The Zach Lowe Show
The Playoffs Are Here! Game 1 Takeaways With Howard Beck and Series Breakdowns With Steve Jones Jr.
Mon, 21 Apr 2025
What up, Beck? Zach and Howard dive into the major story lines from the playoff frenzy (00:59), including the game of the weekend in Denver (23:29). Then, Steve Jones Jr. joins the show for some in-depth insights on what to look for in Wolves-Lakers (57:29), Warriors-Rockets (1:13:41), Bucks-Pacers (1:20:06), and more! 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
Chapter 1: Who are the key players and storylines from the first weekend of the NBA playoffs?
We are going to hit every series MVPs of the first weekend, most disappointing players, things to watch in game two of all the most interesting series. We've got Howard Beck and Steve Jones jr. To help us break everything down coming up on the Zach Lowe show. Welcome to the Zach Lowe Show. It's Monday at 9.30 in the morning. Eight games down. The annual first weekend of the playoffs is over.
And really, we only had two wild games. Well, two and a half, I would say. Knicks Pistons got wild in the fourth quarter. Warriors Rockets was... Ugly, bruising, kind of wild. Steph went bananas. Jim Butler went bananas. The Houston offense went completely off the rails. And then Clippers Nuggets had enough wildness for an entire playoff series in one game.
Russell Westbrook had enough wildness in both directions and just like you could not even script anything. A better Russ giveth, Russ taketh away, Russ threw the ball off James Harden's ass at the last possession of regulation for some reason and then made up for it with offensive rebounds. I don't know what's going on. Just a crazy weekend.
Sunday was a chalk, chalk, chalk, boring day until Warriors Rockets. We have the Lakers pummeled in game one. Lots of stuff to talk about. And it is time. To say the three most anticipated words in niche basketball podcasting, as we will do every other Monday at the very least. What up, Beck?
What's happening, Zach? Three most anticipated words separated by one anticipated comma. That was a great intro. Did you notice Bob Myers at one point on the call? I didn't watch most of that game, Clippers Nuggets, because I was, as you know, at the Garden. Big mistake. Big mistake, by the way. Huge, huge tactical error by me on the first day of way too many games.
Bob Myers at one point said something to the effect of, well, you know, that's Russell Westbrook. You know, he's going to do some great things for you. And then... And then, you know, that's his... And then he just, like, trailed off into something else or kind of repeated it. Like, he wanted to say, like, best of Russ, worst of Russ, best of times, worst of something.
And he couldn't bring himself to say that he's going to giveth and taketh away. He dropped the taketh away thing because I think he felt like he was going to be, I don't know, mean-spirited or get aggregated or something.
One of the things I enjoy about Bob Myers when he calls Nuggets games is just unabashed love of Jokic. He cannot hide, and we've talked about this off-camera, he cannot hide how much he loves Jokic. He was sensational in Game 1 with 29-12-9. Harden was sensational for the Clippers, 32-11, only two turnovers. 20 turnovers cost the Clippers the game. Kawhi had seven of them.
We will talk about that and whether the Clippers indeed went too far away from the hardened Zubats pick and roll that was tearing the Nuggets apart for the first half of the game. But we're going to go big picture to start with. I gave you a homework assignment. Your homework assignment that I also completed because I am a diplomatic host was to pick an MVP of the first weekend.
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Chapter 2: What made Jimmy Butler the MVP of the first weekend?
So they open the second with Steph on the bench and Jimmy leads them on a 14 to 5 run. Steph comes back and they're up 32-26. And it's like, okay, they can hang. And they can hang without Steph, which is kind of the important part of having Jimmy in the first place is not just when they're both out there together, but having somebody who can run that second unit competently.
So I thought Jimmy really set the tone for the Warriors and for that ugly but somehow entertaining win.
It was one of the I don't think the Golden State Warriors somewhat self-proclaimed zealots of the beautiful game could play an uglier game than the Rockets had them play last night. And the Rockets, we all knew the half court offense was the problem. It's the reason I picked Warriors and seven. Oh, my God. Like they're Houston's.
And we're going to bring in Steve Jones later to talk about potential adjustments in this series, because the big overarching question after game one is what it was after game zero, which is what how is Houston going to score in this series? Because their best offense in this game was missing their own shots. That was the best offense they had was just throw the ball at the rim.
We sometimes have both centers on the floor, Adams and Shen Goon, even with just one of them, our wings are gigantic. We'll get offensive rebounds. That's the only offense they had. They had 22 offensive rebounds, a 41% offensive rebounding rate that would have led the league by a mile. They led the league by a mile and they still scored 85 points. in the game.
Obviously, you have to miss a lot to get that many offensive rebounds, but that's astonishing. 11 of 20 from the line didn't help. Ahmed Thompson, 0 of 4. And look, the Rockets live in terrible spacing when they play their two big guys together, and particularly when Thompson is on the floor. The Warriors' defense was too good for them to live in that terrible spacing in game one.
There was just too many hands in passing lanes. Draymond was everywhere. Moody was great. Pajemski was great. Butler was great. And they just couldn't get out of their own way on offense and couldn't generate anything resembling reliable half-court offense. And... Lost the turnover battle. Free throws were even. If those things are even or tilt Golden State, the Rockets are in a lot of trouble.
And they couldn't even decide who to play. Sometimes they played two centers. Sometimes they had Brooks and Green on the bench for quite a bit of the fourth quarter. Jalen Green will come up soon. Don't worry. And they had Jabari Smith Jr., who I thought played pretty well. Sometimes they played him at the three. Sometimes they played him at the five. That's the versatility of the Rockets.
But it also felt like both teams... were sort of struggling to figure out, like the Warriors were using lineup combinations they never used, including a double center lineup. But the bigger story was Houston's just lack of offense. I think Butler's a great choice. Curry was on my list of potential MVP candidates. We might as well talk about him. 31 points, 12 of 19, five of nine on threes.
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Chapter 3: Why was Jalen Green considered the most disappointing player in the playoffs so far?
Detroit just like melting down into a puddle of nothingness in the fourth quarter on the biggest stage in basketball at MSG, throwing the ball all over the place, missing just wide open shots, wide open layups at the rim. And it wasn't only just the young guys. Tim Hardaway Jr. missed a bunch of shots and just they just melted down into just a disaster.
And the Knicks came back, scored 40 points in the fourth quarter and won that game. You were at that game.
It must have been crazy. It was it was wild. I mean, the garden is just incredible in the play.
like the last couple of years of going to nick's home playoff games um the place is just so intense uh i recommend highly recommend people if you ever get a chance to although i will say so i was up on the chase bridge that's the uh that's like the overflow press area for the garden yeah so you can bungee jump down to the court from there uh if if one wanted to and was brave enough um
It's an interesting vantage point, actually, but that is mostly fans up there. And I ended up having a conversation with a couple of fans who said they were visiting from, I think it was Mexico City, tourists. They were really excited to be there. They're like, we paid $400 a seat for these. on the bridge, like the chain, like this is, this is about as high up as you can get, um, $400 a seat.
Anyway, I was chatting with a couple of, um, actually before I mentioned the Pistons people, I should just say, I ran into a Doris Burke pregame DB said to say hello. Um, while I was milling about on the court pregame, doing our usual pregame schmooze fest.
And I was chatting with a couple of Pistons people and we were just talking about this whole thing and like, okay, yeah, like this is a very exciting moment for them. Their first playoff game, what a great breakthrough season and all this. And I just stream of consciousness and sticking my foot in my mouth, like not really thinking about this. I talked about, yeah, you know, it's interesting.
And I remember, you know, Cavaliers Knicks a couple of years ago and, you know, Darius Garland and Evan Mobley, you know, their first time just looked like deer in headlights or whatever. Like the Pistons person who I was talking to me, I was cringing like I was possibly throwing out a bad omen here. I said, no, it's not what I mean.
I mean, I just mean that, you know, sometimes it's interesting to see how young players react and whatever. And I had to kind of backtrack. But and then through three quarters, the Pistons looked good. Like they were absolutely ready for the moment. They were fine until suddenly they weren't. That got out of hand very quickly. And but it was it was a wild finish.
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Chapter 4: What were the major takeaways from the Nuggets vs. Clippers Game 1?
I had the same thought just watching yesterday as it went from 20 to 30 to 40 to 50 to 55, whatever that margin ended up being at its peak. And a couple of quick things just to back up. And they put themselves in this position by being a play-in team, but going from the Friday night game just to qualify to get in to a noon local start on Sunday.
Don't suck toward the end of the year. Don't fire your coach. Don't get in a position where you have to fire your coach with nine games left. I didn't say they put themselves in this position. I'm just noting. You know what? They talk shit to everybody. So you know what? Just back it up. Back it up then.
Yeah. So there's that. By the way, also, though, because when you had when you had texted me my homework and you were talking about the three drawing dead series and all I could think was back to my proposal once upon a time when we used to do our drunk with power podcast, as you know, I love the best of five first round.
And in cases like this, I just think, my God, the sooner this series and the Miami series in the Orlando like the sooner these teams go away with all due apologies and respect to those teams, the better. These are not interesting series. They're not going to be. This one is interesting because of the question that you raised, right? Like Miami's in transition.
They had to trade Jimmy Butler, you know, at the, you know, under duress. They're in transition. Orlando is not healthy. They still need a point guard, blah, blah, blah.
We're going to talk about we're going to talk about them in a second.
Yeah, their team on the rise. And I don't I don't care if they get smoked in the first round. They're young and they're still kind of forming themselves. But Memphis is already formed. These are their three guys. The curse of the term big three is that everybody then sits there and preens when they get they find three really good players out.
We got our big three and we're gonna have to max them all out now, by the way, and then deal with second apron issues potentially. Their big three are not big three enough. They're not big enough. I don't mean size wise. I mean, you know, although in John Moran's case, maybe size as well. And I was looking at it and it's not to get too reductive. But the fact is, and you alluded to this.
In this league, you're a contender if you've got certainly a top five guy, hopefully maybe a top 10 guy. And if you have one of those, a top five or a top 10, and then hopefully your second best player is top 15 or top 20. And these three guys in our own ringer top 100, which neither you or I participate in.
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Chapter 5: How did James Harden and Kawhi Leonard perform in the Nuggets-Clippers game?
I can't remember if it was ESPN or Turner. Thank you, whoever, for all the Nico Harrison close-ups during various moments. His expression, to Nico's credit, really never changed. It was just some form of, like, hmm.
pensive consternation yeah little maybe little little growly little kind of i i might be aware that this camera keeps focusing on me get it the hell out of my face i realize the whole world uh thinks i'm uh i'm an idiot for trading luca uh please leave me alone expression i make when my daughter or one of her friends farts in my face because they think it's it's funny
uh nico harrison by the way somebody just uh tweeted out a little bit ago nico harrison's uh got his end of season presser in a couple honestly i can't wait can i get on a plane to dallas now and make it in time that's how bad these media available are cameras allowed this time i guess i was gonna say yeah just just pens leave all your leave all of your instruments at home no no recorders no tv cameras no pens papers chisels locked
patrick dumont in a closet somewhere so that he can't get on the podium and say something stupid like to every media availability they do is i look tim mcmahon wrote it today one of the many many many longtime mavs that they jettisoned in this overhaul the franchise is scott tomlin who is their pr guy for a long time and is super close with dirk and is an awesome awesome pr guy great and he's got to be watching this being like
Y'all couldn't use my advice a little bit because this is not going great.
OK. And Scott Scott's working for Dirk specifically. He left the Mavs to work for Dirk. That was, I think, two seasons ago. And at the time, this is, I think, before Cuban had sold everything else. But like, man, Scott pulled the ripcord at exactly.
Yeah, I guess they didn't jettison him, although they probably would have eventually given the way that things are going. But he left on his own accord, along with just a bunch of people that Tim wrote about in his story. And Mark Stein has written a lot about I just think of him every time there's a PR disaster because Scooter, as everyone calls him, is fantastic at his job.
Let me just say this real quick, Zach. You and I, we are not PR people. Thankfully, we are not PR people for the Mavericks specifically, and we have not worked in crisis management.
I'll do it. You want to hire me as a consultant? The ringer might let me. I'll do it right now. I was going to say... Don't do what you're doing. Here, give me $500,000.
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Chapter 6: What challenges do the Memphis Grizzlies face going forward after their playoff performance?
As far as you mentioned how prepared they were and the Edwards making quick decisions. So the Lakers, they want to switch. They want to have activity. They want to show that early help. They want to close out and recover on those nights where the closeouts are now getting beat. The teams are able to get to drive and kick. They know where the shots are coming from.
It can get tough for them because they're so activity based. And on the other end, Minnesota was fine switching other things. I think the firepower of LeBron, Luka, Austin Reeves is undeniable. But if you are able to just say, you know what, we're going to pick this poison of switching. We're going to make you make plays. We're not going to necessarily put two on the ball.
That was the interesting part for me. So I think for the Lakers, you've got to find a way to find matchups that Minnesota doesn't like. You've got to find a way to get them in rotation. You have to find a way to kind of tilt it to where you can kind of get the shots you want. Because if Rudy Gobert can be in a drop and say, hey, this is going to be a late switch as soon as you drive.
And then as Luka tries to back up an ice woman, Jamie Daniels is like, no, I'm going to come back and take that matchup. Now Rudy is able to be on the floor more. Not that he would get played off, but now we feel more comfortable throwing that at you. And then, so I think they got to get more pass and cut.
They got to be more decisive offensively, get the drive and kick, get Luka and LeBron in the post, make Minnesota think about doubling or sending two and then get back to, okay, we have you in rotation. We're good to go. Because if you're going to lean on small ball and Minnesota can just switch and they know you're switching on the other end, your margin of error is pretty slim.
Yeah, Howard, one of my other homework assignments for you was to pick a coach of the weekend. Who did you pick, by the way?
You're going to hate me for this, especially since we've now moved past when I thought we were going to do this. I went with Jeff Van Gundy for wrestling, Jokic for the ball.
I liked the choice. He held his own. It was incredible. The claw, the finger strength, and the facial expressions were, yeah, this guy tangled with Zoe a million years ago. He's not afraid for a little arm wrestling with the basketball.
Jeff was dead fucking serious in that moment. He wasn't messing around. He wasn't being cutesy, smiling. This wasn't being mischievous. He was not letting go. His face was stern.
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Chapter 7: What are the concerns about Ja Morant's development and the Grizzlies' future?
Oh, that's right. I forgot that was Saturday.
So I missed most of it. I did want to pipe in on Randall for a minute, though, because there was just an observation here that I'm curious what both of you think of this, because it felt like Randall was an awkward fit early in the season, and it was because of usual Julius Randall things, which was being a ball stopper, being a little slow to make decisions, and a little bit of tunnel vision.
And I feel like This last part of the season, I'm not sure how far back to go, and I haven't looked this up quantitatively, but it does seem to me like Julius Randle has been a smarter, more judicious player for them down the stretch here. And when they first got him, all I could think was, this is temporary. He's got a contract coming up. They're just going to plug in Nas Reed and move on.
They'll flip him for something else. And I am wondering if this version of him actually makes more sense for them. But is this a reliable version of Julius Randle? Take it, Steve.
I think it is and it fits this team because his driving ability is just an added layer to a team that can sometimes get slow or not put pressure on teams. Minnesota's been an enigma for me all year in the sense that you've seen the good, you've seen the formula, and then they just haven't done it. Like, oh my God, we got trapped. This is not a good game for us.
Anthony Edwards wants to shoot the ball. Oh, wait, Anthony Edwards wants to make plays. You never know which version you're going to get. And so I think having Julius and his ability to make quick decisions kind of gives us that energy.
And that takes less of the burden on Jaden McDaniels, who now, you know, I think second half of the season had a lot better stretch offensively to where he understood, okay, this is how I am able to make plays. I can belly off everyone else. So I think his consistency and his driving and his quick decisions helps this group grow.
in those moments where they can't necessarily find things in the half court. And so I've, I've really thought he's been an important piece for Minnesota this year.
Let's, let's be clear. That trade was a calculated salary dump of Carl Anthony towns calculated in the sense of we've gotten two players for one and a pick and And so we got, we got enough to justify the salary though. We got enough for our future and we got enough for our present.
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Chapter 8: What adjustments do the Orlando Magic need to make to become more competitive?
And now Indiana has this wiggle room and this margin for error. And you're trying to figure out, okay, do we put Brooke at the level? Do we switch Brooke? Do we go zone? And Indiana is able to poke it, all of it. You get Giannis playing well, no one's making shots. You got 17 made field goals and eight assists at halftime. You haven't taken advantage of the Giannis game and you can't stop him.
So when you got Pascal making the back breaking shots, Halliburton didn't even have to really shoot the ball. He was just able to be an engine as far as pick and roll. I can reject, I can attack, I can open things up and Milwaukee's gonna be in rotation. And so if they can't get enough of that defensively and not just 15 seconds of defense,
they need 18 to 20 it's like i don't want to say it's like playing the spurs of old but like the hardest part about playing teams like that who move the ball it's not the first action it's not second action it's the third and fourth one that gets you and with indiana the way they played as far as being committed to moving that ball it put too much pressure on the bucks defense if they can't guard it's five at best maybe yeah it was just easy for indiana offensively it was comfortable
And that's Dame is not going to change that. If anything, it will get more comfortable. You know, I just thought it was easy for Halliburton. Like, you know, if Brooke Lopez is on Miles Turner and maybe they shift him to Siakam at some points, we've seen them toggle that matchup back and forth. If he's on Miles Turner, that pick and roll, pick and pop.
And Miles Turner mixed in, I thought, even too many rolls, like too many short rolls. But he made jumpers from 18, 19 feet. When he pops to three, it's just an easy decision tree for Tyrese Halliburton. If he's wide open... Just give him the ball. And then he gets the ball. And if a third guy stunts at him, he knows where that's coming from and Miles Turner can make that pass.
If Tyrese Halliburton kind of dribbles and hangs out with it a little bit and he sees that third rotator, that third stunt they're coming, he just skips Miles Turner altogether and hits that guy's guy. Andrew Nembhard, there's a pass that Tyrese made to Nembhard in the left corner in this exact situation that was just...
a genius point guard thinking two steps ahead of the defense and saying, I see it, I see it, and it's over for you. And it was just too easy for them. And I don't know really kind of what answer. You mentioned zone, you know, and every adjustment there's a counter for. And, you know, look, the Pacers made some contested threes early in the game.
Siakam, Jairus Walker made one that there was really nothing going on. He just rose up. And if you hit those shots, it's just maybe – you know, not your day, but the other thing is five turnovers for the Pacers. The bucks don't force turnover. So the Pacers are going to get shots every single possession.
And if you just give them shots, every single possession, they're going to score a lot of points. And the free throws were about even. And if the bucks, if those are even those two categories, the bucks are not going to win this series. Um, I don't know, offensively, anything. I mean, Giannis was awesome. And I thought their best offense was actually using Giannis as a screener.
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