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- [00:00]
Skeets
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human Amazon Health AI presents painful
- [00:08]
Tas Melis
thoughts why did I search the Internet
- [00:11]
Trey Kirby
for answers to my cold sore problem? Now I'm stuck down a rabbit hole
- [00:15]
Skeets
filled with images of alarmingly graphic sores in various stages of ooze. I can clear my search history, but I can never unsee that. Don't go down the rabbit hole. Amazon Health AI gets you the right care fast. Healthcare just got less painful.
- [00:35]
Super Producer JD
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- [01:06]
Trey Kirby
Inside you, there are two wolves. There's the wolf who loves moving their body, and then there's the wolf who loves lounging. And buddy, they're howling for Viori.
- [01:17]
Tas Melis
Oh.
- [01:20]
Trey Kirby
Whether suiting up for the gym or just chilling on the couch watching the playoffs, Viori's loungewear pieces prove that comfort and elevated style can go hand in hand. Throw on a pair of core shorts and the Ponto Performance Crew and you're good to go. Whether you're getting a pump in or just vibing with the fellas, Viori is designed to look great beyond the gym and is perfect for whatever your day brings. Incredibly versatile and comfortable Vuori is an investment in your happiness. For our listeners. They're offering 20% off your first purchase, so get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on The Planet at Vuori.com nodunks that's V-U-O-R-I.com nodunks get 20% off your first purchase at Vuori.com nodunks and discover the versatility of Vuori. Clothing exclusions apply. Visit the website for full terms and conditions. When we moved into our house a few years back, one of the things that caught our interest was that the sellers described the backyard as a gardener's paradise. And let me tell you, we garden hard flowers, ferns, foods, compost, raised beds, hammocks. Not necessarily guarding that last one, but chilling is very important too. The one thing we're missing though? A potting table. So don't tell my wife, but she's getting one for Mother's Day and I found it on Wayfair. Whether your vibe is modern, coastal, farmhouse or eclectic, Wayfair has options to help you create an outdoor space that's uniquely yours. Wayfair makes it simple to narrow down to what works for your style and budget. Outdoor seating, grills, major appliances, storage, patio lighting, rugs, decor, potting tables. Wayfair is your one stop shop for home. Over 20 million verified 5 star reviews help you make the right call. Real customers, real feedback. Real homes get prepped for patio season. For way less head to Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. That's W a Y f a I r.com Wayfair Every style Every home.
- [03:32]
Tas Melis
Good morning sweet world and welcome to the no Dunks podcast presented by FanDuel. It's Tuesday, May 19, 2026. I'm Je Sk here in the Classic factory and alongside me, as always, Tas Melis.
- [03:45]
Skeets
Fans of the conference finals, both basketball and hockey. This one's for you.
- [03:50]
Tas Melis
Next to him, it's my top shot, hot boy Trey Kirby. Hey, hey, yo. And over yonder, making the magic Happen, Super Producer JD hello there he is. Great to have you back, JD. Hello to everybody on YouTube. Hit the like button. Subscribe podcast listeners, five star ratings and reviews. On today's show, we're going to discuss the Pelicans hiring Jamal Mosley as their next head coach. We'll preview and predict the east finals, which tips tonight. I mean, I say all that, but I don't know if we're going to get to it because we might just talk two hours plus about game one of the Western Conference finals because holy, what a game. What a start to this one. Nothing said about Victor Wembanyama today will qualify is hyperbole. Okay, let's make that very clear. The alien. 41 points, 24 rebounds as the spurs beat the Thunder 122, 115 in a double overtime classic to open the Western Conference finals. Wemby sealed it with a pair of dunks in the final minute as San Antonio stole home court advantage here and beat O. Casey for the fifth time in six tries this season. TK Heading into this one yesterday, he said, look, I think the crown four best player in the world is up for grabs here between sga, who was awarded the MVP before the game last night, his second straight, and Wemby after game one. I think Wemby is wearing the crown firmly on his skull.
- [05:12]
Trey Kirby
Best player in the world after game one. Best player on any planet. Perhaps as well. I picked the Spurs. I Was the only one of us. And the main reason was they have Wemby. Last night he was completely the difference. The spurs turned the ball over 23 times and shot 30% from three. They played Oklahoma City. In Oklahoma City, if you have 20 turnovers and shoot 30% from three, you lose against the Thunder, usually. Unless you have Wemby. And the spurs had Wemby. This guy, most impressive thing. He always meets the moment. I'm thinking back of every single time I've thought about Victor Wembanyama dating Back to like Mets 92 versus the G League. Ignite 37 points in five blocks. He was awesome in that one. He was awesome in the Olympics. He was awesome at the All Star game when he said, I'm going to try hard. Anytime the lights are bright, he is at his absolute best. He plays 40 or more minutes for the first time in his career, goes for 41 points and 24 rebounds. Somehow only three blocks, but still also only three turnovers. Despite playing in a crowd all night long. Sometimes he looked like Kevin Durant. Like when he pulled up for a 30 foot three pointer to send the game into double overtime. I was flexing on my couch. I'm not a Spurs fan. I'm flexing on behalf of this young gentleman. Sometimes he was Shaq. I thought in double overtime. He just dunked it every single chance he got. He's like, enough of these jump shots. I'm dunking every time. Sometimes he was Hakeem Olajuwon, you know, seeing David Robinson get his MVP and then say, hey, remember me? Sometimes he was Kareem Abdul Jabbar. He was just everything last night. He was incredible. Oklahoma City shot 32% from the field when Wemby was on the court, 63% when he was off. He could have had a game winner in regulation when he made that twisting, turning off the wrong foot, little floater over chat Holmgren. Then, you know, the Thunder get a bucket from Shea and Shay. And then Chad actually blocks one B shot right at the end of regulation. But still put him ahead, gave him a chance to win there, to save the game for him in double overtime or in single overtime after having kind of a rough period, like he wasn't getting a lot of touches. So he finally saw an open shot, rips it from 30ft at.
- [07:17]
Tas Melis
You can.
- [07:17]
Trey Kirby
You can say wy is any height right now and it counts. You're like, oh, he's 7 foot 10 and it's fine.
- [07:21]
Skeets
Yeah, they're only saying 74 last night, which I Respect. Pretty accurate before.
- [07:25]
Trey Kirby
I've heard 77.
- [07:26]
Tas Melis
Dropped a 77 the other day. Like, holy, man. We're just adding an inch every time.
- [07:31]
Trey Kirby
It's ridiculous, though. This became a must win game for the spurs as things progressed. Right. Like Shay wasn't playing well, Chet wasn't playing well. You know, the Thunder are going to be better in this series. The spurs had to win one in San Antonio at some. Or in Oklahoma City at some point. There's no fox out there. So this one, they had to take it. And when they had to take it, Wemby did it.
- [07:54]
Skeets
It's his world, man. We're all just living in it. I know we all sort of as basketball people. Basketball, such a rare sport in that you can't anoint a guy, say he's the best player in the game, say he's the champion of all the leagues until he kind of wins it. That's just the way basketball is. But it's like he won the NBA title last night. OKC may come back and win this thing, but spot the way he stole
- [08:18]
Tas Melis
game one because they have lost two game ones in last year's championship run in sort of heartbreaking fashion as well.
- [08:25]
Super Producer JD
Right.
- [08:25]
Tas Melis
There was the Aaron Gordon one in that series, and then there was a Halliburton game winning.
- [08:28]
Skeets
They could come back.
- [08:29]
Tas Melis
That's all I'm saying.
- [08:30]
Skeets
Yeah, yeah. They weren't playing Wemby. And then this is just a different world with Victor Wembanyama. He does rise up for the game when he needs to. Simple as that. Other than his first summer league game, that wasn't a good game. But maybe the lights weren't bright in that Las Vegas arena. Just not great lights. This was him doing it all season long. They sort of slow played him this year. You know, they didn't have to play him a Tony played 64 games. But when he needed to do it in the All Star game, the guy brought the All Star game back. In the playoffs. He has been really, really good, even though he fell on his face. And. And here he is in game one of the conference finals. And he basically said when he was asked about winning game one, if it's a long series, we needed this one. And here they are. He won the thing. So it's literally we're just watching this guy to see if he can. He can do it. Now OKC is changing something for game two. There's no doubt about it. Isaiah Hartenstein is going to the bench. I mean, they realize that 2 minutes and 46 seconds into this game that Harnstein is too close to the paint. And so Wemby is able to do Wemby stuff. And so you got to take him out, have shooters out there. Definitely worries if Caruso as his replacement is going to be fresh as games go as the game goes on, but Hartenstein's just going to play against Luke Cornett. So I thought OKC made some adjustments as the game went along to help them out. But, but, but, but, but if Wemby wants this thing, it sure feels like they can do it. They're here.
- [10:12]
Tas Melis
Man, he came out possessed. That was Hakeem watching David Robinson get the MVP.
- [10:18]
Skeets
Before that game, OKC screwed up.
- [10:20]
Tas Melis
He had 10 and 10 in like 12 minutes of action. He had like three rebound highlights in the first couple minutes of the game on the offensive glass. Like, yeah, it inspired him. He believes he's the best player in the world and he was trying to make a point. Our concern with Wemby was like, oh, yeah, they've slow played him all year. Is he going to be able to hold up against a very physical Thunder team when he does cross the 35 minute mark or the 40 minute mark or in this case, what did he play nearly 49 minutes? Well, the answer after one game is no problem, because what he was doing, yeah, he looked gas. Everybody was. But in overtime alone, the guy's, yeah, hitting whatever you want to call it. Durant or Steph, like 30 footers and then Shaq or Giannis, like, power drive dunks and alley oops and. And getting to the line and blocking and obviously all the nopes included as well. Just guys refusing to shoot around him. He just kept bringing it in the overtime periods when I don't think anyone would have been like, knocking him, like, okay, he got tired, obviously. He's like, hit a wall here. He didn't do that. He powered through that. He seems to. He was seeming to enjoy the physicality more as the game went on. Embracing it in a weird way where it was like, all right, okay, we figured out, as long as they can get me the ball when Caruso is trying to, like, front me or side me, we're good and I'll go to work. Amazing. The fact that he hit 12 or 13 free throws, too, I know that's going to get overlooked, but he steps there, he takes his time, he does his breathing. I think they even brought it up on the broadcast, you know, hey, what Giannis gets always criticized for taking so long. Where's the Thunder Fans need to start doing the 10 second countdown here.
- [11:50]
Skeets
Where's that fan who was in Indiana that was doing it for Giannis De Campo with that. That ticker? I mean, they got to start counting.
- [11:56]
Tas Melis
They got to try and rattle.
- [11:58]
Trey Kirby
He's getting to 10. I don't.
- [11:59]
Tas Melis
I don't.
- [12:00]
Trey Kirby
I think he's like seven or eight.
- [12:01]
Skeets
Yeah, yeah.
- [12:01]
Tas Melis
It just.
- [12:02]
Trey Kirby
It's because counting.
- [12:03]
Tas Melis
Yeah, exactly.
- [12:04]
Trey Kirby
Make him think about it.
- [12:05]
Skeets
But what a game about it.
- [12:06]
Tas Melis
What a game. And then, I mean, all of these awesome shots, all these awesome dunks, all these awesome blocks. Maybe one of the biggest plays was Wemby hustling his ass back on like a 3 on 1 okc fast break. Late in this game, he got back into the plate and ended up diving to the floor and knocking it off Chet Holmgren's foot. I mean, he just completely saved a basket just on pure energy alone. And like Hollinger I saw had a great report on this this morning. You know, the three from Wemby is one thing, he's a problem, but it's this, like, zest for greatness that he obviously shows in all of these games. In win or loss moments, it emerges. And like that hustle play is your superstars doing that as well as doing all this other stuff. I mean, you're setting a tone.
- [12:53]
Skeets
Full of zest.
- [12:53]
Tas Melis
Full of zest.
- [12:54]
Skeets
That's a great word. Although in that it was OT 313 left in the first OT and on that break, that was Alex Caruso saying, here, Jaylen Williams, just go for it. That was their second two on one that they messed up in this game. It's hard to mess up a two on one. But Caruso kind of pushed it ahead and said, I'm a little gasped because he was gassed and said, jaylen Williams, you go do this thing. And Jalen Williams went into champagne, who played great defense, incredible defense, to turn it around and put it on the floor. And that's when Wemby hits the floor and it goes off Chad Holmgren. Those little teeny tiny things are. Are something to worry about for the Thunder because is Caruso going to be able to play a ton against Victor Wembanyama because literally, again, they can't play Hart and Stein against him because Wemby is just too close to the pain. He's got to roam way too close to it. So those little teeny tiny things hurt as well as the Shay receiving MVP at mid court. Why do that? Why do that? Sean's announced it. He skipped brunch to announce it. It was Sunday. They they, they did their whole thing where Shay gave all his gifts to his teammates.
- [14:01]
Tas Melis
Right.
- [14:01]
Skeets
That's it.
- [14:01]
Tas Melis
Just don't show it in front of the crowd.
- [14:03]
Skeets
No, I, I literally thought that when the whole trench coat thing happened that that was going to happen, but. And I didn't really make a lot out of it. And then to see it happen against Victor Romanow, who literally was asked about it post game and said, yeah, yeah, especially getting third in MVP voting. Yeah.
- [14:20]
Trey Kirby
Not even second.
- [14:22]
Skeets
Jokic jumped him. And so yes, when he wants to win a game again, those little things, you. Trey went through all of them. Like, I'm bringing the all Star game back. We brought it back the playoffs. And he's ready. He's. He's just ready.
- [14:37]
Tas Melis
Obviously we can move on to other players in this game. Do you have anything else on Wemby himself? I mean, my only final note on him was I did gasp out loud when Wemby blocked SGA's patented pull up baseline jumper.
- [14:51]
Trey Kirby
Yep.
- [14:52]
Tas Melis
I think that's like completely been overlooked in this game of a million plays. I couldn't believe it. I mean, I know I can. You should believe it with a guy that's 7, 4, 7, 5, 7, 6, 7, 7, whatever he is. But like that's. You just don't see that with Shay.
- [15:05]
Trey Kirby
Exactly. It's the same as like Dirk getting a fadeaway blocked or Kevin Durant having a jumper blocked. You're like, that doesn't happen unless it's a special player. And obviously Wemby is a special player, but he's doing so many things throughout the game that it gets lost in the sauce. Like, I mean, you think about the 30 foot pull up three, you think about him dunking on Chet, but how about when there was like a tip and it somehow ended up an alley oop for Jalen Williams, but he gets over and blocks the shot at the rim. That was ridiculous. Or his last block on Jalen Williams was big time as well. He's throwing whip passes to the corner. They're not very accurate all the time, but it looks cool when he does it. He just does things throughout the game that you've never seen before, unless literally you made the biggest tallest guy in a video game. And he actually plays like that. But he has the mindset of a Kobe or a Jordan who wants to be the best player on the floor and wants to shove it in everybody's faces. He's laughing at Shake Gil just Alexander when he's trying to take a rebound away from him. Like, that's how cool and calm he's able to stay in these huge moments as well. So he's got the physical outlier attributes obviously, but he's got the mental game as well.
- [16:08]
Tas Melis
Oh, just the nerve to even take that pull up three. I mean, I guess you could say, well, maybe he's a little tired, so he's settling. But like he took it with confidence. Holy shit. Did he step into it when they're down three? What? It looked like OKC was going to maybe like win this game and it was going to be like complete tenor of this series has changed. If OKC pulls this out at the interregulation or one of the first overtimes because it's like, oh, wow. I mean, what more can Wemby do? And OKC didn't play that well and miss some shots, but they still pulled it out. Of course that didn't happen. And that's great for all of us basketball fans. I think the spurs winning this game one here sets up what should be just, I mean, looking like an iconic series. It should of course go deep six or seven.
- [16:48]
Skeets
Yeah, he wasn't settling on that three. That wasn't a settle. He lined it up and was ready to let it rip from a near logo. It would have been the only sexier thing about it could have been if the logo was under his feet because he was so close to the logo. Pretty close. Incredible shot. Incredible shot.
- [17:06]
Tas Melis
It wasn't just Wemby though in this game getting the spurs the victory. The rookie Dylan Harper suddenly starting in this game because Fox was like a pretty last minute scratch with the ankle injury. I mean, we didn't expect that. We weren't talking about that when we were doing our preview on yesterday's podc. But that's okay. You got Harper to slot in here. TK 24 points, 11 boards, 7 steals, 6 assists, and just one turnover too. As part of the youngest starting lineup in conference finals history. With all the guys the spurs were starting. This guy, I mean, you've talked about it before, we're all on team Harper here. Guy's an absolute stud.
- [17:41]
Trey Kirby
He's 20 years old.
- [17:42]
Tas Melis
It's crazy.
- [17:43]
Trey Kirby
20 years old and they're like, oh yeah, by the way, you're starting against the best team in the league on the road. He's fine. I'll go out, I'll turn the ball over once, not miss a free throw. 11 rebounds I think is kind of huge because the spurs play, you know, outside of Wemby, they play a lot of guards, even their wings Are not huge guys. You know, they don't have an OG and an OBI sized guy out there. But seven steals, though I do think. I kind of think Wemby should get a little bit of the credit for some of Harper steals. Because so many of them come when the Thunder are driving baseline, they see Wemby, they say, okay, I gotta pass it to the corner. Ain't no way I'm getting a shot up. And Harper's smart. He just sits right there in that little gap waiting for the pass to come to the corner. Thank you very much, sir. And goes the other way with it. So he was in complete control. You know, Castle was very up and down. Had a pretty good game for having 11 turnovers.
- [18:30]
Tas Melis
Yeah.
- [18:31]
Trey Kirby
And missing a ton of shots. But Harper was the steady hand that they needed. And he looked a little flustered, I thought at times during the fourth quarter in overtime when the Thunder were really making him play in a crowd, the defense was getting really handsy. He looked a little bit like a rookie there, I thought. But he got it back in second overtime. And he made that crazy play where the ball gets deflected. Deflected, deflected, deflected. Somehow ends up in his hands, just chucks it at the rim, gets to the free throw line, knocks a couple of down. Every point mattered last night. And the fact that he was able to control the ball the way he was and make the winning plays outside of being able to score. Okay. You know, I think he had 24 points on 20 shots. So not great efficiency, but. But this is a night when efficiency didn't matter all that much. You just needed to make the plays. And he made so, so, so many plays.
- [19:19]
Skeets
Yeah. Incredible that they handled Fox being benched with all their young guys. No problem. All those guys played a ton of minutes and they were able to overcome that. And I think if you're gonna poke out little things that Dagnaut could have done a little bit better going to that second overtime. Caruso, Jalen Williams both sit. They sit, they come back, they're already down four. And so instead, you know, they got A.J. mitchell and Lou do out there. And that hurt. I think in the previous overtime, the first overtime, they kind of got lucky. There was that with Jalen Williams on the bench to start. There was that crazy play where Stefan Castle drives, collides with AJ Mitchell and goes down really hard. Super hard. Was it a foul? I don't know, but they called it. And so Jalen Williams comes back and he's able to help out but it seemed like Dagnaut was managing minutes for no real reason while the other guys, the super young guys, as you said, the youngest team to start in a conference finals game. Pretty cool. Pretty cool that they're able to say, hey, 20 year old, 21 year old. Castle the sell 25, champagne 24 and WEMBY 22 just go out and play and they're able to recover. Because I thought that's the huge advantage for okc being able to play their guys, wait, go way deeper. I mean, a lot of their guys off the bench, like Aaron Wiggins, couldn't hit a three, four minutes play three shots, all misses. A.J. mitchell, maybe he has a bounce back game after a bad one here because he was able to bounce back after that first game where he replaced Jalen Williams, wasn't so good. Second game, really good. And Caruso, will he be fresh because he's going to play a lot AC Fresh. AC Fresh as they like to call him. Yeah. So there's lots of questions I think with. With Dagnall and how he's going to play things and if he's going to play them more. Just dudes just go out there and play it. I mentioned that one Caruso play where you seem a little tired. Just you go give it. Instead of taking a couple more dribbles on that two on one. That would have helped out.
- [21:12]
Tas Melis
I mean, lots of blame the guy for being tired though.
- [21:14]
Skeets
He was awesome.
- [21:15]
Tas Melis
Obviously hitting a million threes, trying to battle the best player maybe in the game right now in Wemby where he gives up a foot now.
- [21:22]
Skeets
He's an old guy though. Yeah, yeah, that's the question. He's 32 years old.
- [21:26]
Tas Melis
That's an interesting part about those two guys sitting at the start of second overtime. I had that in my notes as well and I thought they were hurt even more. Or Degnalt's decision to try and get them a possession or two of rest before they came in, there was an early shot clock violation. And in that play they tried to get in, they couldn't come back in and it actually, I think resulted in a couple of baskets for the spurs there when they scored twice.
- [21:46]
Skeets
That's why they're down four.
- [21:48]
Tas Melis
Yeah. When they did come back, free throws. That's exactly right. So that. That sort of sucked too. You know, maybe it's a little different even if it's not that violation and they can check back in. Back to Harper. I'm with you. Sort of like there were some moments in the fourth quarter, the first Overtime where it's like, okay, maybe looking a little bit like a rookie here, but, man, in double overtime, three plays, that stood out to me. He closed out absolutely textbook, perfectly on Chet Holmgren at the top. Now Chet's in his head a little bit, and we'll get to him and how he needs to do a little bit more offensively, but it was incredible. He came up. He just. Just perfect, Close, close out on him. And then he stayed with them, and that ended up in a great defensive possession. Two minutes left, he zipped by sga. That's where he got smacked in the face. Had the N1 layup. Huge.
- [22:31]
Skeets
His eyes were watering. He took that right to the schnoz. That was a hard shot.
- [22:37]
Tas Melis
Yeah. But he finished that and then hit the free throw. And then San Antonio in a zone there. Right at the end, Harper came up with that deflected play, one of his steals. I think he must have got credit for that steal where SGA was trying to find Chat, who was, like, trying to get in the middle of the zone.
- [22:53]
Skeets
And that pass to Wemby for the dunk with a minute 10 left. That was a perfect entry pass, perfect line, perfect direction, and that was really, really important. And Jamal Crawford and Reggie commented on it, and I appreciated that. And Tariko loved it, too. But Harper castle, despite the 11 turnovers, came through.
- [23:14]
Trey Kirby
And a sloppy gym.
- [23:16]
Skeets
Yeah, he had a sloppy one, but you look at every single one of those. I mean, he. He. A lot of them were other guys, too, but also, you know, he came through, I thought a minute left in the fourth quarter when he made that entry pass to Victor Wembanyama. And it looked like Jalen Williams was kind of roughing up Victor Wembanyama, but the ball popped out, and Shea went directly to the other end. Fast break, one minute left. It's a tie game. Shea could win this thing. Frankly, it could have been super close, but Stephon Castle got back after that pass away and was able to stop Shay on the fast break and hit that ball. And so he was just not able to score. That could have been a very, very big bucket. So big for Castle. We haven't mentioned Devin Vassell, but I thought he was awesome.
- [23:56]
Tas Melis
Awesome, yes.
- [23:57]
Skeets
So many things across the board. Steals, blocks every single way. Even offensive rebounding, causing fouls. He had a big three at the end of the fourth quarter. 2, 25 left from the corner, and he helped on that big block on Chet in the second overtime. What a block. So minutes. Yeah, yeah.
- [24:15]
Tas Melis
Jesus. Yeah. And like the Castle's point with the 11 turnovers. Yeah, obviously way too many. And if Fox is in there, I'm sure it's not in his hands as much and that's reduced. But his defense on sga, in addition to all the other guys that got switched on him, Carter, Bryant, obviously, I mean they were, they were hounding SGA and he unlocked things as the game went on because he is the two time MVP and was big in the fourth and obviously had some huge baskets at the rim. But just the effort alone, just to make it difficult at the very least that that was Castle for a majority of the game and other guys that got a chance.
- [24:49]
Trey Kirby
Yeah, I mean Castle sure is the main guy, but I think this is a team defensive performance against Shay and I mean Mitch Johnson should get a ton of credit. Shea didn't seem to see the same coverage like more than two times in a row. Sometimes they're switching. The majority of the time they're switching. Sometimes they're playing it straight up, one on one. Sometimes they're late doubling, sometimes they're blitzing. In second overtime, they're like, hey, how about a zone? Haven't seen this one yet. And it worked through the Thunder out of rhythm. I thought Carter Bryant was great in this game. This was like a Tony Allen style performance where like all we care about is that you stay three inches from that guy.
- [25:24]
Skeets
Yeah.
- [25:24]
Trey Kirby
For the entire time. You can see him go in Jalen Wells mode, laying his head on his chest a few times, hit a shot which was big as well. But I thought his energy was really good. Like the Thunder definitely had better depth last night. Their bench was better. Basically only two guys got on the court for the spurs, which is why you see these crazy number totals for a game one. So I wonder if that changes going forward. But Mitch Johnson made all the right calls last night. Everybody kind of did their part. I thought Kelton Johnson was pretty solid in his little bit of time. At least he was scoring out there. Bryant was helpful. Cornett, not very good.
- [25:58]
Tas Melis
He was probably doing really good.
- [26:00]
Trey Kirby
Harrison Barnes did nothing as well, so that's why they didn't hardly play in the second half. But I mean, kudos to Mitch. He's like, I gotta roll with these guys. This is a game we can win. We have to treat this like there's no tomorrow. Who cares if Devin Vassels plays 50 minutes? He had to Castle. I thought he gave great effort. It was just he's doing too much at times. He would play too much in a crowd. The Hun The Thunder is super slapsy and he just got loose with it. He was dribbling too much. He'll be better, I have to imagine. And once Fox is back, you don't need him handling in those moments where it's like dumb turnovers. 35ft from the hoop.
- [26:33]
Skeets
Yeah.
- [26:33]
Tas Melis
That's why this game was awesome. Because there was like no feeling out period to a game one of the Western Conference finals. It's like it just like every. Both coaches knew, you know, tried, obviously. Let's go get this. This is going to be a hell of a grueling series play your best players, run your best plays. I mean, some great action out of timeouts and decisions and switching up defenses. In Mitch Johnson's case, like, that's what made it so good. Good to me.
- [26:58]
Skeets
Yeah, this felt like.
- [26:59]
Tas Melis
It did feel like a game six or seven where coaches start doing this stuff and they're like, no, we're doing it right from the jump.
- [27:05]
Skeets
Well, Dagnaut's changing what he's doing from the jump. I thought the first two minutes 46 of playing Isaiah Hartenstein didn't work out so well because he was just offensively, he has to stay around the lane. And even Shea's first attempt, he got past Stefan Castle. So Wemby just comes up in the paint. Hi, I'm here. He didn't do anything, but he waited for Castle to recover and that's when Wemby can go back. So when we credit with the block, hell no. He's just there. He's just there. Now they're going to have to do that totally different going forward. They're going to have to rely on their three point shot a lot more because that's how they're going to score against Victor wembanyama. They started 6 of 22 from 3 in the first half. And so that'll be different. You're. You're right in that it was a great feel. These guys were going for it and that was a quick change. Literally 2 minutes and 46 seconds. What was also a good change, I thought Jalen Williams didn't score his first run in this game. They said come to the bench. As soon as Victor Romanyama went to the bench, he got back in there and he scored a lot. He scored three straight buckets to get him going, to get him feeling important. And that really, really helped out. He scored 10 points in that first quarter after going. When Wemby went to the bench, he scored six points in that first minute back and seven baskets in the Paint for him. That's where he's going to make his money. So the slashing was good for him. So he's going to be feeling good. I wonder how that goes forward into, you know, Wemby being around in general. But they're going to have to rely on three point shots. That's just how you're going to beat Victor Wembanyama. And they recovered in the second half in overtime and they'll be better to start because I don't think Hartenstein plays against anybody unless it's Lou Cornette or Kelly Olenek is getting minutes or Bismak Biamo comes out or Mason Plumlee. But he ain't playing against Victor Wembanyama. So they're going to have to rely on their three point shots and that's a little different. I mean they have been good shooting the three throughout the playoffs. They have been through their first two rounds, but that's not really their M.O. either way. I think Shea, like you said, to get the feel right, I think will be better to start.
- [29:09]
Tas Melis
I mean, I'm not concerned about him. I'm concerned about some of the other guys, mainly Chad holmgren, who was 2 for 78 points and just continued his season long struggle against Wemby and San Antonio where in the regular season he averaged basically 10 points a game. So he was right on par here. Usage rate just sort of plummets. He needs to be more involved. It feels like TK at least more forceful, a little bit more force. There were shots even in these extra periods where it got kicked to him. The guy 7:1, it wasn't WEMBY closing out on him and he pump faked and relocated and didn't seem to want to like let it rip. I think like you're saying these are going to be some of the shots that might have to take in the rhythm. But what do you think of Chet moving forward here?
- [29:51]
Trey Kirby
He was hesitant for sure. I don't have a lot of confidence in Chet putting the ball on the floor and trying to score on guards, which is a problem. Problem because he's going to be matched up on guards and wings a lot in this series. He's also not going to get as many put backs as he got in the Lakers series when it was like Deandre Ayton was literally getting pulled because they were giving up so many offensive rebounds. Those aren't there with Wemby controlling the glass. So he's just going to have to be ready to shoot it when he catches these wide open Looks a lot of times he's catching and getting into a pump fake and wanting to shoot off of a relocation. Just that's how he usually plays. But he's going to have to shoot it right away. I think he'll be better. But this is on all three of the Thunder's biggest scorers, like sga, Chet and AJ Mitchell led him in scoring through the first two rounds of the playoffs. They were all bad last night. They'll all be better, I have to imagine, in game two.
- [30:37]
Tas Melis
But there is Wemby Roman back there.
- [30:40]
Trey Kirby
There's Wembley Roman, that's for sure.
- [30:43]
Skeets
Yeah.
- [30:43]
Tas Melis
And they're just like, they can play. So point of attack, aggressive defense, because, yeah, you've got the ultimate insurance behind you. This is like. And they're going to continue to keep Wemby, I assume, on, you know, Caruso. I say on him, but he's not on him. That's why Caruso's wide open. He hit like six threes when Wemby, let's say, was matched on him. But Wemby's not even close to him. It was like the Christmas Day game where that game, he went 2 for 12 from deep. We talked about it, like, oh, that's something to watch moving forward. They did it again. He hit a million threes. Like, Carissa's not going to hit eight threes again. I don't think, though, maybe he could, because these are, like, basically shooting practice threes for him, a lot of them. But they'll live with that, I think, when they. Because they can double up and load up on sga.
- [31:22]
Skeets
Yeah. And SGA got real, real smart at. As soon as Wemby was there, they went to the strong corner and hit Caruso for those threes, and hopefully they're just making threes and ready to rip them because, as I said, 6 of 22 in the first half. After that, 11 of 23. So very, very good from half till the end of this game. So they got way better. Better at it. Knowing that that's how we're going to play, that's how we're going to score against this guy. And so the other guys have to come on along for the ride. Trey mentioned a couple guys, but Jaylen Williams, you know, does feel good. Was awesome in this game along with Caruso. Shay just has to be better, man. I mean, you. It's as simple as that, really. That's a big, big part of it. He just wasn't. Wasn't in the flow at all. Of course, the. The half doubles that were coming to. To throw him off the way different defenses. The zone Trey mentioned, there's lots of. Lots of dudes ready to come at him. And so he was just out of flow. Completely out of flow. We'll see how that changes in game two when they have a different starting lineup. Am I. Am I wrong saying they come out with Caruso to start? I mean, I guess that's the guy over Hartenstein. Harnstein's gonna play minutes so Crusoe can go to the bench. But again, it's just gonna be matched up against Cornett. I don't think there's another. Another route that they go.
- [32:41]
Trey Kirby
He never started last year and they were in similar situations where they needed him as a defender against polio.
- [32:47]
Skeets
Just started the second half.
- [32:48]
Trey Kirby
Most of those times that could happen because you're still going to have to play Hartenstein minutes.
- [32:52]
Skeets
Yeah. It's just.
- [32:53]
Trey Kirby
But this dude, he's in the Robert Horry hall of Fame. Like, he's one of the greatest role players in the history of basketball. They check him in and he instantly flipped the game. I mean, he was hitting batting practice threes. These are wide open. But he was still making them. So look at the Thunder. Ended up shooting 17 for 45 from three. That's good. That's really good. 38%. I think that's reasonable going forward. It probably just won't be eight threes for Caruso. Maybe he hits two. And we distribute three of those to A.J. mitchell, two of them to Dort, another one to Shay. Right. Like they can get to that number again. But there were looks in these extra pairs. For sure.
- [33:27]
Tas Melis
There were OKC hits one of these threes that they generated a good look from. Then of course, they maybe win this game. Yeah. They're going to have to. Like it's going to be. If this. If this series is as close as we think it is, it's going to come down to these couple minutes and big shots.
- [33:38]
Skeets
Yeah.
- [33:39]
Tas Melis
You know, his first hit them. Generally Wemby and Harper and the other. The other guys didn't.
- [33:43]
Skeets
Yeah. And it doesn't necessarily even have to be those support three, three shooting type of players. Like I mentioned, Aaron Wiggin's missing a ton. It could just be Shay hitting more shots. It's simple as that. And we'll see what kind of flow he gets into because that's gotta be a high priority. Oh, Shay just want.
- [34:01]
Tas Melis
I literally have no doubt Shay is going to have a bounce back, monster game too. Zero doubt. And I'm not taking anything away from these awesome spurs defenders and what Wemby means and all the looks they're going to give him. Some of these shots he's getting, he'll hit and he hits tough shots. That's his thing. And a lot of them were rattling in and out. And then of course, then it starts to get in your head and then the pressure builds. But he's going to be fine. It's some of these other guys I'm concerned about in this series, whether they're going to come along for the ride, but maybe him leading it and they'll get there. What a start. What an unbelievable game, basketball. It's one of those ones where you're watching, you're like, it's over. And you're like, you're just buzzing. He's like, you don't. You know, it's getting sort of late by that point for us here on the East Coast. But you're just like, is you just like took an espresso. I'm like just wired after it.
- [34:45]
Trey Kirby
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- [36:28]
Trey Kirby
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- [37:44]
Tas Melis
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- [39:18]
Skeets
Even more than one Ultra pouch. That's like three in and you're reach the flow State.
- [39:23]
Tas Melis
Put a whole canister in. All right, I'll start here with a bunch of random notes first. One great Wemby pose after a big play in the extra period. Went back to his bench and he just double teapotted it up in front of his guys. And they are. You're the man. You're him. You're not real. It's just this is if they go on to win this thing and win the title, obviously I think that Deep Throw 3 will be in any sort of highlight package and probably this moment because this is a pretty cool shot.
- [39:55]
Skeets
How cool it is very cool. Kelly Olenick, he sell. He makes it happen, man. With that point. The point is needed.
- [40:02]
Tas Melis
Is great. It makes it more artistic for sure.
- [40:05]
Skeets
Against the blue shirts in the background. It's. It's good stuff.
- [40:08]
Tas Melis
It's good stuff. Maybe not as great. The OKC fan blocking our shot probably eight, nine times throughout this game. My favorite moment is when he was calling for the jump ball. We've seen this a lot, I feel in okc. I don't know if it's the camera angles a little lower than nor. I don't know what it is, but
- [40:27]
Skeets
it's just the location of the camera.
- [40:29]
Tas Melis
We get this guy a lot with his silhouetted arms and thumbs. Yeah, he wanted the jump ball there, but, you know, I'm not, I'm not knocking him. Man, this guy's out of his seat.
- [40:38]
Trey Kirby
Just how it is, team. Yeah, I think it was maybe the first possession because Thunder fans stand until their team scores. I think they shot a three. So, you know, did the three point attempt, didn't go in. But once you see it on the first play, you're like, well, that guy's not moving the whole rest of the game. So get used to some arms.
- [40:55]
Tas Melis
Yep. A couple clips here we had Stephon Castle crashing into the fans sitting courtside. Great hustle play. But make note of the guy holding onto his Corona. This guy just like claws his beer here. He's like, he's basically going to crush it a little bit. But I thought, excellent job to keep it upright to reduce the spillage, as Tariko likes to call us. I was just impressed. That's how you hold onto a beer there in the front row.
- [41:25]
Trey Kirby
Yeah. And then eventually you could tell that the producers were like, by the way, Mike Tirico, that's Nikhil Alexander Walker sitting there. Feel free to mention it because he didn't. I was like, oh, careful. I know.
- [41:34]
Tas Melis
He probably got a lot of camera time.
- [41:36]
Trey Kirby
Yeah, yeah, he did get a lot. He got a lot of camera time.
- [41:38]
Skeets
Oh, yeah. I think he was dancing to the refs, you suck.
- [41:42]
Trey Kirby
He was dropping the shoulder.
- [41:44]
Tas Melis
Yeah, he was. Refs, you suck.
- [41:45]
Skeets
He was literally dancing to refs, you suck. Well done by Nikki.
- [41:49]
Tas Melis
Did you see the stain Nikhil Alexander Walker had on his shirt, though? I couldn't. Oh, huge stain. But it's like one of these stains. It's like it's a vintage looking shirt. I think it even said Kensington Market on it.
- [42:03]
Skeets
I think it did.
- [42:04]
Tas Melis
Anyway, that's a place in Toronto. I used to live right around there. But huge stain. But I'm like, did he buy it with the stain or did the stain happen that night? You know, eating some chicken fingers or something? I don't looked like maybe the color of a. Of a dark barbecue sauce.
- [42:19]
Trey Kirby
Wow. I don't know if you're wearing a vintage Canadian shirt. That better be a poutine stuff.
- [42:24]
Tas Melis
Oh, yeah, that's good.
- [42:26]
Skeets
And that wasn't Shay's brother as well. I mean, I. Beside Nikhil Alexander Walker. Tomasi Gil, just Alexander. I didn't know these.
- [42:33]
Tas Melis
He looks like him.
- [42:34]
Skeets
He does. Yes, yes.
- [42:36]
Tas Melis
It's part of the family for sure.
- [42:37]
Skeets
It was nice. It was nice. Nice going back to the beer guy. It's nice he's paying attention to the game.
- [42:41]
Tas Melis
Absolutely.
- [42:42]
Skeets
It wasn't on his phone.
- [42:42]
Tas Melis
Very nice. Again, he was like crushing it to hold on to it and keep it upright. And it looked like there's a lot in it because it started foaming.
- [42:49]
Skeets
Oh, he got some more foam.
- [42:50]
Tas Melis
Yeah. So good job. Any other random notes?
- [42:53]
Trey Kirby
Yeah, I got a few. Stefan Castle had a dunk in this. Must have been in the second overtime. And Jamal Crawford immediately was like. He hung on the rim like he's Prince in the Chappelle Show. I was like, okay, relax, Jamal Crawford. And then they showed it and it was identical.
- [43:07]
Tas Melis
Yeah, the replay, it was so good.
- [43:10]
Skeets
Jamal's got lines, man.
- [43:11]
Tas Melis
Yeah, he does.
- [43:12]
Skeets
He's solid.
- [43:13]
Trey Kirby
He likes Culture. Another one I got. You probably wouldn't think it, but Carter Bryant is the NBA player whose face most resembles Michael Cera. This guy's got a baby face. He's got a man's body, but then you look at his face and he looks like he's 17 years old.
- [43:28]
Tas Melis
Do you see the photo of Wemby with his arm around him too? I mean, that looks hilarious. He looks like a 8 year old child with his father took him to the game. Yeah, he's awesome.
- [43:38]
Skeets
He's 6, 7.
- [43:43]
Tas Melis
He's a huge monster, but looks like a child. And he's just the crazy baby face.
- [43:47]
Trey Kirby
He's got a baby face. And speaking of faces, forget the face of the league. Mike Tirico shouted out, reese, the best scorebug operator in the world.
- [43:56]
Skeets
I love it.
- [43:56]
Tas Melis
Not even close.
- [43:58]
Skeets
I loved it. So good.
- [44:01]
Trey Kirby
Good job, Reese.
- [44:02]
Tas Melis
Yeah, good job, Reese.
- [44:03]
Skeets
Speaking of that, I love the score bug that turns into the stats. The NBC, they, they tell the story they want to tell because Victor Weman Yama stat line below him after the game. 41 points, 14 of 25 from field goals, 24 rebounds, 9 offensive rebounds, 3 blocks, 48 minutes and 42 played. They just got a great stop.
- [44:26]
Tas Melis
Nice. They're picking and choosing there to tell.
- [44:28]
Skeets
What do we want to tell the story. It is really, really good. Yeah, that guy did that. That guy who. That guy who doesn't play. Those guys who don't play basketball. There's just all these comments during these games because I just said I tweeted something like basketball still the greatest sport.
- [44:44]
Tas Melis
And then what a hot take.
- [44:45]
Skeets
Yeah, I'm not a hot take, man. I'm not a. I got to tweet the best. This is just simple as that. And I'm not looking to. I'm not looking for controversy or controversy. Yeah, but people are saying, people will reply with yeah, when they play. Well, Victor Romanyama. He played a lot. He played.
- [45:03]
Tas Melis
He did play a lot.
- [45:05]
Skeets
We also learned how to pronounce Victor Wamanyama his name. As he said during the intros, you know, the little videos that come up, if you listen, he doesn't say Victor Wamanyama. It's Victor woman Yama. Because that's the Congolese accent. That's, that's the pronunciation. So it's great. That's cool, man.
- [45:23]
Tas Melis
Good catch.
- [45:24]
Skeets
You say your name the way you want to say your name.
- [45:26]
Tas Melis
Speaking of names, can I get your opinion on Reggie Miller trying to push Mr. Chaos for Alex Caruso? Holy crap. When Reggie like gets it in his mind, he's coming up with a new nickname for a guy. He's like, we're going to town. And he said it a lot.
- [45:42]
Trey Kirby
He definitely said it a lot.
- [45:43]
Tas Melis
And I've never heard him called this.
- [45:45]
Trey Kirby
No, so.
- [45:47]
Skeets
So he came up with it.
- [45:48]
Tas Melis
You don't like it, but Reggie makes it sound like it's a known nickname. This is my problem. The way he presents it.
- [45:55]
Skeets
Okay.
- [45:56]
Tas Melis
That's okay if you present it, but I think you need to own it and say it. He makes it sound like we've been calling Alex Crusoe Mr. Chaos for like eight years. We haven't. That's the part that bugs me. I saw a funny tweet about this horsepower. Great Twitter name. Reggie Miller loves introducing a nickname for a player that nobody has ever used before and that nobody will ever use again. He'll say something like, the venomous toad grabs another board. What are you talking about, man?
- [46:24]
Trey Kirby
It's very true.
- [46:25]
Tas Melis
So true.
- [46:26]
Trey Kirby
But he's kind of cooking with Mr. Chaos.
- [46:28]
Tas Melis
It's not bad, actually.
- [46:30]
Trey Kirby
Accurate. Yeah.
- [46:33]
Tas Melis
I'm just saying, say you're presenting it, you're bringing it. Hey, Mike, we got to call this.
- [46:38]
Skeets
I don't know, we're trying some stuff like Jamal Crawford. Crawford said those. He's on it like Visaline on crooked teeth. Yeah, okay. It's not bad, but, you know.
- [46:51]
Tas Melis
Yeah. Then Reggie crapped all over it or so because he's.
- [46:55]
Skeets
Rico said it. Oh, no. Cherico said, have you been sitting on that one?
- [46:58]
Tas Melis
Yeah. And Reggie said, yeah, he has. Okay.
- [47:04]
Skeets
Either way, don't do that. One other random note. We know Lou Cornet is the guy who loves the eclipse defense. So when there's a three point shot, he just jumps. Victor Wamanyama did it too.
- [47:16]
Tas Melis
He did it like three or four times.
- [47:18]
Skeets
I thought somebody should have said on the broadcast, like maybe on his planet they can't see the sun. And that's cool. You know, that's an eclipse or something like that.
- [47:25]
Tas Melis
He did it a couple times, I thought, where he was jumping now, not as pronounced as Cornet's like the double hand up when he's like 20ft away. But he was definitely doing a lot of jumping. I saw Wemby when he was in the lane on a shot, and it's
- [47:39]
Skeets
kind of cool when Wemby does it, cuz it's not a cool move.
- [47:43]
Tas Melis
That's cool because you're like, oh, he might block this. He's 80ft away, but he might block this. Speaking of Cornet, now, this is a Very random note, but it made me laugh. Cornet and Isaiah Hartenstein at the free throw line. Hartenstein I think had just checked in. They're lined up there beside each other and someone is saying something, obviously. Back at the half court mark. And watch how many times they're just going to keep turning back. All right. What? Over back. They reminded me of meerkats. Yeah, sure. That's what I thought of. I thought there were two giant meats doing that. Said it was random and it was random. What else do I have here? Sharing is caring would definitely go on the Reggie Miller bingo card, which I think we should create. I mean, anything you can do, I can do better would be on the Reggie Miller bingo card. Probably a. Did you see that? And then he usually repeats it in some fashion. I would think we'd have that on. Are there any other regisms I'm. I'm missing?
- [48:41]
Trey Kirby
I mean, nickname that nobody uses would be a good one. I mean, not. I kind of think free space should be anything you can do, I can do better. That's a Gerald sharing his caring. Yeah, he does love that.
- [48:53]
Skeets
He loves it.
- [48:55]
Tas Melis
We did have some brutal audio issues. I did. I don't. I think you guys did too. It feels like everybody did with NBC there. I mean, it got bad. It was like static and beeping and I had to go mute mode for a little bit.
- [49:07]
Trey Kirby
I took advice from the stream team. I was like, I guess I just got to restart my stream. I don't think that fixed it.
- [49:12]
Tas Melis
I don't think.
- [49:12]
Trey Kirby
I think they just fixed it on their own. But yeah, it was robots.
- [49:15]
Tas Melis
It lasted for a little while. It was like a minute.
- [49:18]
Skeets
Plus NBA.com solves all problems did not come through on that part of the broadcast. Totally fine in house. Arena League pass Premium.
- [49:29]
Trey Kirby
Not.
- [49:29]
Skeets
Not a problem in the world. I heard. I heard an invocation before the. Before the game. I saw quite a halftime performance.
- [49:37]
Tas Melis
Oh, who was it?
- [49:38]
Skeets
Somebody. I wasn't watching that.
- [49:41]
Tas Melis
Quite a performance. I'm curious.
- [49:44]
Skeets
I'm just doing things in triplets. No, I. I forget his name.
- [49:47]
Tas Melis
What did he do?
- [49:48]
Skeets
I did some stuff. Listen, I will say.
- [49:54]
Tas Melis
I will say, sir, what are you gonna do at halftime? I gotta do some stuff. All right. Come.
- [50:00]
Skeets
Yeah. So you get the arena feed. Yeah. The inner arena music and okc. Sometimes I praise it. They do the David Guetta titanium going into the fourth quarter, but it's some real generic stuff. The premium generic stuff. It's not. It's not ideal. Either way, they're working on it. I Think it'll be better next year? Maybe.
- [50:22]
Tas Melis
Before we take a break here, I do want to ask you, do you think that was the highest level of basketball we've seen since Warriors Cavs in the finals? A lot of people are going back to. Some are even saying no. Heat, Spurs. You got to go back to agree with that. Disagree. Are we living too much of the moment? Recency bias. Because I will say Pacer's Thunder last year was frickin awesome. Yeah, there was some iconic games. Like games one was amazing. Game four was awesome. When they came back, the Thunder did so I don't know. Those were pretty good. That was pretty good basketball. I remember being played.
- [50:57]
Trey Kirby
Yeah. I mean Thunder Nuggets was awesome. Steph Curry in game four, the 22 to 2022 finals was awesome. There have been a lot of really great players, but that was special to watch.
- [51:08]
Skeets
Yeah, I don't, I wouldn't include Spurs Heat because that was one sided. That was spurs incredible basketball. But it was a five game series. You know, this one's going to feel.
- [51:18]
Trey Kirby
Yeah, 2013 was pretty sick.
- [51:20]
Skeets
Yeah. 2013. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. I was thinking 2014.
- [51:23]
Tas Melis
I think the reason people are going overboard and rightfully so with this, what we saw last night is like this idea of these are a lot of young guys.
- [51:31]
Trey Kirby
Yes.
- [51:31]
Tas Melis
Outside of Mr. Chaos, we got a lot of young guys. And you go and you look at the, the current makeups of these teams and you're like, we could be getting this for a while here. We hope we get this for a while. With just how young. I mean. Yeah, the spurs are young. The Thunder are not old by any means here with their guys.
- [51:47]
Trey Kirby
Yeah. I was thinking was the previous youngest starting lineup in a conference finals. Was it the Thunder last year? I don't know.
- [51:54]
Skeets
It could be.
- [51:55]
Trey Kirby
I don't Think Thunder in 20, 2012.
- [51:57]
Skeets
No. It was literally the Blazers in like the 70s. No. Yeah. Cool. Yeah. That's where it came from because. Yeah. What? Yeah, the Thunder last year. You're saying Thunder last year. I mean.
- [52:11]
Tas Melis
Yeah, there we go.
- [52:12]
Skeets
There's a Hart Steen. You know, he's not the youngest of youngs. I don't know.
- [52:15]
Trey Kirby
True.
- [52:16]
Skeets
But it was an old older.
- [52:17]
Tas Melis
It bumps it up. It only takes one guy to really jack it up.
- [52:19]
Trey Kirby
I guess so. Yeah.
- [52:21]
Tas Melis
I did have one more note just to give to a little more love or the broadcast. A little more love. The game starts, OKC is struggling, Hartenstein's out there. They couldn't score. And you're like, oh yeah, everybody's still standing. And I wrote in my notes, you know, try and find out what's the longest the OKC crowd has ever had to stand for until they actually scored and they could sit down. But then, like, I wrote it down, like 30 seconds later. I don't know if it's Reese. I don't know if it's somebody else in the truck. They were telling Tirico the answer, and they did set, by all accounts, the record last night, at least this season is from what I could tell of the longest they had to stand. It was like three minutes, basically.
- [52:57]
Skeets
3:14 bucket.
- [52:59]
Tas Melis
Yeah, there you go. That was good stuff by them. I was literally like, yeah, that's good. That's gonna be tough to figure out. Yeah, you know, we have to do some work on that. They just told us right away. Good stuff. Anything else, guys?
- [53:10]
Trey Kirby
On game one, do you think that they should make Nikhil Alexander Walker wear the Thunder shirt? Because if you don't wear a Thunder shirt, they put you on the jumbotron. Put on the shirt, dude, sitting courtside.
- [53:22]
Tas Melis
Yeah, look, I guess there's like a pass for your family. His wife wasn't wearing it at least when he went over and gave her a kiss before the game after the MVP trophy. Yeah, the bro, the cuz, the wife,
- [53:35]
Trey Kirby
the beer holding guy. Oh, yeah, Corona, man.
- [53:38]
Tas Melis
Yeah. Yeah, it's true.
- [53:38]
Skeets
So those are all. All Chase friends. I didn't. I didn't know the beer man.
- [53:42]
Trey Kirby
I don't know who any of those guys are outside of Nikhil Alexander Walker, but none of them were wearing shirts. And they were all together.
- [53:48]
Skeets
Yeah, one was Tomasi Gildrus Alexander. What a name.
- [53:52]
Tas Melis
All right, that's. That's a good 50 minutes there on game one of the Western Conference finals. We'll take a quick break and then we'll talk. The Pelicans hiring Mosley and oh, yeah, good luck following up that we got Kazmix to talk about.
- [54:07]
Skeets
And I'm going to talk about it in this ad brought to you by fanduel. Gotta talk Knicks caps, because I saw the over under for game one. 217.5. Around 109 for each team. Feels like an over for me. Yeah, like a lock it in over. Now maybe being a little biased with the Knicks playing so well.
- [54:26]
Trey Kirby
You want to get the button and lock it in? Yeah, I think it's over here.
- [54:30]
Skeets
I don't know if it still works. Yeah, battery's dead probably. Yeah, you just need to unscrew it and refresh it. Just turn it around. Once and you'll get a lock it in over. Nick's too good. Cav's also in a flow, but I don't know. I could be wrong. That's why we're leaning over. Yeah, yeah, but. And I also bet that that's what everyone is saying to each other in today's FanDuel Happy Hour. They're saying it to each other. It's got to be an over, right, Barry? That's right, Rudy. I saw Cornelius just bet that. Yeah, I just came up with those names. And they're talking to each other.
- [55:03]
Tas Melis
Was that the halftime show?
- [55:07]
Skeets
They didn't give him a mic. You think Christian Scooby's gonna come back soonish?
- [55:15]
Tas Melis
We didn't bring it up. Christian had a fall, dude.
- [55:17]
Skeets
That's. That's why I brought it up.
- [55:19]
Tas Melis
Yeah, I think he's okay.
- [55:20]
Skeets
I think he's all right.
- [55:21]
Tas Melis
I forgot to check in with him.
- [55:22]
Skeets
I think you can check out the information on the FanDuel app. Is Christian okay?
- [55:26]
Tas Melis
Wow.
- [55:26]
Skeets
Yeah, yeah, yeah. They do everything on the FanDuel app. Check in on it. Because you also want to know when happy hour hits. It's once every single day. Talking profit boosts, bonus bets, and obviously over unders, according to Barry, Rudy and Cornelius Fanduel, an official partner of the NBA.
- [55:47]
Tas Melis
All right, if you're just joining us, and I got some numbers here today because people are pumped about that game last night. Night. We do this every day. Hit the like button. Subscribe, podcast listeners. We love you too. Five star ratings and reviews. Comment away on Spotify as well. Your thoughts on game one there of the west before we get to the east. The Pelicans have hired former ex Magic co coach Jamal Mosley as their new guy. Mosley heads to Nolan's after spending the past five seasons with Orlando, which fired him this month after a seven game first round loss to Detroit. So Mosley's teams qualified for the NBA playoffs in each of the past three seasons. They won the Southeast Division twice, but they were eliminated in the first round each time. Your thoughts on the Pelicans hiring Jamal Mosley here?
- [56:29]
Trey Kirby
I had a hard time coming up with thoughts because I'm like, Jamal Mosley, what do we really know about you? You turned around the Magic, like it's easy to forget now because they definitely plateaued. Hit a ceiling. And a lot of the problems seem to be the problems that persisted for the last three seasons. They just couldn't score. But they turned into a great defensive team. He had a bunch of young guys when he started there was like, just post Vuch trade. Didn't even have Bankero yet. Banchero gets there. He builds a great defensive team playing to the personnel strengths. They become a playoff team in the Eastern Conference and like, they never reached the heights that people were anticipating for the Magic, which is why he's now the Pelicans coach. But I think he's a fine hire, just not somebody that I'm, like, super excited about if I'm a Pelicans fan.
- [57:17]
Skeets
This is more of a roster problem than a coaching problem. It sounds nice. Jamal Mosley's gonna turn your team around, but that was a super young team. He is really good at developing players. He's really good at connecting with players. But we're talking about a team. It's got some oldies. I mean, Zion Williamson going into his eighth year in the NBA. Dejante Murray going to his 10th year in the NBA. Jordan Poole going to his eighth year in the NBA. These aren't young players.
- [57:43]
Tas Melis
They do have two rooks, though, in. In Fears and Queen.
- [57:46]
Skeets
Fears and Queen. And Queen. And Zion Williamson specifically as your bigs. This along with Fears, how does that defense sound? Doesn't sound all that great to me. That's a Jamal Mosley, definitely a characteristic. He is able to tap into guys to defend really hard. But there's more roster problems rebounding, defending, the rim, shooting. I mean, so, yeah, that sounds great and maybe he can be a borderline, you know, play in type of team soon. But at the same time, this team has been around so long with these main parts. I think there's just too many needs. I just wouldn't bank on Queen and Zion as your bigs to say. All right, turn this baby around. Defensively, they don't have a stretch five to help out Zion Williamson because Queen doesn't have the shooting guys like Murray. Fierce Herb Jones pool, not consistent shooters. So I think there's just too many problems there. As I said, rebounding, defensive rim defense, that's. I mean, he's a communicator, sure. Yeah.
- [58:56]
Trey Kirby
Loved him back in the day.
- [58:58]
Tas Melis
Mosley hire here fits what Dumar Dumars wants generally. I think in a head coach, it's like defense, tenacity, this sort of culture. I'm with you on obviously, the roster makeup, but he has had success developing at least young talent and obviously creating a good defense, which they were. I mean, they were a really, really good defensive team in Orlando.
- [59:19]
Skeets
The Pelicans. The Pelicans weren't bad either in 23 and 24. They're sixth and seventh. They're pretty good. A couple years ago. I just don't think this is going to be a. A new team all of a sudden with that. With the same core. I bought into Zion last year, but
- [59:32]
Tas Melis
the guy signed a five year deal here. I mean, this is. This is. I think they're going to give him at least a couple years and probably change the roster.
- [59:40]
Skeets
Oh, they have to do that, right? I think that's the important part. Who's shooting on that team? Who's defending the rim on that team? No, there's no answers for those.
- [59:48]
Trey Kirby
They need a real center.
- [59:49]
Tas Melis
Yeah, yeah. Eve's missy not cutting it there. As your starting center, I agree with you.
- [59:53]
Skeets
It was, it was a good rookie year for Eve.
- [59:58]
Tas Melis
All right, So I guess if you were throwing a thumbs up or thumbs down on that one, sounds like, okay,
- [60:02]
Trey Kirby
sideways thumb to me. But also like they weren't gonna hire a young coach.
- [60:07]
Tas Melis
Right.
- [60:07]
Trey Kirby
Like the Bulls are another team that has an opening and they will go for a young guy because they're in a rebuild. The Pelicans don't think they're in a rebuild. They want to be better. So they're going for a name guy. And if you're talking about name guys, it's like Tibbs is another option. He's much older than Jamal Mosley is and brings similar strengths and weaknesses. Focusing on the defensive end, question marks on the offensive end. I don't even know who else would you would say is out there. Billy Donovan, I guess. But who knows?
- [60:35]
Tas Melis
What's.
- [60:36]
Trey Kirby
What's the point there? I don't know if that would be a location for him. So given the choice that they made, I think they did fine.
- [60:43]
Skeets
Yeah. It's absolutely not a bad coach. Not a bad coach at all. Connectivity and culture is going to do all that. But they're just kind of out of the order of operations here. I mean, this is. Doesn't make sense to me. You got to fix the roster and that's got to happen when Mosley's there or whoever's there for Mosley just to be able to turn this thing around that's been there for several years. It's going to be tough.
- [61:08]
Trey Kirby
You're not going to buy in this year.
- [61:09]
Skeets
You're telling me now. Yeah, yeah. Finally. I'm not going to buy into Zion talk.
- [61:13]
Tas Melis
No, no. What about when we see a great body photo in the summer and he's going to say something and you're going to dissect it and you're going to be like, I believe it. I'm back, Bab.
- [61:23]
Skeets
I'm not no up for anybody else. They should. Because it'll be fun to dissect the person who's dissecting Zion Williamson. Because it ain't right. He got me last year in the preseason interviews. That's when he got me. It wasn't anything to do with looking at his bod, but he sold me on his bod, saying that he learned how to manage his bot in the middle of the season. Last year, Middle of the regular season, not in the off season. He sold me. But I understand what Joe Dumars is doing here. Get a guy who's going to tell you to play harder, essentially. Frankly, that's what it is. It's not about the offensive end, but they're. They're lacking. They are there.
- [62:02]
Tas Melis
I mean, what. Willie Green was the head coach to start this season, was he not? Yeah.
- [62:06]
Skeets
And then, yeah, he was fired. Yeah.
- [62:08]
Tas Melis
Borrego took over. There was talk of that he might get the full time gig, but he's not. There's a bunch of other names. The most exciting name was Rondo. Head coach Rondo is in the running.
- [62:18]
Trey Kirby
Former Pelicans.
- [62:19]
Tas Melis
Can't wait for that to happen. Yeah, exactly.
- [62:20]
Skeets
And the Pelicans fans are saying, well, this is Willie Green 2.0 because he was able to make them a good defensive team again. 6th in rating, 7th in rating in the 23 season and the 24 season. Last two years they've fallen off. So they could. And. And that's what they're hoping for. But, yeah, I. I would find it hard to just say, look, let's do it again. Let's replicate what we did a few years ago. It doesn't make sense.
- [62:44]
Tas Melis
Well, that's the crazy part. I remember we were having deb debates like, oh, my God. Pelicans have to switch up something here. Right. This off season. Right. Right. I mean, okay, it's a new coach, but what does that mean for sticking with Zion Williamson and. And sticking with Trey Murphy III and Herb Jones and Dejounte Murray and Sadiq Bay and the Rooks and like, there's some talent on the team.
- [63:04]
Skeets
I'm sure you could be positive and say, Dejante Murray just played 14 games last year because he came back from his Achilles injury. And maybe they'll be back. Maybe they'll be, you know, they'll buy in, but I don't know. The shooting ain't there.
- [63:16]
Tas Melis
Yeah.
- [63:16]
Skeets
The defense from your center ain't there. Your rebounding ain't there.
- [63:22]
Tas Melis
Looney was not the answer in the end.
- [63:24]
Skeets
No, that didn't work out. He's a team option right now. I think for Looney. They just say bye to Looney like I imagine they do, but we'll see. It's nice to be around. But they have DeAndre Jordan, who's good at pouring into guys. What award did he win again? Teammate award. He's good at that.
- [63:42]
Tas Melis
Yes.
- [63:45]
Trey Kirby
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- [63:56]
Tas Melis
Oh
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Trey Kirby
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- [64:52]
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- [65:22]
Trey Kirby
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- [66:37]
Tas Melis
Support from this show comes from Quince. I'm way overdue for a wardrobe refresh. I'm a podcast host that is very important. I drive a Chevy Trax. I'm a man. I'm 45. Clothes shopping in person is simply not a priority for me, so I usually wear the same stuff till my wife calls me out. For these reasons, I'm pumped to say that Quints has been my new go to. I asked Nora to help me pick out a couple of items and it turns out she already had a cart ready of things she was planning on getting me from Quints. So I picked up two of the 100% European linen shirts, one striped, one solid. The material feels light and breathable and the stitching looks really well done. They're the perfect type of pieces that feel easy and comfortable but still look put together. And the best part is I didn't break the bank. In fact, everything I purchased was priced 50 to 80% less than what you'd find at similar brands. Why? Because Quince works directly with the ethical factories and cuts out the middlemen. So you're getting premium materials without the markup. Refresh your everyday with luxury you'll actually use. Head to quince.com nodunks for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's Quinc for free shipping and 365 day returns. Quints.com nodunks all right, let's talk Knicks Cavs Here. The East Finals feature two franchises in the Knicks and Cavs that were picked as preseason co favorites to win the conference. And so now we've got stars like Brunson and Towns and Mitchell and Harden and so on to decide that title on the court. The Knicks have had plenty of time to prepare here. They finished off their second round sweep eight days ago while the Cavs had to win a game seven on the road Sunday to advance the classic rust versus rest paradox. So let's break it down. The number three seeded Knicks versus the number four seeded Cavs. What's one thing to watch? Who wants to get us started here in the east finals?
- [68:47]
Skeets
I'm just going to be watching Donovan Mitchell and if he can essentially go off against this team, he's gonna have to score a lot because the Knicks can score on their end. And Donovan Mitchell is going to be happier to see anybody but Asar Thompson guarding him because he was a problem. And the Cavs finally, after several games decided, okay, this is what we're going to do. Wherever Asar Thompson is, he's going to be like the old Kawhi Leonard. We just have to go to the other side of the floor. And they got, got it done. But at the same time you're playing the Knicks who can score. And so I think this is just totally different. And you can't rely on Mobley and Jared Allen to score a ton. James Harden wasn't efficient in the last round shooting like 39 or 38 from the floor, 29 from three. You're not going to rely on Streuss, Meryl Schroeder. You're gonna have to have Donovan Mitchell go back to at least 30 plus points. You know the four series he has had in the playoffs of 30 plus points. He's got to do that again, essentially. He had 34 last year against the Pacers in that series they lost. They didn't want to do that because they weren't getting a lot from Garland and friends. This time he's going to be doing it against Mikel Bridges. He's going to try and be more efficient than he was last year. I imagine Mikhail Bridges starts on him. Although OG Anunoby should be back, he's probable, but I think, I think you start Bridges on him and see how OG comes out. But he's got to be super efficient. He's got to score a ton in this series. So that's, I think that's the primary goal of this team is to get Mitchell off. Lots of picks and stuff to get Bridges off him. But it's going to be tough. He's got to score a lot.
- [70:27]
Tas Melis
I think you could see Josh Hart on Mitchell too, Bridges on Harden, OG on Mobley and then I would leave what, Brunson on either Streuss or Dean Wade, whoever starts and then Cat on Jared Allen. I think that could be there too. But yeah, it's going to be one of the two main guys, probably in Bridges or Josh Hart, I think hounding Donovan Mitchell. But that should be a lot easier in theory than a Sar Thompson, the athletic freak that he is sort of breathing down his neck maybe.
- [70:54]
Trey Kirby
I mean, I mean the Knicks have three guys they can throw at Mitchell that are going to have size on him, which can give him problems. But the interesting thing about the Cavs is like it took until almost game seven for them to be like Donovan Mitchell. You handle the ball all the time. It was mostly Harden through the first six games as their ball handler, but then Mitchell tapped into his scoring and playmaking in game seven and they are going to need a big series from him because I'm foreseeing a very big series from Jalen Brunt Brunson. Cause not a great matchup defensively for the Cavs against Brunson during the regular season. Wade and Schroeder were kind of like the main guys. Obviously Harden and Mitchell got their turns as they're the starters there. I kind of think Max Streuss once again will be called into action here at least as the series goes on. Maybe they try Wade, but his lack of offense, you're going to want to get a guy who plays both ways. But New York's offense is different now. Carl Anthony Towns operates as the playmaking hub. We'll see if he's able to stay in the rhythm he was through the Sixer series, through the end of the Hawks series. But him playing so well has made things even easier for Brunson. And Brunson is just a lights out scorer. So I think he's gonna have a really big series here. Which to your point task means that Mitchell needs to basically match him. Like if Brunson's 30 a game, Mitchell absolutely needs to be. And I see Brunson getting there far easier than Mitchell does.
- [72:14]
Skeets
Yeah, no, they're gonna throw some guys at him like a Keon. Ellis will come out and try and slow him down, but Keon scoring on the other side is a problem, but they'll throw bodies.
- [72:25]
Tas Melis
I am excited to see Cat vs Mobley here and how much these two big guys who are rolling right now, both of them are like starting to peak here, at least when it comes to their playoff basketball careers. Just how often they match up on each other too. Because during the regular season Mobley does spend a lot of the time on Cat and if he's operating out there at the perimeter or sort of up by the free Throw line a lot more sort of as this playmaking big. That'll be fascinating. Will Mobley stay out there on him? They like him as a help defender. Of course, you know, he's not wemby levels of help defense, but he's an awesome help defender. While OG usually tracks Mobley, and like I said, Cat in theory then would get the Jared Allen matchup. So I'm excited to watch how they go about that and how often the Cavs in particular, whatever these matchups are, how much they're just trying to draw Cat and Brunson into action, too, into any sort of pick and roll and inverted pick and rolls. Because we saw some success with Mobley and Harden, at least in the last round at times. And Mobley is. He's really impressed me over his last, like, little stretch there, the second half of that series against the Pistons. He was really good. Yeah. Anything else to watch?
- [73:35]
Trey Kirby
I mean, I think. I do think the front court matchup is really big, especially when you throw in Mitchell Robinson, who was like the first guy that gave Jared Allen in particular problems way back when. The Cavs bigs were really big, I thought, in game seven, kind of both of their series, actually, both game sevens, they brought a real toughness to the game. They brought some fight. You're totally right, Skeets. Like, they've used Evan Mobley a lot more. He's setting a lot more picks. They're having him bring the ball up to relieve pressure on Mitchell and on Harden. But these guys have to rebound. Cleveland during the playoffs is 14th in defensive rebound percentage out of 16 teams. New York, meanwhile, fourth in offensive rebounding percentage. They've got three guys who are really tough to keep off the glass in Towns, Robinson. I would throw Josh Hart in there as well, especially since he probably won't be guarded very much in this series. And he's just so smart at. If you're not putting a guy specifically on me, I'm just going nuts on the offensive board because there's nobody putting a body on them. So I think New York is pretty equipped to guard Cleveland's back court. They got the size, the speed and the know how, which means the front court for the Knicks has to come or for the Cavs really has to come through.
- [74:41]
Tas Melis
And that's what plagued the Cavs three seasons ago when they got cooked by the Knicks and the lights were too bright. That's where it all came from. That was Robinson and Towns. I mean, they have a chance here to bully them on the boards again. But at times in these previous series. Obviously Allen and Mobley have been up up for the fight and sort of brought it back if not won a lot of those matchups at the, at the big positions. But they're going to have to in this series pull off this upset I think because most people have the Knicks advancing X factors though either side. Where you want to go.
- [75:12]
Skeets
Well, I think Deuce McBride for the new York Knicks. I know he's coming off the bench and you may not think a lot about Deuce McBride, but he will match up against the really good guards whenever he needs to. Like he did in the first round with CJ McCollum with Tyrese Maxey in round number two. And the guy can shoot. And the Cavs are the worst three point defense in the playoffs among teams left their 13th of all 16 playoffs teams so far. And so I think on the other side it's Samuel. But Deuce is the guy on the Knicks. He literally can light it up and drop 1215. I know it's not going to be a ton of points, but it is important on both sides. So do see he can get hot.
- [75:54]
Tas Melis
Wow.
- [75:55]
Trey Kirby
Deuce versus Streuss.
- [75:57]
Skeets
Wow. That's true.
- [75:58]
Trey Kirby
Exciting that is.
- [75:59]
Skeets
Yeah, yeah.
- [76:00]
Trey Kirby
Oohs and odds from the crowd. I got OGN and nobility as an X factor. He's a tough matchup for Cleveland, especially if we're thinking that they're going to have to put a bigger wing on to Brunson, whether it be Wade or Streuss. That leaves not a lot of size left to guard OG and Anobi who was awesome when he was playing 21 points per game on 62 from the field, 54 from three. The curveball is that he hasn't played basketball in two weeks, so he's got a return. Plus they've got this entire Knicks layoff where they're still building their. They're still trying to build their Carl Anthony Towns offense. So like do is OG and Nanobi able to fall right back into rhythm coming back after a couple of weeks off? Who knows. But I'm confident he's been so good in the playoffs. To me he was the best player for the Knicks during their first round series against Atlanta. Then Cat was kind of the guy in round two. But OG I think can really turn the tide for New York here.
- [76:57]
Skeets
Yeah, and they're lucky that Mikhail Bridges is clicking too because OG doesn't have to be a monster if Mikhail Bridges continues to be what he is because of the trickle down effect because the guys you just Named because Towns was playing really, really well. Because OG was playing really, really well. M did not start the playoffs well. But as soon as Horrible. He was bad. Yeah. And. And Mike Brown sat him down. He literally had to pull him out. But since he's averaged 18.8 points on 75.7% true shooting percentage, because he's been super hot so he could keep that rolling.
- [77:30]
Tas Melis
I mean, that's why I have him as my X factor. It's like when Mikhail Bridges plays well, it's like the Knicks seem almost unbeatable. But he was bad through the first five. He's been awesome since somebody told him, you know, you can go to the rim, you know, you can do that. You are pretty athletic. Started doing that a little bit more.
- [77:45]
Skeets
Well, the Cat as the. The hub of the offense.
- [77:47]
Tas Melis
Yeah.
- [77:47]
Skeets
Help that out.
- [77:48]
Tas Melis
Absolutely, absolutely. And just in addition, I mean, already talking about the rebounding, the Cavs just have to try and not give up too many extra possessions to the Knicks. Mitchell Robinson is the best offensive rebounder left in the playoffs. I guess you could say Wemby was pretty awesome too. He is good, but Mitchell Robinson is amazing and Towns is pretty good. Even Jordan Clarkson when he comes in there's been really good on the offensive glass. More of the longer one. So get a body on somebody and obviously end possessions. You get the stop. You got to end it. If they're the Cavs here, not too many extra chances is going to be the game plan.
- [78:21]
Trey Kirby
Yeah, the dirty secret of podcasting, turnovers, offensive rebounding and three point shooting, that is always the X factor. And I think it's all three of them are going to play a factor in this series so far. Cleveland opponents are taking four more shots per game. They turn the ball over a ton against pressure defense. The Knicks have been pretty good defensively as well. And like you're saying, they're also demons on the offensive glass. So that's going to be a problem for Cleveland, which means. What's the third thing? Three point shooting. You got them, knock them down. New York actually gives up a lot of three point shooting. Teams have not knocked down their attempt. I think they're shooting 32% against the Knicks so far this year. So, you know, averages wise, you would think it bounces back eventually, which means Cleveland, you gotta. You just gotta shoot well, take care of the ball and shoot well.
- [79:04]
Tas Melis
Who do you think's most likely to be the Cat or the Knicks villain? Maybe in this series for Cleveland, obviously along the lines of a Reggie or a Tyrese Halliburton. It could be a star player or it could be, you know, obviously one of these role players. What's your gut say if there's going to be one guy on Cleveland? That Knicks fans are just pulling their hair out because this guy's killing them. Maybe from three or not. Who would you go with?
- [79:26]
Skeets
You know, it's the Shrouder.
- [79:29]
Tas Melis
Yeah.
- [79:29]
Skeets
Yeah.
- [79:29]
Tas Melis
You could see it.
- [79:30]
Skeets
Oh, yeah. In Madison Square Garden, he's gonna thrive. He does thrive in big games, you know, and he plays limited minutes, so that could be a spark. Okay. A spark would, you know, versus Alvarado. Oh, yeah. Feisty stuff.
- [79:46]
Trey Kirby
Streuss.
- [79:46]
Tas Melis
Yeah. Stress.
- [79:47]
Trey Kirby
Yeah. I mean, he's a good three point shooter and he gets into a skirmish with somebody on the other team every series.
- [79:53]
Tas Melis
Right. And didn't Max Streuss in the other Garden, the Boston TD Garden? Wasn't he lights out a couple series way back in the day when he played for the Heat? Maybe Strews like was monster.
- [80:04]
Trey Kirby
You're saying he's a garden guy?
- [80:05]
Tas Melis
Yeah, I'm saying he's a garden guy. I could see it. I mean, so could Sam Merrill be one of these guys too? Who's, as we talked about, sort of the bellwether for this team? When he plays well, they're really, really good. He could hit a bunch of threes. Knicks fans going, somebody guard him. But we'll see.
- [80:19]
Skeets
This is a gardening show.
- [80:22]
Tas Melis
Zach Elephant Akis.
- [80:23]
Skeets
Yeah, for sure.
- [80:24]
Tas Melis
Did you watch it? Yeah, Yeah. I did too.
- [80:25]
Skeets
It's fun.
- [80:26]
Tas Melis
That's okay. More than what I expected.
- [80:29]
Skeets
What was it?
- [80:30]
Tas Melis
No, no, no.
- [80:32]
Skeets
It was Zach, though. Classic Zach.
- [80:34]
Tas Melis
Classic Zach. There was a funny between two ferns joke that he did make at one point. Okay, predictions for Nick's Cavs. Trey, you go first.
- [80:43]
Trey Kirby
Yeah. I think that these two teams at their peaks. This is a really solid series, but I think the Knicks have been able to reach their peak a lot more during this playoffs. And I think it's pretty impressive that we've seen them get better as the playoffs have gone on. I'm taking the Knicks in five.
- [81:00]
Skeets
My prediction is that Dennis Schroeder is going to say too small. Give you. Give you the little sign for Deuce McBride that's going to happen because Deuce McBride has gotten it the most out of anybody in the playoffs so far. He Got it from CJ McCollum. Got it from Tyrese Maxey. Intruder is going to do that. I also predict that the New York Knicks are going to win this series in five.
- [81:20]
Trey Kirby
Ooh.
- [81:21]
Tas Melis
Also going Five, let me give you this stat before I give you my prediction. Teams that needed seven games in both the first and second rounds are just one and four in the conference finals, according to ESPN research. Now, the 2008 Celtics, they won the 2020 Nuggets, the 2016 Raptors, the 2006 Suns and the 2003 Mavericks, they all lost. Those are the four losing teams that went and won in game sevens in the first two series ultimately to fall in the conference finals. So, you know, fatigue can play a part. We did talk about the Knicks have been off here for a while. They're more well rested. Maybe the Cavs have run out of something here with this every other day schedule of the conference finals too. Could be tough, all that to say. I'm going Nixon six. Because I do go back to when you see the Cavs play their best. This is a lot more evenly matched than maybe at first glance, but this consistency and can they bring it from quarter to quarter, half to half, gain a game? I'm going to say they're going to be able to do it a couple times. I'm going to say there's a monster Donovan Mitchell or he's firing his spider webs at everybody in Madison Square Garden. That's the guy that should be. Could be the Halliburton Reggie, the next sort of monster game in Madison Square Garden. So I'll go Nixon 6 though, because overall they're just humming and this. They've unlocked something here with Cat and Brunson gets to like, like, yeah, I know the numbers say like Dean Wade plays Brunson very, very well. Like, okay, yes, he's a lot of height. I get it. But Brunson always figures things out and now he doesn't have to do as much because the way they're running this offense a little more.
- [82:49]
Skeets
Oh, yeah.
- [82:49]
Tas Melis
You know, as a team. So Nixon 6. You guys got Nixon 5. Let's hear from everybody out there. Do we have a poll on this one?
- [82:55]
Trey Kirby
Yeah, we are heavy here. 81% picking the Knicks.
- [82:59]
Skeets
Wow.
- [83:01]
Tas Melis
Knicks is the picks.
- [83:02]
Trey Kirby
Knicks is the picks.
- [83:03]
Tas Melis
All right, well, let's hear from everybody down in the comments here on YouTube. Who you like, who you got, who's winning finals MVP. I always forget we hand out conference finals MVP. Yeah, we do. Yeah. We didn't talk about it for Thunder spurs yesterday, but I guess it's either going to be Wemby or sga. It's probably.
- [83:18]
Trey Kirby
I think Wemby is the lead so far.
- [83:20]
Tas Melis
Yeah, I think so. I think so. Love I Low Blight of the Night, sponsored by Jake Garcia, who is celebrating his son Josiah's 15th birthday today. Jake writes in even though Josiah doesn't like basketball and never listens to no ducks. Hold on, hold on. He does love no buffs for both Survivor and Traitors coverage and loves the movie series Jurassic Pals and Fast Friends. He would love for you guys to. To do the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise next. Maybe it's in the running. We do need to have a meeting on what our. Our next movie franchise is.
- [83:56]
Trey Kirby
I'm not against it.
- [83:57]
Tas Melis
I'm not either. Yeah, because I. I've maybe only seen one.
- [84:00]
Trey Kirby
I think I've seen probably two, but probably not more than that. And there's several at this point.
- [84:06]
Tas Melis
J.D. i mean, did you want to chime in here? How do you feel about this? I've only seen one. Okay. This is good. I think it's silly and dumb enough for us to really flourish in Breaking
- [84:16]
Trey Kirby
it down sale on the seven season.
- [84:18]
Tas Melis
Hey, yeah, Josiah. You never know. If anyone would like to celebrate Josiah's birthday, they can donate to his high school marching band's trip to Hawaii. Trip to Hawaii. Holy crap. That's awesome. To perform at the 2026 Pearl Harbor Memorial Day Parade commemorating the 85th anniversary of the Pearl harbor attack. So we will get a link in the show notes. And if you want to celebrate Josiah's birthday, by all means, help out the marching band in Hawaii. Whoa, boy, though. That goes to WEMBY. Whoa, alien. 41 points, 24 boards, 14 of 25 from the field, 12 of 13 at the line, three shots that he blocked, one steal, three dimes in 49 minutes of action. What a game. Yeah.
- [85:06]
Trey Kirby
We were saying on yesterday's show, will he be able to get to 45 points, rebounds and assists combined? And guess what? He almost got there on points alone.
- [85:14]
Tas Melis
Yeah, that's. How did the other ones do?
- [85:17]
Trey Kirby
None of them hit.
- [85:18]
Tas Melis
Okay. That's pretty crazy when we got there. Yeah. My only concern after that first game in the Western Conference finals is like, well, now what? How. How can it. How are we going to follow that up? Can they follow that up? Are we going to have, like, some more obviously crazy endings or overtimes? I don't know. Or big performances like that, hopefully.
- [85:38]
Skeets
You think so?
- [85:40]
Tas Melis
Yeah.
- [85:40]
Skeets
With those two teams.
- [85:41]
Tas Melis
You're probably right. You're probably right. There's gonna be like a. SGA is gonna have a monster game here in this. Wemby will have another one. Okay. You're right. Thanks for talking me off the ledge. It'll be good. It'll be good. But let's see what the Cavs Nicks have in store for us tonight. It's a tough one to follow up.
- [85:58]
Trey Kirby
I mean, you know, not quite as exciting.
- [86:01]
Tas Melis
No.
- [86:02]
Trey Kirby
But this is the two teams that everybody thought was were going to be the class of the Eastern Conference. And they made it there in the end.
- [86:07]
Tas Melis
I mean, sort of happened on the west side, too. We were like, I mean, I know maybe we thought the spurs got a little further ahead in their. Their progress than we anticipated.
- [86:17]
Skeets
Yeah.
- [86:18]
Tas Melis
Point is, they were the best two teams in the west all season. We were hoping they would see each other, and they did. These are the two matchups that they had on Christmas Day, for crying out loud. That did monster ratings. What are these gonna do? One on espn, one on NBC today. We're on espn. Yes.
- [86:34]
Trey Kirby
Yeah, we are. You know, big market in New York.
- [86:41]
Tas Melis
They're happy.
- [86:41]
Trey Kirby
But people, I don't think are as fired up about the Cavs.
- [86:45]
Tas Melis
No, but you're right about the market. Now come through with the ratings. Can't wait to see those articles on the ratings. Oh, man, it's gonna change everything. Thanks for joining us. Hit the like button. Subscribe and we'll see you guys tomorrow to break down game one of the Eastern Conference finals. Until then, Clipper Bros. Clipper bro. Love you.
- [87:04]
Trey Kirby
Awesome.
- [87:04]
Tas Melis
Wow. This is like NBC having audio issues. You want to try it again? Let's see what happens. I mean, let's just see his face again. It's not there.
- [87:16]
Trey Kirby
Turn up.
- [87:17]
Tas Melis
Love you guys. Awesome. There you go.
- [87:20]
Skeets
He's tired.
- [87:20]
Tas Melis
Yeah. I'm a charismatic. I.
- [87:22]
Skeets
He's been saying that for 6,000 times. I guess he's done. Guess the Voice is done. Thanks for joining us. And remember, it's never too late to discipline a sports team. Owner Adam Silver, it's time. It's time to discipline Steve Ballmer and the Clippers. I say it because. I always say it because the NBA is in good hands. We just saw what Victor Wembanyama did. They're going to play the Knicks in the finals. Everything is good, Adam. Don't worry about it. Just go penalize. Discipline somebody that needs to be disciplined.
- [87:55]
Tas Melis
You think it's better you're saying to slip it in now? Sort of.
- [87:58]
Skeets
No slipping. It's it. I'm not slipping. There's no slippage. This. The point is it's been. We've been waiting forever. Well, yes and yes. Everybody's been waiting.
- [88:07]
Tas Melis
Yeah. They just got the NBA.
- [88:08]
Skeets
The NBA is incredible. Hands there's nothing to worry about. Just do it. A rich guy can be penalized.
- [88:16]
Trey Kirby
Oh, they're not usually.
- [88:19]
Skeets
Yeah, they're never rich.
- [88:20]
Trey Kirby
Guys seem to be doing pretty well.
- [88:21]
Skeets
They're never penalized. The NBA is going to be doing well for a long time. We just saw what a young Wemby did again. Ratings are going to be high in a mere couple weeks. Wemby or Shea vs. The Knicks? It's time.
- [88:37]
Tas Melis
Wow. Disrespect to the Cavs.
- [88:39]
Skeets
Yeah, yeah.
- [88:40]
Tas Melis
That's your bulletin board material right there, Cleveland.
- [88:43]
Skeets
Yeah, they need it.
- [88:44]
Tas Melis
Exactly. Brace the day people.
- [88:50]
Trey Kirby
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Tas Melis
Oh.
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Trey Kirby
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Tas Melis
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Trey Kirby
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Tas Melis
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Tas Melis
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Trey Kirby
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Tas Melis
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Skeets
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