Trey Kirby

Took a while, is what I was getting at, because we did have that New York run, Tass. You said they could never get it to a one-possession game, but they went on a 10-2 run. And you're like, uh-oh, here they go again. They got it to six, and then Siakam splashed a three. Oh!

but that's okay Bridges came back he hit a three okay they're right there still Halliburton he counters with a layup that's okay Hart scores inside off his own miss and so they were like hanging around but then just could never get over that hump because mainly they just couldn't stop them turns out when you gotta make the comeback you gotta get some stops like they were scoring they put up a lot of points but

Pacers one victory away from the NBA Finals, which would be their first appearance there since 2000. So it's been a long time, but they've got one more still. Got to go to Madison Square Garden, where they've been great. Obviously won two games. They've won six straight road playoff games, I believe. So they're going to have confidence that they can close it out in five. What's your gut say?

Do we come back to Indianapolis that the New Yorks give them? Get game five, or is this one going to be wrapped up like some people think might happen in the Western Conference tonight?

They now have that 3-1 lead here in the East Finals. Knicks are on the ropes. And in large part, because they couldn't get stops there down the stretch, TK. They couldn't get stops all night, I would say.

Got a better road record for sure. In this one, too, it's like, again, it's just the Pacers coming in waves, coming in waves. All these guys that check in and are all contributing. It's always like keep your eye on the end of these quarters, right? It's like a 12-5 run to end the first quarter. You know, they've built the lead up there. Then, you know, they're trailing there in the second quarter.

Nope, they rip off a 6-0 run at the end. They have the lead there now, 69-64. Kept that going in the third. It's just, again, this idea of, like, maybe the team takes their foot off the gas. Maybe they're a little tired. It's like Indiana, like, they're like, all right, let's run. Let's go. It's like this is when they keep striking here.

It's like these final couple minutes of these quarters is when they get their separation. And then in this one, held on. Didn't give up that 20-point lead. Pretty impressive stuff, and again, just a masterful Halliburton game.

But let's get into some random notes. Random! Good work, JD. Forgot we had the random intro there. I guess let's start with John Halliburton. Mm-hmm. How many times did they show him? We had set the line at two and a half. Interesting. So go ahead. Why do you say interesting? Because when they showed him is the problem here?

Yeah, I think you're right. By my count, it was two times within the actual 48 minutes of action. And it came much later. I thought it would be one of their early Ali LaForce stories. But it wasn't. It was a late Ali LaForce story. And then it helped that his son was doing something historic with the triple-double and zero turnovers. So then we got a lot of John. But I guess the under-hit...

Well, Allie had to go with the knee-smith ankle injury update early in the game. I wonder if he doesn't twist his ankle in game three. Do we lead with John Halliburton in the suite? as her first hit. I think so, I do, but yeah.

No, it's not. No, it's not.

Yeah, he was really out of rhythm. He was frustrated on a couple of those. I think he was thinking he was getting hit. Maybe it warranted a call, but yeah. He had some bad ones. I mean, Brunson had a garbage one to start the second half, too. Credit to the Pacers' defense. It's all over the place and all that, but there was just some sloppy play.

Lazy, lazy. So anyway, the John Halliburton sightings, I guess, hits the under. The two and a half line I had yesterday. How about this? Rick Carlisle getting a quick little spit in to a cup here. We got the clip early in the game. They went over to him. This was after a challenge. And... He's cutting weight. He doesn't have chew or anything like that. It didn't look like a dirty spit.

He just had some saliva that he wanted to get out of his mouth. But, I mean, be careful with that cup right there. That's where my mind immediately went.

Oh, yeah. That's pretty gross. Like, does he at least write Rick's spit cup or something on it? Rick Spitz? Yeah. Classic. How about this? Spike Lee finally in attendance there in Indiana. So are Chalamet. So are Ben Stiller. But Spike Lee had a crazy look. We'll focus on the hat. I've never seen a hat like this that Spike Lee had. But look who's behind him there. We got Spike Lee. L-E-I-G-H.

There's Lee Lee behind Spike. I have to admit, when I sent this photo this morning, I didn't notice Lee, Ellis, in the background. And then JD pointed it out to me. I'm like, what?

When JD in the Slack said, oh, do we want the one with Lee? Because I sent a couple photos of Spike with a hat. I'm like, what? The one with Lee? Lee Ellis? And then I thought, do you mean Lee Ellis put on Spike Lee's hat? So then I went to Lee's Instagram and I'm like, no, I can't find it. So, oh, there he is. He's in the background.

I don't know. It has vibes of like a train conductor, I guess. There's a little conductor to it, yeah.

Is it felt? I don't know. Oh, there's the other one. Yeah, it does look like it's made out of felt.

What a look.

No, it's not. Did you see the clip of Pat McAfee getting the crowd all hyped up, basically saying, hey, send these celebs home to New York?

Pretty funny.

It was. Speaking of celebs, one of them there, Triple H, was in attendance sitting right there by the Pacers bench. It was a great shot at the end of the game. Halliburton shaking his hand. Thank you, Mr. Triple H, for coming to the game.

I gotta get going. I felt like he was like, I gotta go. That's what he was saying. Great game, kid.

Hey, he's a wrestling fan, man. I bring up Triple H, though, because I think Josh Hart was inspired by Triple H in attendance. Because he dropped, like, a leg drop on Ben Matherin's face here. Like, Hulk Hogan style here. Bang! This was in the fourth quarter. Pretty nasty. It was amazing that he was okay from it.

Yeah, Liz. Well executed, though.

I guess Hogan didn't drop it on their face. No, he dropped it on the chest.

End of the third quarter, too. I didn't grab the clip, but Brunson got tangled up. With Matherin. They sort of hip-tossed each other until the floor was right near the end of the third. And then they started jawing, or at least Brunson was really pissed. There was a great camera shot of Matherin at the free-throw line and Brunson behind him talking.

Matherin was doing a pretty good job of ignoring him because Matherin is known to get into it as well. I thought it was a cool shot. You know the part I'm talking about?

He was not happy with Matherin.

Yeah, when you see just the photo like this, you're like, okay, why would that be a foul on anybody? But yeah, one guy is grabbing here. Just the yank arm. I don't want you up in that action, so let me just pull you back.

He was right. Speaking with the exercise angle, what do you think of Shaq doing bicep curls with Underdog? as they were going, like showing them up, getting ready for the halftime show. Yeah. We know, obviously, both these guys. Very strong. Underdog is tiny. He is short, but he's not... It's still hard to lift a person. Yeah, and he's like... Because they move. Not super slight.

First time at the Dufferin Mall, it's full of Canadian chains, which to my American eyes look like ours, just with worsening. Dufferin' more my meat, a.k.a.

I think he weighs more than that.

We weren't even walking around New York that much. Sort of crappy weather, and we were all within one sort of area. We didn't have to walk very far.

The only other note I have was late in the third quarter again, Halliburton feeling it. He hit a three in Brunson's eye. And then I thought he did sort of – he didn't know what to do with the celebration, but I thought he gave us a quick sort of Brunson sort of celebration to mock him because he just splashed it in his face. And then when he was running back on defense –

He gets clocked by Brunson and, like, another Pacers. Like, they just bang into him. Did you see this? He's like, whoa, holy crap. Like, it was like, I don't think it was on purpose from Brunson. I think he got bumped. Anyway, just like, Halliburton just got clocked going back. But he sort of gave the Brunson sort of three-point-to-the-face celebration. So, yeah, it was quick. It was quick.

They didn't get a great shot of it. But that's my final note. Any other random notes?

Wait, are you setting up for a joke right now?

Yeah, that's what he would say.

With Denzel?

And that's why he was not in Game 3 in Indianapolis. He was promoting stuff? I think they said he went overseas. Denzel demanded he go somewhere to promote this movie. Yeah, I think so. Both cans?

Did you look into going to it, J.D., when you were in New York? I did. I did. And instead you saw? Glenn Gary. Glenn Ross.

That's Othello. Yes. But Glenn Gary, Glenn Ross, you had all the stars in it.

He's like, when Gary leads. Stick with this game for a second. Halliburton, to circle back to him, 32 points, 12 boards, 15 assists, 4 steals, 0 turnovers. I was wondering, where does that rank? That game, that's a hell of a box score. Where does it rank in regards to best performances of the playoffs so far? So I fired up Basketball Reference this morning to try and figure that out.

So JD, hit me with that top five. Top five, top five, top five. Top five, top five. Yeah, top five player performances from the postseason so far. Now I had one criteria when I was looking on Basketball Reference. Had to come in a win, I decided. Alright? Pretty important. Whole point of this damn thing. Had to come in a W for the best games. So that eliminated, you know, Jokic had a 44-15 game.

Came in a loss. Donovan Mitchell had a 48-point game. Came in a loss to the Pacers. Tatum had a 42-point game versus the Magic. That was in a loss. LeBron had a couple actually really good box scores in losses to the Wolves. So I removed those. These are the top five playoff performances in a win, and I ranked them by game score. Nothing subjective here.

I wanted to see, where does Halliburton's rank game score? For those that don't know, that's a rough measure. of a player's productivity for a single game. Hollinger came up with it. It's taking into account sort of the entire box score, right? In terms of your efficiency and not turning the ball over and all the other stats. So I was shocked.

Halliburton's game four last night versus the Knicks, number five on the list. That 32-12-15 game with zero turnovers and the four steals. A 36.4 game score. And I was like, wow, there were four better performances in regards to that stat? Yes, there were. Let's go through them. Jokic, game four versus the Clippers. Just, just beat Halliburton. 36.7 game score.

36 points, 21 rebounds, eight assists, two steals, one block, two turnovers. That was the game that tied that series 2-2 versus the Clips. I was like, okay. Sticking with that series. Kawhi Leonard's game two in that series versus the Nuggets. 37.4 game score for Kawhi. This one all was about his efficiency. He scored 39 points shooting 15 and 19 from the floor. 5-5 at the line.

He sprinkled in five assists, three boards, some defensive numbers. He was a plus six in that game. That was a one possession game. That was a 105-102 win for the Clips. That one, that makes sense because it's just so efficient. 15-19, that was like when it was like, ooh, that's looking like Raptors Kawhi there from the 2019 championship run, if you remember that game.

Number two on the list, Anthony Edwards game four versus the Lakers. 37.9 game score. He scored 43 points. He had 24 in the second half. He did a lot of his damage at the free throw line. He went 14 to 17 in that game, but he hit five threes from deep. He had nine boards, four of them on the offensive glass, six assists, and only one turnover.

And that was in the game that really sort of put away the series for Ant there in game four to put them up 3-1. But the number one Playoff performance, according to GameScore, this postseason, Jamal Murray's Game 5 versus the Clippers. How wild is this list? Three of these games, three of these performances in that series. Jamal Murray, Game 5 versus the Clips.

39.9 GameScore, 43 points on just one free throw attempted. He went 1-1 at the free throw line. 17-26 from the floor, 8-14 from deep, five boards, seven assists, three steals, one block, and only one turnover for Kitchener's finest in that game five that put them up 3-2 in the series. So, yeah. There you go. Those are the best ones. According to GameScore, now a couple honorable mentions.

Tatum had a great series clinching game five versus the Magic. Monster game from him. Brunson had a 39-12 game four versus the Celtics in the second round. That was the game that Tatum actually got injured. Huge game from Brunson. Gary Trent Jr. and Buddy Heald both had games this postseason where they hit nine three-pointers each. You know, they make sort of the shortlist here.

And then my final note, SGA has three of the top 13 best game scores that came in a win this postseason. You know, I think he's a little lower on these. I thought he would be in one of these top fives, but, you know, maybe some of the efficiency numbers. His best was probably Game 2 versus the Wolves here in the West Finals. Really strong efficiency in that game.

He only had one turnover as well to eight assists. so otherwise he's had a lot of good performances, as a lot of these guys have. When you add the losses, I mean, there's a lot of Jokic in the monster numbers he put up. I think he also had like a 42-22 in a win.

Again, this was not subjective. This was just like, game score, game score, game score. Let's see what the numbers say. Again, I thought Halliburton would be higher, but you're right. There are other performances where you're like, that's huge. That changed the series. Yes. I mean, it's a completely different series if the Knicks just win that game. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, the game started at Indiana's pace, right, Tass? There was 42 points total scored, both squads, in the first six minutes. That's indie ball. I mean, this is like, let's get up and down. Let's run, run, run, run, run. And like immediately early in this game, it was like, oh, this obviously bodes well for the Pacers chances to win this game as it goes on.

That was still crazy. I keep thinking about those people that left. They're like, ah, we got it. Game one, Knicks, baby. Let's go party, boys. Get your jackets. I already paid the bill. Let's go. There's 90 seconds left or two minutes left. We're up huge. Let's rock. See ya. And then they found out, I don't know, maybe on their phones or maybe in the morning. Who knows? But there you go.

Tass, I'm going to turn to you now because you've got some numbers when it comes to the all-rookie teams that were announced not too long ago.

If this is the type of game we're going to play and yeah, putting up 130, we eventually got there.

And just to go back, yeah, Willie Herhan Gomez, he averaged eight and seven for the Knicks. Played a lot of games. Knicks bump. Started some. Yeah, got a Knicks bump. I guess that's why he made first team. And, you know, Brown and Ingram and Murray, better careers, obviously. But didn't have, like, lights-out rookie seasons from what I remember.

Not this Mark Jackson.

Unstoppable baby. Not mama there goes that man Mark Jackson. It was the other Mark Jackson.

Wow, guys that are playing in the same series that Brunson's playing on his team.

Oh, Red Velvet.

Well, that's what I was going to ask. How do we feel about how we came up with four-and-a-half? Is it... Sounds like it wasn't bad, like a decent line to set it at with what you're giving. Obviously, some go under, some, of course, go over. Depends on if you hit a superstar or not or two.

I am taking the over. Four and a half, if that's our line, for these current two all-rookie teams. The totality of their all-star appearances.

I'm saying both of them for sure. That's what we were originally saying, but I know we're just doing the numbers of the first team.

Yeah, I could see an all-star maybe in his future. Not a ton, though.

To me, it's three guys. It's Castle, Risa Shea, and it's Buzelis. And I'm like, can we get to five total from those two squads? But... You need Castle to basically pop off and be like a six-time All-Star or something like that. Then you're good.

All right, what a breakdown. Damn land, man. Crunch on the numbers. You want to keep going on those other teams, or...?

They're like, who cares?

Literally, who cares? Generally with second teams, rookies, it's like, who cares?

I don't remember this.

What year? I...

Okay. I guess he would be at least an honorable mention.

Okay, that makes maybe more sense it be that year.

That would be a fun list. Guys that we had debates about whether they would be an All-Star over our last 20 years. Because one that comes to mind, Aaron Aflalo. I remember that year, we were like, I don't know, I think of Flawless at all. Sorry, we had a big debate about that. That would be a funny list. Especially guys that didn't ultimately make it, but we were, like, stumping for them.

I thought of another one that honestly did have a good first half of the season. It sounds insane. You're going to be like, what? No way. Andrea Bargnani. We did a whole video about it, but he did have a good year there in the Raptors. So it was like, he deserves to be in the All-Star Game.

He made first team all-rookie?

Too bad Bargnani couldn't add to the list, just getting one.

When we came out with... Ahead of his time, man. Ahead of his time.

He legit was. I mean, I know I'm laughing, but he was. He was a seven-footer that could actually shoot and play a little bit of defense. He would be better in today's game.

Started hot.

Great stuff. Dan Lan, thanks for all your help with that.

You're the man, Dan Lan. You're the man, Dan Lan. All right, well, tonight we got a game four? Five. Five. Game five. Game five. They're all blurring together. 3-1, yeah. 3-1 for the Thunder. Point is, they can make their first, excuse me, second ever trip to the finals with a win tonight. Wrap it up in five. You believe that is going to be the case, TK. I do. You are on record.

This will be their first time back to the NBA Finals since 2012, if they can do it. But maybe Ant comes out with some fire tonight. Try and get that back to Minnesota.

Maybe he does.

So that was a gentleman's sweep last year. Yeah. Indeed. Yeah, it's different.

Very different, but let's see if the Thunder can get back to the finals or if the Wolves can give us a game six back in Minnesota. We'll be here to talk about it at 10 a.m. Eastern. Join us in the Classic Factory then. Hit the like button, subscribe, podcast listeners, five-star ratings and reviews. Until then, Clipper Road!

Embrace the day, people.

I was going to say, his name rarely comes up when we talk about the best athletes in the NBA. It almost never does. And it should. He is one of the most in-condition athletes, best-conditioned athletes, I think, in basketball. He gets stronger as the game goes on. That goes back to his Raptors day. That was a big thing.

He just never tires, ever, for a guy his size and obviously his movement nonstop, what he gives you defensively as well. He's overlooked, I think, in that department. But what a series, right? What an absolute postseason for this guy. Once again, and a huge game to go with Halliburton and the zero turnovers.

I always think it's one thing when it's just like a guard that comes in, sort of pounds the rock and just makes the simple pass, moves the ball. But that's not him, right? It's like you said, he's grabbing it and going high octane. And for him to not cough it up once, to force a pass he shouldn't once that gets picked off by a pretty handsy, obviously lengthy defense in the Knicks, it's amazing.

It's amazing that he just has that control of the ball to have the 15 assists and zero turnovers. Man, what a game. And he played good defensive game for him last night, too. Four steals? You mentioned the rebounds.

Good morning, sweet world, and welcome to the No Dunks Podcast presented by Amazon Prime. It's Wednesday, May 28th, 2025. I'm J.E. Skeets, here in the Classic Factory, and alongside me, as always, Tass Mellis. Shout out to all my friends who've been to the Dirty D. Next to him, it's the bearded one, my top shot hot boy, Trey Kirby.

Neesmith, you brought him up. No signs of being injured, really, here in Game 4 after some 48 hours prior. He's limping in the locker room. He had that right ankle sprain. But, man, he drilled two three-pointers basically near the start of this game, both of them off of Halliburton, pushing it in transition. Then he had the fast break, like, big dunk from Neesmith there in the first quarter.

He's, of course, picking up Jalen Brunson, full court, still doing that, bumping him all game long. Really impressive. really kept Brunson in check in this game. I mean, you look at the numbers. Brunson got his points. A lot of those came when Neesmith was not on him. When Neesmith was on him, it was tough. And then, yeah, 16 points, 5-9 shooting in 32 minutes for Neesmith.

What a great game from him in a game where we're like, oh, what type of game is he going to be able to give him? Okay, he's going to play, but is he going to be hampered at all? Not the case. When he splashed that three, like fading in the corner, it was like, okay, he's good to go.

And last but not least, over yonder, making the magic happen, Super Producer J.E.

There he is. Here we are. Yeah, what a banger there.

Great mall.

But he was good in this game. 20 points off the bench in 12 minutes. Got a lot of those at the line. But man, this was a guy that scored 11 points combined through the first three games. He was a minus 31 in the series. He still is because he had a zero plus minus last night. But still, he was giving them a little something. I saw the tweet going around. I think Tony East came up with it.

It's a store called Mark's?

Prior to tonight, the fewest minutes by a player with 20 plus points in a playoff game. Leon Powell. Do you remember that game of the 2008? I do remember that game. I know, game two. He had 21 points in under 15 minutes for the Celtics in that game. They went on to win that championship. But now here's Matherin with 20 in 12 minutes. And it's like, how the hell did he get to that many?

But it was nice to see him give him something because he had been bad.

I'm looking ahead, but I am excited for Neesmith on SGA and Dort on Halliburton. My God, if we get that, that'll be fun as hell. Trying to slow those two guys down with two of the most physical, obviously, locked-in defensive guys. But that's getting ahead of myself. What else from this one? I just think it's hilarious.

Hello to everybody on YouTube. Hit the like button, subscribe, podcast listeners, five-star ratings and reviews for your boys. Do it for Marks. We got lots to talk about here today, but we start with Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals and Tyrese Halliburton posting an eye-opening triple-double with pops in the building to lead his Pacers to the 130-121 victory.

Depth versus depth. What a weird game. It got sloppy in the fourth quarter. Obviously, there was that part where it was a free throw fest. That was like keeping the Knicks around in the third quarter. There was that parade to the free throw line. It got in the bonus, and there was just foul after foul after foul. And then it sort of flipped, and the Knicks were incessantly fouling the Pacers.

Everybody played poorly for Minnesota in the second half. I don't really know what they can look to to be like, okay, we can build off this looking just specifically at the third and the fourth quarters. They have to be looking more so to the first half. But even then, They had as many made threes as they had turnovers.

So it was like, okay, yeah, you are shooting the ball very, very well, but they should have had a bigger lead. They had eight turnovers, I believe, at halftime. That was equivalent to what they were shooting from three. And, you know, you like the jump shots dropping, but you know you're playing sloppy on the other side. And eventually it's going to build.

And okay, see, when they get one turnover, they're looking for the next one right away. They really... Es ist einfach so, dass wir wissen, dass diese Leute ein bisschen geradelt sind und wir können zwei oder drei Steals in der Reihe bekommen. Und das ist ein großer Momentumfaktor.

We had Robin Thicke bumping through the speakers. Songs you haven't heard for 15 years.

Sounds of the game doesn't hit quite as hard.

This is a first.

So that sounds like a yes. They scored 88 points. They were completely outclassed in this game. Anthony Edwards has to be a lot better. He needs to... Ja. Ja. Ja. They're going to have him seeing multiple bodies. They're going to be daring all these guys who bricked threes in Game 1 to shoot them again in Game 2.

So absolutely they have to be confident, but also they need to be put in positions where Randall and Anthony Edwards are involved in the same action. So when the ball gets out of Edwards' hands, it's to Randall's hands with a chance to make a play, rather than trying to get the ball back to Julius Randall on the other side.

Because when he's catching the ball and he's thinking and he's taking his time going against the OKC defense, they just see, A gigantic juicy steak and they're ready to go eat it. Like a Looney Tunes character. I don't know which one it was, but whichever one is most after those steaks, that's OKC when they see Julius Randall pounding the ball.

When he's catching the ball and doing something immediately like he was in the first half, not thinking about it, he played awesome. So he needs to be able to play some more automatic basketball, I think. And Edwards needs to amp up his...

level of intensity he didn't really do much in the second half maybe healing for a couple of days will help him out he's usually a pretty indestructible player but this was a disappointing effort i thought from anthony edwards rarely getting inside the okc defense oh absolutely it felt like we're flashing back to game one of the golden state series where anthony edwards couldn't hit a shot from

How many threes did they make in the first half? Did they make 10 threes in the first half? I think, yeah. They were at least close. Randall had 5 himself. And look, they scored 48 points. They hit 10 threes and scored 48 points. That's going to be a problem. They're going to have to figure out a way to get close to 110.

Original Degrassi?

Wow, doxing us on night one. Sure. Interesting.

Hadn't had a snack yet.

Wir sprechen von Karotten, Zucchini und Endive. Nicht zu erwähnen, Pita-Chips.

Wir sind zurück. Ich wusste nicht, dass wir weg waren. Du bist glücklicherweise von Esch geblasen. Du konntest nicht sehen, dass das Pandemonium gerade über seinem Schulter ging. Ich kann sagen, dass wir hier vielleicht ein bisschen witzig sind, weil Esch zwei gigantische Wurzeln getrennt hat. Keine Scheiße, Mann. Versuch das nicht zu tun, wenn wir das Show machen.

Ich fühlte wirklich, als ob wir es töten, wenn Esch hier ist. Ja. Oh mein Gott. Aber wir sind zurück. Ich würde sagen, je nachdem wie die Nacht endet, sind wir drei nur im Bett. Ich denke, es ist gut, dass das Spiel mit Shane Gilchrist Alexander begonnen hat.

Ich wette eigentlich das Gegenteil. Ich wette, dass Jimmy Goldstein kommt und sagt, dass jeder weiß ist. Ich hätte mein Schwarz und Gold wieder gewonnen. Ich dachte genau das gleiche. Er war so, verdammt. Habe ich genug Zeit, um zu verändern? Ich weiß nicht, ob ich mein anderes Leather-Hat bräuchte. Ich denke, es ist unfair, dass ESPN die Grafik, die Battle of the Cousins, veröffentlicht hat.

Between Shea Gildress Alexander and Nikhil Alexander Walker. Look, we know who's going to win the scoring battle. Pretty much every single one of these. But it is cool that they're cousins.

Well, I just think it's doing Nikhil a little bit of a disservice. Like they're pitching it. Well, I don't know. Once again, we're only seeing it with our eyes. We're only tapped in with that one sense. But it does feel like, hey, look, these two guys should be going at each other.

Wenn wir alle wissen, dass Nikhil da ist, um Shea Gilgis Alexander zu stoppen, von dem, was er auch nicht gemacht hat. Nein. Also, was ich sage, ist, wir müssen diese beiden nicht gegen einander schießen. Schaut uns einfach das Bild an.

Podcasting with Uncle Chris and the boys, the bad boys. Well, I got good news for you.

Die Bedingungen waren perfekt für das Game One der Western Conference Finals. Auch ein seltsames Spiel.

This was a complete tale of two halves. Nobody played well for Minnesota in the second half of this game. The reason they were winning the first half was because Julius Randall went nuts. He made five threes in the first half. That was his playoff career high. At that point, OKC had taken eight threes total. They were three for eight compared to Minnesota shooting the lights out in the first half.

Second half comes around. OKC turned up the defensive intensity. It kind of felt like Minnesota wasn't totally ready for that. Kind of the same thing happened in Game 1 of the Golden State Series. That had the Curry injury thrown in as well. But the playoff-ness of the second half got to the Timberwolves, I thought, in Game 1 of that series. And kind of the same thing here.

When the Thunder got to the next level, Minnesota wasn't able to hit that level. They took Anthony Edwards completely out of the game. They took Randall completely out of the game. They forced everybody else to make plays. And as we're going to get into, Nas Reed, Di Vincenzo, Nikhil Al. Alexander Walker, Jaden McDaniels, none of those guys could make plays. Somehow the ball found the...

It's way to Gobert's hands. So many times to start the second half. And you know that's a win right away for the Thunder. He started missing, turning the ball over. They yanked him out. And then it was just a parade to the rim for Jay Gildress Alexander.

20 points in the paint for Minnesota. And... Some of those were late.

Nasri came late. Nikhil Alexander-Walker had a late layup as well. You can't do that against the Thunder. I thought that there were times Minnesota was forcing the ball inside. Oftentimes with Gobert, definitely in the second half. The ball... You can't just try and force shots up against the Thunder inside.

They're such a swarming defense that they're going to get a good contest on it, unless you have a really good look at the rim. And then once they get the ball knocked out of there or grab the ball off the defensive glass, they're going the other way. The transition points were ridiculous in this one. Zero fast break points for Minnesota. Not a surprise. OKC, though, is able to run the other way.

They got a lot easier offense. They shot close to 60% in the second half of this game. Minnesota stopped. in der ersten Halbzeit. Ich denke, viel davon war, weil sie in der OKC schießen durften. Sie haben die Jumper nicht gemacht, aber schlussendlich brach sich der Tide öffnen und Minnesota konnte nicht verteidigen oder schießen.

Yeah, there was nobody that could get the ball inside. They tried posting up Nasrid a couple of times on J-Dub, stolen both times. Julius Randle never really got it going in a post-up scenario either. And then Anthony Edwards, whether it was just because of the defense that OKC was playing or because he tweaked his ankle once again, missed a bunch of time in the second quarter.

He wasn't going to the rim the way he can go to the rim. A lot of that is because Caruso is such a great defensive player. Case and Wallace as well. These guys are major screen navigators. They were awesome in this game, fighting through, never allowing Anthony Edwards to actually get a good look at the hoop off a clean screen.

They were never able to pick those guys off, which kept Minnesota out of the paint. So the three-pointers they're generating, they're not good ones. They're kind of desperation ones. And they got two... Du bist völlig richtig, auf dem Perimeter. Also ja, sie werden es herausfinden. Ich bin mit dir. Einige der Shea-Files waren schrecklich in diesem Spiel. Schrecklich. Ich glaube generell...

It's okay to go the free throw line a lot of times. It means because you can't be guarded. People can't stay in front of you. But a lot of these, the guys were in front of him. I think it was worse in the first half. I think he shot two for 13. It looked to me like he was playing for the foul. But then he came out in the second half, seven for 13.

Part of that's because McDaniels dealing with foul trouble. But he was playing to score in the second half. Yeah. Way more ethical, I thought, from Shea Gildress Alexander in half two.

Das war der Unterschied. Sie hatten einen dritten Mann, der in die Runde ging, während Minnesota absolut nicht. Andy took care of the glass. I thought that was huge in the third quarter. I think no offensive rebounds for the Timberwolves in that quarter and they were pretty good in the first half. They were just turning the ball over so much in the first half.

They weren't really able to extend the lead, but they were also hitting the offensive glass. But Gobert wasn't really able to play much in the third quarter. He's supposed to be helping on the offensive glass. Suddenly Minnesota, the team that looks like the bigger team, They didn't look any bigger than OKC did. And in fact, OKC was dominating inside.

Hartenstein got a few dunks in the second half, had the floaters as well. Chet Holmgren found his way into the game, started dunking everything inside, running the court, making plays on both sides. The bigs battle completely swapped in the second half.

Heya. Heya. It feels weird to say it in a bed.

Would you agree? Would you go Chet? Oh, Chet, for sure. He looked completely outclassed in the first half. He looked like he wasn't going to be able to play in this series. They were hunting him on defense in the first quarter and that's why they had to sub him out so quickly.

So I thought for him to turn that around completely, he was kind of dominant at times, I thought, in the second half of this game with the back-to-back dunks, making plays at the rim, getting steals inside as well. That was like a fully realized Chet Holmgren in the second half. Exactly what you want to see from him.

No, you're right.

Yeah.

He's the only bass. Yeah, it's like a soup, you know? First day it's fine, but then the second day, that's when it kicks in. Flavors. Perfect level. I would say the thing that did sound good on the mix was Bone Thugs. That was nice.

The Pacers snatch it, but the Cavs blew this one. Yes, sir. Yes, indeed. 27 seconds left. They just had to inbound the ball under their own hoop. And they did. But Kenny Atkinson said, no, I need a timeout. He was so desperate to get Donovan Mitchell back into the game. And so their last timeout is gone. And Cavs have to go the other way, inbound on the other side. They flub that one.

Yeah, Cleveland was beating them to their spots every single time. So the movement just wasn't there. And it was a nice little change-up. Ty Jerome did go into the starting lineup for Sam Merrill. Because Sam Merrill was... He wasn't the guy that they needed, but Ty Jerome obviously didn't help them enough either.

Conspiracy theory, as Brian Anderson said on the broadcast. Are they saying he's got the wrong shorts just so we can watch the Indiana Pacers ending? Which was spectacular. Just a quick conspiracy theory. Yeah, I didn't notice the shorts at all. I mean, nobody would have noticed, really.

Not after you win game one. Probably not.

Yeah, the wild part is Steph leaves, and the Wolves can't take advantage because they held the Warriors to 18 points in the first quarter, but they were not big because they only scored 20, and then it got worse in the second quarter, scoring only 11 points. Just weird seeing Anthony Edwards miss gimmies. I mean, yes, he missed his first 10 shots, but six were at the frickin' rim.

You can add another one in because when he got fouled at the end of the second quarter, he flubbed a bunny that he missed, which doesn't go in the field goals. But as he went to the line, he hit one free throw. The entire arena erupted because he scored a point. This is Anthony Edwards. This is so strange.

Now, he had a way better second half, but this was his worst playoff performance that he went so. So quiet. Why did it happen? Did it happen because he was anointed as the next guy these few days in between these series? He was anointed this incredible player. He beat LeBron. He's beat them all. Or was it that the Wolves, for the first time in his career, were clearly the favorite in this series?

And then Tyrese Halliburton is able to go to the hoop. Cavs could have challenged. It's unlikely they would have been able to get a turnover with that one, but because they don't have a timeout, they couldn't. They also could have used that timeout after Halliburton's big shot so they could advance the ball and have a far better shot at the rim. So they really did flub this one.

Because that hasn't happened. Now, last year against the Phoenix Suns in the first series, they were technically the favorite, but... They weren't this. And Anthony Edwards was not this. He just did not look right. Now he's rebounding. He's defending. But it was just so odd. It was so odd. And he didn't demand the ball at the end of the first half where, you know, it's your time, man.

So that part was weird where you see Steph go off and – The team couldn't score. I mean, who was great on their team? It was Nasrita again. But, you know, you can see some box scores. But these guys were just so quiet. Everybody, everybody ice cold from three-point land.

Obviously, Tyrese Halliburton's shot is the story. That was freaking amazing how he took his sweet time. It's like you took a deep breath to take every one of those seconds and be able to hit that shot. But the Cavs wasted Donovan Mitchell's 48-point performance without their other two All-Stars and DeAndre Hunter. They needed another ball handler, and Ty Jerome having his worst game did not help.

Yeah, the scary part was the Warriors walk into their building and just stole their energy immediately. They couldn't do it. You have to be able to beat the role players on the other team. You just have to be able to do that. You're supposed to be the deeper team. Now, Steve Kerr is part of the Greg Popovich tree.

He will always play all of his guys throughout the regular season for this moment to be ready for these. And it was great seeing Pat Spencer hook a ball off the glass for all the guys that got no stop in pop game. Respect to Pat Spencer. I mean, where did that come from? I thought the moment that really sealed it for me was a 13-point deficit in the third quarter, and Jimmy Butler chucked a prayer.

From three-point land.

Yeah, and it goes glassing in, and that's it. Prayer answered, and the Wolves could pray all they want, but they just weren't doing enough. I know it's stupid to say that, but really, they didn't have the energy. I mean, it really sucked the energy out of that arena. And the three's obviously clanging all night long. It was so much so bad.

And that's why Kenny Atkinson was so desperate to get Donovan Mitchell back into the game. That being said, the Cavs are going to remember this one if they don't beat the Indiana Pacers. Should've won this thing.

Yeah, but when they can't hit threes, like in Game 5 against the Lakers, they got great performances out of their bigs. They do have the size. They should get better performances out of a Julius Randle, who had 23 in that game, and he was just more adamant.

I mean, the foul trouble, there was some early foul trouble in this game that maybe got into his head a little bit because I didn't think he was incredible defensively. And Rudy Gobert, who had 27 in that game. They've got to be able to do it. So, yeah, Draymond is incredible at helping and altering shots. But then you've got a better matchup if Jimmy's taking Julius Randle.

I mean, he should be bodying guys. But he was not. They've got to use the bodies. They've got to use the height. They weren't there. They weren't there.

Yeah. Yeah, I think so. It is just one game. I think they are confident enough in their team.

getting to the conference finals there's just a they know who they are yeah so i i that was just i was i was not expecting and i know all the broadcasters and everybody's saying oh it's rest versus rust these teams that took care of business have five days off it's hard to buy that but i mean i don't know there's no reason i bring that up because there is no reason to see them

clanking and not have the energy and not have thrown freaking alley-oops. I mean, Rudy Gobert is by far the giant in this series. He's five to six inches taller than the next guy on the floor most of the time. No disrespect to Quentin Post's height of seven feet. I think he is seven feet. But, I mean, he should be able to throw dunks. Mike Conley, he threw him one with the right hand.

I'm still puzzled as to whether or not that was a shot or an assist attempt. I mean, that was a weird one. Gobert should be able to hammer, and so should Randle. And Nasrid came off the bench, and it was good. But that was the only guy that really showed energy, I thought.

In the NBA.

Yeah, I was just checking to see if the Wolves maybe lost at Game 1 last year and still made the conference finals. Nah, that didn't happen. They always win Game 1, so we'll see if this changes here. I'd say it's over. Maybe. You're calling it? No. No, Steph, that helps. You've got to be better.

I will say Brandon Pujemski, his interview after the first quarter, shown that he's going to have his own pod. The pod pod. Brandon Pod Pod, whatever you call it. He's just a really eloquent guy. He always has been. He just spits stuff off. He's always been super, super comfortable on the mic. He was great. We'll see when that happens. Probably next season, I guess.

Maybe Draymond Green starts his own platform.

Steph will do one.

Why?

Buddy's rolling. I mean, the guy hadn't made the playoffs until last year, his eighth year of his career. and the Sixers didn't really use him all that much. They tossed him in in the last game because they were desperate. He did have a good game. I mean, he played in four games. The last one was his only good one, but this is his best run, clearly.

The Golden State Warriors trickle-down effect is a little bonkers. I did not expect it, but it is clear that's what's happening.

Yeah, I guess what's interesting is the Spurs didn't have a list. They didn't even go look at another head coach. They just said, Ms. Johnson, you are the guy. That's how much they believe in his character. And DeJounte Murray came to the press conference because he had been with him for a long time in San Antonio, but it went back way longer than that. That's how much he loved him.

He helped him as a teen. Johnson helped him build an AAU team. He was his mentor, really. Like, DeJounte Murray got – Got real. This is his quote. It's a testament to hard work, dedication, but most importantly, his character, the loving, caring man he is. I'm thankful for him. I'm grateful for him, and I'm proud for him. This is rare. This is bigger than just him, and he understands that.

I'm not surprised because he's smart, he's patient. Accountability is a big word that he stands on. That sounds a lot like... A student of Greg Popovich. Obviously, somebody who held people accountable and just being entirely about the team and things bigger than that. So Kelly Eco had a great write-up on that, on The Athletic. But the whole thing just makes sense now.

On the outside looking in, pop El Jefe now as his new t-shirt says, passing it along.

Absolutely. Obviously. It's his... He deserves it. I like his remarks about being fired from Brooklyn. He said that was something that just helped me grow tremendously going and being a coach with the Golden State Warriors and learning what Steve Kerr did as soon as he took over from Mark Jackson. Change it up, as he did with Cleveland, being under Ty Lue and all that.

But yeah, it is terrible timing. I mean, after that and the ending of that game and even the interview after the end of third quarter, I thought he was maybe just a little too confident that they were going to win that thing. I'm reading into it now. Obviously, in hindsight, he was fine, but it was unfortunate how it all ended there in game two. But yeah, he went. He deserves it.

Number six is the question. Who was it? J.J. Redick. Five votes. No first place votes, though. No, not even close.

Is this his first time winning it?

Yeah. It's surprising that the other executives, they wait a couple of years. It feels like they built obviously an incredible team, but I guess the Caruso was the cherry on top. Now we can give it to him because he's obviously been deserving of it for a couple of years.

I've never been more excited for an AI voiceover. This comes back. Yeah, all the nostalgia comes back. Now, he may not be it for the entirety of NBC's tenure here. Maybe somebody else takes over.

But the backlash is, hey, Give it to somebody else?

Yeah, I think they will use somebody else when they determine... Not so much right now and everybody hating them. I think it's just, well, this voice doesn't sound like what we need. If it can't generate that. And also just to move on. This is the nostalgia clip. This is now. We're talking about it. And that's it.

Yeah. Bring back intros. They're good now. They're good when I watch the NBA in arena feed. And I see them. Depending on the arena, some are good. The Grizzlies, kill it. They're so good. The opposing team is good. And maybe that's not good for them. But they pull out such incredible music. So, yeah.

What would you rather have, though? It's another voice.

Yeah, exactly.

But now you get the 90s voice that people know. Not everybody knows, but why wouldn't you have a voice that you know?

I think both home teams win.

And Boston's going to shoot at least 75 to 95-3. They'll be far better. I think the Celtics will have way more energy and not just sit on their hands on both ends.

Thanks for joining us. And remember, occasionally we do a playback game and I'm just talking it into existence. Now, I'll be doing some of the first game, probably the second half of the first game tonight. Boston, New York Knicks.

And Aaron Neesmith on Sam Merrill's back also helps out. He did a very good job of getting extremely physical. And that's what the Cavs are definitely upset about, especially after game one when Evan Mobley and DeAndre Hunter get hurt. And they say, you're too physical. And yes, it's probably going up against the line. I did find that.

The question of whether or not Donovan Mitchell was flagrant and when he hit Aaron Neesmith in the face, questionable, because, you know, he's up in his shirt. He literally can't turn up the court. But that's what you should do.

Yeah, it's just tough to move when Aaron Neesmith is on you. So he is pushing it. He's asking the referees, call me. He's doing that. And so, yes, they pushed it right there. Again, if the Cavs have one of their all-stars, yeah, we're talking about a different game. They win this thing. And if Ty Jerome doesn't have his worst game, entering the starting lineup, going 1-14. He just wasn't right.

They needed a ball handler. They were so desperate. They kept on giving it to Max Struess to bring it up the floor. They were just looking for somebody to bring it up the floor. If they didn't trade DeAndre Hunter for two guys, then they have more depth with Niang there and Karis LeVert there. So there's a lot of things on both sides.

Basketball lovers.

Yeah, it looked like it was done. It's about the Cavs and the Cavs nuts. And Max Stress was causing the stress in this one to Indiana. And it looked like it was over, especially with Tyrist and his hand causing a burden. But then the stress was caused the other direction. I mean, Max Truce was freaking awesome. He was really, really good for Cleveland. They were just so desperate for him.

Somebody to handle the ball. And, yes, Ty Jerome in his first start. Big, super big game. I think he started game one, didn't he? He started game one, but in a game where he needed to beat something. Something more. Just handling the ball because... They didn't have anybody. They tried Isaac Okoro. They tried Greg Porter.

And they tried Javante Green out there, who was just standing in the corners for 10 minutes. But they had nobody to handle the ball. They really did not. Strews was awesome. And I thought he was playing out of his head. I mean, this was Miami Heat finals Max Strews. Like, he was really, really, really good. But they just needed somebody.

And Donovan Mitchell has shown in these big games, he comes out and he performs. He puts the team on his back. And he tried last year against Boston Athletics in round two. but couldn't get there in round two. because they didn't have the same team. So this is the one where it's going to be painful if Garland and Mobley don't come back and they get some freaking wins.

Four out of five wins against this Pacers team now looks dire.

It has. Yeah, the Pacers are relentless. There is no doubt. The Cavs just can't get their guys on the floor. We'll see if they get them on the floor in game three because they're going to be confident. despite this, despite Donovan Mitchell maybe not being physically right. I mean, he was banged up. I mean, he was limping around out there.

Yeah.

Yeah, last year they went through a pain tolerance thing with Jared Allen as well. Obviously, he did not play. So hopefully Carlin comes back because it feels like this Pacers team, they can be down 10, down 12, doesn't matter, because Tyrese Halliburton was having a quiet game. until the fourth, and especially until late in the fourth.

I mean, he had five makes in the last three-plus minutes of the game. For the last three minutes and three seconds, he had five makes. Before that, he had six. So it was quiet until, bang, he just ripped it off.

No. It's getting warm on the inside. The Spurs have been better with Sohan off the court this season and last season. They want to see what he grows into as a player. He definitely has been better this year, but it's crazy to see a guy going up and shooting free throws one-handed. Like, that's wild to me. He'll still be able to do that. It's his left hand.

So he'll keep the free throw percentage up, but I don't know that this is a huge absence for the Spurs. They would rather have their guy out there, but maybe this means more minutes for Stephon Castle, who's probably more so locked in long-term with the team. They need Stephon.

Rechen wir doch mal über deinen Traumtyp. Oh, schwierig. Schieß los. Okay, er muss für jedes Abenteuer zu haben sein und natürlich toll aussehen. Und er darf mich nie lang warten lassen.

Let's go!

For me, I look at this and I see players who are kept out of trades because their team thinks they're going to be good. And then they don't really end up doing anything. And there was two names that come to mind for me. instantly, 2010's number one, J.J. Hickson with the Cleveland Cavaliers. They would not trade him for Amari Stoudemire during 2010 when LeBron was there.

Instead, they end up getting Antoine Jamison. LeBron bounced, went to Miami the next summer. The other one, also from 2010, Roderick Beaubois. I have him in my notes as well. How could you not? Oh, good. Mark Cuban called him pretty much untouchable. Yep. And then two years later, he's like, he is still in our long-term plans. And then two years later, he was gone. Yeah, that's right.

I was shocked to see that it was Tim McMahon who was writing up those articles on ESPN.

It's amazing. Yeah, he had one sick game. Literally one good game ever. That is a fantastic one.

I guess Pajemski is most likely to stick with the Warriors, it seems like. Yeah. But yeah, it does seem like Kuminga is a guy that they've kept out of trades, where it's like it would have gotten it done, and then they didn't sign him to an extension. That's kind of weird. If you wanted to make a prestige zone starting five, I think you could do it probably with all New York Knicks.

I'm just thinking off the top of my head, guys that Knicks fans fall in love with in the last two months of the season, swear they're good, like Alonzo Trier. Toure Murray. Trey Burke had a nice moment with the Knicks there. Chris Copeland. I'm just going off the top of my head. Who else do we got in the last few games for the Knicks?

I mean, honestly, Quentin Grimes might fall into that category as well.

Where you're like, wow, you had a couple of good weeks for the Knicks. You're going to be a star going forward. And rarely is that the case. The prestige zone. It's powerful. Prestige zone.

Yeah, I'm going for more of a Cornholio look. I don't know if it's going to last the whole show because I'm feeling warmer. It feels weird, but I hate at the end of the shows. Usually I look like an out-of-work band director or something. My hair is just all on my face. So I'm hoping this will... I don't know. Literally, I don't know. I just had to change it up. Hey, just try something.

I always thought there was a funny meme going around like circa 2012. It's like DJ Mbenga has a publicist. Like who? DJ Mbenga, the 14th man on the Lakers? He's got a publicist? But yeah, that's how it is. Got to field those calls. What's DJ up to? Oh, he's just chilling right now. Working on his game. We'll see if Bynum goes down with an injury. He'll play a few minutes.

A lot of people don't know this. Tass is Gabe Vincent's publicist.

Here's some other guys.

But that's what I went with. Where'd you go, Pickleman? Jokic is an interesting one to me. Because people say this guy loves basketball, but he says I don't love basketball. But the guy's an MVP, so clearly he does. I would be more interested to see, though, a Jokic... off-season show. What's it like when you go back to Serbia? We never see you dancing on tables, going to the horse track.

What all is going on over there? I'd love to see that. I'd love to see a Josh Hart one, just to see how much these Knicks actually are hanging out on the side. And for a historical guy, Carmelo Anthony would be high on the list for me. During his tenure with the Knicks, when he was becoming a businessman, I want to see his meetings. I want to see him go hat shopping.

Got everybody into wine. There's that... great photo of him going to the bodega and like a bathrobe. Yeah. Mello was just a beloved dude in New York city. It would be cool to see like a superstar walking around New York city, seeing how much love he's actually getting.

I'll start the Gil's Arena Google Doc. Rashad McCants slides in the slack. All right, get your picks in.

Yeah. We'll see. Other concerns. We are hitting the beach. Yesterday, the biggest problem for me yesterday was having to put this on a second day. Today, I was gloriously putting on a pickle costume. Better than a Robin Lopez costume is what I said.

Any other names deep on that bench you want to mention?

Kevin Durant and Devin Booker. What was it like when you were on that boat doing the slides? I would love to see that.

Can we make this happen? Unlikely. It's probably tough. I don't think we can. We can't probably do it. But who knows? But we like it.

Mike Walzuski. That's the guy. Nick's PA guy. Okay. Do we know if he's on social media? He's on Facebook. Do we know his publicist?

Exactly. Exactly, yeah. Somebody poke him. Okay.

You got to find a good spot in your room. That's right. I've got a buddy who now has got an antenna up thanks to the bulls. And his... antenna is eight feet away from his television monitor on the wall, elevated off the floor with a cord running over his... Oh, see, no way.

There's no way. Just to get it positioned in the right way. To get the reception. Yeah, to get the reception.

I think he has full functionality with regards to sources. He might even have two HDMI inputs. Because that one's straight coax.

It'll never work, man. Crap. That'd be awesome. It will literally never work. No, it won't.

It's got to be longer and skinnier.

It's got to be silver longer and skinnier. It must be silver. The best conductor.

Sprechen wir doch mal über deinen Traumtyp. Oh, schwierig. Schieß los. Okay, er muss für jedes Abenteuer zu haben sein und natürlich toll aussehen. Und er darf mich nie lang warten lassen.

I thought everybody from Melbourne loved free throws, but I guess not.

That's a good point. I love the G League rule. It'd be great. It's a great way to speed up the game. One for two. I mean, one and one is cool. It exists in basketball, I agree. But the G League would speed up the game. We'll be seeing under two hours on that LOD on basketball.

I didn't know the square piece was called an O. No. That's news to me. I didn't know they had letter designations at all. I would have called it square, stick, squiggly.

Yeah, you're the I. Yeah, for me it came down to I was either going to be the I or the L or the J, but the L and the J have big feet, so I've got to be the I. Yeah, like I could see the L if you deemed them to be small feet because they're one block, but I don't know if that works.

You see them pop up on the top. Where's it going?

You're never upset to see the O. That's true. Super happy.

You know the Celtics are blowing teams out with these kind of emails Chief is sending in. He asked us what our favorite vertical foods are.

Top five, top five, top five. Let's go. Top five, top five, top five. Power rank pickles, please. You want to feel insane? Spend an hour Googling, is this pickles? I was like, is kimchi pickles? Yes.

Is Giardiniera pickles? Yes.

So here's my top five pickles. Okay. Here is my top five pickles. They are very lenient with the definition of pickles. At number five, the gherkin. Wow.

Bumpy. And the most fun name to say it. Yeah. Gherkin. Love it. At number four, jalapenos. Yes. A pickled jalapeno. Wow. Delicious on a nacho, though I got to say, it's unfortunate what's happened to the breeding stock with jalapenos. I agree. They're breeding them to be bigger and sweeter. It's taken away some of the spice from our jalapenos. But still, I love them.

Good ones, though. Even a bad jalapeno. I'm not mad at it.

I want some heat. Yeah. I want some heat, which is why I'm coming in at number three. Okay. Spicy jardinera.

Hey, name a vegetable. We'll chop it up. And we'll throw it in some brine with some spicy stuff, Skeets. Sweet Giardiniera, good. Spicy Giardiniera, very good. Yeah, throw it on a Philly cheesesteak. Throw it on an Italian beef. Yeah. Throw it on a muffaletta if you want to. I know they're putting olive spread on there, people. You're acting like I don't know that.

No, I haven't, but I've been... I've been thinking about it. I've really been thinking about do my own homemade spicy jardiniere because you can't find it around here. There's a place called Skip's near where I live. They actually sell the actual Chicago stuff. Yeah, they do. I got to get that. Yeah. I got to get that. At number two. Perhaps controversial, bread and butter chips. Love them.

Some people love them. Some people say, I don't want any sweetness in my pickle.

No, too sweet-sy.

Salt, pepper, pickles. Bread and butter would be the choice there, you think? Absolutely. Interesting. Nice. I love the crinkle cut they always have. Big time. They do look cool. So green. At number one, obviously it's the dill pickle. That's what you think of when you think of pickles. Not my favorite pickle, but undeniably the king.

That's right. That's true. They're so good. They are known as the pickle. Think about how many forms they come in. Giant pickle. You ever see like you go to a deli, just a huge glass container filled with the biggest pickles you've ever seen. People order those.

And eat them. That's crazy. That seems like too big of a thing to be taking a bite out of. Like imagine a pickle the size of our microphones. Just chomping. My kids did swim team this year. The concession stand sold giant dill pickles wrapped. In aluminum foil.

He's just eating pickles on the side. They're selling pickles? That's nuts. At the pool? Pickle pool. Pool pickles. And they were successful. They're selling out every time. These are refreshing. They are refreshing. Oh, the crispness. Yeah. The coolness. The crunch is the main thing when it comes to pickles, if you ask me.

They're pickling everything. I had a dill pickle popcorn recently. Laura has a big dill pickle head, so anything dill pickle flavored, it's coming in the house. The popcorn was pretty good. Yeah? It's just like a little sour dash on your food. It's like salt and vinegar, but not quite. Okay, so give us your top five. Number five, gherkins. Number four, jalapenos. Number three, spicy giardiniera.

Number two, bread and butter, chips, and number one, pickles. The king. The dill pickle.

It's a good list.

Brechen wir doch mal über deinen Traumtyp. Oh, schwierig. Schieß los. Okay, er muss für jedes Abenteuer zu haben sein und natürlich toll aussehen. Und er darf mich nie lang warten lassen.

Can't put your hands on someone. It's not a professional matter. Exactly. When I saw three games, I thought it was a little excessive, so I went to look at other recent suspensions for stuff. Isaiah Stewart, remember, got three games last year for punching Drew Eubanks before a game. A little bit different, certainly, but I'm like, off-the-court incident, three games, I guess it adds up.

They had to set a precedent here because you can't have this kind of physical altercations between NBA and media, but Tass is right. Like, Marcus Haynes, he gets to apologize on Twitter. A lot of people, I'm sure, aren't seeing that, and then he's just going to go back to writing columns.

It's a little unfair, I think, that Embiid bears the brunt of everything, but he's also the bigger name, and he's the one that the league can actually be in charge of, and... Hand out discipline. I guess if I'm a Sixers fan, I would be most excited that I actually know when Joel Embiid is coming back. You actually got a date on the calendar to look forward to him playing.

Did Ben Simmons get suspended that game as well? In that one, yeah. For being a peacemaker with his arms? Is that the same suspension? That's right.

Well, that's why they got fined, right? It was because they weren't forthcoming with the injury status. But that's because Embiid doesn't want them to be forthcoming with his injury status. Same reason they said it was a procedure last year, not a surgery. When everybody knew it was a surgery, so they got fined $100,000. That's nothing, right? Like, that's literally nothing. And he's not playing.

Just be honest with it or lie better.

That's all.

This is not working at all.

It looks worse. You're playing through it, though.

I'm doing five straight back-to-backs in a pickle. Joel Embiid could never. Worst-case scenario for the Nuggets would be Nikola Jokic going down for an entire season. This is maybe second worst-case scenario because they're losing their starting power forward, their best defender, their backup center, and their bench ball handler, with Jamal Murray being out right now.

Aaron Gordon has been their second-best player. this season. Jokic is obviously doing his thing, but Aaron Gordon is just such an integral piece to the Nuggets for everything he does, the chemistry he has with Jokic. He's going to guard the big wings when he plays defensively.

There were already question marks up and down the roster for the Nuggets with regards to their depth, and now you're having to dip in even further into the bag. We're getting Hunter Tyson minutes here. We're getting Zeke Najee minutes. It's your time. Peyton Watson probably going to be a starter here. He had a nice game against the Raptors. Certainly, let's see what it's like as a starter.

You're playing with Jokic. You're going to get good shots. You've got to knock him down. But I look at this, and it all depends on how long Aaron Gordon's going to be out if he gets re-injured. But there's certainly play-in potential, I think, for the Nuggets right now. It seems ridiculous, but I kind of compare it to the Warriors last season. They lost Draymond Green for 16 games.

Not their best player, but definitely their best defensive player and integral. to the success of the offense with Steph Curry as well. He missed 16 games. The Warriors went 8-8. That's fine, right? Like 50% of your wins, that's okay. They finished with the 10th seed. Three games from the 6th. It could happen that quickly one month out. So, yeah, I'm a little worried if I'm a Nuggets fan.

Standing in the sky, big daddy sky, made a lot of movies and had a lot of sky, big sky, ten feet tall, sweet sweet sky, cherubs are all. of succession and children and the giver. Put him to the test, little Allie with the letter. Alex Skarsgård, don't you know, when along came Gustav, hidey-ho. Gustav Skarsgård, next in line. Westworld, Vikings, Oppenheim.

Six foot four, don't you know, when along came Samuel, hidey-ho. Oh, you don't know Sam? Well, that's all right. He's a six-foot doctor saving lives. Dr. Skarsgård, don't you know, when along came Bill, hidey-ho. Billy Skarsgård, belly wide, six foot four, big surprise. Knows for us who go vampire row. The brothers Skarsgård, they like them so. There's a Billy Skarsgård, don't you know?

When along came Eha, hide it low. Dr. Eha doesn't do acting. At five foot ten, she's intercasting. Casting Skarsgard, don't you know? Eha, call us for your shows. Walter, Ossian and Columbia are the youngest Skarsgards. Truly born and truly child and ash, it's the Skarsgard way. We hope they have a Skarsgard day.

Skarsgard, Skarsgard, Skarsgard, Skarsgard, Skarsgard, Skarsgard, Skarsgard, don't you know? Skarsgard, Skarsgard, Skarsgard, Skarsgard, Skarsgard, Skarsgard, Skarsgard, Skarsgard, Skarsgard, Skarsgard, Skarsgard.

Never played the Washington Bullets.

Barely missed out. He missed out on that.

Trey Kirby, where are you going? I'm with Tass. I think it's OKC in six. I think the Thunder defense is just too good to allow Minnesota's up-and-down offense to outscore them four times in a game. I think even if OKC shoots 32% from three like they have so far in the playoffs, they can still win this one.

62% of people think that the... Thunder. Thunder will win. Okay. That's basically calling Thunder in six. Yeah, basically. They win in two-thirds of the games.

I can't wait. Two high-powered offenses. We got the Clutch Player of the Year going up against the new Reggie Miller with history behind them from a historical standpoint and just a these-team standpoint they met last year. So, of course, I'm starting with defense. That's right, me.

Who guards Carl Anthony Towns is a huge question for me, and it's kind of also a question of who is Aaron Neesmith going to guard. I think he is a huge player in this series. So more than likely, at least for game one, Indiana comes out and has Miles Turner guard Carl Anthony Towns, try and play a little bit of a traditional style.

Maybe Turner can get a late switch onto Brunson if need be and try and hang for a little bit. But I think the smartest thing to do, which most teams are doing now, is to put a wing on Carl Anthony Towns, mess with the Knicks' standard offense, 1-2 game, Brunson and Towns. Make them think a little bit. If you start Neesmith on Towns, he can switch on to Brunson.

He's their best Brunson defender as well. Sometimes a tee, but the Pacers don't really like to do that. They're one of the few teams that has guarded Towns straight up with their center. But the smarter thing to do is to trick Carl Anthony Towns by putting a small guy.

He's been pretty good in the post, but he doesn't necessarily know where to assert himself all the time, I think, when he has a smaller guy on him. So the question will be, who's guarding Brunson if Neesmith switches on to...

towns I guess it's Nembhard he didn't do very well against Brunson last year Neesmith was certainly more successful that also means where's Tyrese Halliburton going is Josh Hart going to get unlocked for offensive rebounds I think there's a lot of questions to answer for Indiana about how they're going to match up defensively because there's not great hiding places against the Knicks starting lineup particularly for Halliburton so I think that'll be a real chess match the

Like I'm saying, I assume they'll start traditional. It probably won't work all that great, and then they'll have to go to messing around with matchups and stuff. But I think it's going to be fascinating to see who they put these two guards on. Like Nembhard and Neesmith, I guess Neesmith's more of a forward, but nonetheless a perimeter player.

They're both so good at ball pressure, they're going to want to try and wear down the Knicks. But Brunson succeeds against the guy who's smaller than him in Nembhard. You've got to have some length on him, but if Neesmith's guarding Brunson...

They're like the two best shooters in the playoffs.

Yeah, the Pacers have the best three-point percentage and best two-point percentage in the playoffs so far.

Josh Hart, man. That guy wants to play fast for sure. Towns does get most of his three-point attempts like trailing in transition for sure. But it always sounds weird to me because like when I think of the Knicks, I just think of Brunson taking 20 seconds. finding his way to a 12-footer and then, you know, jumping back into a guy and somehow making the shot as well.

They play a methodical style, but they always talk about wanting to play fast. I know the Pacers want to play fast. We talk all the time. Teams slow down in the playoffs. You're not able to play that tempo. They are. They get teams to play their style. They've played their style, I feel like, almost every game so far this postseason outside of, what, game four? Yeah.

against the Cavs when they went zone and then they shredded the zone in the very next game as well so the tempo of this series is going to be huge you're totally right about switching but that puts a lot of pressure on Carl Anthony Towns to not mess up like know who you're guarding know who to switch on know if you're in drop or in switch this is a big defensive series I think for Towns

Also a Knicks big guy. Mitchell Robinson. Mitchell Robinson dominated in their last series against the Celtics. I'm curious to see how New York can play double big against a Pacers team that's trying to run them out of the gym. That's just a tough matchup, I think, for Towns and Robinson to run with. if it's Siakam and Turner, even if it's Obi Toppin.

He's a guy that loves to run the court as well, but offensive rebounding can be a tilt point. I think for New York, it certainly was against Boston. Neither team turns the ball over a lot, so if New York's trying to get ahead in the possession game, definitely Mitchell Robinson's offensive rebounding can be huge. The Pacers are not a great defensive rebounding team.

They don't have a lot of bulk inside amongst their big guys, and if

robinson is offensive rebounding that really slows the pacers down if the pacers decide we got to get this guy out we're going to smack a mitch that really slows the pacers down going to free throws every single time now they can run off of missed free throws but i saw mitchell robinson hitting the night knight after going six for six at one point he can make them

But we will see if he's able to stay on the court this series. He's really shown everybody something, I think, the way he defends, the quickness he is able to bring on the perimeter. So he should be able to hang, but I don't know if he's going to be as effective as he was against Boston. Let's see if he can do it.

Definitely it was. Yeah. But also game five, they were brutal. It was like they were putting towns into double screens all the time, and he had no idea where to be. I'm just flashing back to the Milwaukee series. Giannis switched on to Tyrese Halliburton at the end of regulation and at the end of overtime, and he dusted him both times going straight to the hoop. That's Giannis.

Consistently. He's a better scorer than OG, for sure.

Yeah, I said it during game two of Celtics versus Knicks. Pacers are going to the finals. I got the Pacers in sixth. I think they've played the best basketball of anybody who's been in the playoffs so far. They've been awesome since January 1st. We're talking a lot about these support guys for the Knicks who need to go off in order for them to pull off a victory here.

But I'm thinking about the playoff series that Indiana's already played. They don't care if your number one guy has a great series. Giannis averaged 35 points per game against the Pacers. Donovan Mitchell averaged 38 points per game, had 40 in two different games. Everybody else, they shut down.

So I wouldn't be surprised if Brunson's 35, 40 points per game in this series with Neesmith fighting his hardest to try and... combat him a little bit. I think Neesmith is a huge player in this series. He's probably going to be a hiding spot for Jalen Brunson. He's shooting 48% from three.

If the Pacers are able to shoot the ball as well as they have so far during the playoffs, they are going to be tough to beat. But this should be an awesome matchup. I hope we get clutch games in this one with Reggie Miller on the call. And we've got two awesome clutch players in Brunson and Halliburton on either side. Unfortunately, John Halliburton will have to be watching on TV. Yeah.

But I'm going Pacers in six. Should be an awesome series.

He's got to do the Brunson three-point celebration.

You think that's the key is throwing Chalamet off his game? I think Halliburton's crazy enough to do it. He dresses like a book character a lot. That's what I'm saying. Often Inspector Gadget. Yeah, right.

I'll tell you what, if the Pacers find a way to come back from down seven with less than a minute left, he's absolutely going to do the choke. Of course. He will do it. He wore a shirt. With the choke on it to a pro game press conference last year. That's right.

You're laughing, but I swear to God, I think there's a 10% chance.

It's so fun. Trey, what's the poll say on this one? We've never had a closer poll. 50% are picking the? Well, New York Knicks or Pacers, I guess. Yeah, which one? Knicks. No, Pacers. Oh. Knicks are 49%.

I don't know exactly what's that. On YouTube? It's probably like 50.4. Yeah, it's something like that. It's a 49.6.

Yeah, I mean, they won 68 games and they just beat the best player in the world in the seven-game series. I'm more interested in seeing that 66% of people think that the Western Conference Finals winner is going to win the championship. Right. And I think that's probably right.

Amazon Prime Moment of the Week this week goes to Carl Anthony Towns, who used some downtime before the start of the conference finals to take in a Mets-Yankees baseball game. And the crowd went absolutely crazy when they put Carl Anthony Towns up on the Jumbotron.

And then he stood up to show off his shirt, which features one of the characters from Side Talk NYC's legendary bing bong video from a few years back. The crowd went even more crazy. The guy's name is Jason D'Antona, but he might be better known as the... guy.

He couldn't believe what he saw posting on X. The Knicks advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in my life, and our all-star big man is wearing my face on his shirt after sending Boston packing. Legend. Might be the only way to unite Mets and Yankees fans. Carl Anthony Towns is your Amazon Prime Moment of the Week.

Ant is the number one thing to watch, specifically his decision-making. This is the biggest test yet. L.A. was a pretty easy series for Anthony Edwards, all things considered. He knew where the automatics were going to come from. Six turnovers in five games. That was incredible. Golden State was more of a tale of two halves.

The guy?

All right. Carl Anthony Thomas wasn't even there for the bing bong. He was still a Timberwolf, but he probably watched that video and was like, this is hilarious. I'd love to join the Knicks.

From going to Paris. You want me to go get garbage thrown at me? I do. I want you to get garbage thrown at you on the streets so we can go see Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

You can be that guy. I mean, he was trying to get harassed. He was trying to get noticed, and it worked out for him.

Wow.

It's going to be a long night. You better stock up on energy. Yeah, I'm going potato heavy once we get to the airport.

He played pretty poorly in the first half of every game and then dominated the second half of every game is really what it felt like. You mentioned they've got tons of options. on the OKC side for who could stick. Edwards, they're going to be messing around with the schemes as well, and it is important and imperative that Anthony Edwards does not turn the ball over against OKC.

Oh, no.

Minnesota turns the ball over quite a bit. They're 11th in turnover percentage. in the playoffs. Only 16 teams made it. They're the worst remaining. Oklahoma City is first in forcing turnovers.

We saw in the second half of Game 7, they just turned Denver over time after time after time, getting easy buckets on the other end, getting Jalen Williams going, Caruso running wild out there, Cason Wallace looking like the fastest guy on the court. That is the best source of offense for OKC, is going from defense to offense. Their transition game is unstoppable. So...

the wolves who have been pretty turnover prone throughout this playoffs. Unfortunately, the thunder can make them pay. So it's going to be on Edwards to play like pretty much perfect basketball. I think.

They're going to absolutely try it. It'll probably be more of a curveball, I think, for Minnesota than it was for Denver. Denver didn't have a lot of other options. They just don't have the...

defensive talent yeah that the timberwolves have but okc got some practice they got better as time went on jalen williams awesome breaking the zone alex caruso awesome breaking the zone but you got to make three pointers and you're gonna have to be able to identify it quickly because i'm guessing that the timberwolves will be guarding straight up for the most part but then when they absolutely need to shut okc down gum up the works they can go to the zone

They played three times in like four games.

X-Factors in Thunderwolves. We'll start with you, Trey. Who you got your eye on here? Dante DiVincenzo, I think, is a huge X-Factory. Shooting 25% from three in the playoffs. That's not very good. And he's like their three-point bomber outside of Edwards, who obviously takes and makes the most in the league this year. You got to hit three-pointers to beat OKC.

Once again, this is going to be a size versus speed battle. Minnesota, great offensive rebounding team. Loves to score inside. Oklahoma City, solid defensive rebounding team, and they're brilliant at taking away the paint. So the three-point shots are going to be there. Dante DiVincenzo needs to hit them.

Woo!

The Thunder Bench, I don't think they're great shooters, but they have been hitting timely threes. Like we talked about, Wiggins hit a couple in Game 7. Caruso had one. Case and Wallace had one. But this could be an advantage for Minnesota, I think, between Nas Reed, who is on fire in the playoffs. He's 46% from three in the playoffs so far. He's going to be important when Minnesota is like...

getting bogged down. They're like, we can't go with Gobert right now. Need somebody to come in and bomb threes. Like I said, DiVincenzo just hasn't found a stroke so far in the playoffs. They're going to need him to hit. They're going to need Jaden McDaniels to be confident. Like his percentages look good, but he's six for 16 against the Lakers. That's a decent percentage, four for 13.

But we're talking about like one three-pointer made per game. For this guy, his attacking the closeout game has been a lot better in the playoffs. His handle looks nice. He's getting into the mid-range and finishing. But I assume that Chet Holmgren will be roaming off of McDaniels a lot in this series. The shots are going to be there. He needs to take him and make him.

And then I think DiVincenzo needs to have a 40% three-point shooting kind of series for Minnesota to score enough to keep up with OKC.

Hey, yo! Hey, yay!

Randall needs to keep it up. He needs to play as well as he did these first two series because they might not play him one-on-one a lot because if they're getting the ball out of Anthony Edwards' hands, there's not enough guys left. to play him one-on-one. So he's going to have to make good decisions. He hasn't shot the three-ball well. That's one of the only knocks on him. And the turnovers.

The Thunder are going to be super handsy with him. They're going to try and frustrate him just the same way they did with Jokic. And they forced a ton of turnovers off of Jokic. Julius Randle is a much higher turnover player than Nikola Jokic has ever been. So we'll see how he handles bump-bump from Caruso and he tips the ball away. Same thing with Jalen Williams. He's got super long arms.

to absorb some bumps from Randall. It's going to come down to the number two series once again. Who plays better, Jalen Williams or Julius Randall? We'll see. Randall's been better for the entirety of the postseason so far, but clearly this is the best defense that the Timberwolves are going against.

What you got? That's a tough question. Tough question. Giannis basically saved the Bucs from being in the bad vibes question. Yes, he did. Dyson Daniels stripped the reigning player of the week. Tough to say. I'm going to think. I don't know. I don't know. I think I'm going with Giannis here. I think I'm going with Giannis, even though the Rockets still should have won this game.

They ran a beautiful play for Alper and Shengun, just a little too long on the pass, and he was having trouble catching the ball. Meanwhile, Dyson Daniels, there's questions. Was it a foul? It was close enough. He got the superstar defender reputation, which is interesting because De'Aaron Fox is an actual star.

He didn't get the call at home in the clutch, and this guy's one of the greatest clutch players. Yeah, I don't know. The Bucs were down six. With 3.30 left in this one against the Rockets, and the Rockets just could not score. Their crunch time offense, I think they went one for their last eight.

They scored one time on their last seven possessions, and that included Shen Goon botching a wide-open layup following his own miss for a layup. It just seemed like Shen Goon did not want the ball down the stretch for the Rockets, and Dylan Brooks did want the ball, unfortunately. Right, right.

The guy that I haven't mentioned yet is Jalen Green, who seemed to be playing the best in the fourth quarter for the Rockets, but for whatever reason, it was all Van Vliet and Shang-Goon actions. I understand Shang-Goon because the guy is your leading offensive player, but they should have went away from him, I thought.

An amazing play by Giannis to get back to block the little floater, but Shang-Goon should have went up and tried to dunk it. That was a softy kind of shot, and that was just the way he played the last three minutes because... When Shang-Goon catches the ball, Giannis is at the dotted line, at the free throw line. He tries to go up with a little floater. Try and dunk it, man.

You'll get fouled and go to the line. Then you can make him.

Woo!

Yeah, but I can't stop thinking about Dyson Daniels with Guy Fieri's hair. Somebody get Photoshop and I probably go with the vacuum, too. It makes me laugh. And we can't be stealing a nickname from Dwap Reef. Everybody knows he's called the Great Barrier Reef. I think it's fun to say the Great Barrier Thief. Will it stick? We'll see.

Key play of the game.

Wow, right around 500. No way.

Five threes as well, and that's why Shungun wasn't anywhere near the rim on the last drive for Dame. It was all, you know, six-foot-six guys. And Thompson's one of them. He could have gotten over, but he had to deal with Giannis on the left block as well.

So smart of Lillard to get inside and finish, because I think he shot an air ball in the fourth quarter from three earlier in that possession, or earlier in the quarter. But good stuff. You think Mike Brown should have called a timeout for De'Aaron Fox? He was the last guy. There was nine guys ahead of him. Um... You do. You do. I can tell because you would have said right away if you didn't.

Literally, where is he? We haven't heard an update even, right? He's not even playing five on five yet, I don't think. Yeah, I don't think so.

He was in control, I thought, the entire game, making plays left and right on both sides, making plays off the dribble. Very few turnovers for the Magic. In this one, I think they finished under 10 turnovers. I'm a liar. 11 turnovers. Nonetheless, they were playing a lot of ISO basketball or pick-and-roll basketball. And Anthony Black was awesome.

Finding guys for alley-oops, cutters, making shots from the outside as well. That's why they didn't bring back Markel Fultz. They're like, sorry, we got a rookie. Or I guess a second-year player now. He's our backup point guard. I believe. Nice stuff. Also, the Magic or the Suns were missing Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal, Yusuf Nurkic. All of their guys with O's were doing stuff.

Oh, so Iguodaro looked nice flying through the court. Royce O'Neal, Josh Okoji. Too much of these guys. So not that surprising. 50 points in the paint, though, for the Magic. They were just in the lane the entire time.

That makes sense. Is it Dragon Bender? DeAndre Ayton? He would have been a rookie in 18. Yeah, he's the number one. Cam Johnson, maybe? I thought that's who it was. But that makes sense because I was watching this and I saw Devin Booker out there. I was like, I bet this is the worst team he's played on since before Chris Paul showed up, to be quite honest, with no Durant, no Beal, and no Nurkic.

I mean, they're missing three starters and you're like... Literally, who are these guys? Tyus Jones was their leading scorer, and it was a little disappointing that Booker didn't elevate his game in this one. He hasn't had a great season to start things off here.

He had a nice 44 recently, but I think he's underperforming where we expected him to be after the Olympics, not even mentioning how good he was last season where he was challenging for first-team All-NBA. Had he qualified for it, he was one of the better players in the league. He has not been thus far this year.

No, he was not.

It was to Lindy.

He missed one like 10 seconds earlier. Had a good look with 12 seconds left. And then, yeah, he was 100% passing it to Lindy Waters. But Gary Payton intercepted it. The pass was coming to him, too. Like, why wouldn't he take it? But what do free throws do? Win games, right? Warriors 9 of 19 at the line, Clippers 16 of 18 at the line, and literally everything else is equal.

It all comes down to free throws. So I think more surprising win, it's got to be the Clippers. You don't expect the Warriors to lose it at the line, though they stink at it this year.

He's only missed two this year, I think.

I'm not surprised, except for like, oh yeah, Pat Riley didn't have a statue? He hasn't coached there in 40 years? They're like, now's the time. Yeah, the timing's odd. That's the only question. I mean, obviously Pat Riley deserves a statue for the Lakers. He won a title there as a player playing on one of their all-time greatest teams, the 71-72 team. Then he won four titles as a coach.

I guess there are just not a lot of coach statues. I know Red Auerbach has one sitting on a bench in the middle of Boston. That's right. Jerry Tarkanian's biting a towel.

outside the thomas and mac arena yeah who else does jerry sloan have one i don't know i don't know i don't think so i don't think so uh but yeah yeah i mean cool but well do you think the timing had the chance they've had the time do you think the timing has to do with miami heat just having uh named their court after pat riley

That would be cool. If there was a way for water to just slowly leak out of it so it always looks wet. Yeah, like shiny. Gotta have it.

Or let's hope they are. Well, yeah. It's not fun to talk about a good-looking statue.

Well, I think, didn't the Wade guy do the Kobe statue? And I think he did the... I think you're right. He maybe did all of them outside of Staples. Who knows, man? Maybe he's lost his fastball.

Noah Vonley, bring him back.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, their tallest healthy guys right now are Siakam at 6'8", and Obi Toppin at 6'9". Those guys are both forwards, so they literally just found the biggest guy they could. Yeah. Outside of Boban, I guess. I guess they're saying, Moses, you move better than Boban. Yeah.

That was a guy that would get a random contract. Yeah, because he was decent. He was a Grizzly last year, isn't that right?

Grizzly and Thunder.

No, he actually didn't. Wow. That was going to be my first guess as well. Unless I missed him. Never made an... Which is always in play.

No, but go to March. Go to March. Jalen Green. There you go.

Yeah.

I think of Middleton as like a knockdown mid-range shooter.

Driver. Slasher, for sure.

They had a chance at their three straight wins, but then six threes in the fourth quarter for Zach Levine. The big three. People are saying the best scoring big three in Bulls history. Wow. Levine, Kobe White, all 25 plus last night. People told me the Pistons were good. Weird. You can't lose to the Bulls and be good. It's ridiculous.

Big Jericho Sims slam, huh? Yeah.

But I don't think they like thrunks. You might be right. 83.1 versus 85 for Obi Topham.

Yeah, right, right.

That's true. Wow, wow, wow. I actually love it. I hate that I could pick out what that's going to be. That looks like a 75.

I don't know.

I tried to say you're going to have a dessert. But I think I said you have a dessert. 7 o'clock P.N. tip.

More like 7-11.

That was that one weird pre-election day. Pre-election day.

What are you going to have for dessert? Frangipane? Frangipane. That'd be really nice.

Worst vibes, TK? I got to go with the Sixers. Okay. They were locked in for worst vibes for me the way they walked off the court. Everybody looked sad, and then they went and had their meeting, like you're saying. At first, it seemed like a players-only meeting, but apparently the coaches were there, too. Maybe it was on the calendar all along. Post-game meeting after the game.

No matter our record. Yeah, we're just getting together. We'll talk about whatever. Did we score 89 points? Yes, that's a problem. And that is a problem. You're right. Embiid will get better at some point. I'm reserving judgment on him this season a little bit. He's coming off an injury. He was playing through an illness last night. And the guy's a slow starter basically every season.

Unfortunately, now they're 13 games in. He's not trying to get in shape the very first week of the season. It's the second month of the season already, so they're going to need Joel Embiid to be an MVP. We'll see if he gets it back. My guess is probably yes. However, the problem is everybody around them really stinks right now. Paul George is doing nothing.

17-6-5 on the season, shooting 40% from the field, 28 from three, and it looks like nothing he does is easy. Like every shot is a crazy fall away or out of rhythm. This isn't the Paul George that's finishing top five in MVP we saw five years ago. This isn't even the Paul George that could carry the Clippers. Thus far, for the 76ers. So he's got to be better.

I think Nick Nurse needs to make him a bigger part of the offense right now rather than running the stuff that they would run for Tyrese Maxey. Only it's McCain as the guy right there who has been awesome. But other than McCain, not a lot of shooting on this team. Not a lot of athleticism. The Sixers are 30th in offense. They're 29th in three-point percent. And they're 26th in makes.

And you look at the guys that are shooting them. Kyle Lowry is their... Best shooter outside of Gershon Yabusele right now. He's at 35% and can't do anything on the defensive end. He probably needs to go to the bench. Caleb Martin shooting 32%, which feels like a miracle because it looks like a spasm when he's shooting a three pointer. It does not look smooth at all. Eric Gordon, 29. He's old.

Paul George, 29. Maxie, 29. Oubre, 27. He had one good season, and now you're seeing why he was available the way he was. There's just not a lot of shooting out there. This is going to be a team that Embiid has to drag as far as they can go, and that's a scary proposition when he's still not healthy.

Purtle was running wild, but there's like no tall guys on the Pacers right now with Miles Turner out and then Achilles tears to Wiseman and Jackson on top of that. So Purtle was looking like the only seven-footer out there. Good stuff for him. But the Halliburton performance this season so far I think has to be concerning for Pacers fans.

He's at 16 points per game, four rebounds, eight assists, shooting 38 from the field, 29 from three. He's got the worst three-point percentage of any player in the league who's taken 100 or more threes this season. It looks like he's pressing a little bit to find his scoring rhythm, but everybody compares him to that stretch before the All-Star break last year.

22 points, 12 assists, shooting 49 from the field, 40 from three. The rest of his career, 17 and eight. Maybe he's just a 17-8 guy. Was that the anomaly where he was just on fire? Was that the anomaly? Was he on fire for like two months? It's possible. Everybody's still talking about this injury that he had last year. He missed 10 games 10 months ago. I don't know.

He just looks like the confidence isn't quite there. Maybe bringing in Siakam has kind of thrown him off of his rhythm because the team plays a lot slower now. They're 16th in pace after finishing second last year. Siakam likes to pound the ball. He likes to play in the post. Doesn't necessarily equate with Halliburton wanting to get the ball up the court as fast as he possibly can.

And they're not shooting as many threes. I think part of that is that Buddy Heald is no longer on the team. And Aaron Neesmith has been hurt, too. Matherin likes to drive. He's more of an interior player, slasher kind of style. So it just hasn't been good for the Pacers. They're 12th in offense. They were second last year.

And if they're not a top two or three offense, the team isn't good because they don't play on the defensive end.

Sprechen wir doch mal über deinen Traumtyp. Oh, schwierig. Schieß los. Okay, er muss für jedes Abenteuer zu haben sein und natürlich toll aussehen. Und er darf mich nie lang warten lassen.

Sprechen wir doch mal über deinen Traumtyp. Oh, schwierig. Schieß los. Okay, er muss für jedes Abenteuer zu haben sein und natürlich toll aussehen. Und er darf mich nie lang warten lassen.

Camp Johnston ist auch da, aber vielleicht nicht so stark wie Camp Thomas.

Es ist auch einfach großartig, wenn man sich die Eastern Conference anschaut. Die Nets mit diesem Sieg sind mit einem 5-6-Rekord für den 4. Sieg im Osten verbunden. Ich meine, was für ein Start für Brooklyn. Viele Leute wollen vielleicht das schlechteste Team der Liga sein. und wirklich auf den Tank lehnen. Aber fünf Gewinne aus 11 sind solid. Aber ja, das ist, wo wir sind.

Es ist Cleveland, es ist Boston und dann sind die Pacers 500. Und dann hast du die Magic und die Nets bei 5 und 6. Also sind sie 4-5 verbunden. Wenn die Playoffs heute begonnen hätten, glaube ich, dass die Magic die Nets in einem 4-5 Matchup hosten würde.

It's just so tough. I mean, this was sort of an ugly ending to a basketball game, this Nets-Pels game. It wasn't the prettiest basketball you've ever seen, but it's just weird to see. Brannon Boston Jr., Javonte Green, ein Rookie und Misses, die viel zu tun haben. Und natürlich ist es Brannon Ingram, aber Teams haben herausgefunden, dass sie einen zweiten Mann an ihn machen.

Ja. Also sind wir wieder hin und wieder, hin und wieder. Sie haben beide ein Teil davon gespielt. Und ich habe gesehen, dass Wedgie Tracker es offiziell auch Julian Champagny gegeben hat.

Vielleicht einen dritten und sehen wir, ob diese anderen Jungs etwas tun können. Der Roster ist wild. Glücklicherweise ist Trey Murphy zurück. Wie gesagt, ein kurzer Tweet von Brooklyn Netscast. Cam Thomas, the king of the grenades. What does that mean? He has an incredible shooting percentage as a guy who's getting up like a shot when there's like four or fewer seconds in the shot clock.

Look at this. He's like, you know, flirting with nearly 50% on a whole lot of attempts when that shot clock is about to go. And you compare it there to your Ingrams, Schroeder, one of his teammates, Tatum, Harden. Ich weiß nicht, warum die hier auf der Bühne sind. Ich glaube, das ist nur der größte Versuch. Oh ja, das ist das, was es da sagt.

Also, äh, schau dir das an, die Anzahl in Cam Thomas und dann ein unglaubliches Prozent für das Schießen zu spät.

Er flirrt fast immer an diesen Schrecken. Er ist einer dieser seltsamen Jungs, bei dem es so fühlt, als hätte er einen Mann, der sich über ihn dreht. Schockklappe, drei, zwei, eins. Er ist vielleicht ein bisschen auf der Balance. Es fühlt sich an, als hätte er eine höhere Anzahl an solchen Schrecken als ein weit open drei, der in Rhythmus kämpft. Er ist einer dieser seltsamen Spieler.

Er ist ein Bucket-Man.

Yeah. Waking up super late. Groggy. Maybe Wi-Fi troubles. Never. Cars not running all that smoothly and driving it.

I was panicking the other day because I somehow like... Ich habe mich aus all meinen Google Chrome... Alles. Ich konnte nicht in alles rein. Ich mag das nicht. Ich bin ein Mann von... Routine. Routine, ja. Und es gibt viel zu tun, wenn du morgens bereit bist für dieses Show.

Und dann ist es wie... Alles ist verbrannt für 25 Minuten. Ich muss mich in das. Ich muss... Hey, jemand hat mich in die YouTube-Account eingeladen. Hey, kannst du auf 57 auf deiner YouTube-App einladen, um mich reinzuladen?

Wemby played a part too, but you could also say every guy on the court played a part.

I don't know what's going on.

I don't know why I keep getting bumped from our NoDunks YouTube page, but good security measures over there. Good stuff. We also had the Rockets taking care of the Wizards, and we had the Spurs dominating the Kings, and that was big in our pick-em. I don't know if you have any notes on those ones. Or you want to get into the NBA Cup here.

Coaches, fans, refs, but I guess Champagne gets it.

Yeah, no. They kicked their ass.

Maybe we can sprinkle some Game Talk in as we go through the NBA Cup. How about that segue?

Okay, so the second edition of the in-season tournament, now known as the NBA Cup. You can throw the sponsor's name on it if you want. It tips tonight. All 30 teams will play four group stage games across the next several weeks for the chance to reach the knockout rounds. And then ultimately the title game on December 17th there in Las Vegas. No Dunks will be there. Da. Kannst du dir das glauben?

Für die Semifinals-Aktion und das Champions-League-Spiel. Und natürlich gibt es Pläne, ein Live-Show zu machen. Wir werden dich auf das posten. Die Jungs gehen zurück in den Desert.

Wow, wir mussten mal gehen.

Wir haben uns gefragt, wer gewonnen hat. Anyway, we're going to be there and we will keep you posted on all of our plans. But yeah, let's go through these groups, maybe make some predictions, Tass. I'll give you some of, I guess, ESPN's Basketball Power Index as like who they pick as the favorites in some of the groups.

Und ich sage immer, sie sind einzigartig, in Bezug auf sie als Snowflakes.

Most of them are pretty obvious, but East Group A, Hornets, Nets, Knicks, Magic, Sixers. Sixers, vielleicht überraschend, als Gruppefavorit, um davon herauszukommen. Ein großer Teil davon ist natürlich, dass Embiid heute hier ist. Er wird für Philadelphia seinen Debut in der Serie machen.

Aber Kevin Pelton, den ich gesehen habe, hat geschrieben, dass es ein gutes Beispiel ist, dass ein Team, das 1-6 startet, als Favorit ist, um ihre Gruppe zu gewinnen, wie die NBA-Cup von der normalen Saison differiert. Ja, ein bisschen seltsam. Das ist seltsam. Gutes Ding für Embiid, aber Cup-Games sind nie auf der zweiten Nacht eines Back-to-Back-Games.

So, that's good for Embiid, good for Paul George. Good for the Sixers chances is what I'm saying here. Obviously they don't have Maxi though. So, do you have a favorite here? Do you think it is the Sixers or should it be the Knicks in your opinion? Or maybe another team?

Yeah, that's why it's odd that the Sixers, I think, are the favorite. Especially when you include the Maxi injury to all this. Like, I think I would lean... I would lean towards the Knicks to win this group. But, like, not a lot of confidence in really any of these teams. With the injuries that come into play for, obviously, the Magic and the Sixers.

Jamal Murray kommt unter den Ring. Das war einzigartig. Hey, sie sind alle Snowflakes, Mann! Sie sind alle Snowflakes, du hast recht. Das war lustig, das live auf dem Playback zu sehen. Wir werden nicht so viel dazu sprechen, aber wir fangen mit Donovan Mitchell mit 36 zu starten. Ja. Als die Cavs die Bowls 119-113 gewonnen haben. Für ihren 12. straight Win. Tass, sie sind der 8.

Es ist nicht Pelton. Es ist der ESPN Basketball Power Index.

Wir schauen auf Favoriten für die Gruppe. Ich schaue nicht zu weit nach vorne, denn du weißt nicht, wer im Knockout spielt. Wir schauen auf Gruppefavoriten. Und erinnere dich, du gewinnst deine Gruppe, du fährst zum Knockout und dann gibt es eine Wildcard von der Osten und der Westen. Das ist der Grund, warum ein Punktdifferenzial für einige von diesen kommt.

Pelton hat das sogar bemerkt, und ich glaube, das ist richtig. Wir haben noch nie Teams, die in den letzten Saisontournamenten zu Beginn der letzten Saison gespielt haben, die ihre Chancen geholfen haben, in die Knockout-Stage zurückzukehren. Das könnte jetzt anders sein. Ich denke, jetzt haben sie es herausgefunden. Wir könnten hier in den ersten Saisontournamenten große Rettungsschöpfe sehen.

Wenn wir eine gute und eine schlechte Mannschaft bekommen, oder eine Mannschaft, die vielleicht ihre Gruppe nicht gewinnen wird, aber ihre Chancen helfen können, durch den Wildcard zu kommen. Du kannst hier nicht den Fuß aus dem Gas nehmen. Genau.

I know it's the same thing though. It's going to come into play. It's record, but then of course tiebreakers are point different.

TBD anyway. East Group B. Pistons, Pacers, Heat, Bucks, Raptors. This one feels pretty open. Yeah, baby. Right? Like this one's very open at the top to win this at least. I guess the Heat are currently projected to win 30% of BPI simulations. But here we have sort of, I guess, to the Sixers maybe being favored in Group A, that the Bucks are one of the favorites to win this group.

And they're one of the worst teams in the league right now. And Dame's not going to play tonight. He's in concussion protocol in their first game against the Raptors, who have played teams close. Yeah, who do you think... Wann ist das? Wo legst du dich hin?

Ich dachte, du würdest mir sagen, dass die Raptors die NBA Cup gewinnen werden.

NBA-Team, der mit 12 straight Wins anfängt. Offensichtlich haben die Warriors den Rekord mit 24 straight. You remember where we were? The night the streak snapped? That the Warriors lost?

Ich nehme niemanden. Du hast zwei Homegames, zwei Awaygames. Du spielst nur die Teams in deiner Gruppe, um natürlich voranzutreten. Es ist wie... Es ist wie seltsam, die Bucks zu nehmen, aber... Es ist seltsam, jeden Team zu nehmen. Sie sind die Favoriten. And they sort of have to be as dumb as that sounds.

Yeah, who are like some of the worst teams because of injuries.

Yeah, because maybe they're looking at it like the regular season doesn't start until the Cup starts.

That might be beneficial, the way people are going at Dame.

Ah, wenn ein Kerl jemanden in die Augen schlägt, dann schlägt er ihn in diese Richtung. Natürlich könnte Miami einen Boost bekommen, wenn Jimmy Butler von seinem Ankleinjubel zurückkehrt. Ich meine, da ist auch der ganze Chris Middleton-Situation mit den Bucks. Ich weiß nicht, wie nah er von seinen Ankleinschmerzen zurückkommen ist. Also, dieser ganze NBA Cup ist überflutet von Schmerzen.

Aber ich werde die Bucks nehmen, um diesen Gruppen zu gewinnen. Even though they've barely won. Okay, okay. Group C in the East. The Hawks. Kaka! Celtics, Bulls, Cavaliers and Wizards. So this one's fun, right? Between the Celtics as the favorite to win and then the Cavaliers who haven't lost a damn game yet.

And who ESPN's Brian Windhorst has said winning the NBA Cup is a good goal for the Cavaliers. The NBA's last remaining undefeated team. How do you feel about that? Is that a good goal for the Cavaliers to win the NBA Cup?

I don't really think so either.

Für den Knock-Out-Rund, glaube ich, kriegst du sogar ein bisschen Geld.

Wird das die Gruppe sein, in der wir die Wildcard-Team haben? Ist das sicher zu sagen? Einer der Celtics oder Cavs gewinnt die Gruppe und der andere ist die Mannschaft, die vorwärts geht?

Außer du glaubst in die Hawks, Bulls und Wizards, die das wirklich verletzen, indem sie die Celtics oder Cavs verletzen.

Ja, aber es ist lustig.

Ja, und es könnte sehr viel entscheiden, wer gewinnt. Okay, nach Westen. Gruppe A. Rockets, Clippers, Timberwolves, Blazers und Kings. Here's maybe the team you're looking for.

Was that a holiday party? Yeah. That's why we were out there, right? Oh, that's why we were there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then the game was on and we were in the office. Oh my God. It was snapped. But anyway, it's still going for the Cavs here. What were your takeaways from Cleveland extending their win streak?

To make an NBA Cup run. I think you're right. In the Rockets is at least who I'm sort of implying. Maybe it's the Kings. Maybe it's the Clippers. I don't know. There's like teams that are not like... Upper-Echelon-Title-Contenders, but maybe this is their championship.

Los geht's, Rockets! Wow! Warum nicht? Die Gruppefavoriten sind die Wolves, mit 31,2%. Pelton hat bemerkt, dass die Kings vielleicht ein wenig glücklich sind mit diesem Gruppenspiel-Schedule, weil sie sowohl die Wolves als auch die Rockets anbieten werden. Und das letzte Spiel, die Kings-Rockets, das könnte groß sein für das Finale dieses Gruppenspiels.

Und dann sind ihre beiden Rode-Spiele in der Intuit-Dome und in Portland. So it's like they got, you know, again, a little of this is luck, right? It's like they're getting the home games for the tougher opponents in the group and maybe the road games for the easier opponents. Although the Clippers have turned it on in the Intuit Dome.

And Portland, obviously, is probably going to be last in this group. But maybe the Kings. I think I'll go Kings. For that reason, I'll go Kings.

But I love the Rockets and they're one of my favorite teams to watch. West Group B. Thunder, Lakers, Suns, Spurs and Jazz. Okay. So, obviously I think the Thunder were like hands down the pick to win this thing before the Chet Holmgren injury. Maybe you've changed your tune a little bit. Then there's the Suns losing Kevin Durant for the first couple of games, at least of NBA Cup group play.

So that sort of sucks. Where are you going with Group B here in the West?

Ja, ja.

Ich meine, es war eine gute Gruppe, bis alle Schmerzen passiert sind. Wie Chet, Kevin Durant. Ich meine, wir wissen nicht mal, wie Anthony Davis ist. Ich weiß nicht, was er mit dem Eingriff ist.

Ja, die Thunder. Aber was werden sie gegen Wemby tun?

No, probably not. Pelton noticed that three of the five teams in this group from the Western Conference have a negative point differential. The Lakers, Spurs and Jazz. That's weird. Nur fünf Teams mit einer negativen Punktdifferenz in der Western Conference und drei davon sind in dieser Gruppe. Vielleicht ist das die Gruppe, die den Wildcard gewinnt.

Könnte es sein, dass es die Thunder oder die Suns gewinnt und der andere den Wildcard-Spot gewinnt? Oder werden die Lakers wieder einen magischen Rund machen? Will LeBron die NBA-Cup verteidigen?

Ich habe das auch gehört. Es ist noch nie getan, habe ich gehört. Ich glaube, ich werde... Weißt du was? Ich werde hier schwirren. Ich werde die Suns gewinnen. Das ist seltsam ohne Kevin Durant. Aber ich werde es gewinnen. Und dann die Thunder als Wildcard. West Group C. Das ist ziemlich gut. Mavericks, Nuggets, Warriors, Pelicans, Grizzlies.

I remember when they announced these groups, we were like, holy crap, this one is stacked. That's changed a little bit with how the Pelicans have been a mash unit and everybody has dropped for them and they're not really one of the better teams in the Western Conference.

But everybody else, especially after the Nuggets slow start, Mavericks are like losing some of these close games, but Warriors have been great. You know, Grizzlies, when they have John Morant, they're a different unit. So do you have a prediction for West Group C or at least takeaways from this group?

Okay.

Not at least to start it. He's week to week. Hopefully he's back. Hopefully he misses a game or two of the NBA Cup.

Yeah, three of the West's top six teams in point differential are in this group. So it's a stacked group. I mean, it's probably the most difficult group when you're talking, obviously, the way the Warriors are playing and the Nuggets turning it around. And yeah, the Mavs and even the Grizzlies. I guess I'll go, man, I just, ah, boy, that's a tough one. I don't know who to pick here.

I feel like we won't get the wild card from this group, though, because those other teams will sort of cannibalize each other a little bit, maybe. Absolutely, yeah. And that's why I like the Thunder Suns. Those two coming out, maybe, of the other group. But give me... Give me the Nuggets. Ich kann nicht aus dem Jokic-Bandwagon gehen, wie er spielt.

Yeah, okay. Well, are you excited for the NBA Cup? Second go at it. Last year, nobody knew how it worked. I remember that. Yeah. I feel at least this year, people are like, okay, the groups and the point differentials and that stuff. Okay, it makes a little more sense now to most people. So, you know, you got the Tuesdays tonight, you got Fridays. We do this for a couple weeks. I like that part.

The courts are better, yeah. Overall, yes. I don't think they're all bangers. I think some of them are eyesores still. But we got to see them in action, too. We see the photos. They look a little differently at times.

That was a Solomon, was it? Yeah, it was. Victor himself. Okay, we'll be talking to Clay as I said. We'll be talking to Trey. Maybe we'll talk to Clay too. We'll talk to Trey on tomorrow's show because he'll be there with Ash tonight. See the court in person and get Clay Thompson's return to the bay here. Everybody wearing Captain hats.

Trey's got to wear a Captain hat tomorrow morning when we talk to him, I hope.

Bring him in with some yacht rock, JD, when we talk to Trey tomorrow morning.

Let's have a little fun in the Up-Down Report.

So, I just said I was going to ride that Jokic horse and the Nuggets to a Group C advancement. Let's talk Jokic, because the guy's averaging a triple-double and a career-high in scoring. His Nuggets are now 7-3, despite starting 0-2. And they were picking up some key injuries and everybody started panicking, right? And they were eking out these wins, but they got a good record now.

But even by his standards, Jokic has been unbelievable to start this year. But will that be enough? Um MVP-Votanten zu überzeugen, ihm einen vierten zu erneuern. Und ich weiß, es ist sehr früh. Wir sind nicht mal an Thanksgiving, auch nicht an Weihnachten, um über den MVP zu sprechen. Aber es ist ein interessantes Debatte, ob dieser Typ wirklich einen vierten MVP gewinnen kann.

Und würdest du ihn jetzt an der Top-MVP-Ladder haben? Ein paar Wochen später.

No way. No. You couldn't. You would be lying through your teeth if you're trying to convince yourself right now through 10 games that he's not the MVP. He is the most valuable player to his team. Again, which sounds insane. He's averaging basically 30 points per game, nearly 14 boards, nearly 12 assists.

Ich meine, wenn er mit diesen Stätten weitergeht, hat kein Spieler in der NBA-Historie diese Zahlen für eine ganze Saison. Das Ding mit ihm ist, du hast es gesagt, er führt all diese Kategorien für ihn, als er es in den letzten Saisonen gemacht hat. Ich denke, was faszinierend ist, könnte er all diese anderen Saisonen vorher gemacht haben? Und ich dachte, er könnte es wahrscheinlich haben.

Aber er merkte, dass er es nicht muss. Er hatte mehr Hilfe, die Jungs waren nicht verletzt. Jamal war vielleicht besser. Er ist so ein unabhängiger Spieler, dass er nicht sagen muss, ich muss 30-35 scoren. Ich muss all diese 3s schießen. Alles geht durch ihn. Aber auf einem anderen Niveau. Aber er merkte, als sie langsam begonnen haben, dass er das tun muss. Ich muss das Team über Wasser halten.

Ich muss alles tun. Kann er das für eine ganze Saison machen? Das ist das, wo ich sage, ich weiß es nicht. Ich will ihn nicht beurteilen. Es fühlt sich so an, als hätte jemand es tun können. Weil die Zahlen sind verrückt. Und die Klatsch-Stats, da gibt es auch alles. Hier ist das Ding. Du kannst nicht sagen, dass das leere Stats sind.

Every single one of these points and boards and assists and whatever is needed for them to still win by two on any given night. By five in overtime. For him to get them there and then drag them in overtime.

Ja, er hat sie im Spiel gehalten, aber dann, und das ist so die Geschichte der Cavs in dieser Saison, war es jemand anderes, der sie übernommen hat. Darius Garland war wieder einmal der echte Closer in diesem Spiel. Er hatte das wunderschöne, Nash-like Layup, mit 24 Sekunden, um es aufzunehmen. Er machte einfach alle richtigen Spiele.

Der einzige Gegenteil von ihm nicht zu sein, ist, dass man sich davon müde fühlt. Man will nicht, dass er eine Viertelstunde hat, weil man ihn nicht in dieser gewaltigen Ära von Leuten, die nur so viele gewonnen haben, will. Ich vergesse nicht, wer das geschrieben hat, aber es ist wirklich wahr.

Je mehr MVP-Trophäe ein NBA-Spieler gewinnt, desto unwahrlicher wird es, dass er einen anderen landen wird. Ob das fair ist oder nicht, das ist meistens die Wahrheit. Ich war vor ein paar Tagen auf YouTube und schaue kleine Jokic-Klips, andere Shows. Shows, die ich noch nie gehört habe. Ich wusste nicht, wer diese Leute waren. Jeder hat einen Podcast.

Und ich schaue ein paar von ihnen und es ist so, es gab Leute, die blödsinnig gesagt haben, dass sie es nicht wollen, sie zu gewinnen. Und dann kommen die anderen Leute und sagen, na komm schon, das ist ein verrückter Argument. Du bist einfach zufrieden damit?

Ja, aber du hast auch, korrigiere mich, wenn ich falsch bin, wie alle anderen gedacht, es gibt keinen Weg, mehr zu tun. Er hat schon stupide Stats aus all seinen anderen MVP-Jahren. Was könnte er noch tun? Und er hat sich verbessert. Er hat es. Und er hat es gehabt, wie wir gesprochen haben.

Und wenn er misst, tippt er es einfach rein.

Aber das andere Ergebnis war, Cavs-Down, ich denke, es waren etwa neun Punkte für die Bulls im dritten Quartal. And they looked a little gassed, a little tired. Maybe like they were okay of like, okay, maybe our first loss is coming here. Maybe Trey Kirby called it in the Bulls are going to beat the Cavs tonight. But Kenny Atkinson, he got crazy. He's wild right now.

Er ist einfach der Meister, wenn er einen Schuss verpasst und seinen eigenen Miss ausgibt.

Er hat sein Team ausgesprochen, wir können nicht drei schießen.

Fast forward to the end of the Und dann haben wir SGA auf einem unglaublichen Thunder-Team oder Tatum auf einem unglaublichen Celtics-Team oder Mitchell sogar auf einem unglaublichen Cavs-Team. Das ist wie, was auch immer, zehn Spiele klar, wo die Nuggets sind. Das wird wieder einmal ein faszinierender Debatte sein. Was bedeutet wertvoll?

Wie du sagst, nimm Jokic aus den Nuggets und sie sind wahrscheinlich die schlechteste Mannschaft in der Liga. Das wäre vielleicht richtig, aber das wird Spaß machen. Ja. Das wird wahrscheinlich sein, was passiert.

Und ich denke, das ganze Westbrook gewinnen, der MVP, das Jahr, in dem er gewonnen hat. Du fängst an zu wundern, ob irgendeiner der Verteidiger jemals wirklich ein Team gewinnen will, das, sagen wir mal, nicht in der Top 4 oder 5 in einer Konferenz ist. Das hat viel Widerstand gegeben und wird immer noch gesprochen.

Wie groß er war und wie wichtig er war für das Team, für die Thunder, um sie zu gewinnen. Aber sie waren immer noch viel niedriger in den Rankingen oder in den Seedings. Ich weiß nicht. Ich frage mich, ob wir jetzt fast eine bestimmte Regel haben, dass sie nicht für jemanden wählen, außer für die Top 3 oder was auch immer. Was auch immer du es in der Arbiträr-Line nennst. Ja, wer weiß.

He's cooking the perfect game, perfect season, I guess. He put Dean Wade in at the five. That was their center, really, with an all-bench lineup. Ty Jerome, Niang, Karis Levert, and Sam Merrill, along with Dean Wade. Das ist ein verrückter 5. Und es hat funktioniert. Das kleine Ball-Line-Up klickte. Es war wie ein 19-4-Rund.

Lass uns von dir hören. Kann Jokic als Vierter gewinnen? Sind wir zu früh darüber geredet? Du hast recht, wir sind. Okay, nächstes hier. Die Washington Wizards haben ihre City Edition-Gruppe für die 24-25-Saison über den Wochenende entdeckt. Sie werden als die Beyond Boundaries-Uniform genannt. Und die Gruppe baut sich aus der letzten Saison-Uni aus und bietet eine Hydrogen-Blu-Base an.

It's a light blue, baby blue is what I thought it was called, but it's called hydrogen blue. I actually like it though. Yeah, up or down on these Wizards 2425 City Edition Unis tests.

Ich würde sagen, die Spurs sollten das tragen.

Das Distrikt von Columbia. Ja, genau. They did that last year, right?

Ich mag die Farbe sicherlich. Diese Designs zählen auch Benjamin Banneker, ein afroamerikanischer Mathematiker und Astronomer, der 40 Steinmarker auf den originalen Grenzen von Washington platzierte. Ich wusste das nicht.

Hast du das überhaupt gewusst? Ich wusste es nicht. Ich habe gestern einen Deep Dive gemacht. Was zur Hölle reden die hier? Das ist cool. Und sie werden diese 19 Mal dieses Jahr mit einem thematisierten Korken tragen.

Unter den, ja.

Do you think there's an uptick in NBA players wearing undershirts? I think there is. We've done this show for a long time. I don't remember this many guys wearing t-shirts. Maybe it's all that padded undergarment too. Skims for all I know. I don't know what's going on there.

But it feels like more guys do it. Ja, ich stimme dazu. They're just like, here, everything's an extra large.

They're thin. Now I think they can make them custom jerseys.

We need a deep dive on this. What's going on? Yeah. Good call. Yeah, maybe people, maybe the younger generation doesn't feel confident in their shoulders and their biceps. Es ist auch eine Möglichkeit. Final Updown. This one's really for you and you've been teasing it all show here. Are you up or down on the NBA app? Because you're talking about it a lot.

Sie hatten Deflectionen und Steals und Stopps und gehen die andere Richtung. Niang hat verrückte Schüsse gespielt. Jerome war wieder einmal großartig. Das ist das, was die Cavs zurückgebracht hat. Mitchell hat sie in der ersten Halbzeit gehalten. Dann das kleine Ball-Line-Up, das Kenny Atkinson mitgemacht hat.

You want to see who's started the early games here.

I got you trapped in there. I got you going like this, swiping, swiping, swiping.

Yeah, or to come, or they want you to tune in to. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, you just want them all. You want to open up the NBA app and go right to the scores and the games currently on.

Dude, they've turned the NBA app into TikTok.

I mean, it's a version of that. And I'm not saying that's a bad idea. I'm sure it works better with the younger generation. You're talking about roulettes and swiping. That's what it is. The highlights they do that with now.

Er hat sie wieder in die Linie gebracht und dann war es die Zeit für Garland, dann hat er es geschlossen. Aber wow, er kann nichts falsch machen. Das ist eine verrückte Linie.

Absolutely. They don't even know you have a phone. They're like, you're old, man.

Yeah, 10-second highlights.

Ja, sie haben viel drin, ist das, was du sagst.

Und es hat geliefert.

Why don't you have a feature? It's like when you almost start it up or maybe the first time you download it. It's like... Wie viel willst du? Wie groß bist du auf einer 1-5-Skala? Oh, ich bin 5, Baby. Ich will alles. Ich will Pistons und Rockets sehen, wenn ich bei 7.15 Uhr in die App reingehe. Ich will den Score wissen. Ich will wissen, dass es 8-4 ist. Aber vielleicht willst du nicht das Level.

Ich will Marquee-Games. Ich weiß, du kannst dein Team wählen. Das erste, was ich bekomme, ist Raptors-News oder irgendein Spiel. Hier ist es, Raptors.

Ja. Also, lass uns das Level erhöhen.

Ja, ich bin mit dir.

Ich benutze nicht so viel die NBA App. Aber ich sitze immer vor meinem Computer. Es ist alles auf NBA YouTube, NBA.com, der echten Website. All the other sites that do a good job, being host of highlights, giving you the funnier stuff, stuff like that.

It's working.

Years prior it did not work all that often. But it's a lot better. Alright, let's get to the game. Wow. Our Pick'em Game. It is Dallas... In Golden State take on the Warriors. It's Clay's return. Get your captain hats on. Warriors are favored by two and a half. Pretty small line. I guess you said there was some movement, right?

Nein, ich habe sie nicht verraten. Ich bin ein bisschen auf dem Weg hier. Ich denke, mein Geist war es, die Warriors zu wählen.

Yeah, there's going to be a buzz in the building.

You would imagine with Klay's return. But, you know, would it be cool for Klay to have like a hell of a throwback game? That would be awesome. Of course. Then again, would it be cool if Klay and Curry are like bombing away and trading threes? Yeah, that would be awesome. The Mavs have lost a lot of close games here. Aber mit 1 oder 2 Punkten.

Wer würde sagen, dass das nicht mehr passieren wird? Ein weiteres 1-Possession-Spiel hier. Wo sie eine Chance haben, es zu gewinnen oder was auch immer. Eine Chance, es in den Overtime zu nehmen oder so. Könnte Dallas dieses Spiel gewinnen?

So we will see. I'll take Dallas. Otherwise, everybody else has the Warriors to win by three or more. Again, we'll have Trey Kirby joining us live on tomorrow's No Dunks Podcast to talk about that game. Him and Esch in the building. If you're going to that game tonight... Bis zum nächsten Mal. Tschüss. Potentially winning his fourth MVP. Those Wizards Unis. And the NBA app.

Until tomorrow, Clipper Bros. You heard it here first. Have a great time. Turn up. Love you guys. Awesome.

What do you call it? A boat hat.

Captain's hat. Captain Clay, sicher. Skipper's hat, vielleicht? Oh Mann, das ist ein altes. Gilligan, der hat so ein Bucket hat. Jetzt hast du recht. Lass uns in den Kommentaren wissen, was du für Hats nennst.

Ja, ich vergesse nicht, wer es in unserem Playback-Stream gesagt hat. Es war so, es sieht aus wie ein YMCA-Lineup. Mit diesen fünf Jungs. Vielleicht nicht wie die Jungs, die wir im Gym spielen. Aber sie waren am Kochen. Ja, Tye, Karis LeVert und George Nyang, alle zwölf Punkte. Ich glaube, Dean Wade schiebt in drei.

Sam Merrill hat nicht mal drei gespielt, aber das hat wirklich den Tide in diesem Spiel geändert. Und ja, wiederum, dann haben sie sich einfach um die Sache gekümmert, um es auf zwölf Runden zu erweitern. Und wenn, weißt du, es kommt noch ein Bulls-Spiel. Was haben sie? Es gibt ein Hornets-Spiel da drin. Vielleicht gibt es ein Sixers-Spiel.

Und dann, natürlich, gibt es das große Spiel, das alle ihre Augen auf haben, nächste Woche gegen die Celtics. Ja. Können sie immer noch undefeiert sein, wenn sie in das Spiel gehen?

Ja, es ist in Philly, zu Hause gegen die Bulls und Hornets, also habe ich die Teams richtig, habe es nicht in der richtigen Ordnung. Und dann gehen sie auf die Straße, um die Celtics zu spielen. Es könnte 15-0 sein, was nicht viele Teams, nur die Warriors haben es je besser gemacht, als 15-0 zu starten.

Das ist wild.

Ja, das wird ein riesiges Cup-Spiel sein, das ihre Gruppe gewinnen könnte. Obwohl, die Punkt-Differenzialität kommt in den Spiel. Aber ja, das wird groß sein. Lass uns weitergehen. Du wolltest damit anfangen. Vielleicht sollten wir aufhören. Shea Gildas Alexander hatte eine Karrierehohe von 45 Punkten in der Thunders-Win. over the Clippers.

Guten Morgen, sweet world! Und willkommen zum No-Dunks-Podcast auf der Athletik-Network. Es ist Dienstag, November 12th, 2024. Ich bin J.E. Skeets hier in der Klassik-Faktorie und neben mir, wie immer, Tass Mellis. Podcast-Listener, NBA-Liebhaber. Das ist für dich. Über und hinter, machen die Magie statt. Wir nennen ihn den Super-Producer, es ist J.E. Hallo. Da ist er.

They did this without Chet Holmgren, the first game without him. They went small. They were forced to go small. Mark Dagnall playing J-Dub really sort of as their five. I mean, I guess Shea's the tallest guy on the floor for the Thunder at points in this. But they get it done. He was awesome. 13-21 from the field, 15-16 at the line. He also had nine assists. An MVP performance from Shea as they

They get it done in an up-and-down game where the Clippers obviously had the advantage in size and out-rebounded them by a huge margin. But they still get the victory. Okay, see.

Yeah, they go small ball at times, for sure.

Ich habe mich ein paar Mal für Kaffee verletzt. Er spielt gute Defense. Und dann, weißt du, Shea bekommt ihn, oder er schießt einen Bein, oder vielleicht lehnt er sich und bekommt einen guten Anruf hier oder da. Und dann ist er einfach so schlitternd. Es gab so viele Mal, wo er mich gefragt hat, was ich tun möchte. Ein bisschen Hilfe bitte, aber er war einfach dabei.

Ich war überrascht, dass das sein Karriere-High war. Ich glaube, er hat oft, also er hat meistens 31 Punkte gespielt. Wir haben über das letzte Jahr geredet. Aber er hat, glaube ich, 43, 44 und 42 Punkte gespielt. Er hat noch keinen 50er-Burger. Er wird es jeden Tag. Ja. Er wird es, besonders jetzt, als er den 3-Punkte-Schuss gespielt hat. Das wird dir helfen, deinen Scorer da hoch zu bringen.

Ja, er hatte 31 letzte Nacht und hat eigentlich ausgefoult, als die Clippers 4 runtergingen, mit 90 Sekunden zu gehen. Das war ein scheiß 6-Koll, dachte ich auch. Ja, die Leute waren müde. Ja, das war schwer, dachte ich. Er war so, was? Ich habe ihn kaum getroffen. Er war so, wie er es zu seinem Trainer gemacht hat. Er hat es zu Tai Liu gemacht. Er war so, das ist alles, was ich gemacht habe.

Hier sind wir, nur die drei von uns hier in der Faktorie. Trey und Esch sind tatsächlich in der Bay, gerade jetzt, bereit für Clay Thompson's Return Tonight. Bis zum nächsten Mal. Aber wir hatten noch einen Wedgie. Und die kommen immer wieder. Wir haben den Live-Playback gefangen. Das war lustig. Und dann haben wir debattiert, wer für diesen Wedgie Kredit bekommt. Ist es Sabonis oder Champagny?

Tai Liu war müde. Nein, es ist okay. Er war großartig.

You can do the small ball stuff for a game or two, but like you already said it, it's a long season and I don't think it's possible really to do it over a huge stretch. So that's what I'm fascinated to see, like how quickly Hartenstein comes back. The other Jalen Williams obviously has one of their other bigs. It's like, Du bekommst kleine Leute, die inspiriert werden.

Ich denke, sie haben Spaß damit. Sie denken, guck mal, wir werden dieses Team gewinnen. Wir sind alle 6-6. Es gibt etwas dazu. Aber ich denke, das ist sehr, sehr schwierig. Ich meine, sie spielen Zubats, er war ein Monster. Aber okay, mach das gegen deine Jokic, mach das gegen deine Anthony Davises. Weißt du, wie ein weiteres Level hoch von Biggs, zum einen.

Und dann ist es einfach, kannst du es sogar physisch über eine Woche oder zwei machen? Ja. Das wird schon lange dauern. Sie werden den ganzen NBA Cup ohne ihn machen. Und wer weiß, wie ernst sie es nehmen. Aber sie zählen in den Win-Loss-Kolumnen für die normale Saison. Ich denke immer, das ist cool für ein Spiel, vielleicht auch, aber kann man es für einen langfristigen Zeitraum machen?

Ich weiß es nicht. Die Größe ist wichtig, Mann.

Zumindest haben sie so viel Depth, dass sie diese Jungs spielen können. Sie können zu zehn Jungs gehen. Das kann contribuieren, wenn man seine Beine und seine Energie ein wenig retten kann, ohne diese Jungs zu beteiligen, um ein paar Positionen für 40 Minuten zu spielen. Das ist ein fairer Konter. Ich meine, es ist lustig, es ist hell zu sehen.

Im Endeffekt ist es eigentlich wirklich, wirklich lustig, Basketball, zumindest war das Spiel, wenn man das auf dem Playback gesehen hat.

Das ist interessant. Ich weiß nicht, wann er medizinisch klar ist, um zu spielen. Ich glaube, es ist noch ein bisschen, wie ein paar Wochen.

Ich glaube, sie hoffen, dass er vor 25 Jahren zurück ist. Aber nicht mich auf das anrufen.

Let's slip this game in here. Cam Thomas' late shooting lifts the nets over the reeling pelicans. That's putting it lightly, I think, there from the AP report. 107-105. They eked out the victory. I mean, the pelicans are on a losing streak here. They have like... Sie wollen so viel von Boston Junior machen. Es ist eine verrückte Mannschaft, die sie spielen müssen. Trey Murphy kam zurück.

Er sah nicht gut aus. Er sah aus wie ein Mann, der lange nicht gespielt hat. Er hat viel Training verpasst. Ich glaube, er hat 10 oder 14 Schüsse verpasst. Cam Thomas was the sort of hero for the Nets down the stretch. 10 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter, including that huge step-back three with like 30 seconds to go. We were like, whoa, we popped on that one. That was crazy.

Boston Junior was like, nah, Green, you take him. And then Cam Thomas just sidestepped like a mile to the left like he was James Harden and hit the three.

Yeah, I thought Denver dominated in transition. It looked like they were playing fast break basketball all night long. In reality, it turns out OKC won the fast break points 27 to 24. But I still think 24 is too many for Denver from OKC's perspective. Make them settle down and play against your set defense. That was a huge thing that tilted the Nuggets way, I thought.

And then Aaron Gordon had that dunk through Chet Holmgren. That was awesome. I had to watch that several times to be like, was it a thrunk? Kind of. The ball leaves his hands for a second, but very powerful.

Bro, DeAndre Jordan was locked in, like, eyes wide open. He didn't even play.

Love it when a series starts in game one, huh? Oh, yes, I do. Sometimes you got to wait till game three. I know. Not now. Not now. Not with these ones.

That was unbelievable.

It felt like the Celtics were trying to put me to bed in the third quarter. They're like, we got a 20-point lead, and we're going to keep bombing away to hopefully get up 30 and end this game so I can go to sleep and get my voice back. But it turns out it was the 2022-23 Celtics all over again.

This felt like a game they used to lose all the time, where they get up big, and then they just can't stop shooting threes. It was 72-52 with 6.20 left in the third quarter, so... Basically, 23 minutes remaining, 29 of the next 40 shots for Boston were three-pointers. It felt like a pickup basketball game. You're playing to 11. You've got nine. Nobody will take a one. It's impossible.

We're only taking twos. Everybody wants the walk-off shot, and that's kind of what it felt like. I'm totally with you. Tatum needs to be much better. attacking mismatches. He can be a bit of a Derek Zoolander. He's only got one move. He's going blue steel all the time. It's the step back three every single time. He did have another move back in the day.

It was the fade away from the mid-range, and people hated that as well. But we got to see Magnum when you've got Jalen Brunson on you, when you've got Mitchell Robinson. That one especially was rough. And draw a foul. He did it a lot against the Magic in Game 5. I remember Tatum basically shut the door. He was like, what, 35, 36, 37 the last three games, getting to the hoop, getting inside.

But he obviously just didn't have it. And a little bit of, I think... Credit to the Knicks defense in the first 30 minutes of the game. They allowed 20 free throw attempts for seven turnovers. Not great. Last 23 minutes for six turnovers only put the Celtics on the line six times. That was humongous. And Brunson actually had a buddy.

He was awesome in the fourth quarter and overtime scored 18 points. couple assists, couple of turnovers, but OG and Inouye be 21 in the second half, basically four of six for three. And I didn't think any of them were going in until the corner one. His release doesn't inspire a lot of confidence because he shoots it. And then he like chases it a little bit inside.

You're like, oh, that doesn't look like it's going to go in. But he was making them. He was incredible. Bridges made plays. Hart made plays. Basically outside of Towns, who did some decent stuff, I thought, later in the game. Made a nice play here and there. They got performances from everybody. So that's a huge win for the Knicks to be down 20. A frustrating Towns game.

Brunson missed an easy game winner at the end of regulation. Probably didn't expect to be that open and to still win in overtime. That's awesome.

I thought he was going to break his neck on the dunk. Oh, yeah. He got that fast break dunk with like 230 left in overtime. Hung on the rim. And I don't know who's behind him. Tatum, maybe. I think Tatum fouls him. And OG's legs go way up underneath him. He held on to the rim. He's strong. But it was a scary looking moment.

Yeah, Bridges looked great, too.

Made a lot of defensive plays. Made a three and came up with a new celebration. He was covering his face and looking around him. We didn't get a good angle of it, I didn't think, but he's been going with Manny Machado for a long time, so... Good to see innovation late into the playoffs.

It's the home court, just like that. I think the Celtics should be more confident than the Thunder are. They have to think, we're not going to shoot 25% from three in another game. And we'll probably get Porzingis back. So I think the Celtics should still be confident.

Yeah, I was going to say, there's a couple of stats for it. Mitchell Robinson went two of eight in the second quarter, and the Celtics built a huge lead. They had their best quarter that quarter, scored 35 points to 20 for the Knicks. It was working.

It was hurting the flow, but it worked 100%.

That's it. Who else is going to get followed, though? I mean, Hackabig is back, 100%. Mitchell Robinson, Stephen Adams, they used it on the Warriors did last round. So I'm like, Rudy Gobert is 9 for 18 from the free throw line so far in the playoffs. Drayvon Green, 4 for 7. They getting hacked?

Yeah, maybe. We'll find out possibly tonight.

Is this going to be an Anthony Edwards series? Prior to their series against the Lakers, he told his teammates, be ready. I know they're going to come and double me. Try and make somebody else beat us. He was prepared for that. Great playmaking throughout the series. I think he had six turnovers in round one. It was his... A huge leap for Anthony Edwards.

31 assists to just six turnovers in five games. If he does that, that's awesome. The Warriors, you look at who they're going to be rolling out there. They just do not have a great matchup for Anthony Edwards, which kind of is my second question. Who is Steve Kerr going to start in this series? Who is Steve Kerr going to finish with in this series?

You know, Curry, Butler, Draymond, they're out there. Their most played lineup is Pajemski and Buddy Heald. alongside those. That ain't going to happen against this Timberwolves team. Good luck with that. I think Jimmy is going to have to guard Julius Randle.

He's the only guy in their starting lineup that has the bulk for it, which means it's probably Pajemski, I guess, will be the starter for Golden State. He seems to be the guy and maybe Buddy's the adjustment guy. Obviously, Buddy will have no chance against Anthony Edwards. Then you look at Ant's stats against Golden State this year, 26-6-6 on 45-44-90 shooting splits.

I think this could be a big series for Anthony Edwards just because looking at the schemes, it doesn't look like there's somebody who's really going to be able to stick him for Golden State. Gary Payton II, I imagine, is probably their best perimeter defender, but that hurts you on the offensive end.

in the playoffs so that's what happened so he's got something to play with yeah it's right okay good i'm glad to hear that he has some room here i thought you were gonna say like five and three oh then he's not gonna be on his best behavior i was like how soon is this gonna happen the game where draymond green chokes rudy gobert was a minute and 43 seconds into their game the 10th game of the season it was the second game oddly enough of a back-to-back with golden state

So I guess 49 minutes in. But if it happens after game two, their first run in, I'll be shocked.

I'm, in a role-player sense, like the Warriors need random dudes to show up. That's how they won their first series. Gary Payton II helped close out Game 1, had a couple of nice layups off of double teams on a Steph Curry pick-and-roll, went to the hoop and scored. Game 3, they win. Buddy has 16 points. GP2 has 17 points. Game four, Buddy 15, Quentin Post 13.

Game seven, of course, Buddy goes insane. 33 points on nine threes for the win. So they need to get some dudes having random games. They need a good Jimmy Butler series for the entirety of the series. Curry has to represent for all of us millennials who don't want to see our era completely swept by the wayside. For the Timberwolves, it's offensive rebounding.

That is going to be a huge bellwether for them. They were second in offensive rebound rate against the Lakers. You look at what the Warriors did. They were last in defensive rebounding rate against the Houston Rockets, who played gigantic dudes. Shangoon was big, but Steven Adams is like the greatest of all time offensive rebounders. Gobert's not quite at that level, but he ain't no slouch.

He had seven in Game 4, nine in that Game 5 dominating victory. So... You hear Brian Windhorst say it all the time. No rebounds, no rings. I think that's a Pat Riley saying, how are the Warriors going to be able to rebound against a team very similar to what we saw in Houston? They've got a great defense. We know they're going to play two bigs at times. We know they're tough on the glass.

How does Golden State take that away?

Part of that credit goes to Buddy and part of that goes to Jalen Green, probably more so to Jalen Green. I think Buddy has a tougher ask this time around. Yes.

He cares. But that's why Kerr was able to play him. He's like, we are not worried about the perimeter players for the Houston Rockets. We can get away with playing Buddy Heald on their leading scorer.

Trey, get us started. Where are you going? Wolves, Warriors. I love all the connections that you mentioned. Draymond versus Gobert, Jimmy Butler versus...

starters and minnesota fans it's going to be quite the reception for him and then of course steph curry playing against the team that passed him in the draft two times he's beaten all the other teams that have passed him in the draft hasn't yet faced the minnesota timberwolves we'll see how it goes but looking at the whole series i think minnesota is is so similar to houston who gave the warriors a ton of problems but minnesota is more experienced they're a little bigger

They're a lot better. And they have Anthony Edwards. So I'm going with the Timberwolves in six for this one. Okay.

I thought he missed the last two. Nonetheless, you could tell they were missing him. They couldn't shoot. They got outshot 19-9. I do think Mobley is hurt as well. He looked like he was laboring. He's got to chase Pascal Siakam around on a team that already runs fast breaks and stuff. I think Kenny Atkinson, coach of the year, Kenny Atkinson, it's official.

He said, these guys are all going to be doubtful, but they'll be listed as questionable.

Semantics. That's what Kenny said. He said it's the same thing to him. Yeah, exactly. They might play. I kind of agree with that. You're in, you're out. Or maybe you're in or you're out. Who knows what the levels to it are. But if you're missing three or your top six, that's bad against a team that already beat you in game one on the road. The Pacers get the shots they want no matter what.

They had no answer for Halliburton. That was my big concern. for Cleveland was not having somebody who could stay in front of him. 22 points, 13 assists, zero turnovers for him. Andrew Nembhard is the career leader in three-point percentage in the playoffs right now, shooting 51% for his career. An incredible riser. Look, if you are a Cavs fan, you have to be thinking,

They're not going to shoot as well as they did in game one. We're not going to shoot as poorly as we did in game one. I think it's more so true from the Cleveland side. I think they'll shoot better, but I don't know what they do defensively against the Pacers because the Pacers are just a great system. They're so unselfish. They don't care who's the leading scorer.

They don't care who takes the most shots. They just care that the good shot is taken.

I laugh every time. Oh, it's legit called that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It sounds like something just Trey Kirby called it. No, but it does. It really coats it up. Good, good. I think it was the Pop Punk Suite that got me. It was. Man, it went from like Blink-182 to Sum 41 to Fall Out Boy. And by the 18th time, I was yelling, number one, but don't buy that. I didn't have any bullets left to fire, man.

100%.

A little Quebecois flavor that I really liked was when Celine Dion's It's All Coming Back to Me Now played. Full song. Full song. To the quiet outro as well. It's like an anthem. Yeah, it was great. Touching like this, holding like that. Beautiful stuff.

I think you guys nailed it. Denver never panicked. You could tell that this is the more experienced team between the two that are playing, though it's not like OKC is a brand-new team. This is their second go-through, but we've seen Denver do it before, and they've got so many good clutch options. Jokic finished second in Clutch Player of the Year. We've seen him make playoff game winners.

Jamal Murray was Mr. Game Winner, especially against the Lakers last year, too, in the first series. Now you've got two from Aaron Gordon in, what, they played eight playoff games? So far, pretty impressive stuff. But OKC's still up nine points with two minutes and 50 seconds left. Yeah. Shea's having a good game.

Like, you could be thinking, OKC's going to take this to win, but they run a two-man game with Murray and Jokic, as always. Thunder are trying some funky stuff. It ends up being SGA guarding Jokic. Just walks him down, draws a foul. No big deal. Two minutes left. Same thing. It ends up being Caruso, the guy who ends up on Jokic. Better matchup for the Thunder, for sure.

Caruso was awesome yesterday. Instead... Jokic just meanders down the lane, hits him with a hook, then a minute 15 seconds left, pick and roll, no switch this time. It ends up being Hartenstein guarding Jokic out on the three-point line, fakes 18,000 times, and then just drops the three over his head. It was great stuff. It left me with a big-time appreciation for Ivica Zubac.

Jokic topped out at 36-21 against the Clippers, averaged 24-11-10, and then in Game 1 against OKC, 42-17. 22, that's a lot of roast beef. Don't even have to do a voice for it right now. And then six assists. You just saw how light in the jeans Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein were. They both got into foul trouble.

They both had basically a half to try and stop Jokic, and neither of them could do it, and Jokic knew he had the advantage. 29 field goal attempts, that's a ton of shots. Certainly the Thunder were trying to make him a scorer, but he wasn't just settling for three-pointers. He took six of them.

And like I said earlier, anytime he saw the matchup of there's a little guy on me, I am going to the hoop, going to draw free throws or score easily inside. Not to mention all of the offensive rebounding. You could tell he was the biggest dude out there.

It was too fast. First time they did it was three. They were up three. Fouled with 12.9 seconds left. That's Jokic hitting two free throws. The Thunder run the perfect inbounds, out-of-bounds play. Sideline, out-of-bounds. Easy layup for Shea Gilgis-Alexander. They get the ball in right away again. The foul. 10.7 seconds. Instantly. Jokic is sitting on the bench.

He would have not been able to come back in. It's not like he ended up winning him this game in the last 10 seconds. But come on. You're taking your chances with him sitting on the other side. Then, of course, Chet misses his free throws. And then, honestly, the three-pointer Aaron Gordon got way too easy. That looked like a possession from the second quarter of a game.

How they were able to get the ball up court. Maybe they weren't expecting him to shoot a three in that scenario, but certainly Dagnall botched it a little bit. He should have said, we're not fouling over 10 seconds. Let him bring the ball up a little bit, and then foul.

I mean, Westbrook is out there, but he's probably the number two guy you want taking a three in that scenario. Though apparently Aaron Gordon now lives in a gym. I didn't know this. I saw it on ESPN this morning. Maybe summer of 2023, he moved into a warehouse, turned it into a gym that is also his house. So when he wakes up, he just goes and shoots. And now he's a 40% three-point shooter.

That's worked. Sounds like every NBA player should do that. Live in a gym, literally, and you'll be a good three-point shooter. But still, the look was way too easy. Chet was rattled. There's no other way around it. He got completely punked by Jokic for the majority of the game. He missed two free throws, and then he got a jumper hit in his face. This was a bad game for Chet Holmgren.

Yeah, InTown Stars went bankrupt recently. A bunch of guys from basketball wanted to buy it and turn it into a basketball gym, but I'm actually just going to move in. Yeah. Live in 15,000 square feet.

There's a lot of stuff to clean up for OKC. They can't give up 21 offensive rebounds. That's like step one in the how to beat Oklahoma City playbook is kill them on the glass. Yeah. Obviously, the Nuggets were able to do that. OKC outshot them from three. That's like step number two. You got to outshoot the Thunder. But 27 free throws for Denver, only 20 for OKC.

So that kind of mitigated the damage that the Thunder were doing from the three-point line. And then they got to have their second and third guys do anything. Five of 20 from Jalen Williams. He went two of 13 in the second half. And the thing that should concern the Thunder is that Denver doesn't respect his jumper at all. They were playing off him. Totally went two of nine from three.

Didn't make a mid-range jumper. He wasn't trusting it, so he's playing in a crowd at the rim. Got a shot blocked by Jokic once. Got a shot blocked by Peyton Watson once. Missed several times at the rim. Just wasn't able to take advantage of being the big size guy because he's going up against Aaron Gordon. Aaron Gordon's bigger and stronger than Jalen Williams is.

So they got to figure out a way for Chet to do something. They got to get Jalen Williams going a little bit because if you get a performance like you got from Shea, you should probably win that one at home considering you're up 10 with like Three minutes left. That should be a win, but the depth guys really didn't come through either. Caruso was incredible in this game.

20 points, six assists, five steals, two blocks. At the start of the third quarter, he had a steal, went for the layup. Ian Eagle yells, cookies! And milk. I was a little surprised by the addition of milk. Is it because he's a white gentleman? Or because it was a boring layup that he shot? I don't know what it was, but they need something from him.

And then you look at the deeper depth guys, Wallace, Wiggins, Joe, Jalen Williams, the other one. He made a three, but the other guys were like basically invisible. This is why I always say depth doesn't actually matter in the playoffs. Both teams got performances from their top six guys, and that's it.

I mean, we're talking a lot about corner three-pointers. I think that is the X-Factor for the Pacers. We're talking Nemhard, Neesmith. Miles Turner kommt manchmal in die Runde. Er ist meistens am Top of the Key. Thomas Bryant vielleicht. Wir sprechen von 47% in den Playoffs. Das ist das Beste in den Playoffs von den Runden. Natürlich gibt OKC sie ab. Du musst 50% von ihnen machen.

Make 50% of your midrangers, 50% of your corner threes. You got a chance. Because when I'm looking at the Pacers game logs, they've scored under 105 points four times in this postseason. And those are their four losses in this postseason. So maybe the number to look at is 105 on the scoreboard for the Pacers. I don't think they can win. Das war's für heute. Bis zum nächsten Mal. Für den Thunder.

Wenn er nicht im vierten Quartal des Spiels nicht heiß wird, sprechen wir vielleicht über eine völlig andere Finale. Er kann es definitiv machen, aber er wird ihn in dieser Finalserie schlagen müssen.

Es ist zu schlimm, Jairus Walker ist raus. Ich denke, er hätte eine Rolle in dieser Serie gespielt, weil ich denke, dass die Pacers so schnell wie möglich spielen wollen und ihn wahrscheinlich auf Jadub geben möchten. Ich denke, er könnte sich vielleicht mit Jadub defensiv befassen und ich weiß nicht, ob jemand, außer vielleicht Siakam, das tun kann.

Neesmith ist ein Fragezeichen für mich, weil er nicht mehr so gut bewegt ist, seit er seine Beine gewechselt hat, also das ist ein bisschen... Ein bisschen ein Misser-X-Faktor da. Ich glaube, du würdest die Erfahrung der Pacers wahrscheinlich nicht geben. Rick Carlyle ist da, so wie Thomas Bryan. Er hat eine Champions-League-Serie. Pascal Siakam natürlich auch.

Also haben sie den kleinsten Teil der Erfahrung. Rick wird keine Steine ungeschlagen lassen. Keine Kuppe ungespült. Also werden sie ein paar Sachen probieren. Aber wenn du einen der Starts für OKC als traditionelles Zentrum vergleichst, von Hartenstein zum dritten String-Zentrum und Thomas Bryan, dann ist das schwer.

All right, well, let's get into... Miles Turner had 13 defensive rebounds against the Knicks. That's it. Yeah, he's got to have like 13 per game against Hartenstein. And he's got to make his threes.