The Zach Lowe Show
Round 1 Winds Down: Lakers Eliminated, Game 6 Previews, and More With Michael Pina
01 May 2025
Zach is joined by Michael Pina to discuss the end of the road for a few teams, starting with the Lakers’ loss to the Wolves (1:05). Next, they look ahead to Game 6 between the Warriors and Rockets (31:52), as well as the second-round series between the Pacers and Cavs (48:47). Lastly, some things to watch for in tonight’s Game 6s in Detroit and Los Angeles (1:21:42). The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Full Episode
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All right, everybody, coming up, we got Michael Pina on all things NBA playoffs. The Lakers are out. Rudy Gobert had a game. The Wolves are moving on. The Rockets are alive. Cavs Pacers preview. Looking ahead to games this weekend. Everything heat offseason. Coming up with Michael Pina on the Zach Lowe Show. Welcome to the Thursday edition of the Zach Lowe Show.
We're after a very interesting Thursday night of NBA playoff basketball. We have a lot to discuss. LeBron James, is he going to retire? He's not sure. I don't know what's going to happen. We've got Thumbgate. We've reached the point of the Warriors-Rockets series where the Warriors, after whoop that trick game, the sequel, are complaining about the Rockets targeting Steph Curry's thumb.
And there's a photo of a swollen thumb and all of it. A lot of whining going on in that series. The Lakers are out. What does that mean for their future? Luka Doncic extension, LeBron player option. He said he doesn't know. He's got to sit down with his family. We'll see what happens. Michael Pina, how are you? I'm good, Zach. How are you doing, man? I'm good. I'm good.
But you know where we have to start, right? Thumbgate? Nope. Nope. We got to start here. Yesterday, I was doing some prep for the second round, trying to get ahead of it. We're going to talk about Pacer's Cavs, which is set in stone shortly. And I just started going through in my head, you know, all the interesting Warriors, Timberwolves storylines. Jimmy Butler, Vengeance.
All the Draymond, Rudy Gobert stuff over the years. Draymond, obviously, put him in the chokehold. Put him in the million-dollar dream for a bit. Made fun of him multiple times for weeping upon not making the 2019 All-Star Game. Brought it up again three years later to make fun of him. Went on him as part of the TNT crew. We just went at him like every single game. And I'm thinking about that.
Then I watch... Warriors-Lakers. And boy, they'll lead up to that series. I don't know, Rudy against the five-out lineup, he could get played off the floor. And I've been consistent on this dating to the end of the Utah Jazz, the Terrence Mann game, the Mavs series, when teams would go five-out against Gobert. And everyone would.
It happened this week with absolutely no evidence at all that Rudy Gobert was a problem defensively. People were nitpicking Rudy Gobert's defense and saying, defensive player of the year, he should be matchup proof. And I said over and over again, dating to all those series, I've been consistent on it the whole time. The problem was never his defense.
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