Thunder Look Inevitable, Wemby Looks Unstoppable, and the Celtics Still Make Us Angry

Second Round Mood Check

David Clarke 0:22

It's missing the point. It's basketball season, everybody. We're still talking basketball. I'm excited. Fucking second round, Mike. It doesn't have as much juice as the first round every single time. I think the next round will improve again, and I think we'll have some cool matchups going forward. But to me, the only matchup of two teams that are playing the shit out of each other that I really wanna talk about are the T-Wolves and the Spurs. We're gonna talk about everybody because we have certain teams to really shit on, but that's been the series I've just been the most interested in. I've been watching all the other ones with some sort of fluctuation between disdain and disinterest, right? The disdain obviously going towards the Philadelphia 76ers and just that just I'm, it made me so much more mad at the Celtics but we're gonna, we're gonna get talking about that after,'cause the last time we spoke it was a week ago and they had everything in front of them and instead of

Mike Marcangelo 1:13

W-we had them in the

Thunder Vs Lakers Feels Inevitable

David Clarke 1:14

Yeah, we were like, wow, if they, I think what I, exactly what I said to you was if they look against everybody else the way they looked against us for those last four games they have every chance of going to the finals and they just showed up and laid a fucking egg. We'll talk about them in a little bit. I'm gonna start with the Oklahoma City Thunder and the impending doom of the Los Angeles Lakers. Ugh, it's hard not to say, I'm just gonna start broad and I'm gonna ask you a question and you can tell me your thoughts on the series. But it's kinda hard not to say that this is basically just a case study in what happens when deep, organized, defensively vicious championship-level teams play top-heavy opponents missing one of their star players, right? You can play this tape 1,000 times. I didn't know if it was gonna be this clean, but it's just that same moment that we got last year of oh man, the Thunder, who's gonna fucking beat them? They're winning despite not getting nuclear level scoring from SGA. The I'm watching guys come and basically as the bench unit when these games are already over and I recognize everybody on the bench and I'm, or everybody on the court that's come off the bench and I'm just like, geez, the Lakers have no answer for Chet Holmgren. It's at every single level the Oklahoma City Thunder are a better team than the Los Angeles Lakers. Now, I didn't expect that. I expected the Thunder to be better and to win the series. I was thinking six, maybe five games. Damn, they've really on every single level been completely outmatched. LeBron, I, we don't have to rehash this'cause I said, I think I went into detail about it over the last couple shows with you. I'm very impressed by him at 41. Still, I'm very impressed by him and it's, it, his, the level at which he's playing at his age means that the Lakers can compete in spurts. But man, it just feels it just feels like you know the inevitability even when in sp- in these spurts when they start to perform. I'm like, I don't know what's gonna happen in the fourth quarter. The Thunder, they're just gonna turn it on, right? I don't know. What have, what's your thoughts on this series so far? And my question is, if Luka was in there playing at a high level, do you think it would be any different or majorly different?

Mike Marcangelo 3:18

So I'm just gonna touch on, on, on a word that you just used, like the inevitability of the Thunder, right? It's--

David Clarke 3:23

I know They're so scary.

Mike Marcangelo 3:24

that, that I was thinking of is, don't look lucky. They don't look like a w-

David Clarke 3:28

No.

Mike Marcangelo 3:28

one in ten. They do look inevitable. Like

David Clarke 3:31

Yeah, they do.

Mike Marcangelo 3:31

They are the measuring stick of the NBA at this point. They're the kind of the present and the future. Th- they're relentless on defense. They just never stop. And the last two games, the Lakers have gone into the half with the lead. And both times, yeah, it's two points or one, but whatever. They're keeping up with them, and then you realize in the third and fourth quarter that the Thunder just haven't actually accelerated the way that, that they that they need to. And then they j- and then they do it, and nobody can keep up. If Luka was in this series, I think y- it might be a gentleman's sweep. But Luka's not a good defender. He can score, for sure. But to your point, like the Thunder are so deep and they are so relentless on defense that I think that they would figure it out.

David Clarke 4:14

Yeah, when I was watching, I think it was game three the other day, I said to Leah, the Thunder look defensively like Joe Mazzulla pretends the Celtics look defensively." And it's really annoying to me because you know those first three games, Boston versus Philly, those first three games when we were really making our defense turn into offense, and we really looked elite on the defensive side of the ball? And yeah, granted, there was no Joel Embiid in there, and we just didn't have an answer for him, et cetera, et cetera. We talked about that. But the way that we were defending, it made it an offensive part of our game, and I think that is Mazzulla's vision. I really do think that he tries to make it so that our defense is our best weapon offensively, because then we create transition matchup nightmares. Our guys are really fast and athletic. They get back down the court really fast. We have really good spot-up shooters, so guys can get to their spot if we transition really well. That's all so much more true of the Oklahoma City Thunder on a more consistent level and a more consistent basis. And I'm starting to i'm doing the same thing everybody else is doing, right? Yeah, the Thunder's defense looks so young, so fast, so connected, so physical at the point of attack. The key tactical trends I'm seeing all this stuff, driving early, flooding lanes against LeBron, trying to get him tired, disrupt their timing, d- force late clock possessions. They're not even try- even when they're not being opportunistic defensively, they're able to smother, run off the ball, and then it's oh, you were at that point where the Lakers are about to take a bad shot. And it's oh, man they're also playing the statistics. They're playing the percentages really well, I should say.

Mike Marcangelo 5:42

Yep.

David Clarke 5:44

Every time in the third quarter that avalanche hits, yes, I'm trying to think about other matchups already, and I'm trying to think whoever comes out of that Spurs-T-Wolves series, like, how are they gonna match up against them? I'm actively cheering for the T-Wolves in that series,'cause I really, I honestly like every single one of their players. I'm even coming around on Ruby- Rudy Gobert this year because he's lost 10 pounds, and he's slightly less annoying, and he's matching up really well against the two big men that he's com-

Mike Marcangelo 6:06

for you that really annoyed you with him?

David Clarke 6:09

Yeah, he looks more nimble. He was so fucking clumsy when he was fatter, and it was, it just was always like,"Dude, what is this guy doing on the ball?" I never understood it, but he's, he looks trim, he looks lean, and he looks like he's making better decisions. So I hon- and I think he's got a chip on his shoulder about the Defensive Player of the Year nomination too. So I've actually, he's just... I wouldn't say he's still my favorite player in the world, but he's annoyed me less. And I'm like,"Okay, maybe he's an answer for Chet," because the Lakers do not have a fucking answer for Chet. He is an absolute matchup nightmare for them. So I'm like,"Maybe he's an answer for Chet." But even though I'm cheering for the T-Wolves because I just like all their players and I love Anthony Edwards and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, I also all the players on the Spurs. I even like Cassell, who's e- evolving into a real disruptor annoying, argy-bargy he really annoys everybody. You can tell. He's annoying every single player out there on the court for the other team, and I even kinda, I still like his game, and I just, if I'm cheering for someone to beat the Thunder it's true that the Spurs are ma- they match up better against them, right? They have the better chance.

Mike Marcangelo 7:08

Yeah just because I still... A- as great as Chet is and as-- E- everything that we just said about the Thunder, I think if you get Wemby to play minutes a game, I don't know who-- what the answer to him is,

David Clarke 7:24

I know.

Mike Marcangelo 7:25

there is-- he is a fucking cheat code. He

David Clarke 7:27

I

Mike Marcangelo 7:28

He-- I don't know how you defend someone at seven foot three

David Clarke 7:31

know.

Mike Marcangelo 7:32

and can now

David Clarke 7:32

I think he's 7'5", bro. I think 7'3" is short, yeah. I think he's 7'5", 7'6". You know how it's re- real height,

Mike Marcangelo 7:39

he's seven, four, 235 pounds. He put on 16 pounds of muscle in the

David Clarke 7:44

Yeah, you can tell. You can tell.

Mike Marcangelo 7:47

and you just forget that he can shoot from anywhere, and he doesn't have to... he doesn't jump to dunk He doesn't

David Clarke 7:54

I know.

Mike Marcangelo 7:54

block people.

David Clarke 7:55

know.

Mike Marcangelo 7:55

It's a fucking problem. So the only way that you can beat the Spurs is if you get him to elbow you in the face and get ejected, which now could lead to a suspension.

David Clarke 8:02

No, apparently not. The news just came out. No, no further action will be being taken against Wemby. He's going back in, which I think is fair. I think the ejection was fair, and I think not suspending him is fair also, to be honest. I don't really agree with suspending star players for, something that happened inside the game. It's you sent him off. He's gone. It's fine.

Mike Marcangelo 8:19

Correct.

David Clarke 8:22

lost the game because of that. I kinda had a feeling, I kinda have a feeling that the Thunder Or I'm sorry the Spurs win that game if he doesn't. So I'm just looking at these match-ups and it's it's also a more fun match-up to think about Wemby versus SGA because, yes, of course, they don't play against each other, but these are, like I mentioned to you last week, these are the two players that I think impose their will so much on the game. They have more impact on a game in different ways than any other player in the league. Because when you look at SGA, he plays perfectly out of the double team. He manipulates the referees. I'm not saying that in a foul baiting, I'm mad about this kind of way, but he does manipulate the referees. He does influence the game that way. That's just the way it is. He gets to the line a ton. He can slow the game down in a way where, we've talked endlessly about the please don't milk the clock Celtics. SGA, it controls the tempo of the game on, on, on bo- both sides of the ball, but, like, when he has the ball in his hands it's completely up to him how fast everybody's moving. That includes the team defending him. I wonder, is it more interesting to see Wemby try to win a I c- I'm exerting my will on this game competition more than you s- a thing? Or is it a cool idea to think yeah, but what if Ant can just get up in his shit? You know what I mean? What if Ant can really get up in there and throw him off? Because Ant's starting to look 100% again. And I'm start- I'm, I think that might be really interesting, too. The only problem with that, I think, is if even h- if he succeeds at that, the rest of the Thunder supporting cast might start to impose their will. So what would be a more interesting match-up, even though you, I know you think that the Spurs have the better chance?

Mike Marcangelo 9:54

I'm just such a big fan of Ant because he just feels like a real throwback player, like his attitude, the way that he does it. Now, the thing that we've been talking about in the last couple of years though is that you only have so much rope that you can act like that without getting to the championship,

David Clarke 10:10

Yeah.

Mike Marcangelo 10:10

So it kinda feels like we're in a make or break year. The initial injury report on him was three to four weeks, and he comes back in less than a week and a

David Clarke 10:20

Yeah.

Mike Marcangelo 10:21

I love him. I just-- do you think that the Timberwolves, if they're fully healthy against the Thunder, if they're fully healthy, do you think the Thunder don't still beat that Timberwolves team in six games?

David Clarke 10:36

I, the logical part of my brain says, of course, the Thunder win that because you can't seem to do to the Thunder what the T-Wolves need to do to teams to win, which is they play more physically. They hurry them up. This is, J.J. Redick's tried this against the Thunder already. I think he's actually made some pretty clever adjustments. He's a good coach, to be honest with you, as, as difficult as that is to, for me to admit. He's he's thrown different coverages at SGA You done hard doubles, soft doubles, switching, changing lineups, increasing physicality, like s- stepping out. He's tried everything. But OKC will just be like,"Oh, you're doing that? Cool, we'll just move the ball a little faster. Oh, you're doing that? We'll attack the weak side rotation. Oh, you're doing that? We'll start to space the floor. Look at the guys we have available to us to space the floor." So my worry, logically, would be the T-Wolves are experts in dragging teams down and beating them at that level, right? Being like,"We're gonna play this type of game, and there's nothing you can do about it." When they're at their best, they have guys that can, decide what kind of game you're playing, right? Because they're gonna bump you, they're gonna get in your face, they're gonna play physically offensively as well, right? They're gonna p- get a ton of paint touches. They're gonna get all this stuff. Gobert is gonna take your biggest guy out of the game it seems like. He was able to do that to Jokic, and now, and at times he's quieted Wemby. To the best of one's ability, right? I'm not saying he's keeping him completely quiet. But he's doing the best job I've seen anybody do one-on-one against Victor Wembanyama, and he did the best job I've s- ever seen anybody do against Jokic. Could he get in there and take Chet away or whatever it is, whatever kind of matchups they can do? Yeah. But the Thunder never look rushed. I never see them look panic after runs f- by the other team. They play with obvious trust with each other. They seem extremely well-conditioned for long playoff stretches. They've already won a championship. They carry themselves like they won a championship, and not in the kind of fake way that the Celtics did.'Cause, and you, I know you know what I'm talking about. The,

Mike Marcangelo 12:34

I do.

David Clarke 12:36

what ends up happening to the other team, and I don't think this would happen as much to the, to say the T-Wolves or even the Spurs as it has with the Lakers, but the defensive pressure, the pace, and the missing offensive creation by the best player on the Lakers has been a big part of why they've just looked dejected at third quarters when the fucking Thunder avalanche just happens, right? So do I think it would be a more competitive series? Of course. But, ah, do I think that they could get him, get over on him? No. But I do think the Spurs could. That's the thing. I think the Spurs could beat them in a seven-game series. I, just because the Victor Wembanyama factor is undeniable at this point.

Mike Marcangelo 13:09

The Spurs played them five times this year, and they went four and one against them.

David Clarke 13:11

Yeah. The regular season as we know not quite the same. But, phf, that fucking, the depth that OKC has, the defense they have, the transition offense, the bench production, or I already said depth, and then, ah, it's I don't know. You'd have- either team matches up against them, they have to play perfectly. That's the thing. They have to have a perfect series basically to to beat the Thunder, and I think that's the crazy part is the Thunder just have so many good players playing so well with each other in a great system for those players. And it's just, I just hope it's not a farmer's league, I just hope they don't walk it. And the next series I just hope- I'm happy that, I'm happy for either team to go play them, to be honest with you, because I love the Wolves and I believe in the Spurs. So I'm excited for that matchup. I wish the Lakers had to beat them up a little bit more, but because the problem is that this other series, whoever comes out of it is going to be, is going to come out of it bloody. I wish we could shake hands.

Mike Marcangelo 14:08

your point, that's always the story to whoever plays the t- the Wolves in the,

David Clarke 14:12

I know. I know.

Mike Marcangelo 14:13

is. So are we agreeing that the Lakers aren't gonna push this past potential game five?

David Clarke 14:19

I mean they play what, in two hours? I think they're going to get swept tonight.

Mike Marcangelo 14:23

Really?

David Clarke 14:24

Yeah.

Mike Marcangelo 14:27

Does this hurt the Lebron narrative for you?

David Clarke 14:30

No, I'm so impressed by that first round. He was completely by himself. And also like I said to you before, it's like best young guy, now officially the best old guy of all time. And old is being relative. He's six years older than me, but like the but for sports. And then in between, he's the only guy I've ever seen drag a bunch of fucking janitors to a finals. So it's just can you really hurt his narrative at this point? Like the con- the conversation is and has been him versus Jordan. That's been the conversation. And then some hipster will be like Kareem is better than..." And it's okay, maybe that was true for a while. Kareem's a better comp to LeBron than Michael is, to be honest with you, because Kareem was a guy who could he would add stuff to his game every couple of seasons that was like borderline unbeatable. He could get you 30 whenever he wanted for his entire career. He was the scoring leader until LeBron James. And he was, they were a similar sort of leader, like I don't know how vocal LeBron was until later in his career. Kareem was always like a lead by example guy, and I think LeBron tried to be that for a long time too. I think now he's a lot more vocal and now he's a lot more sure of who he is. But you remember when LeBron first came in the league, it was all he could do to just handle the expectations that were on him,

Mike Marcangelo 15:40

Yeah.

David Clarke 15:40

Jordan came out of North Carolina as some people were saying the second-best guy on his college team, like it's it was, it's a completely different narrative because LeBron's always been the number one blue chip diamond prospect, and for most of the time he's been in the NBA, he was the best player in the league. And quite frankly, no, I know this is a tired thing, but like no scandals. Seems like he goes home to his wife every night. I don't know. Like wanted to play with his kid, accomplished that. Are there detractions? Was he given too much power in the sort of front office over the course of his career? Yes. W- was that for better or for worse? I'd say it was for worse. Did he steamroll certain coaches that he had and make, maybe make his team worse because of it? Yes.

Mike Marcangelo 16:28

Who was that fucking Russian guy that they brought into Cleveland because he ran Mike Brown out of town?

Luka Questions Fitness And Availability

David Clarke 16:32

Yeah, I, and that's the thing. It's like then you're getting guys where it's like I don't really understand it. And like it's yeah, you're consistently playing with these players that are just, I know they're your friends, but Jesus. And at the end of the day if he has a post-game, does he lose to the Mavericks in that finals? You know what I mean? It's like there's a few things you can say, but it's not gonna be he got beaten in the second round when it was him, a badly performing Austin Reaves, and an injured Luka Don- Doncic not playing. Do you know what I mean?

Mike Marcangelo 16:59

so moving to the Luka thing. Do you, do you-- Is there gonna be any narrative that he should have come back sooner? He should have fought to get back sooner?

David Clarke 17:07

I don't know if that's for me the narrative. I think the narrative for me is I think he might be a fat alcoholic, and I think he doesn't give enough of a shit about the game of basketball. I think he's like... i'm not saying this is why he's not playing. I do believe that his hamstring is actually injured, but I also don't think he has the work ethic to ever live up to his potential. When he first got into the league and we watched his first season, it was early in our podcast career and I said,"He has the potential to be the best player in the league. He fully has the potential to be the best player in the league." He never... Instead, he's what? He's James Harden. I don't know. I I think that's where his ceiling now is, and I just don't ever see him winning a championship. He could prove me wrong, and that run he made with Kyrie was great and all, but like we stomped them. It wasn't even hard. It's and like you, you can get at that Celtics team. Like you it's, that now, right? And if he would just up his effort defensively, if he was made a little bit less of fucking baby shit, and if he

Mike Marcangelo 18:06

no longer o-on

David Clarke 18:06

work ethic to always be in shape, I wonder if he'd get injured less. I think he likes to drink, too. And I think the more we see him be an also-ran and lead that Lakers franchise to the middle land, the more we'll understand that maybe that trade wasn't the worst trade of all time. It was bad, don't get me wrong. I don't think they should have traded him. But it's officially right now standing as number one the most idiotic trade of all time. But what happens if next year Luka is like in and out, LeBron retires, Luka's in and out, and like AD has one last spurt, and then he has like an all defensive season. And you're like, oh,

Mike Marcangelo 18:40

Mavericks. They traded him.

David Clarke 18:44

that's what I'm saying, though. It's like a value for asset, it's

Mike Marcangelo 18:47

Yeah.

David Clarke 18:47

If you see the assets that were involved in that worst trade of all time, and you see the value go up, and you get something from it, and all you're ever seeing Luka do is Be pretty good at times, be Zion. It's, To me it's like you gotta stay healthy, bro. He- he's been given so much, best availabil- best ability availability kind of a thing. It's like he's been given so much rope at this point, and I know Laker fans and I know what they're like, and they're never gonna stop defending him, but I don't... He's got... He should be, he should be healthy for the series.

Mike Marcangelo 19:17

I'm with you. I'm

David Clarke 19:18

Just

Mike Marcangelo 19:18

100%,

David Clarke 19:18

be in better shape.

Mike Marcangelo 19:20

The one thing I thought that LeBron was gonna was going to do when they got Luka was instill that, that motivation and work ethic in. And it looked like-- Like he slimmed down o- in the last off-season. He was saying all the right things. But then, this hammy, I just... I understand it's a business and for a player you don't wanna risk your future for this one, this one run. But that's, that-- if that's all that it comes down to, like you might be forever known that you came back early to risk it. Kevin McHale could-- can't still-- can, cannot walk fucking correctly because he wanted to play on a fucking broken foot

David Clarke 19:55

Yeah.

Mike Marcangelo 19:56

He wanted to give his all.

Pistons Vs Cavs Gets Interesting

David Clarke 19:58

I get it, and also he got that, he got this strain that he re-aggravated right around the All-Star break, and I know that it's got a bad re-aggravation percentage, like it's high, and I know it's supposed to take six to eight weeks to recover from a grade two strain of your hamstring, but also it's I don't know, man. It's been, what? He got injured when? April 1st. So yeah, it's been like, what, five, almost six weeks? Yeah. It's too bad. I don't want to accuse the guy of not wanting to play. I'm sure it's like a, it's a decision being made by the doctors and all that stuff. I'm sure if he could play, he would. It's just that if he was in better shape, would he be suffering these injuries at inopportune times every year, is the question I would ask. I don't, I can't really answer it, but it is starting to get a little suspicious, is my overall point. All we talked about the Lakers-Thunder. Ugh. Thank God that's over. Let's talk about Detroit and Cleveland, which is actually interesting. I feel like, correct me if I'm wrong, but why Detroit went up 2-0 originally was because that entire time Cade Cunningham just looked like the best player in the series, and it didn't really look like anybody had an answer for his pace, his patience, his late clock shot creation, how good he is playing out of double teams. He's clutch as fuck. Consistent point production in both of those games, and Cleveland don't have a clean one-on-one answer for him, right? You gotta... They're spacing the floor really well around him, which they weren't doing well at all in the first series. I talked about this with Ray, where I was like, they're really f- they forced that to seven games because they were going,"Okay, make Cade beat us." And he can if he has space around him to get the ball to his guys,'cause that's part of what his game is. But they were just not creating enough space. They were doing that really well in that s- or the Magic were doing that really well in the first series. But now you're starting to look at Tobias Harris is emerging. Detroit's defense has looked really disciplined and good in this series comparatively to the last one. It looks like they've gotten up to speed. But then finally Cleveland gets back in because Domin- Donovan Mitchell's able to finally impose himself physically. Their emotional intensity finally looks like it's matching Detroit's, and it's oh, you guys didn't believe you could win any of these games? What? I don't understand. Like, where, why where was all this, was what I was seeing in that game three. So I'm super interested. Obviously Harden bounced back really well in that game three also. I'm always loathe to give him praise, but he looked really great in game three and had a really fucking rough game two. When he struggles, Cleveland's offense becomes stagnant, which makes me think they're not gonna win this series. But I'd like to see,'cause w- because he will struggle again, right? That this is just something we've seen. He was more aggressive in game three. He pushed the pace early, he attacked switches more decisively, generated cleaner offense. I don't need them, I don't need him to have 35 points a game, but if he lays another egg, Cleveland are fucked, and

Mike Marcangelo 22:52

Yeah.

David Clarke 22:53

he always will, bro. That's my worry. So I guess other than James Harden can't do that, what's your pathway home for Cleveland at this point as the underdogs?

Mike Marcangelo 23:03

Donovan Mitchell just needs to continue doing what he does in the paint. And if he, if he-- Like, get a sense early if your three's falling, and then in game three he pr- he got a pretty good understanding that it wasn't gonna be his night from beyond the arc, so he only shot I think it was, like, eight, eight threes, and then he took twenty-four shots from inside the paint. And he fucking balled out. Like, when he wants to, and when he does that they're a really hard team to beat because then the complementary, o-of Allen and Mobley and Harden,

David Clarke 23:31

but

Mike Marcangelo 23:31

it

David Clarke 23:31

they actually in game three started do- i- imposing themselves physically as well. They're a bigger team than Detroit. They just are. And Detroit's just been able to run them. That's the issue. It's are you trying hard? And that's the thing that I that I've had the question about, because it looked to me like Cleveland could make this a seven-game series by, based on at their effort levels in game three, but not their effort levels in game one and two. And I'm like,"You guys need to fucking try hard. You're bigger than them. You're more physical than them. You're stronger than them at points. Where has this been?" W- was the thing that was annoying me,'cause I just want it to be an interesting series. I honestly don't even have a dog in the race. I think either of those teams go into the final against whoever comes out of the West, they're gonna get absolutely fucking waxed. I, it doesn't matter to me all that much, but I am encouraging a decent Fight, right? And if Cleveland come out, which I'm so suspicious that they will, and lay another physicality effort egg in this next game, I'm gonna be so mad at them.

Mike Marcangelo 24:27

I just, lot like you, I I tend to root pretty hard for whoever is playing James Harden in the playoffs, and I just think Detroit's a good story. Th- they've been the, a bottom feeder of the East for,

David Clarke 24:38

That's a fair point. I haven't thought about it like that. That, I feel bad for that franchise who, who have historically been an important part of the NBA.

Mike Marcangelo 24:44

They've gone through, what Ben Wallace, and then Avery Bradley went there. They were just trying to piece together... And oh, God, who was the guy that, that was in Boston too? He was from the Clippers, could dunk,

David Clarke 24:56

blake Griffin?

Mike Marcangelo 24:57

Blake Griffin.

David Clarke 24:57

Yeah.

Mike Marcangelo 24:58

one a part of them, and they were never able to recapture

David Clarke 25:01

That's right.

Mike Marcangelo 25:01

2000s.

David Clarke 25:02

that second phase Blake Griffin pissed it, then, yeah.

Mike Marcangelo 25:06

And now it feels like they have a good coach. They built the right way, and they've just decided they we, When C- when Cade was drafted we were talking about, Ray said it. He's if all goes well, he's gonna be a top five player in his first two years," and he's right. And now they put, built a team around him, and I think that going down three-one to the Magic was a wake-up call for them. And honestly, I don't see this series going six games.

David Clarke 25:32

Oh, wow, really?

Cleveland’s Path: Effort And Paint Pressure

Mike Marcangelo 25:33

Yeah.

David Clarke 25:34

I think we're in agreement that psychologically it's defined today, right? It's, we're recording this on the 11th of May, and our prediction essentially is a shared one, which is if Cleveland don't show up psychologically tonight, they're not gonna show up psychologically for the rest of the series. That'll be 3-1. There's no fucking chance. That series is over if it, if they lose tonight. How, what's their pra- what's their path forward, though? How do they not do that?

Mike Marcangelo 25:57

Yeah, I-- Okay, so Donovan Mitchell has to continue putting up 30 to 35 points, or if

David Clarke 26:02

They ask so much of him. They, it doesn't matter what team he's on. He's al- there's always so much fucking asked of him, dude. It's just the kind of player that he is, but it's, and...

Mike Marcangelo 26:10

it, if he scores less than 30, then he has to have 15 assists and that means that James Harden has to be putting up 20, and Mobley has to be putting up 20. And you can't count on James Harden to put up 20 points in the end of the playoffs,'cause you

David Clarke 26:23

I know.

Mike Marcangelo 26:23

it.

David Clarke 26:24

I know.

Mike Marcangelo 26:24

a- as it's

David Clarke 26:25

There's a lot of playoff experience in that Cleveland team.

Mike Marcangelo 26:29

Not a

David Clarke 26:29

they could maybe take advantage of some naivety here. They stop turning the ball over so much, start rebounding the ball. They should be winning the rebound battle every fucking game re- based on the kind of players that they have and the physicality that they have, and they're not. They're just, they just look like they're getting out-hustled. Finally Max Strus comes in and actually looks like he's making some hustle plays, right? Like a real intangibles display, but a real Marcus Smart game, but the fact of the matter is they look like they've just been getting fucking effort peeled for the entirety of this series so far up until game three, and I just don't know how much they have that in them.'Cause I think they have the ability to go seven games i- if they play like they played in game three. If they play like they played in either of the first two games, you're right.

Mike Marcangelo 27:09

Also, it's-- they're lucky to have won game three shooting what-- Didn't they shoot 60% from the line?

David Clarke 27:16

Yeah, the foul shooting in the playoffs this year has just been absolutely diabolical by everybody except for the fucking Thunder. I don't get it. It's like they don't practice those anymore. Look, to your point I'm trying to find a way to explain how there might be any glimmer of hope here for Cleveland and w- they might be able to in fact make this series a battle. There are physicality elements, rebounding, playoff experience, home court, defend.

Mike Marcangelo 27:41

Yeah.

David Clarke 27:45

usually typically denotes which team's gonna win. They look tougher. They look like a Pistons team, which I think is kinda cool. Younger legs. And to your point about their coaching, I think they have a consistent identity as a team, and I th- I do think a wake-up call is a good way to put that first series because you and I, as Boston fans, know better than anybody that a first round force, getting forced to seven games by a scrappy underdog doesn't mean anything for the rest of your playoff. In fact, wh- when it's Boston, it's historically been a good thing. It's historically been like,"Nope, can't coast, guys. Gotta absolutely put, turn the engines on." It's what we thought if we had won game seven against Philadelphia it might've done for us. I'm now realizing we probably would've gotten s- fucking swept by the Knicks. So it's I don't know, we ma- match up better against... I don't know. I don't wanna talk about that. I'm not emotionally ready yet. They're so fucking annoying. How right was I about fucking Joe Mazzulla, though? Every- I said it in the regular season when everybody had their fu- his fucking nuts in their mouth, and I was like,"Guys, in the playoffs, this is gonna be a different fucking story. Just wait." Ugh, I didn't wanna be right, but I was. Anyway, sorry, just had to get that in there. Sorry, Ray.

Mike Marcangelo 28:52

think you kinda do being right.

David Clarke 28:54

I love being right. I wanted, it's one of my favorite things in the world, that's why I do it so often. But I didn't want to be right about that one. I really didn't. I wanted what I knew about Joe Mazzulla to matter less than it, it ended up mattering. Does that make sense?

Mike Marcangelo 29:09

that's fair.

David Clarke 29:10

'Cause Ray was always like,"It's basketball,""it's coaching,""come on, it's, we just need our..." And I was like,"You're right. It's about who's a bitch and who isn't," and we had too many bitches on our team. Most important players for both teams, for the Pistons, Cade Cunningham, Tobias Harris, Jalen Duren the Thompson twin. Cavaliers, Mitchell, Mobley, Harden, Jarrett Allen, Max Strus. It tells me that the Cleveland Cavaliers are really gonna need their role players to step up, which I think they can probably do today, but I'm worried about them doing it consistently on the road. I'm gonna go ahead and say this is gonna be Pistons in six. Where are you at?

Mike Marcangelo 29:50

Yeah, like I said I think-- Okay, if the Pistons win tonight, then I think it's over, obviously, in five. If the Cavs win I-I'm gonna say that this goes six, but it's still the Pistons. I just don't see... and it might be that, that James Harden bias. I just don't

David Clarke 30:09

I know. I have it too. I have it too.

Mike Marcangelo 30:13

Donovan Mitchell will do more than he needs to, and the Pistons will fall flat on their face in consecutive games,'cause that's what needs to happen.

Knicks Sweep Sixers With Force

David Clarke 30:25

Yeah, I'm with you. Let's see how it goes, and we'll chat after we've set our stall. We'll see what actually happens. It's a more difficult series to predict than obviously what is gonna happen in the Lakers-Thunder. And this next series we're about to talk about we don't have to predict anything'cause it's already fucking over. The Knicks didn't just beat Philadelphia, they overwhelmed them structurally, emotionally, stylistically. What was supposed to be, in my head at least, a competitive second round fight turned into a demolition. The New York Knicks swept the Philadelphia 76ers, what I would call a worst-case scenario for the Boston Celtics and us as a Boston Celtics fan base. And it's because they repeatedly made them look slow, disorganized. They mentally exhausted them. They physically exhausted them. And I have to say, Jalen Brunson, his ability to switch onto the slowest player on the op- opposition team, he used to do it to Horford, and I thought it was an us problem until I saw him do it to Embiid repeatedly and get him on the perimeter. The way they're able to switch him and drag a big man out and have him go at that guy one-on-one, that is their best weapon. It seems- It, it seems like really fucking hard to defend. And I wonder if the Knicks are the team we want to send out of the East at this point, because he might be able to impose that kind of play and several other strong-willed, physical ways that this team plays. They might be the, our best chance at this point of coming out of the East and actually doing something against either, I'd say at this point, the Thunder, the T-Wolves or the Spurs. Do you, would you say that's true?

Mike Marcangelo 32:10

Based on this series? Yeah. But I do think... Listen if what we think is gonna happen happens and it's Detroit and New York, Detroit smacked that ass

David Clarke 32:22

I know, dude.

Mike Marcangelo 32:22

Year round. All year rou-

David Clarke 32:25

Yeah, it's a good point.

Mike Marcangelo 32:26

never had an answer for the Pistons. Again, but, regular season this and that I think I've always said to you I like Jalen Brunson. I think-- I do think he's a more skilled tr- like, try harder do-gooder

David Clarke 32:38

Yeah. Okay.

Mike Marcangelo 32:39

You know what I mean? He's... I like this team. I like Mike Brown. I thought that they were gonna lose some toughness without Thibs. And I think after what Philly did to us I overvalued Philly's toughness when in reality we were just softer than

David Clarke 32:57

Yeah, we had a Cel- Celtics bias. We didn't realize the Celtics were as soft as they actually were in that series. That's the issue. And that would've been really bad against New York.

Mike Marcangelo 33:07

Oh. Y- Yes. Yeah. I think if we would've beat the Sixers in five, we probably would've got swept by the Knicks. I think had we gone seven, and we figured shit out we out-toughed them in for a game, maybe it would've gone a little bit differently. But I don't-- I just don't see a way where the Knicks beat the Pistons. I don't. And again, i- if it is the Pist- if it's c- if it's the Cavs, then yeah, we want-- we would rather, the Knicks represent us'cause they have the best chance

David Clarke 33:34

I think

Mike Marcangelo 33:35

to go.

David Clarke 33:35

I, do agree with you because the thing that I've seen the Knicks co- consistently punish,'cause I think there's a difference in q- in the question, right? Is, if the question is, do I think the Knicks stand the best chance against all three potential teams coming out of the West, or the t- the top three teams we think potentially are coming out of the West in the Spurs, the Thunder, or the T-Wolves with an outside shot, I'd say. I think they actually do stand the best chance. Why? Because Brunson fucking punishes drop coverage. He punishes guys that re- or teams that rely on big men that, that space the floor offensively but are a liability if you drag them out too far from the perimeter defensively. I think that there's matchup situations, especially against the Timberwolves, ironically. I think they have the least likely chance of coming out of the West, but I think they would actually match up really poorly against the Knicks in a seven-game series because of the way that, that Brunson's able to punish things. I think Gobert would really have a tough time after displaying great one-on-one moments against the best big men in the league in the West. I think Brunson would f- his eyes would be fucking watering looking at Rudy Gobert. Just the way that he plays and the way that he hunts matchup mismatches and the way that he's able to play into double teams and stuff. The thing that I agree with you on is that the Pistons kinda have the answer for a lot of this stuff, right? They can switch really well. They're young. They're fast. They run their asses off. You're not gonna out-effort them. Even if you out-physical them, they might still just out-effort you back wh- which we've seen against the Cavs in this series. So you're right, it's a big, it's a big hurdle to cl- to jump. It's a big mountain to climb for them to realistically say, for me to realistically say that the Knicks would get past Detroit. What I will say, though, is I thought Detroit-Philadelphia was gonna be a great matchup and re- be really fun and interesting to watch. But then Embiid's body fell apart and the 76ers look like the most mentally weak team left in the playoffs, thankfully to the Boston Celtics being knocked out. So-

Mike Marcangelo 35:25

just to put a positive spin on, you said this about the Bears a lot, is that every time a team played the Be- or beat the Bears, they would always lose the next week.

David Clarke 35:32

That's true,

Mike Marcangelo 35:32

may-maybe we, the Celtics just kicked the shit out of the-- it took everything that they had to beat us, nothing left.

David Clarke 35:39

yeah. Yeah, maybe. We need a new coach, though.

Mike Marcangelo 35:41

Can I--

David Clarke 35:42

maybe, but God, that game four was so embarrassing. Jesus Christ. That, the r- they set an NBA record for three-pointers made, the f- the Knicks did against the f- against the 76ers. It's geez, they got smoked. They scored 144 points. They've put up huge blowouts this year this playoffs here.

Mike Marcangelo 35:56

they, I thought they set a Knicks record'cause they only, they went 25

David Clarke 36:00

NBA record. NBA record. Yeah. NBA playoff record, 25 made threes.

Mike Marcangelo 36:06

the Celtics have never made 25 threes in the playoffs?

David Clarke 36:10

Nope, but God damn it have we, haven't tried We've

Mike Marcangelo 36:15

that's one

Celtics Vent And Three-Point Obsession

David Clarke 36:16

put the effort in, the old college try.

Mike Marcangelo 36:18

the one stat that, that I've been, like, looking at every box score for every game is just three-point attempts, right? Because do you know, not to make this a Celtics show, but I am so irritated with how they lost that series.

David Clarke 36:30

it was gonna come up because of how irritating the Philadelphia performance made me feel about the Celtics,

Mike Marcangelo 36:35

do you know how many three-pointers Cel- the Celtics per game in the p- in the postseason?

David Clarke 36:41

I don't know, 20? Make, make--

Mike Marcangelo 36:44

No.

David Clarke 36:45

attempted? I don't know, 65, 70.

Mike Marcangelo 36:48

46

David Clarke 36:52

It felt like more.

Mike Marcangelo 36:54

Always, yeah, it always felt like more. The next closest was 39. You're averaging seven more attempts than every other team, and

David Clarke 37:06

I liked what Brad had to say on that note, he was like,"Yeah, I didn't think it was good that we were just jacking up fucking threes." He's"We need..." He's"We tried to play inside and we couldn't. That sucked." And they were like,"Do you..." They asked him like,"Do you think there's a leadership issue on the team?" He was like,"Maybe. We gotta look at it." And I just think to me, and we had this conversation last week, but like just to reiterate the point, whatever trade at this point we need to make to get Giannis, if that's on the table at all, if that's possible, whatever trade we need to make, the more I think about it, the more I'm like, I'm good with whatever asset goes the other way.

Mike Marcangelo 37:38

You want Mazzulla getting his hands on Giannis and

David Clarke 37:40

I don't want Mazzulla to be the coach.

Mike Marcangelo 37:41

three-

David Clarke 37:41

I think if you make that, if you make that trade and you keep Joe Mazzulla as the coach, I think you're, you deserve whatever happens to you.

Mike Marcangelo 37:48

If they make that trade they're saying that it's not the coaching, it's the players.

David Clarke 37:53

Okay. I guess we'll have to ride with that. N- that's fine.

Mike Marcangelo 37:56

And

David Clarke 37:57

I...

Mike Marcangelo 37:57

Giannis is gonna attempt nine three-pointers a game now.

David Clarke 38:00

That's the other thing. It's oh my God are we gonna turn him into a fucking spot-up three-and-D guy? I don't understand.

Mike Marcangelo 38:05

at Andre Drummond. If he can do it, Giannis can do

David Clarke 38:08

I know. Imagine getting killed by Andre Dum- Drummond from the three-point line. 2026 is like a fucking fever dream. So fucking upsetting. I don't know, man.

Mike Marcangelo 38:17

I don't want Giannis at the expense of Jaylen Brown.

David Clarke 38:21

I w- I-- if we got Giannis, I would want Tom Thibodeau that day. Tom Thibodeau and Giannis, whoever's left, will do what they're fucking told. If that's Jayson Tatum, and he's, and he he it's"Dude, you gotta work, brother. You gotta run. You gotta run, bitch. Let's go." I want that. But also, if we fired Mazzulla midway through the season, if something like that happened, if it was all going really badly, I don't think that's the worst thing in the world,'cause Sam Cassell's sitting right there. I think he should be the head coach right now anyway. That is what it is. I've been Smashing that Sam Cassell button for what? Eight years now? We all have. So it, it is what it is, but that was a little Celtics vent. I think we deserve that especially after that, that Philly performance, and honestly there's not that much to talk about. Phil- Philadelphia were thoroughly out-tried, outplayed, out-physicaled, out-fucking everything by the New York Knicks. They got absolutely slapped and sent to Cancun with a fucking red ass cheek. So yeah, the Knicks went out there and made them their absolute bitches. I find the only thing I've really learned about the New York Knicks this playoffs that I didn't already know is I didn't know how many insufferable celebrities they had as their fans.

Mike Marcangelo 39:30

Yeah.

David Clarke 39:30

I don't, like I...

Mike Marcangelo 39:31

usually show up in the bad years except for Spike Lee

David Clarke 39:34

Yeah, Spike Lee I like, and I like Chalamet as an actor, but I, the whole Dune thing and then I'm like, come on guys, that's cringe as fuck. Ben Stiller, I'm like, eh, what is this, the year 2000? What am I doing looking at Ben Stiller? Anyway it's fine. It's all good. I hear he's a prick, for the record. Just a little inside info from the oil industry there. I hear he's not a nice man. That doesn't mean I want his team to lose. I'd say of all the New York teams, the least amount of animosity I have to them by just the fact that they're a New York team is probably the Knicks, right? You

Mike Marcangelo 40:06

Met-- The

David Clarke 40:07

don't think so? You hate the Yankees'cause, oh, that, I don't mean like that. I wasn't even counting them in my head.

Mike Marcangelo 40:13

Exactly, which is why they take the cake. You hold no animosity towards the New York Mets,

David Clarke 40:18

Yeah, you're right. You're right. You're right. I didn't think about the Mets, and that's'cause nobody should.

Mike Marcangelo 40:24

The

David Clarke 40:28

football team to really think about, and they play in Buffalo. There's two New Jersey teams, but I don't really, who cares about them? I don't know about the, do, are you supposed to, as a Boston fan or a New England fan in general, are you supposed to hate the New Jersey Jets or the New Jersey Giants? I don't know.

Mike Marcangelo 40:42

Giants for what they did to you in those two Super Bowls. Yeah.

David Clarke 40:46

because, but not, but that my original point was because they're a New York team. You hate the Yankees because they're the New York Yankees, right?

Mike Marcangelo 40:53

Yeah.

David Clarke 40:54

the, yeah, and let's be honest, the Jets, you hate the New York Jets because they're the New York Jets, right? The Giants, yes, you have that history, recent history I would even call it, if we're not too old yet. You have that. The Knicks have never been good in our lifetime. There, there's no animosity towards them whatsoever. They play in, they they've never been good enough when we've been good, I guess I should rephrase. That we've never both been good at the same time. I guess now or over the last five years, whatever, I'm so down on the Celtics at this very moment, it's kinda hard to frame that argument.

Mike Marcangelo 41:24

the twenty thirteen year, right? When we lost to them. It

David Clarke 41:27

Sure. Yeah, that makes sense.

Mike Marcangelo 41:29

And that

David Clarke 41:29

I think we also knew that they didn't really have it then, though. I think it was pretty, it was w- they had some good players, but it was like, are they gonna win a championship? No. Now they could I genuinely believe they could win a championship. For the first time I think that about the Knicks in my lifetime. I love every Spike Lee movie I've ever watched, even the shitty ones. Madison Square Garden's an iconic arena. I feel like they're gonna be really insufferable if they win a championship though, as a fan base. And it'll give me a it'll elevate the Knicks in my I hate them because they're a New York team ranking. So maybe I need that. Maybe I need that.

Mike Marcangelo 41:58

you. That, that fan base has suffered though. Like I'm I actually, I don't hate the Knicks.

David Clarke 42:03

No.

Mike Marcangelo 42:04

supposed to, but,

David Clarke 42:06

But but it's the same thing as a Yankees fan is different than a Knicks fan, right? A Patriots fan is a different kettle of fish than a Bruins fan. It depends where you're ranking. A Yankees fan is, a Yankees fan is a difficult person to deal with. It's"What's wrong with you?""What the fuck is wrong with you?" The,

Mike Marcangelo 42:24

a

David Clarke 42:24

it...

Mike Marcangelo 42:24

it's a Patriot fan.

David Clarke 42:26

Yeah, i... there's Patriots fans alive in the world that saw bad Patriots teams year in, year out. The Yankees are, have been recently pretty terrible in this century, and you're looking at a b- a fan base that still acts like they're the best fucking baseball franchise on earth, right? So it's that to me, it's like you're delusional. It's not like you're happy now that your team's finally gotten good. You're fucking delusional. You guys are hard on the Patriots, the Yankees fans are still like it's the Yankees." And it's ah, dude. Ah, dude. You guys haven't won shit in so long. All right. That was a diatribe. My overall point is the Knicks looked really good, the f- the 76ers looked really bad.

Mike Marcangelo 43:03

Are so-- if they they're gonna get slapped by the Pistons if the Pistons advance,

Spurs Vs Wolves Turns Into War

David Clarke 43:07

have to agree. Last but not least, the most interesting, I think, series so far in this round the one I've been the most interested in is Spurs-T Wolves. The Spurs, as we know, are ahead of schedule on their sort of impending dynasty that, that seems to be coming back down the road. The Timberwolves are trying to prove that their deep playoff runs aren't flukes, and I don't... some people seem to think they are. I don't think so. I really like that squad, like I said. Everybody seems to think San Antonio is still one year away. If they can get past... There is, people say,"Oh, they're st- they're still too young. They're too inconsistent." If they can get past this Wolves team, I still think they have a really good shot, and we had this conversation already. But I s- I still think they have a really good shot of actually beating the Thunder of anybody left.

Mike Marcangelo 43:52

Yeah.

David Clarke 43:53

The current state of that series, so to not zoom out,'cause we already talked about them potentially matching up against the Thunder. But the current state of that series is tied 2-2. Minnesota won a grinder in game one, took home court. Spurs destroy them in game two. It's not even worth talking about. Spurs take home court back in game three, right? And then of course the elbow, and the T Wolves win it. Maybe a little bit more squeakily than they should've after Wemba Yama gets ejected. Can Minnesota, this I think is the central question of this current series, can Minnesota survive the impact that Victor Wemba Yama has on a basketball series? And it's

Mike Marcangelo 44:36

No.

David Clarke 44:37

well, that's been missing the point, everybody.

Mike Marcangelo 44:40

But but that's not a negative to them because I don't know that if-- I don't know of a team that could right now. In a seven-game series, if if Wemby is healthy the entire time, if he's not elbowing you in the fucking face, the inevitability is he's gonna put up 25 or more points with 15 or more boards, and then what the fuck do you do? What do you do?

David Clarke 45:02

The weak side rim protection is always there. The transition finishing is there because he dribbles like he's fucking 5'10". The pick and pop shooting's there. The offensive rebounding is crazy. The recovery speed on defense is crazy. The fact that I've watched multiple star players on the T-Wolves in this series make unreal plays that just get swatted away is so crazy. I'm like,"Dude, that was such a crazy move. Holy shit, that's a bucket. Oh, okay. No.

Mike Marcangelo 45:31

While Wemby is standing flat-footed, by the way.

David Clarke 45:34

I know, but like they've, the thing is they've also really put him in a position to succeed this year because they're not just relying on his obvious physical gifts.

Mike Marcangelo 45:42

Right.

David Clarke 45:45

remember when Time Lord, when Robert Williams was playing his absolute best when we made him like a kind of a free safety, when the Celtics did that? It did, this is like that on fucking crack. It's Wemby as a free safety, rolling, spacing, screening, decoying. Game three, 39, 15, and 5. The 12 block game where they're like some of those were, some of those were goaltending," and it's that's just because when he touches it at the top of the fucking it, they weren't. When he touches it at the top of the arc, he's touching it at the top of the ball's arc. That's the fucking crazy part. It hasn't started to come down yet. And I think, honestly to me it's like watching a physically unbelievably freakish Tim Duncan out there. It's peak Kevin Garnett defensive impact. It's Kevin Durant style, like level scoring and Duncan level fundamental impact on the game. I I just, I've never fucking seen anything like him.

Mike Marcangelo 46:35

Me

David Clarke 46:35

it's so hard for him not to be the central point of the conversation,

Mike Marcangelo 46:39

he is what we all thought Yao Ming was going to be. He's just more athletic.

How Do You Survive Wemby

David Clarke 46:45

I just hope he stays healthy. With that amount of body to get hurt, I thought the Spurs also did something really smart defensively, which frustrates me because Anthony Edwards is my favorite player, but he was getting really, he was getting downhill really easily against them, and then they just had Vassell and Castle adjust. Vassell just started picking him up really early. Castle became a really good bothersome secondary defender, and the traps are arri- this is how you defend Ant. And I think that this is still a part of his game that he needs to figure out. But the traps start arriving early. They sele- they're a little bit more selective about them. They try to force him sideways and run him off the threes instead of him going downhill. He starts going downhill on you, it's fucking over. You know what I mean? It's, it, there's nothing you can do. The way he's able to finish at the rim, the way he's able to, his speed is just his pure speed. I, what I thought they were gonna do is have Fox defend him one-on-one, because he's also really fucking fast, but it's just the w- it's a momentum thing more than a speed thing. It's once he starts to get downhill, the way he can change his shot in the air, all the, all the things. He'll still score even with these defensive adjustments. It's still a real thing, but they've made really smart, really good tactical adjustments on the, on, on the sort of star scorers of the T-Wolves. So there's that. Also, their three-point shooting just started exploding. So if that continues, I think the T-Wolves are fucked. Game one, they, the Spurs didn't shoot really well from three at all, and then from game two onwards the dam really broke. I need the T-Wolves to stay desperate, emotional, play takeover basketball for long stretches. They can't rely on Anthony Edwards too much. I think there's a way for the T-Wolves to win this series, despite Wemby not getting suspended and playing sort of the playoffs of his life. You gotta bump him off spots. You gotta get physical with him. Y- you gotta make every possession of his miserable. You gotta make him miserable. You gotta wear him down over four quarters and over seven games. I, d- not to bury the lead, but spoiler alert, I think this game, this series is going seven. I do think the Spurs are gonna take it. I hope the T-Wolves take it. I just, I love that team. I really all their players, like I've said. But fucking throw him around. Throw Wemby around. That's your best, absolute best bet. I hope it works. Naz Reid has been incredibly important in this series offensively and defensively. I hope he can con- long may that continue. Do you think I'm delusional thinking that they maybe have a chance to win this series? It seems like you're dead set on the Spurs already.

Mike Marcangelo 49:07

Just be-- I, like you've just said, and I don't wanna repeat it, but I've never seen anything like

David Clarke 49:12

I know.

Mike Marcangelo 49:13

Wemby. And it feels like he isn't a one dime- Look, he's a-- He has every aspect of the game that you need to be s- to be a generational talent, and he's seven foot fucking four. So yeah, listen, if the T-Wolves decide that that they're just gonna put Gobert and Randall on on Wemby and just body him, check him everywhere, like maybe you can out-physical him. I don't know, though, because at the end of the day- I think to oversimplify it, it is, it does come down to your best players. And I think is better Ant. and...

David Clarke 49:48

yeah.

Mike Marcangelo 49:50

Sure, but we've-- but we have seen... we saw this the entirety of their postseason run last year. Like it was-- We were, we're like where is that Ant gonna show up?" Like the guy that we want, MJ's son, all that funny shit. And then as he got bigger, he withered away. Like he, he wasn't putting up like the 36s and, like I think for him, a s- a stellar night shou- should be 25, eight, and nine.

David Clarke 50:16

Yeah.

Mike Marcangelo 50:16

He's not gonna be able to, he's not gonna be able to drop 35 plus points a night, especially when Wemby's there. And I would feel more confident about the Timberwolves if they didn't win that game just by five.

Ant Adjustments And Series Predictions

David Clarke 50:28

I know. That, that, I didn't love that either, especially that last sequence where I was like,"What are we doing?" I agree. They should have really put their foot on their necks once Wemby got thrown out. Maybe there was an emotional thing for the Spurs there, but they looked shockingly mature for the level of age and average that they have on that team. Also, the idea of either of these teams, but really the Spurs playing the Thunder in the next round, God, we're gonna see some fucking high-level basketball, like really high-level basketball. And there's potential for that to essentially be the final series, depending on how the East goes. So I am excited. I'm still looking forward to all these games and all these match-ups. I'm furious at the Boston Celtics for being the, at home. Briefly, Jaylen getting cooked by Stephen A. Smith is not helpful to us. He has been so bad this off-season. He's really pissing me off. It's so crazy that you said what you said, that was your favorite season, and we know why you said it. We know why you said it. So you've timed that pretty, pretty expertly, right? We you be saying shit, right? Stephen A. Smith cooked you. He's"Bro, you're home. You're an NBA champion and you're home right now and this is your favorite season." He cooked you'cause you made it easy for him to do it. Also, don't get into it with those guys. That's what they do. Please, you're gonna lose every fucking time. It's what they do. It's the Charlie Kirk method. The only way to beat Charlie Kirk is a hell of a shot. And I, and honestly, you can't be a college student and debate him. That's what he does, right? Like that he's gon- you're entering into his world. He's gonna use bad faith tactics. He's gonna use this, he's gonna use that. But Stephen A. Smith didn't even have to do that because Stephen A. Smith was objectively correct. That's all. He, and he isn't a lot of the time when he argues his, hi- his corner, right? But he's a good arguer, he's a good debater, and he has, and this is what he does for a living. So often he's able to either fight you to a stalemate or win outright even though he doesn't have the facts behind him or he's arguing in bad faith. That's not what happened with Jaylen Brown. He was just like,"Bro, you can't be saying it's your favorite ever season when you're a fucking NBA champion and M- and a Finals MVP. That's fucking crazy." And he's right. He's fully right. And

Mike Marcangelo 52:35

And your, the, and y- your running mate was injured all year e- everyone thought this was gonna be your gap year, and you had to step up and lead the team so now it's your favorite? So he's

David Clarke 52:45

you went out in the first round, dude. Don't say shit like that. Ugh. Anyway,

Mike Marcangelo 52:50

I s- I still want him over Tatum, though.

David Clarke 52:52

yeah. Do you think seven games for Spurs-T-Wolves, by the way?

Mike Marcangelo 52:58

If the Spurs blow out the T-Wolves in k- in game five, I think it's over in six.

David Clarke 53:04

And then if the Spurs went to play the Thunder, what would you say that series would go to and who would win it?

Mike Marcangelo 53:09

I think it has to go seven. It's the Spurs. Spurs.

David Clarke 53:13

might win?

Mike Marcangelo 53:13

Yeah. I don't have a compelling reason to bet against a healthy Embiid.

David Clarke 53:19

I know, it's so crazy, right? He's so fucking good. Like it's it's it's like it's hard to like even do in-depth, intelligent, nuanced basketball takes about, I don't know, man, be giant. You know what I mean? Like unle- unless everyone else grows nine inches, I'm not entirely sure what we're supposed to do here against this guy.

Mike Marcangelo 53:37

If

The KD Chaos Theory

David Clarke 53:37

it would be an unfortunately, and I know this is a little Neanderthalic, this take, because they are a great basketball team. They're young and they're really efficient, but it would be boring to see the Thunder win another championship because we're entering into holy shit, are they just gonna win every year sort of territory here and I need the Spurs to give them a run for their money or someone to give them a run for their money in the next round because man they look scary. All right.

Mike Marcangelo 53:58

If OKC wins again this year, does Durant go back to

David Clarke 54:02

That's, we've d- we've discovered the one thing that might actually take down the Oklahoma City Thunder is

Mike Marcangelo 54:08

to finish out his

Closing And Sign-Off

David Clarke 54:09

of Kevin Durant. Even though on paper they would be the most stacked team in the world, they'd fucking all hate each other by the end of the year. It's like just one of James Harden, Kyrie Irving, or Kevin Durant just needs to go to that team to really do the damage that needs to be done to see them not just be a reigning force in the NBA over the next five years. Use your evil for good for once, one of the three of you. Come on. All right. We did it. We talked basketball. I'm gonna go watch the playoffs. This show, for your listening pleasure, as always, for myself, DK Sizzle, for my man, Money Mike Marcangelo. Oof, gave myself a lot of M's there. Really glad I got through it. This has been Missing the Point.