# Colin Cowherd Podcast - Steph Sensational As Warriors Steal Game 1, Lakers Lay An Egg, Nuggets/Clippers Is “Grown Up” Basketball

An episode of [The Colin Cowherd Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1551365571), 21 Apr 2025, 52 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/arttrk.com/p/D5CA5/pscrb.fm/rss/p/prfx.byspotify.com/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/4013d28e-5f67-4885-bff1-ae3300346830/6b7a593b-daa3-40b5-b392-b2c6005d40d4/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=e829cf60-fc06-4d61-8691-ae330034683e

Colin’s joined by Jason Timpf, host of “Hoops Tonight” to break down all the NBA playoff action. They start with the Warriors stealing game one on the road from the Rockets, and why their playoff experience was able to negate the Rockets athletic advantage (4:00). They break down why this was one of Steph Curry’s most impressive playoff performances (8:30), why Steve Kerr is incredible at finding the right “winning” players to surround their stars (11:30) and why Jimmy Butler is the perfect “get a bucket” guy they needed (13:30). They pivot to the Lakers laying an egg in game 1 against the Timberwolves and Colin criticizes LeBron, Luka and co for their lack of intensity and energy (25:30). They give kudos to the Wolves for throwing a great opening round punch, and contrast Ant Edwards improvement to Ja Morant’s regression (31:00). They move on to the Nuggets and why Denver’s reliance on Jokic to run the entire offense hamstrings his ability to be effective on defense, and Jason emphasizes why the Nuggets don’t have a choice to do it any other way (34:15). They point out the issues with the Clippers disjointed playmaking (36:15) and give credit to Russell Westbrook for the energy he brings to the floor(38:45) Colin highlights all the seasoned veterans on both squads and why it’s going to make for an incredible, physical series (48:00)! Finally, they predict a couple series sweeps (56:00), Colin offers some optimism about the Orlando Magic, and looks at a Houston/Kevin Durant pairing as a potential match made in heaven (1:00:30). (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.) • ‘THE GRUDGE with Will Compton’ airs Wednesdays at 10 PM ET — only on VICE TV. Find your channel here: https://www.vicetv.com/en_us/channel-finder Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates! #Volume #Herd See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:01] Speaker 1: The volume. Get ready for more must watch TV from
[0:06] Speaker 1: Vice Sports. They have the show called The Grudge. It's
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[0:21] Speaker 1: delivering something for everybody. Each controversy laced episode of The
[0:26] Speaker 1: Grudge digs into the grievances between teams and top sports
[0:29] Speaker 1: personalities and football, basketball, mma, baseball, hockey, golf. Narrator Will Compton,
[0:35] Speaker 1: former NFL linebacker and co host of Buston with the Boys,
[0:38] Speaker 1: is going to be joined by a cast of personalities
[0:40] Speaker 1: including retired NFL wide receiver Steve Smith, senior, four time
[0:44] Speaker 1: Stanley Cup champ Darren McCarty, Bobby Valentine, renowned NBA journalist
[0:49] Speaker 1: Howard Beck, and others. Tell the stories of these animosities,
[0:52] Speaker 1: so you'll also see nostalgic archival footage witnesses, fans, players,
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[1:00] Speaker 1: Grudge are every Wednesday at ten pm Eastern only on
[1:03] Speaker 1: Vice DV. Go to vicetv dot com to find your
[1:06] Speaker 1: cable channel. All right here we go. Jason Timpf, podcaster
[1:15] Speaker 1: the volume Hoops Tonight. Okay, so I picked the You know,
[1:19] Speaker 1: it's really funny. I mean, the series is pretty predictable.
[1:22] Speaker 1: One team can shoot, that's the Warriors.
[1:23] Speaker 2: The other is.
[1:24] Speaker 1: Big, long, athletic and struggles sometimes when you take away
[1:29] Speaker 1: the transition baskets for the Rockets and you take their
[1:31] Speaker 1: athleticism and you mute it to some degree in the
[1:33] Speaker 1: playoffs because you're not going to get freebies. You know,
[1:36] Speaker 1: you get them on a Tuesday night in Orlando, you're
[1:38] Speaker 1: not getting them against the veteran NBA playoff team. The
[1:41] Speaker 1: Warriors played really good defense and Houston couldn't shoot. So
[1:47] Speaker 1: I know what the series is youth inexperienced athletic ability
[1:51] Speaker 1: length against this old veteran team that's incredibly well coached
[1:56] Speaker 1: with Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler. But I've got to
[1:59] Speaker 1: be honest. Show to a stat at the end of
[2:01] Speaker 1: the year where Jalen Green wasn't scoring. And Jalen Green's fascinating.
[2:05] Speaker 1: He's almost a case study for me. So I think
[2:08] Speaker 1: everybody should go to college at least for a year,
[2:10] Speaker 1: probably two. But he goes to the G League. I
[2:13] Speaker 1: watch his game. He can't play up your point, can't
[2:15] Speaker 1: really shoot super athletic and long, but sometimes you kind
[2:20] Speaker 1: of leans on that athletic ability around the basket and
[2:22] Speaker 1: puts a wild shots. Was invisible in this game. I mean,
[2:26] Speaker 1: he was just invisible. And they have more than enough
[2:30] Speaker 1: size and athletic ability, and I'm looking at this guy's career.
[2:34] Speaker 1: He's obviously an absolutely dynamic player. But I feel like
[2:38] Speaker 1: when I watched him tonight, it's like, Okay, in playoff basketball,
[2:41] Speaker 1: you have to sort of define your offense. You just
[2:43] Speaker 1: can't come down and wing it right. You can't just
[2:48] Speaker 1: have You see this in college basketball adjacent all the time,
[2:50] Speaker 1: where you just have lost possessions. In college you'll have
[2:53] Speaker 1: eight or nine in a row. And I felt a
[2:56] Speaker 1: lot of times I didn't know what Houston was doing
[2:59] Speaker 1: in the half court set when you took away the
[3:01] Speaker 1: transition baskets.
[3:04] Speaker 2: Yeah, that's half the battle.
[3:05] Speaker 3: You gotta have a pet action or preferably multiple pet
[3:08] Speaker 3: actions that you trust to at least either get you
[3:11] Speaker 3: a good shot or get a close out for somebody,
[3:14] Speaker 3: so you can start the tic tac toe of trying
[3:15] Speaker 3: to break a defense down and Honestly, I'm glad you
[3:18] Speaker 3: love Jalen Green, because I thought that was the difference
[3:20] Speaker 3: in tonight's game. This has been a recurring theme for
[3:24] Speaker 3: the Rockets throughout the season. It kind of stems around
[3:27] Speaker 3: Fred and Jalen. When the two of them are both great,
[3:30] Speaker 3: they're basically impossible to beat. When one of them is great,
[3:33] Speaker 3: they almost always win. As a matter of fact, one
[3:35] Speaker 3: of the craziest stats I encountered as I was prepping
[3:38] Speaker 3: for the series is that when Jalen Green scores at
[3:41] Speaker 3: least thirty points, the Rockets worth thirteen and one this season,
[3:45] Speaker 3: Like they just win when they get scoring.
[3:47] Speaker 2: So first of all, we should take that little.
[3:49] Speaker 3: Note and just file it away in case the Rockets
[3:51] Speaker 3: get Kevin Durant this summer, because that's where it could
[3:54] Speaker 3: get really scary, is if they have that reliable type
[3:56] Speaker 3: of scoring. But Jalen, as you put, is just so
[3:59] Speaker 3: in consistent. He's just as likely to go for seven
[4:03] Speaker 3: points in a game and be mostly ineffective as he
[4:06] Speaker 3: is to be effective. As a matter of fact, it
[4:07] Speaker 3: kind of comes down to he's very athletic getting to
[4:10] Speaker 3: the basket, and he's a very capable pull up shooter. Yeah,
[4:14] Speaker 3: but if those two things aren't going, it's gonna be
[4:16] Speaker 3: a lot of him forcing the action. Yeah, looking really ugly. Honestly,
[4:21] Speaker 3: Udoka has bailed on him often this year. Yeah, and
[4:24] Speaker 3: I wouldn't be surprised if he bails on him over
[4:26] Speaker 3: the course of this series. If you can't show.
[4:27] Speaker 1: More, if you and I talked, if you and I,
[4:31] Speaker 1: you know it's the closure eyes test. Jordan, Kobe, bird Yokich,
[4:39] Speaker 1: Lebron take great offensive players.
[4:41] Speaker 2: I'll go back to.
[4:42] Speaker 1: My day of George Gervin Alex English. When you think
[4:46] Speaker 1: of really profound scores, you can close your eyes and
[4:50] Speaker 1: you can picture their best move. There's certain stock foundational
[4:55] Speaker 1: moves Michael went to. He had about four, and you know,
[4:59] Speaker 1: just like he could get to he six in his sleep.
[5:01] Speaker 1: Kobe was more creative with fewer stock moves. He was
[5:05] Speaker 1: more creative than Michael with better range. But there were
[5:08] Speaker 1: certain things Kobe liked to do. Jalen Green's athletic, like
[5:12] Speaker 1: I feel like he has to develop two or three
[5:15] Speaker 1: foundational moves that he just uses and it's not a
[5:19] Speaker 1: knock steph Chris Paul. I mean, like Chris Paul has
[5:23] Speaker 1: just that behind the back through the leg, you know,
[5:26] Speaker 1: right angle of the free throw line, and close my
[5:28] Speaker 1: eyes and see it in my sleep. He scored eight
[5:30] Speaker 1: thousand points on one move. And I just feel like
[5:33] Speaker 1: with Jalen Green, I'm like, bro, it's not you got
[5:36] Speaker 1: to get past athletic ability, like you have to create
[5:39] Speaker 1: some absolute guarantees. The other thing here, listen, offensive rebounding,
[5:44] Speaker 1: Houston's going to dominate. They're so damn big. I thought
[5:48] Speaker 1: down the stretch the Warriors offensive rebounding, they were just
[5:51] Speaker 1: getting second looks.
[5:54] Speaker 2: A lot of it was effort.
[5:55] Speaker 1: Down the stretch. I thought Houston looked like a beaten
[5:57] Speaker 1: team with about four to five minutes left. Golden State
[6:00] Speaker 1: the old guys outworked him.
[6:02] Speaker 3: Yeah, it was super interesting to see the flow of
[6:04] Speaker 3: the game as Steph, We've talked about Jalen and Fred
[6:08] Speaker 3: weren't producing anything on offense, so that that was really
[6:11] Speaker 3: the difference. Like you get seventeen combined points on thirty
[6:15] Speaker 3: four shots from Fred and Jalen, so literally half of
[6:18] Speaker 3: a point a shot. Right on the other side, you
[6:20] Speaker 3: get thirty one from Steph on nineteen shots, and just
[6:25] Speaker 3: I thought Steph was absolutely amazing tonight. I thought I'd
[6:29] Speaker 3: have to really think and start ranking. But when you
[6:31] Speaker 3: factor in the degree of difficulty, that was one of
[6:33] Speaker 3: his more impressive playoff games that I've watched. He was
[6:37] Speaker 3: really special. He was smothered all over the place and
[6:40] Speaker 3: he kept making it work. But like, honestly, to bring
[6:42] Speaker 3: it back to Jalen Green, Like, what I thought was
[6:43] Speaker 3: fascinating was Steph found Jalen to be his favorite target.
[6:48] Speaker 3: On the other end, that's really the issue with Jalen
[6:50] Speaker 3: is that when he doesn't have anything going offensively, he's
[6:52] Speaker 3: a weak defensive player when he should be better for
[6:54] Speaker 3: being a great athlete, and then on offense he doesn't
[6:56] Speaker 3: have the read and react game to make up for it.
[6:58] Speaker 3: But it was funny seeing the flow the game. Steph
[7:00] Speaker 3: is carrying the offense there, but you see Houston just
[7:04] Speaker 3: slowly chip away and there's nothing else going for Golden State.
[7:07] Speaker 3: But ironically, it was everybody else in the starting lineup
[7:10] Speaker 3: that kind of stepped up down the stretch.
[7:12] Speaker 2: I thought Pods was fantastic. Yeah, I thought mood I
[7:15] Speaker 2: thought Moody was fantastic.
[7:16] Speaker 3: Moody hit two massive jump shots that step back shit
[7:19] Speaker 3: at the end of the shot clock. That little mid ranger.
[7:21] Speaker 3: That was a big shot, the huge shot he hit
[7:23] Speaker 3: in the left corner right after Fred van Vliet hit
[7:26] Speaker 3: his shot. They just had a response for everything. Jimmy
[7:29] Speaker 3: Butler did some beautiful matchup attacking down the stretch. They
[7:32] Speaker 3: were brilliant defensively. You saw a really cohesive Warrior starting
[7:37] Speaker 3: unit down the stretch. And honestly, if there's one thing
[7:40] Speaker 3: to take away from the Jimmy Butler trade, it really
[7:42] Speaker 3: just lined up their best five perfectly. They know who
[7:45] Speaker 3: their five is and it just crystallized all of that
[7:48] Speaker 3: and it ended up working out. I actually thought it
[7:50] Speaker 3: was interesting that they didn't try Kaminga tonight. Nope, especially
[7:53] Speaker 3: considering how poorly they were rebounding for stretches. But at
[7:57] Speaker 3: the same time, like you got steady, mistake free basketball
[8:01] Speaker 3: down the roster, which I think is what Steve Kerr
[8:03] Speaker 3: was shooting forward to avoid Houston getting out in transition.
[8:06] Speaker 1: I mean, you could argue if you combine these two rosters,
[8:08] Speaker 1: the most athletic guys are Jalen Green, i'm On Thompson,
[8:11] Speaker 1: and Jonathan Kaminga. None of them did anything tonight because
[8:15] Speaker 1: I mean, seriously, Jason, because that's playoff basketball. You don't
[8:19] Speaker 1: get the easy transition transition baskets. You're gonna play the
[8:22] Speaker 1: same team over and over. You get the best coaches,
[8:27] Speaker 1: so you don't get cheap points. Which, listen, we always
[8:30] Speaker 1: we've always known this. They were talking about this on
[8:33] Speaker 1: the broadcast tonight, is that you're they're not gonna blow
[8:38] Speaker 1: the whistle. It gets very physical. I mean you could
[8:40] Speaker 1: see the Warriors late in the game, pushy Chippy and
[8:44] Speaker 1: the three most athletic guys and these two you could
[8:46] Speaker 1: argue the three most athletic guys didn't do anything tonight.
[8:50] Speaker 1: I did think Pods. You know, again, he's not a kid,
[8:54] Speaker 1: played a couple of years in college now this I
[8:56] Speaker 1: think this is his second year in the NBA. So
[9:00] Speaker 1: he's a class example where you know, he's not this
[9:03] Speaker 1: five star recruit who they rushed through a g league
[9:07] Speaker 1: of rushes And what does that mean? He really has
[9:11] Speaker 1: a place. Pods really has a place in this offense
[9:14] Speaker 1: from what I can see.
[9:16] Speaker 3: Yeah, I was talking with my buddy Samus Fondiari about
[9:18] Speaker 3: this over the course of the last week because we've
[9:20] Speaker 3: been amazed to just see over the years how often
[9:22] Speaker 3: Steve Kerr has been right about who is a winning
[9:26] Speaker 3: basketball player, Like, for instance, like Ty Jerome, who was
[9:28] Speaker 3: incredible today for the Calves. Like that was the guy
[9:31] Speaker 3: that Steve Kerr had a lot of trust in Brandon Pajemski.
[9:34] Speaker 3: There were some downs colin over the last couple of
[9:37] Speaker 3: years where Warriors fans really wanted to bail on Brandon Pajemski,
[9:41] Speaker 3: and Steve Kurg just never gave up on him because
[9:43] Speaker 3: he believed in him as a winning player. The reverse
[9:46] Speaker 3: happened with Kaminga. There were stretches where there's a stretch
[9:48] Speaker 3: last year it was like a half dozen games in
[9:50] Speaker 3: a row, Kminga went for twenty plus and it was like,
[9:52] Speaker 3: oh man, we might have a future All Star in
[9:54] Speaker 3: our hands. But Steve Kerr saw through it and was
[9:56] Speaker 3: like this, there's not a lot of replicable winning basketball
[10:00] Speaker 3: that I'm getting out of this. There's just so much
[10:02] Speaker 3: there's so much emphasis in that organization. I'm bringing in
[10:05] Speaker 3: like the right types of dudes and like pods. The
[10:08] Speaker 3: way he impacted winning down the stretch was actually really
[10:11] Speaker 3: fascinating because it wasn't through any sort of, you know,
[10:14] Speaker 3: super talent based type of play. It was just smart basketball.
[10:18] Speaker 3: He beats a close out against Jabari Smith on the
[10:20] Speaker 3: left wing, traps him on his backside, baits Steven Adams
[10:23] Speaker 3: into stepping up, and throws a perfect bounce pass to
[10:25] Speaker 3: Gary Payton, who gets the easy layup under the basket.
[10:28] Speaker 3: The player Jimmy Butler got the put back, or I
[10:31] Speaker 3: think it was Draymond actually got to put back. Pods
[10:33] Speaker 3: didn't even get the put back. He just came flying
[10:35] Speaker 3: in and hit the basketball, but he kept it alive
[10:37] Speaker 3: long enough for it to pop right into Draymond's hands
[10:40] Speaker 3: and to go into the basket. He just does the
[10:42] Speaker 3: right thing every single time, which creates an environment of
[10:45] Speaker 3: factors that Steve Kirk can depend on to elevate the
[10:49] Speaker 3: situation for his stars to carry him over the top.
[10:52] Speaker 3: I think they just they just always seem to find
[10:54] Speaker 3: these guys calling it's crazy. It's an organizational thing for them.
[10:57] Speaker 1: Well, And you know, I was thinking about Jimmy Butler,
[10:59] Speaker 1: who finished forty two minutes, twenty five points, forty two
[11:02] Speaker 1: minutes frickin' and he plays both ends. And I was
[11:05] Speaker 1: thinking about this watching Jimmy Butler, is that he's a
[11:09] Speaker 1: very intentional basketball player, Like you remember his points and
[11:14] Speaker 1: I always said this about Andrew Wiggins, like he'd score
[11:16] Speaker 1: twenty six. I didn't remember a bucket, and like Jimmy
[11:19] Speaker 1: Butler can score sixteen, I remember all of them. You know,
[11:22] Speaker 1: it's like he's just an intentional player. And there were
[11:25] Speaker 1: a couple of times tonight where you know they were
[11:27] Speaker 1: in the control.
[11:28] Speaker 2: Of the game.
[11:28] Speaker 1: I mean this this well you could that's after that
[11:30] Speaker 1: that second quarter of basketball, it's like, oh, Houston's in trouble,
[11:34] Speaker 1: like they're they're they're completely out of rhythm, which the
[11:36] Speaker 1: Lakers were. We'll get to in a few minutes. But
[11:39] Speaker 1: the difference is the Lakers you kept thinking, well, I've
[11:42] Speaker 1: seen them in rhythm, they'll be good in the half court.
[11:44] Speaker 1: They never were, whereas with Houston you're like, oh, this
[11:47] Speaker 1: is this is a problem, Like they're just not they're young,
[11:50] Speaker 1: they're long, Jalen Green is lost and now he's a
[11:53] Speaker 1: little panicky. But Butler, you know, this is where I
[11:57] Speaker 1: love analytics, but sometimes I us need a bucket. And
[12:02] Speaker 1: there were about three to four times to night with
[12:04] Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler and it's like, no, he's not going to
[12:06] Speaker 1: shoot a three, He's just gonna work a guy and
[12:10] Speaker 1: give you that right angle, free throw, a line. He's
[12:13] Speaker 1: just in playoff games. So much of it is the
[12:16] Speaker 1: games are sold out, the crowds are lubricated and completely
[12:20] Speaker 1: into it. This is not people arriving from work late
[12:23] Speaker 1: on a Wednesday or Thursday. These are Saturday Sunday games.
[12:27] Speaker 1: Everybody is there. It's almost like tailgate and the lounge.
[12:30] Speaker 1: You go to your seat that are allowed, and those
[12:33] Speaker 1: ten point lead go down to four really fast, and
[12:37] Speaker 1: Butler just ends, he just gets you. He's got that
[12:41] Speaker 1: Kawhi thing. It's not about three. Sometimes you just need
[12:45] Speaker 1: a basket to quiet the crowd. And when I watch him,
[12:50] Speaker 1: I'm like, that's just playoff basketball. He's just you know,
[12:53] Speaker 1: he really senses oh shit, the crowd's back into it.
[12:58] Speaker 1: This is a this is a really big possession. And
[13:03] Speaker 1: I think Draymond does that and Steph feels that, and
[13:06] Speaker 1: I saw the Warriors do that half a dozen times
[13:09] Speaker 1: in the second half to night. You could just sense, hey, guys,
[13:13] Speaker 1: this is a huge possession. Even though we leave by
[13:15] Speaker 1: eight to your point.
[13:17] Speaker 3: Every single time Houston got it to four, got it
[13:20] Speaker 3: to three, the Warriors would go like stop bucket, stop bucket,
[13:23] Speaker 3: and it would be back up to eight, like they
[13:24] Speaker 3: just they always were able to regain control of the situation.
[13:28] Speaker 3: You were talking about go to moves earlier with Jalen Green.
[13:31] Speaker 3: That is, like Jimmy's patented go to move is the
[13:35] Speaker 3: hard in and out dribble with the right hand to
[13:37] Speaker 3: step back towards his right hand side. He added that
[13:40] Speaker 3: back in Minnesota, and I remember that was the reason
[13:43] Speaker 3: Philly traded for him. They were like, we need a
[13:44] Speaker 3: guy to get us a bucket. And then like it
[13:46] Speaker 3: was like the first or second game after he got
[13:48] Speaker 3: traded there, he hit a game winner on that exact
[13:51] Speaker 3: same move off the right wing. That's Jimmy's go to
[13:54] Speaker 3: move is he can just do a hard in and
[13:56] Speaker 3: out with that right hand to get some separation. And again,
[13:59] Speaker 3: to your pointctice that shot so much. And then when
[14:01] Speaker 3: you end up in these situations where it's like you've
[14:03] Speaker 3: got to create something out of nothing, it's great to
[14:06] Speaker 3: have a staple, something that you can depend on that's
[14:08] Speaker 3: going to give you a decent shot at knocking something down.
[14:11] Speaker 3: And you talked about the three versus mid range thing.
[14:14] Speaker 3: You know, when you get into a large sample, that
[14:16] Speaker 3: extra point matters because you're you know, over the course
[14:20] Speaker 3: of one hundred shots. If you get an extra point,
[14:22] Speaker 3: then you know that can make a huge difference, right,
[14:25] Speaker 3: But at the end of a game, no one cares
[14:28] Speaker 3: what your per one hundred efficiency is. It's about that possession.
[14:33] Speaker 3: You got to get a bucket on that possession. And
[14:35] Speaker 3: if Jimmy can hit that step back at fifty percent,
[14:39] Speaker 3: that's actually a better shot in that situation then even
[14:43] Speaker 3: like even a step three that's thirty nine percent, right,
[14:46] Speaker 3: because there's a sixty one percent chance that it's going
[14:48] Speaker 3: to miss. And so it's really nice to have a
[14:51] Speaker 3: big forward for them that they can go to in
[14:53] Speaker 3: those situations that can create a shot that has a
[14:55] Speaker 3: little bit less variance closer to the basket.
[14:58] Speaker 1: So I picked I picked the Rockets in seven in
[15:01] Speaker 1: this one, and I don't want to overreact, but there
[15:05] Speaker 1: were just were things I saw tonight, like Imoduko will obviously,
[15:09] Speaker 1: I mean, this is the playoffs the Lakers. Obviously you're
[15:12] Speaker 1: going to get a much more physical, intense Laker team
[15:14] Speaker 1: in Game two. But there are some things I'm not
[15:18] Speaker 1: sure they're correctable. I think I think the Rocket staff
[15:23] Speaker 1: has lost confidence in Jalen Green, and that's a problem.
[15:26] Speaker 1: Nobody in LA has lost confidence in Austin Reeves cause
[15:29] Speaker 1: he didn't play particularly well. So I mean, I don't know.
[15:32] Speaker 1: I just watched that game tonight and I'm like, man,
[15:35] Speaker 1: Jalen Green is a non factor and is a little
[15:39] Speaker 1: bit wild now, and like he had a couple open
[15:42] Speaker 1: looks in the second half, You're like, oh, no, he
[15:44] Speaker 1: didn't want to shoot, Like he didn't trust this at all.
[15:48] Speaker 1: It's hard to snap out of that in a series.
[15:50] Speaker 1: So I'm I'm going to watch one more game. But
[15:52] Speaker 1: I think I was on the wrong side of this.
[15:54] Speaker 1: Do you still like the Warriors?
[15:56] Speaker 3: I you know, if I still like the Warriors? To
[16:00] Speaker 3: say this, though, Colin, I think if you're a Rockets fan,
[16:04] Speaker 3: you could be sitting here and saying the Guard Battle
[16:07] Speaker 3: could not have gone worse in our favor, Like Fred
[16:10] Speaker 3: and Jalen laid absolute stinkers, and Steph played, like we
[16:13] Speaker 3: talked about earlier, one of the better playoff games of
[16:16] Speaker 3: his career, and it was a three point game with
[16:18] Speaker 3: a few minutes left, And so there is a lot
[16:21] Speaker 3: of potential for Steph to have a little bit more
[16:24] Speaker 3: variance and have a poor shooting night. For Jalen Green
[16:27] Speaker 3: to have those great nights. I talked about him going
[16:29] Speaker 3: thirteen and one. He did that against a lot of
[16:30] Speaker 3: good teams too. There were Knights in the regular season
[16:33] Speaker 3: where Houston played a good team and Jalen was good
[16:37] Speaker 3: and they won. So like, there's a lot of variance.
[16:39] Speaker 3: So that's why I still think. I still think there's
[16:41] Speaker 3: a good chance this series goes longer, like it goes
[16:44] Speaker 3: a solid six games. But yeah, it's just it's really
[16:47] Speaker 3: difficult for me to imagine a scenario where the Rockets
[16:49] Speaker 3: out execute the Warriors in the half court or in
[16:52] Speaker 3: the offense part of the part of their attack for
[16:55] Speaker 3: four times and two weeks, like it just seems too
[16:56] Speaker 3: unlikely to me.
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[18:37] Speaker 1: All Right, the Lakers, let's talk about that laid in egg.
[18:41] Speaker 1: This was a pretty easy game to watch. I kept
[18:46] Speaker 1: waiting for them to snap out of it. Timberwolves were
[18:52] Speaker 1: much more physical, and then they're a physical team, and
[18:54] Speaker 1: you knew they were going to ugly it up. That
[18:57] Speaker 1: was I mean, it was just like, guys, we're not
[18:59] Speaker 1: winning our two to matchups with this team. We're not
[19:02] Speaker 1: going to be pretty. And they have players who can
[19:05] Speaker 1: play ugly. Nazrid, Julius Randall, Golbert, they can play that game.
[19:10] Speaker 1: And I'll get to ant in the second because I
[19:14] Speaker 1: think he's really getting to be a really refined, really
[19:17] Speaker 1: smart player. But I was really shocked by the lack
[19:23] Speaker 1: of energy, little criticism to jj Reddick. I kept thinking
[19:29] Speaker 1: they played with a little bit more energy in the
[19:31] Speaker 1: second half. I thought for spurts, but I mean this
[19:35] Speaker 1: was in football terminology. This was kind of a butt
[19:39] Speaker 1: kicking like physicality intensity. I mean, Minnesota took it to
[19:44] Speaker 1: the Lakers. They just were a much more energized team.
[19:49] Speaker 1: And little surprised the Lakers didn't shift into another gear.
[19:55] Speaker 1: I really never felt they were the more physical team.
[20:00] Speaker 1: Didn't even fake it. Were you surprised by that?
[20:03] Speaker 2: I was super surprised.
[20:05] Speaker 3: This Lakers team has always had a little bit of
[20:07] Speaker 3: a tendency to have, you know, inconsistent intensity from game
[20:11] Speaker 3: to game. But I've always felt like championship teams know
[20:15] Speaker 3: when it's time to go. And I would be lying
[20:18] Speaker 3: to you if I'm not if I said I wasn't
[20:20] Speaker 3: super discouraged that, Like you look at a team like Oka,
[20:22] Speaker 3: see that is just like we're going to come out
[20:25] Speaker 3: and we're going to embarrass Memphis today because this is
[20:28] Speaker 3: step one of this two month long journey where we're
[20:31] Speaker 3: trying to.
[20:31] Speaker 2: Get the trophy.
[20:32] Speaker 3: And there were three teams I watched yesterday or I
[20:35] Speaker 3: should say over the weekend that looked like really unprepared
[20:38] Speaker 3: for playoff intensity, and it was the Bucks the Grizzlies
[20:42] Speaker 3: and the Lakers. They looked just really unprepared for the intensity,
[20:45] Speaker 3: stretching even down to Lebron in Austin. And so I
[20:48] Speaker 3: want to start here. I want to give credit to Minnesota.
[20:50] Speaker 3: I thought they threw an incredible punch yesterday. I thought
[20:54] Speaker 3: Aunt was super measured and didn't play into the game
[20:57] Speaker 3: plan making stupid forced decisions around the rim. He took
[21:01] Speaker 3: the kickout opportunities that were there. Everyone defended. Julius Randall
[21:04] Speaker 3: did a wonderful job defending both Luca and Lebron. The
[21:09] Speaker 3: bigs did really good on switches against everybody but Luca.
[21:12] Speaker 3: I thought they they're spot up shooters, shot really confidently
[21:15] Speaker 3: from all over the floor. As things got tighter late,
[21:18] Speaker 3: Julius Randall and Ant both showed really high level tough
[21:21] Speaker 3: shot making. Minnesota threw a great punch. But when I
[21:25] Speaker 3: went to watch the film this morning, and for anybody listening,
[21:27] Speaker 3: there's a film session on our YouTube channel that you
[21:29] Speaker 3: guys can check out. In that film session, I came
[21:32] Speaker 3: away feeling a little better in the sense that there
[21:35] Speaker 3: were just so many obvious things that the Lakers could
[21:38] Speaker 3: do better. That said, I also think there's a version
[21:41] Speaker 3: of this colin where the Lakers bring a more intense
[21:43] Speaker 3: effort and it's not enough. And so that's what I'm
[21:46] Speaker 3: really curious about with Game two. I feel relatively certain
[21:50] Speaker 3: that they're going to come out on Tuesday ready to fight,
[21:53] Speaker 3: and they're going to be ready, and I'll have my
[21:55] Speaker 3: eyes on that first quarter because if the Lakers come
[21:58] Speaker 3: out and they control things and it's like, here we go,
[22:01] Speaker 3: this is our team, this is what we look like
[22:03] Speaker 3: when we're engaged, and we're better than these guys and
[22:05] Speaker 3: we can show it, I'll feel better about kind of
[22:08] Speaker 3: chalking up what happens Saturday night is a lack of intensity,
[22:10] Speaker 3: a lack of being ready. But if it's halftime calling
[22:14] Speaker 3: and Minnesota is up by like three and Lebron and
[22:16] Speaker 3: Austin are still struggling, That's where I'm going to be
[22:19] Speaker 3: sitting there, like the Lakers are in a world of
[22:21] Speaker 3: trouble because this is as we saw in the Denver
[22:24] Speaker 3: series last year. The Minnesota physicality never lets up. It
[22:27] Speaker 3: just keeps coming until the end of Game seven, and
[22:30] Speaker 3: you have to find a way to survive it.
[22:32] Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, listen, Denver didn't have a good first
[22:34] Speaker 1: half Boston didn't have a good first half. The Knicks
[22:36] Speaker 1: did not have a good first half, like it happens
[22:39] Speaker 1: where the favorite comes in or a team that's you know,
[22:42] Speaker 1: got a ring and Denver comes in, and you know,
[22:45] Speaker 1: the Clippers outplayed them, and the Pistons outplayed the Knicks
[22:47] Speaker 1: early in Orlando. You know, Ben.
[22:49] Speaker 2: Carrol's a great player.
[22:51] Speaker 1: Oh, just a great player. Now. He by the way,
[22:53] Speaker 1: has a couple of stock moves like you. There are
[22:55] Speaker 1: things he does consistently every time I watch him play
[22:59] Speaker 1: and half court. He's a really good player. Also went
[23:02] Speaker 1: to Duke, had great coaching, you know, briefly, but great coaching.
[23:09] Speaker 1: But I just kept waiting for the Lakers. And let's
[23:12] Speaker 1: throw this out there, JJ Reddick's first playoff coaching game.
[23:18] Speaker 1: And Chris Finch is a veteran, and Chris Finch is
[23:20] Speaker 1: a really smart guy. And I said this yesterday on
[23:23] Speaker 1: my postgame that Minnesota is a highly functional and well
[23:27] Speaker 1: coached Memphis where you've got a defensive presence at the
[23:31] Speaker 1: rim zach Edie and Gobert, you have a hyper athletic
[23:35] Speaker 1: star in John Morant and an aunt Ant now is separated.
[23:39] Speaker 1: I think of the two players much more sure. Then
[23:42] Speaker 1: you have kind of a physicality with length, you have
[23:46] Speaker 1: kind of a tough guy and Julius Randall, you know,
[23:50] Speaker 1: Memphis has a couple of tough guys Bane, you know,
[23:53] Speaker 1: so a physical presence. And the difference is Minnesota's more
[23:57] Speaker 1: mature and they're better coached. And I think Ant really
[24:01] Speaker 1: become a refined player. Like you know, it was funny
[24:04] Speaker 1: they led by eleven and half he had eight, and
[24:06] Speaker 1: it was just like I thought, the word you used,
[24:10] Speaker 1: he let the game come to him. He's a very
[24:12] Speaker 1: measured player now. And it's like, and I think that's
[24:16] Speaker 1: really hard. I think that's hard when you're in that
[24:19] Speaker 1: you know, you're in those prime, early show off years
[24:22] Speaker 1: where you can do a lot of things. Your energy
[24:24] Speaker 1: is through the roof compared to half the guys, the
[24:26] Speaker 1: veterans you play. And I think that comes down to
[24:30] Speaker 1: a kid. Every time I watch AUNT every year, Jason,
[24:34] Speaker 1: I see a better player, and I don't with Ja
[24:37] Speaker 1: Morant like a Ja Moran, I'm like, Okay, I know
[24:40] Speaker 1: you're athletic, bro, but your shooting's getting worse. I think
[24:44] Speaker 1: Ant's really becoming I guess this is the way I
[24:46] Speaker 1: would put it. I can see the work Ant puts
[24:49] Speaker 1: into his game, and I can see what the staff
[24:52] Speaker 1: the work they put into Ant in the offense. I
[24:55] Speaker 1: can see it.
[24:56] Speaker 3: To your point, these two guys faced off in a
[24:59] Speaker 3: playoff series in twenty twenty two where Jaw looked like
[25:02] Speaker 3: the better player, and what has happened since then. Aunt
[25:06] Speaker 3: has demonstrably massively improved year over year, and Joe, i'd argue,
[25:11] Speaker 3: is worse than the player he was in twenty twenty two.
[25:15] Speaker 3: He's not able to inflict himself on the game the
[25:17] Speaker 3: way he used to it. Again, the Grizzlies are a
[25:19] Speaker 3: whole other thing. I have so many thoughts there calling
[25:21] Speaker 3: we could have a fun conversation about them at some
[25:23] Speaker 3: point in the future. But like with Aunt, I want
[25:26] Speaker 3: to credit him for pushing through some of the reps
[25:29] Speaker 3: that he had to work through. Like I don't know
[25:30] Speaker 3: if you know this, Colin, but Ant was the most
[25:32] Speaker 3: blitzed player in the NBA this year, and what that
[25:36] Speaker 3: means is every time he went into pick and roll,
[25:37] Speaker 3: the guy who was screening him, his defender would double
[25:41] Speaker 3: team Ant as he was coming off of the screen.
[25:43] Speaker 3: So one of the reasons why they're not blitzing him
[25:46] Speaker 3: for the reason you blit Steph Curry. You blit Steph
[25:48] Speaker 3: Curry because you don't want Steph to get a three
[25:50] Speaker 3: coming off the screen. They're blitzing Ant because they don't
[25:52] Speaker 3: think he can pass Colin. They're double teaming Aunt at
[25:56] Speaker 3: the end of games because they don't think he can pass.
[25:58] Speaker 3: It was the narrative all season coming into this series.
[26:01] Speaker 3: It was all everybody would talk about. And so I
[26:03] Speaker 3: want to I want to give Chris Finch some credit
[26:05] Speaker 3: here too, because I think him and his staff literally
[26:08] Speaker 3: went up to Aunt and they were like, you cannot
[26:11] Speaker 3: shoot your way through this series. You have to pass
[26:12] Speaker 3: your way through the series. And I thought he did
[26:15] Speaker 3: a wonderful job letting the game come to him. He like,
[26:16] Speaker 3: wouldn't take a three early in the game. He was
[26:19] Speaker 3: like letting the game come to him. But then all
[26:20] Speaker 3: of a sudden, in that second quarter run, he starts.
[26:23] Speaker 3: In the third quarter run, he starts letting it fly.
[26:25] Speaker 3: In transition, as the momentum is going, he gets started
[26:28] Speaker 3: to get aggressive when the game called for it. But
[26:31] Speaker 3: he just took what was coming to him there in
[26:32] Speaker 3: the first half, and I just thought, he's you know,
[26:35] Speaker 3: we've talked a lot about where aunt rakes in the league,
[26:38] Speaker 3: and at the beginning of the season I put him
[26:39] Speaker 3: at number five, and that might have been too high
[26:42] Speaker 3: at the time, but really, Colin, is he not the
[26:45] Speaker 3: fifth best player in the league now? I mean, you know,
[26:47] Speaker 3: Tatum and Giannis and Luca or Tatum and Yiannis.
[26:50] Speaker 2: And Sga and Yokis are the top four.
[26:52] Speaker 3: Luca hasn't really been able to regain his footing since
[26:54] Speaker 3: he got hurt earlier this year. I don't know of
[26:57] Speaker 3: a player who's playing better basketball other than a maybe
[27:00] Speaker 3: Steph Like like that, there's ants crawled right back up
[27:04] Speaker 3: that list after getting kind of like, you know, criticized
[27:08] Speaker 3: all year for not managing those double teams very well.
[27:10] Speaker 1: Yeah, it was. It was such a strange game because
[27:13] Speaker 1: you know, it just lacked. You know, you watch and
[27:16] Speaker 1: let's talk about the Nuggets and Clippers. That game was great,
[27:20] Speaker 1: and I mean the intensity of that game from the
[27:23] Speaker 1: first minute was just insane. And I really thought the Clippers.
[27:30] Speaker 1: I picked the Clippers, I think in six or seven
[27:32] Speaker 1: games in this series. Better coach, better defense, I thought
[27:34] Speaker 1: they'd and by the way, I think I still like
[27:37] Speaker 1: the Clippers, but I thought the last. You know, it's
[27:40] Speaker 1: funny about Jokic. He's not a very good defender. But
[27:44] Speaker 1: I was thinking about this. I went on a long
[27:46] Speaker 1: walk today and I was thinking about that series in
[27:48] Speaker 1: the game. Is that historically it's not just that he scores,
[27:54] Speaker 1: he rebounds. He's got the ball in his hands. You
[27:58] Speaker 1: cannot ask a seven foot guy that's two sixty five
[28:02] Speaker 1: to honestly carry the offense, including the ball handling in
[28:08] Speaker 1: the passing. You know, Kareem could score thirty, wasn't handling
[28:11] Speaker 1: the ball right, And so it's like Joki isn't. He
[28:16] Speaker 1: doesn't put a lot of effort. I mean, Harden blew
[28:18] Speaker 1: past him about six times in the first half. But
[28:21] Speaker 1: I will say this, in the last five minutes he
[28:25] Speaker 1: does lock in. He's not a great defender, but the
[28:29] Speaker 1: last five minutes the game, everybody on the Nuggets was
[28:32] Speaker 1: playing real defense. They were locking in. He was putting
[28:35] Speaker 1: bodies on people.
[28:37] Speaker 2: But as I watched.
[28:37] Speaker 1: Jokis, I'm like, listen, man, look at the size of him.
[28:41] Speaker 1: Nobody asked Kareem or Shack or a Keem to bring
[28:45] Speaker 1: the ball up, set the screens, direct traffic. I almost
[28:50] Speaker 1: give him a pass. Defensively, because I do think late
[28:53] Speaker 1: in games he's much more engaged on that end.
[28:58] Speaker 3: I thought he was pretty great on defense for the
[29:02] Speaker 3: entire second half of that game and most of the
[29:05] Speaker 3: second part of the second quarter. There was a timeout
[29:07] Speaker 3: right when the Clippers went up I think fifty one
[29:09] Speaker 3: to thirty six, and Jokic came out right out of
[29:12] Speaker 3: the timeout and just started pressuring the heck out of
[29:15] Speaker 3: Zoo and was just flying around making extra efforts. And
[29:17] Speaker 3: he was brilliant in his pick and roll defense in
[29:20] Speaker 3: the second half, getting deflections, forcing turnovers. And while I
[29:24] Speaker 3: agree with you Colin that it's ridiculous task Nicole Jokic
[29:28] Speaker 3: to be the most high usage player that we've seen,
[29:32] Speaker 3: really in recent NBA history, while also having to be
[29:36] Speaker 3: such an important part of their defense. It is a
[29:38] Speaker 3: lot to ask, and I totally agree with you, but
[29:40] Speaker 3: the Nuggets need him to be if they're going to win,
[29:42] Speaker 3: and to his credit, that's what he was. It's what
[29:45] Speaker 3: he became in the second half of that game. And
[29:48] Speaker 3: I also thought he did a really nice job of
[29:50] Speaker 3: just taking what the defense was giving him at late
[29:52] Speaker 3: in the game, like he was trusting Russell Westbrook repeatedly
[29:56] Speaker 3: over and over again on these kickouts and on these
[29:58] Speaker 3: cuts to be the guy that can make the defense
[30:01] Speaker 3: pay for ignoring him. And I just thought, I just
[30:03] Speaker 3: thought was amazing. And honestly, Colin, like, I will never
[30:07] Speaker 3: change my pick after one game. I'm with you, you
[30:09] Speaker 3: need to get two games worth of evidence. But I
[30:13] Speaker 3: was really disappointed in the Clippers and their overall just
[30:17] Speaker 3: kind of like connective playmaking. You know, Kawhi Leonard, as
[30:21] Speaker 3: amazing as he is, it can be a robotically efficient scorer,
[30:24] Speaker 3: but he's never been good at managing double teams.
[30:27] Speaker 2: He's never been a very good passer.
[30:28] Speaker 1: No.
[30:29] Speaker 3: I remember for the first decade of his career or
[30:32] Speaker 3: not quite, it was like the first like seven or
[30:33] Speaker 3: eight years of his career, he never logged a single
[30:35] Speaker 3: game with seven assists.
[30:36] Speaker 2: Like he just struggled to degenerate shots.
[30:38] Speaker 1: First team averaged one or two for several years.
[30:43] Speaker 3: Yeah, Like, he's never been a great playmaker. The connective
[30:46] Speaker 3: playmakers like Chris Dunn, an elite defensive player, a guy
[30:49] Speaker 3: that can knock down those shots in the corner, but
[30:52] Speaker 3: you start making him make decisions that could get tough.
[30:54] Speaker 3: There was plays where Nick Patum was fumbling the ball
[30:57] Speaker 3: around even Zoo a little bit. The read and react
[30:59] Speaker 3: stuff can slow down. And so, honestly, like Denver, I
[31:02] Speaker 3: think has a more realistic pathway to win this series
[31:05] Speaker 3: than people think, because I don't think they have to
[31:07] Speaker 3: be that great defensively to slow down this Clippers team.
[31:10] Speaker 3: They just have to be good enough to pray on
[31:13] Speaker 3: that indecision that they have to prey on those mistakes,
[31:16] Speaker 3: like you can double Kawhi Colin, you can double Kawhi
[31:19] Speaker 3: and he's gonna make some mistakes. And so I do
[31:21] Speaker 3: think they have some advantages here. And I came away
[31:24] Speaker 3: from that game feeling like Denver had a better chance
[31:26] Speaker 3: to win the series than I thought beforehand.
[31:28] Speaker 1: You know, it's really interesting. So I've never been a
[31:30] Speaker 1: huge fan of Westbrook, and I say this, I'm not
[31:33] Speaker 1: a huge fan of basketball players that are hyper athletic
[31:36] Speaker 1: six four and under and can't shoot because without the
[31:40] Speaker 1: hand check, they will get to the basket and eventually
[31:42] Speaker 1: get hurt. Derek Rose, John Wall, John Morant like, it's
[31:49] Speaker 1: just a cliche. You can't get You can't stand in
[31:51] Speaker 1: front of these guys. They get to the basket and
[31:53] Speaker 1: just get clobbed. And that's why guys like Steve Nash
[31:57] Speaker 1: or Curry can last longer because they can up and
[32:00] Speaker 1: they don't have to oways finish at the rim. And
[32:04] Speaker 1: Westbrook when they put him in late in the game
[32:07] Speaker 1: with the announcer said, you know it's you get it.
[32:10] Speaker 1: It's the full experience with Russell Westbrook. And he did
[32:13] Speaker 1: not shoot well. He hit a big three. But I
[32:16] Speaker 1: got to tell you something. His the one thing I
[32:19] Speaker 1: will defend him forever. When he's on the floor. You
[32:24] Speaker 1: know he's on the floor, he jumps. His energy is profound.
[32:29] Speaker 1: I mean he he is a tremendous rebounder for his size,
[32:33] Speaker 1: like a tram. He plays way bigger than his size.
[32:39] Speaker 2: And I was judge.
[32:40] Speaker 1: I came out of that and I'm like, listen, man,
[32:42] Speaker 1: he didn't shoot well. He had one big three. He
[32:45] Speaker 1: was a big deal down the stretch. It's he just
[32:49] Speaker 1: he's just going so fast. You know, he didn't have
[32:52] Speaker 1: a ton of self awareness. I mean he's kind of
[32:54] Speaker 1: like blinders on going to the basket and you're like, Russ, no, no, no, no. No. Situationally,
[32:59] Speaker 1: some times he can drive me crazy. I thought he
[33:02] Speaker 1: was so important down the stretch for them.
[33:05] Speaker 3: The biggest weakness that Russ has had in his career
[33:07] Speaker 3: is he only has one speed and that's like just
[33:09] Speaker 3: balls to the walls, like at like one hundred percent intensity.
[33:12] Speaker 3: He doesn't know how to play any other way, and
[33:13] Speaker 3: so that just manifests and a lot of mistake making.
[33:15] Speaker 3: But it also can manifest in a lot of playmaking. Yes, Like,
[33:19] Speaker 3: like I thought, like you know, there's always this scale
[33:22] Speaker 3: with Russ where it's like, well, the damaging plays out
[33:24] Speaker 3: weigh the good plays acts and last, that game yesterday
[33:29] Speaker 3: was such a perfect example of what happens when the
[33:32] Speaker 3: good badly or greatly outweighs the bad. Like he was
[33:36] Speaker 3: fantastic down the stretch of that game. He like straight
[33:38] Speaker 3: up bullied Kawhi Leonard one on one and got an
[33:41] Speaker 3: offensive rebound put back. He had the big steal at
[33:43] Speaker 3: the end when the Clippers cut it to three and
[33:46] Speaker 3: they had a chance to tie the game. At the end,
[33:47] Speaker 3: hits the big three in the left corner, repeatedly found
[33:50] Speaker 3: himself available as a cutter under the basket with Jokic.
[33:54] Speaker 3: He you mentioned the rebounding like, I think Russ is
[33:57] Speaker 3: one of the better defensive plays in the NBA. He
[34:02] Speaker 3: is not a disciplined defender. He will make a lot
[34:05] Speaker 3: of mistakes and he'll gamble a lot, but if he
[34:08] Speaker 3: gambles and gets right a couple times in a row,
[34:11] Speaker 3: they can be massive momentum swings and dating all the
[34:14] Speaker 3: way back. I mean colin that first year that he
[34:16] Speaker 3: went from the Lakers to the Clippers before Kawhi got hurt.
[34:20] Speaker 3: If you remember, in that first couple of games, the
[34:22] Speaker 3: Clippers looked really good against the Suns. Kawhi was like
[34:25] Speaker 3: kicking Kadi's butt head to head, and Russ was amazing.
[34:29] Speaker 3: He was a wrecking ball in the early part of
[34:31] Speaker 3: that series. Did an amazing job defending Devin Booker because
[34:34] Speaker 3: he's just this big athlete that just never has an
[34:37] Speaker 3: off button, and he can be a devastating playmaker. The
[34:41] Speaker 3: key is keeping him in a very small role. And
[34:44] Speaker 3: that's the beauty of what the Nuggets can do with him,
[34:46] Speaker 3: is they can keep him in a very small role.
[34:48] Speaker 3: They could even be like, hey, Russ's head is not
[34:50] Speaker 3: in it, tonight sit him, bring in Michael Porter Junior.
[34:53] Speaker 2: Like they can.
[34:54] Speaker 3: They have the ability to play Russ when he's hot
[34:57] Speaker 3: and to pull him when he's not. And that's the
[34:59] Speaker 3: flexibilit What do you need to benefit from that? Playmaking
[35:03] Speaker 3: all right?
[35:04] Speaker 1: Baseball seasons in full swing and game Time makes getting
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[35:10] Speaker 1: The prices on the game Time app go down the
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[35:51] Speaker 1: just create an account, use my name the code Colin Coli,
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[36:05] Speaker 1: tickets game time app lowest price is guaranteed. One of
[36:13] Speaker 1: the things that was great about that game, there were
[36:16] Speaker 1: so many years in the NBA, I mean Harden and Kawhi,
[36:20] Speaker 1: I mean, I mean that center for the Clippers ten years,
[36:24] Speaker 1: I think, isn't it for Zoo Bouts?
[36:27] Speaker 2: I think, yeah, it's ten years for a while.
[36:29] Speaker 1: Yeah, Lakers, Clippers. You know, Jamal Murray, Jokic, Michael Porter's
[36:34] Speaker 1: been around. I mean, Christian Brown's a young guy obviously,
[36:38] Speaker 1: but Toomb's been around forever. And it was it was
[36:42] Speaker 1: really cool. It was a it was a veteran NBA
[36:46] Speaker 1: tuggle war. Both rosters knew they're gonna let us play.
[36:50] Speaker 1: They're gonna let us play, you know, like some of
[36:52] Speaker 1: these young teams, like they're like, whoa, there's no there's
[36:57] Speaker 1: no whistles like these. I mean, it's just a whole
[37:00] Speaker 1: different ballgame. And I mean you and I have discussed this,
[37:04] Speaker 1: like they're just gonna let guys play and the further
[37:06] Speaker 1: you go. But it was like the Clippers and the
[37:08] Speaker 1: Nuggets was like, that was grown up men's basketball. First,
[37:12] Speaker 1: everybody knew they could push a little more and they
[37:15] Speaker 1: could lean on you a little bit more, and the
[37:18] Speaker 1: physicality just I was just sitting there. I didn't miss
[37:22] Speaker 1: a second. I thought, this is great basketball. And I
[37:26] Speaker 1: said this, I don't you have to understand and football
[37:30] Speaker 1: or hockey you can't take. You can't take a playoff,
[37:33] Speaker 1: you can get hurt. In baseball, it's pitcher against batter.
[37:36] Speaker 1: Nobody wants to be embarrassed. There's an intensity that's guaranteed
[37:39] Speaker 1: between the pitcher and the batter. But in basketball, there's
[37:42] Speaker 1: a lot of games and these are big bodies. And
[37:45] Speaker 1: if you've ever seen a retired six foot ten NBA player,
[37:48] Speaker 1: you know they look like they got tackled. I mean
[37:50] Speaker 1: they're just walking.
[37:51] Speaker 2: They have bad.
[37:52] Speaker 1: Backs, and it's like, you cannot expect these guys to
[37:55] Speaker 1: play thirty eight to forty four minutes eighty two games
[37:58] Speaker 1: in the regular season and play this kind of intensity.
[38:00] Speaker 1: They're traveling constantly, But you get into the playoffs and
[38:05] Speaker 1: Denver and the Clippers was like, oh, snap, first possession,
[38:11] Speaker 1: and it's like, I think it has the makings of
[38:13] Speaker 1: a an incredible series. Just all these veteran players. I
[38:20] Speaker 1: don't know. I just sat there and I was like, damn,
[38:22] Speaker 1: this is great basketball.
[38:24] Speaker 3: We know how everybody plays, like we know Kawhi's games
[38:28] Speaker 3: so well. Now we know James Harden's game so well.
[38:30] Speaker 3: Now we know what the Murray Jo Kitch two man
[38:33] Speaker 3: game looks like. Aaron Gordon, what he can do, like
[38:36] Speaker 3: I think the most fascinating chess match so to speak
[38:39] Speaker 3: of this series, or or like kind of subplot of
[38:42] Speaker 3: this series. I do think the Clippers are more talented.
[38:45] Speaker 3: I think they're top four when you factor in all
[38:48] Speaker 3: that stuff. I think that the Nuggets looked like the
[38:51] Speaker 3: smarter team in that game. Now, this is an interesting
[38:55] Speaker 3: example of how can come down to the players. Because
[38:57] Speaker 3: David Adelman obviously a rookie a coach his first opportunity.
[39:01] Speaker 3: We have ty lu who's a championship winning coach, is
[39:03] Speaker 3: well respected as a top five coach in this league.
[39:06] Speaker 3: But you get into the game and it's like Aaron
[39:08] Speaker 3: Gordon has James Harden on him and he just knows
[39:11] Speaker 3: all these little ways to punish James Harden for not
[39:14] Speaker 3: having the size, and the Nuggets know when Aaron Gordon
[39:17] Speaker 3: has that type of matchup, how they can capitalize on
[39:20] Speaker 3: it with his offensive rebounding or in two man game
[39:22] Speaker 3: with Yokich, they know, Like even Jamal Murray, it's like, oh,
[39:25] Speaker 3: his mid range jump shot was just terrible in that game.
[39:28] Speaker 3: He could not buy a mid ranger right in clutch time,
[39:30] Speaker 3: he just switches to taking threes and hits two massive
[39:33] Speaker 3: threes down the stretch. The two man game with Yokich
[39:36] Speaker 3: and Murray was so effective down the stretch that the
[39:38] Speaker 3: Clippers started triple teaming it. They brought a third defender
[39:40] Speaker 3: over every single time. They knew how to get the
[39:42] Speaker 3: ball to Christian Brown, they knew how to get the
[39:44] Speaker 3: ball to Russell Westbrook. The Nuggets are just so sure
[39:49] Speaker 3: of how they want to play every single possession. Yeah,
[39:52] Speaker 3: Like they are just more reliably going to get to
[39:54] Speaker 3: their ceiling than the Clippers, who I think can suffer
[39:57] Speaker 3: from a little bit of inconsistent basketball like you on
[39:59] Speaker 3: the right, and they can have more variants in their performance,
[40:02] Speaker 3: and there will be games where the Clippers just look
[40:04] Speaker 3: like they outgun him, because it's like Zoo has twenty
[40:06] Speaker 3: five hard in his twenty seven. Kawhi is thirty in
[40:09] Speaker 3: Norman Powell Portson eighteen or you know, six for six
[40:12] Speaker 3: from three. They'll have games like that, but I think
[40:14] Speaker 3: that they'll have more variants throughout the series because the Nuggets,
[40:17] Speaker 3: I think are a little bit smarter.
[40:18] Speaker 1: Well. I also think there's an advantage Jason, Like when
[40:21] Speaker 1: you have an elite score Yokich sga Jason Tatum this year,
[40:27] Speaker 1: like Luca. The advantage is if a play gets loose,
[40:32] Speaker 1: if it's possession, the ball gets kicked around, you know
[40:34] Speaker 1: who get the ball, you know who to get the
[40:36] Speaker 1: ball to. Like the Warriors had a couple of bad possessions,
[40:39] Speaker 1: you know, and here comes Houston back. It's like okay,
[40:41] Speaker 1: every guy running up the court, like, let's get it
[40:43] Speaker 1: to Steph Let's get it to Jimmy, And like Houston
[40:47] Speaker 1: is just athletic, and it's like, well, Fred van Viet
[40:51] Speaker 1: it's not playing well. And Jalen Green's lost. Now obviously
[40:57] Speaker 1: they're big. He from Turkey is just a fantastic player.
[41:03] Speaker 1: Sengoon is a fascinating player to me because first of all,
[41:11] Speaker 1: very highly skilled. He's got a beautiful touch. I mean,
[41:16] Speaker 1: it's just crazy how easy he makes the game look
[41:20] Speaker 1: from like eight feet in it just both hands. It's like, God,
[41:23] Speaker 1: damn that guy. And he was like the sixteenth pick
[41:26] Speaker 1: or something. He was like middle of the first round.
[41:30] Speaker 1: But I guess going back to the point is that
[41:31] Speaker 1: I think the reason Denver when you have Jokic or
[41:35] Speaker 1: Oklahoma City with SGA, it's like anytime you're kind of sputtering,
[41:40] Speaker 1: it's just okay. Everybody walking the ball up the floor
[41:44] Speaker 1: knows where you're going. And I thought Houston was kind
[41:47] Speaker 1: of paralyzed by they didn't trust their backcourt, like who's
[41:52] Speaker 1: taking shots and you just watch it's almost a panic.
[41:56] Speaker 1: When I watch Houston late in this game, it's like
[41:58] Speaker 1: they're not sure who to go to. And I thought
[42:00] Speaker 1: Denver down the stretch really knew who to run the
[42:03] Speaker 1: offense through.
[42:05] Speaker 3: Yeah, that's been steady for them forever. And you know
[42:08] Speaker 3: to your point that that's the organizational you know, uh
[42:12] Speaker 3: thing that Houston is missing. It's just that overall decision
[42:15] Speaker 3: making IQ. You cut the lead down to four and
[42:18] Speaker 3: then Jalen Green tries to shoot a lay up through
[42:20] Speaker 3: five guys, which goes exactly how you would have expected
[42:23] Speaker 3: it would go. A men Thompson shot a layup into
[42:25] Speaker 3: the bottom of the rim, like literally threw it up
[42:27] Speaker 3: into the bottom of the rim. Like the like there's
[42:30] Speaker 3: there's a there's this ruthless execution you get with the
[42:34] Speaker 3: good teams where it's like, if you're gonna beat the Warriors,
[42:38] Speaker 3: you're gonna have to hope that Jimmy and Steph miss
[42:42] Speaker 3: basically like they're they're gonna make sure that they get
[42:45] Speaker 3: the ball to their best players and that they get
[42:47] Speaker 3: stuff that they like, Like they're not gonna they're not
[42:50] Speaker 3: gonna bail a possession where a men Thompson's looking around,
[42:53] Speaker 3: it's like, no one wants the ball.
[42:55] Speaker 2: Wait, so you guys want me to do it? Yeah,
[42:56] Speaker 2: all right, okay, then I'll go do it, you know.
[42:58] Speaker 3: And it's like there was a bunch of those he
[43:00] Speaker 3: took a shot over Steph that he made a little
[43:01] Speaker 3: post up shot like there's no like rhyme or reason
[43:04] Speaker 3: to the offensive process for you see. And by the way,
[43:07] Speaker 3: Cotton Newdy does play a role there. Denver's been playing
[43:09] Speaker 3: with roughly the same group of guys forever. They just
[43:12] Speaker 3: know how they want to play. Now, there's no there's
[43:14] Speaker 3: no indecision in that organization.
[43:17] Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I think that's perfectly put. You just forget
[43:20] Speaker 1: how many possessions in the fourth quarter with four minutes
[43:23] Speaker 1: to go Denver has had over the last eight years
[43:26] Speaker 1: with Stephen Draymond on the floor, and now Moody's got
[43:29] Speaker 1: a lot of games involved in it. Like you've got
[43:32] Speaker 1: your new guys. You've got Jimmy and Post and there's
[43:34] Speaker 1: some new guys, but it's you're just watching them, and
[43:37] Speaker 1: it's like you watched I mean, the Knicks, you know,
[43:41] Speaker 1: and you've got veteran players Jalen Brunson and kat They
[43:44] Speaker 1: had a really good last eight minutes the Celtics in
[43:47] Speaker 1: the second half. There's a lot of guests, like guys,
[43:50] Speaker 1: they've had a lot of practices and a lot of reps.
[43:52] Speaker 1: They know where the ball's going. By the way, Jason
[43:55] Speaker 1: Tatum kind of fell on his wrist when he came
[43:58] Speaker 1: back and played. They're gonna win this series. They're probably
[44:02] Speaker 1: gonna sweep the series. Okay, see, looks like they'll definitely
[44:05] Speaker 1: probably sweep the series. I watched the Orlando and I
[44:13] Speaker 1: thought to myself, there, they're the kind of team that
[44:19] Speaker 1: athletically like they've got a couple of players where they
[44:22] Speaker 1: come down, they get really good looks they got. They
[44:26] Speaker 1: get in that game a couple of times. I'm like, like,
[44:30] Speaker 1: they may not be as long or as athletic as Houston,
[44:34] Speaker 1: but I felt Orlando came down and got really good
[44:37] Speaker 1: looks against a very good Boston team. Is it coaching?
[44:42] Speaker 1: Maybe it's just Ben Carrol w Ogner, But I don't know.
[44:46] Speaker 1: I look at Orlando and I'm like, it feels like
[44:48] Speaker 1: they're just missing a piece. You think they win a
[44:52] Speaker 1: game in this series, you.
[44:54] Speaker 2: Know, I came away.
[44:55] Speaker 3: I picked a sweep in that one because it's like
[44:58] Speaker 3: exactly like the Rockets or your series where Orlando. Orlando
[45:02] Speaker 3: has been so far and away the worst jump shooting
[45:04] Speaker 3: team in the league that out of one hundred Orlando
[45:08] Speaker 3: Magic jump shots, they are five points worse than the
[45:11] Speaker 3: twenty ninth ranked team, Like they are five percent worse
[45:15] Speaker 3: jump shooting than the worst team in the league above them.
[45:17] Speaker 2: Like they cannot shoot.
[45:18] Speaker 3: So I thought for sure they would have just a
[45:21] Speaker 3: really hard time scoring in this series. But what Orlando
[45:24] Speaker 3: presents to Boston that makes things really difficult for them
[45:29] Speaker 3: is they can switch their screening actions and they're really
[45:32] Speaker 3: big and physical, So Tatum and Brown can't just bully
[45:35] Speaker 3: their way to the basket against them like they can
[45:37] Speaker 3: against some other teams, and so they can keep the
[45:39] Speaker 3: ball in front and bait Tatum and Brown into really
[45:42] Speaker 3: tough shot making, which they more or less did. It
[45:44] Speaker 3: was Derek White that kind of blew the lay off
[45:46] Speaker 3: of the arena, and Peyton Pritchard and all those Derek
[45:49] Speaker 3: White threes were so difficult too. It's like, I don't
[45:52] Speaker 3: they got to feel like a shotgun blast to the
[45:54] Speaker 3: chest when you're an Orlando Magic fan with Derek White
[45:56] Speaker 3: just hits a contested twenty seven footer at the end
[45:58] Speaker 3: of the shot clock. But you know, honestly con like
[46:01] Speaker 3: they have a bright future because Franz and Pallo are
[46:04] Speaker 3: getting better and better every year. Jalen Suggs is out
[46:07] Speaker 3: of the lineup right now with an injury. Jalen Suggs
[46:10] Speaker 3: when healthy is the best guard defender in the league
[46:15] Speaker 3: and a guy that is a very effective two man
[46:18] Speaker 3: game partner with Palo and Caro, setting inverted ball screens
[46:20] Speaker 3: and slipping out of it. Imagine him as like a
[46:23] Speaker 3: combination of KCP and Christian Brown, like a really really
[46:27] Speaker 3: good movement shooter, but also like a big, strong athlete
[46:31] Speaker 3: at the position, and he's the guy that ties it
[46:33] Speaker 3: all together for them because when you put him and
[46:36] Speaker 3: Jonathan Isaac and Franz and Paalo with Wendell Carter out there,
[46:40] Speaker 3: they can switch one through five. They're massive, They've got
[46:44] Speaker 3: plenty of offensive talent. That's the group where like I
[46:47] Speaker 3: could see in a year or two being a major
[46:50] Speaker 3: upset threat for some of these top teams in the
[46:52] Speaker 3: Eastern corriger Yeah, that's.
[46:53] Speaker 1: How I felt. I just watched them and I thought,
[46:55] Speaker 1: this is a real team. These guys have. They're big,
[46:59] Speaker 1: they're strong. Ben Caro's a tremendous player. He is. He's
[47:03] Speaker 1: just gonna get you buckets.
[47:05] Speaker 2: Yeah, really quick calling you. We talked about this on Wednesday.
[47:07] Speaker 3: If you remember, the big dudes who have some skill
[47:12] Speaker 3: are really crushing in the modern NBA. Shane Goon's a
[47:15] Speaker 3: great example. Pallo's a great example.
[47:18] Speaker 1: Yeah, Shangon is God. It's just watching him. And he
[47:23] Speaker 1: was an All Star this year.
[47:24] Speaker 2: Wasn't he? I believe so?
[47:25] Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, yeah, he was an All Star. And it's
[47:27] Speaker 1: like when you watch him, you're like, his game can
[47:30] Speaker 1: be pretty I mean he can bounce. He and Draymond
[47:32] Speaker 1: are bouncing back and forth, and he wouldn't play into
[47:34] Speaker 1: Draymond's green. Draymond was huking him and just trying to
[47:38] Speaker 1: irritate him, and he was just like, what are you doing?
[47:41] Speaker 1: But man, there is something you know, these international bigs man,
[47:45] Speaker 1: they're pretty. He's got a beautiful touch around the basket,
[47:49] Speaker 1: and he's not jumping over people. He's nut. He's just
[47:53] Speaker 1: I watch his game and I'm like, it's just he's
[47:56] Speaker 1: a He's the classic guy that you luck up and
[47:58] Speaker 1: you're like, oh, he had he had twenty three points.
[48:00] Speaker 1: It's just pretty. And again with guard play being awful,
[48:06] Speaker 1: like he was really the offense for most of the
[48:09] Speaker 1: game for Houston, like he was it so.
[48:13] Speaker 2: Well.
[48:14] Speaker 1: I thought it was a really fun first weekend. I'm
[48:16] Speaker 1: going to watch one more Rockets Warriors game, but yeah,
[48:21] Speaker 1: that was an eye opener. Holy crap, was that an
[48:23] Speaker 1: eye opener. Sometimes you see things and you're like, like
[48:27] Speaker 1: the Lakers, You're like, they'll make adjustments, they'll be more physical.
[48:30] Speaker 1: They kind of were lost. And it was JJ Reddick's
[48:34] Speaker 1: first playoff game against a really good coach and Chris
[48:39] Speaker 1: Finch and Chris you know, they had a more obvious
[48:41] Speaker 1: game plan. I'm not sure what the gear is because
[48:46] Speaker 1: I don't think in a half court offense. I don't
[48:48] Speaker 1: know what I get from Houston, but I'll tell you athletes,
[48:53] Speaker 1: Like again, they could get Kadi easily. I mean, they
[48:56] Speaker 1: could move off guys and with draft picks easily and
[48:59] Speaker 1: not lose a lot of their athleticism. Seriously, I mean,
[49:02] Speaker 1: they've got so many, so much length and athleticism. If
[49:06] Speaker 1: you know, if the Knicks make a move, what do
[49:08] Speaker 1: the Knicks have that Phoenix wants? What they have is
[49:11] Speaker 1: what the Knicks don't want to surrender. But god, I
[49:14] Speaker 1: mean Houston is just I mean, like one through nine,
[49:17] Speaker 1: they're just dudes, athletes everywhere. That Katie to Houston feels
[49:22] Speaker 1: like a real thing when you and when you watch
[49:24] Speaker 1: them in this game, you're like, dude, they got to
[49:26] Speaker 1: have a bucket. They need a second bucket on this offense,
[49:30] Speaker 1: and uh and when and so you can't rely on
[49:33] Speaker 1: Jalen Green. So as I'm watching this game, I'm thinking, yeah, KD,
[49:38] Speaker 1: Miami could use him and Houston could use him. That's
[49:43] Speaker 1: what it feels like to me.
[49:45] Speaker 3: I hope that KD has learned from what happened in
[49:49] Speaker 3: Brooklyn and what happened in Phoenix, which is that he
[49:52] Speaker 3: does not need to surround himself with guys like him.
[49:55] Speaker 3: He needs to surround himself with guys that do the
[49:57] Speaker 3: stuff that helps you win games and allows his greatness
[50:01] Speaker 3: to lift them over the top. And so honestly, that's
[50:04] Speaker 3: why I'm hoping that KD looks at the situation in
[50:07] Speaker 3: Houston and goes, this is the place where I can
[50:10] Speaker 3: have a renaissance in my career because frankly, they have
[50:13] Speaker 3: the setup to do it. They've got the assets. Jalen
[50:16] Speaker 3: Green is a perfect little salary filler piece to try
[50:19] Speaker 3: to make that sort of deal happen. And he would
[50:22] Speaker 3: be a force multiplier for their defense because as you
[50:25] Speaker 3: saw Jabari Smith Jr. He's the guy that has the
[50:27] Speaker 3: length for them on the wing. KD is a guy
[50:29] Speaker 3: that could be a guy next to Shangoon that makes
[50:32] Speaker 3: him better defensively. He's a guy that is an underrated playmaker.
[50:36] Speaker 3: Over the years, dating back to his Brooklyn days, KDI
[50:39] Speaker 3: was really good at just generating offense by coming off
[50:42] Speaker 3: of ball screens and making passes out of it. I
[50:45] Speaker 3: think KD is like the obvious ceiling raising move for Houston,
[50:49] Speaker 3: and I think the numbers pretty clearly state that they
[50:52] Speaker 3: can like call it like there's a lot of basketball
[50:55] Speaker 3: left in this series. Houston's athleticism does travel. They're not
[50:58] Speaker 3: a team that's going to go on the road and
[51:00] Speaker 3: come out flat because they're older veterans, Like they're gonna
[51:03] Speaker 3: come out in Game three, even if they're down two
[51:04] Speaker 3: oh and be like we're beating the Warriors tonight, like
[51:06] Speaker 3: that that's gonna be their attitude. This is gonna be
[51:08] Speaker 3: a long chore of a series. And can you just
[51:11] Speaker 3: imagine that leveraged to another level with the player as
[51:16] Speaker 3: polished offensively as Kevin Durant and talk about like having
[51:20] Speaker 3: no ifens or butts about where the ball is gonna go.
[51:22] Speaker 3: You give it to him every damn time you get
[51:24] Speaker 3: the hell out of the way. So, like, I think
[51:27] Speaker 3: it's the kind of thing that I think would be
[51:28] Speaker 3: really exciting for that team.
[51:29] Speaker 1: Jason Timpf hoops tonight. He's gonna be all over these playoffs.
[51:34] Speaker 2: All right.
[51:35] Speaker 1: That's a good first Sunday under playoff action. I had
[51:39] Speaker 1: a lot of fun watching it. I'll still take the
[51:42] Speaker 1: Clippers over the Nuggets, but I need to watch Game
[51:45] Speaker 1: two Warriors and the Rockets. Good talking to you, Bud.
[51:50] Speaker 2: Good to see you Colin. Until next time, the volume

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