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$25 per month. Hello

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and welcome to the RINGER

1:59

NBA. live YouTube

2:01

experience. I'm Big

2:03

Waz aka Waziland Bray and I'm joined

2:06

by my brother James Kyle Mann. What's

2:08

going on bro? Not

2:10

too much Waz and Joanne I'm

2:12

electrified by the good basketball tonight.

2:14

I mean shades of

2:16

it. There were exciting moments right? But you know

2:18

we had some moments where it got a little

2:20

stale but overall we

2:23

had some pretty impressive performances to talk about

2:25

I thought. Yeah some

2:27

really cool storylines. The

2:30

Magic tied up their series against the

2:32

Cleveland Cavaliers sending that back to a

2:34

game seven in Cleveland and just now

2:37

just wrapped up we got a final

2:39

score in Dallas of 114-101.

2:42

The Clippers have now been eliminated. The

2:46

Dallas Mavericks are moving on to the second round

2:49

to play against the OKC Thunder. We'll have

2:51

plenty to say about that matchup in a

2:53

little bit but I do just want to

2:55

talk about the game and the series in

2:57

a in a microcosm Kyle because for

3:00

me it felt like basically two

3:02

or three games ago after

3:05

the Clippers got to that enormous 30-point

3:07

lead that they almost coughed up their

3:10

offense essentially started sputtering Dallas's

3:13

defense which has been their hallmark

3:15

since since the All-Star

3:17

break essentially ratcheted up

3:19

they grind them into a pulp and I think

3:22

this game was no different it was you

3:24

know essentially tied up at halftime and then in

3:26

the third quarter they put the screws to these

3:28

guys a 30 a 35 to 20 third quarter

3:30

and that was basically

3:33

all she wrote the rest of the way.

3:36

Talk to me about what you saw out there bro. I

3:38

mean the thing that jumps off the screen is

3:41

just the athleticism

3:43

disparity compared to the things that we saw

3:45

dating back to you know when Luca came

3:47

into the league and we first started like

3:49

wondering we were like well how where is

3:51

this guy on his schedule like is he

3:53

a real dude and he showed us immediately

3:55

that he was but like some of the

3:57

first real tests that he had you know

4:00

in the bubble and we're against those

4:02

really long athletic clippers teams that were

4:04

deep and we were like, uh,

4:06

and then we were just kind of in that heliocentric

4:09

kind of mode he was in where we were like,

4:11

well, we just got to get some catch and shoot

4:13

guys around him in one lob threat and just kind

4:15

of get it, get him by because he was such

4:17

a floor razor that you were like, well, we're not

4:19

going to get a high draft pick, but over the

4:22

course of time leading, I'll skip all that to where

4:24

we are now. Um, it's

4:27

just amazing how much they've overhauled their athleticism,

4:29

you know, and I think people are going

4:31

to point to, um, people

4:33

are going to point to the obvious things

4:36

like the rim runners, like Gafford and PJ

4:38

Washington and lively, but do you talk about

4:40

the defense? I think one

4:42

of the big things was like, you know, when in

4:44

that game where they, they got the big lead and

4:46

it seemed like the Clippers couldn't miss a shot and

4:49

Paul George was going wild, you know,

4:51

getting PJ Washington off of Paul George

4:53

and putting, uh, and getting

4:55

Derek Jones Jr. On PG,

4:58

um, was just a way tougher

5:00

matchup for PG because I think, you know,

5:02

as much as PJ could like contain penetration

5:05

physically and he solidly built DJ

5:07

DJ, J Derek, Derek Jones

5:09

is just like so fast off his

5:11

feet. He's so hard to screen because

5:13

he's so elastic and he's just such

5:15

a crazy athlete, man, I mean, so

5:18

specifically Derek Jones Jr. But overall

5:20

the athleticism is just a

5:22

really, really remarkable job by that team to overhaul all

5:25

that. Yeah. Being able

5:27

to start Derek Jones and Gafford

5:29

is really what turned the entire

5:31

thing around. And you

5:33

know, obviously Derek Jones has had a

5:35

defensive reputation for a long time and

5:37

he, you know, he's, he's been known

5:39

to be a somewhat limited offensive guy,

5:41

but that's the beauty of having Luca

5:43

Doncic and Kyrie Irving on your team.

5:45

You don't need world beating talent surrounding

5:48

them. Guys just have to be competent and

5:50

be able to hit, you know, some pretty

5:53

clean looks when Luca and Kyrie get it

5:55

to you. Cause those guys are always going

5:57

to be putting opposing defenses in rotation. And

6:00

Kyrie, man, I'll be God damned. Obviously we

6:02

know Luca for

6:04

finding, for being able to

6:06

find guys. He's got a preternatural ability for

6:09

it. He's one of the best in the

6:11

league at it. But Kyrie's, you know, his

6:13

ball moving, his willingness to just play within

6:15

the role of that offense around what Luca's

6:18

doing. Lisa Salters even gave a little report

6:20

during the game where Kyrie's just like, yo,

6:23

I'm just happy to fit around what's happening

6:25

around this guy. And I think we got

6:27

a nice little winning formula. And

6:29

tonight was no different. I tweeted out that,

6:32

you know, it's kind of dope to

6:34

watch Kyrie and his role on

6:36

this team where he's made himself into a

6:38

bit of a junkyard dog player. You

6:41

know, I compared it to what

6:43

Josh Hart is doing for the Knicks, except he's

6:45

also one of the most

6:47

electrifying offensive players in the

6:49

history of basketball. And so him coming to

6:52

his own at this stage of his career,

6:55

after all of the, you know,

6:57

a lot of his self-inflicted hiccups of the

6:59

past, watching this thing coalesce in

7:01

Dallas has been really cool. It

7:03

definitely has. And you know, it's like, you, we

7:06

could speculate about like kind of what, maybe

7:08

just getting away from some of the situations

7:10

he was in, like getting

7:12

somewhere that he could just have

7:14

some chillness in his life. You know, I was

7:16

just thinking about how interesting it is that like

7:18

the big three heavy quotes in Brooklyn, which

7:21

history is not gonna look on the road. You

7:23

know, Kyrie sprained his ankle hard and pulled his

7:25

hamstring. Who knows what would have happened in that

7:27

series because they were kicking Milwaukee's ass. We always

7:30

kind of glaze over that part, but you know,

7:32

those guys, it ended bitterly and they go their

7:34

separate ways. And it's just been kind of interesting

7:36

to watch the outcomes because Harden goes to the

7:38

LA and he's, he's splinted in, but you know,

7:41

you meet the first things he's, that are coming

7:43

out is about how he's a system. And

7:45

you start to get the sense that like,

7:47

okay, James, you know, and when Kawhi goes

7:49

down, James is just

7:51

like, they asking him to score and it's kind

7:54

of inviting James to be old James again. And

7:56

then Kevin Durant goes and he's following, you know,

7:58

and it's just interesting to watch. the

8:00

catharsis I think in Kyrie's career as one

8:02

of the more, one of

8:04

the more, over, I mean, would you say he's the

8:07

most like ball skill wise, he's

8:09

probably top five all time. I

8:11

mean- His reputation as, when you

8:13

combine the ball handling, the footwork,

8:15

the shooting ability, the finishing at

8:18

the cup with the different angles

8:20

and the kisses, that's what people

8:22

always say. He's one of the

8:24

most skilled basketball players that

8:26

has ever existed, right? And I think

8:29

that's why so many guys amongst, around

8:31

the league, you know, they just slack

8:33

jarred around the guy's talent and skill.

8:36

Like he's a bit of a cult

8:38

figure that way and how

8:40

guys like admire what the crap he

8:42

has and him actually

8:44

putting that to use, right?

8:46

Cause it's one thing to have a quote unquote

8:48

bag, but Kyrie deploying the

8:51

bag to make, to

8:53

elevate Dallas on offense. And again, like I

8:55

said, like he's actually fighting on

8:57

defense, he's scrapping for loose balls, he's

8:59

getting deflections, he's putting his nose in

9:01

there for rebounds. Like this is

9:03

what you want out of your best players,

9:06

right? So like Kyrie's doing that and he's

9:08

known for what he's known for. And

9:10

that can only help but permeate throughout the

9:12

rest of the team. And again,

9:15

I thought their mentality of just,

9:18

and again, it's not like the Clippers are

9:20

running the most complex stuff

9:23

out there. Let's

9:25

just say it's not as if their

9:27

actions are like, this isn't prime Golden

9:30

State we're talking about here, right? But

9:32

you still gotta go out and stop that. These

9:34

are talented guys. And the fact that they did

9:37

this, Paul George

9:39

and James Harden, Harden had a nice little first

9:41

half and all of that, but then they just

9:43

started shutting off their water. Yeah,

9:46

it's amazing with like the athleticism

9:48

on like kind of close out

9:50

situations, how like I was saying,

9:53

how starkly big the gap was between

9:55

these two teams. And you saw it throughout the game. I mean,

9:58

I think that Jason Kidd was... right

10:00

in like kind of imploring them to like

10:02

run, run, run, because this team is built

10:04

to be sort of a half court. Like

10:06

they have the tools to execute in the

10:08

half court. And like, you know, you

10:10

had these two superstars that can score and facilitate from

10:12

any which way. I was thinking about it like, Kyrie

10:16

and Luca together are almost like a, like

10:18

I'm not a baseball person, but they almost

10:20

remind me of like, if a

10:23

pitcher had two like really weird pitches that they

10:25

could go to and put them back to back

10:27

and really throw you off. It's like Kyrie, you

10:29

know, Luca has this like evasive sort of knuckleball

10:31

way that he plays that you can't quite figure

10:34

out where it's going at any time. And then

10:36

Kyrie is a pick whatever pitch you want to

10:38

go with there. But I just think the two

10:40

ways that you have to defend them just

10:43

keeps people off balance, you know, they can go

10:45

create theirs at any time. And then, you know,

10:47

just, I thought there was one play at the

10:49

end of the game where I think

10:52

PJ shot a corner three and

10:54

he followed his miss and just beat, he just

10:56

flat out beat Paul George to it. Paul watched

10:59

it for a second, but PJ got it, kicked

11:01

it out to the top of three and to

11:03

the key and Kyrie hit a three. I

11:06

just thought this was kind of a, even

11:09

when it got close in the second quarter wise,

11:11

I was like, this just feels like the dam's

11:13

gonna break at any moment. It's, it felt like

11:15

the Clippers were just spinning plates to stay in

11:17

it. And yeah,

11:19

and finally the dam burst, but yeah,

11:22

I don't know. It's, it

11:24

never really felt to me like the Clippers were gonna win this one.

11:27

Yeah, the obviously better team, obviously the

11:30

Clippers, the better team in the

11:32

Mavs won this. Obviously the Clippers

11:34

are short-handed without their best player,

11:37

Kawhi Leonard, you know.

11:39

Worth mentioning. Yeah, it matters that Kawhi,

11:41

even when he played in a limited

11:43

capacity, he did not look like himself.

11:45

The offense could not function in any

11:48

proper way. And so that, you know, that's

11:50

worth mentioning. And so obviously the better team

11:52

won here. And you know, before we spin

11:54

it to the next series, I think it

11:56

is important to just talk a little bit

11:58

about the Clippers here. What

12:02

do they do this off season? Harden's coming

12:04

up for a contract. Paul

12:07

George is obviously coming up for a contract.

12:09

He's going to have suitors. Absolutely.

12:13

We've been talking about this shiny new

12:15

stadium, which for what seems like forever,

12:17

that's finally opening this fall.

12:20

Like what do you see as their

12:22

past this off season? God,

12:26

I mean, it was wild to look out

12:28

there on that floor at times. You've got

12:31

Russell Westbrook in the right situation, just has

12:33

no clue how to assert himself. They've tried

12:35

that rehab project. It's just kind of like,

12:38

I don't have a deal in front of

12:40

me, but that one seems like not anything

12:42

worth keeping in mind. It's definitely tertiary or

12:45

just icing on the cake at best. Paul

12:47

George, I mean, you seem to think that he's out of there,

12:49

right? I mean, you've kind of, I felt like I've heard you

12:52

contend that pretty consistently,

12:54

right? I mean, if I were Paul George,

12:56

I'd be looking for a different situation, honestly.

12:58

James is gonna wanna be there, but

13:01

if I'm the Clippers, yeah, you do

13:03

kind of feel painted into a corner here a little bit

13:05

because, Kauai,

13:09

maybe you get one last squeeze out

13:11

of that orange out of him, like

13:13

before, I don't know, before his prime,

13:16

how much time does he really have left? I

13:18

don't know, there's no real option that fills me

13:20

with a lot of optimism for them, especially in

13:23

a Western conference that seems

13:25

to be gaining momentum with young teams.

13:27

You've got Minnesota's coming on, not

13:30

so worried about Phoenix, obviously, but Denver has

13:32

their shit figured out. I just think the

13:34

Clippers are in a weird

13:36

spot where they have talent, but I'm

13:39

just not really super confident. I

13:41

don't feel like I'm ever gonna trust them again. Russia's deal

13:43

with two years, 7.8 million, yeah,

13:46

is what Cruz is telling us. So

13:48

here's the thing, if the Clippers

13:50

had a normal superstar, if

13:53

they had, if Kauai could

13:55

be right, and

13:57

play consistently, and be...

14:00

I could be, you know, and I

14:02

know some of the sign and trade rules are tougher

14:04

now, especially for teams that

14:06

are over the cap threshold. I could be

14:09

persuaded like, oh, maybe they try to facilitate

14:11

some kind of deal for Paul George where

14:13

they get a couple of role players back

14:15

and keep it pushing that way, right? Maybe

14:18

it's not worth it to pay this one

14:20

guy, you know, 45 million

14:22

or whatever it's going to be to retain

14:24

him for four more years. When,

14:27

you know, we got our superstar lists around him

14:29

with complimentary talent, things of that nature. But

14:31

the way the team is set up, I

14:34

feel like they have to have

14:37

Paul George back. Well, I was going to,

14:39

I was going to ask you, do you, do you think it's

14:41

more of a just like if contingent

14:43

on like if they are healthy and we ran it

14:45

back, we'd get a vastly different outcome

14:47

or do you think there's a position that is

14:49

so glaring like that they need an upgrade at?

14:53

I mean, like defensive anchor, I

14:55

mean, I know people positionally love Zuboch, but

14:58

JaVale Gafford was kind of punking him at different

15:00

times tonight. You were, you killed me

15:02

with that. I mean, do you have a position that

15:04

you think that is like the most glaring needs an

15:06

upgrade? I mean, you said

15:08

it though, athleticism just generally across the

15:11

board, you know, Russ is,

15:13

you know, Russ has still got

15:15

some of the remnants of his otherworldly

15:17

athleticism, but that's it. He's the

15:19

only person that pushes pace on this team.

15:22

He's the only person that, you know, you'll ever

15:25

see go in there skying for an offensive rebound

15:27

or skying for a rebound that he shouldn't have

15:29

got. Right. Or

15:31

given a late contest on the outside

15:33

every now and again, just general athleticism.

15:36

And I think they do lack for shooting when Kawhi

15:38

Leonard isn't in there. Like

15:41

they're playing lineups of

15:43

Russ, PJ, Plumlee. Like

15:47

it, this is, you need shooting.

15:49

You need shooting Zuboch.

15:51

Like you need actual shooting

15:53

on the floor. So I think athleticism

15:56

and shooting are positions that

15:58

they're sorely needing. the off-season

16:00

is going to be fascinating. Because I've said

16:02

this once, I'll say it again. James Harden

16:04

forced his way over there, because I'm pretty

16:06

sure he's got to deal with them in

16:08

place. I'm curious to see what that deal

16:11

is. But

16:13

yeah, I'm going to be fascinated to see what

16:15

they're doing off-season. I mean, Harden had enough moments

16:17

where I feel like he showed that he still

16:19

had some of his old stuff, where

16:22

I feel like he could inspire enough goodwill to

16:24

have them keep him around. You

16:26

know, like, I feel like that... 120

16:29

million for four years? I

16:31

don't know. It's bomber, man. One second for

16:34

four years? It seems

16:36

like a unique situation with the deep pockets

16:38

of Mr. Zune and Mr. whatever it is.

16:42

Yeah, I mean, the

16:44

athleticism thing is something they're going to have

16:47

to upgrade. Like, I wrote this down, you

16:49

know, in the first quarter of this game,

16:51

while it was first quarter, there were five

16:54

offensive rebound resets and five putbacks. And that

16:56

was just like the Clippers were just in

16:58

cement. Like, you know, so and throughout this

17:00

game, you know, in the first half of

17:03

this game, 14 isos for the Clippers at

17:05

0.214 points per possession. Just

17:08

no flow, no passing. And maybe

17:10

that's a function of, you know,

17:12

just not trusting the other guys.

17:15

How do you upgrade that? If, you know,

17:17

PG decides that he has his sights somewhere else, like

17:19

you were talking about, were you

17:21

talking about you think like maybe a sign and

17:23

trade type thing, like where they could upgrade? Or

17:25

just straight up get signed into Philadelphia's cap space.

17:28

Like, that to me feels feels right.

17:31

But he's an obvious Tobias upgrade.

17:34

Lord knows that

17:37

he's way better than that dude. And then

17:39

in that case, like the

17:41

things that he would be asked to do

17:43

and how he would be told to operate

17:45

would be so tertiary to the

17:47

main action happening in the

17:50

two man game, which is they've already

17:52

developed a pretty sweet two man game with Maxie

17:54

and Embiid. I think he slots

17:56

in pretty beautifully if he wants to go

17:58

there. Now, the guy is. this whole

18:00

career trying to get to Southern California. So

18:02

I wonder if he's just going to ship

18:04

himself out east just for a better basketball

18:07

situation. You wonder if the Clippers are

18:09

willing to pay him, if he's willing to go. But,

18:11

yeah, man, who knows? I

18:14

mean, he spends, like, the season in Philadelphia. Is that

18:16

really going to motivate him to not want to go

18:18

there? I mean, you just kind of go there for

18:20

your work here, and then you go back to L.A.

18:22

That's what all these guys do, right? I mean, is

18:24

it that powerful of a pull that he wouldn't want

18:26

to go win? It's

18:28

hard to know what's important to Paul George. I don't know. He

18:31

just has these... He looked resigned

18:33

a lot, and that's just kind of

18:35

a common trait among all these, a

18:37

lot of these Clippers guys. It's like,

18:39

you know, Terrence Mann fights his ass

18:41

off. Zu Boched us to. Norm plays

18:43

hard. But when you have this, like,

18:45

Paul George and Harden have this history

18:47

of, like, when they see down the

18:49

road, if they see that, like, there's

18:51

bad weather ahead, they're just like, I'm

18:53

just going to get off at this

18:55

exit, guys. I'm not really in the

18:57

city to take enough. You were choosing

18:59

them of running from the grind, Kyle.

19:01

I just think, I don't know. For

19:03

me in the basketball sense, it makes the most

19:05

sense for P.G. to go and do that. But,

19:07

yeah. I would love to see

19:09

it. I think it would make the East Race

19:11

fascinating next year. But, yeah,

19:14

we'll have plenty of time to talk

19:16

Clippers and Philadelphia, because they

19:18

got their asses eliminated yesterday, too.

19:21

Go, New York! Go, New York! Go!

19:26

We'll get to them maybe towards the end

19:29

of this, but I do want to spin

19:31

it forward, man, just quickly. What are

19:33

your initial thoughts about this match? I am,

19:36

whoo, this is going to be

19:38

fun. The

19:40

Knicks Sixers series, even

19:43

if it only went six games, I

19:46

think it satiated us in our

19:48

play. When we think about

19:50

the playoffs in our mind's eye, when we're

19:52

away from it, we're thinking

19:54

about series like Knicks and Sixers, but

19:56

in reality, in the first round,

20:00

Most of this shit is like OKC

20:02

and New Orleans, right? Most of

20:05

this is Boston and Miami. Most

20:07

of it is like not even

20:09

close. The Bucks getting smoked without

20:11

their players, right? The second

20:13

round is really when

20:15

the playoffs begin in earnest for

20:17

real, for real. And

20:19

this is going to be another

20:22

slugfest. The Western Conference is just

20:24

shaped out, the playoffs are just

20:26

shaped out beautifully. Of course OKC,

20:29

this is an incredibly exciting story.

20:31

The upstarts, you know, J-Dub, Shay

20:33

Giljes Alexander, Chet Holmgren, My Guy,

20:36

Full Court Fitz Alum. We

20:40

all know what OKC is bringing

20:42

to the table in terms of

20:44

youth and energy and pace. And,

20:46

you know, they bring this fun,

20:48

loving group postgame interview and, oh,

20:50

we love each other and all

20:52

of that. And then, Luca Doncic

20:54

and Kyrie Ervin, man, this

20:56

is going to be so freaking fun. It

21:00

is. It's this series and

21:02

Nuggets Wolves are two that just, yeah,

21:04

like it's just appointment television if you

21:06

love basketball. I mean, you're talking about

21:08

the first round. I mean, it's

21:11

pretty true. We had a lot that were like, yeah,

21:13

that was interesting. And it just kind of fizzles into

21:15

a lot of the like game chart things where you

21:17

can chart the leads. It just kind

21:19

of goes off in one direction. And you're like,

21:21

all right, yeah, that was interesting for a little

21:23

bit. A lot of arguments, a lot of solid

21:26

arguments for going back to five games, I think,

21:28

you know, the playoffs of my youth, you know,

21:30

where we only had to watch, you know, Bullets

21:32

Wizards for five games or whatever the case may

21:34

be. But three games.

21:37

Really? Yeah. Yeah.

21:41

Yeah. Like the Miami Boston one, like,

21:43

let's get out of here in three. What are

21:45

we doing here? Yeah. Yeah.

21:48

So, yeah, this OKC. The

21:50

first thing that catches my eye, I mean, you have

21:53

to kind of start from like the biggest, you know,

21:55

the macro kind of storylines here, 35000 feet. And

21:58

That is stars. I Mean, Like stars. The Star

22:00

Wars you know part in that part of

22:02

the thing is is like that's what the

22:05

playoffs or about allotted time. It's A and

22:07

in this series in particular douses stars for

22:09

just fresher and M and just came for

22:11

the in Md at a better you know

22:14

roster construction roundups but if I look at

22:16

okay see like comparing them to like the

22:18

know a situation know a star situation was

22:20

off You know is I obviously wasn't even

22:23

there. I think it would have been made

22:25

a world of difference if he had been

22:27

there matchups but then ingram discounted in physically

22:29

look. Right at all in lieu door. It

22:31

is not the man that you want to

22:33

see if you're not physically feeling okay especially

22:35

if you're running Hims know my god you're

22:37

skinny is six when I guy air yeah

22:39

you only need to do with him so.

22:42

For. Me I see this and I'm like we

22:44

know say is going to get rolling I'm

22:46

sure. do you think they're Jones has dared

22:48

Jones is probably going to get the say

22:50

is I was says the same match up

22:52

Yeah yeah and then and the other thing

22:54

too is just like I see an opening

22:57

for Jaylen Williams or it's yet. But most

22:59

likely Jaylen Williams to be like. A.

23:01

Man like, where are you really? If you want

23:03

to like, make a definitive statement a play. Ah,

23:05

statement like. You. Know. Announce.

23:07

Your arrival in a big way. I think that

23:09

this series is gonna be a sort of a

23:11

set table for him to do that. Yet

23:15

another way that I think is

23:17

set up pretty sweet and nice

23:19

for them is that dallas probably

23:21

to be more physical but they're

23:24

not. This. This size advantage

23:26

is not going to be functional

23:28

rights on this that like that

23:30

did not that the. Sues.

23:32

Me the sunder are not going

23:34

to have to sense to you

23:36

know when Gaffer gets the ball

23:38

down low or lively gets the

23:40

ball down. Love! They're going to

23:42

feel comfortable doing that right is

23:45

so. Bad. I think is

23:47

going to line up very nicely for

23:49

them. On that.

23:51

And and like you said about say Dell

23:53

Like Never Jones Junior Yes. incredible

23:55

descender he made himself pretty elite

24:00

We can say that about PJ Washington,

24:02

right? Obviously we can't say that about

24:04

Luca Doncic, right? And so you

24:06

wonder, and you know, some Josh Green,

24:08

like he's a good energy guy, but

24:11

I don't know that he, you're necessarily

24:13

comfortable with just Josh Green guarding J-Dub

24:15

out there on the island. So I

24:17

think they're gonna be able to get

24:19

Dallas in rotation pretty consistently. And that's

24:21

when OKC, man, that's when they start

24:24

really rolling downhill and just, you know,

24:26

getting, spraying that thing out to their

24:28

bombers because they got some real dudes that can shoot

24:30

on this team. And so it's

24:32

gonna be really fun. Yeah. You mentioned, I

24:34

wanted to mention on the Gafford thing, you

24:36

talked about him catching in space and like

24:38

whether you want to worry about that or

24:40

not. Tyler clearly was

24:42

like fine with him catching in

24:44

space and making the decision because I was

24:47

talking with one of our mutual friends, Mo

24:49

Dekeil about this, that like Gafford

24:51

catching in space is either, it's

24:53

gonna be electrifying in one

24:55

of two ways. It's gonna either be an incredible play

24:57

like he had, against Zubac

24:59

where he takes one dribble, probably an offensive foul

25:02

and then dunks, or it's just

25:04

gonna be the weirdest, ugliest thing you've

25:06

ever seen. So that like dynamics between

25:08

Chet is really, really good at playing

25:10

those situations. But you made a great

25:12

point, I think about like the personnel

25:14

disparity here between the Clippers and the

25:16

Thunder. The Thunder just has, if you

25:18

haven't watched them, I know most of the sickos

25:20

watching this, you know what I'm gonna say, but

25:23

they hit you from so many

25:25

different angles with so many different,

25:27

they have a freaking legion of

25:29

ball handlers and there had been

25:32

the most effective driving team all

25:34

year, whether it's driving, and then

25:36

they had their little pitch backs

25:38

to Chet and transition. That

25:41

is gonna be an interesting challenge defensively. I

25:43

know the Dallas guys are competing, I just

25:45

think that the closeout attack is gonna be

25:48

a lot more competent, a lot more relentless,

25:50

a lot more designed and a lot more

25:52

bought in with the Thunder in ways that

25:54

the Clippers weren't. So

25:56

I'm glad you said that because it's One

25:59

thing to- They five Shooters added

26:01

sign right if you don't

26:04

have a guy. Or.

26:06

Multiple guys in this case will

26:08

soon pierce the defense, punctured the

26:10

defense as forced him to cover

26:12

both inside and out, commit resources

26:14

to bowls thereby leaving them vulnerable

26:16

than an area like That's what

26:18

Okay See does. Like these threads

26:20

you out like these guys have

26:23

to be guarded. Does nobody wants

26:25

even said you cannot just leave

26:27

them as if he's just some

26:29

you know like he's zone is

26:31

valid soon as you don't want

26:33

to shoot know jump shots rights

26:35

like you. Actually have to guard

26:37

the and saw you're freaking court when

26:39

they're in their half court office. As

26:42

Saudi government there are they are going

26:44

to sell his Dallas arm and that

26:46

be as said man. Pedals,

26:49

Out of the matchup on even door

26:51

as big and portly as years, he

26:53

does not have the height. Lucas's right

26:55

over that man. He's going to see

26:57

all of his pass in a goose.

26:59

He's going to be able to get

27:01

his turn around gold quite easily. As

27:03

ages little stutter step game is going

27:05

to be crazy, he's probably going to

27:07

be them. it's was you like foul

27:09

trouble period. Sub game a game that's

27:11

the Dallas and that's what's important to

27:13

have. was super sorry becomes is like

27:15

you know this matchup breaker. Yeah.

27:18

Um dort yeah, you mentioned it

27:20

like. He. Gave Ingram so

27:22

much trouble does because of the way in

27:24

the the girth in the in the latter

27:26

mobility and fight through screens or stuff like

27:29

that Luca want to move on the yeah

27:31

it's it's going to Lucas going to so

27:33

slow him down. He loves to play that

27:35

way it's it's so that that's the match

27:37

about it. That's always the matter because Lucas

27:40

just you know, guarding him, his sister and

27:42

unsolvable gonna quandary arm you know So I

27:44

think that's a. And.

27:46

That is going to be an interesting thing to

27:49

see how they tackle that. I'm yeah, I mean

27:51

Kyrie would be another when. See you and me?

27:53

What Who do you think to draw the guy

27:55

reassignment? probably by committee I would assume his who

27:57

really can even one on one second myself. Mean

28:00

as. You gotta

28:02

put stay on own. Honestly

28:04

I'd better way to go

28:06

crusades a quiet his chest

28:08

because his offensive game is

28:11

so you know mag. Like

28:13

magnetic and does mesmerizing. He's one

28:15

of the team's best defenders like

28:17

this guy guards the hell lot

28:19

of people are people realize this

28:21

because he's getting all the Mvp

28:23

chatter and he's all star in

28:26

snowy where's the great clothes and

28:28

all that stuff But like this

28:30

dude is a dog or defense

28:32

and look the best players like

28:34

I remember. You know somebody it's

28:36

readers southern of about dead zones

28:38

Mvp season and you had to

28:40

beat it's observe witness that it

28:42

was truly. Sub the special

28:44

all. I remember

28:46

in the Eastern Conference finals of that year

28:49

Derrick Rose aimed for its time. Yeah, Yeah.

28:51

Derrick Rose a croissant. Derrick Rose's won Mvp

28:53

Le Bron James not only carrying a my

28:56

me he offered he was garden at me

28:58

and on an island at the any games.

29:00

Straight up isolation. Mano a mano. I'd i

29:02

that I got the Office of burden but

29:04

I'm doing it on defense to and I

29:06

think that's what the best players have to

29:08

do. not think that's where we're at we

29:10

say something. He does have to com to

29:12

take books that I read matchup into his

29:14

own hands on in as lot of stuff

29:17

is going to be fascinating these gods ago

29:19

it's be garden each other's I think this

29:21

is going. To be a long series, I

29:23

don't know if you want to do predictions.

29:25

Out. The gate. Blood.

29:28

Out. Though, it's you. First, Our

29:31

your immediate me in trouble because immunity to

29:33

go to Okay see so I don't really

29:35

want i want to go dollars so my

29:37

face I do. You agree with you that

29:39

it's going to go long. I mean I've.

29:42

Stopped. Mean. If.

29:45

you made me pigs dallas's experience i

29:47

feel like i just feel like this

29:49

is i set it up in the beginning

29:51

i just think that this is gonna

29:53

be a test because okay see this is

29:56

going to be a bigger challenge for

29:58

them obvious obviously they're younger to And

30:00

like solving this superstar riddle is going

30:02

to be they haven't done anything like

30:04

this in a series So I think

30:06

we're kind of looking for we're going

30:08

on data We don't really what we

30:11

don't have that data yet Basically is what

30:13

I'm what I'm trying to say I lean

30:15

towards Dallas's experience because we're talking about guys

30:17

who have played in tons and

30:19

tons of playoff games But you

30:21

know, it wouldn't surprise me at all if

30:23

if okay see put Pressure

30:26

on Dallas's defense in a way, but Dallas

30:28

has improved defensively so much So I'm kind

30:30

of going in a circle here. I lean

30:32

towards Dallas right now. Yeah Yeah,

30:35

I'm sending the lead towards Dallas too

30:37

and it's my bias which is against

30:40

younger teams Just

30:42

the guys that are going to be at

30:45

the wheel for Dallas Luca and

30:47

Kyrie Have seen

30:49

so many they've been in more

30:51

playoff Situations than OKC

30:54

has and I think at

30:56

the end of the games like the collective

31:00

sort of half court

31:02

pressure packed Knowledge

31:05

between Luca and Kyrie. I

31:07

think they're going to be able to execute Wow,

31:11

60% of our poll are

31:13

um, our listener poll has picked Dallas

31:15

too I think the experience factor is

31:17

gonna finally come in and it's

31:19

gonna be a long series and I think Dallas Man,

31:23

I'm gonna pick Dallas in six actually because if

31:25

it goes to seven you kind of got to

31:27

keep take the home team As

31:29

far as I'm concerned in a series that that I believe

31:31

is gonna be this close So I think it's gonna be

31:33

close I think it's gonna be hard for but Dallas in

31:36

six but like again, this is

31:38

not something I'm supremely confident about

31:40

right I think that thing

31:43

is gonna be close and it's gonna be excited

31:45

again Like we think yo,

31:47

catch is gonna win the MVP everybody

31:49

Everybody agreed the other two guys right

31:51

behind him are Luca and Shay Yeah,

31:53

which is just so cool that we get to see

31:56

these guys Go up

31:58

against each other in this series have

32:00

plenty of time to get to that

32:02

later on. But yeah, man,

32:04

gotta talk about Dallas and Cleveland. This

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to hire you need indeed. Yeah

34:11

man gotta talk about Dallas and Cleveland 103

34:17

96 just it was a pretty good

34:19

game pretty close throughout the entire the

34:21

entirety of the game nobody ever got

34:23

up by more than like six seven

34:25

eight points it was you know sort

34:27

of a seesaw battle and I thought

34:29

at the end of this game that

34:32

Cleveland looked absolutely gassed

34:36

they're playing Marcus Morris senior

34:38

they are just

34:40

scrambling for anything that isn't

34:43

you know Donovan Mitchell creating one-on-one or in the

34:45

pick and roll all on his own and we'll

34:47

get to the game that he had he dropped

34:49

the 50 ball on these cats and

34:52

Orlando looked like the fresher

34:54

legs man these guys look like

34:56

they could go out and run another 48

34:58

by the time this thing was all over whereas

35:00

Cleveland looked like man they look like they were

35:03

marching on Deaf's door yeah

35:05

they struggled to create you and I

35:08

were talking about this throughout the game there

35:10

are a lot of larger takeaway questions for

35:12

who Cleveland is I know that this series

35:14

is still going but you saw some of

35:16

like those those stresses tonight and they're kind

35:18

of things that have been issues they're ongoing

35:20

so you know this

35:22

game started out it was like Cleveland

35:25

was kind of attacking Wendell Carter jr. and

35:27

pick and roll and Donovan and the big

35:29

thing is that like they were they were

35:31

really Orlando's length wasn't necessarily like hanging

35:34

back and stifling them in a way

35:36

that was like we're just

35:38

worried about protecting the rim we're just worried

35:41

about getting in the gaps and stopping your

35:43

driving they were playing up to prevent Garland

35:45

and and Mitchell from getting into that like

35:47

flair three game they were taking away a

35:50

lot of that like side-to-side screen action stuff

35:52

and you know daring Cleveland to go buy

35:54

them and they did they had a

35:56

lot of success in this game I

35:58

was telling you that like like the points

36:01

in the paint differential through three quarters was

36:03

like 56 to 26, which is insane. If

36:06

you think if that's the case, then you're like, well, Cleveland

36:09

probably ran away with this, but I

36:11

think all this kind of sets the table

36:13

for, you know, Donovan had that

36:16

huge game, but I think his having

36:18

a great game in this situation is credit

36:20

to him, but it also is a symptom

36:23

of an underlying disease of like

36:25

how Cleveland generates offense. I'll

36:28

just throw that to you, because I know you know and

36:30

feel the same way. If you

36:32

were watching them play, Mitchell

36:34

is essentially orchestrating on his own, even

36:36

when it's a picky roll, it's just

36:39

those two guys in the action, and

36:42

Cleveland is satisfied to

36:44

guard the action with two. Mitchell, you

36:47

know, he basically got the better of them

36:49

for enough times, but while he's doing that,

36:51

nobody on Cleveland is doing anything.

36:54

And then because Cleveland functionally has

36:56

four guys that are good, that

36:58

are playoff worthy up to snuff, they

37:00

can help off of a lot of

37:03

guys when need be, right? And

37:05

so when Donovan is doing

37:07

that, nobody else is engaged in

37:09

what Cleveland is doing. They're never

37:12

getting the magic in

37:14

rotation, right? And then when he's off

37:16

the ball, and

37:20

Darius Garland is trying to create, Donovan

37:22

has no off-ball game. He

37:24

has a beautiful, a

37:26

wonderful jump shot. He's

37:29

not movement shooting, like coming off

37:31

of screens, and back cutting, and

37:33

back screening, and all the stuff that

37:35

we see Clay Thompson doing, the

37:37

stuff that we see Steph Curry

37:39

doing. And obviously he's

37:41

not Clay or Steph, but he is an

37:43

elite shooter, off the catch,

37:45

off the dribble. He is such a

37:48

great shooter, but he doesn't do any

37:50

of that. He doesn't have the classic

37:52

Dwayne Wade expert ghost cutting game, where

37:54

he's an expert cutter to the basket.

37:56

So, meaning, and shout out to him. to

38:00

my man, Tom Habistro. He did a piece on this

38:02

years ago and was like, yo, when

38:04

they did the tracking data, D Wade had

38:06

some of the best gravity in the lead because

38:08

he's so good at cutting defenses still have

38:10

to pay attention to him when he's off the

38:12

ball, because the second that they're not paying

38:14

attention, he's cutting in there for a layup, a

38:17

dunk, and one, et cetera. Donovan Mitchell doesn't

38:19

do any of that. So it

38:22

has the compound effect of, yes, he has, he

38:24

was great today. He dropped 50, but

38:27

like the offense is doing

38:29

absolutely nothing else. And

38:31

you can't function. You can't

38:33

function on a, on a diet of just

38:35

this guy being consistently way

38:37

greater. There's some pretty good NBA defense,

38:39

man. Like the magic with one of

38:41

the best defenses in the league this

38:44

year, these guys are long athletics flying

38:46

around. They play on a string. Like

38:48

they communicate. These guys are a real

38:50

defense and you just can't subside on that.

38:52

So when Garland is on the ball, it's

38:55

just not as dynamic as it should

38:57

be because Mitchell as great as he

38:59

is, you know, the defense is

39:01

in preoccupied with what he's doing. Yeah,

39:03

it's really hard because I think

39:05

we're seeing this with the, with the calves and

39:08

the Clippers. And I think we've seen this move,

39:10

this movement in basketball of more of, of more

39:12

of a motion mindset of like, if you think

39:14

about basketball being a premise of like the pressure

39:16

within your offense is like, all right, we're going

39:18

to try to get to, it's coming from one

39:20

person basically. And then the branch is coming off

39:23

of that or whatever that player chooses to do.

39:25

Now, if you have a Luca Dontch or like

39:27

one of these elite pick and roll guys that

39:29

can just over and over again, carry

39:31

a heavy load, even Luca needs help though. We've

39:33

seen, you know, it's just a hard way to live,

39:36

man. And when you're Donovan Mitchell, who's probably six two

39:38

probably, I mean, and then you got, and

39:40

then you got Darius Garland who's six

39:43

one, six two. These are small guys.

39:45

If you're constantly, depending on them going

39:47

downhill, what you have created is a

39:49

situation where the guys that play with

39:52

you either need to be really smart

39:54

cutters like you were talking about or

39:57

the defense has everything in front of them.

39:59

Basically. little bit easier to play that way.

40:01

And you end up in a situation where you

40:04

have an Isaac Gocoro who you want on the

40:06

floor because he's six eight, he's, you know, built

40:08

like a tank, he can, he switch a

40:10

boy, he could guard people, but he is like

40:12

hanging in the corner and he catches it and

40:15

he's like, Nope. Like, I mean, his, the terror

40:17

in his eyes, if he caught the ball, you

40:20

just put yourself in a situation where it's

40:22

harder to use your personnel. Whereas if

40:25

you use them like we were talking about, and I thought

40:27

this is what they were going to do when they traded,

40:29

when they got him, man, I thought that, I thought

40:32

that they were going to run these two

40:34

guys off of more split action type stuff,

40:36

get them moving around and make the defense

40:38

pay attention to them. And then you can

40:40

move a coral and mix them in. Both

40:42

of these guys can shoot. Yeah. These guys

40:45

dribble. Garland is a crazy

40:47

great pass. So Mitchell was pretty good

40:49

at it. Like they should be more

40:51

creative at that. But Mitchell, you know,

40:53

he's convinced himself that he's this one

40:56

when I think like he should learn how

40:58

to do some of the two stuff, you

41:01

know, I think Garland, I think Garland is more

41:03

willing to do it than Mitchell to be honest

41:05

with you though. Yeah. Do you, I

41:07

mean, do you agree with that? I like,

41:09

it seems like you agree with that. And

41:11

also, but, and that's the thing, like Mitchell

41:13

isn't a natural one. He's not a natural

41:16

table setter. Like he is, he's a very

41:18

good, he's an elite NBA score. He's an

41:20

all-star player. I don't want to take that

41:22

away from him, but like just

41:26

being that does not equate into efficient

41:28

offense. There needs to be more that

41:30

goes into it. Then you need to

41:32

be affecting the defense in more than

41:34

that way. And I think down

41:36

the stretch of the game where he's sucking wind and

41:39

his knee is getting worked on. And it's

41:41

like, this is your only offense. Like you

41:43

have to hope that this guy can be

41:46

Superman and nothing else. And look,

41:48

Orlando at the end of the game,

41:50

by contrast, these guys are getting downhill.

41:53

These guys are causing rotation. And

41:55

you know, guys like Suggs and you know,

41:57

Paulo hit a couple of threes. Like. They

42:00

were able to, you know, the the

42:02

the the the Cavs defense was elastic.

42:04

They were able to snap that thing

42:07

because they're threatening at different parts of

42:09

the court. Yeah. And so,

42:11

man, it was a crazy contrast

42:13

to watch the way that thing, you know,

42:16

unfolded in the clutch. And

42:18

Orlando, again, these guys are threatening the

42:20

basket, making the Cavs send help. And

42:22

even though obviously we've been saying this

42:24

stuff at nauseam, the magic have a

42:27

shooting problem. Don't matter. They spraying out

42:29

to their guys and they're taking them,

42:32

which is all you can ask for. And

42:34

tonight they made some big, big shots down

42:36

the stretch. There was a Suggs 3, a

42:39

Paolo 3. Suggs had a great night. Suggs had

42:41

a great night. Yeah, this is one of the

42:43

man. Exceptional. Yeah.

42:46

He's the man. You had a Paolo

42:48

3, a Suggs 3, and a Paolo

42:50

N1, which basically broke this game

42:52

wide open for Orlando. That's three

42:54

consecutive possessions. They were able to

42:56

do that. And yeah, man. So

42:59

now we're headed to a game seven, the

43:02

only game seven of the play of the

43:04

playoffs so far. We got one. Amazing.

43:06

You know, we got, we got to talk about

43:08

every mobile. I think this time I know we're,

43:10

we're so, I think I can

43:13

get obsessed with like trying to like optimize

43:16

things or just get obsessed with like trading

43:18

the right player to the right team, just

43:20

to see them level up into

43:22

whatever they're going to become. And I think with

43:24

the Cavs, what we

43:26

were talking about, and in this, I wanted to

43:29

say too, I don't want to make it seem

43:31

like we're not giving Orlando credit. It was just

43:33

a little maddening to watch at times. But like,

43:35

I think if they did play that way and

43:38

their guards attack space, like you

43:40

can attack space in more ways than just like

43:42

attacking the space downhill in front of you. You

43:45

can, the Warriors proved this. You can attack space

43:47

behind you. You can attack to the left or

43:49

to the right and force the defense to focus

43:52

on those things rather than like, let me just

43:54

keep an eye on this guy. That's going to

43:56

maybe catch the ball and attack a closeout. Like

43:58

I think that would benefit. fit Mobley too.

44:00

If you were just watching Mobley like when he's

44:02

catching in traffic like that man, he just, he

44:04

needs to work on that stuff. Granted. And I

44:07

think that's a big reason why they can't play

44:09

that way is because his screening and his passing

44:11

are preventing them from doing that. But his,

44:13

he's just got, I

44:16

don't know. I feel like more doubt has

44:18

entered the Mobley developmental conversation in the past

44:20

year than, than was there before. Well,

44:26

I don't want to say that Donovan Mitchell

44:28

is starting the guy's growth, but

44:30

since they have, since they've acquired

44:33

Mitchell, the

44:35

way that they play, he's not involved. And

44:37

some people might say, well, look at, look

44:39

at the way this look at Donovan Mitchell.

44:41

He can score 50 points in a playoff

44:43

game and Mobley can't make a contested three

44:45

foot jump shot, three foot jump hook. Right.

44:47

And so those outcomes are justified. But I

44:49

think throughout the course of the year, man,

44:52

you should be trying to empower this guy.

44:54

And so that when he gets

44:56

in these moments, he can actually make a play.

44:58

Like oftentimes he's just getting the

45:00

ball off of a drive, you know,

45:03

in traffic, barely

45:05

catching it, putting it on the

45:07

floor, defense already recovered. He's taking

45:09

the off balance leaner, just sort

45:12

of. He always looks like

45:14

he's like a compromise. That's always the way he looks

45:16

like, uh, yeah, he

45:18

needs to develop some kind of a basic, even

45:21

Derek Lively. You watch him with, with the Mavs,

45:23

Derek Lively has like two moves. He's like, I'm

45:25

either going to catch it and dunk it, or

45:27

I'm going to spin over my left shoulder and

45:30

hit that hook shot. And it's like, Evan,

45:32

just, um, Evan doesn't seem even comfortable doing

45:34

something simple like that, like even making a

45:36

decision in space. Whereas on defense, he's, he's

45:39

been incredible. Um, but yeah, offensively too, I

45:41

wanted to say too, that like you talked

45:43

about Paolo, it seemed like Paolo was kind

45:45

of like, I thought he picked

45:47

his spots pretty well in this game. You

45:50

know, he goes for 27 points tonight and he's

45:52

nine for 20 from the field, two for

45:54

five from three, uh, shared the ball

45:56

really well. It was just kind of a typical, um, He's

46:00

a dude, man. I mean, Paulo is

46:02

definitely a dude. And you know what

46:04

I like that they've changed up when

46:06

the series started, they had

46:08

him functionally playing like this point

46:11

guard type of role. And I don't think

46:13

he should be doing that. I think when

46:15

he catches it at the elbow and he

46:18

could just survey the defense, figure out if the

46:20

guy in front of him, if somebody wants to

46:23

attack off the cat off the face up off

46:25

the dribble jab step, or if

46:27

he wants to just power game, back him

46:29

down, back him into the basket, he could

46:31

do that. And then he's able to see

46:33

where the help is coming from. But when

46:35

they're just like, yo, operate a pick and

46:37

roll and dissect the defense, like your John

46:39

Stockton, I'm glad they stopped doing that. And

46:42

his games have gotten better since he had,

46:44

you know, he had a clunker like two

46:46

nights ago, but he was damn good tonight.

46:49

And I think in the role of, you

46:52

know, basically being quicker than bigger guys

46:54

and being more powerful than the guys

46:56

that are quick enough to guard you.

46:59

Um, sort of like an Amari Stademire, obviously

47:01

he's not the same Amari, but that was

47:04

the sort of theory of Amari as a power

47:06

forward. It's like the guys that are powerful enough

47:08

to deal with them, he just blows right by

47:11

him. And the dudes that are quick enough, he

47:13

just, just too strong for, I think Paulo was

47:15

a sort of wing version of that. Right. And,

47:17

and he showed that tonight. And look, when

47:20

it was not Mobley on him,

47:23

he basically felt like he had the

47:25

matchup advantage tonight. Um,

47:28

France was able to score, um,

47:30

efficiently tonight. Look, man,

47:32

I'm very impressed by, by the way,

47:34

these guys acquitted, have acquitted themselves after

47:37

going down O2 offense, looking nasty

47:39

and muddy. These guys have fought

47:41

back. They're sending this thing to

47:43

a game seven. Hopefully

47:46

the future is bright. Um, you

47:48

know, I know a lot of magic fans think Paulo's

47:51

the next LeBron James, I guess only time will tell

47:54

on that front, but these guys are like,

47:56

man, they're showing their metal, you know, like

48:00

I'm not trying to say this to

48:02

denigrate their accomplishments of making this series

48:04

of what it is, but like literally

48:06

when the magic The magic

48:09

have streus, mitchell garland and mobley.

48:11

These are guys That should be

48:13

on a playoff be in a play

48:16

in playoff rotation. Yeah And

48:19

that and next to that they're trying to fit

48:21

in marcans moore senior. Oh, we got to talk

48:23

about that Marcus moores

48:26

Marcus moores look like me. It's like a like

48:28

a young pickup run who's just like yeah I

48:30

hope they don't figure out that i'm the i'm

48:32

the matchup that they should be on I

48:37

was like bro. I'm going to smoke this old

48:39

man Okay, isaac a

48:41

coro Tristan thompson got

48:43

dusted off carris levert still picking the splinters

48:46

out of his ass. He can't get off

48:48

the bench This is

48:50

their their lineup is just tough,

48:52

man. It is It's

48:55

tough. You know what? This kind of reminds

48:57

me I was going to make another just sort of grab back

48:59

note I was going to say is that like the way the

49:01

way the magic play Is not

49:03

it's really not like dancing out in

49:05

space like individual creation kind of driven

49:07

stuff Where so when cole came in

49:09

and had that sequence where he beat

49:11

his man? It was a little like

49:13

jarring it felt it just felt like

49:15

somebody gave you a shot of cappuccino

49:18

randomly, you know I was like, oh,

49:20

okay. Wow And it

49:22

makes you wonder why cole can't sort of

49:24

like graduate into a more like involved role But

49:26

like dude what this reminds me of and I don't

49:28

think that this is a mistake I've said this before

49:30

in other places is that like, you

49:33

know the same people that built the

49:35

bucks championship corps Built this

49:37

team and I and I see and I

49:39

it it frequently gives me

49:41

flashbacks You know palo and jiannis are

49:44

very different players. Obviously, they do similar

49:46

things, but it's a different thing and

49:48

and like The way that team

49:51

evolved of course They had two first round losses

49:53

in a row and then they went to the

49:55

conference finals They may be on like a four-year

49:57

window like that where they like flirt with the

49:59

second round and then they get over the

50:01

hump. That's what this kind of reminds me of

50:03

in the terms of the way they build this

50:05

team. And I hope that it doesn't take them

50:07

as long as it took the Bucks to like

50:09

really get some good shooting and decision-making around them.

50:12

How they can do that and not compromise

50:14

their length and strength and all the things

50:16

that they do really well is gonna be

50:18

an interesting question. Because yeah, they're just physically

50:20

imposing, man. They really are. Definitely. And

50:23

to that point, rolling in

50:25

this into game seven, I

50:27

really do think the Magic have found

50:29

something. They understand that there's

50:32

always going to be a weak point on this

50:34

lineup to attack. I think they make just enough

50:36

shots. These young guys on the road, I know

50:38

I'm going out on a limb here, with

50:41

young guys on the road in a game

50:43

seven, I think the Magic are going to

50:45

win game seven. And a lot of it

50:47

is I'm wishing this to be, I'm willing

50:49

this to be, because I think they're just

50:51

a much better matchup for the Celtics than

50:53

Cleveland is. Like this rudimentary ass offense, the

50:55

Celtics are gonna eat that for breakfast. And

51:00

the guys that they're gonna put on

51:02

the floor against the Celtics, they're like,

51:04

no, but the Magic can bring their

51:06

athleticism, physicality, their energy, man. Like these

51:08

guys have a motor. These dudes play

51:10

hard as hell. That was like one

51:13

of the first things I noticed this

51:15

season when I watched them play very

51:17

early on in the season. Like these

51:19

dudes play hard all game

51:21

long. It's 48 minutes of hell with these guys.

51:23

So I think the Magic are gonna win, mostly

51:25

because I'd really like to see it in

51:28

the next round against the Celtics. What do you

51:30

got Kyle? Yeah, I lean towards the Magic also.

51:32

And I think that your point about, even if

51:35

Cleveland pulls this out, I feel like they'll probably

51:37

get swept by the Celtics. Not that the Magic

51:39

won't too, but like, I just think that physically

51:42

just, they match up better. That

51:45

doesn't really take much of an astute eye to see.

51:50

But I mean, I think that physically

51:52

they could cause Boston more problems. And

51:55

I just wanna see that. And I think, and then that

51:57

kind of arc of like working

51:59

towards the. them being a real championship court like we

52:01

were talking about, I think that that's going to be an

52:03

invaluable experience for them if they can do it. So yeah,

52:06

I'm hoping to see that. 58%

52:09

of the chat pitch to pick the magic

52:11

tomorrow, man. People might say we're prisoners of

52:13

the moment, but I liked what I saw

52:16

from them tonight. And before we get out

52:18

of here, Kyle, spin this to tomorrow. What

52:22

I've, I don't want to,

52:25

you know, sort of step on my next

52:27

episode of in my feelings, smart is going

52:29

to drop right here on the regular YouTube

52:32

page. But I think this is the NBA

52:34

finals matchup. I think

52:36

the Minnesota Timberwolves and the

52:39

Denver Nuggets, the team that comes out

52:41

of this series is going to win

52:43

the NBA championship this year. Um,

52:46

and I cannot wait to

52:49

watch this series because of that. And

52:51

so, you know, I'll get to you and

52:54

what's your most intrigued by. I think first

52:56

and foremost, I am

52:58

fast fascinated by how Minnesota

53:00

is going to choose to guard your kids.

53:02

Are they going to do the call towns

53:04

thing and let Rudy Rome call

53:07

towns being a foul and ass maven.

53:09

Um, it feels like

53:11

this is courting disaster, you

53:13

know? Um, but like the letting

53:16

Rudy Rome thing feels like a

53:18

beautiful, um, strategy.

53:20

As far as I'm concerned, Rudy is, Rudy

53:23

playing out in space against Phoenix.

53:25

Like being like, yo, I'll guard KB on an Island.

53:27

I don't give a damn type of

53:29

thing. Like, I'm fascinated to see how

53:31

they deal with that. And then on the other side,

53:34

when the Timberwolves have the ball one,

53:36

I think Kenny's too small for ant

53:39

Edwards. Um, and it's just

53:42

a way more physically imposing dude. Kenny is

53:44

really good at the jitterbug move your feet,

53:46

locking, you know, locking chase around screens and stuff

53:48

like that. He's great at that, but he is

53:51

a little light in the shorts and ant is

53:53

going to be more physically imposing him. So I

53:55

wonder if ants going to be able to beat

53:57

that matchup and live at it.

54:00

at the paint and when they send that extra

54:02

help, will we have the eyes and the

54:04

vision and the understanding to spray out and

54:06

attack where need be? What are you most

54:08

intrigued by for this series, man? I'm curious

54:10

if they even put KCP

54:13

on him at all. I kind of

54:15

wonder if they're gonna go Aaron Gordon to try to

54:17

like negate some of the weight and the shorts like

54:19

you were saying. And

54:21

then on, I just

54:23

try to single coverage yoke it as best I

54:25

can. And then I know that

54:27

I have an elite guy

54:30

anchoring me that's gonna,

54:32

and then I switch everything with the link that

54:34

I have on the perimeter, right? Because we know

54:36

that Rudy's gonna clean up a lot of that

54:38

cut game. The cut game is where they paper

54:40

cut you to death and you bleed out. And

54:43

I think that that's the advantage that the wolves

54:45

have is that physicality. I think they're gonna be

54:47

able to switch stuff away from the ball like

54:49

we were saying, and close gaps and clean stuff

54:51

up in ways that other teams aren't able to

54:53

do. That's their strength. And

54:56

then yeah, I would keep Rudy back. That would

54:58

be my philosophy. Man,

55:01

so looking forward to tomorrow. Once you

55:03

got just a program and note for

55:05

you guys, we're doing this every single

55:08

Friday with different Ringer NBA

55:10

hosts every single time. So make

55:12

sure you subscribe to the Ringer

55:14

NBA's YouTube page. Man, we drop

55:16

in so much great content throughout

55:18

the entire playoffs for you guys.

55:21

Man, this was just another dope night

55:23

of NBA basketball. So thanks, Kyle, man.

55:26

We will see you guys next time.

55:28

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