicks offense has been terrible with Jalen Brunson off the floor like the numbers are straight up comical they're scoring 78 points per 100 possessions when Jalen Brunson is off the floor because quickly he's been in through two games my six-man of the year choice not looking great six-man of the year manual quickly he needs to pick it up and a key ingredient in those no Brunson line-ups is RJ Barrett and we're what seven games into RJ Barrett's playoff career is he gonna have a good playoff game at some point because I'm waiting on the good RJ Barrett playoff game he's six of 25 from the floor in the series six of 25 he was 26 of 67 from the floor in the playoffs two years ago which means he's now shooting 32 of 92 34 percent in the playoffs it's just it's just not good enough and they're off into that Brunson looks totally discombobulated Randall has been just okay after that hot first quarter actually not been very good after that hot first quarter of game one and if it's just Randall battering ram mode I like especially if his ankle is not 100 percent I think Evan Mobley and Jared Allen are just gonna grind that slowly but surely to a point of not destruction but not effective enough for the next to win the series that way um and I also like the Cavs kind of started blitzing Brunson a little bit on the pick and roll in game two you know Brunson Mitchell Robinson all right we'll put you on the ball making give the ball to Mitchell Robinson you know why because we don't have any faith that Mitchell Robinson is gonna make plays in open space and in shaky spacing we're gonna make Josh Hart hit threes we're gonna make Mitchell Robinson make plays and there was one session we caught the ball the foul line open and he kind of went whoa what's what's next and the defense converged and and that was it their best offense was really gel and Brunson just getting the ball at the top of the arc where it's hard to double and letting him cook on whoever was was guarding him Hartenstein's a better playmaker much better playmaker in open space than Mr.
Robinson that's something to monitor I picked Cavs in seven before the series um I think this is gonna be should be a long series but those two games at the Garden are gonna be awesome and then the headliner the phoenix sons staved off what would have been an absolute defcon one day of stress and media coverage and anxiety with a come from behind and pull away late win over the Clippers who have been credit to the Clippers like massive credit to the Clippers I did not see this kind of nip and tuck war coming with Paul George out Paul George who can guard all the key players on the Suns to the degree that any of them can actually be guarded a Devin Booker could not be guarded last night 38 points rain and fire from everywhere I just didn't see it I just didn't see it coming and the Clippers have come out they have settled on a non-Paul George rotation lots of Terrence Mann lots of air Gordon they've thrown curveballs at the Suns starting with Kawai on Aton to start the series and Zubots on Tory Craig and then as soon as you get comfortable with that we're moving things around Eric Gordon's garden during that Russ is guarding training here comes Kawai under here comes a different scheme here comes his own defense hard to get in rhythm hard to get in rhythm and Russ well first of all Kawai Kawai is just in total playoff god mode and that's what they need to have any chance in the series they cannot afford even like an average to below average Kawai game they won't win that game and he's been unbelievable won the first game for him and game two there was a possession last night in game two where I just started laughing watching and I think it was like two minutes left in the first quarter the Sun set a pin down for Kevin Durant he was he was right under the rim and I think eight and set the pin out the same play the Clippers run for Kawai all the time and Kawai was on Durant and you know DeAndre maybe it was beyond I don't know whoever was it was a large person setting a large person screen and Kawai Leonard just like the matrix just avoided it like like Neo somehow didn't get screened or might be of Tony Allen used to tell me I would say how do you avoid these screens he's like you just don't get screened but how you just don't get screened exactly just don't get screened like the question was just fundamentally unsound Tony Allen you didn't understand how people could be curious how you avoid changes do it and then Kevin Durant caught the ball and Kawai Leonard just stuck out his left hand and took the ball from and dunked I wrote in my notes oh f*** Kawai um and then Russ I will continue to e-crow on Russ I did not see any of this comment I thought it would be not a disaster I just didn't think it would work I didn't think it would work well enough for as many minutes as it has worked and he was sensational again last night in helping the Clippers stay in the game and they made Phoenix earn that game and of course they earned it with one long two after another which is their secret weapon their secret sauce they only took 24 threes after taking 19 in game one that's not gonna be enough but for now it's been enough to even the series and you saw down the stretch they found Zubot's no matter who he was guarding no care if you're on Craig, Aiden, whoever we're bringing you into the pick and roll and we're gonna see how you do and sometimes he came out pretty high to try and stop those numbers but even then he's not he's not trapping he's not even quite at the screen and then he's back pedaling and once you backpedal you're toast and sometimes he was just too low and Paul with a redemption game and Booker and KD just rained jumper after jumper over him and we're gonna see if that's one of those games where it's a sea change and the Suns have settled in and figured it out and found the pressure point for which the Clippers have no counter or or if the Clippers can tighten up that pressure point just enough to bend the math in their favor and I'll explain that in a second or if they have another card to play we saw them play a little zone will they blitz with Zubot's and just say we're not like you take these jumpers we're gonna make you hit Tory Craig on the roll we're gonna make you hit eight and on the roll and make those guys beat us four on three now that is a dicey proposition when two of the four are gonna be some combination of Devin Booker Chris Paul and Kevin freaking Durant but the other two of the four will be DeAndre Aiden who needs to have if the Clippers do this needs to really punish it and Tory Craig a Josha Kogi or whatever Bench Roulette wheel whatever that wheel settles on from Ollie Williams who has no no consistent here's DJ Warren oh by TJ Warren here comes Daimi Lee by Daimi Lee Terence Ross you play four minutes again one year out we'll see if the Clippers go that blitz around that the Suns have the tools to exploit that do you dust off Robert Covington and go five out and switch a little bit more do you try to switch with Plumlee switching against Kevin Durant when they start using him as a screener and a ball in there that gets a little dicey switching based on Devin Booker that gets a little dicey Covington hasn't played in quite a long time the Suns have a lot of answers that's the benefit of Kevin Durant he's a walking answer he's got an answer for everything the answer of course is just gonna be a combination of all this you can't give these guys one look over and over again but what you definitely can't do is give them a drop coverage look over and over again unless your guards are so air tight getting over screens that those numbers become hard and the Clippers have been very very good at that but Tum is like hooking his way around eight and Terence man is just a maniac on defense Kawai is on screenable like they have the tools to do that and that's where the battle is really interesting it's only been two games but I looked this up today and I had double-check it the Suns in those two games 60 percent of their shots are mid-range shots 60 percent are either floaters or long twos to put that in perspective the highest share of mid-range shots for any team in the regular season was 40 percent of attempts the Suns are at 60 percent only 22 percent of their shots have been threes actually 22.9 let me be precise the lowest share in the regular season was 30 percent only 17 percent of their shots have come in the restricted area the lowest share in the regular season which was them was 26 percent they are the Clippers right now are forcing the Suns to test the limits of the idea that they can just win with mid-range shooting and I already had thought the Suns had tested the limits of whether they could win with mid-range shooting like two seasons ago in last season too this is a new extreme and it's just going to be interesting to see if the Suns can find ways to get different kinds of shots if it even matters and if the Clippers play some schemes like listening for instance it might unlock different kinds of shots like if you blitz you risk eight and eating at the rim you miss kick out passes for threes you miss kick out drive kick another three the Clippers just have have been more competitive and have more answers than I thought they did it will be very interesting to see how they come out defensively in game three in LA and although it feels like the Suns now have momentum and maybe they do maybe this is that C change game Clippers now have one court the Clippers have some confidence they're tough they're gritty they're they're kind of just stocky muscle is giving the Suns some issue and at the very least they are exhausting to hell out of the Phoenix Stars the minutes the minutes are are piling up fast for guys who are aging and somewhat vulnerable to injury in Chris Paul and Kevin Durant and the rest of the western conference is at the very least dipping their cap to the Clippers for that but this has been a much better series than I thought those are my game three takeaways for the games last night Spears was awesome on the Warriors and tonight we have Heat Bucks see if Giannis plays Nuggets Wolves which was a complete Nuggets walkover in game one and Lakers Gris will see if job plays and we will talk to you later in the week