The Ringer NBA Show
Giannis Trounces OKC to Win the NBA Cup. Plus, Denver’s Hail Mary to Help Jokic and More Post-Cup Story Lines We’re Watching. | Group Chat
Wed, 18 Dec 2024
Justin, Rob, and Wos start by discussing the Bucks' impressive blowout win over the Thunder in the NBA Cup final (2:45). Then they pivot to the rest of the league and each talk about one story line they’ll be watching now that the NBA Cup is over (48:04). The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Hosts: Justin Verrier, Rob Mahoney, and Wosny Lambre Producer: Isaiah Blakely Additional Production Supervision: Ben Cruz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What happened in the NBA Cup Finals between the Bucks and Thunder?
But he started his career as that player. That guy is still in there. It's just a matter of tapping into it more. And like I said, I think Jan is figuring out What version of himself is going to maximize, you know, this version of the Bucs? And I think the Brook Lopez interior passing is there. I thought last night he did a great job of spraying out the shooters.
When they just... The thunder was just loading up on him. And he was doing one dribble, draw the defender, shoot out to the... Spray out to the corner. I thought that was incredible. But defensively, like, the highlights were crazy. He had a bunch of... The Hartenstein where he just... That was nasty. Where Hartenstein offensive fouled him and he still blocked his ass.
The Caruso, he smacked it off his face and his chest. I was like, Jesus, this is just mean.
There was also the near highlight where Hartenstein was coming down the lane And basically had to contort himself and fold himself up to not get blocked by Giannis on that one. Like, he basically just gave up mid-drive because Giannis rotated over to contest him. And it's like, I almost can't blame him. It doesn't matter if you're a small or a big.
If you're seeing Giannis meeting you at the rim... we know what that can be. And we know he will go after those blocks in like really important moments of games, right? He's not going to give up just because it's crunch time or just because like it, maybe he has a couple of fouls.
Like Giannis will keep going after shots in a way that I think is not just admirable, but really vital for the way the Bucks play.
I think in a game like this, you can ask yourself whether or not the Thunder should go out and fix something. Because this was the type of result in a high leverage situation where I think a lot of people were probably asking that question. I think the issue, though, is the Thunder. This is where their youth really starts to show.
And you recognize that much like last year, they do have a lot of guys still figuring things out. The fact that Caruso, for instance, is probably an ideal fit for what they do and yet isn't hitting shots. You just kind of have to play through that. Hartenstein has played particularly well of late, didn't have the best success against Giannis because not a lot of people do.
But he is another guy working his way into the fold. I think J-Dub, again, like I keep mentioning, this seems to be the sticking point there where a lot of the offense revolves around SGA being a 30 point per game scorer. Pretty much every game. And to his credit, he did a lot of that last year. That's why he was number two on the MVP ballot.
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Chapter 2: How did Giannis dominate the game against the Thunder?
100%.
I basically stopped doing it unless I need to really hammer someone. But I do think like it's online discourse. It's just like humanity to want to like fix something new and complain about it. And I honestly think it's partly because silver is noodling with everything all the time and almost lends itself to us than doing it. He's a human idea, really. Exactly.
I think the hoop idea mindset has infected like just NBA discourse. But the cup was good. I had fun. Like the once you got to elimination play, it was great. The group play, just figure out that so it's not confusing. And we're just like doing math on the fly in the middle of games. You're good. You have something you could sell to Amazon, which they already did.
And people will probably tune in more than they would in November basketball. I think that's a good thing.
Will you allow me to do one instance of the exact thing you were just complaining about and make one constructive suggestion for the NBA Cup?
Go for it.
I think, and this is not a novel idea, other people have proposed the neutral site being a little bit of an obstruction at this point. I kind of wonder if we're putting the cart before the horse with it, and we maybe should be playing these games at home arenas to get the energy up in the building and to create that sense of excitement and a moment.
And then once people are used to when the NBA Cup is on the calendar, what it means, the fact that it is a, if not a playoff, then a playoff-adjacent atmosphere, Once it's established, then you can talk about moving it to a neutral site.
You need to become, not March Madness, but you need to create an identity of an event before you can put it in front of random people in a non-NBA city and hope for a huge, raucous atmosphere.
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Chapter 3: What are the key takeaways for the Thunder after the Cup?
The problem of letting those guys go or losing them is not just that you're losing the player. It's that you're losing your only hope of tradable intermediate contracts. They don't have them. They don't have options. Now we're talking about Zach Levine and Jordan Clarkson and Jordan Poole. Like this is where you end up when that happens.
So here's where, you know, I always compare this Jokic to LeBron. And when I think about Jordan Poole or Jordan Clarkson, what comes to mind is Boobie Gibson, Delonte West.
Yeah.
Late career Richard Jefferson. Iman Shumpert.
Zach Levine is what?
Tristan Thompson.
Zach Levine is Shaq? Is Antoine Jameson? Is who? Who?
I don't think he's Antoine Jamison.
I'm just saying.
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