Are the Pacers contenders now? What fanbases should feel the most worried? We discuss this and more as we make a tier list of the teams that should be the most worried.Host: Andrew Schlecht, Dave DuFour and Zena KeitaExecutive Producer: Andrew Schlechthttps://www.nytimes.com/athletic/nba/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Chapter 1: What are the podcast's main themes and format?
welcome to the morning shoot around here on the athletic nba dailies youtube feed we've been doing this for a couple weeks now it's just a time for us to to get together and chat in a more long form way engage with the chat and just to just hang out honestly it's just a good hangout time here every single wednesday you can join us here on youtube We would love to chat with you.
So with me, I'm Andrew Schlecht. With me, I've had Dave DeFore. Dave, how are you feeling after last night?
Chapter 2: How did the Pacers and Cavs game unfold?
Good. You know, I thought we were going to have like, I don't know, weird. game two for Pacers Cavs and then I mean obviously the injury thing really threw a wrench in the night because you know you go into it thinking okay well the Pacers should just blow them out right the talent advantage was so clearly on the Pacers side and then they come out so flat and it allows us to get just an absurd
finish i mean had the pacers come out serious for the first half of that game we don't get the epic conclusion so thanks to the pacers for coming out flat but finishing strong i still can't believe it i still can't believe that happened i mean that's that's two nights in a row like you have the aaron gordon shot yeah ac that happened right in front of my face and then you have that the knicks come back the other day the next you know this was insane this has been um
extremely it well no lead is safe in the nba yeah but now it just seems like we have more guys that uh that that step up yeah right like more clutch players right now um which is hard to argue against that man i can't remember a time where we had this many like it feels like march madness it kind of does that's the parody yeah
Kind of does. The first half of the Wolves game definitely felt like March Madness. Oh my God.
Chapter 3: Why are the Timberwolves and Celtics struggling with shooting?
like college basketball man uh man like i mean they wound up over 16 from three they were what uh five of 29 for the game uh after going seven of 47 yeah uh the other night just the shooting oh man between them and the celtics i don't know which was worse right like
But they're both quite bad.
At least the Timberwolves, like, they only shot 29 of them last night.
Yeah.
And the thing is, they were good looks. The Celtics were some trash looks that they were throwing up. I mean, Drew Holiday had one where it looked like he was just, you know, I don't know, twirling to the three-point line on an offensive rebound, and he just kind of flicks it up for no good reason.
One felt like math. which was the Celtics. I was like, this is calculator ball. And then the Wolves got bad luck.
Yeah. Two games in a row of really like someone put a lid on the basket physically.
Yeah.
Yeah.
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Chapter 4: Should the Thunder be worried after their latest performance?
It felt like self-inflicted, you know, the whole thing self-inflicted with just what happened there as from a coach's perspective, you know, a lot of people, I want to hear your perspective on this, but a lot of people are very, very critical of Mark Dagnall, you know, the last couple of days, I just want to hear a little bit more of your perspective on like how he handled the end of that game.
Well, okay, so one of the big things, I mean, people bring up the challenge, right? Yeah. That's a tough one. I think it's hard to really pin that on him, right? Like, yeah, Shea tries to stop him when he realizes that they're not going to win it. But, I mean, he's already called it at that point. It's someone else's job. It's not Mark Dagnon's job.
Obviously, the buck stops with him, so the mistake, he has to eat it. The fouling thing was odd to me, especially when Jokic was out of the game, right? That is your job. You have to be aware that Jokic is not on the court, and you need to try to keep him off the court. But also, instructing your players to foul, I mean, it seems to me like it would be obvious that they need to burn clock.
This is something that you do practice. So, I mean, it could be, I mean, his instructions, he's doing the right thing, right? By the book, you're up three, you foul. Now, I hate it, personally.
Tell me why you hate it, because I don't mind the strategy.
Well, okay, so I hate it just from a perspective of somebody who wants to watch awesome plays, right? Like, it takes away an opportunity to have, you know, like Tyrese Halliburton hitting a game winner, right? You know, now they were only down one. But it takes that away when you foul up three. We don't get exciting finishes.
So, to me, there's the basketball, like, watching brain that wants to enjoy what I'm watching. And then there's the coach brain that, yeah, absolutely, you foul – When you are up three, you foul, but you need to burn clock. So you should be trying to do it. I don't know. They fouled with, was it 13 seconds left?
Yeah, it was about 14 seconds left, and he fouled in the backcourt. In the backcourt. That's the thing that's killing everybody today.
You want to burn that down. You know, at least let them cross half court, right? So that's going to burn three or four seconds. I mean, defending the whole time too, right? You are the most disruptive defense to ever play in the NBA. Yeah. Nothing wrong with guarding. And it's just you can just guard. So, you know, guard the guy down the court. Try to foul at seven seconds. Right.
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Chapter 5: How are the Warriors and Timberwolves adjusting their strategies?
tough games clutch moments um you know being able to have to adjust or whatever it is there's there's also more superstars to have to handle in the west um in comparison look at the teams that just didn't make the playoffs you know or look at like the Grizzlies like what would the Grizzlies have done in the east I don't know 55 wins
I was going to say that they would probably be a team that doesn't have to go through the play in, I would assume.
Right. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. The bar is just I mean, that's a weird thing to say, but the bar is higher in the West. Yeah.
Yeah.
Period.
Yeah. But the top, you know, at the top, it's it's basically anybody's it's going to be a matchup thing. Right.
Yeah. I would say this. The two and three seeds being gone in the West actually shows its strength. Exactly. Rather than its weakness.
Well, because, I mean, hell, look at the Nuggets were the fifth seed, and there's a strong argument they've been the second best team in the West all year.
Mm-hmm.
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Chapter 6: Is the Western Conference stronger than the Eastern Conference?
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I do have a gimmick today.
Ah, yes.
I think we're going to do a worry meter for these teams. What team should be the most worried? right now so the top tier the s tier is the most worried d not worried at all we i want to what is what do these stand for what does s stand for s tier yeah
um super duper i think got it okay i was like abcd and then there's s okay that's the super duper cheer i want to start with indiana because i think it should be the team that should be not be worried this should be the team that's like is it all gravy you know like no one really expected them to get to the conference finals again and now they're up 2-0 and heading back to indy
where the crowd is great and they should be feeling good. Also the Cavs have.
So on the opposite end then. Yeah. Cavs are on the super duper. I mean, I feel like whoever they're going up against, whoever you're so comfortable with, whoever they're going up against should be absolutely super duper. Actually, A is for absolutely, S is for super duper. So Cavs, you are super duper worried. Yes.
Super duper worried because one, you have the injuries. Yes. That's the scariest thing. Is Evan Mobley playing? Is he playing again?
I don't see how. Look, they're talking on the broadcast about how he can't put weight on his leg.
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Chapter 7: Which teams should be most worried in the playoffs?
I mean, Jimmy Butler's probably not going to have seven offensive rebounds again, but I don't know. Buddy Heald could probably get four again. Yeah. Like just with the way he can crash. And I mean, he's big, you know, big body.
Yeah.
I don't know.
Buddy played tremendous last night. I wouldn't even say his offense was – I mean, yes, huge. It ends up being the leading scorer for the Warriors. But it was really his first half. I said this yesterday on DevStock Live. If I look through the play-by-play, and I literally did control find, Buddy healed. And I looked at that first half, and I kept seeing the missed be healed, missed be healed.
But every little bit between those shots –
be healed assist be healed offensive rebound be healed steal like he kept producing despite not shooting well and that's what you really need in the playoffs is f your game if you're off your your game in your you know capacity of what you're supposed to bring to the game what else can you bring what other intangibles and he did well on defense he was really good on defense so
I agree with you, and I'll agree with Walsh, the comment we just saw. Because Steve has to play chess now, and I called it a desperation game of chess, he's still one of the best gamers in the NBA, and he went through 12 players to find a way to win that game. And so, yeah, I absolutely think they could do something a little crazy.
Talked about this on the show today. Secretly, right? You hate to lose a player as a coach. And Steve Kerr definitely hates when Steph Curry's not out there.
Yeah.
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Chapter 8: What impact do injuries have on the Warriors' playoff chances?
I mean, it might be, but if you ask anybody in the Warriors organization who shows up in practice on the same level of consistency in terms of like playing it, Pat, Pat. And I, you know, we were talking about this too. Pat Spencer could go somewhere else and be a solid two guard. I mean, a solid backup point guard, like not somebody that's sitting on the bench, not somebody that records DNPs.
Like he could legitimately play. And every time he comes in, he attacks. Guess who was pressuring Rudy? Pat! No fear.
It's important. He's got fouls to give. Go in there and muck things up. Those players are useful. When I coached high school, I recruited soccer players to be Pat Spencer. Go run hard. Go set screens. Go rebound. Don't shoot.
There you go. You guys know how many playoff games Buddy Heald has played in? total no idea try to guess try to guess after last night 17 okay 10 it's 12 isn't that weird he's just been in the league for forever he just played for so many bad teams
Yeah. Yeah. Mark Jones tweeted a picture of Tyrese and Buddy together in sack. And he was like, it hits different. And I was like, yeah, that makes sense.
That does feel very strange.
You know, let me ask you guys, if we go back, the Halliburton Sabonis trade, man, that's an awful trade. I mean, it was an awful trade at the moment. It was a bad one.
That is poorly. Yeah.
Especially, especially with the hindsight of like, what's going to happen with Darren Fox, you know? Right. You just have, now you're left with no point cards and you're like, okay, what is this? Now we have DeMar DeRozan, Zach Levine carrying the offense. Like what's happening? How do, how do, how do we get here? You know? Got to be how it feels. Okay. Next team, Minnesota. How worried are you?
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