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The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton’s game winner finishes Bucks + Is Playoff Jamal Murray back?
00:37:18
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- [00:00]
Dave DeFore
This message is brought to you by Apple Card.
- [00:03]
Xena Keda
If you're like us on the show, you're always on Triple double watch. That's why we were impressed when we learned that Apple Card was posting numbers of their own.
- [00:10]
Law Murray
That's right, with Apple card, you can earn 3% daily cash back at Apple and 2% back on everything you buy.
- [00:17]
Xena Keda
Using Apple Pay, not to mention 1% back on everything else. That's a stat line that any fan can appreciate.
- [00:24]
Law Murray
Apply for Apple Card in the Wallet app on your iPhone today and start using it right away with Apple Pay.
- [00:30]
Dave DeFore
Subject to credit approval. Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City Branch terms and more at applecard.com as we head into.
- [00:41]
Unknown
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- [01:06]
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- [02:12]
Xena Keda
Good morning and welcome to the NBA Daily. Coming up, we had some eliminations in the playoffs. Bucks Pacers is electric. And we've got Law Murray here to talk about the Nuggets beating the Clippers. Good morning everybody. Good morning, Xena. How are you doing?
- [02:32]
Unknown
Well Dave, how are you?
- [02:33]
Xena Keda
I'm great. Welcome back. Congratulations again. Again. We're just going to keep that vague here on the podcast. You can find that out there on social media. Hey, pretty. Pretty interesting night of basketball we had last night. The Pacers and Bucks. We've watched this series sort of bubble up. It boiled over after the finish. But before we get to the fallout on the court, let's talk about this game a little bit. Because in contrast to the way that the Miami Heat were eliminated. Xena. Yeah, The Milwaukee Bucks, they showed some Bucks culture. They came out and I thought they took some really good swings. Obviously they. They built a really huge lead to start this game, and it fell apart because they just don't have the talent to match up with the Pacers before we get to the finish of this. Xena. Doc Rivers makes a lineup change. Brooke Lopez comes off the bench. I thought that this was a good move is maybe one that was made a little bit too late.
- [03:34]
Unknown
Yeah, I mean, the way that the Bucks came out was exactly what you would expect in an elimination game. But what I loved about the move that Doc Rivers made was that he went young and he went offense. First offense forward. You got AJ Green inserted into the lineup as well as kpj. And obviously you think about Damian Lillard going out. That removes some offense. All right, now you got a three point shooter, AJ Green coming in there. You needed some defense, you needed some verve to you. And that's exactly what the Bucks look like. They got into a 20 point lead early in the first half, 30 to 13 in the first quarter. Like, that's exactly what you want out of an offense. Then in the second quarter, it all unraveled. It was like Indiana remembered, oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. What are we doing? We have more talent on our roster. We. Our depth is there. And also the minutes discrepancy. You look at what the Bucks had to do in terms of their starters and the minutes that they had to put up in comparison to Indiana. Indiana. Indiana went five deep out of their bench that played about four minutes in the second quarter. So while the Bucs were gassed trying to keep up with the pace that they had set in the first quarter, Indiana was like, okay, cool, we got you a whole bench mob coming at you, Obi Top. And everyone was just going at the Bucks in transition. It was. It was exactly what Indiana has done all season. And they play two ways and they disrupted.
- [05:00]
Xena Keda
The Bucks did a pretty good job of, you know, like, I don't know if you're into boxing, Xena, but like, when you get tired, right, you can use your jab to keep a guy off you, right? And, and that's what the Bucks did down the stretch. They weren't able to, you know, to, to build a bigger lead. And the Pacers just felt like for the first three and a half quarters, like their offense just, you know, they weren't making shots. They. They just weren't doing the things that we're used to them doing. And then we get to overtime and Gary Trent Jr goes off. By the way, the reason that you even get an overtime out of this game for the Bucks is because Gary Trent, after starting oh of seven, just didn't miss and he was lights out in overtime. If it wasn't for the efforts of Aaron Neesmith, between hitting a big three, converting on a big layup, getting a big, I mean, offensive rebounds from Aaron Smith, then the, the Pacers would not have been in a position where Tyrese Halliburton could just dribble past Giannis Antetokounmpo in a way that, you know, you just don't usually see a blowby on Giannis like that. You know, Halliburton gets the game winner on a dunk and it's just, you don't expect to see a team lose on that sort of play. But the, the end of this game was just as you mentioned, the Bucks were beat. The Pacers had some, a little bit of juice behind their legs and they were waltz into the basket on these guys.
- [06:25]
Unknown
Yeah, I mean, you think about the clutch time to end the Regular, the regulation 4/4, Tyrese Halliburton, it wasn't just his offense, like the sequence was crazy. He gets a block and gets a ball to Neesmith, who gets two points. Then he gets a steal. That. Excuse me, block, then steal. Then that gets to a Nismith layup. Then he gets a driving layup, goes up to 99, 101, trying to get everything back in order. He is taking control. Then he gets free throws and he makes it 101, 103. Then he gets the driving duck to end regulation. This is all a sequence of Tyrese Halliburton. Then you go into overtime and you go into that ISO play at the end of the quarter. And Indiana knew that they had some hot hands around Tyrese, but they also know that Tyrese Halliburton likes to go. And they went one on one against Giannis and Giannis overstepped. He went too far trying to shade him to the left. And crossover. It was between the legs. Crossover, crossover, right? And Tyrese Halliburton gets the easy layup. It was surreal that it ended that way, especially after the night that Giannis had, after the night that Gary Trent Jr. Had. It was just tough to watch the bucks go down that way. And I know it hurt to go down that way to Tyrese Halliburton, who I've been talking all the whole series.
- [07:58]
Xena Keda
Talking to him for years.
- [08:00]
Unknown
At this point, I was gonna say, exactly.
- [08:02]
Xena Keda
This is a series that has some. Some genuine beef going on. And it was on the court. You know, I give Tyres Halliburton a lot of credit. You know, when Dame got hurt, he came out and, you know, he said a lot of nice things about Dame. After the game, Giannis gets into it with Tyrese Halliburton's dad and Xena, I. I'm now at the point where I'm okay with if we just NBA dads from courtside. I think I'm okay with it. Right. Like, I'm sorry. Like, you know, shout out to Giannis, who is a massive, giant human being, for showing so much restraint when this much smaller human being and older got into his face. You know, maybe a little reality check for. For Mr. Halliburton is. Is overdue. And Giannis, after the game, you know, he talked about Xena, he talked about just being humble in victory, which. Okay, yeah, you know, you are the champ. And. And I would say that Giannis was pretty humble when he won the title. What'd you think about that, that incident?
- [09:06]
Unknown
I commend Giannis for the poise that he showed and just staring at Mr. Halliburton as he is taunting him, Mr. Halliburton with a towel with his son's face on it, saying, you know, this is what the F. We do, et cetera. And it's like, I get it. You're excited. This has been tension building up overall. But guess what, Mr. Halliburton, you aren't playing. You were sitting courtside the whole time. So you need to mind the fact that it was your son that won that game. Go hug your son. Y'all ain't won nothing yet, by the way. Right? It's just round one. That's important to note. But I really do commend, you know, not only the restraint that Giannis showed, but also the thoughtfulness and the response when he was asked in the presser. The immigrant humility is a real thing. I've experienced it within my own family, and I understand when you don't want to do anything to rile others up. And when you have that sort of humility kind of ingrained in you, when you see others completely go against that and be brash and be crass and just be in your face and you show restraint, it's just like, oh, I know he was fuming. I know he was angry. And so I respect him a lot for nothing. Elevating it even further to what it could have gotten to.
- [10:17]
Xena Keda
Yeah. The Celtics also eliminated the magic. You know, this one, this was a series that, you know, again, another physical series. It was the way that Orlando, you know, the one win that they got, the way they stayed in this. In this series, a bit of a weird one. Like, the Celtics didn't take a lot of threes in the first half and didn't. Didn't make a 3 in the first half, and we don't see that very often out of them. They also have. Have gotten through this series. We're. We're say a little bit banged up. You know, Drew Holiday was out for. For the last few games. Obviously, Jason Tatum suffering that wrist injury. Although Zena, since he hurt his wrist and came back, he averaged 36 points, 10 rebounds, and five and a half assists. So. Including, like, taking over this game. So, you know, I mean, how are you feeling about the Celtics? Luckily, there's no drama after this game. Right. Like, so we could just talk about the basketball stuff. But how are you feeling about the Celtics after the first round? Again, they. They survive. They win in five games. They survive a little bit because of the injuries. But how do you feel like they look?
- [11:22]
Unknown
I feel like the Celtics look fine. I feel like they look like the reigning champs that are kind of like, okay, we knew it wasn't going to be easy. We knew it wasn't going to be a cakewalk, but we still have the chops to figure out how to get it done. And that's what you saw, like, every single game to Magic, credit to them, came out swinging. I mean, almost in every single game. They found a lead in the first half, and their offense was flowing. Everything was going. And then at some point in every single game of this series, you saw the difference between experience and talent. And of course, Franz Wagner has talent. Of course Paolo Banchero has talent, but the talent, one, their depth was deeper on the Boston side, but the experience was bigger because, let me tell you right now, the way that the Celtics adjusted their game all throughout this entire series, it wasn't just that they had less threes. Even in the post game presser to last night, Joe Missoula, said that they had a higher free throw percentage rate than their regular season. They all, they also changed the way that they attacked the basket and drew fouls. Like every single aspect of their game throughout this series was. We can't just be the regular old Celtics that every, all season long. What do people say about the Celtics? All they do is shoot threes. And so you saw experience, you saw, we know how to get this done come out. And so I'm not too, I'm not too concerned about the Celtics. We also saw that they can do it without their stars playing. Jaylen Brown sat a game. Jayson Tatum sat a game like this is. This is what you can expect out of a team that has this level of depth. So we'll see what happens in the next, the next series. But yeah, they, they got. Got it done. They get some rest, which is good.
- [13:03]
Xena Keda
They've got the luxury of having like seven starters. You know, Peyton Pritchard started the second half of last night's game. You know, they felt like they needed a little bit more offensive juice. He started the second half. They've got options. Again, I'm not. I still feel like the Celtics, a lot of people should be seeing them as the favorites. You know, again, they've been there before and they, they just, they have that defense that they can fall back on. We should talk briefly about the Knicks because the Knicks were not able to close it out at msg. Our Pistons somehow survive. Kate Cunningham with another nice game. 24 points, 8 assists, 8 rebounds. Asar Thompson, 22 points. Just incredible. He makes like an incredible athletic play just about every game. He had an insane block in the game last night. How do you feel about the Pistons and Knicks last night?
- [14:00]
Unknown
I love the Pistons. Last night there was, I mean, the two players you just mentioned, great examples of just the resilience of the Pistons. Cade Cunningham had four points in the first half, couldn't. Couldn't hit anything, couldn't get anything going, but was still active on the defensive end, still involved in getting steals and getting things going for his teammates. Gets 20 points in the second half, takes, takes the onus on himself to get the offense going and take them to. Towards the fourth quarter when the Knicks were knocking at their door and saying, we're trying to go up here. Then you look at Asar Thompson. I almost said amen because, you know, they're playing the Rock, the Warriors right now. Amen Thompson. But Asar Thompson, he has averaged about 7 points against the Knicks this series, he averaged about 10 points in the regular season. He matched his career high against the Knicks last night. All in the paint. He went 8 of 10 in the paint and then also shot free throws. The athleticism that comes out of the two twins. But you're starting to see Asar Thompson really bloom. He already had a late start because he had that clot situation, the blood clot situation earlier on this season. And so I feel like we're late to the story of a Sarah Thompson. But he is just as athletic, just as capable of scoring, and just as disruptive as his twin. And that is really the core and essence of what this defense in Detroit did to Jalen Brunson. I mean, Dave Jalen has averaged 30 points in this series. Hit 16, 17 last night.
- [15:40]
It's great.
- [15:40]
Xena Keda
And then, you know, they hold Carl Anthony Towns to 17 again. This is Tobias Harris gets into foul trouble in game four. And that game changes because when Carl Anthony Town sees Jaylen Duran out there, it's like his eyes go just extra huge and the basket looks like the ocean, right? Like he doesn't miss when Jaylen Duran's on him. But Tobias Harris gets under his skin. He keeps, you know, he fights him out of the paint and, and he's fast enough to stay in front of him. Huge Tobias Harris game. You know, I, I, I've been getting text messages all year. I'm apparently the only Tobias Harris guy. He, he replaced Danny Green for me. But the truth is, I mean, this another guy, 17 points, you know, if he's not out.
- [16:19]
Unknown
43 minutes.
- [16:20]
Xena Keda
Yeah, big.
- [16:21]
Unknown
That's big. 43 minutes on that floor and was needed for every single one of them. And you're right, he plays Carl Anthony Towns not only because he's faster and he has the athletic aspect to it, but he's smarter than, I think Jalen Duran's. I think sometimes Jalen Duran kind of relies on his athleticism, but Tobias Harris plays his angles really well with Carl Anthony Towns and pushes him out of his comfort zone.
- [16:44]
Xena Keda
The Knicks have become an easier team to guard for the Pistons because they're not really playing together. Like, there's not a lot of offensive cohesion or movement. Get your shot, you know, I'll get mine. And, and you know, whatever happens on the periphery happens. But you didn't have a single 20 point scorer for the Knicks. If they're shutting the water off for Jalen Brunson and for Carl Anthony Towns, either OG or, or Mikhail Bridges has to step up and become the Primary option. Neither one of those guys have shown that they can do that when, when Brunson's available. You know, this run that OG went on to end the season. Brunson wasn't out there. I mean, you know, are you nervous at all going into Detroit? You know, the hot and ready slices are going to be out there. Xena, you know, they were throwing food the other day. Are you nervous for the Knicks?
- [17:32]
Unknown
I am. And I do want to give credit to OG and Mikhail because they did step up. I mean, both of them had like 8 and 10 points last game. They stepped up there in the teens. They're providing more offense, especially considering the bench was non existent for the Knicks offensively. But in an environment like that where Detroit has this chip on their shoulder, I absolutely believe that Detroit is capable. Especially after that call the other night and you guys played it well. You guys explained it very well. It's like eroding the faith in the institution. I like the way you put it, Dave. In terms of the two minute, the last minute call and that bad, that bad foul. With that foul and now getting this win and forcing game six. I think Detroit has just enough energy on their shoulder, just enough of a chip on their shoulder to force a game seven. So yeah, I am a little nervous for the Knicks.
- [18:24]
Xena Keda
This series has been a lot closer than, than I think anybody expected going into it because the talent advantage is on the Knicks side. I don't know. We're going to be looking forward to Game 6. That's going to be in a couple days, guys. Stick around after the break. We got Law Murray here to talk about Jamal Murray worries. Big game.
- [18:45]
Dave DeFore
This message is brought to you by Apple Card.
- [18:48]
Xena Keda
If you're like us on the show, you're always on triple double watch. That's why we were impressed when we learned that Apple Card was posting numbers of their own.
- [18:56]
Law Murray
That's right. With Apple Card, you can earn 3% daily cash back at Apple and 2% back on everything you buy using Apple.
- [19:03]
Xena Keda
Pay, not to mention 1% back on everything else. That's a stat line that any fan can appreciate.
- [19:09]
Law Murray
Apply for Apple Card in the Wallet app on your iPhone today and start using it right away with Apple Pay.
- [19:15]
Dave DeFore
Subject to credit approval. Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City Branch terms and more at applecard.com as we head into.
- [19:26]
Unknown
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- [19:51]
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- [21:26]
Xena Keda
The Denver Nuggets took a three two series lead and we're heading back to into a dome for game six. Here to talk about it. Law, Murray Law. I want to give you some credit right off the bat the other night after game four, you and I, we talked about game five, game six and game seven in this series which you think it's going to go seven. You told me exactly what was going to happen. You said we have not gotten a Jamal Murray game yet and I think it's coming in game five. And hey, we got a Jamal. The best Jamal Murray playoff performance since the bubble.
- [21:57]
Unknown
That's right. It's and it started early. I think he missed his first shot but he drove so hard to the basketball and he I think Christian Brown got the rebound. Nuggets got some second chance points out of it off of free throws from Aaron Gordon. I just, I just knew what it was. Jamal was not good in game in Game 4, but the shots he made were very Important they helped stave off them losing that 22 point lead just enough, you know, to where by the time the Clippers did take the lead, they didn't quite have enough to run through the tape. Right. That's what David Adelman pointed out when I asked him about Jamal's series going into game five, I'm like, you know, how do you feel like he's progressed? What do you expect from him? Because this is now a best of three. And the last thing David said in his response was something to the effect of I expect at home for him to have a really good performance. And that's wound up being an understatement. Like, Jamal packed these dudes up from the jump. He maintained it through the whole game. He was better as the game went along. And I know he enjoyed every moment of it. Like Jamal, if you watch Jamal play basketball, if you are in the building when Jamal is playing basketball, that dude talks a lot. This is a dude to do. I think his first 50 ball, Kyrie Irving got so ticked off at him that he took the damn game ball away from Jamal. Like Jamal, he's a playoff riser.
- [23:37]
Xena Keda
Yeah.
- [23:38]
Unknown
And the jump shot was working for him tonight. That's that sometimes they, that's, that's, that's how it goes and I love that.
- [23:46]
It wasn't just Jamal though, right? Like this whole entire series has been a conversation around the Clippers have the depth of talent because they can go both ways. They can give, give it to you offensively, but they can also take care of things defensively. But last night between these two teams, you saw not only Jamal Murray go off, but Russell Westbrook give you this vintage game out of his arsenal. And then on top of that, Aaron Gordon and of course the joker. But really focus on Russell Westbrook. Like what was he really giving alongside a Jamal Murray in terms of balancing that, that two way attack for the, the Nuggets?
- [24:26]
Well, you gotta remember Russ didn't play after halftime of game three, where the footage were, were smacked. So if anybody who was in any rotation for either one of these teams was going to be fresh, you would hope it would be Russell Westbrook. You know, Jamal said something after the game where he was like, Russ is, you know, allows me to not be the only one yelling at the crowd, you know, in terms of giving that energy. And I thought Bogdan Boganvich, we talked about Clippers depth. Well, Bogey is, is the guy who's supposed to be the best player off the Clippers bench from a scoring standpoint. Derek Jones Jr. Might be a little bit better overall, but for everything bogey was. Was given, he. He was taken away on the other end of the floor. Russ went through bogey for and ones in the first and the second quarters. And the thing is, with Russ, like, I feel like people just need to respect Russell Westbrook, like, I hear, not just Clipper fans or, you know, anybody. Obviously, Russ was on the Clippers the last two playoffs right before this year. People love to say stuff to the effect of, oh, you want Russell Westbrook to play because you know that'll help your team. And it's like, don't give that dude extra gas because he doesn't need anything to be motivated. Like, he's always going to be confident in himself. And you've heard, let Russ be Russ for how many years now, right? Like, if, like, that dude's going to play hard, he's going to play with a certain level of physicality. And to be honest with you, if he's making shots, yeah, it's a bonus, but also it empowers everybody else around him, you know, especially at home. And. And so, like, even even though, you know, I mean, Russ making shots is one thing, but, I mean, it was an attitude to how he was playing, and I really felt like Jamal played off of that.
- [26:27]
Xena Keda
Right.
- [26:28]
Unknown
That's why I'm asking you that question, because I feel as if there was this energy between the two of them, this connectivity that usually, of course, we see with Jamal working off of Jokic, but there was this. This attitude, this deme or the swagger with the way that Russell was showing up that I think infected his. His counterpart and. And Jamal Murray.
- [26:46]
Xena Keda
Yeah, they missed him in that fourth quarter. You know, when the Clippers made the comeback in Game four, they missed Russ. I mean, yes, they missed Russ because they just missed anyone off the bench, but Russ brings energy to these guys, especially in fourth quarters. I mean, he just never gets tired, no matter what.
- [27:03]
Unknown
And.
- [27:04]
Xena Keda
And, you know, it's. The rust story is he's. He's going to give you an amazing play that's positive and an amazing play that maybe is negative, and you hope that. That the positive plays went out, and it did for him in game five. Let's swing to the Clipper side of this. James Harden, not a Great game, only 11 points, only gets up nine shots. He had that brilliant first half in game three, and. And then kind of has been a little silent since then. I know part of that is, you know, they wanted to coast a little bit in the second Half and slow things down in game three. But game four, not a lot from Harden. And this one. What does he need to do to bounce back against the Nuggets or is Christian Brown kind of figured out how to guard him?
- [27:47]
Unknown
I don't think it's a figure out thing. I think James needs to look at game six and get up off the mat. I think I said something similar after game four, but you saw what happened tonight. Like he took, he took even fewer shots in this game than he did in game four. James Harden's field goal attempts has decreased every single game of this series. Everything. One, he. He's a 22 shots in game one.
- [28:18]
Yeah.
- [28:19]
17 and 2, 14 and 3, 11 and 4. He didn't even reach double digit. Digit shot attempts. He had more turnovers than buckets. I know fatigue was a factor because he missed three free throws. All right. And, and they just. I, I hope James gets home, gets his rest and comes out and, you know, puts this team on his back. They need a James Harden game in Game 6 more than they needed from anybody else on this team. I think you wanted Kawhi Leonard to get through a season, but, you know, I think that this is the, this is the. James Harden can't go out like this. He's had too good of a season. Not just on the court, but off the court, leading these dudes, waiting for Kawhi to get back. Waiting for Kawhi to get to the level that he, that he's at. James needs to empty the clip.
- [29:13]
Yeah.
- [29:14]
Pun intended. Damn it. For game six. And, and you just can't let, like, maybe Denver is taking him out of this series with how it's Christian. Its defense is a five man game. Right. So like it's, It's Christian Brown with guys helping him. If the ball's out of James hands, you know, James isn't moving that much, but again, I just feel like James is not getting to his step back. He attempted two threes and missed both of them. One of them was perfect process when the Clippers had some momentum going and it was a catch and shoot opportunity and he just missed it.
- [29:47]
It.
- [29:48]
He missed it short. I, I turned to BT Brad Turner, a Hall of Famer. You know, I, I was like, James doesn't have his legs.
- [29:57]
Xena Keda
Yeah.
- [29:58]
Unknown
And maybe that's because the Clippers got to Denver 48 hours after the Nuggets got to Denver. I don't. I, I don't know. All right, again, I hooped. I hooped in Denver in the morning my first two Games weren't too great either.
- [30:13]
Xena Keda
So you know that elevation man at you every time.
- [30:17]
Unknown
Hey, they let you know Kyle Speller shout out to Denver, Pennsylvania Car Speller. He'll let you know how many feet that elevation is in Denver throughout the game. That ain't an excuse coming home. Get home and get, get get this team back on the plane back here for Saturday.
- [30:38]
I think there's also more to it than just James though. You could look at it from an offensive perspective. There's James, there's Norman Powell who went five of 12, one of five from three. You know 12 points isn't enough production out of Norman Powell. We've seen him take a lesser load offensively with Kawhi Leonard back into the mix, but still he's someone that could go off. You can't expect Chris Dunn to go six or seven from the floor, particularly three or four from three. That is not usually his M.O. but I think there's more to be said offensively for more players on this scene than just James Harden. But my thing is the defense. This is supposed to be the Clippers bread and butter. That is the the fact that yes, Denver is offensively talented. It was still supposed to be harder to score against this Clippers defense. What went wrong? How do the the Denver Nuggets in the last two games, how have they found themselves up 22 points late in the game against Clippers, one of the best defenses in the league?
- [31:39]
Well, I I'll say this. The Denver only they were up 22 in game four. They wound up scoring their 100th point on that buzzer beating dunk.
- [31:48]
Very true. Yep.
- [31:50]
To your point Zena, the Clippers have Only given up 130 points one time all season long and that was way back in November first half of November. Okay, that was with Terence Mann starting and the game after that. Terrence Mann never started with Zoo and James Harden again they come they completely shifted and leaned into Chris Dunn being a core starter for them for the rest of the year. After they got they allowed 134 points to that OKC team. By the way, that OKC team was playing on the second night of the back to back with no centers. So completely different situation. Denver looks different and honestly there were parts of the defense that were okay tonight. You know Denver is a paint heavy team that scored only 46 points in the paint. Jokic missed nine out of 13 shots. Those are some defensive successes. What went wrong if the jump shots went up for Denver, they went in. Denver made 25 shots outside of the paint in Game 5, the average. Because this is something that I look at over the course of a year when you add up the threes and mid range for the entire league in the regular season, the league averages 17.2 made field goals outside of the paint per game. So if you're hitting 25, that's well over average, right?
- [33:16]
Dave, did I say this? That their offense looked like it was flawless? Yeah, like flawless against the miss.
- [33:22]
Xena Keda
It was the Pleasantville offense.
- [33:25]
Unknown
Yeah. Like, I think Denver took as many shots outside the pain as they, as, as they did inside the paint, which again, that's just not how Denver really, really goes about it. But if you're going to make 25 out of 47 shots outside the paint, I mean, that sounds like what Denver would make inside the paint for, you know, especially in this, in this series. Like the Clippers would have, would have taken, I mean, shoot, they would have taken a flip of those numbers. Like, you know, we're fine with you making 25 in the paint. You know, obviously you're not going to want 23 shots outside the pain as much, especially if 17 of those are threes, you know, so that's where it feels like this was an outlier game. But if you're the Clippers, you're going to obviously have to make it not just hard on Jamal, but respect. Respect Russell Westbrook. Like, yeah, you can't, you can't keep saying, we're not worried about Russell Westbrook and then watching this dude, you know, get confidence and retain his confidence as a scorer. Russ had one assist the whole night. This was not like, I'm going to make my. No, Russ was like, I had time off. I'm getting these buckets. And if you let that happen on your home floor, you get what you deserve. So you can chalk this up as an outlier game. The Clippers had an outlier game. That was game three. They had a bunch of dudes who made shots, a bunch of dudes who have since not made shots. You know, I'm not even talking about Chris Dunn. Chris made his shots. But you know, the thing with Chris is Chris is going to get open shots because they're not respecting him, you know. Yeah, and it's good that Chris made those shots. He's going to have to make them early when the game counts. Chris had a couple of possessions to start the game where he missed the open three. He had a near turnover. He, he, he got a four minute start and then that was the quickest leash I've seen on Chris Dunn in a long time that had nothing to do with foul trouble. Chris needs to make those shots to start the game. And if that's not the case, and I think the Clippers are, they're in a world of hurt in one of these next few games.
- [35:30]
Xena Keda
Is it still going seven?
- [35:32]
Unknown
Yeah, I expect.
- [35:35]
Xena Keda
I think so.
- [35:36]
Unknown
I wrote at the Athletic Clippers in seven. I'm not the type to change things just because I saw some team get smacked, you know, one game or another. I know a lot of people like to do that. They'll make their predictions and then. Well, you got to.
- [35:49]
Xena Keda
It's called being professional. You know what I mean? You got to choose your spots. It's a business.
- [35:53]
Unknown
My professionalism is talking to Xena and Dave from a hotel room after midnight, local time.
- [35:59]
Xena Keda
Sticking to his guns. All right, we're going to get you out of here. Go to bed. That's going to do it for the show, folks. For Law Murray, thanks for staying up late. For Xena Keda, I'm Dave DeFore and this has been the NBA Daily. Thanks for waking up with us. Now go to bed.