The First Weekend Of The NBA Playoffs Shows Who Is Built For Chaos

Playoffs Are Built For Overreactions

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Welcome back to missing the point. The takes they're gonna be hotter than a playoff whistle and just as inconsistent. We just had our first weekend of NBA playoff basketball. I'm here with Ray Chom Buchanan. We just had our first weekend, Ray. That means three things. Everyone's gonna overreact immediately. Yep. Someone already said the series is over after game one, including us. And a role player named Caleb something dropped 27 points and ruin an entire franchise's mental fan base's mental health. The playoffs are the only place where a guy can go from trade him immediately to build the franchise around him in about nine minutes of playing time. So we're gonna break it all down. Bad coaching decisions, good coaching decisions, superstar statements, at least one team that looked like they wandered into the wrong gym. But we're gonna take it one game at a time, right? We're gonna talk about all these fuckers. So let's start by getting a few of these things out of the way. Cavs beat the Raptors. No surprise there. In fact, I want to be honest. I think there was one surprise from opening weekend. I think one game I was surprised that the team won. I think otherwise everything was pretty much status quo, which is, I don't know, good for Las Vegas, not so good for us. Cleveland's offense, they looked as expected. I thought, I thought they looked good. We, you and I have discussed them on this show before as a possible playoff threat. They blew it open pretty quickly in the third quarter. Donovan Mitchell, I thought it to me, it looked like the Raptors just had no answer for him. Long may not continue in the in that series, and I probably what I would have guessed matchup-wise. Max Struuss, random Max Struce sighting, 24 points off the bench, crazy efficiency. So all these things happen in that game. I'd love for you to tell me, were you excited that playoff basketball has begun? And did that excitement get tempered by some of these sort of status quo results or what? And what'd you make of that Cavaliers Raptors game?

SPEAKER_02 1:55

Well, no, it's it's it's by far one of my favorite times of the year. So obviously, we talk at length and nauseum about the NFL playoffs. I enjoy baseball playoffs, too. We don't talk about it. I enjoy baseball playoffs as well. But yeah, no, the NBA playoffs, like you said, you stated it perfectly. You can go from this guy should not even sniff the court to I need him to have my child. Like that's like yeah, it's out of control. Matt Max Struce, he I don't know. I felt like he definitely was the difference maker in game one for Cleveland.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

You expect Darwin Mitchell to get 25 or more, so that's not he really looked like he was having a field day with them out there.

SPEAKER_02 2:33

Well, yeah, he's uh he's hard to guard, though. He's hard to guard. Yeah, and if you're no if you don't have someone that's uh bigger than him in his position, like he he's gonna get whatever he wants, like you alluded to. Yeah, you you better step up a step aside when it comes to him getting buckets like that. But their their key with them is really how can they be healthy? So obviously with Mowgli and Jared Allen, obviously if you're getting contributions like that from Shrews, it's gonna be hard to beat them. As far as Toronto goes, I think their depth is gonna get challenged in this series. When you have RJ Barrett, Scottie Bonds, who I really like, Jacob Purdo, they have some guys that can play, they need a manual quickly, they need them. Like he is someone that can go get 20 for you off the bench. And in that series where there's a lot of firepower, especially on Cleveland's side, you need someone that can weather the storm when your top guys are out. I don't know if he comes back by game three in Toronto, but if he's it's gonna be curtains for them anyways, but it'll be curtains for them quicker if Emmanuel quickly has to come back sooner rather than later.

SPEAKER_00 3:33

I know. I was I wanted one game to go as expected. Obviously, I wanted the Celtics game to go as expected, but I really wanted to see a little drama to start out the weekend. And right off the bat, yeah, but right off the bat, it was like fuck like you're doing straight up coverage on Donovan Mitchell. That's not gonna work. Help defense is late every single time. That's not gonna work. You look into pull up threes in rhythm, that's exactly what he wants. I understand that they're having depth issues right now, but you got to start throwing bodies to that guy. You gotta get him off rhythm. It like he's a heat check guy. Like it's it you gotta get him off rhythm, you gotta blitz blitz him relentlessly, you gotta get a lot of switchable defenders. It's why, honestly, the Celtics are I'm not that worried about seeing the Cavs, which is a conversation I was gonna get onto a little bit later, but I'm not that worried about it because that's exactly how we defend the other team's best player. We always we're always switching on them constantly, we're always blitzing, we're always rotating aggressively, hard trap every high screen. That's the Celtics bread and butter. And we pre-rotate, we always pre-rotate. We're not playing reactionary defense, which is I mean, it was a master class in reactionary defense by the Raptors, which Mitchell just eats up. So, yes, I agree. Some depth is definitely gonna help them because stamina-wise, it looks like they're just like they're not gonna be able to wear the calves down at this point, but damn, they got to do something different because that looked like the exact game. It looked like the Cavs drew up the game plan for the Raptors, honestly.

SPEAKER_02 4:47

Yeah, yeah. I think they had no neither one of them are gonna play in, obviously, but I just felt like Cleveland had that locked up. You think it was before? Yeah, yeah, a little before. So I was like, they uh I know they said they you don't go get James Harden to get smoked in the first round. Once again, he has at least made the second round, he's made a few conference finals, he's even been to the finals in his career, even though it was early on. And he's been really good over there. I don't have anything negative to say about his stint so far there in Cleveland. I will see what Kenny Atkinson does with them adjustment-wise, because that was the whole thing about oh, like Jamie Baker's draft was a choke artist, and I actually have a take about that later on when we get into the Celtic stuff. But yeah, I just excited to see just like I said, play out basketball in general. But yeah, that was like I said, everything was satisfied except for that Detroit Orlando game.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

Yeah, I'm excited to talk about that. Anything else from Cleveland to Toronto? It's been one game. I'm not gonna overreact. I still think that's gonna be a four or five game series. I think I thought that going in. I never think the Raptors are good, famously, like even when they are. Um, so I don't know, something about them. It's just I don't think we're gonna see much of them in this in these playoffs. Do you am I crazy to think that?

SPEAKER_02 5:57

Do you think they may go crazy for one game in Toronto? Once again, Ingram can fill it up. I really do Scotty Bonds. I think he's a really good player. Well, I said, but they need quickly's presence off the bench. Like their rotation is not that deep. So you you need someone that can go get it off the bench. And once again, they got some guys that can score. There's still, I would still I would say there's still a couple guys away from really being like a real contender in the East. But I feel like I look for they came out of nowhere because I didn't expect them to really make the playoffs. So the fact that they were the number five seed lets me know that they had they got something brewing up there in Toronto. It's just a matter of can they sustain it over a long period of time.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

Yeah, I agree with you. Like, I think quickly is the only chance that they have to actually start to compete with the offense they're getting faced with. Like, I they were lacking a half court organizer, which he does really well. He has pull-up shooting, like he does have that. He he brings that to the table. There could be a competition, a point of attack to augment Mitchell a little bit, but I mean, I think it's probably the difference, to be honest, between Toronto losing in five or six. I I don't I don't think he's gonna come back and be like a huge difference maker. Cleveland, and I think we'll talk about this when we get on to the Celtics, but Cleveland are a legitimate threat in the East because they have two elite creators in Mitchell and Garland, two elite interior defense mobile now.

SPEAKER_02 7:20

Mitchell, not Mitchell, Mitchell and Harden remembering Garland's.

Nuggets Vs Wolves And Playoff Murray

SPEAKER_00 7:23

Oh, sorry, yeah, right. But they have shock creation and they're they hang around and they can score on you late in games. Like that it's a team that it's a team that can I was thinking a lot about how this playoff weekend was. Do you remember the first weekend of what was it, 2000? I want to say it was like 2017 when we lost to the Bulls in game one. And it was like, yeah, and it was like, okay, this is a really it's like there was one unexpected series, and then everything else was the status quo, and then it was just like there was a lot of overreactions and a lot of stuff turned out to be wrong. But I think in whatever comp you're gonna make about this series, or if you're really looking at the Cleveland Cavaliers as a team overall, yeah, they can win, they can take a couple games off the best teams in the NBA. They definitely can't. So I think we match up against them well. But as far as Toronto goes, I just don't see it. I'm not seeing it. I don't know, I don't know if you are. Doesn't sound like it, it doesn't sound like all right. Nuggets, Timberwolves. Early on, the T-Wolves came out and punched him in the mouth. And I mentioned to you guys in the chat, I was like, holy shit, the Nuggets are kind of getting fucked up. They were getting outworked, they were getting run off the ball, they weren't letting Jokic get into his rhythm offensively. But the Nuggets are still the Nuggets, Jokic is still Jokic. Jamal Murray came out of nowhere. I don't want to say came out of nowhere because I know he's still like the second prong in that duo. But whenever he comes out and plays that classic playoff Murray, you're just like, oh, I like the Nuggets are just gonna be too much for almost anybody, right?

SPEAKER_02 8:51

But if you remember what I said a couple years ago when we covered that series, it was a perfect storm of uh Anthony Edwards being really hungry, and then that Denver team, who had that at that time had had a very long run that was capped off of the championship in 2023. They had been they had been through the gauntlet, so to speak. If you don't think that two years ago was on their mind, especially with Jamal Murray, because I felt like he got served by Anthony Edwards and company, he did. So he's okay, y'all forgot. I'm that guy too, when I need to be.

SPEAKER_00 9:24

And you do forget about him. In fairness to him, like we always forget about him, and he always has a playoff game like this almost every series that he plays. Yep, yeah. It's just I'm like, what's the that guy's not gonna do anything? Yeah, it's the unexpected guy at the YMCA where you're like, he's not gonna be able to score, and then you're like, holy shit, he can shoot.

SPEAKER_02 9:42

Like, fuck something. And he's been the perfect compliment to what Jokic does, and Yokus knows when to defer to him. But yeah, they've they came out swinging after taking the haymaker from Minnesota's. I still think that's a six or seven game series.

SPEAKER_00 9:56

I like it. To me, the fact that Denver never panicked, like there was real cause, especially because of the teams now have. Yeah, honestly, because of the history that these teams have, the history that they have, and the fact that the uh essentially this iteration of the Minnesota Timberwolves with some obvious key changes has proven that they can knock the Nuggets out of the playoffs if Anthony Edwards, like you said, is playing really well, and if the other sort of key pieces in that in the in their defense are stepping up. My feelings about Rudy Gobert. I think he's one of the most overrated players ever, but he does he does seem to stand out against the Nuggets. And even early in in game one, he did defensively. And I think he is a guy that can give Jokic problems, one of the few. He's basically there to beat the Nuggets, right? That's why you have they have Rudy Gobert and that they're built the way that they're built. So it's definitely possible, but to me, and I I've made no secret about how much of a fan of Anthony Edwards I am and how much to see him succeed. So I am secretly cheering for the Timberwolves, and they're still the underdog in my mind, but not so secretly. I just announced it on my podcast. But I was saying, okay, yeah, they can fucking do it. They can do what they did before, they can come out and they can bloody their nose and they can outrun them and they can pressure them and they can just make really key defensive plays while getting behind the offense of the duo that that Minnesota has. And I think the it looked like that for the first like seven minutes of the game. And then it was like the Nuggets just didn't blink, man. And I they just like Anaconda just wrapped themselves slowly around the Timberwolves and just choked the fucking life out of them. Now, Anthony Edwards is coming back from an injury that historically I think affects super athletic players for at least a few games. It's gonna take him a couple of games to get back to perfect season form. Said, I'm not a huge fan of the amount of jump shooting that he has in his game compared to two years ago, and I think that's gonna make a big difference because I think he's a little streaky as a shooter. I think he can be really good, don't get me wrong, and I think he's getting better year on year, and I think it's good that he's taking a lot of shots. That is like the NBA. But I think the way he killed the Nuggets in that series that you're referencing, and I think it's only fair to reference that because it's the last time it was like these two them two really going at each other properly. I that was a lot of him being just impossible to deal with in the mid-range. If he got a run on you, if he got any runway on any of their defenders, it was fucking over. His ability to finish around the like vintage Kyrie at times, his physicality, his athleticism, just stuff they just didn't know how to deal with. That's and also his shooting for me, he's so athletic and so quick that he can pull up from basically any move. So I know I have I think you feel the same way as me, but I and I know I've lamented like our 2000s era of basketball not being a thing anymore. But like Anthony Edwards would have been the best player on planet earth by far if he played in 2003, because of the amount of quick step pull-up action that he can do from anywhere on the floor and be accurate after just losing a defender is honestly mind-blowing when I watch it. That I don't want that guy to turn into a spot up jump shooter. I don't want him to turn, I don't know if he would be any good on the Celtics or the kind of player that I love to watch on the Celtics. Like it's not, or what we would ask him to do.

SPEAKER_02 13:04

I do, I do think that's probably what they mentioned to him after the conference finals a couple years ago Dallas.

SPEAKER_00 13:10

Way worse, yeah. I agree.

SPEAKER_02 13:11

So I but I feel like that's where it was like, okay, let's see what can what can we add to the game.

SPEAKER_00 13:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:17

I do think if he I know him and Jalen Brown are close.

SPEAKER_00 13:20

I feel like if they continue to work out, they have they have similarities in their games.

SPEAKER_02 13:25

But if you remember the year we won the championship a couple years ago, vaguely no, I'm saying there's this game. There was a game that they the self is just annihilated to have the word. They'd be going to say by like 50 at home.

SPEAKER_01 13:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:39

And remember, uh J.M.R. Green basically was like, yo, I I dare you to shoot Jalen Brown. And it would just happen to be a night that Jalen Brown was making everything. But to the point, they was just like they basically and I acknowledge after the game where Jalen Brown gets confident, he'll shoot you out of a game. And I think maybe I could become a narrative about Anthony Edwards as well. Like when he starts to get hot, he'll shoot you out of the game. If he's starting to feel it and not really getting his teammates involved, he has to he just has to become a next level thinker. He's already that is the next evolution for sure.

SPEAKER_00 14:11

He needs to figure out when to apply what skill at what time, how Jalen cast his last form this season is he became like the okay, whatever the game throws at me, I have an answer for it. And I'm gonna be able to recognize it early as opposed to being forced into it by the other team, which I think it's a great comp. All right, how do you see this series going? You said six or seven. What's your definitive pick here?

SPEAKER_02 14:34

I'm gonna go with Denver and six. Just say I felt the same way two years ago. I think Denver's just a better team. Once again, they caught Denver at the right time, and everything was ascending, but I still feel Denver needed a little bit of perfect weather for them to get past them last time.

SPEAKER_00 14:46

I agree.

SPEAKER_02 14:46

Yeah, and right, and I'm like, once again, you don't have you don't have Goldberg and Kat this time around. Once again, I like Nas Reed. I like Julius Randle. Um, Julius Randle's not he's a lesser Zach Randolph or with a better he's a Zach Randolph with a better jump shot, but it still fades away in the postseason. Once again, just my thoughts, once again, somewhere can hear this.

SPEAKER_00 15:09

I mean, the thing is that when Julius Randle is playing well in the playoffs for Minnesota, Minnesota looked unbeatable. Like that seems like the kind of missing piece, but the problem is he goes missing too often.

SPEAKER_02 15:18

And it's just I just feel like if he had more of the Zach Randolph in his game bullying somebody, it'd be different. And it's funny, it's ironic because they let him be a trainer for Kat, but he really is tailor-made for New York because of how he does play. He was great in New York. Yeah. Julie Randall was Julius Randall was phenomenal in New York. But once again, Tibbs just really liked Kat. I was again drafted at number one overall in 2015. So I get it. But Kat's obviously a better player, but just the grittiness and from a toughness standpoint, I felt that Randall was better suited for that franchise.

SPEAKER_00 15:56

Well, that's a great point of transition there, Ray, I have to say, because we're going on to talk about the Knicks beating the Hawks. Here's what I expected to happen, just to your point, uh that this New York Knicks team is finally living up to the reputation that their fan base has claimed they have had for many years. I think they're physical. I think they play really tough defense. I think they have a rebounding edge on almost every team that they play. And I think that Knicks fans thought that was how Knicks teams have been, but in my lifetime, not really, to be totally honest with you. I do think that they have an identity of player that has come in and out of there, but never really at the same time in order to make them anyone that I actually fear. Now, I they have a lot of players I really like, which is a strange and sort of foreign thing to leave my mouth about a New York-based franchise in any sport, but they have a lot of players I really like. I like how they play. I think they play, I think they're now, and I we I would love to just have the clip available of maybe two seasons ago. I know either you or I said something along the lines of, let's see where this New York team is in a year or two, because I think that they can really come into their own. And I think that's happened, despite not even having their best ever regular season finish over the last five years this season. I do think that this version of them as a playoff team is an intimidating prospect just because of how they play, how long some of those core guys have been playing together. And then this Hawks team just looked like they had no idea what to do about establishing tempo, about anyone on the Knicks core that they could maybe try to take out of the game. They couldn't really do that. The Hawks offense, of which I've enjoyed watching at times this season, just look stuck, for lack of a better word. And the series, if it keeps going like this, it has a real, and I know this is a theme, and I'm not trying to repeat myself, but it has a real that the Knicks are gonna impose their will energy, they're gonna get do it grindy, they're gonna do it ugly, they're gonna do it efficiently. They have a lot of they have the players to do that. If the Hawks don't do something different, so my question to you is if the Hawks don't do something different from an Atlanta perspective, what do you do? Because again, I am overreacting to game one, but that looked like oh shit, like they didn't have any answers.

SPEAKER_02 18:01

Jay Jalen Johnson has to be what he's been all year, right? Yeah, where was he? I think he had a decent game, but once again, he's been a walking triple or double always.

SPEAKER_00 18:11

That's what I'm saying. It's like it they like he was a regular version of himself. He looked very ordinary, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:16

So that and I this and this may be his first playoff, so I don't know if that's the case or not, but he was given a five-year percentage for 150 mil. So they clearly believe that he can be the guy, not for the right now, but not just for the right now, but for the future. And I I think that with him playing in New York can be tough. It's not like it's something where it's easy to walk into Madison Square Garden and take over. And I know CJ McConnell call him had a decent game, but it's just some guys there that gotta step up.

SPEAKER_00 18:47

I feel like Kaminga has to their bench uh to bench was just not anytime that their pivot plus minus just went to shit anytime anybody came off the bench for them. So it was like I know that's an away situation a lot of the time, and uh we've talked about role players on the road many times on this show, but those guys have gotta step up and help them out.

SPEAKER_02 19:05

Yeah, no, sure. I I think that, but I want to focus on Kaminga because he's the one that got a lot of hype coming out of Golden State, and then he was it was gonna be a new clean fleet, and he was gonna be so much better. And he did have a few games where you're like, oh, okay, like this is what he was supposed to be coming out of the G League, like sixth or seventh overall, whatever he came in.

SPEAKER_00 19:24

Yeah, you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_02 19:25

So it's okay, cool, but he's it's still been very much up and down, it's very much making Steve Kerr and others that felt the same felt that way justified in their choices behind his play. So Quinn Snyder's always been defensive-minded. He was that way in Utah. But that time, in similar ways, that there's the Atlanta team is similar to Utah in the sense that they don't really have another gear. Now, granted, they can shoot better than that Utah team that Quinn Snyder had. I mean, that's just the evolution of the game. But defensively, they just have to step it up because once again they gave it 113 to New York and they scored 102. So 102 was not a problem, but giving up one turtle 113 is so it's not a problem on the road.

SPEAKER_00 20:04

I agree with you. I think you gotta I like I think they gotta score more points than that at home. I think their bench needs to come off like points contribution. I don't think it's a problem, but I and I agree with you. I think what they really needed to do is slow down the Knicks, yeah, core two, core three, pick one guy and just take it, try to take him out.

SPEAKER_02 20:18

But all three of those guys were great, so it's you we gotta tell and it's easier said than done because we're we're arm chairing it. But like to me, it's got you gotta say Josh Hart beat me. You gotta show me Josh Hart. You gotta show me.

SPEAKER_00 20:31

Also, Josh Hart got fucking 14 boards, like he was just in there, like jumping people's heads that's his game, though.

SPEAKER_02 20:36

He's gonna he's gonna come in there and be a Sean Marion light type of player. That's fine, but 15 boards is pretty fucking impressive. It is, but that's his game. I he's gonna have to get 15 and more a night. You're gonna have to show me Josh Hart. Just remember a couple years ago when I talked about with Derrick Jones Jr. when he was in the finals. I said Derrick Jones is gonna have to show me because we know what Kyrie can do, we know what Luke can do, we knew what PJ Washington. So we was like, Derrick Jones Jr., you're gonna have to show me. And Little Peak Behind the Veil, him and some others was were real light during that final series. I know because I was working the practices, it was real light, and it was real chill. It was like, oh, I'm happy to be here. Okay, you got packed up, you got packed up real quick because you were just happy to be there. It's just don't have don't be happy to be there. Come in, make an impact, play defense, be physical, and yeah, just play do what got you to the dance. And I'm I'm giving that charge to Jalen Johnson. Get do what got you to the dance. You're a heck of a player, so act like it. And I said, they'll be better at the Phillips Arena or whatever they say, farming or whatever they call it now. But I'm gonna go in a limb to say Atlanta gets game two. I'm gonna say that. Imagine that might be going on right now. That might be going on right now. Are they playing right now? Yeah, they're playing right now.

SPEAKER_00 21:49

Let me take a look. What makes you say that? What do you think is gonna happen? I'm gonna feel like they're down ten right now.

SPEAKER_02 21:54

They're down ten at the one, but I do feel like I just think that women's Teams because they have you dead to rights. It's human nature to let up, right? It's some some teams, not all teams, but some teams they could let up. I haven't always seen that Knicks team have the killer instinct. I think Jalen Brunson has that at times, but not everybody on that team has that, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_00 22:16

They those three guys, Ananobi, Towns, and Brunson, were all able to have exactly the kind of game you would want from all three of those guys.

SPEAKER_02 22:24

I don't see that happening every time, though. I just don't it might be two of them. It might be one. Once again, I Jalen Brunson's earned my trust, so I sure in the playoffs. But Ananobi, once again, I he comes, yeah, he's in and out. Once again, how he was for them last year, they had to be sign him, so I get it. Once again, his his offensive game is back or forth. We'll see though. We'll see. But yeah, I think Atlanta finds a way to steal this one and they split it and they tie it. That'd be cool. That would be a little bit more. That would be cool and more fun.

SPEAKER_00 22:49

Yeah, it would definitely be more fun. I think, you know, what just to uh round it out by thinking about the prospect of playing them from a Celtics perspective. We get the one big kind of defensive bugaboo I think that the Celtics team has is about the three-point shot. I think we give up a lot, really efficient three-point looks, and the stats reflect that we're the number one scored against team when it comes from three three-pointers in the league this season. And I think that's fine. You can live with that. I know that you're not supposed to in 2026, but I am all right with it as long as we're playing like gritty interior defense and we're getting boards. Like, that's might be about more. What do you mean?

SPEAKER_02 23:24

Like, why do you think that they're the number one scored team like one scored together?

SPEAKER_00 23:28

I think I I mean on the eye test, I think it's a lot of a lot to do with how much we switch. I think that like teams can get good looks against us, but also we play such a perimeter game side of the ball. I think that teams need to shoot threes against us in order to stay competitive.

SPEAKER_02 23:44

So that's so exactly that that's my thing. That's why I'm not I'm not mad at that stat once again. Right. If you don't get 15 to 18 threes, will be on the road or at home, you're going to lose by 15 to 20 against the South team. Yeah, and I bet you better find a way.

SPEAKER_00 24:00

Yeah, this Knicks team, they don't shoot a ton of threes. Like when they're like they're very efficient when they do shoot them. They're like, I'll give you the box score right now on their big three. Brunson was three for four from three, cat was three for four from three, Ananobi was two for three from three. And that's a very low volume of three-point shooting from your uh essentially your scoring three, a trio. And but super efficient is the thing. They take good looks, which I like as so there's a lot to like from how I like to watch a game of basketball comparatively to to what watching this Knicks team, but I know that's good enough to get it done against us.

SPEAKER_02 24:34

So I'm looking at the um I'm looking at the box score right now because like I said, you said they're down nine down to one. So once again, so Jalen Johnson, as we're recording this, two points or three from the field, but two guys has two points from the line. Okongu has six points.

SPEAKER_00 24:48

This is this is game two. Current curry game, game two.

SPEAKER_02 24:50

Dyson Daniels, who I really like as well. To me, he's like Derek White Light. He's really good. And then McCollum is their leading score right now with seven. Now, Kaminga has three off the bench. Now, I think they're playing Tony Bradley at center, who once again, Tony Bradley, and I think that's why the reason why he's on his team, I think, because he quit coached him in when he was in Utah.

SPEAKER_00 25:12

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 25:13

Tony Bradley should not be getting acting minutes on the 2026 team. And this is a Carolina fan. I Tony Bradley was really good in college. Tony Franklin should not be getting playoff minutes, in my opinion. But I'm I'll just leave it at that. But he spurred Kit has got one minute, but then he has Buddy Healed and their number one pick, Zach Ricochet, that hasn't played yet, or they're not on the rotation. Yeah, what's up? I don't know, but if you want to help a space in the floor, Buddy Healed can absolutely do that. Two minutes in game one, too. And it's just like he's I don't know why he's gotten treated like a throw-in. You know, I remember that series a couple years ago when he was in Philly. I guess actually against the same New York team. Just about he, I mean, granted, they ended up losing that series being in Philly, but it was giving New York problems. And I just feel like you have to account for his shooting if he's out there, and you can't just say, hey, we're gonna drift off and leave him in the corner. You you have to build out to the corner when he's there, you have to account for him.

SPEAKER_00 26:08

So it to me spacing automatically there, right?

SPEAKER_02 26:11

And I know defensively he's not anything to write home about, so I get it. But to me, it's basketball negligence as a coach for you not to have him out there, even if it's for five to ten minutes to say, hey, go up there, be a floor spacer, and hopefully you're able to knock down a couple of threes. But no, that's just my thought process.

Lakers Vs Rockets Without KD

SPEAKER_00 26:30

All right, well, watch the space, folks. Let's talk about the last game of Saturday. The one we haven't talked about is the Lakers and the Rockets. Big asterisk because KD didn't play. That being said, I think looking at play, yeah. That being said, I thought the Lakers looked really good. I thought there was a real we have playoff experience vibe about them, especially coming from LeBron, who has more playoff experience maybe than anyone ever will have ever, and he's still doing it at 41. He really looked like he was winding back the clock. I saw some edits after the fact of just him like flashing back to like heat LeBron. He looked really good. He looked like he he could be the focal point of their attack again. And I think the amount of Luca doing that in the regular season has helped that regard. I guess my question to you like you and I were Imeu Doka fans. We liked him as a coach. He seems to have instilled the Ime Odoka philosophy for the most part on this Houston team. I think they had stretches, but the Lakers just know how to win these games and Luke Kennard type contributions like that, like timely shooting swings just coming in at that time, they're gonna they're gonna have a really tough time with this Lakers team as the series goes on. I will say this is the least status quo game that we've talked about so far. I think this could swing back if KD goes back in and he starts heating up. But I don't know, like what do you make of this Ime Odoka-led Houston team? Do you like how they're constituted? Do you think he has the right players to play the kind of game he wants to play? And how do you see this series going?

SPEAKER_02 28:03

They've been a two-seed, they've been uh now there or four seed this year. His first year there, they had a they had a 12-game winning streak, but then there's first seeds in there, so it's no excuses. No excuses. Because once again, we wouldn't give it here if we was here. We wouldn't give the excuse. We say fake find a way to get it done. And it's because we hold him in a high regard. Yeah, once again, no Luca, and you get smoked by 10 or by 9. And once again, you gave up 27 to Luke Kennard and 2026. Once again, this is not Duke Luke Kennard. And I it's it's funny because it was a game towards the end of the regular season with LA, they were down in Orlando, and Luke Nardi hit the game winning three. And I felt like they unlocked something there with him, especially with some late game plays, because he's always been able to shoot it, but there's always someone that becomes the talents become highlighted more or illuminated more when playing LeBron. Yeah, there's a different type of pressure playing with him, like Amon Shepherd said on Mind the Game, not Mind the Game, on Out the Mud. But yeah, if you're getting stuff like that from him and other guys are playing above their level, if this is some of things, anyways, I agree with LeBron. I want something like this one more time. I do, I know, I want it bad, but I really do. I want to make it a bad thing. It's unrealistic, it's an unrealistic act. We're not gonna get it, but it's just I do think at full shrimp that we had a shot, but not now. But it's all good. But yeah, I think that at times the struggle with Imei's offense, there wasn't enough spacing at times. Obviously, KD is the ultimate force spacer, so that changes a lot of things. You may need to lean on Amin Thompson, if you know a little bit more, but he's not a shooter like that yet. Losing Van Vliet, your favorite player, really hurts though in a game in a moment like this, though, because he's not gonna get you 30, obviously. But can he get you 15 that that probably that wins you the game with 15 points? Yeah, he could have. I guess it's weird because I'm I feel like he got injured and then he said he was like out for the rest of the year. I don't know what happened over there, but that contract looks crazier by the minute. But yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:03

Here's the thing I think the Rockets are gonna win game two on the road. I just think I think I think that as much as they bet, they better no austerees, no look at dunches. You fucking better agreed. Secondly, if there's any road game that you want to bet on, tomorrow's at the time of recording, tomorrow's is probably the one. I really think as much as I have a huge respect for LeBron James for his box score at 41 years old in a playoff game, it's very fucking impressive. But I also watched Bronny get meaningful playoff minutes. It's like they're they have some fucking depth issues now. This is and I no disrespect to the kid, but he's not, he shouldn't be playing in the playoffs if you're trying to win a series. And I think that because and I don't want to turn this into a fucking Bronny LeBron show. This isn't ESPN. Okay, we're not gonna dedicate any programming to the fact that like the novelty, but to me, an example of a real issue with their depth, a serious problem defend depending on a 41-year-old guy to have a game like he had in game one and only still only winning by how much 10?

SPEAKER_02 31:01

So to be fair, even though Kareem had his lucka with Magic Johnson, obviously. I think Magic's better, obviously, but Kareem was in his early 40s still giving people buckets like real bucket, not like drivers time bucket. No, give it to me the post. So it's once again, they're the top two lead scores of all time for a reason. But it's amazing what he's been able to do. It really is. Once again, I don't always love all the antics, but his what he's what he does on the court, what he has been able to do on the court, we'll never see again. Yeah, yeah, we'll never see it.

SPEAKER_00 31:40

Yeah, I think it's a little different. Obviously, I know you pointed this out, Magic's obviously a little bit better than Luca. When they first started playing together, Kareem was in his 30s when he was basically like I yeah, I'm I know I think he had a knee injury by the time he had that that knee thing, right? The season before Magic came in, and then he got hurt in that finals. So it's yeah, Magic was like, fuck it. Yeah. But I think that the difference is you have guys on the Rockets that should, in theory, be able to athletically handle a 41-year-old LeBron James and slow him down. There weren't many guys prototype-wise that could really do anything about Kareem Abdul Jabbar scoring anywhere on the court, but especially in the post. There was only a handful of teams that if you ran into if the Lakers ran into them in the 80s, that the Kareem would actually have problems. He could go get 30 a night. Like he could go get 30 a night for two fucking decades worth of basketball experience. And that's the same is true of LeBron, but I don't think it should be playing this Houston team in the playoffs in 2026, is all I'm saying. They need to re regain their pride a little bit. Also, KD comes back, LeBron's gonna have a lot more on his fucking hands to deal with. Like, I I've seen KD give prime LeBron problems, so it's gonna be a different ask, it's gonna be a different question. But to just to say the obvious thing, Thompson needs to step up. I know he's still an athletic freak, but he really needs to learn how to play smart basketball in the postseason. I'm starting to really get sick of those two, relying completely on their athleticism and pretending like when the playoffs come around, they're not important, they're not playing an important role on their teams. But I think if Houston wins a game on the road, the series is pretty much flipped hard in their direction, wouldn't you agree?

SPEAKER_02 33:17

Yeah, no, for sure. And just as a quick another update, Alan has done in a 13-3 run, just hate the lead.

SPEAKER_00 33:24

No Straamis.

SPEAKER_02 33:26

But you know who stepped up so far from looking at the boss score? Yeah, Kaminga now has eight points. Oh, what do you know? Yeah, what you have you have to have guys that have been there to step up. Once again, don't know if they'll win it, but like I said, I I think they won tonight, so cool.

Magic Shock Pistons And Coaching Heat

SPEAKER_00 33:40

I mean, that's gonna be a big swing in that series, too, which we'll talk about next show, if so. But full prediction there, right? And they were down 10 when you said it, so good for you. All right, the Sunday games, the magic upset the pistons. I love that. I really did not see that coming. I know Paolo had a great game, and I know I I guess I would have said if the magic are gonna win, it's gonna be behind behind Paulo Banchero, Bancaro, but destroyed of the one seed, man. You can't be you can't be losing the Orlando Magic. What are you doing? But remember, didn't feel fluky either, by the way.

SPEAKER_02 34:11

Didn't no, it did because it so at halftime I saw not coming. I text somebody, I was like, I said Orlando's a four. I said they may mess around and win this game.

SPEAKER_00 34:22

Yeah, but I would the jokes would be sort of oh my god, but I mean this they're phony one seed anyway. Like, we're the true one seed if you think about it, right? Like, if they listen 60 wins is 60 wins. No, I understand, but who played like a one seed in the last 25 games? Comparing us to sure we're prospecting the east right now. That's just a fact, sure.

SPEAKER_02 34:41

And that just just like when LeBron was when we were the two, yeah, absolutely, absolutely. And that's so crazy that we're now in that position, right? I know, dude. I didn't expect to have this conversation with you. We waited so long to get to be that that Thanos of the East, but here we are.

SPEAKER_00 34:55

I can't wait to I can't wait to talk about that exact thing when we get to the Celtics because I have some points to make about that feeling, but go on.

SPEAKER_02 35:01

Game ones have been Orlando's thing. I remember when Toronto won the series, but when Toronto won the championship in 2019, Orlando came in there and beat them game one in the first round. DJ Augustine went crazy. And I remember that game, and then some other game ones where they've come win even in the finals. They came in and did that against the Lakers. So they for some reason, historically, game one they do they do some things, and this is so many years ago. But I remember we remember because we grew up watching it. Dark River, that was Dark River's first team that he was Tulcha professional, anyways. And uh they was up 3-1 against this Pistons team, and Team Mag was like, Man, it feels we're gonna get out the first round than they have losing the next three. To me, it'd be hilarious because ironically, this match team is actually better than that magic team. So I it'd be hilarious, even with Team Magic, it would be hilarious to me if this alone team, as as maligned as they've been all season to find a way to win, even if they take it to six or seven games. But I would love for them to win the series.

SPEAKER_00 36:03

It's just I can paint you a picture of how it happens, I think, because what we have is we have a Pistons team that I think won the amount of games they won. Not because they're not a good, I'm not saying they're not a good team, they are, but they have some flaws that I think could be exposed in the playoffs. And one of them is the fact that they were the team in the regular season that were working really hard night in, night out. They had a real mentality about going out there and winning games in the regular season. And for better or for worse, as unfortunate as it is when you're talking about basketball, this is not true of every team in the regular season. In the playoffs, this is a basketball problem that's been as old as those as the league itself at this point. Everybody gives a shit now. Everybody's playing hard now, it's playing hard. And the Orlando Magic, they play a pretty aggressive style of basketball in the postseason. It's looking like they let K get 39. And I think the big flaw of this Pistons team is they don't have a reliable second option, not in playoff picture scenario. And playing the one seed, I think a lot of people would have this Orlando Magic team as a potential second-round Eastern Conference team. They are a great coach away from being a really great team, I think, but they have a lot of really talented players that could just step up in this playoff run and genuinely surprise the fuck out of everybody. I don't remember last time a low seed, I see this low beat in number one seed. Do you when was the last time this happened? Was it us in the heat? How high were we when the heat knocked us out that year?

SPEAKER_02 37:27

I think we were the one seed, I think, in the East. No, we were the one seed.

SPEAKER_00 37:30

Yeah, I can't remember, but I think us and the heat is probably the biggest difference.

SPEAKER_02 37:33

Yeah, the heat, the heat were the heat were what do you call it? Yeah, they would HP obviously they got to the finals. But yeah, I'm gonna say we were the one seed that year in 23. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, it was us unfortunately. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:43

There you go. I think it can happen. I think that's the roadmap. I think Bancaros learned how to play playoff basketball, which is a scary proposition. I think that the magic have reliable go-to options in different phases of the game. And like, like I said, like it didn't look fluky, it just didn't look fluky at all. Like it looked like the magic were if you sat somebody down that was from another planet, they never watched basketball before a day in their life, and you were like, watch these two teams, don't worry about what the little numbers next to their names mean. They'd be like, That's the team that's better. That's the magic is the one that's had a better season, right? No, no, turns out no. But if just basing on that one game, I think that is what someone would say.

SPEAKER_02 38:17

So maybe maybe I feel like what's happened is they've and it's funny because I say this when we talked to Drew Carter, and I was right about that eventually when I thought about that Cleveland team a couple years ago. This Piston team also reminds me of that 2015 Atlanta Hawks team, and it sucks, right? It sucks that they have to be remembered that way because that Hawks team won 60 games, they ran through the regular season, but then when it came to playoffs, and now granted that team got to the commerce finals, but they got swept in the commerce finals by the Calves because LeBron and J.R. Smith and Kevin Lovell went ridiculous crazy. So that was that. But I can see them having that. And it goes to my point. I thought I wanted to make, I'm glad we came right back to the series. And I'm not doing this to mess with you, I just think this is something I thought about. I think JB Beckerstaff is who you think Joe Mazzula is. You feel me? I really do. I think JB Beckers have is what you think Joe Mozilla is, and it's it's not close. Joe Mozilla is showing time and time again, yeah, there's some things that will drive us crazy. But when it comes, when when a rubber hits the rubber meets the road, his good outbreak is bad. And Jamie Bakersab is obviously a really good coach. He's excellent. But if there's now a track record of him getting these type of records, right? Cleveland was 64 and 18 a couple years ago, and we got him out there at five. So I just to me was again 57, 64, 61, 56. Men men lie, women lie, numbers don't lie. Shout out to Lomay. They just they don't lie. So I give me give me the guy that's become more of a psycho on there. And on top of that, what I like about Joe the most now, more than I did before, I thought it was an act, but it's really not. He really is about team first and doesn't want any act ways at all. And that part sends me over the moon about him personally. But yeah, I I want to know your thoughts about that. But they just J JB Vickers haven't. That's a good point.

SPEAKER_00 40:21

They might both be that guy, but we'll have to see. It's not 31.

SPEAKER_02 40:24

31.

SPEAKER_00 40:25

That's true. That's a good point. He had the best roster by about eight million fucking miles this year.

SPEAKER_02 40:30

There's been teams that had the best roster, best teams, and totally.

SPEAKER_00 40:33

I agree. I don't think that's I don't think that's the argument we should be having right now because we're bullish just in a good mood about the Celtics, which we'll come on to talk to. But I would talk about honestly, the as far as this Pistons Orlando game goes, Pistons got to find their pride. You can't be a Detroit team getting dragged into a street fight and losing by the Orlando Magic from franchise to franchise. And he was probably picking Pistons in four or five. Maybe some more conservative people picking Pistons in six. I think this series is now going to six or seven games. I think the Orlando might be able to actually squeak it out. Probably not, but like maybe. We still have a Desmond Bain game incoming. They're gonna have at least one game where he wins them a game. So that I can find he had that he had that for the playing game.

SPEAKER_02 41:12

But they just lost that game. But yeah, he was really good.

SPEAKER_00 41:15

Yeah, and I think I think they're a little bit more than their sum of their parts. I think they're a little bit more than Ben Caro and Wagner. We'll see. It's a really exciting series. I'm really interested in it, and I'm really glad that they've made it fun. And honestly, whatever happens, they're a young team, the magic, and I'm really glad that they're making us stand up and pay attention now because we're gonna have to be on the lookout for those fuckers. They're like they're coming. It's I'm not saying that they're the OKC of three years before OKC won, but there is a core there.

SPEAKER_02 41:40

So we've we felt that way. Remember, they took that Cleveland team at seven games a couple years ago. We felt okay, here they come. And then we faced them last year, and then we beat them at five.

Thunder Crush Suns In A Snoozer

SPEAKER_00 41:49

So they match up really badly with us. And we I think you and I made that point when we were coming, when we were when we did our playoff preview a few weeks ago. But we did say what Orlando does is they drag you into a street fight and they make you play their game a lot of the time. And I think that the Pistons underestimated them a little bit, and I think they need to find their motivation. Okay. Where were we? Thunder Suns. Cardio. I don't even want to talk about it. Cardio, it's a joke. Should we just move on? Yeah, move on. That's a joke.

SPEAKER_02 42:16

It's a cardio.

SPEAKER_00 42:17

OKC and four. I don't pretty much I don't know who's gonna take down the Thunder, or if anybody, but it's not gonna be this Phoenix Suns team. As much as I might, I might. I thankfully we didn't talk about this before coming into this, but I actually was talking myself into them a little bit before that game and 84 points. They're they look totally overmatched. It was a statement to the whole league by by OKC.

SPEAKER_02 42:37

Yeah, it's but it's it's Devin Booker. It's really I'm Devin Booker, and these are the Suns.

SPEAKER_00 42:43

It's one of those moments, and I'm just like they gave a fuck about Tito after Micah left, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 42:49

And I just now grant, I didn't know this. I didn't know that he got hurt. Yeah, I'm about to bring up not that he would have made a major difference, but he would have got level. I really like Mark Williams. I didn't realize that he got hurt right before the series, yeah. Um, because he would have been able to help against Chet and Nassan. I don't know what his contract is, me and Mark Williams, but if possible, I take a fire on him. I know what Kate has become, I know what, but I'm like, if you can, I don't know if he starts in Phoenix, but if you can get that off the bench, especially if you end up losing Garza, whoever was, I would absolutely take the fire on Mark Williams. I don't know what they're gonna what they would give up for him, but I would absolutely look into that for sure. I think he can be that impactful in any role for us if that was the case.

Spurs Blazers And The Wemby Problem

SPEAKER_00 43:29

Yeah, that'd be fun, that'd be cool. Thunder and four. Real quick, just the Spurs Trailblazers, real fast before we we uh do an extended talk about the Celtics and their demolition of the Philadelphia 76 series.

SPEAKER_02 43:41

I'm intrigued by the series, though.

SPEAKER_00 43:42

I'm are you talking about Trailblazers Spurs? Yeah, I think the Spurs are gonna win the series, but and no surprise there, but say is I know you said to me last time we did a basketball show that you think the Spurs are not quite ready yet, they're not quite fully baked yet. You still think that? Because There's certain things that are standing out to me, like rookie Dylan Harper unfazed in his first NBA playoff game. Like that to me, I was like, okay, these guys are a fucking problem, dude. Like the eventual probable OKC Spurs series is gonna be electric.

SPEAKER_02 44:18

That but the reason why I feel like this though with OKC was when KD, Westbrook, and Hardy won arrives. Remember, they they beat that Lakers team. No, they lost to LA that year, but I'm thinking about the next year when 2011. But they lost to LA in the first round of 2010. Kind of people were okay, like they're but they're the first player, they won for the games. The oldest team was coming. Then the next year they got to the conference finals. I forget who they beat in their first round. I want to say it was Portland, but then they got to the conference finals against Dallas, and you've seen it, but you was like, I don't know if they're ready yet. But then they got to the they to the next year, and ironically, it was San Antonio, and James Harden hit the biggest shot of his career thus far on Ginobili, and they got to the finals and they lost to Miami in five. So I just I see that happening right now. I don't know too many teams that didn't endure heartbreak before really going over the top. Like I can't think of any great player or any great team. Actually, I'm sorry, only person that I could think of right away that didn't go through any heartbreak right away was Magic Johnson after he won his rookie year.

SPEAKER_00 45:27

Rajan Rondo.

SPEAKER_02 45:29

Oh, yeah, that I'm talking about maker starter.

SPEAKER_00 45:31

You know, the best of all the best players ever.

SPEAKER_02 45:32

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just like I feel like even Bird, like Bird had to win his second year.

SPEAKER_00 45:37

Oh, poor Larry.

SPEAKER_02 45:38

Poor Larry, poor Larry won his second year.

SPEAKER_00 45:40

Like on the teams ever.

SPEAKER_02 45:41

Yeah, it's right. So it's hard, but like Jordan waited has seven years, yeah. So it's if I don't see them doing it right away. We're saying it's possible. This could be a Tim Duncan thing where I think they was gonna say that. Yeah, we'll see, we'll see. But I I the reason why I was intrigued by the police, I'll I'll let you go. I'm really impressed with what T. R. Resperder's done in the wake of what happened with Thomasy Phillips, it would have been very easy to say less melee.

SPEAKER_00 46:08

No, we've forgotten about that already, huh? Moves news moves too quick these days, man.

SPEAKER_02 46:12

Yeah, and it was a lot of turmoil around that scenario. And for them to find a way to be the seventh seed for guys like Denny Adrian, who is the real deal. I washing that what would you? I can say what you were thinking right because you drafted him, but you gave him up for a bag of peanuts and a water. Like he's he and now he's getting 30 in game one for and it sucks because you all didn't show up for game one.

SPEAKER_00 46:36

I'm like, if he had anything like what he is usually can do, they might have found a way to at least the Celtics, the Celtics are really Brad Stevens in particular, was really put on a masterclass in like the exact time to part ways with a player. Like you're he's gonna be. He'd been good hit. I know, but if you think about how we restructured that team, and if we were still as heavily reliant on Drew Holiday while Tatum was out and the amount of what we would have put on him, I love Drew Holiday, and I'm a massive Drew Holiday fan. The way that we restructured and found a way to fill in guys his position, and then finally had to give Pritchard his time. It was just such a smart time to do what he did, I think. Yeah, for all involved, honestly.

SPEAKER_02 47:15

No, for sure. And I but I was happy to see that they still made the playoffs because I felt like he's someone that impacts winning, and it's good to see that. Yeah, so it was good to see that. But I hope that he has more of a showing good game, too. Because once again, Denny obviously is showing like, hey, I'm not next up, I'm here. And because he was talking big before game one, he was like, He's like, Hey, they're young too. And he's like, they're gonna have to see us. And I was like, and he backed it up, the rest of the team didn't back it up, but he backed it up.

SPEAKER_00 47:41

The only thing I'll say about that though, is I agree with everything you're saying about Portland and I'm into this series. Can they drag the Spurs into the mud? Can they drag him into the mud and really have a fist fight and really make this series into something? I'm not saying that's a no, but the Spurs didn't even get their fucking shoes dirty in game one, and they really looked unfazed and comfortable with the matchups that they were getting thrown. This is gonna be a problem for every single team, what I'm about to say. But who matches up against Wemby on that Blazers team? It's like you're gonna have to throw 60 bodies at him, every team is gonna have to do this. I get that, but like the things that he can do are so fucking fun to watch, and it's so hard not to root for him for that reason. So I agree with you, it would be more interesting, but damn, like they looked really good.

SPEAKER_02 48:24

No, Donovan Klingon, who I think is gonna be a very good pro, he's already a very good pro. He just boosts once again. He's very good, he's probably gonna be walking double double the rest of his career. But to use your analogy, just stuck in mud and moving on defense at times because the guy's just quicker than him in that position. And Wemby's already a cheat coach, so if you're not really getting into his airspace to an extent, the only way you can knock him off is to be physical because of his frame. But unreal that a guy that big can do an in-and-out dribble like a six-three.

SPEAKER_00 49:04

Watching him dribble between his legs like a full court mode is so fucking crazy. Like, I can't even really fathom it. Crazy. Alright, we'll see. We'll keep an eye on it. I think he makes a music.

SPEAKER_02 49:17

I think Portland finds a way to get one out there, but Santa's winning five. I would love for it to go to six, and but I just like I said, Denny Ivy already proved to me really this season that he was the real deal, but game one further back that up. I someone just gotta get on. I want to see Scoot Henderson take a leap here, too. I think he's very talented. He was the number two pick, I think, behind Wemby a couple years ago. I I need to see Scoot step it up. I do because I think he could play. And to me, where's your pride at? Once again, people were just saying that Wemby was automatic and that he was uh he was a throw, he was a throwaway for as a number two pick. Was a pride, yeah. So step up or step aside, but they you gotta figure it out quickly. But I'm excited to see how the series unfolds, though, no matter how short it may be.

Celtics Flatten Sixers And Raise Ceiling

SPEAKER_00 49:59

Yeah, speaking of stepping aside, a truly emotionally defeated 76ers team in in Boston the other night. The expectation coming in was that they might have a couple of things to say for themselves. I know that we are their actual birth fathers in Philadelphia. I know that we have supplied the seed to create them and give them life. The way that the fans in Philadelphia were hyped. I know the Philadelphia fans in like any sporting uh sub-base is leaves a lot to be desired a lot of the time, especially the loud ones. But the way that they were acting coming in, we want Boston. The Celtics fans ironically cheering, we want Boston at the end of that game was fucking hilarious. The absolute demolition, it's over by halftime. You guys are emotionally defeated almost in the series. You have nothing to say for yourself. You should they shot 17 from three. We played they should show that game, the first half of that game, to college students when they're teaching them about two-way games. The way that we made our defense turn into offense, and I know that's what Joe wants. I know that's his real vision for this team is our defense turns into offense, which really happened in this game in a lot of different ways. Right. We we look like way too much for them, man. And honestly, I am fucking so pumped because the what the title of the last show we did together was the Boston Celtics are just playing good, and they playing good, man. Good. And there's not there's so much to say about it because it's our team and we're looking at the details, but there's motherfucking white guys coming off the deep bench, like hitting consistent threes on this team. This is crazy. This is a real thing. Yeah, that if you're next man up with the Celtics team, the next man is still good, it's still good. And what we did like what we're doing at teams with without even Jason Tatum all see all season, and now it just feels like an amazing bonus that he's coming in and accepting the kind of robin roll with Brown. It's unbelievable to watch. And all of a sudden we're coming in from I don't think we're gonna win 49 games last in the regular season, to are we favored in the East now? It's looking like that, we should be.

SPEAKER_02 51:58

No, but you win by 32. I think those questions are warranted. It's amazing how they looked, really, since Tatum has been back.

SPEAKER_00 52:06

He's looking unbelievable, really shocking.

SPEAKER_02 52:08

Yeah, I mean him and Jalen Brown have not missed the beat, and then that's that part's been beautiful to watch. Both of their playmaking has increased since Tatum has come back. And I want to hop on a point that we made. You heard it here on this show, you might have heard on some other shows, but you heard it here on this show. We told you all that the next level of Tatum's game with him coming back from injury, was that he was going to learn how to think the game. And when it happened, it was gonna be game over, and you're seeing it unfold in real time. His decision making is next level, and it's now it's all what what can you do? Because if he's making the right play off the double team every time, if JB now is making the right play off the double team every time, what can you do? What are you gonna do? What are you actually gonna do? It's wild, so it's great to see in real time. And I just to me, I don't know Kelly Rubre, not an answer, Reggie Barlow, not an answer, Quinn Grimes, as much as I like him, not an answer. And they're gonna find out. Once again, they were screaming at Wills Fargo, oh, whatever it's called now. Oh, you want to Boston, you got him. And people say, Oh, I once again, I still want MB to come back. I enjoy watching B play.

SPEAKER_00 53:27

People can say it's not gonna make a difference. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_02 53:30

It's not, but I'm saying I just like seeing him play though. So I like watching and be play. And once again, then who knows? If he comes back, maybe that's the game they get. Who knows? I like Maxie too, but it's clear that he's that's the guy they should be building around for the future, is Tyrese Maxie. But yeah, Paul George, even though he put decent in some moments, like we'll play in this series, and I don't think it's gonna make a like a difference. Personally, what was wild though, they had what Drummond and Bona there, and Drummond actually I thought looked pretty good. He did, but that's that but that's what scared me though. I'm like, we not scared me, but it annoyed me. It was like we got into foul trouble with Andre Drummond and Bona as their centers. Like that was wild to me.

SPEAKER_00 54:12

There was some there was some interesting whistles at the very start of the game, especially on our stars.

SPEAKER_02 54:16

I'm like, Scott Foster, what are we doing?

SPEAKER_00 54:17

But it was you seem to do your job to the microphone technician guy. It's like, why don't you do your fucking job, Scott?

SPEAKER_02 54:24

I thought that was pretty funny, actually. I don't know, sorry.

SPEAKER_00 54:25

It was funny, but it's also like it's I peak irony coming from him.

SPEAKER_02 54:29

Yeah, so I was just like, wow, but yeah, it hasn't mattered before when he's been in there, like you said. It's too bad we can't do this because it can't be on a roster right now. But I'll I would have signed Ben Simmons just for this series, just for the series, just back to play with just for the series, but yeah, it's the demoralizing is the right word. I remember how mad I was when they came in, got game one a couple years ago. James Friday went crazy, yeah, and game five veneer, and then Tatum had a game of his life game seven.

SPEAKER_00 55:00

But yeah, game of his life so far, so far, so far, right, so far.

SPEAKER_02 55:05

Yeah, I just think to actually it's funny, he was on Derry White's podcast earlier, and he said what I actually thought actually, even I said game of his life for game seven, the game six in Milwaukee is his best game of his career. It's not close. But what that moment meant, what it meant in the moment, like what it meant in the moment, we was all on him. He can't do it, he can't do this, he can't do that. He came to Milwaukee and said, not tonight. And that so just for what that moment meant, I was like, Yeah, he's not wrong. That's his best performance of his career, easily, but obviously the 51 was louder because that third quarter, I was like, Doc Rubens was just out of breath calling timeouts like this what can you do? What can you do? And uh yeah, and once again, the only Tatum injuries have DeRo does. Once again, here's the ankle and game seven against Miami, and then the injury last year against the Knicks.

SPEAKER_00 55:55

Like I think it would to me, it's like it's the Nets game stick sticks out to me, the 2021 Nets game.

SPEAKER_02 56:03

Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 56:05

The but honestly, to me, it's the Sixers because it comes off, if you remember, the fourth quarter of game six, and then it goes game seven and he drops 51, and it's goodbye, get the fuck out of here. You know what I mean? Like that, it's not one individual game, but it's like that period of him that it felt like an arrival to some degree.

SPEAKER_02 56:25

Mark Jones, and shout out to him on amazing career. But Mark Mark Jones encapsulated that moment perfectly in Philly for game six when he was like, Well, welcome, welcome to Philadelphia, James, Jason Tatum. It was hot in the fish grease. Just it was just perfect, and the best part of it was just making Doris Burke either worse because she had been talking crazy that whole game. And I kept saying, I'm like, not like this, bro. You can lose, but not like this. And then, like you said, just like that, bam, caught fire, hit four threes. And I'm actually I'm gonna go watch the highlight. That's we get off the phone, but I'll get off the phone, I'll get off the show. So I was like, Yeah, like that. Oh, crazy, but we'll see. We'll see, we'll see what happens. But I think more better better days are coming, like you said, better coming.

SPEAKER_00 57:05

Yeah, I guess my question to you would be just to put a bow on this. And I want to hear everything you have to say about the rest of this series, and I do want to project us into the future in the east right now, too. But just to put a bow on this conversation about game one, did that look like the Celtics were the real deal championship material? This is that we just made a playoff team look like a random January mismatch. Was that did the Phillies did the 76s just not fucking show up? Did they just did they were they just really that bad? Because I want to get hype about the Celtics, but was it a perfect storm of both? What was it?

SPEAKER_02 57:38

Yeah, I think it was a mix of both. They were like two or sixteen from three in the first half, and they had some good.

SPEAKER_00 57:44

We weren't getting any clean looks though, like we really were not giving them anything clean, right?

SPEAKER_02 57:49

But like to me, like I once again, I really like Maxi. I'm biased, I think he's a really good player. So I think that there's gonna be a game where he gets five or six threes. It's gonna happen. He's done. They still lose though, if the Jays if the Jays will have 30 points, but I'm saying that's gonna that's gonna keep them at least in the game. But then you have once again, I like an edge comb too. But I felt like early on the moment was too big for him. I think he could he started to slow it down in the third. But this is where if you're Philly, because we I know we were getting to adjustments for game two. Edgecomb and Maxi can't they can spark you in the backcourt because that's what they do. But Paul George, you've been you're the most experienced player on that team, even when it becomes a good thing.

SPEAKER_00 58:32

It's such a bad matchup, though, because I was laughed at for saying for comparing Jalen Brown to Paul George like five years ago. At this point in both of their careers, what's Paul George supposed to do when his when the guy's staring across from is an MVP caliber player that can basically do everything he can do, but better.

SPEAKER_02 58:48

But he's Paul George shows some flashes even in the season, like when he's feeling good, and obviously he still has a great handle. I don't know if he's totally I don't know if he's elite defensively, but he's good enough to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_00 59:01

No, he's he's there thereabouts defensively still, which I think is cool for his age, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 59:04

So I period, he's gonna show up. There is no listen to it, the guy's better. That's fine. Okay, yeah. It's not the first it's not the first time he's been in the playoffs series to someone better than he played against LeBron, he's played against other guys in the playoffs.

SPEAKER_00 59:17

Figure it out. And does he know that Jalen Brown's better than him though? Like he knew LeBron's better than you. I wonder if there's a there's an acceptance issue.

SPEAKER_02 59:24

Yeah, if you don't feel that way about Brown, you should feel that way about Tatum. One of the one of them, one of them is better. Like to me, both of them are better than him, but he should know that looking across. To me, Tatum is closer to Paul George's game than Jalen Brown. Jalen Brown was more like what we saw from Team Mac, which is hence why he's his favorite player and he's different workout. Yeah, yeah. Tatum is that that's still.

SPEAKER_00 59:42

I think I think Tatum's been better than Paul George. I think Tatum's been better than Paul George for five years, but like that's fine. Yeah, I'm biased. Yeah, okay, cool. How do you think the series is gonna go, Ray?

SPEAKER_02 59:53

I said before on our chat, I said I thought it would go six, only because I felt like Maxi would be annoying and find a way to get them two games. I I didn't it didn't change anything seeing them go by 32. Now I feel like if they do win game two, meaning the selfies win game two, it could very well be over by Sunday night. And that's the case. But I'd like to I feel like Maxie and whoever would be annoying and find a way to get them one or two. But I'd be happier to see this go five, if not a sweep. But but yeah, I it it won't go more than six. But if Philly doesn't find a way to show up, obviously in any way, whether it be defensively or even on offense, they'll be in Cancun by April 30th.

Celtics Knicks Round Two Forecast

SPEAKER_00 1:00:34

Speaking of Cancun, if we do, I don't want to get too ahead of ourselves, but this is the last thing we're gonna talk about, and I just want to hear your opinion on it. Take a look at the playoff bracket for the Eastern Conference. If we win this series, if the series goes the opposite to us series goes the way we think it's gonna go, and the Knicks do beat the Hawks, despite your prediction that the Hawks right now only down seven at halftime. All that being said, we're probably gonna play the Knicks in the next round. How do you feel about that? Now that you've seen this current iteration of the Celtics, this current iteration of the Knicks, they're gonna play us hard, they're gonna play, they're gonna play real defense, they're gonna play re they're gonna rebound really hard. How do you see that going?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:16

If you remember, I mean it was a different rivalry then, but you remember the uh what do you call it, the uh the Miller time documentary with Reginald Miller and with Indiana and New York, and how they had about three or four years where they were going back and forth for the playoffs, and a year that they were better, meaning Indiana being better, New York had got them, and whatever. I felt like that last year. I thought we were a better team, but New York got us. Okay, cool. And we were playing like shit. So cool, give credit where it's due. They all played us. I honestly think that they'd get him in six games this time around.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:49

Last year being a factor, too.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:51

Last year, but last year being a factor, but I something tells me that's not locked in. We may see JT and JBB in a while. Like maybe since the finals, 24 or like true. I think they go in there saying there's no way we go down to this team this time around. And that might be the only motivation they need, honestly. Game one and two will still be here in in Boston, but I think that game three, because once again, people forget before the injury, Tatum was killing them in that game. I was like, honestly, oh, this is it, it's the guy right now. Well, he's on, they don't have an answer. And once again, people have not had an answer for him since he's been back. The only answer is that he's been missing his three-point shot, but that's when I think even when he was healthy, just waiting. It's just I yeah, I just think he got over that hurdle playing in New York right before the end of the year, end of the record of the season.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:38

Like to win that game.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:39

Yes, but I wasn't worried about them getting out of their cave and no injury.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:44

Credit to him, honestly, because I was freaked out. I like remembered that injury was traumatic as a fan, as a viewer. So yeah, too.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:51

For sure. But yeah, I think they'd get him, they'd get him in six. And I know the NBA would probably look for it to go seven, and that'd be great just from a podcast standpoint, too. But yeah, I think this time around I'd be getting Chicago versus Detroit vibes in '91, where it was like, you've gotten us enough. And remember, Scotty had the migraine, he had an injury, and Detroit beat him again. It was just like, nope, not this time around. We're going to the finals and we're winning. And yeah, because to me, I think if they get by New York, if that's the case, it won't matter who it is in the Congress finals. It won't matter.

Rapidfire Picks And Signoff

SPEAKER_00 1:03:23

I agree. I would love to see I was I was 100% gonna make that exact same point. What I how I was gonna frame it was I was gonna say that if we beat New York, it's probably the Cavs or the Pistons, probably like coming out of that battle over the other side. To see the Pistons go down, obviously, just so that we could retain home court for the remainder of the Eastern Conference playoffs, that'd be great. But we're pretty good road team, and yeah, I think New York is the biggest challenge against the Celtics right now. I think as far as all that goes, I think they play us really physical. I think there's ways we match up really well against them, I think there's ways they match up really well against us. There's I'd say that our fourth and fifth best player are better than their fourth and fifth best player, which is a huge factor in a series like this. I also think our one and two best players are better than their one and two best players, which has a it's not as nuanced of a point, but it's a real thing. So that being said, I would like to see them next round, and I would like to beat them next round because I'm ready to exercise the demons of last year. Injury related, the style of basketball we were playing, I found as fucking nauseating. And we're not really playing like that. And I was really glad to see because, like I said to you, my big worry coming into the playoffs was we were gonna revert to the mean. I was worried that we were gonna start doing things, especially to a team that we really seem to have the on-paper advantage of, which we've done in the past, like playing down to our competition. We did not do that against the 76ers. I hope we don't do that for the rest of the series because I'll have expelled those demons. If we go on and beat New York, I'll have expelled those demons. And at that point, I'm gonna be fucking so supremely confident that whoever comes out of the West is gonna see a Boston Celtics team waiting for them in the finals. New York are the big challenge. I don't mean to look past the 76ers, but I'm doing it because who's your fucking daddy, Philadelphia? Can't wait to see you guys on the beach in Cancun. Have a really great week this week. Like Ray says, he seems to think that you might have something about you over the next couple of games. You might take one from us. It could happen. I personally don't think so. Celtics in four. Knicks Hawks, interesting series. I'm gonna go watch this right now when we get off this show because Ray filled me with the confidence the Hawks might be able to take one. I'd love to see the Knicks just get beat up for seven games, even if they do, I would love to be chilling for those three games that that they play on the back end of that series. Cavs, Raptors, yeah, Cleveland just won, so they're up to nothing. Let's see what the road game says, but it's looking like the Cavaliers there, pistons match.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:41

Game three is always BS, like for the home team. Like they is it like they do it's they do some everybody's friends with Michael Jordan on those games. So I feel the game three BS is what I call it as gonna happen. But I don't think it'll matter.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:54

Like I just it's you probably five games now they've gone up to not I I would say I agree. Spurs, Blazers, we chatted about Nuggets, Timberwolves, we chatted about. We'll talk more next show, Ray, about this sort of overall landscape of the Western Conference because I just don't have it in me to tonight to talk about the boring, boring Oklahoma City Thunder, who are also the best team in the NBA, probably. But I do want to I want to know and I want to see a couple more games out of the Nuggets and the Spurs to see who I really think is going to be able to challenge them. Maybe the T Wolves is an outside shot, but you know how biased I am there. Well that being said, we came, we saw, we talked about the NBA. I'm gonna go watch the playoffs right now. I'm gonna watch more of them tomorrow. I'm gonna mock more of them the day after that. This has been, as always, missing the point.