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Welcome back to another episode of the crossover podcast. I'm Roan Notch and I joined today
by my good friend New York Times best selling author of the book Blood in the Garden. Chris
Herring Chris. How's it going buddy? I'm good. Roan, how are you? Happy Friday too. I'm chilling
brother. Listen, every now and then I'm gonna be honest. I love a good playoff blowout. You know,
it just it takes the edge off. It takes the edge off just a little bit. You know what I mean?
Like some of these nights you're just you're so locked in. The adrenaline's going. You can't sleep.
I sleep peacefully after a blowout brother.
I do too. It normally makes the analysis a little bit easier than having to
you know, going with a fine tooth comb to you know, or to have to be mad about it. One call
that shifted the whole game and you know, and the hot and the hot takes a minute from that.
Like the refs missing the ball blatantly hitting the rim. You talking about something like that?
Bruh. Can I just say that I was at Heatnix game two and you know, obviously they've been
moving the media seats further and further from the court. But that happened and the very second
it happened with my naked eye. I was like, did that not hit the rim? And sitting next to me are like
reporters that I trust and like and you know, take their word for it when they disagree with me.
And I'm tripping. But I was like, I could swear they hit the rim. And then when they showed
replays and I watched it on the monitor, I'm like, that absolutely hit rim. And I mean, look,
the final score would not dictate that you know, like that that was the difference. But also,
it was like a was it a was it a five point swing or four point swing right there in a game that
was eight points and or was it even eight? I don't remember what the final score was.
That game was close enough to where that felt like a big momentum shift, particularly because
on a play like that, who was a game Vincent to grab the rebound and and put it back instantly,
which would have counted. So I was I was more stunned that they didn't even review it. But I
guess there wasn't anything that triggered a review. And that's something where I think the
league could be better about that is there was actually a dead ball because they called the 24
second violation. Why not just review it instead of moving on like, I don't know, that was very,
very odd to me, very odd to me. Anyway, listen, the the fix was clearly and clearly the coastal
leaders at the NBA put the fix in against the blue collar hardworking Miami heat. And that's
okay. Miami's coastal to just another obstacle for the hardest working organization in professional
sports to overcome. Chris, so much I want to get to on the show today excited to talk about some
of these playoff games with you. Let's start with some playoff fallout. We're starting to get some
playoff fallout now. I know this is something we discussed on the podcast before this news happened,
but yesterday the bucks announced the firing of Mike Boudinholtzer. You know, very tough.
First and foremost, we just want to send our condolences to bud dealing with the loss in the
family. It's so terrible. Yeah. And you know, obviously that transcends whatever this is.
You know, on the job side of it on the basketball side of it,
the bucks let him go. He obviously wins the championship with the team in 2021,
but it felt like every other year in the playoffs, things are tenuous with bud. You know,
in 2020, they lose to the five seed Miami heat last year. They have the Middleton injury, but they
lose to Boston and seven games this year, losing the first round of Miami and five games, even
with the honest healthy for two and a quarter of them. They lose the two games with the honest
healthy. They blow two huge leads in the fourth quarter. A lot of buds decision making there
called into question. And I think rightfully so down the stretch of those last couple games,
not double teaming Jimmy Butler, not changing the coverage on him, misuse of timeouts, etc.
Unfortunately for Putin, who really raised the floor of that team.
Is there someone you'd like to see the the bucks go get? Because I think we are kind of on the same
page that this was an obvious move for them to make.
Let me let me start with this first. And I'm glad you said it from the standpoint of his brother,
because I felt bad and it's not I don't think it was because we did anything wrong necessarily,
but after they were eliminated, we had on this podcast, a conversation about what the next
logical step for that organization was. And I think all of us pretty much agreed. I don't completely
remember what you said, but I think all of us were relatively in agreement that like this was
the most logical step to make. It's I don't think any of us ever want to be on here and be like,
they should fire this guy, but we also know the rhythms of this league and what like what's available
to organizations and what changes you can make. And yeah, so I think we're on the same page that
if they were going to make a change, he was kind of the obvious, you know, the obvious.
So yeah, so we had that we had that conversation, obviously without knowledge of
what was happening in his personal life, which as we talk about different things,
that stuff, you know, it's very real stuff for people when you when you look at performance,
when you look like, I kind of want to say more just but I guess I shouldn't theoretically do it,
but like there people, there's always stuff going on with people. And these are people at the end
of the day. And so, you know, that stuff is always happening in the background that we don't know
about that when we're asking, wow, this seems really awful. This seems like this team's not doing
well. Stuff is fluid and stuff changes in people's lives where you're just not having a good day
or not having a good year. It's not why this change is being made ultimately. There've been a lot of
other shortcomings. I also think he deserves a ton of credit for what you mentioned before,
which was raising not raising the floor of the team, but like, I mean, literally like with a crane
and with all this construction equipment, like, you know, putting actual footing underneath this
team, but had a much higher level, which I guess all it means is raising the floor, but raising the
floor to an extreme because they essentially for the better part of his tenure were a close to 60
win team every year and came in and instantly, you know, when we complained about how the bucks
seemed like they had all this talent. And then all of a sudden, you know, Janice is playing in an
offense that has a ton of space. We're watching Brooklope as bomb threes. And even from that point,
this team still changed a lot. The year they won the championship, I remember writing
our title game story and kind of like their season arc story. That was a team that had been
really bad at rebounding quite frankly, and made a point to send their corner shooters
in to crash the boards. And it made a big difference in that final series. I remember Pat
Conant and talked my ear off about that. Brooklope has talked my ear off about that. It was also a
team that put in like an offense that really kind of didn't work right away with the dunker spot and
trying to put someone in the dunker spot to try to make better use of the spacing and try to put
Janice somewhere else. So he was, you know, the team suffered offensively stat-wise
early in the season, but they want to title in part because of it later in the season.
So he deserves a lot of credit for tinkering with some things around the edges. I was reading
takes even from some bloggers that I respected Milwaukee where they were just like, can you really
point to anything he's done that has been an improvement beyond what he got here? And it's like,
I can't like they want to title in part because of some of that stuff. I also think Janice
improved a lot just because the situation but put in place for them.
Right. It was obvious but using, someone would say it was obvious that using Janice as a screener
but started doing that. This year, they changed their defensive coverage. They were a team that
used to give up a ton of threes. Great Williams lit him up in game seven. Brooklope
talked my ear off about that. He said, yeah, we like we came in training camp. We changed our
scheme, changed who the most important guy was, Bud hammered that in. They gave up way less threes
this year. And then they ran into a super hot heat team that shot way better than anyone could
have ever predicted. So yeah, it's tough. This is how I always hope to have these conversations
frankly is like there's good and there's bad you can't win a championship without there being good.
He's a fantastic coach because I think for all the for all the criticisms and rightfully so,
I'm not saying that there's nothing to criticize before there is. And I think we could also be
honest in saying this would have happened the year that they won the title had they not won the title.
So like there's plenty of criticism going around. I'm trying to balance that a little bit by saying
like just like with anything relationships, people, jobs, you know, in this case, his job.
Yeah, there's multitudes to it. And I don't like the idea particularly as we learned that, oh,
his brother also passed away. Like, I don't like the fact that it's just like everything he did
wrong. And I think even in the way the statement was crafted by the bucks that I've gotten to know
some of the people in the Bucks front office like, I don't think that this is they didn't want to do
this. It's just think it's logically what probably needed to happen because changes need to be made.
And frankly, now they have new ownership as well. And so, you know, like there's going to be more
pressure to change something to try to take the next step forward. But but did it's way harder than
anybody gives credit to to change to lift the floor of a team by basically blowing everything up
and having the courage to do that when you've got a potential superstar in his prime, entering his
prime to just say like we're going to do all this stuff totally differently. There were a lot of
things that he didn't do as well that I never understood. I've talked before about the idea that
he would sub Yannes in and out for 30 seconds one minute at a time at the end of close games,
particularly in that Toronto series that they ended up losing that was pretty brutal where they
taken a 2-0 lead in the conference finals. So there were things there were plenty of things.
But I would imagine he should get a call very quickly to get a job elsewhere. And I'm looking
forward to that because I like we talk about revenge bodies when people have breakups.
He he he should have a revenge tour of like he can do this with another organization.
Another organization would be stupid not to give him an opportunity because I I see people saying,
oh well anybody could have done this with Yannes then why weren't they? And maybe they will you
know maybe it'll just be a continuation whoever coaches the team next. I'm not sure who's who's
the best person like I'll be honest in saying that with the exception of Kevin Arnivitz always
did those assistant coach profiles and stuff and like the up and coming coaches.
Aside from him like there aren't that many people providing windows into who the
the good assistants are and even then like there are probably some really good ones
that we just don't know of. So if that's the route the Bucks are going to take,
I'm not sure I saw Steve Nash on a short list on like from an odd standpoint. I was like,
yeah if you're letting go of Bud to do that then you're on Bud.
So there we have Steve Nash at home aka we did Jason Kidd already.
On that note we're going to move right along.
I will say that I would be interested in giving Frank Vogel a look there. I think he's a little
bit underrated as a coach. Was a skate goat a little bit for what happened with the Lakers.
He's due to have another job. Yeah, that would be a beautiful job for him to walk into and it's a
he's a defense minded guy who's coached teams that kind of have bigs and like ball handling
forwards. Right. You know between the Pacers and then obviously the Lakers.
Nick Nurse is that what you're going to mention too.
Yeah, also they're both are interesting both are interesting for different reasons.
I will say one addendum to this conversation that we can move on to the playoff stuff.
I'm not saying Janus needs to be selfish. The beauty of Janus is that he is who he is
and he's like polite is probably the best way to describe him.
I'll say it if you don't want to. Something that's interesting to me
is like one of the stories that's come out is Spoh telling the story of Jimmy Butler
when he hit the game tying shot in game five to send it into overtime
and Spoh was drawing up a play and Jimmy said no, no, no, let it be me.
Let it be me. You know Drew Holliday is going to defend me this way. He's going to trail me.
I'm going to get an open look. Give me the ball. I'm sure Janus does that at times.
But when Janus is asked after that game, did you want to guard Jimmy Butler?
He's like, yes, maybe Drew's tired, but I don't want to go over my coach, etc.
Listen, that's great. That's a great quality for Janus.
At the same time, it's not like when Jimmy Butler does that to Eric Spohlster.
He's undermining his authority. It's a collaborative process.
He says, coach, this is what I've seen. Whoever the Bucks next coaches,
again, Janus is unimpeachable. He's a champion. Everything about him, I think, is great.
I'm not saying he needs to be more selfish, but I don't think he should be afraid.
I'm saying it for you. If you won't say it, this is the second time, I'll say that.
He could be. And it's the second or third time in a postseason that he said this.
In terms of the minutes he plays, in terms of who he's guarding,
I think this is the second time, maybe the second straight postseason, he said that
from the standpoint of, yeah, I wanted to, of course you want to, but I'm going to do it.
My coach asked me to do. And basically what you're saying, in so many words, is that
the history of the league dictates that superstars can make those calls,
just like with anything else that you trust, you're going to live and die with your best players
shot selection with the shot that they can get at the end of the game,
even if they're being guarded by the best player, you aren't going to lose a job over
putting the ball in the best player's hands. That's not going to ever be what.
Now, if you don't give your all world, probably like best all around player in the league,
like offense defense, you're not going to, you're not going to be criticized for doing that.
What you will be criticized for is if you don't put that person in position, at least see what they
can do. And that was a big, that was a big difference. Again, going back to the Raptor series that
they lost when they're up to, oh, is that that series shifted when Kawhi said, I'm going to take
Giannis in addition to being the guy on the other end of the floor. And it was a massive
difference. Now, at that point, Giannis's career, before they had won, I think you can at least,
okay, you can at least kind of say, maybe Giannis needs to take the reins there. But if he's not
going to, and he's not going to step up and say, I want to do those things, I want to guard Kawhi,
then it's his coach, you have to ask him, like, can you do this for us? I think you should do this
for us. And so I will say that just from that standpoint, some of the other things we've talked
about, there's going to be a clear opportunity for someone to just do stuff differently than
Mike Boone holds. And the same way that there was an opportunity for Boone holds, or to do things
much differently than just did did, not only with their offense, which was obvious, but defensively,
they did this stuff with jump switches and all these other things that were just kind of,
their defense was chaotic in a way that was more chaotic for them than it was for offenses playing
with them. So I mean, there's progression. Mike Boone holds, or has put them in such a good
position, even if they fall in short, in years where they should not have, this is a massive
opportunity for anybody to sit here and win a championship. And because this move has now been
made, there's probably a little bit less stress and pressure on the roster itself. It's a roster
that is ready to win a title. And also, God willing, yeah, this is healthy next time, as opposed to
missing a couple games, which swings a series, or can swing a series, at least, and did in this case.
Helps swing the series at least. So, so we'll see. But it's fascinating to think about that
job being open. It really is. Heat and five, no matter what. Hey, folks, this is Brent Reeves with
me either snoo podcast, this country life. You ever wondered how to pick out a good dog,
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You and I are going to have a problem. Do you understand what I'm saying to you?
Well, I'll come to the jungle.
No matter which team you root for, the Unleashed podcast is here to help you pick winners and
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look at the latest lines and break down all the biggest stories and games in sports.
That's right, from props to parlays, totals to teasers, we've got you covered.
And you'll get to hear us celebrate our winners, or bemoan our bad beats,
but hopefully mostly celebrate winners. Plus, we'll talk with some great guests
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Let's move on to the actual games here. Let's talk a little bit about what we saw last night.
Lakers Warriors game two. The Warriors come away with a 27 point victory, 127 to 100.
Anthony Davis after his 30 and 23 outbursts in game one, held to 11 points, seven rebounds
in game two. The Warriors shoot 50% from three. I think they were 21, 42 exactly, maybe 21 to 43.
I don't know, something crazy. This was a dropping. I think a lot of us expect the Warriors to come
out with the great energy. LeBron looked a little bit better, at least his efficiency was up,
although he still has not had a... This is for people who wanted the 2015 to 2018 LeBron
hunting Steph Curry every time on the floor, we haven't seen that. I thought the story last night
was dream on green. I wrote about him on a story you should be seeing on sid.com by the time we
listen to this. But we always talk about what Steph does that makes the Warriors possible, right?
Like because of Steph, you can get away playing dream on and loony together. Because of Steph,
you can do XYZ. They have such a symbiotic relationship because dream on existence allows them to do
something like start your Michael Green and you're not losing. If anything, you're gaining
something defensively. They played better defensively because they put your Michael Green in the game
and decided we're putting dream on on Anthony Davis. And how many teams... I can't think of
another team in the league that says, we're going to put our six-six guy on Anthony Davis and it's
going to make us better defensively. And that's only possible because of dream on. And then on the
other end of the floor, they're able to play spaced out offense because they're not worried
about losing something defensively. Most teams when they go small are going to lose something
on that in the floor. And I just thought he had such a brilliant two-way game last night. Would
you think a game super is? Man, there's so much to it. You know, as we talked about, normally,
don't have to go through it with a fine-tooth comb necessarily to make the points you want to make
or kind of the pieces of analysis that you're going to pull. I mean, but you hit on a few of them.
Steph and not needing to control the game with the scoring. Honestly, and we'll get to this as we
talk about the Heat and X series too. I think a few of these teams are almost too aggressive
defensively because it's like, if you push something too far in one direction, then something else
happens as a result of it. So Steph, after the way he's been playing lately, you don't want him to
beat you. So it's basically like, all right, we're going to run two guys at him. And in so many of
the sequences, they were doing that, but not doing it aggressively enough. And so it's like a relatively
simple pass for Steph to make, which the very first basket of the game, we see, you know, a pass
to Michael Green, and then Michael Green hits Draymond for an easy layup. It was kind of the story of
the game to me, at least from an offensive standpoint, there was that. So Steph had 12 assists in Draymond,
had nine. And it was like, uh, okay, so that's not typically how it looks. Steph rarely has that
many assists in the game because he's normally asked to score more. But if you're making him
pass the ball, he's going to do it. But you can't, you have to collapse on him better and kind of,
with more of an element of surprise than the way they were doing it. So I, I understood the
point behind it, but it was, it kind of got all their guys into a rhythm. By the way,
that sort of tic-tac toe level passing also has the ability to hurt you more deeply when
Jim Michael Green's in the lineup. And he's hitting threes at which he was. So that's different than
Kavan Looney being there because Kavan Looney's not going to torch you from three. Uh, so there was
that that stood out right away because it's like, well, that's their whole defensive strategy. Have
you seen Kavan Looney's UCLA highlights? I can be honest in saying that I'm not a big draft person.
So, and you're mine. Because I feel like we have to lock in so someone heavily to NBA
someone tweet it. Someone tweeted after like his 20 offensive rebound game. It was like
Kavan Looney's UCLA bag or something like that. And he was like 41% from three. His last year,
bro, he's going between the legs step back. Jay pull up three. I was like, what in the world is
going on? It was just funny to hear you. Yeah. Yeah. And he's three is because I've seen him do
it. I mean, like, yeah, as someone who, you know, watches these guys warm up before games,
watches them in practice and then shoot around, watches them have, you know, watches these players
have shooting contests and stuff like that. You know, watches, you know, have heard all the time
about Shaq and Dwight Howard and these watch, Dwight Howard have like a 40 point triple double
in his first game of China or whatever. Like these guys can all shoot. Uh, they all have a ton of
talent. They're also very skilled. Uh, Montrose Harrell is the same way. Like these guys can all
really shoot for sure. It's just not game ready normally. And it's like also at that level,
know your role kind of right. And Kavan Looney, literally is better in his role than anybody else
in the league. So I think that's more what that is than anything else. But that's just funny.
Totally stunned me. But right. He's not in an NBA game. He's probably not going to
talk to you. Definitely not. Michael Green can't. And even Jamaica Green has not been great. He's
not played all that much this season. But I think this was like a good time to roll him out.
And I think even to the point where a lot of people weren't assumed that this was more of a
tactic on Steve curse part as opposed to Kavan Looney being sick. It could have been a little
bit of both, but it worked really well and was a good way when you talk about what were the takeaways.
This forces Anthony Davis to play defense differently because of the fact that Kavan Looney can shoot
or I'm sorry. Now you have me on that that that that Michael Green can shoot. Obviously to Michael
Green can shoot the perception of his shooting is better and more dangerous and more lethal than
Kavan Looney doing it. And so he had to play it differently. So he had to step up more.
And it was part of the reason that you were seeing between that and stuff in the tic-tac-toe passing.
You were watching Anthony Davis come up higher, which does all sorts of things. Austin Reeves
looked bad yesterday defensively, not because he wasn't putting in effort, but because he just
was getting snared in every screen that they said on him. And so Clay got went nuts because of it.
And it took a toll. It looks like it's taken into all in Austin Reeves ability to play offense
because he's so worn down. And that was one of the things to look for in this series. So
there were a lot of things, but I'll mention this last one. And then I feel like I've taken
all the talking points. No, you're good. You're good. The Lakers too, like we'll probably talk
about it. If we talk at Denver Phoenix, you've written about kind of where Phoenix's shortcomings
are offensively in that series. The Lakers breakdown, you talked about the 21 threes that the Warriors
hit the
taking too many shots from mid range yesterday. And it's like the math is not going to work
between Anthony Davis potentially having to score against Dremond and the fact that they
weren't taking that many threes. LeBron, in some cases, looks like he's settling for a lot of twos,
probably because of his foot, but a lot of long twos. It's like that's not a sustainable
winning strategy. Even if you get hot from mid range one game, it's going to be hard to be
the team that's hitting 21 threes when it's the Warriors too. You know they're capable of doing
that more than once in a series. I mean, I couldn't believe the Lakers lost the word minus 45
from the three point line in game one and still one. I mean part of it is it's like they were able
to get to the line. A D went nuts. Yes. What do you make up? So A D has kind of this has been his
postseason. It's like one great scoring game, one less great scoring game. And the defense has
generally been great, but clearly they're at their best. I think when he's, you know,
also dominating offensively, especially when you think of where LeBron kind of is at this
point in his career with both the age and the foot injury. I mean, he's he's just not
Isol LeBron anymore. He's not grind your possessions down to as slow as possible.
Get the switch he wants. Like we have not seen that LeBron so far on the playoffs and that
if you look at the box score that the box score looks okay, but it's it's not LeBron James.
What's your confidence level in a D right now?
Uh, I mean, let's be real here. There were a couple stats that jumped out yesterday. One was
was Steph and how many more pick and roles they ran even in less minutes. I think he played eight
less minutes and had two more pick and roles that he ran. And then keeping him as is not a pick
and roll heavy team. The other man at all here is like, okay, LeBron has taken a step back. It looks,
I won't say intentional, but it looks like that, you know, it's like not something that the Lakers
are surprised by. It's part of what they're expecting. You can do that when AD is playing the way he
did in game one. You can't like LeBron's not playing an ISO heavy enough game to carry you
at this point. And frankly, even the plays where it looked like he where he was kind of
isolating or kind of doing it on his own, he was backing guys into the post for five and six seconds
at a time. The Warriors look kind of content to let him do that. Uh, where they're basically like,
okay, make this tough fade away. This tough turnaround in the lane from 15 feet. Um, between
that and Anthony Davis having to figure out how to score on, uh, dream on green. Good luck. Also,
it's also not going to work if, if, to Michael Green is outscoring AD. So, which is what happened
between that and then Kavan Loonie, I think having the most rebounds of anyone despite
like 12 minutes. Yeah. Uh, so I mean, there were a lot of warning signs there. Uh, the Warriors
played desperately as, as they needed to because keep in mind, yes, they fell behind two and two,
two, oh, the last series, the difference between those situations though is the fact that, um,
they're at home this time. The Kings had their first two games at home. Right. Lakers would have
been going home. And now also the Lakers have more experience and have a couple guys, key guys on
their team that have won a title there. So it would have been different. The Warriors seem to play
with that urgency. They seem to really come out with a lot of strategic changes. The Lakers
are probably going to have to roll out with some too because that, that didn't necessarily feel like
a fluke. Oh, they just got hot. No, this, this was a game where it was like, okay, they're doing
stuff specifically to kind of eat away at some of the Lakers and manages Anthony Davis's length.
Okay, make him step out further. If we make him step out further and they're pressuring stuff with
the ball, make quick passes, swing the ball quickly and it doesn't give people time to recover.
Wear the hell out of Austin Reeves. It may come a non factor in this series because we're making
him defend so hard. Tough scene, basically for the Lakers, like if the Warriors are going to do this,
it doesn't mean that they don't have a chance, but it means that they're going to have to be on fire
and they're going to have to be efficient and that they're going to have to get really good
performances out of, uh, out of 80 and LeBron, which good luck doing that when Draymond Green is
guarding Anthony Davis as opposed to come on. Let me say, well, we'll see. It'll, it'll be
interesting. It, I'm also very intrigued now to see if like when Draymond got suspended and then
they played better in one that game, they left the line up the way it was when Draymond was out
with pool. I'd be interested to see now whether they start Jim Michael Green again,
just right of the way Kerr handled it the last time. Like it would make a lot of sense. Why wouldn't
you? This was a great mix. A lot of sense to split up Draymond and Looney, especially in this series
with AD, you want them out of the pain as much as possible. So I pulled up LeBron's play.
Can I say this one thing? Go ahead, please.
The one thing I'll say, and I'll let you go because I feel like I've been talking too much,
uh, it, it, there's a difference between switching Looney or Draymond out for pool versus
bringing in to Michael Green because he's still a big, he's just a stretch big or more of a floor
spacing big. He can defend well enough. He's not going to hurt you in the way that Jordan pool does.
He's also not, I mean Jordan pool is a whole different level of hit or miss.
So, right. He's not, he's not, I mean, this is something,
cause he drives to the hoop. So it's, it's a completely different level of, uh, you know,
like if he wants to go with that switch for a second game in a row, I would understand.
And I'm curious to see how basically,
Michael Green is not not showing off for the bad he's sitting courtside is what you're trying to say.
Oh my God. All right. What point were you going to make about LeBron stats? I can't with you.
So I pulled up LeBron's playoff stats. He's currently averaging the lowest points for
game of his playoff career tied for the fewest assists, lowest three point percentage,
second fewest free throw attempts, second only the last year when they only played,
or two years ago when they only played six games. Like these are, these are bad numbers.
These are bad numbers, but it also had me looking at his 2018 postseason line when he was
34 nine and nine for 22 games on that hilariously bad cavities and shot 56% from the field.
Oh my God. That was an absolutely insane or sorry, 54% from the field. That was an absolutely insane,
LeBron run. Good Lord. Those last two calves years. Unbelievable.
Yeah, but yeah, they I'm hopeful. I'm hopeful. This is just his put by the way because like,
I think it's something that yeah, I too, but I'm hopeful that it is because I don't know what
that at some point the drop off will happen, whether it's injury related or not. And I just
hope it's not like precipitous to where it's like we don't even really see
LeBron Isos anymore. Like him being an off the ball player has been weird to watch.
Yeah, it's like, but it's it's probably the way it should happen given that Anthony Davis is
on his team. He's younger. If he can stay healthy, like he's the guy you would trust to do that, but
it's it's disconcerting and it's it is because it kind of felt like it was all at once, which
does lead me to think that it's it's injury based and not just like, oh, he's 38, you know, but then
again, Chris Paul looked really old all of a sudden in the playoffs last year. So who knows,
in the finals last year of all places, but but yeah, I I trust that it's it's more injury related
because it's been so abrupt. But I mean, they're going to need a really, really great game or two
or three from him to win the series more than than just game one and Davis that obviously goes,
you know, it's true of from a defensive standpoint, it has to be integral for them and has to do
more offensively, even if Draymond's guarding him. Like that's the role of a superstar the same way
that's all yolkish do it. I hate to be Shaq, but it's like, you know, he's got to go out and get
35 35 and 25 and 12. Yeah. The funniest thing about James Harden is that he actually did that
in game one. And it was like Shaq literally had no critiques because he had literally
laid out pregame. What he wanted to see, bro. He's like, walk here and say anything. It's the
only time I've ever seen that happen. That was hilarious. He was like, he's like, I love it.
He's so he's like, I would have put up 43 and 20. Ernie. He's like,
that's what's the answer to everything. Yeah. And then after Yolkish's game too, also, he's like,
can't say anything. Big fella was dominant. It's just like, Yolkish had like, you know, whatever,
37 and 14 or something. It's just so funny because Shaq like doesn't care how these people are
getting their numbers. Like DeAndre, if Aiden had like 22 points, Shaq would be like dominant
game from the like not ignoring the fact that like Aiden is shooting entirely like
mid-range pocket bass jumbers. There's a dominant game from Big fella. Like, oh, I love it. I wouldn't
change a thing about that show. He is the most consistent with his analysis of you and I know,
I would say him and Tim Leggler in very different ways. Yeah.
Yeah. Like, Tim Leggler's very consistent. Shaq is too, but it's always like, it's so
funny because he's been- Box score based and like- But Shaq is also like, yeah, I would have
dominated. Why won't you? I don't get it. Like, you know what I mean? Very, very much so. But
this is generally the critique that people lay out of like, why superstars don't make
their coaches is because they would have that train thought. There've been a few that have been
fine. I think Larry Bird is one of the better ones we've seen. But yeah, it's part of what makes
it so funny in my opinion. God, I love inside the NBA.
Let's move on. Let's move on. Yeah. Let's move on to the Chris Tucker.
Oh my God, the Chris Tucker cameo. It's so good, dude. That was so good.
No, I tweeted about it like three times because I could not believe it was happening. Like,
teenage me was so excited and it was so random that- I mean, they have made such a joke out of
the Kenny Smith running to the board thing. Could you imagine if someone- my favorite part about
inside the NBA is like, so obviously we've been watching for however many years, right?
So remember when Kenny first started running, then you remember when Shaq and Shaq first started
running? Now you know about like all the- like, imagine if someone was watching the show for the
first time that night and they're like, what is happening? Like, what? Like, they would have no
client as they do these things that nobody else does. Yeah, it's such all- it is one
inside joke that's been running for 17 years. Yes. Like, the show as a whole is that-
Yes.
Between the Shaq and a fool, between the skat of the night that they're going to show for
Murnie Johnson that never has- that has no sponsors. It makes-
Unsullied my sponsorship.
Holds fun at the fact that they're the fact that they now drop like props and things from the ceiling
onto Shaq and, you know, rubber ducks and everything else. Like, it's just the fact that they can't tell,
you know, Charles Barkley can't say the word balls without Shaq cracking up, like,
and just like completely derailing whatever conversation they're having. Like, it's-
the show, there are so many level-headed critiques that I've raised that everybody has raised about,
you know, the jokes that they make about, you know, not being able to pronounce the honest's
last name and like who we play for and the fact that like these guys are paid very handsomely
and don't even know which teams a lot of these guys play for now when they move teams.
Like, all those things are completely fair to critique. I have beat the drum hard about those
things and then we should keep doing it. Like, but let's not lie and say that the show's not
entertaining. I don't- It's- I think both- And honestly-
It's true it wants because it's so funny most of the time.
And there's times where they still have the best analysis of the national broadcast,
but we don't need to get into all that. I'll also bring up the Chris Tark thing just to say that-
You about to get some emails over that statement.
Yeah. That I texted you the Denzel clip and it's like Shaq- it's like interviewing Denzel
years ago. Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes. I was trying to remember what you were talking about.
Yeah. And then Shaq's like Denzel, like hit me with that King Kong line. And Denzel Washington,
who's such a huge Lakers fan, loves Shaq so much. Like, you know, I'm certain people are asking
Denzel to do the training day speech all the time and he's sick of it. But for Shaq, he's like,
I'm going to personalize it for you. I can't even imagine how I know that's to be.
But like, he's so excited to do it for Shaq.
Can I say this that as between that and like, so the Chris Tark- for people who didn't see it,
Chris Tucker was randomly like randomly appeared on Inside the NBA last-
Half-time show. Yeah, the halftime show. During the halftime show. And what we're talking about,
Kenny Smith, when he wants to go almost like to the tellestrator that they have sitting behind them.
And he like runs back there. I think he probably does it because he's not need and he's had surgeries.
And it like looks less awkward if he jogs as opposed to walking, whatever.
He does that and sometimes Shaq or Charles Barkley will randomly race him back there.
And he won't notice that someone is trying to challenge him back there until mid-stream.
And in this case, Chris Tucker came out of nowhere and raced back there.
And it was like, where the hell did Chris Tucker, who like, up until a few years ago, was like,
not even a full point of society anymore. Like he had just literally vanished.
And he just runs up on the stage. But just how big these guys are in terms of their fandom for him,
for all the movies he's done from Friday to rush hour to money talks to everything.
He's just so funny. And so of course they make him do like the Michael Jackson dance.
Yeah. Because he was in a Michael Jackson video.
And the thing is that all the people they get on the show love Shaq, Kenny, and Chuck so much
and Ernie that they're willing to do whatever for them. Like,
I put him up. People ask for suck and dance all the time too.
Imagine how annoying it has to be. Right.
They didn't, I don't think he minded that because like you said, he's a fan, just like
it tells a fan. And trust me, just to tell you how much of a fan that these guys have,
people, these celebrities have to be of these three, these four guys,
having hung out with Spike Lee even once or twice for the book and the doc collaboration that we
have going on. I was courtside with him. He gets asked repeatedly by complete strangers
about what his movies mean, which of his movies was his favorite to make.
And these are strangers and it's like you, I imagine you have to have a pretty canned
response to these things. Let alone the selfies that people request left and right. Like I
I'm sitting courtside with him at the Knicks game and I can't even like have a conversation with him
because it's so consistently interrupted mid game while there's a game happening three feet away
from us. So it's like it wears on these guys. Like that was the first thing I noticed right away
with Spike is that the degree to which you do not get a chance to just sit and enjoy anything.
A dinner, a game, I mean, I'm sure you still enjoy it, but it's like you're doing it with
interruptions left and right. When other celebrities, particularly ones you really respect and really
enjoy and have brought joy to you, ask, I imagine that they're happy to do it because it's like
they probably even if they're asking him to do that, they understand what it is to have people
hound them all the time. Chuck seems like he's great about that where he had that really heart
warming story about the it was wasn't it the guy that the man in Alabama who's you know he went to
Charles. Charles.
All kinds of crazy stories.
They do he I believe it was like a cat litter scientist if I'm remembering correctly.
Like that was kind of what he did for a living and it was one of the most beautiful stories I've
heard in years just about a celebrity relating with someone that could not be further from celebrity.
But right, I think that sometimes every now and then as much as these guys do get annoyed by
the cheerleaders and the fanboys and everything like that, you also get people that just
respect what they do and know how to keep it pushing. And in that case, it sounded like that's
what that was. And they just had a conversation that just lasted for hours. And I think they
like connecting with normal people in a natural way, not in a way that feels forced.
For sure.
How we got to all that. I don't know.
It's probably my fault. But uh, no, it's all got to have a detour like this.
For sure. For sure. Let's talk about it was far enough in the pod.
Darryl Swenson probably stop listening right now.
Shout out to Darryl.
Darryl was the one I was thinking about when I'm like, I don't know how this just happened.
So I'm gonna go ahead and check out the video. I'm gonna go ahead and check out the video.
I'm gonna go ahead and check out the video and see what's going on. I'm gonna go ahead and see what's going on.
And I'm gonna go ahead and check out the video. And I'm gonna go ahead and check out the video.
And I'm gonna go ahead and check out the video. And I'm gonna go ahead and check out the video.
And I'm gonna go ahead and check out the video.
Darryl Swenson. I'm gonna go ahead and check out the video. I'm gonna go ahead and check out the video.
Darryl Swenson. I'm gonna go ahead and check out the video. I'm gonna go ahead and check out the video.
Darryl Swenson. I'm gonna go ahead and check out the video. I'm gonna go ahead and check out the video.
Darryl Swenson. I'm gonna go ahead and check out the video. I'm gonna go ahead and check out the video.
Darryl Swenson. I'm gonna go ahead and check out the video. I'm gonna go ahead and check out the video.
I'm Claire Crofton and in my new podcast, The Fighting Parks, we're going out on the ice
with the most violent hockey team ever. That was guerrilla warfare at its highest.
The Danbury Treasures wanted to win at any cost.
They take down! They take up! All done when breaking loose ill and trash will cap.
He wanted to break every bone in his body. Literally throwing him like a rag doll.
Doing bananas! Here at the Danbury Ice Arena, they can't restrain him right now!
So are they heroes or villains? You decide. I don't know what to say and I don't want to get shot.
There's the FBI side, there's my side and somewhere in the middle is the truth.
Listen to the fighting pucks starting on the 11th of May on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
You and I are gonna have a problem. You wanna say what I'm saying to you? Well, I come to the Jango.
No matter which team you root for, the Unleashed podcast is here to help you pick winners and
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That's right, from props to parlays, totals to teasers we've got you covered.
And you'll get to hear us celebrate our winners or bemoan our bad beats,
but hopefully mostly celebrate winners. Plus we'll talk with some great guests from the
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Okay Jerry, yeah you get on that. Now a lot of shows break down games, but the Unleashed podcast
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and make Jerry relive it in the process and take us behind the scenes.
Oh I got stories you can count on that. So listen to the Unleashed podcast presented by
BetMGM on the iHeartRadio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.
Let's talk about Heatnix a little bit before we get out of here.
We talked about this in our group chat. That was not a very impressive showing from the
Nixon game too. I thought they had a lot of success against Miami's zone,
but the Heat played a lot of zone because Jimmy Butler was gone.
Julius Randall was fine. He was I mean he's working his way back from injury.
Respect him from going out there. It's not like he put his stamp on that game in such a way that
you were like oh the Knicks got Randall back you know Bronson again kind of took over in the fourth
quarter. We joked about it at the top of the pod. There were a couple of-
I don't know if I'd say that. I might disagree with it a little bit.
With what? What was Randall's six for ten from three?
I don't think he hit that many threes.
I'm gonna have to look it up. I think I'm saying-
Are we mixing it up with something else?
I'm saying Randall was good but not so good that you were like-
Randall was pretty great.
He was eight for eighteen and three and nine from three.
They didn't- I mean they didn't put the game away.
Yes I'm saying it was like it wasn't like uh it wasn't like Yannus coming back and putting up
thirty eight and twenty. You know what I mean?
It's unfair to compare Randall to Yannus. My point was it's not like he blew the game open or he
you know it didn't feel like he changed the tenor of the series with his return
is what I'm saying. He was very good. He was very good but he didn't-
Fair.
Didn't feel like he you know again like I'm saying like Bronson was the guy in the fourth quarter
and then obviously there's a couple I don't even- I'm not even gonna say they're bad calls.
Like they were- they're tough calls to make in the moment on replay whatever the heart and
steam foul the shot clock violation those were ended up being kind of important moments in the game
and the fourth so is the heats inability to get a rebound again playing zone because of the lack
of Jimmy so what do you think where are you leaning on this series moving forward?
Uh I mean first off I think the heat getting Butler back I mean what kind of nullify anything
if if he's back and he he looks anywhere near himself will nullify what we thought about came to
it was not impressive when from the Knicks it was just you know I mean I saw people I follow saying
yo almost like if you have an argument with your significant other and you guys disagree about
something like let's not argue in front of I mean even what Chris Chris Rock said about the
Will Smith thing he's like yo where I come from like we I was always taught we don't argue in front
of white people like don't let white people see us arguing. Um you don't let's just get out of here
and get this win and and then complain about how it looked later let's complain about a win as
opposed to a loss uh and for a while this game like as we talked about with the the Warriors and how
badly they needed game two because they were about to go on the road for three and four against the
team that's won a championship the Knicks were gonna be in real trouble if not only are they down
0-2 butler would be coming back potentially in game three with some rest and you'd be going to Miami
which I don't necessarily think is like the most haunted place of all time from you know in terms
of how loud the fans are gonna get or anything like that um but I think the heat didn't seem
bothered by the vaunted Madison Square Garden mystique either. It's a lot easier to not be
haunted by it when you're when you've got Jimmy Butler one oh well they didn't have Jimmy Butler
in game soon and gave Vincent was cooking but but the heat we're doing the heat we're I mean so
they're grinding the game down to a halt with the zone uh they are bombing threes gave Vincent is
playing like I mean he's shooting like Duncan Robinson with defense uh you know Duncan Robinson
from a couple years ago with defense I'm sorry I'm sorry I mean I just there's uh the media loves
to sprinkle a lot of Madison Square Garden Masala everywhere during the playoffs it's like oh the
Nick's fans the Nick's fans the Nick's crowd Chris Herring is sitting courtside how are these players
ever gonna be able to focus and miss Jesus different animal blah blah blah and then all I see is gave
Vincent going in there lighting these dudes up and the heat probably winning this game if Scott
Foster can see what everyone else sees which is at the ball hit the rim so I just you know I I'm
from South Florida I know I'm not I'm not in disagreement from that state I always I always hear
about the heat crowds and I always hear about Madison Square Garden it's a temple you must go
there blah blah blah the heat looked completely unfazed by the road environment without their
best place as as they as they should relative to a CAF's team that hasn't been to the playoffs
before right the heat have been one game from the finals in the finals uh you know a one seed all
within the last three years so they I not to say I expect that of them even without Butler but
also what they're doing is trying to basically patch this together as best they can by bombing
a bunch of threes and running pick and rolls every play without Butler there they don't really have
much choice you can win games that way and and I think because the Knicks were just okay uh that
they had they they came away with a chance to win again by the way I made that uh botch earlier
I was mentioning Randall's numbers and him being six of ten that was Brunson I don't know how I
mixed this two up Randall was 25 12 and eight in a return game which is obviously very good having
been there watching him warm up uh I didn't think he was going to play before the game we we all mean
Ian Begley who covers the team for S&Y Fredcats for the athletic we all kind of thought he wasn't
necessarily going to play because he wasn't running before the game he was just shooting and so I was
like oh he's just trying to keep his shot you know in line and and fresh and everything like that
he's not putting pressure on his leg really he's not really trying to test it the way that Brunson
was before the game the way that Grimes had done when he was trying to come back from his injury
so I was stunned that he even played and then played like that um he was making the right play
and the right reads which I think more so than how he shoots is more important because when he
like I think the heat came at him the way that the Lakers were guarding Steph not necessarily as far
out but I just think they were doubling early on Randall I think maybe to test him out physically
a little bit but also when the Knicks really tend to struggle is when Randall doesn't get rid
of the ball or tries to force something right he was making good reads he was making skip passes
he was kicking the ball out at the appropriate time and I think just like we saw at the Warriors
yesterday it got RJ Barrett into a really nice rhythm which he's been great lately for the
especially in first halves he's been great offensively for them he's been keeping them up
float without Randall with Brunson struggling at times um you know we saw Josh Hart get a couple
of open looks like I what I would say about the Knicks is that what I would say about the heat is
that I understand that they're trying to compensate without Butler I was surprised they stuck in zone
for so long they were basically in zone for the last three quarters of the game which this is
already the team that uses zone more than any other team has in the last 20 years statistically
and so for them to have one of the games where they've used zone for the most that I can remember
just like at a certain point teams require a different strategy a different tact is required
to try to keep a team off balance and I kind of felt like at a certain point Josh Hart got three
or four looks from the exact same spot on the floor they figured it out they figured it out by the
end of the game they figured it out and also um I'm not like they heat run a lot of zones so it's
not like you know a lot of teams like the Kings for instance the Kings use zone Mike Brown didn't
like using zone even though their defense wasn't particularly good when they were in man he didn't
like going to zone too often because he's like I always worry from the standpoint of offensive
rebounding being bad or like just killing us if we do that and lo and behold kabana looney has
a 22 rebound game and you know 10 11 of them however many of them were offensive rebounds
so Mike Brown was spot on with that the heat normally don't have that problem but they got
killed at a certain point in the game where uh Hartenstein was was just really killing them and
two and three and four shots on one possession which then when you do get a three out of something
like that it just feels back breaking and uh yeah so this was a winnable game for the heat they should
I mean either way it went if they came out of there with the split they were golden if they've gone up
to oh you've got the nicks on the ropes now um and so I mean they should feel good about that they
should feel extremely confident being at home they should feel extremely confident if Butler
can go which I don't think it's a given that he can but he's going to be very surprised that he
will try he he got it he got in an intense workout last night I'm assuming he'll do the same today
um and I can't imagine the team would be thrilled about him doing that if he wasn't going to go
um I agree yeah the zone is interesting because a lot of times my Miami runs it
they're giving up open threes and I think sometimes like teams are not used to the three
point looks they get from a zone so they're not as confident shooting whereas the nicks figured it
out got those threes hit those shots and that that changed the tenor of the game one thing I'm
very interested to see is how Miami closes game three if theoretically Butler and Randall are both
playing and both healthy because they closed game one with Jimmy Bamb Vincent Martin and Lowry
so Jimmy's basically playing the power forward and I wonder if they go to that versus Randall down
the stretch and still play man because I think Jimmy has actually had success against Julius
Randall it's not a matchup I think you want to play for a full game but I think it's something
that Jimmy could do for closing stretches I'm just interested because that was a good lineup for
the heat that closed the the both halves in game one and it's a good lineup you know I've been
talking to people about how the heat have some advantages in terms of lineup building with
Tyler Hero out because Vincent they're not sacrificing defense right now Martin they're
not sacrificing defense and it's uh I'm very interested to see what both teams close with
because in game one it felt like if Randall's healthy RJ Barrett's probably not on the floor
and end of game one um yeah that's that's something on the floor at the end of yeah and
it's really interesting because Barrett has been the only guy that's been consistently scoring for them
and I mean if you know anything about Barrett the way we've talked about him the the knock on him
is that he goes so hot and so cold he starts every season horrible shooting it he ended the
season horribly but he had a good stretch in the middle of the season where he was shooting
40 some percent from three uh he's been lights out really uh shooting the ball since the middle of
that cap series he had a rough start to that series he's been good but also he's not the best
defender all the time and the Knicks all of a sudden have a bevy of pretty good defenders between
Josh Hart Quentin Grimes um quickly as a good defender for them what's interesting now is that
they've got so many choices and it's kind of like well who are you leaning on more heavily the
people that you felt like you could trust and the regular season which would be quickly but hasn't
played well at all in the postseason really and has really not been a difference maker um do you
play Hart who I think is probably like a thibido favorite because of all the different things he
brings he's an offensive rebounder despite standing six six he's enough of a good defender he did
very very well on Donovan Mitchell in the last series when he got that assignment and also got
more opportunity to play because Quentin Grimes was hurt and kept you afloat during that do you
go with Quentin Grimes who is probably the best like balance between all those not all those players
I think quickly is great if if Grimes gets his three-point shooting going that could change a lot
in this series because Miami's determined to pack the paint and he's had the shoulder issue but
that's you know and I think that I think that Grimes leaves less like Hart when he was
Hart was not starting for the Knicks uh during the season for the most part and he I wonder to some
extent if when we talk about quickly and why he's not playing as well as we're used to Josh Hart is
a really like I remember even back to like his year with that one year they played with LeBron
Josh Hart consistently had the best net ratings with LeBron on court just because I feel like
he's the sort of player that you plug next to anybody and players improve it's it's baffling
how down it opened up Portland I I'm telling you like I I don't understand that trade like
obviously it's easy to say that now but in the moment I get that Cam reddish is flashy like
Cam reddish has really good high water moments he had a like a 28 30-point game and the play
his highs high is higher than Josh Hart right yes but Josh Hart is one of the steadier players
in the league but he just wasn't shooting in Portland it was so strange it was so strange
right but but here's my thing and here's why even with him not shooting well I would have like to me
you have to be willing to ride out a relatively and I mean Josh Hart is not like 22 but what is
he right 26 27 right you have to be willing to ride out a player that is solid everywhere else
except for his shooting and he by the way he's been a good shooter right history of decent shooting
yes yes yeah you've got it you've just got to trust it that's going to come back around and then
lo and behold he goes to the Knicks and shoots 55% from three for the rest of the season and has been
a dependable player in the playoffs so I like Josh Hart off the bench for them I get that you
needed to use him for Grimes and it worked similar to the conversation we've been having about uh
Steve Kerr and the idea of whether it was pool for a couple games or now uh jamaica green that
you're going to be inclined to stick with what got you the last few wins which in that case it was
the cab series but I do think that not having Hart come off your bench along with quickly and
having those guys play together as much I think it does take a little bit of a toll like I don't
think you've got as many guys off your bench that are really prepared to score and really
prepared to run and transition and open things up for quickly the way that he was used to uh it's
not an excuse for him because I think he still needs to play better whether Hart is out there not
I've been a little bit stunned at how quiet he's been in this postseason and to be honest with you
that the Knicks have done this well without quickly being a good player in the playoffs because he
uh he was such a massive part of them they did and that was why I ultimately a big part of why
I ultimately voted him as my sixth man of the year is that he I felt like he had a bigger impact
on what the Knicks were doing than Malcolm Broglind did with the Celtics yeah I mean the Knicks
they were obviously really good in that Cleveland series but it's been weird that they are not
winning with their offense was what they were doing in the regular season they're they're at a 109
offensive rating in the playoffs it's very bad but their defense has been fantastic best in the
playoffs so far in large part because of that Cleveland series so very interesting how that
plays out moving forward are you leaning in a particular direction for game three
uh I mean it's hard not to think that if Butler is anywhere near himself for game three game four
that things will shift because again the heat shouldn't have to rely on his own as much
they should not have to rely on Gabe Vincent, Caleb Martin, as much which again hats off to them
because they did they did really good work in that game and they did enough to theoretically win
the game but Butler should should make make stuff so much easier for Miami until uh the Knicks didn't
go ahead no they would have won until Adam Silver put his hand on Scott Foster shoulder
you know what to do um you're gonna go there I'm not gonna go there I it was a botched call like
I'm not I'm not denying that I said it as it was happening I'm I'm not interested in talking
about the refs the heat lost that game their offensive rebound or their defensive refining
loss of that game you mentioned the draft twice and now you're not interested in that
no no it's fun to joke about but like the people who get on twitter like I can't believe what I
watched and it's like come on dude like there's there's a hummus of badness call though yeah but
there's there's mis-calls that we don't even think about because they don't show the replay 20 times
that happened in the second quarter it just it doesn't matter it evens out um I like I like
the heat to your question I do like the heat do you I mean it's hard not to think that
spout has also done what he's needed to do to keep them competitive in this series and it's like I
just I tend to think that he's been willing to make those changes yeah I've heard Spo is like
really locked in I've heard he's like he's on another level in these plows was what I've heard
um I just my fear with the heat is you think at some point the shooting is gonna cool off
and you feel I feel like at some point the nicks offense is gonna wake up I'm just I'm just
kind of on my toes bracing for that like if Grimes gets it going from three one night
uh Randall gets it going from three one night and the heat like start shooting like they shot
for the first 84 games of the year I'm I'm just bracing myself for that a little bit um before we
go is possible yeah I have one quick question for you we haven't talked about Nugget Sun's too
much now Chris Paul is out if you were Moni who would you start in Chris Paul's place in game
game three here which I think the Suns are deeply on the ropes in the series without Chris Paul
because I think I'd start like Damien previously that's what I was about to say was actually yeah
uh right I mean you could go you could go a couple different directions with it I guess
Cameron Payne does not sound like my answer uh would not be my answer he was rough and I felt like
there's two things I'm really gonna criticize Moni Williams I think he's a fantastic coach I
think he's a great communicator uh but I thought he that felt like uh well Chris Paul's a point guard
we need a point guard out there since he's not playing so we're gonna put Cameron Payne out there
even though he's been asked basically well and the problem is it's like we we were talking about
this campaign played like three minutes in that game one and we were like whoa campaign is healthy
why wasn't he playing right so it was kind of like damned if you do and then he was a negative
16 and 16 minutes if I remember correctly. Because they've they've they've they've needed him at times as
you're also right they've needed him at times as you're yeah I would I would only yeah shooting
yeah you just have to have better shooting there like at a certain point you're not going to win
this series anymore because you're defending them better than they can defend you that's just
not going to be the case like I think the nuggets have shown that they can really defend this team
you're gonna have to outscore them and I don't think campaign like campaign when he was on a heater
and they went to the finals a couple years ago sure campaign right now doesn't look doesn't look
healthy the fix yeah yeah I would I would roll with Damien Lee I mean I Terence Ross is a tough
scene if that's like who you have to start you would be going all in on offense at that point
uh I just think they need to try something else someone else right you can't have you've got guys
that are fundamentally and we talked about this after game one two there was a a sequence where
a kogi just didn't shoot from point blank and it's like that's a big storyline in the series is like
you've got to have guys that are willing ready able to shoot even if they miss a few
uh maybe campaign is that guy but I just I don't think that's who I would roll with here I think
you need something different I also think that if we have to be asking these questions that
the nuggets could sweep the series it doesn't mean they will that they could and at this point it
feels more likely than the idea of the sons mounting a comeback long enough for Chris Paul to be able
to get back into the series meaningfully the sons are into iris traits I'd start Damien Lee let
a coat ear him bring the ball up if you don't want to tax book like that I would not be surprised
if book plays all 48 in game three um and I would only play campaign against the nuggets bench
and you got to work in some level of chance Ross and and TJ I really hate that Chris Paul's now
healthy Denver Denver might have Chris Paul was one this in a dreamless sleep anyway
when when he got hurt he started to wake up so yeah I liked Denver in the series no matter what
I'm with you it's sad yeah so I think a lot of people did like I I thought Phoenix had a pretty
good shot um which I I even saw after game one I was like okay got to rethink that one maybe they
didn't you and Pino were in my text saying like I don't know if like they're up for that challenge
between Booker and Katie defensively we saw right away a game one that Booker was kind of all over
the place defensively now I won't say all over the place but not in good enough position a lot of
the time to make things away you know because that's the thing with you know book well what
will come to win a game with those two yeah book will compete against anyone individually defensively
like it's not like he's getting like he will compete he'll be physical yes it's all those little
things that you need to do off the ball especially against a team like Denver that
I understand from his perspective is he's playing 45 minutes he's got to pick his spots defensively
um and that that's the position and you're also not going to be like you're going to be tired
and you're going to make mistakes because you're tired right to like there's exactly there's a lot
that goes into it but it's just I think ultimately even after one game and then particularly after
two games where Chris Paul's not there either or won't be there they already had too short of a
rotation to go up against the team that knows exactly who they are knows exactly how they want
to attack you if you decide okay we're just gonna let yokush get whatever he wants and we're going
to take everybody else away yokush could take advantage of that if you decide to take yokush away
then everybody else gets going it's like what I've been really struck by in this playoffs is how
similar some of the series have been like we've seen this now with the Lakers and the Warriors as
far as the way the Lakers wanted to defend staff we've seen it from the standpoint of them trying
to force the ball out of Randall's hands and then some of the next players able being able to get
going uh it's risky and it's only riskier when you've got a smaller rotation than your opponent has
because you don't have as many fixes you don't have the jamaica green fix that the Warriors do
because you don't have as many guys that you trust and even if you do when they are in minus 16 and
16 minutes and not shooting and only play three minutes in your first game bro you you we'll see
you i would love this you are you are sick of campaign dude you are you're just lightening to
the years i'm not campaigning for camp you are you are uh every chance you get you're like this man
was a minus 16 and 16 minutes so you're just champagne for my real friends real pain for my
sham for us on that note i just had to say that that's a spikely movie by the way that comes from i
think um still waiting for you to introduce me to spike but we'll save that for another episode
chris that will do it for today everyone thank you for tuning in people have been hit us up please
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learn more my name is clay nukem and i'm the host of the bear grease podcast where we explore
american stuff forgotten but relevant i've heard it called gritty americana that makes you think
we deliver highly research documentary style episodes diving in deep with academics anthropologists
and hillbillies for example we did a big series on daniel boond we did one on some turkey poachers
in my hometown and we even did one on the southern comedian jerry clower but the best ones are the
ones i'm on that was my buddy brent reeves and on this podcast you're actually going to get two
podcasts because brents is on the bear grease feed as well yep it's called this country life
with me brent reeves i'm going to tell you the stories that will make you laugh and teach you
some country skills that help you beat the system it's going to be like bob lighten
demonstrating your ears check it out on the bear grease podcast i think you'll like it listen to
bear grease in this country life in the bear grease feed on the i heart radio app or wherever
you get your podcast