First Round Check-In with Mo Dakhil
01:24:00 Share

And now, The Low Post.

At this point, Lakers fans have to feel like Krusty the Crown when you bet on the Washington Generals to beat the Harlem Globetrotters. It's not going to happen. The Denver Nuggets with another second half rampage. Their style of rampage is slow motion, inevitable, just avalanche of slow Jokic baskets and Murray baskets and Michael Porter Jr. baskets and Aaron Gordon being everywhere, ushering the Lakers into an offseason of great

Great uncertainty almost across the board with LeBron James having a player option. D'Angelo Russell, oh my God. Zero points on zero of everything. Zero for life in game three. He's had two horrible games in this series and one good one. Almost feels as if he's canceling out a good season in one week.

Uh, Darvin ham, all of it will be reevaluated. Once this series is inevitably over the Orlando magic roared back to life at home, beating the Cleveland Cavaliers who decided, Hey, we've proven so much in the playoffs. We don't have to show up for this game. They were, we're the Cleveland Cavaliers. All we did is get humiliated in the first round last year, tank into this matchup in embarrassing fashion, give the Orlando magic bulletin board material, blow the doors off the magic in two games. Cause they couldn't shoot straight. We don't gosh, who,

Us? The Cleveland Cavaliers? We don't have to show up. But the headliner, as we welcome in Moe Tocqueville from The Athletic, from Bleacher Report, former video coordinator for the Los Angeles Clippers and the San Antonio Spurs. The headliner in a...

A little bit of a spicy game. The Philadelphia 76ers fresh off the heartbreak at Madison Square Garden. The great last two minute report scandal of 2024. The incredible, just ridiculous comeback from the Knicks. Rebound in Philly behind Joel Embiid, who Mo, I called on NBA Today yesterday, the great tragic hero of the NBA.

Did not know that he also was suffering from Bell's palsy, which Woj broke tonight, which explains why he was wearing sunglasses and all that stuff. And sure, just pile that atop the Joel Embiid postseason malady list that just seems to grow longer and longer. 50 points on 19 field goal attempts for Joel Embiid as the Sixers win.

behind a majestic performance from a guy who still does, frankly, he got a little bouncy late in the game, and we can talk about that, but still doesn't look like himself, particularly on the glass and on defense. 50-5-0 points.

to beat the Knicks at home by nine, I think, and get back in that series. Let's start there. What did you think of Embiid? What did you see from the Sixers that matters going forward into, it's not a must-win game four, but if they lose game four without home court advantage, they're in big, big doo-doo. Yeah, I think the first thing is kind of, I think it just shows Embiid was right after game two.

And I think that's one of those things, like when we talk about like the, the, a lot of the adjustments, there wasn't a lot of adjustments, I think for the Sixers. They're at the end of, they're in both of those games and should have won game two with the way it went. And I think the, the fact was they just came out with a much more focused, much more, uh,

interest like like locked in attack early on pounding the post with Embiid and letting him go from there I thought Maxie was actually pretty rough in the first half but he got going in the second half and really found his rhythm but I just think it just proved that hey Embiid's gonna get you in foul trouble and then

The Knicks don't have an answer for that. Once Hartenstein picks up a few fouls, then you have Mitchell Robinson pick up a couple of fouls in the first half. You're in trouble at that point. And I think Embiid just feasted off of them after that. Well, you know who else had foul issues? Joel Embiid, who picked up three fouls in the first half. The last one was a charging call in which he looked a little bit lurchy.

And charging to Mitchell Robinson. We should also mention that Mitchell Robinson left the game with a sprained ankle. And there was video of him leaving the arena in a walking boot. That's a big deal potentially going forward for the Knicks. But Joel Embiid stayed in the game with three fouls in the first half. Did not commit a fourth foul in the first half. And proceeded to just dominate the game. I thought you just nailed it with... Well, actually, you know what? Let's start with the spice. Joel Embiid was called for a flagrant one for...

Kind of wrapping, not kind of, for wrapping up Mitchell Robinson's legs as Mitchell Robinson went up for a putback dunk. I wouldn't call it a tackle. I would call it something you would do in football if you were in the position that Joel Embiid were in football, prone on your back without much else to do. Also appeared to knee Isaiah Hartenstein in the groin as they kind of...

just decided to have a collision they look like hockey like hockey glutes just like you know what it's time for us to just collide and see whose body part who's whose body part and who gets hurt did not get called for a flagrant on that um obviously knicks fans uh fresh off their own

you know, aid in game two are a little Tom Thibodeau had Tom Thibodeau had some comments after the game, which flagrant foul, which one are you talking about? They're a little, they're a little, they're a little miffed about MB and maybe not getting tossed from this game. I personally was fine with him not getting tossed. I, they, they clearly have built in the flagrant criteria for,

unnecessary and excessive allows them to legislate around the outcome of an act and Mitchell Robinson kind of fell softly should also mention Joel Embiid did a softer version of the Draymond Green leg kick into the groin of was that Hartenstein again yes poor guy my god

That's what you get for hitting eight floaters every game that barely even touch the rim. Isaiah Hartenstein, what an outstanding. By the way, Nick's better bring that dude back next year. That guy is good and he's earned a lot of money. I was fine with the decision to let Embiid stay in the game. I didn't think it was that big of a deal, but maybe I'm just delirious from watching all these games. I think I was fine either way. It was a real judgment call. Like if they actually gave him a flagrant two for the Mitchell Robinson one of

The injury, like I would have been OK with that, too, because that's just a crazy dangerous play in that instance when you're trying to grab his legs. And I think, you know, again, Mitchell Robinson leaving with a walking boot, not exactly an encouraging sign in that regard. But like if they had called it a flagrant to Zach, I mean, like we all would have gone nuts. I still would have thought like, OK, that's actually pretty fair. Them deciding, hey, it's a flagrant one. We're going to keep it moving. I'm fine with that, too. Like it was that close to me.

It could have gone either way. It's clearly a dangerous play, which is why I mentioned that they can kind of legislate based on the outcome of the play more than anything else. Like it is a dangerous play. I mean, if you, if that's an airborne high velocity kind of play, that's a flagrant too. Let's talk about what might carry over, what we saw that might carry over into game four. You mentioned that Max, you got going in the second half. And one of the reasons he got going was, um,

He finally got a rhythm with Joel in the pick and roll. And one of the ways he did that was by bringing Jalen Brunson into the play. They ran that same play over and over again, a staggered pick and roll with Kyle Lowry setting the first screen and Embiid setting the second one because Brunson was on Kyle Lowry and they wanted Brunson to switch on to Maxie. There was at least one play where Maxie just ISO'd him and hit a three right over Jalen Brunson. I actually think both teams...

could aim their star guards at the opposing star guard a little bit more and just let them cook. But they got in a rhythm on that. Joel Embiid started hitting pick and pop threes. And then if you remember, the Knicks started overcorrecting to that and sending help flashing toward him, a third defender flashing to Joel on the pop. And Kyle Lowry got a wide open corner through out of that. Kelly Oubre cut baseline for a basket out of that.

I would expect to see a lot more of that in game four. I also thought Brunson got – I mean, he had 39 points or whatever. He got into a rhythm, but specifically he got into a rhythm in the third quarter going at Embiid's pick-and-roll defense. Like, you're going to sit back there, big fella? You don't want to move?

I'm going at you. And if that screen hits or better yet, if I get Maxie on me first and then that screen hits Maxie and I got airspace, I'm going to go at sometimes I might try and go around you, but I'm at least going to go at you and hit jump shots. And then you could see the evolution of it. Embiid blitzed once instead of dropping back and Hartenstein just rolled and got an easy dunk. Then they took Embiid and they put him on Josh Hart and said, we just want him out of the pick and roll altogether. Then they played zone and

And the zone in this series has made me nervous because it feels like it is solely designed to protect Joel Embiid from having to move around the floor. But it was good for the Knicks, I think, to see Brunson get going. This was like a well-played offensive game by both teams, I thought.

Yeah, I thought actually the offense on both ends was pretty solid. They both kind of knew where they wanted to attack. It was, you know, you just kind of outlined perfectly how Brunson attacked the pick and roll on one end and beat and basically forced the Sixers into different coverages to try to protect Joel Embiid and all that. I think we're going to see all of that again in game four. I think the stuff that I...

think we could see a little bit better from the Knicks is like, cool. When they put him on Josh Hart, bring him into the screen. Like, I just think we're just, just don't let him beat rest for the most part with everything that they're doing in that sense and allow them to keep attacking. I would think though, at some point, the Sixers are just going to sell out and just try to get the ball out of Brunson's hands once he starts cooking. Cause that's to me, the biggest weakness with this Knicks team with Randall out

Like, who do you trust to play make after Brunson? Who is the secondary guy that you're just so confident is going to get you a create a bucket for everybody else? And I think that's the thing that's missing with this next team. I think that's part of where they're missing Julius Randall in the large portion of it. And I think that's coming. They haven't really done it yet.

But I think the Sixers are just waiting for one Brunson really gets going and they're in a situation where they're in a little bit of trouble. I think we're going to start to see that. And I don't know how the Knicks counter that. And then they just kind of do it by committee, like Josh Hart, random fast breaks. DiVincenzo is actually up this pick and roll volume a little bit in this series and gotten good stuff out of it. Anunobi had probably his most self-creation of the series in this game and looked OK doing it. Bogdanovich would help.

He just, I mean, Tibbs just doesn't seem to trust him to play more than 12 to 18 minutes a game. And the Sixers are hunting him on defense every time that he's in the game, every single possession. I was encouraged, you know, it was a jump shooting game for Embiid. You did not see a lot of the power post-ups after the first quarter, which

Which is fine. Like, obviously, he scored 50 points. Like, he could score. He could do anything. But I was encouraged at the end of the game in the last five minutes, he had like a crazy acrobatic closeout on a Josh Hart left corner three where he went all out and leaped as high as he could into the air and clapped his hands above his head. And I was like, oh, he –

okay. And then right after that, he got the ball at the top of the key, I think against precious. It's you. I may be misremembering that. And just was like, I'm going right at you full blast, all the power I can summon and drew a foul. And I was like, Oh,

okay like he's he's like he's not totally compromised he has he can summon that kind of physicality late in the game i i do think his defense is something to watch going forward um i liked you know i like that lineup when they replace um tobias harris with batum i think that might be their best lineup so far in this series although tobias harris is okay um in spurts in spurts tonight and

I don't know. What else from this game? What else stuck out to you? I'm scanning my notes to see if there's anything else that needs to be said other than just a masterpiece from Joel. I mean, like, he's injured. He's clearly not 100%.

And he's gotten this out. He has Bell's palsy. Like, it's just, let's just throw more. You know what I mean? What else can we add to the list in terms of what Embiid's going to have to go through with that? But I think the other thing that's kind of encouraging with those late moves. Is he on the Oregon trail? Is he going to get snake bite? Yeah, right. Yeah.

There's the snake bite. There's a watch out for dysentery. Like there's a whole lot of stuff there on that Oregon trail. But the, but the thing with him being more impressive is that like, I think he's actually getting his legs under him too. And I think getting a little bit more stamina, which kind of explains some of those bursts that we're seeing at the end of games. Cause I think that was the stuff I, especially in game one, I felt like he just had no legs, you know, when it, when it came to the end of that game. And I feel like he's slowly getting that back.

You can tell he's not 100% because the defense. But on offense, you can tell it's legs and stamina is the biggest concern for me in that end. And I think that's kind of the difference with the two. We'll know when he's getting healthier because he'll get more aggressive defensively.

But offensively, we know when he's feeling more, he's got more juice and more stamina, then he's going to be able to push. And I think those are the things to kind of watch for. But I also think the Knicks got to figure out how they're going to handle that two-man game with Maxie.

That's going to be the big thing for them that is going to keep Tibbs and that coaching staff up all night. I mean, this is what happens after the game. As a video guy, like on the road, cool. Sometimes we're watching that game as a staff that night. We're pulling clips. We're getting the list of clips of like, okay, this is for the team edit. This one we're going to show to...

We're going to show to the bigs. This one we're going to show to the guards. This one's just for Brunson. This one's just for whoever. We're pulling all of these clips out. And then you're looking at each other going like, how are we going to handle these things? And I don't think they have a great answer.

for the Maxie and B two man game. Cause they just do a good job playing off of each other. Maxie does a good job of really stretching that, that out and pulling Isaiah Hartenstein with him. And then it's opens up the pop to Embiid. And like you said, they bring the third guy off and B's going to find the guy. He's going to make the next pass. There's going to be just so many different things that they got to figure out how to just handle that. That's the beginning for the Knicks coming into game four is what do you do there? Yeah.

And it's interesting because the Knicks are not a big team of defensive tinkerers. Like they kind of just play how they play. They're not going to, they don't bust out like all of a sudden they're blitzing Isaiah Hartenstein. And they just kind of like OG, OG and an OB is going to fight over the screen. A Hartenstein and Mitchell Robinson, if he can play or a Chua, if he, if he has to play are going to come up, you know, probably to the level and, and not much higher than that. A Chua can switch.

And the Knicks have flirted on a few possessions here. There was switching and an OB on to Embiid. And an OB is a big, strong dude. Who's guarded a lot of centers, particularly under Nick nurse, ironically in Toronto, Joel Embiid's a different, a different animal. And, uh,

I think that's worth like mixing in, particularly if you can have the help ready behind it. Like, you know, you're going to do it every once in a while. You have the help ready behind it. I think that's interesting, particularly with Achua. Um, but Maxie is so fast. Like he's not a typical point guard, even for a switchy big guy. Like Achua is a pretty good switcher. Like Tyrese Maxie is a, is a turbocharged water bug out there. He can blow by anybody. I mean, there was one to play where he did exactly that against Achua. Like, uh, uh,

it's easier said than done. So I know when I say it, I say, it sounds like it's so simple, but there was a play where he comes off. I think it was a handoff off of him beat and he turns the corner and a chew of switches, except the chew wood doesn't stay parallel to the sideline, right? Like he almost opens the door and is trying to meet Maxie at the basket. And good luck with that. Cause you're already beat at that point. Once you kind of open it up and you're at a 45 angle and not just kind of squared,

Maxie's going to beat you to the rim every time. And the time he doesn't, it's because he decided to slow down, not because you caught him. And I think that's the big thing there with Maxie. That's the problem with the speed with Maxie that I think is going to be a real issue for them. And again, it comes down to that two-man game. Well, hopefully we get more complaints to the league office now from the Knicks side. Compiling a fat dossier of...

of complaints does leon rose sent the uh the grievance now are we gonna send a grievance for this one or i think daryl morey is still um filing grievances over the 2018 conference finals against the warriors i think that audit is still ongoing a crack staff of like 50 people are still digging into that uh to just maybe the rockets are going to be retroactively rewarded the nba championship

I picked the Knicks in seven in this. Did you make picks before the... Yeah, I had the Knicks in seven. I was a little worried when it felt like the tide was turning at the end of the first half of this game that it was going to be like, here come the Nova Knicks in Philly. You know, a lot of Knicks fans in the stands. They're the healthier... Well, I mean, Randall's hurt, but they're not dealing with quite as much as the Sixers. You know, and the other...

I mean, the Sixers are getting absolutely nothing from Buddy Heald. I think he played four minutes in this game. We should mention campaign came in and became Buddy Heald essentially and just rained threes randomly after not playing much. I do think it's worth revisiting that the Sixers traded James Harden, discovered much to their delight that Tyrese Maxey was a legitimate co-star for Joel Embiid, acquired a bunch of draft equity in exchange for James Harden,

Talked a lot about how they were going to use that draft equity to upgrade their team, maybe at this trade deadline, maybe in the offseason when they have a bundle of cap space, max level cap space. Paul George still has not signed an extension with the Clippers. That's neither here nor there. I would expect him to, but until he has, he hasn't. Yeah.

And they didn't really do anything at the trade deadline to upgrade their team. I mean, Buddy Hield was a worthy shot with a bunch of second round picks. He's not doing anything for them in this series. And I think that's a frozen moment. It's not like any big, big names were acquired at the trade deadline. In fact, the Knicks got a lot of positive press, including from me, for acquiring Boyan Bogdanovich and Alec Burks. Alec Burks has not played in weeks and Boyan Bogdanovich is not playing very much. So it's not as if there was some big giant prize out there for them to get.

And they were also, I think, a little bit frozen in place with the uncertainty of when is Joel Embiid actually going to come back? In what condition is he going to come back? It's hard to make a big bet without knowing that, but they're kind of paying the price a little bit for that in this series. No D'Anthony Melton tonight, although he was active, he did not play. Anything else from this game before we move on? Great win. Great win for the Sixers. Obviously, like...

Embiid's had other incredible playoff games. You know, the airplane game against Toronto that gets replayed over and over again. Probably the best playoff game of his career and the most consequential game of his career. And the fact that he's doing this all with an injury, like you just can't say enough about. I mean, I'm alternatively like

awed by what he's doing and just worried that you know every game that he leaves to go to the locker room I'm like oh my god is this going to be the one and it hasn't been yet and and I think you know Doris Burke talked about how he's just sort of mentally dealing with

recovering from injury and every every time he lands a little funny you know that's it that's an issue but anything else from this game no i think you nailed it calling him kind of like the tragic figure tragic shakespearean figure in the nba with with imbied but it was it's awesome to see and i'm glad we actually got a fun one out of this one here and and we're ready to roll i'd have been pretty and pretty disappointed if if the sixers went down 3-0

I think we're getting lined up for hopefully a fun series. Virginia football fans, picture this. You bet on your favorite player to score the first touchdown, and he throws an awesome block so his teammate can score instead. If this happens, BetMGM wants to give you another chance at the end zone. With BetMGM's Second Chance Promotion, you'll get your stake back if your first touchdown scorer scores second instead.

That's right. Bet on any pro football player to score the first touchdown of the game. If you're right, you win. If your player scores second, you get your stake back in cash. Everyone knows the most exciting part of football is the score. With BetMGM's second chance promotion, you have a chance to keep the fun going after the first player crosses the goal line. Place a first touchdown scorer wager today.

BetMGM and GameSense remind you to play responsibly. See BetMGM.com for terms. 21 plus only. Virginia only. Existing customer offer. Subject to eligibility requirements. Rewards vary. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. This episode is brought to you by Allstate. Some people just know they could save hundreds on car insurance by checking Allstate first. Like, you know to check you have the tickets in your wallet first before you drive two hours to the big game.

Seriously, you had one job. Now the closest you'll get to the 50-yard line is parking lot D. Yeah, checking first is smart. So check Allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with Allstate. Savings vary. Terms apply. Allstate Fire and Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois. A team that did go down 3-0 is the Lakers. We were going to have on NBA Today one of those debate games

where the question was, what's the more likely outcome in the series? A Denver sweep or a seven game series? And we were all like, seven? Seven? The Lakers haven't beaten this team in two years. Like literally two years. They're going to beat them three times now?

And, you know, obviously game two was just an all time gut punch, heartbreaking loss for a team that has absolutely no margin for bad luck, for injury, for underperformance, for anything in this series. They had to have that game. They didn't get it. They come out like a house of fire in this game, go up eight, nothing timeout. They're up at halftime and never for one second.

Did I sit here watching the game thinking, oh, they're going to win the game. In fact, I thought, well, let me set my watch for when the Nuggets are going to be up by seven in the third quarter. And just like that, the Nuggets were up by seven, 10, 12. Lakers would make a couple of random baskets. They just don't have any answers, enough answers anyway for this team. And like I said, to open, like they're, they're not going to win this series. Maybe they squeak out game four and force Denver to go back to, to Denver and close it out. But anyway,

They're not going to win the series and they're going to go into the summer with the Angela Russell with the player option. LeBron James with the player option. Darvin Ham on the hop seat. Three first round picks to potentially trade both point guards in Atlanta potentially available among other among other targets.

One way or another, this team is going to look different next year once this series is over. They've played well. They've played honorably. They've been a very good team for two months now, 28 and 14, to close the season. They had won a few more games in the regular season. They might be going toe-to-toe with the Clippers, the Mavericks, a team that's still really good but isn't the Nuggets. I don't know. What's worth talking about from this game? I mean, it's...

It's just it's the same game every time. It's the same. It's the same game. It's I'm watching the game and I'm like, is this am I really watching this again? Yeah, I mean, we listen. We saw this almost exact game in game one. It was the third quarter in game one where the Lakers scored 18 points. The Nuggets get 32 tonight. It's a 3422, you know, Nuggets win the third quarter game two. It was the fourth quarter.

where the Lakers fall apart. They only get 20 points in that quarter and the Nuggets get 32. Like that's, it's one quarter. That's all the Nuggets need in every game in this series against the Lakers. And even going back to last season, one quarter is all it takes for them to kind of run over the Lakers and go through it. But the guy has probably been the most unsung hero in tonight's game. I can't, I can't wait. I know you're going to say, I can't wait. Please say it. It's Aaron Gordon. Aaron Gordon. Aaron Gordon. Phenomenal.

And he kept this game close in the first half. Like, honestly, this could have been a big lead for the Lakers, but it was Aaron Gordon just rushing the Lakers on the offensive boards, was all over the place running the lane, was everywhere defensively. You put a small on him, cool, he posted up. Like, he was everywhere in this game, and that first half was...

super impressive because that was really, I think when I saw the way he played in the first half said, I didn't care how much the Lakers were winning or in a halftime nuggets, we're going to win just because off of Aaron Gordon's play. If you want to see a player,

playing with 1000% urgency. And I don't just mean like physical flying around urgency, although Aaron Gordon was doing that. I mean, such locked in mental engagement, moving around the floor defensively, knowing where to be and when, oh, there's an emergency over there. I got to suddenly be there, but then I'm going to get back here. Aaron Gordon in the first half can't,

keeping them connected in this game was absolutely everywhere on defense. He was everywhere on defense when Jokic was in foul trouble and they had to start moving Jokic around. Jokic guarded Gabe Vincent for parts of this game because the Lakers were playing three guards and LeBron and AD, and they wanted to protect them from both LeBron and AD. And that was the only way they could do it.

And when Jokic was on the bench just everywhere. And by the way, one of the stories of this series, if my math is right, after three games now, the Nuggets are plus one in the non-Jokic minutes. You're dead. You're dead. Yeah.

If those minutes are neutral, you're dead. They were neutral. They were more than neutral tonight. They were plus tonight. And, you know, the Lakers went back to AD on Jokic instead of AD on Aaron Gordon as the rover. And it exposes the back line. Once you engage AD in the pick and roll and Jamal Murray turns the corner at all, there's nobody back there to stop him. And he gets to the rim. And a lot of those Aaron Gordon offensive rebounds,

are at the rim. The other unsung hero, by the way, because they had to do a little bit tonight, the Nuggets also

You know, much was made deservedly so of their adjustment in game two of moving Jokic to Hachimura and Gordon on Davis to kind of muck up the Lakers pick and roll attack. Like, OK, you want to go at Jokic? You got to use Rui. And if Rui rolls to the rim, he's rolling right into A.D. And you got a lot of traffic. Well, they went back, as I suspected they would. I said on TV, I think they're going to go probably back to Jokic on A.D.,

And then they had to switch it around again to go back the other way. And Aaron Gordon, deservedly so, gets a lot of praise for being able to guard

Anthony Davis pretty well I think the Nuggets are told you want to force feed Anthony Davis post up against Aaron Gordon go ahead like he had some success but that's fine the other unsung hero of that scheme is KCP being able to guard LeBron James because someone's got to guard LeBron that's Aaron Gordon's job it's not his job anymore KCP does really well considering the size discrepancy in that matchup he had another great defensive game tonight and MPJ

It's not just the shots, which always just seem like these, like, okay, Jokic is on the bench. We got him. Oh, Michael Porter just made a 22 foot off the dribble foot on the line dagger in my face. He made plays off the dribble tonight. And as a passer that were, were out of his game, out of his range, probably a season and a half ago, this starting five is just, it's a perfect basketball starting five. And it's going to take, it's going to take,

A plus game from any team to beat them. And it's going to take a bad bench game for Denver to lose. I mean, some of these teams are, I think Minnesota in the next round could put up a great challenge potentially against Denver if they get by Phoenix, but you got to be on your AA plus game to beat this team because they don't beat themselves. And they're just a ruthless efficiency machine on offense. I mean, it is just,

how calculated and calm they are is it all flows out from Jokic. But I wanted to shout out some of those guys too. Yeah. I mean, it's just, I mean, one, it's a, it speaks to the continuity having that starting five together for as long as they've had, they all know where everybody's supposed to be, where they're supposed to go. The, when this guy cuts here, I'm going to move there. When Jokic has the ball at the elbow, we're going to do, you know, whatever exchange on the weak side or, or whatnot. And then one of us will flash to the basket and,

Gordon has mastered kind of working the baseline perfectly with Jokic and whether it's a Jokic-Murray pick and roll and then he gets a dunk off of that or if it's just a Jokic post-up. And then it's the other way around, too. There are plays where it's like on post-ups where Gordon had one. I think it was game one. There's a great example of Gordon has a post-up.

And Jokic just ducks in. I think he had Rui on him and it's an easy bucket. And Gordon finds him like the unselfishness across the board from the team. It all starts from Jokic, but it's kind of spread to everybody kind of making the right reads and the passes and being quick with it.

I mean, it's going to be real tough to see, you know, a team beat them. The one thing that's probably concerning if we're going to talk about the Nuggets a little bit is Reggie Jackson kind of rolling his ankle pretty bad. Like that's, that's another blow to their bench. Yeah. They don't have a lot of margin for that either. Yeah. Yeah.

It's concerning, and that's something we're going to have to monitor there. Now, the hope for them is, yo, just win this game on Saturday and buy us as much time. Let's hope Phoenix and Minnesota go seven, and we have a lot of time before the next series. And I think that's just their mentality has got to be, hey, we got to take care of business on Saturday. Well, the Lakers are staring at, again, LeBron is extension eligible. He's eligible for a lot of money.

He's almost 40 years old. Still obviously an all-NBA level player, but he's almost 40. There's the Bronny variable. See where that ends up. I've said before, there's just noise off and on about where LeBron will end his career.

The last time there was noise, it was the Warriors. Remember the Warriors, by the way? They've been gone for a while now. They tried to at least engage the idea of maybe trading for LeBron James. Not sure the Warriors have totally given up on that possibility. You know, I...

But I've said all along, I think LeBron wants to remain a Laker for the rest of his career. I think that's his intention. I don't think that's absolute. Nothing is absolute. But I think he would like to remain a Laker. D'Lo, it's just incredible how the Nuggets just destroy D'Lo in a week. Like, it's just...

The Lakers fans, now they want him out after defending him all year. I apologize to him for putting him in a million fake trades and saying no matter how well he plays, his teams don't seem to really like him that much. And now he comes out and does this. Hachimura was invisible, weirdly, for the whole series. And then the Lakers defense, yeah, like Christian Wood couldn't play and Jared Vanderbilt couldn't play and Gabe Vinson essentially had a lost season. I just don't think any of those guys are making a difference in this series. Right.

in terms of the outcome. And look, they're going to go out. They're just not going to run back this team the way it is right now next season if indeed LeBron and AD are both back. You know, I think there's going to be a lot of noise about Darvin Hammond. We'll see what they do. We'll see what they do about that. Jeannie Buss has gone to bat for him before, but if they get swept again, I think they've done it. The interesting thing about the Lakers, Mo, is that

We've put the Russ trade so far in the rear view mirror that we kind of forget they're still digging their way. They're still like paying a little ripple effects from that are still rippling across their roster. And for them to do that trade,

And also let Caruso walk, which was a massive blow to their team. And now they save themselves by finding Reeves and incorporating Reeves into their team. But for them to get to the conference finals last year, albeit in a little bit of a down year for the West, but still. And, you know, look, they just drew the wrong team in the first round. They're a good team built around a guy who's almost 40. And AD played well the entire season. Like, this is...

These have been a couple of pretty good seasons for the Lakers. It's just, it's hard to be better than that when your best player is 40 and you have two guys making $120 million combined or whatever they're going to end up making. Yeah. And then just even going back to the Westbrook trade, like it's got to kill them. That KCP is such a key part to the Nuggets.

Because that was, you know, that was one of the major pieces that they moved. Like, you know, that trade never really made a ton of sense. And I think that's just the situation. And now every time they play the Nuggets, they have that reminder in KCP who's making big plays along those lines. I'm just going to throw it out there. I just, I want to see them get Trey Young. I think he, I think if LeBron's sticking around, I think LeBron, AD, AD,

And I think Trey young kind of playing a little bit more of that Kyrie Irving role, kind of looking back to the Cleveland days, I think is, is actually a pretty good fit for the Lakers. That's another road not taken for the Lakers. I'm not sure how realistic it really was last year when he was being traded off of Brooklyn, but you know, I mean, LeBron obviously lobbied for it as publicly as ever. And, and, and specifically not, not passive aggressively, not hourglass tweet, not, not subtle, like, like specifically. Yeah.

Yeah, get that guy. And I think seeing that they didn't get him, I think now you've got to make a run at Trey. I think that's kind of looking forward into them, and that allows them. Young guy also takes a little pressure off LeBron. I think that'd be the move I'd be targeting if I was the Lakers. But they've got a lot of questions to answer, as you've kind of announced. And they're paying for a lot of their old sins. I mean, it felt like for a good two or three years after they won the bubble title,

They made every mistake you could possibly make after that for the next two years. And I think now they're trying to figure their way out of it. We had a little thing on the show today where they gave us dry erase boards and like a game show. We had to like write down our answers to two questions, rapid fire. And one of the questions was it because they were going to announce the clutch player of the year award tonight and which went to Steph Curry. Who's the best clutch player in the NBA? Not this year. Who's the best clutch player in the NBA?

I wrote down Jokic. I think Jokic is the best clutch player in the NBA. He shot 55% in crunch time this year. 55%, I think it was 42 of 76. Doesn't turn the ball over. Obviously makes the right play every time. Denver was neck and neck with Chicago, bizarrely, as the best crunch time team. And if you look at Jokic, Jokic is...

Jokic is going to be crunch time is the domain of ball handlers, right? Like that's why big, that's why Dirk was such an anomaly in crunch time because big guys, they need someone to give them the ball. It's harder to get them the ball. A lot of them aren't great jump shooters. Crunch time is, is the purview of perimeter stars. Jokic is going to go down as the greatest crunch time, big man in NBA history. It's just uncanny what he does late in these games. And,

And I just want to go back to that Jamal Murray game winner from game two because I didn't get to talk about it yet. First of all, what will get lost to history is the play where Jokic threw this bizarre. He like barfed up this heave of a pass that somehow landed in Aaron Gordon's hands under the rim. And he kicked it out to Michael Porter Jr. for, I believe, a game tying three. Right.

Then Jamal Murray hits a crazy jumper before the crazy jumper. And then on the last play, if you watch that Murray-Jokic two-man game, they switch, obviously, because the shot ends up over Anthony Davis. There's a moment where Jokic has post position at the nail against LeBron and could have demanded the ball.

it's Nikola Jokic with even with LeBron, he's got a big sides advantage. And I don't know what was exchanged in that moment between them. Probably they can't talk probably just a glance, maybe not even a glance, maybe just a feel Jokic was like, you know what? No, I'm going to go set a screen for you. This is yours. And there's just something about the chemistry of this team and how they operate under pressure. That is really, really special. And I know they've only won one championship and they're,

I don't think they're invulnerable in the West this year. I think there are teams that could push them, particularly in Minnesota and the winner of the, I'll just say particularly Minnesota, because that's looming next round. Potentially we'll talk about that series, but this is a really, this is a really well-constructed basketball machine. Every part not only fits together, but every player compliments the strengths of every other player. And yeah,

supports the weaknesses to the extent that any of the players have any of each other. It's just, it's a beautiful team to watch. And once again, they're just mulling the Lakers out of the playoffs.

Yeah, and extremely well coached with Michael Malone, too. Like, I think, you know, the right coach is in charge with this group and all of them having been together for as long as they've been together. And when we talk about team chemistry, we forget to mention the coach's involvement in that because the coach being able to coach his stars or know when to pull back or what buttons to push and all that, I think is also a key element there. Well, and, you know, I mentioned Jokic's clutch play.

and how big guys need to generally need to have the ball fed to them. So the second straight game where Anthony Davis, it was invisible in the fourth quarter. Yeah.

And I think he's a traditional big man in that sense. Like you, you can almost, he, he's, he, he needs the ball fed to him. He is not a great one-on-one creator. He had some takes tonight that were great. Like if you give him space to eat up or a matchup that's comfortable, or he sees a seam on the baseline and no help defender, like he's good at that, but that's just not his game. But the Lakers, I think two straight games have been guilty of kind of forgetting about him. And maybe that's his fault too.

two but anyway well uh lakers warriors bye goodbye uh should we i guess we got to talk about cabs magic sorry uh the the magic won by a thousand points um

Jalen Suggs was amazing. Guarded Donovan Mitchell. They switched up that matchup when Del Carter Jr. started for the Magic. And the Magic just came out like you would expect a team that is down 2-0 and hasn't won a playoff game in a gazillion years, hasn't had a home playoff game in a gazillion years. And the Cleveland Cavaliers came out like...

they kind of were assigned to play the game by the NBA and didn't really particularly want to be there. Darius Garland, two of 10, five points, completely invisible. Donovan Mitchell was decent at times. Karis Levert played with some oomph. At some points, Tristan Thompson and Marcus Morris were in the game. Paolo Bancaro, 31 points, 14 rebounds, five assists. And if you want, if you're my age and you like the 90s and you miss the 90s,

Just go watch Paolo Bancaro's shots from this game because it's fadeaway jumpers. It's turnaround two-point jumpers. It's face-up attack, 18-footers, just eating up smaller defenders. And the Magic went to their – I call it their mega lineup for a lot of this game, which is one guard usually Suggs, Franz Wagner at the two, Bancaro I guess is the three, Isaac and a center, Wendell Carter or Mo Wagner.

By the way, congrats to Mo Wagner. I did not have within one half of Mo Wagner causing a fracas in this series. He got it done second quarter of game one. Don't doubt Mo's. We find a way, Zach. I guess that's true. And Paolo Bancaro in that alignment was having his way with smaller defenders, whether it was Isaac Okoro or Karis LeVert or whoever he found on him. Yeah.

And Isaac made more of an impact off the bench than he did as a starter. And they just made shots like they just, they weren't making any shots. And then they made shots. I thought Cleveland just had no juice and forgive me if I would like a team that has proven nothing in the playoffs to have a little juice to go up. Like I thought they were going to come out and be like,

we're we're we're taking this series by the throat we're leaving nothing to chance nothing we're not going to leave it to chance that we come out in game four up to one and have an orlando magic shooting game from the first two games and suddenly it's two two and our home crowd's getting nervous we're not even going to leave that to chance we're going to come in here and run you over and they got run over by a truck and never recovered i think one guy that

deserves a lot of credit was the aggression that they, the magic got from Franz Wagner in the first quarter, 10 points in the first quarter. I thought he was super aggressive with how he attacked, was taking it to the rim, was looking to score was this was, it's been a down year for Franz, but I think like, this is one of those things where this was a game where you felt like, Oh, he's, he's bringing it tonight. And then from that, I think that built everything up for the, the magic. I mean, Paolo's Paolo he's he's,

Like I'm, I'm all in and, and, and excited for, for this kid going forward.

Suggs brings a certain element of just like kind of F you. I'm going. I got this and I'm going to I'm going to fight. He had a nasty dunk down the lane. And I think, you know, again, it's just the aggression and the way they played. Like this was a magic team that looked very comfortable, whereas they looked so uncomfortable. I understood it in game one, it being their first playoff series for most of those guys.

It took them a second. And I think finding their rhythm and their flow in a game two, they just kind of got buried. But this one was a comfortable magic team. And I think this is the thing that the Cavs got to be afraid of.

don't ever give this dude light it's uh a diehard reference when john mclean's you know crawling underneath the table and the guy's trying to shoot at him and he tells him if you ever have a chance to kill someone don't hesitate and mclean says yeah sure and then starts shooting the guy and it's like okay that's that's the moment like that's the thing you can't hesitate and i think the calves hesitated and i won't be shocked if this comes back to bite him they finally got something out of cole anthony

Uh, who had done nothing in this series. And when Cole Anthony runs a pick and roll, you have to actually honor his jump shot, whether it's with Bankaro, he ran a couple of pick and rolls with Franz in this game. It's like, Oh, that's a real pick and roll. Like we have to actually do stuff. It's not two non shooters in a two man game that we don't, we're not, we're not scared of. Um,

Not much else really from this game, except that the Cavs just had no life. And I thought they would win. I picked the Cavs to win this series, and I still think they will. But this is one of the reasons that they're a little hard to trust. Even in the regular season, as soon as they get a rhythm, okay, this is how a rotation works. We stagger this way. One of the big plays...

with a shooter and Niang comes in here and Okoro comes in here. Strews can play some power forward. They've done that a little bit the last two games. They just lose it and their rhythm kind of eludes them. And, you know, here we are. Game four. Suddenly a big game. I'm trying to think if there was anything else from that game. I just...

George Nyang trying to score on Jonathan Isaac was endlessly amusing to me. Like, what are we doing here? That is an athletic mismatch of the first order. And George Nyang's crafty and moves people around. And Jonathan Isaac is just like a velociraptor out there to just taking up every inch of the court.

At Sierra, discover top workout gear at incredible prices, which might lead to another discovery. Your headphones haven't been connected this whole time. Awkward. Discover top brands at unexpectedly low prices. Sierra, let's get moving.

Meaningless stuff. Why do we gift so much meaningless stuff? Tired of generic gifts and hollow trends? Shutterfly allows you to create meaningful photo gifts for your family and friends, whether it's a cozy fleece blanket for grandma, a stunning canvas print for mom, or a mug to make dad smile. Enjoy 40% off with code MAKE40 at Shutterfly.com and make something meaningful this year. See site for more details.

Let's move to, we have three games, three game, game threes tomorrow night, Minnesota Phoenix, Dallas Clippers.

And Bucs Pacers with Chris Middleton now listed as questionable, which would be obviously a disaster for the Bucs, given that they would be running out of their good players at that point. Which of those games are you? How about this? Which team are you most curious to watch tomorrow or which team do you feel like is under the most pressure tomorrow of those games? I think it's the Clippers.

interesting all right let's get into it you know i think i i know i think the easy answer is phoenix but i think the clippers are still under more pressure in the sense of look kawaii came back in game two did not look good at least in the first half had some stuff in the second half got it looked a little bit more comfortable in the second half but still didn't really get rolling i think the mavs have kind of figured out how they want to attack how they're going to approach the rest of the series and the way they're going to kind of

go at it and i think they found a nice little small ball lineup i think pj washington hitting shots i think cleva hitting a hitting a huge three with about two minutes left to put them up six was a big moment for that for him that was the biggest shot of the game and it felt like dallas was in prevent offense mode too early and it might cost them the game and cleva

bailed them out. It was huge. And I think there's a lot of that stuff. And just knowing again, like when we, we just talked about the Lakers future, looking at the Clippers future again, you talked about it. Paul George will probably sign the extension, but he hasn't. So we have to be a little bit aware of that. You're constantly worried of it. This is another playoffs where Kawhi wasn't ready for a game one. Like this is,

kind of worrisome. You have James Harden kind of floating around like what's the plan going forward with this team moving into a new arena? I think this is the team that has the most pressure on them, I think, in the playoffs. And I think this is a big matchup for them. I think the Mavs are hungry. I think they got the jitters out after game one. I think there's a element for the Mavs of like this is their moment to finally put away the team that's put them on ice for two years. I think this is a big time, big game

Game three right here is going to be huge. It's the biggest game of the playoffs so far is this game because it's 1-1 and it's two teams that have put everything into this season. All their draft pick eggs are in the basket. I thought game two was a strange, strange game. Very slow, very station to station. It was almost like the cliche of the fighters kind of feeling themselves out. You could see, okay, if I do this, what are you going to do? Okay, you're going to do that.

All right. Well, I don't like that so much, but like, but if I go, if I go here and give the ball to this guy, what's your reaction? Okay. I kind of like that better. Oh, there's two on the shot clock. And it was just a very slow, just testing it out, just testing, you know, and you have all these stars, you have five legit star level ball handlers and a sixth of the hall of famer coming off dimension Russ. And yeah,

They're all equipped to play. It was almost like, do we want to play pick and roll like Harden Zubats, Luca Gafford, Luca Lively and play out of that? Or do we want to go mismatch hunting a little bit because we have all these accomplished mismatch hunters on our team? Yeah.

And Dallas in particular has some guys that we think we can pick on a little bit. Those guys stood up to it, including Luka, pretty goddamn well. And Kyrie too. Kyrie was the primary defender on James Harden. And that's the math problem that the Mavs face in this series. They have two perimeter stars and the Clippers, when they have all of them on the court, have three. And that means one of the Dallas guys is going to have to guard one of the Clippers guys. And that was Kyrie on Harden for...

a lot of the series, a lot of game two, but it just felt like neither team had any kind of rhythm or decisiveness to their offense. And when you have Luca and Kawhi and Harden, you don't always need that. But I just came away feeling like the series almost hasn't started yet. Like no one has found the right card to play. In fact, they look like mirror images of each other. Like one star would get a good matchup, like Paul George would draw Luca or...

Harden would have whoever, and then they would double them. They would run up and double and force you to rotate out of it and, and, and pass out of it. And the defense would rotate underneath it. And it's like, okay, I'm watching the same game. It just feels like whatever team finds the right blend on offense between their system and hunting mismatches so that you're kind of doing both within the same possession, a little bit more organically is going to win the series. And,

I weirdly felt okay about the Clippers coming out of that game. I felt better than most people seemed to. I thought Kawhi looked pretty good, all things considered, particularly on defense. He had four steals. He looked athletic. He had a pretty explosive putback. I know he missed his shots. He missed all his threes. I have no idea who's going to win this series. I picked the Mavs in seven because of the Kawhi uncertainty. Actually, the Clippers are a better team, but I don't

In a weird way, I feel like the series is almost not started.

Yeah, I mean, that's a great way of putting it in just that sense, because like being at the game, it was an ugly game, like in the way it kind of played out for a while until like both teams started to find a little bit more of an offensive flow in like the last six minutes where we started to kind of see a little bit more of that. I think, you know, the the thing that concerns me just with the Clippers sometimes is there's a level of just like they're not sure who's supposed to go attack.

Like Paul George was outstanding in game one. And I really, I mean, like he had moments in game two, but I didn't really feel him in game two in the way that he stood out in game one. And part of it was, yeah, there was no Kawhi. It was all him. A lot of the part of the game for the Clippers was trying to get Kawhi and rhythm and get him going, almost like knock off some rust off of him.

And I think that kind of held them back in that regard. I'm not like I picked the Mavs, but I'm not like worried about the Clippers yet in this series. Because, again, I don't feel like anybody, like you said, has really found something where it's like, OK, well, what are you going to do now? What's your magical adjustment that you're going to make? How are you going to figure things out? I don't think either team has shown anything to the other team yet. And there are interesting lineup quandaries in this series, too.

The Mavs have aimed some of their most important transactions of the last two years at not playing Kleba at center. They tank to make sure they keep their own pick and they use it via trade on Lively. Then they trade a lot of stuff, some stuff for Gafford. We have two traditional centers now. Well, the look that got you to the conference finals two years ago was Kleba at the five and five shooters on the floor.

And that look is still working. And it's worked really well this season. And it's worked really well in this series. They're plus 24 with Kleeb as the only big man on the floor in two games in this series. The Clippers have to decide, well, how do we want to deal with that? You saw Ty Lue go to his five wings lineup. Didn't think Terrence Mann played enough in game two. I like that lineup when all five guys can shoot threes. Russ played over Terrence Mann. And that's fine. Russ was playing well. Not shooting well.

He was just being Russ, just causing havoc. I think Zubats has played so well that I'm not ready to take him off the floor just because the Mavericks play whatever lineup. I think Zubats has been one of the five best Clippers so far through two games. It's just an interesting series. There's one play the Clippers ran in the fourth quarter. I'm sure you saw it. They ran it twice.

And it was James Harden setting a back screen for Kawhi in the paint designed to get Kyrie switched on to Kawhi. And then Harden would come up and run a handoff with Zubats. Zubats would come down and set a pin down for Kawhi so he could catch with Kyrie on his back. Didn't lead to anything like that's the kind of stuff I want the Clippers to run. And I want them to run it in a way that it's like we have time on the clock to run something after that, too. When they start playing like that.

I feel like they're the better team in this series, but they're going to have to start to play like that. My answer to my own question was going to be Phoenix, who has gotten absolutely destroyed by the wolves through two games. Series doesn't start till the road team wins. What if the home team wins every game by a million points? Has it started by then? The series feels like it started. And, uh,

Credit to the Wolves. I absolutely adore the way Anthony Edwards is playing in this series. The easy passes he's making, the simple reads, the extra passes he's playing beautifully. Mike Conley was essential in their game to win. Phoenix looks alternatively like a team that knows how it should play and can execute it and a team that has absolutely no idea how.

That Kevin Durant is on the team or how to play at all. And all of a sudden, Yusuf Nurkic is trying to post up Rudy Gobert from 18 feet away and 19 dribbles. Or Drew Eubanks is taking a floater late in the shot clock. And Kevin Durant hasn't moved in 20 seconds. And you're just like, what the hell is going on? Like, I don't understand. Yeah, Brad Beal missed 20, 30 games, whatever. Like, now Grayson Allen turned his ankle. I don't have...

I think Minnesota's coming for blood in these two games at Phoenix, and I think they're going to get if you ask me right now, I think Minnesota is getting one of these games in Phoenix. I don't think Phoenix is going to win, but now they could surprise me. They have this. I know the talent. I know the names. They just can't seem to put four quarters of coherent basketball together. And when they go incoherent, they go really incoherent.

It's just it's just tough to watch, to be honest, like I watch them and I go, you know, I love the X's and O's and everything that goes with it. And it's I just look at what they're doing offensively. And I'm like, this team has no idea how to how they want to attack where they want to go. They have no system in place, no concept even of what we want to do every now and then they run maybe a stack or a Spain pick and roll.

And that's like the closest thing we get into stuff. And it works. And then, and then like whoever has Mike Conley will set a screen for Durant and get a switch or Durant will attack the cat matchup in a way that makes sense. Although cat and go bear are holding their own in perimeter matchups. And if cat's holding his own,

Given the level of defense around him, you're in a world of hurt and they'll but they'll execute like, oh, that's the kind of play they should run more. And then for eight minutes, it'll be like if these guys, you know, it's a playoff game. Do they have a playbook? Does anyone do they have names for plays? Is anyone calling anything out?

It's just, it's just like, they don't play off of each other. They don't work with each other and how, how to go. Like, I don't know. It just kind of makes sense to me. Like with those three guys run some sort of three man game or horns action, or even the, what the Kings used to run under Rick Adelman and an elbow game or whatnot. Nurkic is good out of the elbow in terms of his passing and things like that play through him. And some of these things, they just don't have any of that.

And it's weird to me in that sense. And I kind of just look at it going like, what did you do all season when you're developing? Cause it's not, you're not in a position defensively where at least I can go like, well, they just invested all their time defensively. Like, I just don't see,

what they're going for. And when you talk about the wolves being out for blood, Anthony Edwards is looking to just gut them every chance he gets. And it's, and it's, to be honest, it's kind of fun to watch, like, you know, in game two, it wasn't a particularly great shot. It was a,

ball or great offense, but he goes one-on-one on Katie and hits a pull-up jumper after a series of dribbles. And it's just like, and he's just given Katie that look again. And it's, you know, we saw the video from game one and all the trash talk he's, he's given it. He's given it to everybody there. He's making a lot of smart plays and a lot of smart reach out of that. I love the way they're coming for them. Just playing. I have, this is,

I know he didn't shoot well in game two. I thought he played an awesome game. Like just you send two to me. Here's the easy pass. The ball's going to swing around. Jade McDaniels is going to make a play. Nas Reed's going to make a play. The ball might come back to me and then I'll make a play. He played fantastic basketball. Gobert has been awesome. And I just, Chris Finch has a good pulse for this team. It's just simple little things he does. Like when he takes Gobert out,

So their best defensive player is out, and they'll play with Reid, with Nas Reid and Towns together. Much more minimally, one of the two bigs is the only big. When Gobert comes out, you'll often notice Nikhil Alexander-Walker comes in for Mike Conley. And it's one of those things like we're hurting our defense up front, but we're going to help it on the perimeter so that we kind of net out. Okay, Chris Finch is a really good coach, and this team is playing really hard. And just really –

I mean, compared to Phoenix, they don't have – well, you know, the talent differential on offense is actually not very big because they have Ant and Cat and Phoenix has three obviously accomplished all-star players. But Minnesota just is playing with a lot more focus and a lot more sort of just focus. They're sharing the ball. They're sharing the wealth. They're moving. They're cutting. They're playing good basketball. I'll say this.

If Phoenix splits at home, they're not going to win the series. It's very hard to win down 3-1 when you have 5-7 on the road. Obviously, it would behoove them to win two games at home. The manner... If they win two games at home, the series is obviously up for grabs. Totally up for grabs. They're fully capable of doing that. This is a 49-win team. This is not some also-ran team. This is a very good team. They have not looked good in this series. Let's say they split and it's 3-1 and they end up losing in 5 or 6. It's a competitive series loss.

At least in terms of the number of games. The manner in which that happens is going to be very, very important for what happens in the summer for Phoenix. Because if this team goes out, frankly, like they've gone out the past two seasons in embarrassing fashion, I don't... Like, Matt Ishbia, anything's possible. And they've undergone a lot of roster turmoil in the last year and a half. And it does not appear to have gotten them where they think that they should go. And...

I would just be very interested to see what happens. Mo, we must talk about the Miami Heat. I knew we were going there. I mean, my God, the Heat. I should have known. I should have known. Celtics in four. That was my pick. No Jimmy Butler. No Terry Rozier. Tyler Hero is just coming back from injury. Duncan Robinson is coming back from injury. Kevin Love is coming back from injury. Eric Spolstra's goatee is coming in nicely.

Joe Mazzulla is watching the town. I should have known. And so here come the heat. It's the most inexplicable. The Celtics destroy them in game one, destroy them. And I write off the series. I'm like, this is this. This is the series is going to be over fast. And the heater like, oh, you want it over fast? How about how about no? How about we make 23 threes, some of which were bad Boston defense. Like you don't need to help on the strong side corner. Just like you don't need to do that.

Some of it was just closing out short as a scheme. Drew Holiday just had – I've talked about the Drew Holiday roller coaster before in the playoffs. Some games it's like, wait, why did you just take a one-on-four-three and then throw the ball into the stands? Kristaps Porzingis. And the Heat.

The Heat. Just the Heat. Miami, man. Like, they just do it. They just, like, they find some, it's the hashtag Heat Colts are toughest playing, stupidest court, whatever. Like, they just do it. They made all the threes. Bam made every mid-range shot. Hero played a really great game. Like, if you rewatch Heroes pick and rolls in that game,

A lot of the breakdowns that the Celtics had were caused by how decisive Tyler Hero was. He was fast, decisive, more north-south than he usually is, and he had the Celtics on the back foot as a result. I still think they're drawing dead in this series. Right now, if you ask me, we did down the show today, how many games are the Heat winning in this series? I said one. I'm expecting the Celtics to come out and treat this game as a wake-up call and beat them twice in Miami and close it out at home.

What did you see? Okay. So I talked about the heat. They were great. What of this was alarming to you from the Celtics perspective is we assume that they're just going to walk all over this team. And once again, they do not. I think the most alarming of it was one Porzingis, not able to take advantage of the switches. Then that's, you know, that was a bit, that was the change that Miami made was they just went into worth switching everything. And we don't care if Tyler hero ends up on Porzingis, but,

And he just couldn't take advantage of that. And I think that was really interesting. But I think the other thing that was very fascinating was they limited the Celtics three-point attempts. And I think that was the more important thing. Celtics shot, I think, like 49 threes in game one.

And 32 in game two. That wasn't an accident. That wasn't just the Celtics decided not to take threes. I thought they did a great job running guys off of the line, making them live a little bit more in the mid range. I thought they looked to try to attack them a bit more and just saying like, we're going to pressure up every time we switch. We're not going to switch that. You can just get an easy three. We're going to switch up and into like, there's an example where Duncan Robinson switches into Julie,

Jalen Brown when he comes off of a dribble handoff and he's up right into him, meets him body to body and then strips him right after that because he's right into it. Like they gave them no airspace at the three point line. And I think that was a key factor in that win for them in just that they were able to limit the Celtics three point shot and force them to play inside the arc. And I think that's an interesting thing.

I don't know if the Heat can replicate it, but I think if I'm another team that's getting ready to game plan against the Celtics, I'm taking note of that because I think that's an important thing to watch for in the Celtics run is how often are they going to get the three-point shots that they want off. I also, if I'm another team, taking note of Spoh's decision to put Tyler Hero on Jalen Brown. We saw the Warriors do this when they put Draymond Green on Jalen Brown.

And the Warriors version was, we're just not going to guard you. Like you want to take a million threes and it did not work. Jalen Brown took a million threes and he made a million threes. This was more like, we're going to put our weakest defender on you. We're not going to not guard you. We're going to guard you. And so if you want to exploit it, you got to find a ways to do that either on your own by playing bully ball or in some screening actions that are not normally part necessarily of your A plus repertoire.

Stan Van Gundy called that out immediately on the broadcast. I was writing it in my notes as he was saying it. I think they were trying to bait the Celtics into getting out of their offense to go at Tyler here with Jalen Brown and specifically Jalen Brown. I think something Stan did not say is also relevant. And this is what I would replicate going, well, not replicate, but it's just something to watch. I think an intentional trickle down effect of that matchup. I don't think it's an accident.

is that with the weakest defender on Jalen Brown, you know where the weakest defender was not? On Derek White. And that's where the weakest defender usually is by default. And because of that, that...

unlocks the best part of the Celtics offense, which is Derek White screening on the ball, off the ball, randomly all over the place for Tatum and for Brown specifically to put your smallest and worst defender into the action against those guys. You can still do that with Jalen Brown as with Tyler here on him. You can go screen for Jason Tatum.

He doesn't have the same juice and randomness and flow and sort of basketball intuition as Derek White. Derek White, because of how teams match up against Boston, has been the engine or co-engine of all their best stuff.

And they took Derek White out of the game. I know he had okay box score stats. You did not feel his involvement in the same way. And I think that was directly related to Jason Tatum taking two shots in the fourth quarter. He also drew two shooting fouls, missed two free throws on a big trip that actually could have won that game. I thought that was also related to Jason Tatum's relative lack of involvement compared to someone of his stature.

I think that hero matchup is as much about white as it is about brown. And I think it was really smart. I think the way they moved Bam around was really smart. You guard Tatum. But when Haywood Highsmith's in the game, he's going to guard Tatum. You can go back to being Bam and roving around and guarding the opposing big men. It's just, man, they're supposed to be a great coach. And this team, like, we see it all the time. Low seeds who are undermanned and injured, they just roll over. They come into the playoffs, they roll over.

These guys are never, ever going to roll over. They're going to make you earn every single win. And the Celtics did not play well. They were aimless. They were not good defensively. I hope it's for their sake that it's a wake-up call. I just don't think the Heat have any chance to win this series. But I'll tell you this. If we wake up in like 10 days and it's Heat-Celtics game 7 in Boston, I am going to be...

On a train to go to that game because it would be the most improv. This series should not last long. Like, it just shouldn't. And Celtics better win game three.

Well, that's the thing, right? It really comes down to game three. And I think that's going to be the thing right there. Can you imagine if Boston is down 2-1 in Miami in game four without Jimmy Butler? It will be insane. Oh, it will explode. The internet will explode in that sense. And everything that we see and all the memes and all the times where everybody said like, hey, Boston loses, everybody panics. This is why.

Right. If they were to go down, this is assuming they can't lose in a normal way. Boston just can't lose a normal game. No, it's that simple. And I think that's one of those things. Cause I was with you after game one, man, this thing's over. I picked it in five and I was kicking myself that I didn't predict a sweep. And it was just along those lines. And even in that game of going, yeah, like I get it. Miami hit 23 threes. Like,

Maybe they don't shoot 50% again from three, but I would say it feels like every time they do in a playoff game, it's against Boston. And some of it, again, is just the threes they get in the opportunities, but everybody seems to step up for them over and over again. And when you're just looking at it, if Boston's in a situation where they're down at any point in this series against Miami, like you have to then start looking, even if they win it, you have to start wondering like, okay, well, what's this team really about?

Like, what are they? And I think that's going to be the real question that we're going to be facing if that's to happen. I don't think it is. I think it's a five game series still. I think they get the two in Miami and we kind of feel a little bit more like, oh, wow, they're finally going to vanquish their demons to heat. Just just getting one game is a win for the heat, by the way. Like that's like in the situation that they're in and the way they did it. Like, that's impressive.

That was the most amped I've seen Pat Riley in the stands. Riles, though. The heat travel, first of all, they're all very well-dressed. And they look impeccable. And they sit in the stands. They sit in the stands, even though they're super-duper famous. This is not like random GMs and assistant GMs who regular people don't know. It's Pat Riley and Alonzo Mourning. And they're just amid the Boston fans. Just loving it.

Looking great and loving life. Bleep Boston. Sitting in the face, sitting right with the fans. Because who's messing with Pat Riley? Who's going to mess with Pat Riley? I'm not. Nobody. And you know what will happen? You know, sitting next to him is Alonzo Mourning. The freaking weight room in Miami's arena is named the Zozone because that dude can beat the hell out of anybody. Unbelievable, the heat. I just...

I'm watching the game. I'm laughing. Like, I can't believe they're going to win this game. It's every Caleb Martin three. It's going in. It's going in. It's going in. I went through my Twitch stream to break down the threes, to break down heroes assist, and then just some of their defense.

It was an impressive performance with the way they played though. It was flying around the way they flew around on defense. I mean, there are clips of, you know, bam going from the opposite block to go to the corner to, to contest a shot and getting there in time to actually make it a legitimate contest. And not one of those fake late contests where you're like, the guy didn't even see you as he shot it, like actually affecting the shot. And I think there was just a lot of those plays and clips in that for that team. That's just super impressive. Yeah.

Let's talk for just five minutes, if you will indulge me, about Oklahoma City, New Orleans. Milwaukee, Indiana is super interesting, and it was a great win for the Pacers. They're playing – by the time this goes up, it will be today. They're playing today, and the Middleton injury thing is just a big unknown. I'm excited to watch the game, Indiana. My worry for the Bucs is that without Giannis, they're very, very small and very challenged defensively. And athletically. And they cannot win a shootout against Indiana. Yeah.

And they, they need Dame to be go nuts and they need to otherwise kind of slow and grind the game post up Brooke Lopez on Siakam. I don't, it's, I'm a little worried how small they look. Oklahoma city, new Orleans thunder up to Oh blue, blue them out in game two. Obviously game one went down to the wire. Shea made an incredible shot. Um,

What is interesting to you? I think this is actually quite an interesting sort of strategic series pivoting around the centers. Chad Hongren and Jonas Valanciunas. What has been interesting to you other than the torture chamber? The torture chamber is in full effect. Man, you watch you want to have a blast watching old school NBA basketball. Third quarter of game two, four possessions in a row.

The Pelicans run the same pin down play to just try like all hell to get Lou Dort off of Brandon Ingram. They come out and they screen. I don't know who I think it was. Trey Murphy. I can't remember. Screens Lou Dort along the baseline and Brandon Ingram supposed to curl up toward the foul line and catch the ball, hopefully with Lou Dort not on him. And Lou Dort just refuses to participate in the whole thing. He's like, oh, a screen.

Right. So I'm Lou Dort. I don't get screen. It's incredible theater. It reminded me of Tony Allen actually navigating screens against Kevin Durant. Like just the screen is just magically irrelevant. Anyway, what has stood out to you about this series other than the thunder looking awesome? I mean, it's it's it's the Chet Valanciunas series. You know, it's that battle right there. Like that's that's really the more important thing there. I think that opens the.

That matters the most in terms of this series. And I think there's, there were, listen, there were plays where Valanchunas was bullying Chet and, and, and bodying him and backing him down. And then when he turns to shoot Chet's right there to block the shot, like it's just unfazed in that sense. And, you know, all the talk of him being too skinny and not being able to hold up, it's holding up really well in that regard. And I think the other aspect too, is just Valanchunas is doing a pretty good job on the boards, but it just,

They can't compete, man. Like the, he can't compete with them on the other side of the court. You know, like Chet with his, his mobility is, is able to just kind of blow by him over and over again. Like game two was a perfect encapsulation. I don't think I said that word. Right. But perfect example of just everything check can do offensively trail three drilled it catch and shoot threes. If you in pick and pop opportunities drilled it graphically,

grab and go rebounds, bringing the ball up the court, hit his man with a little shake and get to the rim. Times where one play where he does that and Ingram helps off the strong side corner. Cool. He kicks it. I think it was to Lou Dort who did a sidestep three. Like there's just all of those little nuances and stuff you're seeing in Chet's game that you're just watching. And it just makes you, it makes me fear for the future.

For anybody that has to play Oklahoma City in the future, I don't know what their playoff future for this year is going to look like, but just the next few seasons, like watching this team grow is going to be just amazing. I wouldn't sleep on the present. And I've been saying all year, like people who are penciling this team in as some sort of upset patsy need to watch them play more. They're just really, really good. Yeah. I think they're going to win this series. I think I would again bet on them splitting in New Orleans, come back, win the series.

Next round, it's a heavyweight fight. There's no way around it. Whoever it is from then on out, it's a heavyweight fight. No shame in losing, but they are going to have a great chance to win that series. This team is just really good. They have a legit superstar. And I think people are seeing now the Jalen Williams-Lou Dort tag team on defense is...

It's going to become like their version of what Kawhi and Paul George were at their very best. Like that's how good those guys are. And then they come off the bench with case and Wallace and Aaron Wiggins. And God forbid they have three of those guys on the floor at the same time. You're just dead on arrival. You're not going to be able to score enough points.

And the Chet Jonas thing is so interesting because it's very obvious when Jonas like puts Chet in the basket and hits a layup and is always too big. He's too strong. He's playing volleyball on the offensive glass. Oklahoma City's whole thing is like you can have that stuff. We're going to try and minimize it the best we can, like you said. But like that stuff is too big.

we're going to get three because Jonas can't hang with Chet on the perimeter. And it's not just going to be Chet pick and pop threes. It's going to be, you're going to get so scrambled in rotation, trying to figure out how to recover to check because Jonas can't do it. So you're going to send a guy from over here, a third guy to do it. Jonas is going to have to go over here while you're doing all that. We're going to cut, we're going to set flare screens. We're going to drive the ball and we're going to get catch and shoot threes for anyone we want or dunks and layups and

and were willing to live with Jonas making Chet look skinny a few times. And it would not surprise me if at the opening of game three, they finally put Valanchunas on Josh Giddey and put a wing on Chet Holmgren. I don't think they want to do that because I think they actually want Giddey to be on the floor for the Thunder, and they don't want him played off the floor. But in the middle of game two, the Chet Jonas thing tilted so far toward Oklahoma City that –

I think that's been the obvious adjustment the whole time. Yeah, and I kind of just want to piggyback off your point about their offense because even if you defend all of that stuff properly, then they get the ball to Shea and he's going to hit a big shot up against the shot clock. I mean, they had the perfect defensive possession situation

Last game, a play where Chet Holmgren falls down. He has the ball. It looks like a dead possession. I was like, wow, that's an amazing, great defense from New Orleans. And Chet finds a way to get it to Shea, and Shea just hits a mid-range jumper over a contest where I'm just like, yeah, that's kind of the great. At the end of the day, that's what they have, and that's exactly what New Orleans doesn't have. And I really wish Zion was healthy because it would have been fun to watch him go at these guys.

And, and, and the way that would have looked, unfortunately we weren't, we weren't lucky enough to get that. Well, obviously that's a big deal for a superstar player. It changes all the defensive matchups. Suddenly CJ McCollum is being guarded by Jalen Williams who would have to guard Zion. And I think, you know, and they're going at CJ, I mean, Shay can get any matchup he wants. Just send a guard. Give me that guy. Give me that guy. They got into their guard guard screening toward the end of that, the second half of that game and got in a rhythm with that. Um,

But, you know, Brandon Ingram just can't get going in this series. And it really he I've said this about Brandon a lot. I think Brandon is a very good player. And you look at his stats and it's like, wow, 20, 23, six and six. And I've said this throughout his entire career. It doesn't feel like that when you watch him enough anyway. Like it doesn't feel like he impacts winning as much as those numbers suggest he should.

And I think there are a number of reasons for that. But I think we're seeing in this series without Zion, they just don't have CJ can do it a little bit. He's just facing such a size disadvantage. They don't have anyone who can just get into the teeth of the defense and play make out of it consistently from the top and in.

Brandon Ingram just isn't that, has not been that guy. He wants to take mid-range jumpers. He's not a great passer. He's just an okay passer. He's a good passer at times, but he just has looked overwhelmed. And he's coming back from injury. He just came back from injury. Maybe that's all it is, but he just, without Zion, they just are struggling to really puncture the defense. I mean, you touched on it with Ingram, though. Like, it's not a good sign when we go, yeah, 23-6-6 and we didn't notice.

Like, that's just not a good sign. Like when, if that's something that happens in those games where it's, when you look at the box where you're like, Oh, I don't remember him even taking enough shots to get to 23 points, you know, or along those lines, like that's a problem. And that's the concern there with Ingram. And I like Ingram. I'm beginning more and more to just think like, this might not be the right place for him. I don't know what, what's the right role for him in that regard. Cause when he gets it going, it's really tough to stop, but it's so hard to get him going.

Well, and again, you would have loved to see them in this game with Zion in this series with Zion to see the full team under real – and we know what Zion was doing when he got injured against the Lakers. He was tearing them apart. But I mentioned it after game one. Trey Murphy is going to have to start next year.

And it just has to. He's starting now because Zion's hurt, but he's been a bench player when everyone's healthy. That's not tenable anymore. He's going to have to start. I mean, B, I'm looking at the box score now. It's 18-4-3. Herb Jones made some shots, whatever. Whatever you have to do to realign your team so Trey Murphy's in the starting five next year is going to happen. And maybe this series will have some impact on that. I don't really know.

What else New Orleans can do in this series? It's not like they're loaded with easy adjustments to make or other, other ways to run their offense without Zion make more threes. I don't know. I mean, I mean, they're just, they're not built to do that. They're not built for that. They're at a disadvantage defensively. Like they're just not in a position where you feel like, you know, this, this is one of those things where you just look at it when you're going into the coaches meetings going like no idea.

Like I had no answers at a certain point when you hit it, a playoff series is you just have no answers. You've you've run out of them. And I think unfortunately for this team, I mean, Nance goes down with an injury. It's you're at this point now. It's like, I don't know what we could do at this point. They almost won game one. They almost won game one and they're going home. I think they'll win a game at home.

Moe DeKeele, you wrote a piece for The Athletic today about big men spacing the floor even though some of them can't shoot, quote unquote. And that was a wonderful piece for The Athletic. The Twitch stream, where can people find it? Again, it's not for me. I got you. Where can the under 40 set find the Twitch stream? Easiest thing is follow me on Twitter, M-O-D-A-K-H-I-L underscore NBA. But the Twitch stream is twitch.tv slash Twitch.

M-O-D-A-K-H-I-L underscore NBA. We're breaking down games, Zach. That's all we're doing. I put together an edit and we just run through it. And you're answering questions, right? Answering questions live. If somebody has a question about a play or anything, we've had fun debates and gone lively with things like that. We're doing it almost daily. Just kind of depends on the schedule. On the weekends, I'm trying to do post-game shows. So after four games...

uh break down those and those tend to be long shows but we we have a lot of fun and i again i just love the hoops so we're breaking down basketball at the end of the day well may you see you know send me a link maybe i'll pop in and and ask some questions under a pseudonym or something there we go maybe i'll make my twitch you know there was there's actually one time during the pandemic where

Where I got onto the only time I was ever on Twitch was when all the NBA players in the bubble were playing Call of Duty. And I guess they were at Josh Hart. I was like listening to Josh Hart play Call of Duty. And I was like, all right, this is,

I'm entertained by this for 15 minutes. Josh Hart's like talking trash and I was playing with somebody else. I can't remember who else. Maybe I'll tune in. But if you want to know what happened in the game, what might happen in the next game, which is what the playoffs are all about, Mo is one of the guys who will get you there. Mo DeKeele, thank you for staying up late Pacific time after a three-game Thursday that ended badly for the Lakers, ended well for Joel Embiid, and then there was another game too. Mo DeKeele, everybody. Thank you, sir. Thank you.

For the first time, Monday Night Football streams exclusively on ESPN+.

Jim Harbaugh makes his long-awaited return to the Monday Night Lights. Touchdown, LA! And the Chargers add to their lead. As the Chargers meet rookie Marvin Harrison Jr. and the Cardinals in the down. Murray scrambling. Harrison! 60 yards, touchdown! Chargers-Cardinals. Monday, October 21st at 9 p.m. Eastern. Streaming exclusively on ESPN+. Sign up now at ESPN+.com.