Denver Forces Game 7, What’s Next For Warriors? Wolves To WCF

Summary

Hoop Collective Podcast Summary Episode: Denver Forces Game 7, What’s Next For Warriors? Wolves To WCF
Release Date: May 16, 2025

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1. Denver Nuggets vs. Oklahoma City Thunder: Game 7 Breakdown

The episode opens with a detailed analysis of the intense Game 7 between the Denver Nuggets and the Oklahoma City Thunder. Tim Bontemps highlights the critical moments that led to the Nuggets forcing a decisive game:

"This is the Julian Strother game... Jokic ended up with 29 points, 14 rebounds, and 8 assists." ([01:06])

Zach Lowe discusses the Thunder's missed opportunities, particularly in the second quarter where they allowed the Nuggets to regain momentum:

"They let Nike Jokic off the mat. You can't give a championship team like this a chance to get back in the game when you have an opportunity to put them away." ([02:18])

The conversation emphasizes Julian Strother's pivotal role in the Nuggets' victory, especially his aggressive performance in the second half:

"He scored 15 points, all in the second half. It makes such a huge difference." ([03:01])

2. Jalen Williams' Performance and Future with the Thunder

A significant portion of the discussion centers around Jalen Williams, the Thunder's promising young player. Tim Bontemps critiques his shooting consistency throughout the series:

"For the series, he's shooting 33.7%. That's not acceptable." ([03:51])

Zach Lowe underscores the importance of Williams stepping up in critical moments:

"He was also one from one foot in the fourth quarter. He missed an absolutely uncontested layup." ([04:14])

The hosts ponder whether Williams can elevate his game to help the Thunder advance:

"If the Thunder are going to win that game, yes. He hit the big shot late in game five... they'll need Jalen Williams to be better than 27% from the field and 14% from three." ([05:37])

3. Jamal Murray's Impact on the Nuggets

Jamal Murray's health and performance are dissected, especially his recent illness and how it affects his play:

"He do the walk-off interview... he was awesome, but he was wrapping himself in hot pads during the game." ([06:11])

Tim Bontemps comments on Murray's crucial role:

"Jamal Murray is the reason that Bob Myers said he was going to be the reason they won or lost this game." ([06:44])

4. Upcoming Western Conference Finals and Eastern Contenders

The podcast transitions to previewing the upcoming Western Conference Finals (WCF) and Eastern Conference Finals (ECF). Brian Windhorst outlines the scheduling:

"The Western Conference finals will begin on Tuesday, and the Eastern Conference finals will begin Wednesday." ([15:58])

Tim Bontemps discusses the Wolves' journey to the WCF, highlighting their improved performance and rest advantage:

"The Wolves had to play seven games with the Clippers and then every other day. Now the Nuggets get two days off before they have to play Sunday." ([09:34])

5. New York Knicks vs. Boston Celtics Series Analysis

A significant segment is dedicated to the Knicks-Celtics playoff series. The hosts analyze the Celtics' strategy adjustments and the Knicks' missed opportunities:

"The Celtics were shooting 52% at the half... Porzingis was looking terrible in the first half." ([21:07])

Tim Bontemps expresses concern over Knicks' ability to close out the series:

"Cela Celtics, you have the ball movement and body movement up... it's still probably a toss-up between the two teams." ([31:31])

Brian Windhorst reflects on the Knicks' historical struggles in closing out series at home:

"The Knicks have not closed out a series at home since 1999." ([34:02])

6. Warriors' Season Recap and Future Outlook

The conversation shifts to the Golden State Warriors, assessing their playoff performance and future prospects:

"The Warriors needed to be efficient because of the age of their stars... Steph never ran more in any game that we have tracking data for in Game 7." ([42:11])

Tim Bontemps criticizes the Warriors' reliance on Stephen Curry:

"They can't be that reliant on a 37-year-old Steph Curry. If you're going to get all the way to the end, there's got to be more." ([56:13])

The hosts debate the possibility of the Warriors pursuing star players in the offseason to bolster their roster:

"They're going to explore every avenue on everything they can do... it's time to hunt for stars." ([44:39])

7. Giannis Antetokounmpo Trade Speculations

A lively debate ensues regarding potential trade scenarios involving Giannis Antetokounmpo and whether teams like the Lakers or Warriors can feasibly acquire him:

"Could they trade for Giannis? Yes, but only if Giannis says he is only going there... The Lakers can't trade for Giannis." ([51:04])

Tim Bontemps counters the feasibility of such trades:

"The Lakers have no ability... there's no world where the Lakers can trade for Giannis." ([52:50])

8. Final Thoughts and Upcoming Game Coverage

As the episode nears its conclusion, the hosts share personal anecdotes and set the stage for upcoming game coverage:

"If the Knicks clinch, it's going to be crazy... the conference finals could be a matchup between a young, improving Wolves team and a Thunder team that's only got a younger roster." ([34:54])

Brian Windhorst reflects on the Knicks' potential and the pressure on key players:

"There's going to be devastation at the Knicks losing when the chance of being home was right there and it was attainable." ([60:14])

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• "This is the Julian Strother game... Jokic ended up with 29 points, 14 rebounds, and 8 assists." — Tim Bontemps ([01:06])

• "They let Nike Jokic off the mat. You can't give a championship team like this a chance to get back in the game when you have an opportunity to put them away." — Zach Lowe ([02:18])

• "He scored 15 points, all in the second half. It makes such a huge difference." — Tim Bontemps ([03:01])

• "For the series, he's shooting 33.7%. That's not acceptable." — Tim Bontemps ([03:51])

• "Jamal Murray is the reason that Bob Myers said he was going to be the reason they won or lost this game." — Tim Bontemps ([06:44])

• "The Knicks have not closed out a series at home since 1999." — Brian Windhorst ([34:02])

• "They can't be that reliant on a 37-year-old Steph Curry. If you're going to get all the way to the end, there's got to be more." — Tim Bontemps ([56:13])

• "Could they trade for Giannis? Yes, but only if Giannis says he is only going there... The Lakers can't trade for Giannis." — Brian Windhorst ([51:04])

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This episode of Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective offers an in-depth analysis of pivotal NBA playoff games, player performances, and potential future moves, providing listeners with comprehensive insights into the ongoing postseason landscape.

Transcript

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[Tim Bontemps]

Foreign.

[Brian Windhorst]

Welcome to the Hoop Collective podcast.

[Zach Lowe]

We talk about the NBA, which we're.

[Brian Windhorst]

Doing late in the evening on Thursday.

[Zach Lowe]

Joining me from up the road here in New York City, the boulevard up the avenue. What is it? Tim Bontemps.

[Tim Bontemps]

Hello, Brian.

[Zach Lowe]

We'll be joined by Tim McMahon earlier, but. Or we joined by Tim McMahon later, although it was earlier. Anyway, he's working right now, allegedly in Denver, where the Nuggets just forced a Game 7 with a huge second half. Was actually like a huge second half and last what, four minutes of the second quarter, which the Thunder could be regretting for a while.

[Tim Bontemps]

Yeah, I mean, listen, we could talk about Julian Strother. This is the Julian Strother game. We could talk about a lot of other things. This game was lost by the Thunder and won by the Nuggets in the final moments of the second quarter. Jacobs Alexander gets his fourth foul. They give up a 120 run. The Thunder were up 12 closing minutes of the half. They had a chance, as McMahon said in our group chat, to keep their foot on the throat of Nikole Jokic and the Nuggets. Instead, they let them off the mat. And you cannot give a team like this and a player like that, even though he didn't have a typically dominant Jokic like performance. You can't give a championship team like this that kind of, I mean, I say that and he ended up with, you know, 29, 14 and 8 Jokic. But you know, you can't, you can't let a team like this get back in the game when you have a chance to put them away on the road in a game like this. And Lou Dort hit a shot right at the end of the half, they were going up three, think, oh, maybe that'll give him some momentum. But the Thunder just felt like they were climbing uphill from then on. And like you said, if they, they lose game seven at home those final couple minutes, the second quarter are going to be bouncing around the heads of the Thunder and the rest of their Oregon, their fans for a long time.

[Zach Lowe]

Yeah, so there were a couple of big themes in this game beyond what you Just talked about there in the second quarter. But the. The Nuggets are like crawling through the desert looking for an oasis of help from a bench player. The last two games, I think they had been outscored by 37 points on the bench. And so 20. Julian Strother hits four baskets in the second half, and it felt like seven baskets or 12 baskets because they just haven't gotten any help at all. You know, Peyton Watson still didn't play very well in this game. Westbrook was, you know, not horrible, but he had, like, more turnovers than baskets. It. I mean, there wasn't good.

[Tim Bontemps]

Yeah, it wasn't good.

[Zach Lowe]

But just getting that relief, couple of relief possessions from Strother. He was very aggressive, you know, looking for his shot and everything. He scored 15 points, I think, all in the second half. It makes such a huge difference. It makes such a huge difference for the Nuggets, and you can't. You absolutely cannot count on it, but it just shows you how much it would make. It would make a difference if they had literally just one more reliable bench player. And. Yep, but that's what they needed in this game. They needed someone like that to help them. And then the other thing, and this has been something you've been talking about for a year. Jalen Williams, he's an all star. He's an all NBA candidate. He can do a lot of great things. He plays at both ends, et cetera, et cetera. But they rely on him a lot to provide secondary scoring.

[Tim Bontemps]

Well, look here. Here's the brass tax of it. For the series, he's shooting 33.7%. That's not acceptable. Last three games of the series, even though they won the last 2, 2 for 13, 5 for 14, 3 for 16. A combined 2 for 14 from 3, including 0 for 4 in this game.

[Zach Lowe]

Like, he was also one from one foot in the fourth quarter. He missed an absolutely uncontested layup.

[Tim Bontemps]

He missed an uncontested donkey. He missed a wide open three that could have got him to six with about a minute and a minute 45 to play.

[Zach Lowe]

That was a big shot. They were making the. They were trying to evaluate the Nuggets, turn the ball over like three times in a row, and they were making a value comeback.

[Tim Bontemps]

If he hits that shot, maybe they have a chance. But I mean, Jalen Williams is 10 for 43 in his last three games, and he's 2 for 14 from 3. This is a guy, like you said, that was a deserving all star. He's going to be a Deserving all NBA selection? Almost certainly. But the question around the Thunder the entire season was could Jalen Williams be good enough in these moments to be the secondary score these guys need? He was, he was phenomenal in game three. He had the 32 points in the game they blew and he has been terrible ever since. And look, he's a young player. He's still growing. He's going to have a great career. He's already had a great career so far. This is a massive moment for him in particular on Sunday in this game seven, can he step up at home and have a big game? So if the Thunder are going to win that game, yes. He hit the big shot late in game five. He obviously is an excellent defensive player. He can help in a lot of other ways. The Thunder are probably going to need Jalen Williams to be better than 27% from the field and 14% from three if they want to get this series over with and get to the Western Conference finals.

[Zach Lowe]

Yeah, because they did get a good offensive game from Chad Holmgren tonight. He had 19 points and 11 rebounds and he was fighting Jokic in there. I mean, Jokic. Jokic has 29, 14 and 8. And that was. They, it was, it was not a great performance by the Thunder, but they could have, they could have survived it under other circumstances.

[Tim Bontemps]

Yeah, I mean, like I said before, I. Jokic had sort of an average Jokic game. I mean, an average Jokic game is insane for anybody. But it wasn't like he did the 44 and 20 game today. Like, Jamal Murray was incredible. Christian Brown was incredible.

[Zach Lowe]

But yeah. So later, slash, earlier on this pod, you will hear when McMahon found out that Jamal Murray was placed on the injury report as with illness with questionable. And he apparently was feeling ill since last night. He'll give us press. He'll give his interviews here in a little bit. He did do the walk off interview with Katie George where he said there was no way he wasn't playing in this game. And he was, he was awesome. He was wrapping himself in the hot pads during the game. You could tell on his face he wasn't quite right. I saw some people comparing it to the Jordan flu game and I'd like to pump the brakes on that.

[Tim Bontemps]

So not a little bit. But listen, we've seen again, look, Jamal Murray has never made an all star team. We've talked about it a lot, right? He's one of the weirder players to sort of quantify who he is in the league. But Jamal Murray is the reason that and Bob Myers thought said it perfectly on Countdown, he was going to be the reason they won or lost this game. Because when Jamal Murray is playing great, the Nuggets are as good as anybody in the league. And when he's not good, and it's just a Cole Jokic, they're a good team, but they're not an elite team. And that's why, going back to the start of the season in the end of last year, when Jamal was not right, we were wondering, can he get back to the guy he's been in the past, like he was 20, 23 when he carried this team with Jokic to a title? If he could play like he did tonight, on Sunday, the Nuggets are going to feel really good about their chances. And in that game Sunday, very well could come down to Jamal Murray and Jalen Williams. And if you're a Denver fan sitting here right now saying, who's going to play better between Jamal Murray and Jalen Williams in a Game seven, I mean, Jamal Murray has done it a lot. So if you're Denver, I think you're going to be pretty confident about that.

[Brian Windhorst]

So a key.

[Zach Lowe]

A key moment this game. Interesting facet about the box score. Jamal Murray played 42. I call it 43 minutes. Jokic played 41 minutes. Okay. Jokic was plus 11. Jamal Murray was plus 28. Okay. Which is an indication that when Jokic was sitting, that the Nuggets were able to withstand, which is always a huge measure.

[Tim Bontemps]

Well, that was those Julian. Those Julian Strother buckets at the start of the fourth quarter like that. You know, they. They'd taken a lead with strong, close to end the third quarter. Strong closes down. The second and third were the difference in the game. And then Strother hit those shots at the start of the fourth. He kept that momentum going, and they ended up giving Jokic four minutes off. And I think they were plus three or four in that stretch.

[Zach Lowe]

Yeah, that's.

[Tim Bontemps]

You know, in Game five, they tried to have Jokic stay out there within the exact same situation. Team ran out of gas late. David Adelman gets him a break. He comes in, he immediately hits a 3. Nuggets push the lead out. Got a little dicey for a minute, but you never really thought that the Nuggets were losing this game, and you know it. I just keep going back to that. That end of the second quarter, that would. It couldn't have been worse on every front. And you just can't do that with a guy like Jokic and a guy like Murray. Guys who have won titles and won huge games. You can't let them up. And like I said, the Thunder don't win game seven. Those final three four minutes of the second quarter are going to be replayed in their heads all summer long.

[Zach Lowe]

Yeah, I think, look, we are not stunned that this is going back to Oklahoma City, but the Thunder had their fingers on this one and they just didn't. They didn't handle their business.

[Tim Bontemps]

Total blown opportunity.

[Zach Lowe]

I also want to point something else out. This was the ninth game in 17 days played by the Nuggets. I thought there was fatigue that showed on them earlier. They didn't show as much fatigue tonight. But nine games in 17 days. I realized obviously the Thunder have played the same number of games in the, you know, in the last six games. But the Thunder are deeper. And I think that times there's been fatigue now after having to play seven games with the Clippers and then every other day. Now the Nuggets get two days off. They get Friday and Saturday off before they have to play Sunday. I don't know, is it in the.

[Tim Bontemps]

Afternoon or Sunday, Sunday 3:30 on ABC.

[Zach Lowe]

Okay.

[Tim Bontemps]

That's why it's two days off. Make sure we got a Sunday afternoon game.

[Zach Lowe]

That could be really important, especially with Jamal Murray fighting some illness that is, you know, it's still advantage Thunder, they're going to be at home. But that extra, that extra day is. That could be end up, you could end up seeing a difference in that. The other thing I'm going to say is this is Jamal Murray and Nicola Jokic's seventh game seven. His. I look up Murray stats in game seven. Jokic is kind of up and down. He's had some good ones and had some average ones. They are 4 and 2 to this point in game sevens. So. And obviously just had one last round. So, you know, that's their advantage in terms of, in terms of, you know, experience. And it's interesting that ESPN stats and info looked it up. The last time a team had two game sevens in the first two rounds, the Nuggets in 2020. The time before that, the Nuggets in 2019. So they have, they have done this before.

[Tim Bontemps]

They have.

[Zach Lowe]

And I'm not sure, you know, I do think Jalen Williams needs to be good, but I also think that Shea Shay was fine in this game. He got into foul trouble early. His fourth foul was a not smart play there. I do think there were too many whistles in the first half, but it's either here nor there. It was not a smart.

[Tim Bontemps]

Well I mean, the fourth foul, the fourth for, for a guy who's as smart a player as Shea is, it was as dumb a foul as you can have, especially when you have three. Like, and again, it just, it just goes to that entire sequence, right? The Thunder just lost focus for three or four minutes. And you can't do that against a team like Denver in a moment when you have a chance to take out Nicole Jokic. Because, look, like, I mean, you, you've been around plenty of guys like this, Brian, whether it's LeBron or staff or KD. I mean, we've seen a lot of these games, right? If you have a great player like that on the ropes, you can't let him up. You can't let him get a chance to get back in the game. And it, you know, again, and it probably repeated too much, but it's going to be fascinating to see how this young Thunder team responds in this game because they're going to have all the pressure on them. They're the heavy favorites. They won 67, 68. 67 or 68 games. They're the home team in game seven. They're expected to make the conference finals. They're the favorites to win the title. It's all sitting there for them and they had a chance to do it today and they let it go. And you know, we've talked a lot about them being young and learning experiences and all that, but everything's sitting there for him right now. And can they rise to the moment? I think we both agree that Che is going to be great. He's proven to be able to handle these moments already in his career. Church Yokic is going to be great, but I really think it's going to come down to those second guys, Jamal Murray and Jalen Williams. And again, if I'm a Thunder fan, if I'm looking at that matchup to decide the game, and if I'm a Nuggets fan looking at that matchup to decide the game, I'm not feeling so great about that if I'm the Thunder. And by the way, Jackson says in here, Thunder are seven and a half point favorites in game seven.

[Brian Windhorst]

Wow, that's.

[Tim Bontemps]

That is. That is a laughable line. That is laughable.

[Zach Lowe]

This series has been played way too tight for that.

[Brian Windhorst]

I know.

[Tim Bontemps]

Seven and a half point dog in a game.

[Zach Lowe]

So the thing was, in this series, the, the Thunder totally blew the Nuggets out in game two. And so it sort of warped some of the stats. This whole series has been played skin tight other Than that.

[Tim Bontemps]

Yes. Yes.

[Zach Lowe]

Okay. So stats as sort of a borderline farce. Staff stats and info has provided the comparison stats between Michael Jordan and Jamal Murray. The. The flu game for Jordan was the Game 5 of the 97 Finals. Of course, if you watch the Last dance, it was posited that it was food poisoning on a pizza that he ate at midnight the night before. But whatever. In that game, Jordan had 38 points on 13 of 27 shots, seven rebounds and five assists. Against the Jazz in Salt Lake Tonight, Jamal Murray, 25 points, 9 of 19 shooting, 8 rebounds, 7 assists.

[Tim Bontemps]

So tomorrow had a great game. Let's just not.

[Brian Windhorst]

Let's just not compare him to join.

[Zach Lowe]

That's all. I more said it because just to remind everybody of what Jordan's flu game.

[Tim McMahon]

Yeah.

[Zach Lowe]

Yes. Was.

[Tim Bontemps]

And Michael Jordan is Michael Jordan for a reason. But, but look, Jamal, look, Jamal is one of the best clutch players in the league. I mean, he's been doing this for years. And again, it's why I've harped on the second scorer thing from Oklahoma City all season.

[Zach Lowe]

Because you have. You've been. You've been. I'll give you that.

[Tim Bontemps]

Well, if you look at the Nuggets, right, when you get to the. The reason the Nuggets are so good in the clutch, right, is you get to the final five minutes of a close game for Denver, what are they going to do? Everybody on the court knows what they're going to do. Going to be Jamal Marie Nicole Jokic moving the ball back and forth, finding the best shot for one of them to take. And Denver knows exactly how they play, exactly how they want to play, and there's no ambiguity or confusion. They get to their spots, they run their stuff. They're generally really good at it. And the teams that struggle in those spots are the teams that are unsure of how they want to approach it or unsure of what they want to do. And, you know, look, like I said, Jalen Williams really struggled in this series last year against Dallas. He got better. He had a phenomenal regular season. He has really struggled in this series against Denver. So huge moment for him in particular, I think, on Sunday to step up and show he's the player he's been all season. And frankly, he was in Game three. He was phenomenal in Game three. It's not like you can't do it, but they're going to need him to play far better if they want to.

[Brian Windhorst]

Close this thing out, by the way.

[Zach Lowe]

So the Western Conference finals and Eastern Conference finals dates have been now set by this. So the west finals will begin on Tuesday, which means tight turnaround for whomever wins on Sunday. They have to start. They have to host the E. The.

[Brian Windhorst]

Winner will host the Wolves.

[Zach Lowe]

The Wolves are the sixth seed. So they're not. They are not. They will not be seen. They were given a beautiful gift of a home court in the second round because of the. That's right, warriors victory over Houston. They've. They've seen their last home court advantage, but that's right. Anyway, that will start Tuesday, and then the Eastern Conference finals will begin Wednesday in either New York or Boston. But in both cases, well, if the Knicks win, they're looking at what, four.

[Tim Bontemps]

Days, five days off.

[Brian Windhorst]

Saturday, Sunday, Monday.

[Zach Lowe]

Four days off.

[Tim Bontemps]

Right. Be a fifth day later.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah, yeah.

[Zach Lowe]

And then the, the Wolves are now guaranteed five days off, I think something like that.

[Tim Bontemps]

So those are guaranteed almost a week off. They played yesterday and they don't play till Tuesday.

[Zach Lowe]

Correct. Six days. You're right. So that little note.

[Brian Windhorst]

All right, through the magic of editing.

[Zach Lowe]

We'Re about to be joined by Ben McMahon.

[Tim McMahon]

More Hoop Collective podcast after this.

[Tim Bontemps]

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[Tim McMahon]

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[Tim Bontemps]

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[Brian Windhorst]

Okay we're now joined, but actually not. We actually joined earlier. And as I speak, as Bon Temps and I speak right now, we don't know what we just said. So we're dumber than we were a second ago.

[Tim Bontemps]

That's really dumb for yourself.

[Brian Windhorst]

Speak for yourself. That right there from Ball arena before game six on Thursday is Bam McMahon.

[Tim McMahon]

Howdy, partners. Nice early tip tonight out here. Still can't wait for me. I mean, sure, let you two goofballs flap your gums from 2,000 miles away. I'm on the scene. My get.

[Brian Windhorst]

The waiting part is the problem.

[Tim McMahon]

Howdy, parties.

[Tim Bontemps]

Don't be the. Don't be the slowest worker of all time.

[Tim McMahon]

Howdy.

[Tim Bontemps]

Party on the pod. That makes sense.

[Tim McMahon]

I hope you have diarrhea from babies.

[Tim Bontemps]

You know, I'd be. You know, I'd be happy to wait. I'm not the one doing sleep updates.

[Tim McMahon]

Oh, well. Yeah, well, you get to sleep in until that baby wakes up crying. Yes.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah. My sleep complaints go nowhere with Bontemps right now. There's just nowhere to go. There's nowhere to go. All right, so I'm in New York. I just flew down here. Big anticipation for the game six for a Friday night. Boy, Friday night at the Garden. Bontems. It's a big one.

[Tim Bontemps]

The latest, biggest game since 1999.

[Brian Windhorst]

I know. I heard somebody say that today. This is the biggest game in 25 years. Except for the couple of days ago when that was the biggest game.

[Tim McMahon]

Game seven, that'll be the biggest one.

[Brian Windhorst]

I actually think that in a strange way, the Celtics had a bit of an advantage in Game 5 because they were going to be playing a style that the knee that the Knicks were not ready for, prepared for. They had eight games of data and a certain comfort level about how the Celtics play with Jason Tatum. More than that, if you go back the last few years, but certainly this year, they played him eight times, and you know how Tatum's going to play. You know, there's going to be isolations. You know how certain matchups are going to go and switches. And the Celtics played very differently than they normally do. Jalen Brown played point forward, essentially more so than he ever has before. He had 12 assists in the game. Now, one of the reason he had 12 assists was because the Celtics were hot shooting the three, which they have been generally for the last three games, they were ice cold. The first two, they've been much better. The last three, they were 22 of 49 in this game. They make over 23s. Their record is very hard to.

[Tim McMahon]

To.

[Brian Windhorst]

To beat, but that was part of it. But the Celtics isolation game was way down. Their. Their. Their ball movement and body movement was up, and they generated a lot of open looks and, you know, was up. It was a minor advantage. Of course, if they had gone 12 of 49 instead of 22 of 49, then the. The Knicks would be in the conference finals.

[Tim McMahon]

But as. As poorly as the Knicks played, I'm not sure that's true.

[Brian Windhorst]

Well, at the half, it was tied, and The Celtics were shooting 52% at the half. And I was like, this is not a good sign for the Celtics because the Knicks were not playing that well, and they were tied, and they had been ahead by a big chunk in the first half. And then Joe Missoula made a decision to start Luke Cornett over Chris Apps. Porzingis. Porzingis just flat out looked terrible in the first half. He had. There was some level of belief that he might be better because he played like 24 minutes in game four. And he said after the game that he was feeling better than had. So Missoula put him in the starting lineup alongside Al Horford as their. As the replacement for Tatum. He looked terrible. He is. I don't remember what his plus minus was, but it was minus double digits. And Mitchell Robinson was just moving faster than him. He was just running circles around him when he was out there. So they put Cornett in the game, and Missoula said that Joe Missoula said, you know, it was because Porzingis couldn't breathe.

[Tim McMahon]

Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

And so when he left the podium, I said to Joe, I said, hey, just so I have it straight, this was a medical or decision, not minus 12 for Porzingis, says Jackson. I said to Missoula, I said, just. Just. Just to clarify while I talk about it on ESPN platforms, this was a medical decision, not a coach's decision. In other words.

[Tim McMahon]

Right.

[Brian Windhorst]

You were not benching him. He was. He was removed from the game. And he's like, yes, it was a. It was a decision made between Chris and I. Chris Absanai, he basically was protecting his player, I think. And, you know, even though I think it was a coach's decision, but.

[Tim Bontemps]

Well, it's a combination of the two. I mean, Porzingis. I mean, this. I just feel really bad for Porzingis. I mean, this has been like, three months now of dealing with this bizarre illness thing, and he was trending in a pretty good direction, and he's talked a lot about it, that he got to the start of the series since this had another one of these crashes and can't get his energy back. And even in Games 3 and 4 at the Garden where he, in New York where he was better, he still wasn't great. He was making some defensive plays, but he wasn't really giving him much on offense. And I mean, he, he just clearly didn't have it in Game four. And you know, look, here's the deal. We're also talking about the Celtics bringing either Al Horford or Chris as Porzingis into the starting lineup off the bench when they lose Jason Tatum. Like they have an incredible team. So if they, if they went into this series and Jason Tatum wasn't playing, we probably would have said it's a toss up. Like, Celtics might have been slight favorites to win. Knicks might have been slight favorites to win. I think Boston probably would be slight favorites if both teams were rested at the start of the series. So them Winning Game 5 is not a surprise. There's a reason we said going into game five the series wasn't over. Right. So we will see what happens on Friday night in game six. But I think there was a lot of celebrating here after game four. Not celebrating Jason Tatum's injury, obviously, but thinking, hey, the Knicks have won, they're up three one, they're on the verge of making the conference finals for the first time in 25 years. They've got this in the bag. And there's a reason why Knicks fans got very offended when you said on TV and we said on the pod that the series is not over yet. And I think we saw in game five why we said it wasn't over yet. And they better take care of business at home in Game 6 because if they go back to Boston for Game 7, haven't blown this game, I'm not going to feel very good about their chances of escaping from the series.

[Tim McMahon]

By the way, did Luke Cornett make himself some money last night?

[Tim Bontemps]

He was, I would say. I would say so, except for the fact that Luke Cornett would have made more money last summer and chose to resign with the Celtics. And I suspect we'll be continuing to resign with the Celtics for some time for the contract on. Because he is.

[Brian Windhorst]

Is he was. If he was a free agent this year, would he still. Is he still restricted?

[Tim Bontemps]

Well, he wasn't restricted last year. He just resigned for the minimum like other teams had interest. He just chose to come back for that number. And I suspect, I suspect he will be back in Boston again.

[Brian Windhorst]

Why do you, why do you suspect that?

[Tim Bontemps]

Because Luke Cornett loves playing for the Celtics and likes being in Boston. And I think. I haven't asked him this directly, but I think he has figured out that he's got a really good situation in Boston. I suspect he will be playing there for as long as he can play there. And I suspect he will have a lucrative post playing career in Boston for a long time because he's a great quote and I think will be in the media scene in Boston not too dissimilarly from a certain former Celtic who we all know and love who is on TV all the time now in Boston. And I, I mean look, maybe he goes and plays somewhere else.

[Tim McMahon]

What. What if he's offered significantly more money and a significantly bigger role?

[Tim Bontemps]

Because I mean, I mean I. Solid.

[Tim McMahon]

He. He's. He's a hell of a third center. I think he should be a solid second center for somebody maybe even.

[Tim Bontemps]

I mean he's, he's definitely not a third center. I mean he's a bat. He's one of the better backup centers in the league. I just, my. I'm just telling you my hunch is he will be in Boston playing for the Celtics. And look, because he had opportunities I believe to go have a bigger role elsewhere last summer and chose to stay so.

[Tim McMahon]

All right, enough that talk. This is a great stat from, from Jackson. Fourth Celtic player with seven plus blocks. It's blocks in a playoff game since blocks became official. Robert Williams, the third. It's not a surprise. Had nine against the Nets. Robert Parrish, not a surprise. Seven against the Sixers in 82. Andrew Perkins had seven blocks against the Bulls.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah, the highlights. They showed the highlights.

[Tim McMahon]

I didn't know he had seven blocks in his career.

[Brian Windhorst]

I think, I think, I think Perfect requested this be researched because they showed the highlights on the, on NBA Today today and he, he was very happy to narrate.

[Tim Bontemps]

Hold on.

[Tim McMahon]

Were these like the, the. Because dirt got a lot of blocks where they were like. It's the swipe down as the, as the guys getting the ball up to shoot it. Or were these like there was getting up above the rim.

[Brian Windhorst]

There was a time where Kendrick Perkins was regarded as a plus big man defender.

[Tim McMahon]

He was a, because he was a beast to post up.

[Brian Windhorst]

He was paid tens of millions of dollars for his defense. So. But I agree he wasn't known for blocking shots. He was, he was known for being hard to move and he got rebounds that way. But yes, he, it was a.

[Zach Lowe]

He.

[Brian Windhorst]

He talked about how it was a great series against the Bulls when he when he did do that, I would say that Cornett is 29. I would say, luke, get paid, my friend.

[Tim McMahon]

Whatever it is, get paid while you can, brother. And guess what? They're not going to not let you back in Boston if you go somewhere else for more money.

[Tim Bontemps]

I'm just telling you what happened. Why?

[Brian Windhorst]

I'm not. I'm not. No, I'm. It's fine. I'm just.

[Tim McMahon]

I don't yell at anybody. That's. Wendy.

[Brian Windhorst]

I'm not. I'm not focused on his contract. He was great. I will be interested to see who Missoula starts on Friday. One thing he could do is he could start Sam Houser. One of the things that did happen in this game, you know, the Celt, the Celtics, you know, in addition to losing Tatum, they essentially have lost porzingis because he's five of 21 in the series. So they're down in, you know, in my view, like two starters, but one.

[Tim McMahon]

Two of the top four, I would say.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah, and. And Porzingis is such a X factor. But one positive that they had health wise was that Sam Houser came back after missing three games with a sprained ankle and hit a couple of threes. I suppose it's possible that Hauser could start.

[Tim Bontemps]

He could. I thought he might have. Yesterday he looked like he tweaked his ankle again in the third quarter.

[Brian Windhorst]

He was okay. Post game. He was okay. Half the Celtics are icing their ankles post game. I. I won't. I mean, I don't mean like just doing their feet, like, like treating ankle injuries. By the way, Jalen Brunson has twisted both ankles.

[Tim Bontemps]

Seriously, he.

[Brian Windhorst]

In game four, he had what. What do you call it when you. When you turn your ankle? Most ankle sprains are rolled out. He had one of those where it.

[Tim McMahon]

Rolled in a nanny's and outies.

[Brian Windhorst]

We're gonna let that go. Brunson has turned his ankles a bunch of times and just. Just kept right on churning. This guy. I mean, what. What a. What a player. But anyway, so we'll see if what he does with Cornette. But one of the things that happened here in this series was that Mitchell Robinson, you know, Porzingis was coming off the bench, and Mitchell Robinson has been coming off the bench, and Mitchell Robinson has been dominating inversion sprain as opposed to lateral sprain.

[Tim McMahon]

Oh, thank you, doctor. A jello.

[Brian Windhorst]

He's very good. That's what it was.

[Tim McMahon]

That's a cut and paste if I've ever seen it from Jackson.

[Brian Windhorst]

Well, it was, but, you know, He's. Somebody looked it up, but he's had plenty of lateral roles as well. Anyway, I felt, you know, as Mitchell Robinson was just dominating Porzingis, just getting to loose balls of. Porzingis wasn't able to get to. And Cornet shut that off in addition to shutting off the paint. And what Jalen. So what happened was they got the team together on Tuesday, and they broke the news to the team that indeed, Tatum's bontemps. You were in the locker room room after the game Monday night. Everybody in the locker room.

[Tim Bontemps]

Everybody knew on. Everybody knew on Monday.

[Tim McMahon]

It wasn't a mystery. And they just. They. He went and got a surgery. That's when they.

[Brian Windhorst]

So anyway, they told him he's had surgery. And then Jalen. Jalen Brown and Al Horford both spoke to the team, but the big thing that they talked about was, look, we lost this guy who's our leading scorer. We have got to defend. Yeah, we've just got to defend. And I think they, you know, they've had some good defensive stretches in this series. Just happens to be. Not in fourth quarters. Mostly.

[Tim Bontemps]

They've led by at least 14 in every single game of the series.

[Brian Windhorst]

Exactly. Like so.

[Tim Bontemps]

And they still have a great team. Like, they still have an incredibly deep and talented team. And that's with Porzingis being out of the mix and with Tatum being out. That's not any knock on either of those guys. But they've got Derrick White and Drew Holiday and Jalen Brown and Al Horford and Peyton Pritchard, the sixth man of the year. House is a really good shooter. Cornett's a really solid backup. Big. Like, they still have a bunch of players. And if you just go man for man with the Knicks and them, like. Like I said, it's still probably a toss up between the two teams.

[Brian Windhorst]

I just. I do feel that the Knicks were a little bit at a disadvantage because they were not 100% with sure what the game plan would be.

[Tim Bontemps]

And so I don't think. I don't really think the Knicks are a disadvantage at all. They were up in the first half, and they played horribly in the second half of the game and blew it.

[Brian Windhorst]

Also, the officiating in the third quarter was a little squishy, and Jalen got five fouls in the third quarter alone. And that certainly helped, although it was really the fact that they couldn't score in the interior. Cornet shut the interior off. The Celtics did not make a single basket on the paint. I mean, the Knicks did not make a single Basket in the paint. In the third quarter, they had their fewest points in the paint of the season.

[Tim McMahon]

Wow.

[Tim Bontemps]

The Knicks came out in the third quarter like a team that felt like the series was trending their way and they were going to close it down. And the Celtics came out in the third quarter like a team that season was on the line and was totally desperate. And Cornet was great, and they were, you know, they were just a more desperate team. And that translated to how the game went.

[Brian Windhorst]

I just suspect Thibodeau will have a bit of a different idea of how the Celtics are going to attack them offensively. But the Celtics were very good defensively, 35% for the Knicks in this game. So it was a combination of a bad Knicks offensive night and a good Celtics offensive night. So, yeah, I think this game will come down to the fourth quarter again, is my guess. And that's what the Knicks want. And that's Jalen Brunson's.

[Tim McMahon]

That's Jalen Brunson's theme music.

[Brian Windhorst]

That's right. And Jalen Brunson didn't even couldn't get to crunch time because by the time five minutes in the fourth quarter came, forget about the score, he was disqualified.

[Tim McMahon]

He was waving on the jumbotron. All right, you got me. See you later. See you. Game six.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah.

[Tim Bontemps]

The Knicks have not blown out one team yet in the playoffs. I do not think they'll be blowing the Celtics out in Game 6. It's going to be an insane environment, and we will see if they can pull it out.

[Brian Windhorst]

I will say this. When the Knicks had a chance to close out this, the Pistons in the first round, in that Game five at the Garden, they did not put their best foot forward. And then they. And then. And then they.

[Tim Bontemps]

It was a very similar performance.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yes. And it was like, wow, you know, you had a great chance to do this and you didn't get it done. And then they came back in Game 6. Now that one was in Detroit, and they played excellently, and Brunson had the hellacious crossover of a Czar Thompson, and they. And they won it. So, yeah, I'm sure the crowd will be heavily with them. There was. There was quite a few Knicks fans in Boston last night. There has not been any Boston fans in New York that I've seen. Very, very few.

[Tim McMahon]

That's interesting.

[Brian Windhorst]

While you were there, bon temps, you did you see many Celtics fans? I. I certainly haven't, no.

[Tim Bontemps]

No, there were not. There certainly were not.

[Brian Windhorst]

So. All right.

[Tim Bontemps]

It's also, by the way, been A very, very long time since the Knicks have closed out a series at home. I believe the last time they did so was in 1999, I believe. I am double checking quickly. It definitely was not in this.

[Tim McMahon]

Oh, thanks, Jackson. Definitely not in this, like three minutes ago. I mean, Jesus.

[Tim Bontemps]

Well, I didn't see it. There you go. Jackson, the producer, way on top of things, way more than me.

[Brian Windhorst]

I will say that there's been a huge renovation of the whole area around Madison Square Garden. They built a new train station across the street for Amtrak. And then sort of the part of the block that Madison Square Garden is on, they renovated this whole area, made these very nice outdoor spaces. It was under construction for like 4 years. Bontemps like it was under scaffolding. But now that they've taken all off, it's very nice.

[Tim McMahon]

I mean, Klay Thompson was on the warriors when they did that with him about this council.

[Brian Windhorst]

He was very, very aware of it and very careful about it. They actually, not that this is an architectural podcast, but they took, I'm looking at it right now because I'm across the street from it. They took a building that was pre existing and it was like, you know, it was tall. It was probably, you know, it's probably 40 or 50 stories. And they literally ripped down the entire exterior and put a new exterior up and then built another partial building around it. And it looks like a completely new building and it's a completely beautiful area. And the reason I'm saying all this is that that's where the Knicks fans are congregating. Oh, and this is where they're having the watch parties. And then in the. When the Knicks have won games, the fans in that area have just poured out onto 7th Avenue and shut the traffic down. So they were doing that on Monday night. They shut down traffic on 7th Avenue. If on Friday night they clinch to go to the conference finals for the first time in 25 years. First time. The clinch in New York in 26 years. And it's a Friday night. I haven't checked the weather. The weather has not been great in New York.

[Tim Bontemps]

It's not going to matter. It's not going to matter what the weather is.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah.

[Tim Bontemps]

Tomorrow it's going to tell you what will happen if they somehow win.

[Brian Windhorst]

It's going to be crazy.

[Tim McMahon]

I mean, if finals in New York would be something else. If that happens, I'll. I'll have to get together with some of my old hide boarding school teammates. You know that I played in two state championships with twice as many as Cooper flag did. Just to get that on the record. Makes me twice, twice the main prep player that he went. Well, he won one, I went over two. But anyway, exactly. I, I, I also I gotta tag along with you guys if we're New York because I ain't gonna lie. All that subway train, all that crap. I still get confused as hell.

[Brian Windhorst]

Boy, the Texan comes out in him right there. Bontemps.

[Tim McMahon]

I just, I mean I'm like, I'm nervous.

[Brian Windhorst]

I don't know how to do this.

[Tim McMahon]

Here subway, there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of lines and.

[Brian Windhorst]

A lot of, there's a lot of numbers and letters and colors. What, how do we do it?

[Tim Bontemps]

Our guy window ain't taking the subway, I can promise you that.

[Tim McMahon]

Oh yeah, oh yeah, I forgot about that.

[Brian Windhorst]

That's true. But also I will say that that's Pacers erasure.

[Tim McMahon]

Like hello, I figured my way out around Indianapolis. I don't need you there. Oh wow. Jamal Murray. Crap. I probably gotta pause and do a little news story here. Jamal Murray's just announced is questionable more Hoop collective podcast after this summer is.

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[Brian Windhorst]

Okay, we're back. And a devastating thing just happened, which is that Jackson turned off the recording. Because if I could sum it up, Bon Temps was complaining. It won't just won't do it justice. But Bontevs was complaining to McMahon that he's so slow. And McMahon said, I'm tired of you. I'm just going to mute you. And he muted it and realized he muted himself talking. He could still hear because this is.

[Tim McMahon]

Damn. That's the microphone. Dad's like, trust me, I know how to this great. I can mute. I gotta just do it. Pissed me off.

[Brian Windhorst]

He was all angry.

[Tim Bontemps]

That's some Avalanche water you've got there. Colorado Avalanche water.

[Tim McMahon]

It's versatile, baby.

[Tim Bontemps]

Oh, versatile. We got multi, multi, multi labels. Big time.

[Brian Windhorst]

Somewhere near Golden, Colorado. That was bottled. That's a distant reference. Okay. The warrior season ended on Wednesday night when the Timberwolves had a just kick ass second half. She's got great shooting. I think they shot like 64% in the second half or something. Ant and Julius Randall both had double doubles with points and assists. And the warriors, let's be honest, that.

[Tim Bontemps]

That season, that series ended in the first half of game one.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah. Well, they had an opportunity to win game three. And when that, like I said, fingers.

[Tim Bontemps]

It ended in the first half of game one when Steph got hurt.

[Tim McMahon]

Yeah, Even. I mean, honestly, surprising they won that game. By the way, the Rudy Gobert revenge tour continued. Got Luke in the first round. Got Draymond in the second round. I don't think anybody from the Thunder Nuggets has been really, really mean to him.

[Brian Windhorst]

I'll bet they have. We just don't know.

[Tim McMahon]

Well, at least not. Not like not. Not publicly.

[Brian Windhorst]

Okay. Yeah. For some reason he's just not a popular guy. Anyway, we all like him though.

[Tim Bontemps]

We do.

[Brian Windhorst]

So I will say this. They. Before we talk about the warriors, the Wolves will reach the conference finals, unlike last year, much more rested than they were.

[Tim McMahon]

Much more rested. And I think Ant's a better player now. I mean, and obviously had a great playoffs. McMenamin wrote a great story though, on kind of the evolution of Ant.

[Brian Windhorst]

While you placing McMenamin is like someone praising Gobert. I mean, that's.

[Tim McMahon]

Well, I suggested the story McMenamin executed.

[Tim Bontemps]

There we go.

[Tim McMahon]

Seriously.

[Brian Windhorst]

We drew it out of a.

[Tim McMahon]

But We've talked so much about the, you know, the, the Wolves weakness of being bad in clutch situations and aunt just going to hero ball and man ant late in the season, continuing the playoffs is showing a real good feel for being aggressive but also making the right play. And when he does that, oh boy. Because the man can hoop well.

[Tim Bontemps]

And I think they're just a game.

[Tim McMahon]

And game in the closeout game.

[Tim Bontemps]

I think they're a better team. I mean, you know, I would say Julius Randall and Carl Towns are similar level players even though they're different. And they added Dante DiVincenzo and Dick Alexander. Walker took yet another step forward this year and it's gotten a little better. Like you said, Jim McDaniels has been better. Like they, they've got a better team. So it's going to be a fascinating series. Whoever they play and we'll see if we may already know who they're playing. We'll see what happens in the game. We're all going to watch in a little.

[Tim McMahon]

By the way. So much for the theory that, that Jimmy and whoever can always beat the Wolves. It was one thing in practice against Andrew Wiggins, it's another thing in a game against Anthony Edwards.

[Brian Windhorst]

That is true. Okay, so the warriors had so much promise, but they really started messing around late in the regular season. I think they went three and three down the stretch, backed into the play in. Then they were in command position in the first round of the series. First round against Houston, lost Games 5 and 6 and played their way into Game 7. Now, which they won, which is a road Game 7 victory. And that's all well and good, but this team needed to be efficient. They needed to be efficient because of the age of their. Of their stars. And they needed to be efficient because of the demands on their stars. And look, I have no idea. I just will go back to saying Steph literally never ran more in any game that we have tracking data for in game seven. And then, yeah, 48 hours later, he pulled his hamstring.

[Tim Bontemps]

So, I mean, it's exactly what happened two years ago. They, they had a, you know, a slugfest series of Sacramento in the first round. They escape with a game seven win on the road to go into the second round. That year they're playing the Lakers, this year playing the Wolves. They're completely out of gas and they lose. Like, yeah, Steph got hurt, which didn't happen then, but it, that's why you can't, you just can't. Like you said, you can't give away Games in the playoffs and or at.

[Brian Windhorst]

The end of the regular season, they just.

[Tim Bontemps]

Well, but they, I mean look, they gave away game five. They just punted that game and said we're going to go home and win game six. And then they did.

[Brian Windhorst]

Let me ask you this, here's what I would want to know. Jimmy was sick, Steph was not back. Had they won game five? Had they won game four?

[Tim McMahon]

We're not doing well, we're not doing.

[Tim Bontemps]

We'Re not doing this. Minnesota is also just better than them anyway.

[Brian Windhorst]

Let me ask you this. What are they doing with Kaminga and will they go star hunting this off season? They got Jimmy Butler, it's time to a contract extension. Are they going to be content or are they going to continue to go star hunting?

[Tim Bontemps]

We know, we know that the warriors will go star hunting. Whether they get a star or not is one thing. But the warriors for the last, going back to when they traded for Andre Gadala, right. 2013, I mean they've always been a team that has pursued star players and the entire Joel Cabera, they're going to do that again. Are they going to get a star player? I don't know. Like we'll see what they can actually get done. And you know, the Jonathan Kaminga thing is going to be really interesting. He is an eye of the beholder.

[Tim McMahon]

Player, but a talent, but a talent that Steve Kerr clearly does not trust.

[Tim Bontemps]

Well, that's why I said he's an eye of the beholder player. Like he's a guy who was deservedly not in the rotation up until the moment Steph got hurt. And then he plays the last four games. He averages over 20 points in the four games. He shot pretty well from the field in the games. He also had a combined.

[Tim McMahon]

Why do you say deservedly not in the rotation?

[Tim Bontemps]

I think if you look at how Jonathan Kaminga played in the last few games, it's indicative of the role he needs to play on a team to be somewhat effective. Which or effective which is to be a guy who has the ball in his hands. They have Jimmy Butler and they have Stephen Curry. So if you have those two guys, they're going to have the ball in their hands. He's not a good outside shooter. He's not a guy that does a lot of the other things. He doesn't pass the ball. He played in these five games and had a total of five assists and he had a million shot attempts. Like he's a guy who's going to have the ball and shoot it a lot which he's a young player. He's a guy that I think is going to be a fascinating restricted free agent if there's a team who believes in him that wants to go after him. But if he's trying to be a eighth player on a team with Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler, that's a harder role for him to fit in. And this, the warriors have a lot of guys who can be a efficient role player next to stars. That's not the role that Jonathan Kamiga has shown an ability to perform it.

[Tim McMahon]

So why was he on the roster after the trade deadline?

[Tim Bontemps]

That is a very different question.

[Tim McMahon]

Because now you, you've put yourself. You. He had value then and you put yourself in a situation where maybe there's sign and trade scenarios that make sense. Bring him back seems to be unlikely and unappealing frankly because he doesn't want to be an eighth man, rightfully the guy who's going to want to be a starter and a guy like a guy who's averaging 20 some odd a game and you know, you've put yourself in a situation where losing him for nothing is, you know. Well, I'm not likely.

[Tim Bontemps]

Well, I, I think that's a very big stretch of a statement.

[Tim McMahon]

It's not on the table.

[Brian Windhorst]

There's no cap space.

[Tim Bontemps]

There's.

[Tim McMahon]

There's no cap space.

[Tim Bontemps]

Okay, so there's one team with cap space. We will see if they want to pay him. He's also a restricted free agent. So the warriors have the ability to bring him back depending on what the price is.

[Tim McMahon]

Why would they, why would they match a significant salary for a guy who Steve Kerr doesn't want to play for.

[Tim Bontemps]

The same reason that they haven't traded him in the past. That they clearly believe he has value. So we will. I, I think just declaring he's going to leave for nothing is.

[Tim McMahon]

It was on the table, you bonehead.

[Brian Windhorst]

You got a big night of work lefty left in front of you. You gotta.

[Tim McMahon]

Well, I'm still recovering from getting yelled at rudely the other day. I thought we were had kind of reached a point of friendship. You guys came to the book launch party and now I get screamed at for the world to see what a.

[Brian Windhorst]

Wonderful party it was.

[Tim McMahon]

It was good.

[Brian Windhorst]

Such a lovely day.

[Tim Bontemps]

It was good. We still have been on a plane.

[Tim McMahon]

We still got a bunch of beer and booze left. You guys want to come on back down after maybe after the. Hey, come on down for, for draft night Cooper flag coming to Dallas, you know.

[Tim Bontemps]

There you go. Be a big be A big night.

[Tim McMahon]

One time mainstay champion.

[Tim Bontemps]

It.

[Brian Windhorst]

It.

[Tim Bontemps]

They're going to look. The warriors obviously talked about trading Jonathan Kaminga for Kevin Durant in some forms back in February. They didn't end up doing that trade. They end up getting Jimmy and keeping coming in the deal. I do think there are teams that are fans of Jonathan Kaminga, which I'm sure there are some. The way he played in the last four games is going to have him have some level of value this summer. We will see what level of value it is. If the warriors do go hunting for a star player, he'll certainly be involved in the trade. As Brian said, there is very little free agent money this summer. I am not convinced he's going to get some massive offer as a restricted free agent. I certainly think there's a real possibility that he's back on the team or that he's involved in a trade that brings back the warriors some players. I would be very surprised if after all of this he leaves and is they don't get anything back for him. I think at minimum they'll match whatever offer he gets. Now if he gets offered a whatever four year, $200 million max deal. Well, no, but I'm just saying, barring up some completely out of the, out of the world offer from another team, I think they're either going to get value for him or he's going to be back on the team. And the question I think rightly is can you either find a way to have Jonathan Kaminga fit with these guys or can you turn him into the kind of pieces they need to have a better chance of making a deep playoff run? Because the bottom line is, regardless of whether they should have got the Rocket series done sooner or not, they're not, look at this. They're not good enough right now to win with the group they have. So what can they do to get closer to that between now and the start of next season? That's the question that Mike Dunleavy will be thinking about.

[Tim McMahon]

And tick, tick, tick like time is ticking on them. You know, like Draymond is 34. Steph's older than that. Jimmy's older.

[Brian Windhorst]

Well, he got asked about. Steph did get asked. He had an end of year press conference and he was asked about whether he sees what they've got left as a two year window. That's what they extend to Jimmy Butler. That's what they extended Draymond Green. That's what they expected.

[Tim Bontemps]

For context. All those guys, all three of those guys have two years left on their.

[Brian Windhorst]

Contract and so does Steve Kerr. And he said, yes, you know, you know, you never know the future. You know, I'm focused on just next year. But yes, everybody sees this as. Everybody understands that. So, yeah, and the warriors have to operate that way. Like, they already traded one first round pick away for Jimmy Butler. They have access to other future picks and they have a bunch of contracts on their roster that they can add into a trade. So they can definitely, you know, because, you know, people are asking, you know, we're dancing around the concept of Giannis. Yeah, I have the same answer when I, when I'm getting asked these questions about Giannis Antenokounmpo in the Knicks Giants and the, by the way, the Knicks might get to the finals this year, so everybody wanting them in New York, just enjoy what you got. Everybody was asking me about Giannis and the Lakers and Giannis and the Warriors. My answer is the same for all three. And if you disagree, Bontemp, speak up. Could any of those teams trade for Giannis? Yes, there is a package that would.

[Tim Bontemps]

No, hold on.

[Brian Windhorst]

Just let me finish.

[Tim McMahon]

Let him finish his podcast.

[Brian Windhorst]

Could they trade for Giannis? Yes. But the only way I see it is if Giannis says, I am only going there. And even then the Bucks could play hardball. They don't have to do it because he's got two years left on his contract.

[Tim McMahon]

And now what we, what we don't know is what were the private discussions between Giannis and Bucks, you know, the Bucks front office and, and even ownership before he signed this extension? Was there kind of a, hey, let's give it a run. If it doesn't work out, you know, you're going to have some say. We don't know if there were those kind of discussions.

[Tim Bontemps]

But the Lakers, The Lakers have no ability. This is what I was saying no to. There is no world where the Lakers can trade for Giannis.

[Brian Windhorst]

Let's just say that if Yanis comes.

[Tim Bontemps]

And says they don't. No, no, they don't. They do not have anywhere near enough. You could at least make an argument. I think it's a harder or. I think it's a hard argument to make given what other teams have. But the warriors have several first round picks. They have Jonathan Kaminga, they have Brandon Pajemski. You can at least concoct a trade of a bunch of assets. You know, who knows? They could put Jimmy in a trade again, right? Like they have things they could do.

[Tim McMahon]

I don't know that Milwaukee's signing up for Jimmy.

[Tim Bontemps]

Well, but you. I'm just saying you could trade Jimmy somewhere else for other stuff. There's a world where they could create enough assets where I could talk myself into believing there's a world where Giannis could get to the Warriors.

[Tim McMahon]

But if we're putting together Giannis packages, we're starting with the spurs and the Rockets.

[Tim Bontemps]

But I'm just saying.

[Brian Windhorst]

I understand.

[Tim Bontemps]

To go to Brian. Specific question.

[Brian Windhorst]

They can't win a bidding war. The warriors say, only want to be a Warrior. Only want to be a Laker.

[Tim Bontemps]

The Lakers. It can't happen. There's no. The Lakers have one draft pick and they have Austin Reeves. That's. That's not enough to get under any circumstance.

[Brian Windhorst]

I'm done. I'm done saying how the league can't trade for somebody. So I'm just going to say never say never.

[Tim McMahon]

We learned that the hard way.

[Tim Bontemps]

But that's fine. I'm saying the Lakers aren't getting Giannis, and I want to concoct trades for the other two guys teams.

[Brian Windhorst]

And I think we're on the same page. My message to Laker fans would be, you're not getting him. But 4. He says, I only want to be a Laker.

[Tim Bontemps]

I don't even think but four work works there. But that's.

[Tim McMahon]

Well, I is but for. But that first of all sounds weird, but is that even English?

[Tim Bontemps]

But for.

[Tim McMahon]

I know wherefore, wherefore art thou. It ain't but for art thou.

[Brian Windhorst]

But for him saying I only want, therefore.

[Tim McMahon]

I mean, there's a whole bunch of those things.

[Brian Windhorst]

And by the way, I do not have any indication he is thinking that. I don't have any indication of what he is thinking other than he is considering his options, which we all are at all times.

[Tim McMahon]

Oh, whoa, hey, hey, hey, hey. Wendy making a statement, baby.

[Brian Windhorst]

I would just say that the warriors have options, whether they can execute. They had options last summer and they were trying for Paul George and they had some conversations on other stuff and then they spent. Yeah, I don't know if that Larry marketing thing was ever seriously.

[Tim McMahon]

It never got. It never was.

[Tim Bontemps]

Like, the warriors have anything.

[Tim McMahon]

That's for sure.

[Tim Bontemps]

Warriors have enough stuff that they are going to be able to get themselves in conversations for stuff this summer. We will see if anything gets done. But they have enough stuff to do.

[Tim McMahon]

That they were not trying to include pods and stuff last summer. They also weren't trying to get Giannis last summer.

[Tim Bontemps]

So that. I mean, that's the thing. They've got some young players. They've Got a bunch of draft picks. You know, they have, they have some ability to get ammunition together to go after big name players. And all we have known for the warriors for over a decade, whether Mike Dunleavy or Bob Myers is running the team, is that they're going to explore every avenue on everything they can do. And Mike has been on the record saying we're trying to maximize every bit of what Steph's got left, which is the honorable thing for them to do. And so I'm sure they're going to try to do that and we will see what they're able to come up with. But again, whatever you want to say about how they let the first round series get a little too long, they were a playing team and to me, they're not as talented as the Wolves, let alone the Thunder, let alone these other teams at the top. So if they want to get there, they got more work to do.

[Tim McMahon]

Steph has to be had to be an MVP to give them a chance of doing any kind of real damage in these playoffs. And look, Draymond stunk in this series. Now he managed to not get himself suspended. You know, he. Neither of those trains that were going down the tracks got to the final destination. But when they lost the last four games, Draymond averaged 8.8 points, 4.0 rebounds, I'm sorry, 4.8 rebounds, 4.3 assists, shot 36% from the floor, 21% from three point range, and they gave up a whole bunch of points with the best defense player in the whole wide history of the world on the floor.

[Tim Bontemps]

So. Oh, and even beyond that, the thing you saw, especially when Steph was out, is this team just needs more offense. Like you can't, they can't be that, they can't be that reliant on a 37 year old Steph Curry. If you're going to get all the way to the end, there's got to be more.

[Brian Windhorst]

Well, if you're a Warriors fan, you might be screaming to say, well, that's why you should play Kaminga. But Kaminga playing with Steph, where he's got to have the ball, doesn't always seem to work.

[Tim McMahon]

It's, it's a tough fit. And Jimmy reminded us that he's a hell of a Robin. He's no longer a Batman. That was proven without shadow of a doubt in this series.

[Tim Bontemps]

Yeah, I mean he's still a really good player, but again, like, and he had a great game three, but you're again talking about a guy in his mid-30s asking to put up 35 a game. It's probably not realistic, especially if Steph has any kind of issues. So they need more firepower if they want to be a legitimate threat next year. They're going to be a solid team. It's a matter of whether they're going to be better than a solid.

[Brian Windhorst]

This is one of these questions that gets asked at ESPN debate shows. They talk about, well, as Steph won his last championship, was the window closing?

[Tim McMahon]

Probably.

[Brian Windhorst]

Let me just point this out. In the last three years, the warriors finished sixth and lost the Lakers. Then they finished 10th and didn't make the playoffs. This year they finished seventh and made it to the second round, which was great.

[Tim McMahon]

And you can give us what was the record with Jimmy and Step together.

[Brian Windhorst]

Those are the last three years. Sixth, tenth, seventh. Okay. That is not a wide open window. So they're.

[Tim Bontemps]

They just lost to a younger and deeper team that's probably only going to get better and they and that team could be playing. We'll see what happens in the game we're about to watch. But the conference finals could be a matchup between a young, improving Wolves team and a Thunder team that's only got a younger roster. Don't forget about the ammo and stuff going forward. Plus you've got Jokic still sitting there. Plus you've got the Clippers, the Lakers, all these other teams.

[Brian Windhorst]

Don't forget about the Fighting Nicos, because once that beast is.

[Tim McMahon]

Listen, all the Texas teams like, hey, this wasn't the plan for Nico. He doesn't get credit for falling ass backwards into a lottery, 1.8% lottery thing. They ended up with the number one pick. But it is good fortune. And the Mavericks will be, you know, they've got to figure out the temporary point guard thing. They'll be tough. The spurs got a chance when always going to be a fun summer to follow the spurs and the Rockets. The Rockets push them to the brink and have a chance to take a major leap forward. We'll see. Maybe that's. Maybe it's Plan A. Patience. Maybe they push some chips in, you know, the spurs, maybe it's patience, maybe they push some chips in. But the west is going to be a beast for a while. And I think you get a bunch of teams that are going to be.

[Brian Windhorst]

Better next year, which is why if I were Giannis and I wanted to leave Milwaukee, which is not assured, you know, it's on the table, but it's not assured. I would want the private jet to go east, not west or South East. But what do I know? I don't have any insight. Okay, McMahon, you got to go get ready to cover the game.

[Tim McMahon]

Oh, great. Thanks for leaving me out. Tonight's pod, fellas. Really means a lot.

[Brian Windhorst]

You're welcome. You're welcome.

[Tim McMahon]

Glad you're going to be able to rest up.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah, I'm gonna go take a nap right now, honestly, because otherwise it won't make it through the game when you sleep.

[Tim McMahon]

Update.

[Brian Windhorst]

You're welcome. Thank you. To Bon Temps. Who's crushing fatherhood? I mean, he's just. I've never seen a father crush fatherhood the way Bontemps is crushing father.

[Tim Bontemps]

I don't. I don't know. I don't know what that's supposed to.

[Brian Windhorst]

Mean, but you're crushing it. Like, here's the thing, McMahon. I really want him to come back for the conference finals because.

[Tim McMahon]

Are you coming back for the conference finals, Bontemph?

[Brian Windhorst]

It'll ease my burden.

[Tim Bontemps]

Well, we'll see. I mean, if.

[Tim McMahon]

Let me do a little reporting here.

[Tim Bontemps]

Well, listen, the plan has been to do that, and Cabon has been very excited about the possibility of no travel for good chunks of the conference finals and maybe the finals. And we will see if. If the Knicks don't win this series. I'm not sure what's going to happen in the Bontense household because there's going to be devastation at the Knicks losing when the chance of being home was right there and it was attainable, and then it gets snatched away.

[Tim McMahon]

Oh, there's some pressure on Jalen Brunson to deliver. Being Bond baby. Bond temps.

[Brian Windhorst]

I saw that. I saw a stat today that the Celtics, over the last three years, maybe the last four years, they're nine and two when facing elimination. Correct. Let me tell you, sir, I have felt all nine of those.

[Tim Bontemps]

Yes.

[Tim McMahon]

Hey.

[Brian Windhorst]

I never even thought for a second I was going home today. I knew. I knew. I did laundry yesterday morning because I was like, I'm gonna. I better prepare to stay till Monday, because that's right. That's how those. That's how those dudes.

[Tim Bontemps]

This is who they are.

[Brian Windhorst]

I know.

[Tim McMahon]

We'll see what happens. But if. If OKC closes tonight. Oh, I get two nights at home after game two of the of the west finals. So we'll see how that goes. But there will be a big time west finals rivalry. Mac 10 staying on the Wolves, and I'm staying on whoever wins this series. We're gonna have some nastiness.

[Brian Windhorst]

Do you have any other great ideas to give?

[Tim McMahon]

Hey, listen, I guess Melbourne's form because we'll be playing some pickup basketball. I'll be packing. I'll be packing some hoop shoes.

[Brian Windhorst]

You know, we should do bonus house.

[Tim McMahon]

We should have.

[Brian Windhorst]

We should just cut him out altogether and just record with tonight.

[Tim McMahon]

How about Bring Him On?

[Tim Bontemps]

Well, here's the problem.

[Tim McMahon]

Good idea.

[Tim Bontemps]

Here's the problem. He's even slower than big bands.

[Brian Windhorst]

Oh, my God.

[Tim McMahon]

He's not here. I'm flying solo tonight.

[Brian Windhorst]

All right, all right. Thank you, Jackson. Thank you to everybody for watching. Listen to Hoop Collective. We'll talk to you some point soon. I feel like it'll be before Monday, but technically Monday.

[Tim McMahon]

Adios, amigos.